MW: The Best of 2010
Posted by: chatblu on: December 27, 2010
- In: books | Current Events | Gay Rights | Morning Widdershins | movies | Music | Open Thread | Television | You Tube
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Good morning, Widdershins. Hope that Christmas was pleasant and Santa was good to you. MadamaB is taking a well-deserved break this week, so I have decided to keep it light for the next few days and maybe discuss the best – and the worst – things of 2010 or the 2010′s, for that matter.
Let’s start with the best. The best books, the best television shows, the best movies, fashion, hairstyles., new vehicles – whatever rocks your world. Here are my entries:
(1) Best Book of 2010: How To Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu. This is a fabulous if somewhat harrowing story of a young man who recalls the journey of his immigrant parents. The book is both heartbreakingly tough and lyrically poetic. Here is the money quote: “He had learned early in his life that before any violent gesture there is a moment when the act is born, not as something that can be seen or felt, but by the change it precipitates in the air.”
(2) Best Movie of 2010: “The Kids Are All Right”. What a warm, wonderful film that this is. Treat yourself. Annette Benning and Julianne Moore are just beautiful.
(3) Best TV Show of 2010: “Carlos”, courtesy of the Sundance Channel, will hold you spellbound. Edgar Ramirez is memorable as Carlos the Jackal.
(4) Best TV Series of 2010: “The Closer”. Kyra Sedgwick has finally gotten some hardware for her fine acting, and is surrounded by an equally wonderful cast. The series has grown over the past six years, and the characters have grown with it as well. I’ve read that 2011 will be the final year, so I’m loving every episode in the meantime.
(5) Best Music of 2010: “The Noise” by Neal Young. It’s folk-ish and poignant and not really typical of Neal Young, but I really like it.
(6) Best Fashion Kind of Stuff: Hooray for the return of sheath dresses – things that most women can wear successfully. I’m not really big on the sleeveless ones, but I’m thrilled otherwise. I’m also pleased to welcome back a more moderate denim – not skin-tight leggings or overly festooned jackets a la 1978, but just comfortable denim jeans, skirts and dresses.
(7) Best Legislation of 2010: The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It’s time.
Let’s hear them, and anything else you would care to discuss on this open thread.
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84 Responses to "MW: The Best of 2010"
December 27, 2010 at 7:40 AM
I awakened to the winds whipping around the house but also thankful that the utilities are still working since MA has been declared a “state of emergency”.
This upcoming weekend promises temps in the mid 40′s.
Ah, New England! Can’t beat it.
December 27, 2010 at 7:48 AM
It dropped into the mid-30′s here last night, and today’s high is in the mid-50′s. For SoFla, that’s a wintery blast for sure.
December 27, 2010 at 8:11 AM
Mid 40′s! It’s 22 in Queens, NY right now. And we’re buried in snow.
I don’t listen to much pop music, but recently heard Maroon 5′s new album, “Hands All Over,” and liked it a lot. Very catchy songs.
December 27, 2010 at 8:13 AM
I love Ireland and I love a mystery. Tana French’s book “Faithful Place: A Novel” combines both and I loved it. Was it “the best book of the year”? I think that is entirely subjective, but I will say “Faithful Place” was my most enjoyable read of the year.
December 27, 2010 at 8:33 AM
These “Bests” are of the eye of the beholder variety, Beata. How is mother today?
December 27, 2010 at 8:51 AM
@6: Chat, I just talked to the day nurse. The nurse hasn’t seen my mother yet this morning, but the report said she was peaceful during the night. The nurse told me the IV is a type that is inserted into the soft tissue of the abdomen to pump fluids ( not meds ) and can be left in for up to 3 days. I think as long as she is getting fluids, she will start to get better in a few days. At least I hope so. I can’t visit her because of the risk of infection is dangerous for my my medical condition, so that’s very frustrating!
Thank you for asking. 
December 27, 2010 at 9:06 AM
It’s a varient of the old hypodermoclysis then. As long as it’s effective in hydrating her up some.
December 27, 2010 at 9:08 AM
@4: Music doesn’t have to be current, D. Might just be the best arrangement that you’ve heard of an old peice. Really, anything much goes here today.
December 27, 2010 at 9:10 AM
Beata, so good to hear that your Mom is getting fluids and the outlook is good.
Thanks for the recommendation on Tana French’s book – I’ll check it out. I read many, but the one that sticks in my mind is Lovely Bones which is actually from 2002, but I didn’t read it until this year. I’m waiting for the movie to be put into the previously viewed section at Blockbuster, so I can grab it. Great book, and I hope the movie is as good.
