MY ALBUMS & ARTISTS OF 2013

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (2013)

1.     MY NAME IS MY NAME- Pusha T

Early this year, Pusha T threw a tantrum for not being put on MTV’s hottest rappers in the game list. I rolled my eyes, despite the fact that I thought he deserved to be in there, especially since his G.O.O.D Music cohort Big Sean made the list. Enter Pusha’s debut album My Name Is My Name, a body of work BBC’s Zane Lowe described as the most uncompromising album of the year (not to mention Pusha does the best dedication to Ma$e on Let Me Love You). In a year of semi-sequels, emotionally-tinged albums and rappers going platinum before releasing albums (damn you Jay-Z), My Name Is My Name is what all those other albums simply should’ve been about first & foremost: rap! That’s not to diss any other rapper or to say Pusha’s debut is the most super extraordinary album of the year (which actually by default it kinda is), but it does one thing better than any other album I heard this year: it delivers! That’s all we ask!

2.     EL CAMINO- The Black Keys

Technicality is a bitch, but it can be helpful. The Black Keys released this album in late 2011 and it got much of its fame in 2012 with its songs being used in ads and TV series. So why is it here? Technicality bitches (and I should be able to cheat on my list at least once, if not all the time)! It won the Grammy for Best Rock Album of the Year for 2013, so… technically, it’s the ruling Rock album of the year and rightfully so. There are almost no duds in this album and I mean it with all seriousness. The album is mostly fast and retrospective… and good! That’s all.

3.     THE 20/20 EXPERIENCE (1/2)- Justin Timberlake

Damn technicality, this could’ve been number two! The more experimental (and better) half of the 20/20 Experience, some critics slammed this album for its mediocre lyrics and such, but I ask were they expecting a revolution from the man who brought sexy back?

4.     NOTHING WAS THE SAME- Drake

Hold up… I’m not on my worst behavior, I can explain! Lyrically speaking, Drake’s 3^rd album ISN’T better than J. Cole’s, Eminem’s or Jay Z, but, and here’s the BIG BUT, it is an easily digestible album. The album is easy listening, nothing heavy and for once doesn’t exactly seem made to cater to a female audience, not that Drake’s past albums have exclusively done so, but this is the one most guys would readily admit to liking.

5.     BORN SINNER- J. Cole

Raise your hands if you thought J. Cole was STUPID to go against Kanye West by releasing his sophomore on the same date as the self-proclaimed Louis Vutton Don. *Embarrassingly raises hand*. Now raise your hand if you were embarrassed when you found out Cole had the better hip-hop centric album? *Again raises hand*. Case closed!

6.     LONG.LIVE.A$AP- A$AP Rocky

I haven’t enjoyed a debut album like this from a new artist since King Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. A$AP doesn’t say anything new, but then who the hell does these days.

7.     VICIOUS LIES AND DANGEROUS RUMOURS- Big Boi

The more present half of Outkast in the past few years shows up with his 2^nd album (3^rd, if you count Speakerboxxx) and breaks the mold of using the same tired ass hip hop beats by incorporating every other genre possible to produce a worthy sequel to Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. And you think I’m the only one who does long titles. SMH!

8.     THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP2- Eminem

If we’re going to be honest and we just woke up today never having heard of Eminem, this album may not be placed this high, but like a sequel you watch based on the fact you liked the first movie, we all flocked to Marshall’s 7^th album and his somewhat sequel to his 2000 Marshall Mathers LP. While MMLP2 stands on its own, it is no doubt the hints and sequels to the songs on his 2000 opus that perhaps makes us cherish his latest effort more. Truth is songs like Bezerk fail to do what he intended with the retro sound, but then songs like Don’t Front succeed in that department. My biggest problem with the album is the sequencing and the fact that aside from Rap God and the perquisite pop single Monster with Rihanna, Em pretty much choose the wrong singles to promote. Don’t Front should’ve been a single, even if today’s kids may not know what 90s hip hop sounds like. Let them google and download.

