My Favorite 110 Songs of the 2000s - The Best of the 00's

Part I

December 15th, 2009
Tuesday Evening, 11:31 PM

Well, it has been awhile.

I have some ideas why I stopped posting and writing this blog last spring. It served a purpose for a time being as I dealt with a number of changes in my life. It was cathartic and at the same time, as a friend pointed out, VERY narcissist. Most of this wired world of Facebook and MySpace and Blogs are just that - "hey look at me, look what I am doing, and you are not." I buy into half of that for this blog, I see it, I get it, and that was the main reason why I shut it down. It served its purpose for the winter and spring of 2009 for me. But, a journal is something that should be private. I was exposing myself, friends, family and in my minds eye, it was time for that to stop.

So here I am writing again, for the last couple of times, right around the anniversary of when this blog started. In these next few post I am going to write about Entertainment, namely music and films, two of my great loves.

As many of my handful of readers know, I hand out some "Best of What's Around" music at the end of each year. This is something I have been doing for the past 15 years. It has always received some warm receptions and feedback. Most of all, it is a way to share music with friends that I know would enjoy it. Still, it will be impossible to add all 110 songs on a memory stick or on a CD. With that stated, I promise to post any of the tracks people are interested in on YouSendIt so you can download what you might like. Just right a comment and I will send it. For now here is a run down of my favorite "must have" tracks from the past 10 years.

Note - I have decided not to run them down in a 110 to 1 Billboard countdown fashion. One, because it would be very difficult to pick favorites as all of these tracks represent a moment in time or a feeling that resonated differently to me during the course of the past ten years. Two, I needed to incorporate the iPod on this list. Unlike any other device in the 00s (even you Mr Laptop), this tool has been the one constant since I purchased it in 2002. The iPod, Napster, then iTunes and most importantly the "shuffle" tool have changed the way I listen to music. Call it "the power of the shuffle". With over 4,000 songs currently on my iPod, the shuffle is the game changer. You never know what you are going to get and that little click never gets old. So here we go, time to go into Playlist, find "The Best of What's Around for the 00s" and hit shuffle songs....

B's Top 110 of the 00s by Song, Artist, Year and Album

- Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco - 2002 - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Fitting that a song from my favorite album of the decade starts off the list. When Jeff Tweedy sings "I miss the innocence I've know, playing Kiss covers beautiful and stoned...." it takes me back to those sunny teenage days. Tweedy is a rock god.

- Valley Winter Song - Fountains of Wayne - 2003 - Welcome Interstate Managers
It was hard to pick one track that meant the most to me from this LP. I still remember being at Maxwell's in Hoboken hearing many of these tracks for the first time (i.e. Hackensack, Mexican Wine) but it is this little haunting slice of New England winter that sticks with me the most.

- SexyBack - Justin Timberlake - 2006 - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Who would have thought at the beginning of the 00's that the curly hair kid from a boy band would be this cool. Be it this track or "Rock Your Body" or his amazing turns on SNL (thanks for "Dick in a Box"), JT proved he could do no wrong. Try being at a club and not dancing to this tune.

- Heaven - The Swimmers - 2008 - Fighting Trees
One of my favorite Philly bands from the 00s. When I saw the Swimmers live downtown this year they almost didn't play this tune because they became sick of it. Not me. To me Heaven is a perfect ELO/Jellyfish throw-back track and one that always transports me to the burbs of Philly.

- Several Thousand - Jim Boggia - 2001- Fidelity is the Enemy
And now on to my favorite Philly artist of the past decade. I first heard this track at a church basement in Westfield, NJ. Since then I have caught Jim live at least five more times, solo or with Mike Viola or with Bleu, and each time has been a treasure for me. This guy truly is an amazing artist, and he should be getting more airtime here in South Eastern PA (come on XPN). And thanks to YouTube here is the first time I heard the song:

- Beautiful Day - U2 - 2000 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
Another song I can remember hearing for the first time. I was on RT 78 W in New Jersey, passing lovely Newark heading to work and I distinctly remember saying to myself, "they are back!" It might be hard to remember but there was a time at the end of the 90s when Bono and the boys lost their way a bit. This LP and the way they performed after 9/11, changed all of that. They went back to writing some great rock songs and being the "best rock band in the world" again.

- Tulip (Your Eyes) - Ty Tabor - 2002 - Saftey
This song came to me via a music swap group I participated in during the middle of the decade. It was a group of about 12 people that had similar musical interest and taste and put tunes on a CD or website for all to find. This was one of my favs from the Swap Project. A straight forward rock track from the old lead singer of the underrated King's X.

- Something To Talk About - Badly Drawn Boy - 2002 - Something to Talk About (Soundtrack)
I will also be posting my favorite list of films from the OO's after the music list. This one might make it, not 100% sure yet. The music from the movie was a perfect fit though. I hear a bit of Harry Nilsson, a bit of Elliott Smith and some great chord progressions.

- Are You Gonna Be My Girl - JET - 2003 - Get Born
The best Stones record since Tattoo You.

- Don't Know Why - Norah Jones - 2002 - Come Away With Me
I mean who didn't like this song? Really. And to that point, who didn't buy this CD? It was everywhere the summer of 2002, in every Starbucks, at every beach party, at your Aunts house, everywhere. But you know what, Jessie Harris really wrote a wonderful tune here, hats off.

- Jesus Walks - Kanye West - 2004 - The College Dropout
So the best rap song of the past ten years was about Jesus. Love Kanye or hate him, you have to respect his ability and the power of his craft. Plus, was there a better line in Rap the past 10 years then: "the way Kathy Lee needs Regis."