December 27, 2010 at 9:11 AM
P.S. went to Stratford this year with friends to see As you Like it, with Brent Carver – well worth the time and money, it was terrific!
December 27, 2010 at 9:14 AM
@7, Beata see my post on the last thread..it’s a subcutaneous fluid delivery system, easy, effective, and non-traumatic…very old-fashioned, but coming back into favo
December 27, 2010 at 9:24 AM
I felt like there was a bit of return to classic, grown-up clothes for women this year. It may just be wishful thinking on my part however. I will take Grace Kelly over Lindsay Lohan any day. I am sick of shrunken sweaters and low-waisted bellbottoms. I have no desire to be mutton dressed as lamb. I am 50 years old and want to look like a mature, intelligent woman, not a teenager. A classic pleated pant, a la Katharine Hepburn would be nice, even though Clinton and Stacy say no pleated pants!
December 27, 2010 at 9:31 AM
@12: Julia, thank you so much for the info on the last thread! It sounds like the nursing home is doing the right thing which is a great relief for me to know.
December 27, 2010 at 9:43 AM
Well, the day nurse just called to say my mother has an upper respiratory infection now. I was afraid that might happen. She has a lot of antibiotic allergies. They will probably put her on Z-pak. Also, the IV was leaking, so they had to change it. Oy.
I’m going to lie down.
December 27, 2010 at 10:07 AM
Getting to the subway was quite the ordeal. Even the streets of Manhattan are only just starting to get cleaned up. So imagine what Jamaica, Queens looks like! Snow is piled up to 6 feet. By the time I trekked to the subway station just 4 blocks away I felt like I’d run a mile. It’s great exercise, but my feet are wet! I wonder how many people will come to work!
December 27, 2010 at 10:18 AM
I’m watching NYC on television, and I’m betting that very few will be going very far under these circumstances.
December 27, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Sarah Palin is leading the polls as “2010′s biggest winner” and “Best female politician” ( against Hillary) over at John Smart’s blog. This cannot stand!!!! Go stuff the ballot box.
December 27, 2010 at 10:27 AM
At work at the moment it’s just me and the owner. I guess it makes me look good that I am the only one who came in! But I can’t even work because our systems are down.
December 27, 2010 at 10:50 AM
I thought of you last night, Pat. Hoping you weren’t driving in that. I imagined that you were going to get snowed in and not be able to get home.
December 27, 2010 at 11:17 AM
@23 Yes, Chat. The thought of her driving in that kinda makes me want to reprimand her. I shake in my boats fearing a Whitney just for saying it.
December 27, 2010 at 11:21 AM
Beata, take some time to rest, as chat has already and i APOLOGIZE
December 27, 2010 at 11:25 AM
Beata, take some time to rest, as chat has posted already and i APOLOGIZE majorly if anything I wrote last night caused you concern or pain. I haven’t mastered the skill of being a caring person – perhaps I’ m an aspergers person. Please, I apologize and that goes for you too Fredster..
December 27, 2010 at 11:48 AM
@26: Not to worry, HT. Sometimes our messages over the Internets can be misconstrued. I understood what you were trying to say and it did not cause me any pain. I know you are a caring person. Don’t argue with me about that.
December 27, 2010 at 11:58 AM
I honestly believe that whatever the immediate apparent affect, the posters and commenters here at TW are honest, concerned and caring in nature. Many of us have been where Beata now stands, and know what a lonely, confusing place that it can be. Our best and warmest thoughts go out to you, Beata.
December 27, 2010 at 12:05 PM
Beata @ 28. I do not give love lightly, but I really love you. We have different perspectives – I an atheist, you are a devout catholic. I look forward to your comments You do the same, because you are one of the fijnest, and you do not judge, you just live your beliefs. You are quite unique BTW, N=
December 27, 2010 at 1:06 PM
This blizzard really wrecked the holidays for us over here.
I left Friday afternoon to go to the country, about 45 minutes away. The weather was fine. Christmas Day was moderate and the family was expected to all meet up there on Sunday taking into account those who had to work on Christmas Day itself. This includes my daugher, an RN, my SIL a clinical pharmacist, coming from Springfield, his daughter herself a pharmacist from Ludlow, some others from Greenfield, and a son from outside Boston and his family.
By Christmas Night the forecast was coming in with the blizzard warnings and we all had to take stock in what to do and expect. We decided, for the sake of safety first, to postpone the get together to this coming Saturday (the weather is supposed to be in the 40′s by then) so I left for home on Sunday morning.
My son in Boston was enveloped with the coastal storm which is reportedly wrecking havoc with that part of the state, and my son in Brimfield (midway between Boston and Spfld) is under piles of snow and it is still doing just that. I did not want to get stranded out there for days so coming home was the best decision.
