Best and Worst of Entertainment 2012

[Wumbo]

I liked Dark Shadows. Not the greatest movie, but it was good entertainment.

Anyway, here's my list of the 10 best songs of 2012. This took some doing, but I'm happy with the results.

10. Gangnam Style - PSY

Okay, so the love for this song is a little overblown. So what? It's still catchy and fun, and you have to give it credit for reaching a billion views on YouTube in 6 months.

9. No Church in the Wild - Kanye West and Jay-Z ft. Frank Ocean and the Dream

This is like, the only thing Kanye and Jay-Z did this year that didn't suck. 2012 was a bad downfall for both of them in my books. But there is always a silver lining to each cloud, and this song proves that. A nice change from "big booty hoe" and "put it in your kidney", this song proved that rap isn't completely dead.

8. Try - P!nk

When she's not raising her glass, P!nk can usually be counted on to make a meaningful song like this one. A really great song that can move you to tears if you're not careful.

7. Sixteen Saltines - Jack White

Jack White made a huge comeback this year, with three successful singles off his album "Blunderbuss". I picked this song because it stood out as the most memorable to me, and reminded me the most of his White Stripes days.

6. Runaways - The Killers

The Killers prove that they still have it with this song. It's just beautifully composed. It may not fit in with their older stuff, but it stands on its own as a great song.

5. Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men

Man, such a beautiful song. It tells a story of a conversation between a wife and her husband, who recently passed away. It's not clear if he's actually there or not, that's left up to interpretation. Any way you interpret it, this song is really well done.

4. Kill the DJ - Green Day

I used to like Oh Love better, and it almost made the list, but I finally made the decision that this song is simply catchier, with a funkier beat. It's an interesting change from what Green Day used to be. And IMO, Billie Joe can hit those high notes.

3. Madness - Muse

Another beautiful song. The chilling vocals coupled with the slow, almost sultry beat, it's a modern masterpiece. Matt Bellamy, the lead singer of Muse, has described this song as one of his favourite Muse songs to date. The man has taste.

2. Too Close - Alex Clare

What can I say about this song that I haven't said about many? Beautiful. It's a sordid story about a man who wants to be more than friends, but doesn't want to ruin the friendship. And it's told immaculately, with "So I'll be on my way" standing out as a great finisher to the chorus (a well written chorus in 2012? Say it ain't so, Wumbo!)

1. The Dog is Mine - k-os

k-who? Well, if you don't know who he is, he's probably from Canada. This man has mastered rap, jazz, and now rock. He's like the MacGyver of music. Listen to this song and tell me you're not tapping your foot.

[Clappy]

Good movies list, but what was so bad about Frankenweenie?

I actually thought Frankenweenie was ok-ish. It definitely dragged at points and I usually don't do well with dog movies. However, the bomb comment was more about how it performed financially because it was actually expensive due to Disney's massive marketing push raising its original 39 million budget to a much higher spending rate and it is barely close to matching it's budget now, so imagine how much more money Disney lost because of how much they advertised it.

[Clappy]

Now that I'm finished with the worst, time for the best. I'm going to start with my favorite category, movies. I've actually seen a lot of good movies that came out this year. Hell, I may have to revise this list very soon since I'm going to see Django Unchained, The Hobbit, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, and Zero Dark Thirty still. Plenty of good movie going options still out there. However, these are my top 10 of 2012 (for now).

10. Chronicle

I almost gave this spot to The Hunger Games...almost...however I would like to say right now that this movie was a huge surprise in terms of how much I enjoyed it. While I do understand the deserved comparisons this gets to the anime Akira, I really don't care because everything is based off of everything so much these days. However, I would like to say the thing that made this deserve a spot on my top 10 is it's surprisingly deep story. These three kids find a glowing stone and develop super human abilities. However, this one kid ends up abusing his powers and this is where I have to give the deep story it's due. The kid, Andrew, has a rough home life with his mom on his deathbed and his abusive father. So his surprise turn to the dark side comes as no surprise when he uses his powers to rob for money, blow up a gas station when the bullies there give him a hard time, and even go as far as to

Spoiler

kill one of his best friends and almost his father

. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, go see it. You'll be legit surprised that this is more than just an ordinary found footage film.