9.     MAGNA CARTA HOLY GRAIL- Jay Z

Let’s face it; there are standard Jay Z albums and then there are great Jay Z albums. MCHG happens to be standard, let’s call a spade a spade. I feel this is the album Jay Z tried to make with The Blueprint 3, but for some reason couldn’t. MCHG definitely trumps TB3, but it’s still standard… for a Jay Z album.

10. OGA BOSS- Ill Bliss

Ill Bliss is underrated, but so are many rappers in Nigeria and while Bliss may never be considered a first tier concert headliner, he’s one of the reason why hip hop in Nigeria hasn’t fully gone pop and fallen to the clutches of commercialism. Commercialism’s not a bad thing, but when rappers all sound the same, it is. Bliss crafts an all round album that caters to all and probably not since M.I’s debut has a Naija rap album attempted to be so multi-faceted.

11.  JAGZ NATION VOL 1- THY NATION COMES- Jesse Jagz

Had Jesse trimmed a few tracks off his sophomore, he would’ve had a near perfect album, instead because of those few songs Jagz Nation sounds like an artist wobbling through his sophomore deciding what kind of artist he wants to be; a rapper, a singer or a Rasta. I for one I’m glad Jesse left the house that Audu built. That’s no shade towards Audu and co, but the truth is we (the fans) don’t care about who said what or what e-mail got sent to who, all we care about is good music and Jagz delivered overall.

12.  ALPHABETICAL ORDER- Mode Nine & XYZ

It’s bad enough Mode Nine continuously gets overlooked (yet you can’t say he’s ever been underrated) and has to compete with the Davidos and Ice Princes of the Nigerian music industry. Yet, he delivers an album worth his accolades (multiple Lyricist of the year awards) and more. Since we’re speaking the truth, allow me to vent. Modey’s biggest problem in my opinion has been his inability to pick viable singles. It’s not that he doesn’t have them, he just doesn’t promote them. Luckily he partially avoids that on this album with XYZ, promoting a single like “Let It Go”. Flow for The Streets” should not have been single in my opinion, instead he should’ve gone with “The Truth” and that’s… frankly speaking, the truth. When I’m writing these posts, I’m telling nothing but the truth! Aha! I’m chatting to these youths, when I’m writing these posts, I’m telling nothing but the truth. And if Mode Nine doesn’t like it… tell him to “Let It Go”!

13.  KISSLAND- The Weeknd

The Weeknd produces his most conventional album with his official debut. He throws in a little bit of Prince and Michael Jackson in Wanderlust, my fav track off the album and has song titles that sound like Oscar nominated movies e.g. The Town (which is actually an Oscar nominated movie), Adaption (which is also an Oscar nominated movie). Has someone made a movie called Kissland already?!

14. S EP- Sza

TDE’s new signee and first female artist Sza, gives us the most alternative album of the year (sorry Weeknd). The 8 track EP is actually quite chilling and one song Terror Dome even samples snippets from the horror movie Rosemary’s Baby (chilling, I tell you).

ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:

1.     Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: So their album didn’t make my list, but seriously did anyone have a bigger year in Hip Hop than these two, from shopping at thrift shops to the ceiling unable to hold them to their proclamation of promoting Same Love (without Hip Hop blinking, well almost). Hip hop belonged to these two.

2.     King Kendrick Lamar: Kendrick still had a good year riding off his debut album from last year, but it was one controversial guest verse, a BET cipher and a world tour that really kept him relevant. Seriously, has anyone ever done a high-five during a BET cipher?

3.     Pharrell Williams: Pharrell was everywhere this year and the world is now more than convinced he’s a vampire. From producing Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines to being featured on Daft Punk’s Get Lucky to manning the board on the Despicable Me 2 Soundtrack, Pharrell is apparently still in his prime!

4.     AKA: The prince of South African hip hop definitely had a lot to be happy for this year. With the release of “Jealousy” from his sophomore album “Kontrol”, which features the self-titled song and numerous guest features on other South African rappers’ songs, the prince is definitely in line for the throne.