So there stands the tree with most of the presents unopened, a refrig full of food, and we will have to do this all over again next weekend!
But I still maintain that it is better to be safe than sorry especially when traveling over 20 miles from point A to point B on the turnpike which was slowing to a crawl with lots of icy spots.
Right now the wind is blowing at about 35-40 miles an hour and whatever has been cleared has now disappeared due to the drifting.
Yikes!
December 27, 2010 at 1:51 PM
Pat, all is good as long as you are safe and sound. Kidlets will have their Xmas next week. Food will be okay. You will be hale and healthy. Seems like a plan to me.
December 27, 2010 at 1:52 PM
This comment is to Fredster regarding what he wrote on the last thread:
Forgive me as I make assumptions left and right, but I don’t think you should regret not getting momster to LA as promised. I believe your plans took her on a trip there that if it was actualized, may not have been as wonderful as in her imagination. I think your intentions gave her peace and gratitude to you so she she could slip away with memories, nostalgia, and contentment. I can’t imagine actually traveling while extremely ill would be very comfortable….and LA today isn’t like it used to be. You were a lovely son to her and I’m sure she knew it. No regrets to besmirch your memories. I don’t think she’d like that.
December 27, 2010 at 2:48 PM
@33, Fredster is the son that us old ladies would want. He truly loved his momster and wanted to take her home. Your comment was brilliant and and I hope Fredster takes it to heart.
Fredster teach my son how to be a son, please. .
December 27, 2010 at 3:19 PM
Beata, I am so sorry to learn about your mother. It is so hard when parents become frail and ill. Please take care of yourself as well.
December 27, 2010 at 3:28 PM
@21 I like your driving parameters Pat, and I think I will adopt them. I was already beginning to think twice about going out in the ice cold at night after two flat tires in the past three weeks.
I am also keeping more emegency cash in my wallet than I usually carrry. Three weeks ago a young man with a tow truck noticed my flat tire, blinked me over, and changed it. It really helped that I was able to compensate him, and I didn’t have to pay for a taxi. It is rather nerve racking for me to be in a suburb when I have lived most of my adult life on a T-line, and I don’t yet have any friends here that I could call in an emergency.
I am a little bit south of Boston, and the plows seem to be really overwhelmed. I drove up the main road which leads to Rte128 (yes, I still call it that) and it is barely plowed. So I am not going very far from home today. At least I have decent tires now.
December 27, 2010 at 3:36 PM
#37: My son would have had to travel back to Reading on Rte 128 so it was the best decision to just wait one more week when everybody could get together under safer conditions.
Besides, I know that one gift under the tree for me is – wait for it!- the George Bush book! My SIL knows I loathe him and thinks it is funny to watch my expression when he is mentioned. One year he gave me a 7 foot Bush cutout and last year it was one of Obama.
Fine by me if he wants to waste his good earned dollars on stuff he knows will drive me round the bend.
December 27, 2010 at 4:02 PM
Pat: I put this on the last post but you didn’t reply. I was *really* wanting to get a comment out of ya:
December 27, 2010 at 4:22 PM
Sharon@33: I wasn’t looking at it lightly to get the momster down there. I had found a medical transport company in Athens Ga that did long distance transports. They had trained medical staff onboard the ambulances.
The house dr. at the n.h. here said that with these things she could make the trip. St. Margaret’s Daughter N.H. in nola was going to take her. They had reopened in a newer, bigger facility after Katrina and being in the upper 9th ward was minutes away from Tulane Med. Ctr and also Touro.
You have to remember also that she wasn’t in too bad of shape until a day and 1/2 before she died. Hell, the n.h. here must have thought something was going okay because after she died a got an e.o.b. from medicare where the therapists there submitted about 6k in claims for p.t./o.t., speech therapy and other stuff.
December 27, 2010 at 6:52 PM
Fredster, I meant no offense. I just wanted to say I thought your mom was serene at the end knowing your plans.
December 27, 2010 at 7:15 PM
Fredster, you know we love you – you and Fuzzy and DYB are the best men in the world, and we know it.
December 27, 2010 at 7:31 PM
Sharon@42: Oh no, no offense taken. I would not have looked into the possibility if I thought it would not have been a safe thing to transport her down there. After she died I *did* get her back to St. Bernard, just not the way I wanted to. However, she’s at peace and rest next to my Dad.
Hopefully I’ll be back there soon myself if I can get some of the crazy sh!t resolved here in Alabama.
Now on a positive note: The Saints play the Atlanta dirty birds tonight on MNF. C’mon Drew…gotta whip ”em in their own dome! 