9. The Amazing Spider-Man

I'm going to try and not go as deep into detail as I did with Chronicle. While this movie was great, I can't help but shake the feeling of been there, done that, in terms of origin stories go. I mean it doesn't help that the original Spider-Man story was just ten years ago. However, I would like to give this version much more credit than it deserves for it's acting and direction. I remember how much negative publicity surrounded this reboot for hiring a 28 year old to play teenage Peter Parker and the director of quirky rom-com 500 Days of Summer to direct and produce such a high profile project. But both Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb shook of their critics and made a surprisingly great reboot. Hopefully the sequels are just as good, if not better, than this version, because I was pleasantly surprised with how good a job they did with this.

8. Pitch Perfect

This literally came out of nowhere as well. I mean this had me cracking up so hard when I saw it in theaters. It was smartly written and made such a repetitive premise into comedy gold. Also, their song renditions were awesome and I even downloaded some of them due to quite a few being better than the original versions. It's kind of like Bring It On for the 21st Century. And yes I am old enough to remember when the original Bring It On was a massive hit. Also I would like to give extra praise for Rebel Wilson. Her character Fat Amy was a riot and she stole every single scene she was in. She has a very bright future ahead of her and hopefully we see her in many more projects in the future because this girl has the perfect comedic timing and delivery.

7. Ted

Maybe I am showing my Seth MacFarlane bias here, but this movie was great. I mean they took such a stupid premise and made a great movie. How often can you say a guy wants to see a movie about a teddy bear? Well if it is a raunchy R rated comedy, then of course. Seth MacFarlane has free rights to do whatever big screen comedies he wants to do next after making such a successful movie with this one. Also, Marky Mark. You surprised me with your great comedic delivery. I know you often get criticized for your cheesy action movies, but you have Arnold Schwarzeneger potential in crossing over to comedy. Granted, Ahnuld's comedy is his bad acting, but Marky Mark, you are actually hilarious. Oh and Mila Kunis is hot. Enough said.

6. 21 Jump Street

Best comedy of the year. This legit surprised me because when you see the words "Jonah Hill", "Channing Tatum", and "big screen version of 80s/90s show" you tend to back away from it. But I would like to give Jonah Hill more credit over the past year for actually delivering funny material like this. Congrats Jonah, I went from thinking you were overrated to actually liking you. Also, I would like to point out the other people responsible for making this a success, aka the other writers not named Jonah Hill/directors. Bays/Thomas, the two men who brought us How I Met Your Mother. Hopefully the two of them don't split up any time soon because not only the success of this and their sitcom, but also Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. These two have a bright future ahead of them. Next up on their list is the big screen Lego movie. I shall see that in theaters too now because they don't disappoint.

5. Wreck-It Ralph

Easily the best animated movie of the year. Also, another legit surprise. Go take a look at terminoob's thread for this and I'll be the first to say that this voice cast wasn't impressive. I was wrong. They fit the roles of the characters they were portraying perfectly. This was a clever, colorful adventure built on familiar themes and joyful nostalgia. I mean I am not ashamed to admit that not only did this touch my inner-nerd, but also my heart. The bond between Ralph and Penelope was so deep that it actually had me in tears at the very end with Ralph's very sweet speech about how she helped him realize who he was as a person. This is the heavy favorite to win Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards and I sincerely hope it does. In John Lasseter I trust.

4. Argo

Currently my personal favorite to win Best Picture at this year's Oscars. While I enjoyed the next three films more than this, I am a realist and I know neither of them will be nominated. However, I am almost all positive that this will be nominated for the big prize. Ben Affleck, I take back every negative statement I've ever made about you. The way you have transformed your career from laughable leading man to one of the best directors/actors working today is simply astounding. While you wowed me with Gone Baby Gone and The Town, you fully amazed me with Argo. The chances of this winning the grand award are not as high due to classic Oscar bait like Lincoln (also good), but I hope the voters take a different route and go for the surprise twist road that was Argo.