5.     Olamide: First of all… perhaps no entertainer had a better year in Nigeria in terms of relevancy than Badoo himself, voice of the streets, former YBNL signee, (I would add some more things, but I can not talk as much as him- that is not a Yoruba diss by the way) Olamide.

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR:

Was there anyone more happy than Pharrell this year?!

ARTISTS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2014:

1.     Damon Albarn of Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad & The Queen drops his debut album (who isn’t excited?!). If you’ve been part of three successful bands (well, two and a half) ranging from Rock (Blur) to Alternative Hip Hop (The Gorillaz) to contemporary Rock (The Good, The Bad & The Queen, which features the late Fela’s drummer Tony Allen), expectations are high, especially when you’ve been the lead singer of all those bands!

2.     Isaiah Rashad; TDE’s new signee will be dropping his latest mixtape Cilvia.

3.     King Kendrick Lamar: Tell me Kendrick isn’t dropping something new next year with a Beats By Dre ad that features him rapping over the good doctor’s beat and photos of him and The Alchemist in the studio.

4.     Schoolboy Q: another one from TDE. Kendrick just opened the doors for his homies. Every other crew is in trouble next year!

5.     Lindsey: dropping her debut EP Brown early this year, songstress Lindsey’s digital album got her some attention across the border. Here’s hoping 2014 brings a full LP.

THE BEST SINGLES & GUEST VERSES OF THE YEAR

This year’s list was hard for me to decide on, I mean I had favourites, but there was soooo much good music to choose from, so here we go:

1.     Khona ft. Uhuru- Mafikizolo

If this song didn’t make number one, Oluwa would ask me! The heartbreak song of the year is also the best song of all time (for now). Khona means come back and here Mafikizolo and Uhuru sing for their loved ones to come back including an ex-member who died in a car accident and the female lead’s daughter who too died in a separate car accident, hence the broken down car in the visuals.

2.     Can’t Hold Us ft. Ray Dalton- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

One White boy ruling hip-hop, that’s nothing new! But two?! The ceiling couldn’t hold rapper Macklemore and the Jazzy Jeff to his Will Smith, Ryan Lewis.

3.     Royals- Lorde

There’s something cool about artists being self-deprecating, point in case New Zealand singer Lorde who knows she’ll never be a royal, but damn it if she ain’t hood-rich!

4.     Blurred Lines ft. Pharrell & T.I- Robin Thicke

5.     Miracle Mile- Cold War Kids

One of the advantages of watching Vampire Dairies (Yes, I do. No, I’m not ashamed) is you get to hear songs you would otherwise never hear anywhere else. That’s where I discovered this little gem of a Rock Indie anthem and it was released this year too, how lucky!

6.     Stay ft. Mikky Ekko- Rihanna

7.     Body Party-         Ciara

I tried not to like this song, cause I’m a hater to everything, but you can’t deny a good thing when you hear it!

8.     Radioactive-         Imagine Dragons

I have no idea where these guys came from, but I haven’t heard a rock song in a while that turned heads upside down quiet like this.

9.     I Love It ft. Charlie XCX- Icana Pop

10. Skelewu- Davido

This is the most infectious song of the year, as a matter of fact… *backs away from keyboard and starts to Skelewu*

11.  U.E.O.N.O (Black Hippy Remix) ft. Future- Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul & Jay Rock

Of all the U.E.O.N.O remixes, this is by far the most lyrical and most impressive in my opinion!

12. Personally- P-Square

Personally this is my favourite P-Square song and I’m not that big a fan of their music, I mean they have a lot of hits, but very few classics, if you know what I mean. This is a classic, only P-Sqaure could invent, “habatically!”

13.The Truth- Mode Nine & XYZ

People keep sleeping on Modey and he’s the truth… I’m telling nothing but the truth, when I’m writing these posts, I’m writing nothing but the truth! Aha!

14. Cups (Radio/Video Single)- Anna Kendrick

This song was originally written and performed in 1931 by someone whose name I forgot. Over the years it’s been covered by millions of artists, but actress Anna Kendrick is the first to do it with… cups (?)… and a banjo for the radio version, hence the renaming to “Cups”.

