Songs of the Decade -Part 3

80. Between the Buried and Me - Selkies :The Endless Obsession (2005)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKQSe3TatPQ

Why: A song that showcases BTBAM's style of merging multiple genres. It starts out as progressive, turns into metalcore, has moment of death metal and then ends up as alternative.

79. Sizzla - Just One of Those Days (2002)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvKme7NmzMA

Why: Sizzla somehow manages to put out about two albums a year. But from 2002-2004 every album was excellent. No one did the sad songs better than he did and the lyrics from this apt break-up song are soaked in reality.

78. Muse - Knights of Cydonia (2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8WP7aOD_9Q&ob=av2n

Why: An upbeat guitar track about making your own chances and controlling your destiny. A bit of crazy space rock which is exemplified by the intro coming from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

77. Dizzee Rascal - Fix up, Look Sharp (2003)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZGvnI37mxk

Why: Took a sample from Billy Squier and arranged it completely out of the norm.And grime music usually isn't norm anyway and it drifted from that. One of the songs that helped the world realize the talent of the unique Dizzee.

76. Modest Mouse - Float On (2004)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcyQS7D2lFI

Why: The song to shout and clap along with. Great lyrics about hopefulness, mostly about the small stuff coupled with a great rhythm section. Inspiring us all to float on if things get too heavy.

75. Radiohead - Pyramid Song (2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES2cjsjQCTM

Why: Thom Yorke thinks its the best he's done. A piano driven song that references Dante, The Tibetan book of the Dead and Hesse's Siddharta. What more do you need?

74. D'Angelo - Untitled (How Does it Feel) -(2000)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbEeSMzP7pw

Why: A tribute to early Prince with soul, funk and quiet storm. Lyrics which deal with a man pleading with his lover to get some. The Marvin Gaye songs for the next generation.

73. Iron & Wine - Naked as We Came (2004)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XXD20DhV4c

Why: An acoustic ballad about burying your dead lover. Haunting lyrics which are, to be honest, quite depressing. The song is beautiful in a way only sad songs can be.

72. Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl? (2003)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkL7V3TbrZE

Why: A total throwback to the 1960's Motown feel. But with more overdriven guitars thrown in. A total hyper driven song. Somehow the spoken line of the title works as a chorus.

71. M.I.A. - Paper Planes (2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRjZoRtu0Y&ob=av2e

Why: Possibly a violent song? Possibly a satire of views on immigrants? The song seems to contain more layers than you can fit into a pop song. Everyone's favorite Sri Lankan rapper finally crossed over into the main with this song about being underground.

Oscar Predictions-Film Awards (i)

Best Director Most likely winner : Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. Leaving out Ben Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow and Quentin Tarantino pretty much made this Spielberg's to lose. And doesn't reflect too well on the Academy either. Backup Pick : David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook. The production company of Weinstein have been campaigning hard for this and it's a good film with the acting performances set up well. The thing about best director is it's the easiest award to give to someone the academy likes because it's ambiguous and the academy doesn't really love Russell. Most deserving : Michel Haneke for Amour. Haneke has the most carefully crafted film here. All in all it is definitely his film in every scene. His presence is all around the film and it is an excellent film. If they give it for the greatest impact a director has on the film, this is it. Best Adapted Screenplay Most li...

(Short) Analysis of the (length of stay for) teams at World Cup 2014 - Groups A and B

I like World Cup, quite a lot, and think it's the best of all the tournaments that exist in football and very possibly in all of sport (at least for any tournament focused on one sport since the Olympics is amazing because of the variety). So I'll be trying to figure out how likely each team is to get out of the group stages and how far they'll probably go if they do. All the odds are from www.bet365.com which is the site I use most for trend spotting in sport (it's like my sport-Bloomberg). Group A Brazil- Automatically qualified as hosts and at 1/20 to qualify have the second best odds of any team to make it out of the group phase behind Argentina (who have probably the softest group). It's with good reason Brazil have such low odds and they're considered favourites. Winning or even coming second in Group A doesn't mean an easy run as it probably would result in a round of sixteen clash against either defending champions Spain or the ...

Best Films of the Decade - 2010s - Third Part

11. Get Out (2017)- Directed and written by Jordan Peele. Horror seems to be an excellent medium to describe racism and it's somewhat amazing how obvious it seems in hindsight. One of the best debuts of a director in recent times, with a script that amps up the tension marvelously and serves up a twist in the tale that was impossible to see coming. Normally horror movies are seen as niche, but this film was popular with the wide audience and also at the award ceremonies further proving everyone was able to be captured by the film's quality. There has been talk of the film fitting into horror-comedy, probably due to Peele's comedy background, but while it is never laughably funny but does serve as a clever satire on the state of racial affairs. 12. The Death of Stalin (2017) - Directed by Armando Iannuci. Written by Armando Iannuci, David Schneider and Ian Martin. Few topics are as ripe for satire as the workings of communist governments (provi...

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