3. Looper

I don't know how many of you even knew this came out, but Rian Johnson does it again. This is easily the best sci-fi action movie I've seen in god knows how long. I mean with Bruce Willis's career riding off into the sunset over the years, this helped revitalize it in my eyes. Also, who would have thought that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would make such a credible action star...more on that in my next film. This guy has all the tools in the world to be an A list movie star. He just needed his one breakout movie and to me, Looper was it. This quietly went on to make 66 million domestically in an overcrowed fall, but I hope this movie develops a cult following on DVD because this was simply amazing.

2. The Dark Knight Rises

I tossed and turned over these top two movies for awhile now, but I firmly decided that number two was perfectly fine for TDKR. Was this as amazing as The Dark Knight? No. But I felt that this fit the bill perfectly as the end of Christopher Nolan's reboot trilogy. My only minor complaint is how this felt like information overload in terms of too many new characters and some loose ends that were never tied up. But all minor complaints of that were thrown out the window when the final hour delivered one of the most climatic endings to a movie you'll ever see. This was epic and kudos to everyone involved. While I don't know if JGL will now take over as the leading man of this franchise, but Christopher Nolan, you deserve all the credit in the world for helping make the Batman a credible pop culture icon once again.

1. The Avengers

This should come as a surprise to no one that this was my favorite movie of the year. I mean I only saw it four times in theaters. While TDKR had a better story, it just wasn't as epic as The Avengers was. This was the epitome of an event movie. After such a brilliant build up with cross marketing in other Marvel movies, the Marvel Cinema Universe became whole once The Avengers arrived and never before have I marked out as loud as I have inside a movie theater. I watched in awe as some of my favorite superheros like Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor worked together as a giant super team and even fought each other along the way in such epic fashion. And to add to the perfection that was this movie, Joss Whedon directed. For as much crap as he gets for his diehard fanbase, Whedon knows how to develop his characters, and what he did here was manage to make not only one main star, but four. I felt each one of the main four got their time to shine and that is truly saying something when I thought for sure that Robert Downey Jr. was going to be the main focus due to his natural charisma. Anyway, bottom line, best movie of 2012 for Clappy.

[terminoob]

I'd be more inclined to give TDKR the #1 spot just because of the fact that Nolan was able to make us sit through a Batman and Robin movie.

[Clappy]

I'd be more inclined to give TDKR the #1 spot just because of the fact that Nolan was able to make us sit through a Batman and Robin movie.

For the last time, he doesn't like that name. He prefers to be called the very blandly named "John Blake"...gosh.

[Old Man Jenkins]

*techno* Elastic, it appears the Clapmaster doesn't appreciate poetry in motion.

[Clappy]

*techno* Elastic, it appears the Clapmaster doesn't appreciate poetry in motion.

[dragiiin123]

QUICK! Give him 20 CCs of The Beatles and Queen!

how would that make it better

[Metal Snake]

Good list, my only complaint with the Amazing Spider-Man was that the acting in the death scenes was pretty bad and that it felt more focused on being a science-fiction movie than a superhero movie. And The Avengers was pure awesome from what I saw of it.

*techno* Elastic, it appears the Clapmaster doesn't appreciate poetry in motion.

He doesn't appreciate techno?! I shall clean up that act of his with...WUBS.

[Clappy]

He doesn't appreciate techno?! I shall clean up that act of his with...WUBS.

I feel like I'm missing a hidden reference in here, but I do like techno...I just don't appreciate Superjail.

[Webizoid]

Fairy Odd Parents: I thought I was the only one who thought that.

The Neighbors: Shoot me where I stand, but I actually really like this show. I think it's very funny and creative. Do you elaborate your opinion in The Neighbors thread? I want to see what makes you hate it so much.