15.Happy- Pharrell Williams

From the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack; Pharrell’s just a big kid, I swear!

16. Julia- Sza

The next R&B starlet takes it back with this 80s pop sounding R&B tinged song.

17. Gangsta- Kat Dahlia

18. Always Love You- Burna Boy

This EDM track may seem off with the other ones on Burna’s debut (I mean it doesn’t make the official tracklist), but it’s absolutely great in my opinion.

BEST GUEST VERSES OF THE YEAR:

Contrary to popular belief, King Kendrick Lamar DID NOT have the best guest verse of the year (well not on my list), here’s my list:

1.     BIG K.R.I.T on A$AP Rocky’s 1 Train ft. Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson & Big K.R.I.T.:

There’s a reason why Kendrick Lamar mentioned BIG K.R.I.T on his Control verse, you see K.R.I.T killed him and every other person featured on A$AP’s 1 train, which would explain why they gave him the last verse… so everyone else could get a chance to be heard!

2.     Wiz Khalifa on Rocky’s U.O.E.N.O (Remix) ft. Wiz Khalifa & Future

3.     Nicki Minaj on Chris Brown’s Love More

4.     Young Jeezy on Yo Gotti’s Act Right ft. Young Jeezy & YG

Also the funniest verse of the year! Here’s a sample: I make your bitch pass out/ Straight hit the floor/ She said “I never seen a car like that before/ And what’s that thing sticking out”/ I said that’s the door/

5.     J. Cole on Justin Timberlake’s T.K.O Remix ft. J. Cole, A$AP Rocky & Pusha T

The funniest (and best) response to Kendrick’s Control verse and Cole only uses a few lines to respond.

6.     Jay Electronica on The Bullits’s Murder Death Kill ft. Jay Electronica:

A verse about the environment from the perspective of a fish (?!) and then some?!

7.     Jay Electronica on Big Sean’s Control ft. Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica:

Yes, I think Electronica had a better verse!

8.     Kendrick Lamar on Big Sean’s Control ft. Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica:

And we finally have Kendrick and his oft-mistaken controversial verse; he just asked homies to step their game up is all… and the whole world went crazy!

FAVOURITE LINES OF THE YEAR:

1.     /Girl, why is you lion (lying)/ Tell me why you Mufasa- Childish Gambino on 3005.

2.     Girl, what is that? ... A ringtone?/- J. Cole’s response to Kendrick Lamar’s Control verse on Justin Timberlake’s T.K.O Remix.

3.     /I got a rooster in my (fe)‘rari/ Might be your bitch/- Jeezy on Yo Gotti’s Act Right ft. Jeezy & YG.

4.     /Skinny nigger, but my dick long/- A$AP Rocky on A$AP Ferg’s Shabba ft. A$AP Rocky.

5.     /I fucked her on the spot/ I’m just being honest!/- Future on Honest.

MY FAV MOVIES (& TV SHOWS) OF 2013

Of all the lists I make (almost) every year, this is the one that causes the most debate for obvious reasons, so this year before you start hollering, I made space for movies I DIDN’T SEE (that you liked)… but after my list that is!!

1.     STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS:

While I agree the sequel lacked the initial spark of the first J.J Abrams directed movie, I blame this on us already knowing the characters by now, so all that drama that comes with forming a new team is gone, but that didn’t mean the drama was taken out of this worthy sequel and if you never saw Benedict Cumberbatch before, well I’m sure after watching this you’d go see Sherlock and everything else he’s in and at some point in your life will attempt to yell at someone who pisses you off, “KHHHAAAAAAN!”.

2.     GRAVITY:

This is the simplest movie plot of the year and the most linear (no subplots), everything else about it, the acting, the effects, the sound (or lack of) to the CGI is anything, but simple! For the first 20 minutes of Gravity, the camera absolutely does not cut away from the action, it keeps rolling. This alone should qualify director Alfonso Cuaron for an Oscar in either direction or cinematography. And the acting? Will leave you forgetting that other guy, what’s his name… Clooney! Sure, he brings his charm, but it’s Bullock who carries the movie and not just cause she’s the lead, but because she carries it.

