2010 is gone already?

That's right kids its time to feel old. We're ten years into the new millenium, the 21st century and what have we accomplished thus far? Let's run down some of the highlights of the past year, in a little tribute to one of my favorite movies.

The Good

Lets start with one of the recent headlines.

Some German doctors cured AIDS. Seriously...if that's not something doesn't go down in history as beng important this year, I don't know what will. AIDS. Despite what you may have been led to believe by Magic Johnson's amazing life, AIDS kills people. And while they haven't found THE cure, they did manage to cure AIDS. Its a step in the right direction.

The Saints won the Superbowl. I know, I know technically they won the 2009 Superbowl, but they won it in 2010 so...I'm counting it. They brought hope and happiness to a city that had undergone so much trying to rebuild. But that's only a drop in the bucket of what that win meant. The Saints had never won a SuperBowl. Drew Breeze managed to do something Archie never could. And in the process, I think completely cemented his place in the HOF. He's definitely a first rounder.

Staying in the world of sports, here's the good. Blake Griffin has begun his rookie year, and he started it by becoming the king of the highlight reel. Don't know who Blake Griffin is? Allow him to reintroduce himself. The sick part about the kid is that this should have been his sophomore effort, had it not been for a season killing knee surgery that took place before he even got on court. After seeing so many explosive athletes get taken under by injuries, its good to see one succeed, especially one as ridiculous as Blake "The Great Light Hope" Griffin.

2010 was the year of the domesticated rapper, with Drake and Kid Cudi leading the way. No more verbal threats and stories of drug deals gone wrong. Now suddenly rappers are talking about being depressed, lonely, the struggles of trying to be successful, and how they just want to be happy. And you know what? It's refreshing. I personally don't really relate to rappers who talk about slanging rocks on the corner. Its a new century, and the majority of rap's listeners don't respect the dope boy like they used to. So what if you sell drugs? Can you spit these bars? Big up to the lyricist movement (Charles Hamilton, J. Cole, Big Sean, Wale, B.O.B.) coming in with this, with more rappers being openly jovial and intelligent about the world and how they choose to disseminate it.

Kenan Thompson on SNL has finally hit it big...well SNL big. He's finally found his niche and he is killing it. Don't believe me? Watch this and tell me you don't laugh.

The Bad

This was a bad year to be a head coach in the NFL. Two coaches lost their teams and lost their jobs, and there are at least three more in the hot seat. What happened? Well the Cowboys came out and just flat out underachieved. There's not excuse for that, for them or for Phillips. And the Vikings pretty much let Brett Favre throw their coach's job to the other team, not to mention anonymous players in the Vikings organization coming forward to ESPN to bad mouth their coach. Maybe its the upcoming CBA that has all the players riled up against the coaches, or even against THE MAN!

Waka Flocka Flames. I will not dedicate more than a few sentences to this dude. But he...just wasn't good. I can't label his music ugly though, because those beats are fire! Its hard to hate a dude when his songs get you so amped. I'm sorry, I can't.

And...the Ugly

First on my list of ugly, one Mr. Antoine Dodson. He, in and of himself, is not an ugly person. But he has made some decisions to land him squarely on this list. First, I understand that he was just doing an interview and somebody heard it, autotuned it and made him an web sensation. I'm not mad about that. I think it was funny, even though I will say it appears to be funny at the expense of Mr. Dodson and impoverished, uneducated black people everywhere (much like blackface) but that's not why this is ugly. That's simply bad. Here's the ugly.



That...is so...I can't.

Let's just move on.

SNL...What happened to you? You used to be so beautiful. And now all of your sketches are flat, your homerun hitters are dialing in performances, and the people who YOU held down because they weren't "ready" are the only bright spots in your show. The best sketch on a show that has Live in its title really shouldn't be prerecorded. Speaking of which, I hear Justin Timberlake wants to join up. I want to see him on the show, but I'm afraid even his buoyancy won't be able to pull the Titanic that is your show out of the ocean of mediocrity. And I know that analogy isn't fair. Because at least the Titanic could blame a glacier. What was your glacier?

A man walked into a school board meeting and opened fire on the people he believed to be responsible for taking his wife's job before eventually taking his own life. Why? I think the ugly part about all of this is that it was caught entirely on tape and of course it was all over youtube and the media. If I post a snatched video of a mainstream artist, it gets pulled down in minutes, but you let this man's last insane minutes stay up? Sure we don't see him kill himself, but we see him discharge a firearm at the school board members. I'm guilty of adding to the spread of that video, since I posted it here and on Twitter, but in retrospect, I wish that we could've respected that man and his life and never let that video into the public eye.

Honorable (or dishonorable) mentions:
Leann Rimes got pregnant by another woman's husband and is marrying him? UGLY!
Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johanson are divorcing after only two years of marriage. Bad.
Healthcare bill passed but may still not make it because of the party shift within Congress UGLY
The sudden surge and swell of the Tea Party members? UGLY!
Scott Pilgrim vs the World (the Movie) didn't recoup its budget in the box office despite being ambitious, well-made, having an established fan base, and a 81% fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating. This is why good movies continue to not get made. You people deserve an UGLY for this one.
Tyler Perry promises to rebuild an 88 year old grandmothers house in Atlanta after it catches fire...Good and yes it does pain me to say it. That house is being paid for with blood money.
Shanahan benches Donovan McNabb for not being physically or mentally sharp enough to run his system? UGLY

And finally:

Kanye replaces his bottom row of teeth with diamonds...diamonds, ladies and gentleman. I can't even label that.