4. Either Nickelodeon Television Series Starring Lucas Cruikshank:Who knew a show could be so unfunny-

Hey! Where did you come from? Get out of here!

Jessie: See my post in the same thread to see my opinion.

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo!: You hit the nail on the head, Claps. I hope this girl looks back on this in a few years and feels thoroughly embarrassed at how she lived and acted. Disgusting.

Rob!:

Chronicle: This movie was pretty damn great. Enough said! :idea:

21 Jump Street: This movie had me in tears, if I remember correctly. Tears of laughter, of course. If it weren't, then that would be bad.

Wreck-It Ralph: I have to see this movie. I have to.

The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers: Quit having my opinion! Just kidding, but this is how I feel about both of these movies. Pretty much word for word. *raises eyebrow in suspicion*

[Clappy]

The Neighbors: Shoot me where I stand, but I actually really like this show. I think it's very funny and creative. Do you elaborate your opinion in The Neighbors thread? I want to see what makes you hate it so much.

Don't get me wrong. I think the idea behind it was to go for a high-concept show similar along the lines of Third Rock From The Sun, but where that show succeeded while The Neighbors falters is that it is too weird for it's own good. It's not that I have a problem with it for being weird, but the weirdness started off as quirky and went straight to downright irritating as the series is progressing where I wanted to throw my remote at my television set.

Anywho, since I am going to depart on my holiday traveling in a few hours (yay no traffic night driving), I'm going to do one more countdown while I still got time. This time, I want to take a look at my 10 favorite songs of the past year. I use to listen to a lot of underground alternative rock music over the years, but believe it or not, I have started to progress more to mainstream music over this past year. Don't get me wrong, I still listen to a lot of everything, but you'll be surprised as to how many pop/rock songs of today made it onto my list.

10. "Houdini" - Foster the People

I seriously have no comment as to what makes this song so catchy. But as soon as I bought Foster the People's latest cd, this song just came on and I found myself jamming along to it instantly. Next thing you know, I had this song down word for word. I can't explain it's massive attachment to me, but it's that damn catchy jingle that just stays with you. Curse you guys.

9. Swimming Pools (Drank) - Kendrick Lamar

It's no secret that I like rap music....when it is done right. And by that I mean telling a story and not being about how much weed one smokes, girls one gets, etc. To quote Aqua, who said it best, this song is about how drinking and alcohol can totally destroy your life. Everything about this song seems to be reminiscent of a time when rap was actually fundamentally good and not just catchy beats and clever wordplay.

8. "Locked Out of Heaven" - Bruno Mars

For the past few years Bruno Mars has been relevant, I've always given him credit for having a fantastic voice. However, my problem was that he has not had a song that personally impressed me. Then this came along a few months ago and it wowed me the first time I heard it. It was interesting and evolutionary to Mars as an artist and he took a massive step forward as being the best male vocalist in pop music today. Since it's quite clear that Justin Timberlake has moved on from being "the prince of pop", I would like to personally nominate Bruno Mars to now hold those distinct honors.

7. "No Church in the Wild" - Kanye West and Jay-Z featuring Frank Ocean and The Dream

Copy and paste Wumbo's comments and you get my reasoning.

6. "Ho Hey" - The Lumineers

Believe it or not, I knew about these guys before they became famous. My friend took me to a folk concert last year in Richmond and they were performing. They didn't do this exact song, but I thought they were talented. Flash forward to the present and this song is everywhere. Congrats to these guys for making a simple folk song into a radio mainstay. Say what you guys want about how redundant it is, but I love it. All a song needs is a catchy beat and they achieved it with a simple Ho....Hey....Ho...Heeeyyy.

5. "Wide Awake" - Katy Perry

I'm probably going to get a lot of crap for having a Katy Perry song this high, but hear me out. For as much crap as Katy Perry gets for not being able to have a powerful enough voice to do ballads, then clean your ears out and play this song. It's beautifully written and Katy Perry manages to hit all the notes she needs to hit to make this ballad a success. But enough about her vocals, please watch this music video. Easily the best video she has ever done, which is saying something because I've always enjoyed her videos, no matter how bad the song may be. I know not all of you are going to agree with me having this song on here, but I don't have any regrets for having this amazing song this high.