3.     THOR: THE DARK WORLD

By Odin and all the nine realms, I never thought I’d pick a Thor movie over an Iron Man one, but here we are! Unlike most of the year’s superhero movies that suffered from their second half, it is the second half here that makes Thor: The Dark World good. If the Dark World, as has been described by critics is just here to hold us till the next Avengers movie, we’re quite please with this appetizer. Despite its underdeveloped characters, mainly its chief villain and his associate, the movie still packs a punch… and a hammer!

4.     LOOPER (2012 Release):

Two Bruce Willises (is that even right?) in one movie?! Sign me up! One played by Willis, the other played by Gordon-Levitt in this time-travel warp. My future self came back to write this.

5.     FAST & FURIOUS 6:

Zoooooom… … … there goes the review and any justification I have for placing this movie this high up the list! My reasons are as long as the infamous runway in the movie! Rest in peace Paul Walker!

6.     IRON MAN 3:

The first movie to divide fanboys this summer was Iron Man 3, but there’s no denying the cast and crew put up a great performance, not to mention it has the best second act in any superhero movie I’ve seen with that cute little kid!

7.     NOW YOU SEE ME:

The trick to movies that involve deception or slight of hand, to use a magic term is that they are best made when the misdirection is very simple. Take for example Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, where the deception is… well, you’ll have to watch it if you haven’t. However, the problem is when they become complicated. Now You See Me tows a fine line between deciding whether it belongs to the first category or the second. Not everyone will be happy with the ending or the plot for that matter, but one thing is for sure, the story does string you along long enough to keep your attention… like any good magic trick! The movie in itself is one big joke (whether it was intended to be or not), because most viewers will be misdirected by the magic that they may not notice the plot holes in the story… and that’s a good trick! Let’s see which word you remember now from this review! …Is it “trick”?!

8.     JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX:

Based on the graphic novel that stars The Flash, Flashpoint Paradox did for DC what their live action movie of the summer (Man of Steel, I’m looking at you) couldn’t do in my opinion and that’s keep you thoroughly entertained. Now granted if you’re not a comic book fan and know nothing about The Flash or any other DC character aside from Superman and Batman this may not be your cup of tea as it requires some past knowledge of the DC universe. That said it’s definitely one of the best animated movies of the year and proves there is one thing DC does better than Marvel and that’s animation!

9.     LET ME EXPLAIN:

Shit… I can’t explain, but Kevin Hart can. The stand up comic sold out Madison Square Garden for two nights straight for his latest stand up set and it’s easy to see why… a deerbra was involved!

10.   DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012 Release) (Winner for Best Supporting Actor at the 2013 Oscars):

The “D” may be silent, but our enthusiasm wasn’t! Simply put… the Black guy won! What else do you want?!

11.  THIS IS 40:

Dramedy of the year, This Is 40, a spinoff of Knocked Up is as amusing as it is weird with great performances all round, especially from the Apatow girls.

12. HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DRUGS (Documentary of the year):

This hilarious (and yet sad) look at the drug trade will keep you intrigued from how to sell it to the politics that keeps it a money-making business that just can’t be stopped by the so-called “War on Drugs”. It features former drug dealers like rapper 50 Cent to former drug abusers like his boss Eminem (the irony).

13. WRECK-IT-RALPH (2012 Release):

Not since the Toy Story franchise in my opinion has an animated movie told a story with so much joy and emotions involved. Wreck-it-Ralph from Walt Disney, the same house that gave us Toy Story may have another franchise on their hands.

14.  DESPICABLE ME 2:

Despite the plot being drawn out a little with a side-story involving those lovable minions, DM2 still entertains.

15.  THE WOLVERINE:

A predictable second half kills a very dramatic and entertaining first half. Almost the same problem with Man of Steel really, minus the predictability.

16. TRANCE:

Since they’re going to be many comparisons to Christopher Nolan’s Inception, let me tell you what I think Trance did better than Inception: the ending.