December 27, 2010 at 7:34 PM
Fredster I am so sorry you have lost your mother. She must have been a wonderfiul lady.it is very hard around the holidays so please take care of yourself.
December 27, 2010 at 8:04 PM
Me above: Damn! It’s the game tonight plus they’re doing 2 or 3 hrs of True Blood on HBO. 
December 27, 2010 at 8:44 PM
Just started…Saints 3 and out and dirty birds have the ball.
December 27, 2010 at 8:55 PM
Kinda boring so far. I think it will end up being a nail biter.
December 27, 2010 at 9:00 PM
la: Yep, it will not be a big scoring game I don’t think. These teams are pretty evenly matched.
December 27, 2010 at 9:24 PM
I know who it better be. 
And Saints get the ball on a fumble. (missed it)
December 27, 2010 at 9:26 PM
Saints down to the 2 yrd line and then TOUCHDOWN!
Geaux Saints!!
December 27, 2010 at 9:44 PM
la: Yep. Saints cannot give the Falcons those kinds of gifts (penalties).
December 27, 2010 at 9:48 PM
Stupid penalties. They need to get their testosterone back in their paints so it can move up to their heads.
December 27, 2010 at 9:52 PM
True. They can’t make those non-thinking mistakes
Just loved Gruden’s comment about flags on the field: If we get one more we’ll have an amusement park.
December 27, 2010 at 10:36 PM
Saints got it but couldn’t do anything. The punt was lucky for the Saints twice now, going further than it should have.
December 27, 2010 at 10:37 PM
@65: Ah, Chat, I was just funning you all. I’m watching it, too.
December 27, 2010 at 10:45 PM
@67: Fredster, the nurses say she is better. The stomach virus appears to be almost gone. She’s on Z-pak for an upper respiratory infection. She sat up and ate / drank a little for lunch, then talked to me on the phone for a few minutes. It’s hard to judge without my seeing her but it sounds like she’s going to be okay.
Thanks everyone for the support. It really helps.
December 27, 2010 at 10:52 PM
Beata@70: Sounds like good news if she’s eating and drinking some now. I love z-paks. I’ve taken them twice when I was sick as a dog and by the 2nd day could already feel some improvement. Amazing how fast they can work.
December 27, 2010 at 10:52 PM
Well, forget what I just wrote. Just talked to the nurse. My mother’s still vomiting. Not eating or drinking anything. Not able to take her meds tonight. Still getting IV fluids though. It was a new young nurse I had never spoken to before. That always makes me uneasy. I prefer the nurses who know my mother.
Oy.
December 27, 2010 at 10:53 PM
I just hope you guys won’t hate us here in MA when Tom “Be Still My Beating Heart” Brady takes the Super Bowl trophy home this year.
And in your hearts you know he will.
December 27, 2010 at 10:56 PM
Oh, Beata, I have been through all this myself and it is never easy. My thoughts go out to you.
December 27, 2010 at 10:58 PM
I’m frightened. I need to get out to see my mother so I can evaluate the situation but I can’t risk it. Because of my brain tumor, I have serious swallowing problems. The tumor is pressing on the swallowing nerve. If I get a virus like the one my mother has, I could choke on my own vomit. Not the way I want to go.
December 27, 2010 at 11:04 PM
Oh hell that int sucked.
But now two throws and the Saints are at the dirty birds 30!
December 27, 2010 at 11:08 PM
Pat: Pretty boy = epic FAIL!
Beata: Can you mask and glove to go see your mom?
December 27, 2010 at 11:13 PM
Beata @75> Ugh, that’s awful. It really doesn’t sound like a good idea for you to go there in person. Have you heard from that douchy doctor who hung up on you yesterday?
December 27, 2010 at 11:15 PM
@77: That’s a good idea, Fredster. I will ask the head nurse tomorrow if the mask and glove might work.
December 27, 2010 at 11:20 PM
@78: DYB, you never hear from the doctors at nursing homes! And don’t you dare call them!
One of the nurses that I know well just called and said they were continuing the IV fluids. That seems to be all they can do until the virus is gone.
December 27, 2010 at 11:27 PM
Beata, you stay put. Do not take any chances. Take care of yourself.
December 27, 2010 at 11:28 PM
TAKE THAT DIRTY BOIDS!!
And Fredster needs to keep the portable defibrillator nearby.
December 27, 2010 at 11:30 PM
@80: If they can keep her hydrated, that’s most of the battle. Be careful if you visit. Don’t touch anything.
December 28, 2010 at 12:02 AM
Oh thank God the Saints pulled this one out! I was waiting for the worst possible things to happen! Phew!!
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December 27, 2010 at 7:23 AM
I have awakened to cable, phone and internet. Yippee! Long may it last.