4. "Stay the Night" - Green Day

While I thought their newest three pack compilation felt more like a cheap publicity stunt, there was no denying that all three had magnificent songs. But I'd like to point out the one that was my personal favorite. Somewhere between Oh Love and Billie Joe's rehab stint, the band tried releasing this as a radio single. I don't know why more stations picked this up. It's incredibly catchy and even shows off the band's softer side while still managing to being the best at the world at what they do, which is punk-pop.

3. "We Are Young" - fun. featuring Janelle Monae

Did this song overstay its welcome enough this year? Probably, but there is no denying how massive of a hit this was...and you know what, it made me become a huge fan of them. Everything about this song feels like a classic rock song of yesteryear. I can imagine Queen coming out and performing this. Sure I can't see Queen doing any of their other songs, but that's besides the point. Regardless, this brought much needed maturity to pop radio stations when we were just getting over We Found Love being dominant on these charts for far too long. And you know what, I feel we were better off for it. Thank you fun. Thank you.

2. "Burn it Down" - Linkin Park

Welcome back Linkin Park. After years of trying to rediscover who they are and what made them amazing ten years ago, they have finally relocated that magic. Look no further than this song as one of the best they've done in years. It reminds me so much of Numb, which is one of my favorite songs of all-time. Welcome back Linkin Park. Please feel free to stick around and make material this good again.

1. "My Understandings" - Of Mice & Men

I don't expect many of you to know who these guys are. My friend introduced me to them this year and they are absolutely amazing. While I do like their post-hardcore stylings, they manage to write such a deep, well done song without going overboard on trying to prove how hardcore their music is. Beneath all the screaming and guitar rifts, the lead vocalist Austin Carlisle proves he has an amazing singing voice. Congrats on being the best song I've heard this year.

Oh and I would like to include a special shout out to someone who in my opinion was the vocalist of the year, without having a single song on here. Adam Levine of Maroon 5. He stole every song he guest voiced in, he is a great judge on The Voice, and Maroon 5 had three amazing songs this year that almost made this list (Payphone, One More Night, Daylight). Congrats Adam. You've been in this business for over a decade, but this has to be the banner year for you. All the power to you.

[Wumbo]

Good list, Claps!

[Metal Snake]

Hooray for Linkin Park! I actually agree with the general opinion of We Are Young, it would be great if the radio hadn't played the shit out of it and more.

[Clappy]

And the final area of 2012...my favorite television shows of the year. I could be bias and put SpongeBob on here, however I will be honest. I have not finished watching this previous season to make an exact judgement. From what I am seeing, I am liking it and it is currently on the outside looking in. Like I said though, I want to finish this current season before putting an official rank for it on this list. Anywho, these shows I've watched every episode of their previous/current seasons to make rank on this countdown.

10. Total Drama: Revenge of the Island (Cartoon Network)

See Cartoon Network/Teletoon? Notice how returning to the old format with new contestants equaled higher viewership? I honestly needed that as much as other non fanboys did. They did everything they possibly could have with the old batch of contestants in my mind. These new ones weren't too bad, but my only complaint is that this season felt far too rushed. Thankfully the next installment is back to 26 episodes again instead of 13.

9. Gravity Falls (Disney)

After being a massive dick to Disney in previous worst installments, I need to give them credit for two shows that have been giving me some glimmer of hope for the network. Austin and Ally is one of the most underappreciated sitcoms on the network and it is currently just on the crisp of my making my list. But I am going to turn my focus to the one that actually made this list. I think this site has already shown the praise for Gravity Falls it truly deserves. It's one of the best new animated series on any of the Big 3 networks I've seen in a while. Their voice acting is undervalued, the animation is slick, and the writing is great. I think it is time for Disney to give this series the push to the top as their best program. They've struck gold and it is time to give it the big push they've given to shows like Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven, Hannah Montana, Shake It Up (why I don't understand on the last one).