17. THE HOURS:

Paul Walker’s first posthumous movie (he has two more coming in Brick Mansions and of course Fast & Furious 7, we hope!) is at times tedious. It works on the one-man-verses-the-elements formula that has succeeded in films like I Am Legend with Will Smith, Buried with Ryan Reynolds and most recently this year’s Gravity with Sandra Bullock. The Hours succeeds slightly less well, but be sure will be brought up whenever this yet-to-be-properly named genre (survival drama?) is discussed in future! It may not be the best of the genre, but it personifies it. And unlike the other mentioned-above movies, The Hours is one you’ll probably only watch once, but it’s still okay!

18.  MAN OF STEEL:

We thought Iron Man 3 had divided fan-boys… we were wrong! In comes Superman in Man Of Steel, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and divide opinions like Moses did the red sea! I for one was not completely satisfied and I’ll explain in rhyme:

Man of Steel tried to sell me a dream/

I wasn’t buying/

Some call me a hater/

I’m just justifying/

The first half was superb/

Second half dying/

You know I’m telling the truth/

You the hater, stop lying/

That battle in Kansas was the shit/

But everything after that… just took a hit/

19.  OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL:

Quite colorful; literally and story wise. It’s amazing how no one had ever made a prequel to the Wizard of Oz before, especially when you consider there are 13 books in the whole series. Well Sam Raimi, he who directed the original horrifying Evil Dead and gave us the better version of Spiderman has and it’s beautiful. Never mind some minor inconsistencies in the story or how quickly things move in the character department, we all pretty much know the story, so we get it. It’s interesting to point out despite its 2 hours and 10 minutes; Raimi had to cut out scenes that Disney thought were terrifying in order to keep its PG rating. That said; it would’ve been wonderful to see it in all its horrifying glory.

20.  LINCOLN (2012 Release) (Winner for Best Actor at the 2013 Oscars):

There is no contest here, when you first see Daniel Day Lewis as America’s 16^th president, you don’t see Day Lewis the actor. Nah, you see Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States in all his glory and right-jokes-at-the-wrong-time personality. While Day Lewis might have got much of the praise of this movie, the supporting cast made it just as memorable, if not more. Stellar turns from Tommy Lee Jones to Lee Pace as the “aptly named” Senator Woods (I agree with those who said he should’ve been nominated for an Oscar) made my day. Lest we forget other standout performances like James Spader playing a character who was likely Alan Shore’s ancestor to Boardwalk Empire villain turned timid U.S house member Michael Stuhlbarg.

21. OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

Its unfair portrayal of North Koreans and sympathy card for the America public (which works… momentarily) aside, Olympus has some great CGI action scenes, some cool one-liners and Gerard Butler who hasn’t looked this heroic since 300. With Hollywood’s insistence of playing off the American public’s fear of the others, in this case the North Koreans, in they come as the bad guys taking over the White House. It could’ve been the Iranians for all we care (but I’m sure they already pissed them off with Argo) or any member of the former axis of evil and it would’ve done the job.

WORST OF THE WORST:

1.     PACIFIC RIM

Just the idea alone should qualify this as one of the best movies of all time; HOWEVER, the script wasn’t as great as the idea.

2.     MACHETE KILLS

Whose idea was this? Why are they still working in Hollywood? WHY?! This was an unwelcomed sequel. The first movie was an okay lampoon of 70s B-Movies, this was just horrible. If you make it pass 20 minutes, let me know if you’re still breathing!

MOVIES I DIDN’T WATCH BUT MY HOMIES SWEAR BY:

I was rolling my eyes writing the title above.