8. Workaholics

I don't know how many people on this site watch more on Comedy Central than South Park, Tosh.O, and Futurama, but Comedy Central actually has an amazing sitcom that has only started to get notice. I started watching this last year and now I'm hooked. It's about roommates in college who have recently graduated and are transitioning to adulthood while still acting like college kids. This series made some steep improvements and is becoming one of my favorite shows to watch on television right now. Oh and Adam DeVine has a great future ahead of him.

7. Regular Show (Cartoon Network)

Noticing a recurring theme here? Just like Gravity Falls, this is another smartly written animated sitcom that targets beyond children. You know what I've been enjoying more about Regular Show as the series progresses? How much more focus is being put on the supporting characters like Muscle Man, Pops, Benson, High-Five Ghost, Thomas, etc. Granted, I always felt that the earlier seasons focused more on Mordecai and Rigby somehow getting involved in supernatural situations, but that's just me based on previous conversations with others.

6. The Voice (NBC)

I thought I would never love a singing competition reality show ever again...I was proven wrong. You know why this one works? Because the judges have wonderful chemistry while the contestants actually have musical talent. Not saying that The X Factor and American Idol do not, but lately they don't have the variety of talent that The Voice currently has over the past couple seasons.

5. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

This and HIMYM will constantly flip flop to me in terms of which show I enjoy more. However, if you want to talk about this past season, I have to give HIMYM more credit. While I still love me some Big Bang Theory, this past season has had some frustrating moments for me. There has not been any character development at all outside of Howard. Sheldon and Amy continue to be the best parts of the show to me, but there characters have not really changed outside of being in a relationship. The most annoying character development to me is Raj's. Quit making gay jokes at his expense. Either make him gay or give him a girlfriend because he has been in character development hell for far too long. Otherwise, I still love this show and it still makes me laugh despite my slight frustrations.

4. How I Met Your Mother (CBS)

I actually approve of them revisiting Season 1 storylines this past season as the sitcom keeps on progressing in terms of moving forward since the end is almost near. Thankfully this show has been renewed for a final season next year. That way we can get a proper build up to the big mother reveal since it feels like it is starting to stall even more so since everyone knows this sitcom is on it's final legs for the most part. Otherwise, you guys know how big a fan I am and it will hurt to see this show end in Spring 2014. But at least the show will now give us some form of closure real soon.

3. South Park (Comedy Central)

Let me just say this now. Season 16 was not as good as the previous two seasons which are some of the better seasons of the show. That is why it is not number one this year. It still doesn't mean that this season was not a lost cause. It gave us some fantastic episodes (Raising the Bar, Nightmare on Face Time) and plenty of good ones (Insecurity, Faith Hilling, Butterballs).

2. The Walking Dead (AMC)

Thank you John (IRL friend) for DVRing this past mid-season. I've gotten into this show over the past year and while it is a challenge to become a regular viewer due to me not having AMC, I am hooked. Granted, I still think Frank Darabont did the best season of this show, that is not bashing the current showrunner Glen Mazzara (although he is stepping down after this season). Probably would and should replace The Fairly Oddparents with this on a revision of my Top 50 because if this progresses well, it may make it much higher on my Top 50 list.

1. New Girl (Fox)

Everything about this show is perfect to me. While I do have a bias crush on Zooey Deschanel, this cast has amazing chemistry. Probably the best cast chemistry I've seen on a show since Friends. Everyone complements each other perfectly. Not only that, but the writing is wonderfully quirky, the comedic timing is perfect....just everything about this show is perfect and wonderful. I cannot praise this show enough. It is my favorite program on television at the moment and it just keeps getting better.

[Webizoid]

I thought SP's latest season was better than the last one. Some that I like that no one seems to mention a lot is "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining", "A Scause for Applause", and "Reverse Cowgirl".