·        The Great Gatsby

·        The Purge

·        World War Z

·        Elysium

·        White House Down

·        About Time

IN MEMORIAM

I initially wasn’t going to do this, but then again:

PAUL WALKER

In a May GQ edition this year, there was a filler about why The Fast Franchise should be taken seriously. Among the reasons was that the franchise was charitable, mostly to Walker, because according to the article, it kept him “fed, clothed, and stocked with Sun-in for over a decade”. It was a joke and admittedly I laughed. But Walker’s relevancy to the movie industry in all honesty might not have been noticed were it not for his death. For starters he wasn’t your regular tabloid feature and he didn’t take up valuable network time because he caught malaria in South Sudan for 10 days (Clooney, I see you!). That alone made him the rare type of star. He could be Paul Walker the actor as well as Paul Walker the person. But perhaps where one realize Walker was more than a pretty face was when you look back at all the people he came up with in the late 90s/early 00s (Think Freddie Prinze Jr, Matthew Lillard, Sean Thomas and to a lesser extent Sarah Michelle Gellar) you realize he’s the ONLY ONE (with the exception of perhaps Ashton Kutcher) who made any worthy films in the last decade. The only other person to survive that group was his Skulls co-star Joshua Jackson who made it back over to TV on Fringe. Ashton Kutcher & Wilmer Valderama for the most part became TV producers & hosts in the last decade. Part of the reason why Walker outlasted his peers especially when it came to movies is because unlike most of his peers he wasn’t eager to cash in on his good likes and youthfulness and once admitted he pretty much started doing movies just to get money to surf and do other things he probably enjoyed more. It was on the set of Skulls with Joshua Jackson that he told director Rob Cohen, if he ever made a movie about street racing or undercover cops, he’d be interested. A year later Cohen got the script to a movie called The Fast & The Furious about a street racer who was an undercover cop! Walker may have been pretty much the heart of the Fast franchise!

PETER O’TOOLE

Anyone who grew up in Saudi Arabia had Lawrence of Arabia as one of their childhood heroes, it wasn’t an option! It wasn’t like teaching children about Lawrence was part of the school curriculum; it’s just that people made it so. Now, today’s children may not know who Lawrence is and let’s face it, history (as it is wont to do) may not want to acknowledge him as much (I mean the guy is half responsible for Saudi Arabia being in the first place), but there is one person people might be more familiar with and that’s the actor who played Lawrence, Peter O’Toole. If you ever saw Lawrence of Arabia, you already fell in love with O’Toole. His piercing blue eyes and his ability to show so much emotion with just his facial expression (a talent done so well on TV’s The Wire), O’Toole captured hearts. Nominated 8 times for an Oscar, he’s the most nominated actor to have never won. He did get an honorary Oscar though, years later (that sort of we-feel-sorry-for-snobbing-you-all-these-years-type of Oscar). For you to understand him getting nominated and not winning in today’s generation, think Leonardo DiCaprio and you go, “WAIT… he doesn’t have an Oscar yet?!” Although no one today has gotten half as nominated as O’Toole and still not won!

THE BEST TV SHOWS OF THE YEAR

          It’s kind of hard to put this in any order (excluding the last two), but number one is definitely number one!

1       HOUSE OF CARDS

Picture Game of Thrones set in our time: lies, sex, deceit, beheadings… okay, not the last one, but there’s murder nonetheless.

2       BREAKING BAD

This is how you end a good show. BB’s biggest achievement in its final season was moving the series central focus from being all about Walter White to being about everybody around him as well.

3       RAY DONOVAN

This show is MAAAAADDDDD! Live Schreiber definitely shines as the title character, so does the rest of the cast.

4       GAME OF THRONES

The Red Wedding aside; GoT delivered its usual mix of intrigue and killer dialogue. Personally, it doesn’t measure up t last season, but still good.

5       GRACELAND

Undercover cops, feds, customs & DEA agents living under one roof means guns are going to get pulled out sooner than later.

6       DEVIOUS MAIDS (Surprised I liked this)

This may come off as a Desperate Housewives knock-off, especially since it’s coming from the creator of that show and one of its stars, but it’s actually more edgy and darker… as far as these types of soaps go. You can pretty much tell what’s going to happen in the next three or four episodes and the pilot is admittedly boring, but it gets better. If you’re looking for something light and more in the soap type mood, you’ll enjoy this.

FAIL OF THE YEAR:

The final season of Dexter was a cop-out; they tried to turn him into Spiderman (i.e a franchise) and not in a good way!