- Honey Come Home - John Alagia - 2007 - The Heartbreak Kid (Soundtrack)
I love this little track. I found this nugget during the credits of a godawful Ben Stiller movie. As my father so astutely suggested the first time I played it for him: "you could put this song on the Beatles Rubber Soul." So true Pops, it's that catchy. It's a hard one to find so I thought I would post a YouTube clip of it:


- Strawberry Swing - Coldplay - 2008 - Viva La Vida
I know, everybody loves to pick on these guys. They are a poor mans Radiohead or now that they are working with Eno, they are a poor mans U2, but come on, try all you want to avoid them, they write some great hooks and layer on some amazing sounds. Viva La Vida is a GREAT record. I mean they had a song with strings that made the US Pop charts and dominated the summer of 2008. Respect needs to be given. This is the one track from Viva that I keep coming back to. It has all those hooks and sounds and layers.

- World Spins Madly On - The Weepies - 2006 - Say I Am You
For anyone who has every lost someone or whoever said one thing and did another. And for anyone that ever sits back and meditates thinking about how truly small we are on this big rock in the sky, this song is for you. It's a big and beautiful two minutes and forty five second hug of sorry.

- Happiness - Elliott Smith - 2000 - Figure 8
Thanks to the film Good Will Hunting, people found Elliott Smith. And for a bright five year span, Elliott gave back some incredible sounds to those people. In 2003 Smith either was killed or killed himself, the investigation is still ongoing. Regardless, this Jon Brion produced track from his haunting Figure 8, in the key of E, made me love his sounds even more. A very, very missed talent.

- The Way You Wear Your Head - Nada Surf - 2002 - Let Go
Any songs that shouts-out Cheap Tricks "I Want You To Want Me" has a place on my list. Nada Surf might be best known for a mid-90s grunge wannabe MTV hit, but I have found that this band keeps on evolving for the better. They are a great Power Pop band. Something I for one think we need more of in Rock now a days. Anyone like to have fun anymore?

- Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae - 2006 - Corinne Bailey Rae
A little Lauryn Hill, a little Norah and a nice big swig of Motown makes this a lazy summer day soundtrack delight.

- Something Is Not Right With Me - Cold War Kids - 2008 - Loyalty to Loyalty
One of those indie blog bands that connected with me over the second half of the decade. A South by Southwest staple that has a ton of rock bite. Raw, a little harsh and perfect rock.

- Cannonball - Damien Rice - 2003 - O
Oh those Irish singer songwriters, how you grab me and my melancholy DNA when I hear you. I first heard Damien during one of my 5 trips back home to the motherland this decade. It happens every time I go, I come back with songs and sounds and smiles that will be with me till the day I die. I hear a little of the late great Jeff Buckley in some of the echos in the background of this track.

- Falling Slowly - The Frames - 2007 - The Cost
Back to Ireland again. If someone put a gun to my head and asked me to pick a favorite track from the 00s, it would be this Oscar winner. The movie Once is one of my favorite films of the past decade. It has music and the Irish and features a romance that brews around the two. This version of Falling Slowly is the one that lead singer/songwriter Glen Hansard recorded with his band, The Frames. I like how it sweeps you in even more then the one they preformed in the movie. Gorgeous track. Here is the YouTube of the Frames version: Up Dublin!


- Make You Feel My Love - Adele - 2008 - 19
This is one of a handful of covers I have put on the list. The UK's best-new-voice took one of Bob Dylan's most covered songs and made it her own. It's so good, it almost makes you forget the Garth Brooks version, almost.

- I Don't Feel Like Dancin' - Scissor Sisters - 2006 - Ta-Dah
This Ohio based band had to go all the way to the UK to get airplay here in the States, typical. This is by far the most Disco sounding song on my chart. Insomuch it evokes some classic Bee Gees in certain sections of the song. Most importantly, it just forces you to move.

- The Fixer - Pearl Jam - 2009 - Backspacer
When Pearl Jam first hit the scene with Nirvana, I was in University. They both will forever be part of the soundtrack of that time for me. Since the early 90s though, PJ never really moved me again. Maybe it was Kurt's passing, or the fact that they were not the center of the music universe anymore, or maybe my taste changed. Either way, we didn't reconnect until this past year. Backspacer is their best album since Ten. This track, along with Speed of Sound, resorted my faith in Seattle.

- All At Sea - Jamie Cullum - 2004 - Twentysomething
I've always like the mood of this song; laid back, easy like a Sunday morning. Most of all, and the reason it is on the list, is cause no matter what I am doing, my "air drum-sticks" come out during the bridge.

- Grace Kelly - Mika - 2007 - Life in Cartoon Motion
Over the top and all falsetto, this ode to Philly's own Princess and England's own Queen was a track I brought back with me from a trip to Ireland I took with my Uncle in 2007. I still remember driving on the wrong side of the road belting this one out. Ka-ching

- I Bet You Look Good On the Dance Floor - Arctic Monkeys - 2005 - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Best "in-your-face" rock band out of Brittan since early Oasis.

- Girl In The War - Josh Ritter - 2006 - The Animal Years
A WXPN favorite, and a powerful singer/songwriter Ritter's 2006 release was his strongest to date. With America in the middle of two wars and at its most bitter, Ritter channeled his inner Robert Zimmerman to serve as a mid-decade time capsule. Here is a Youtube of the song:



- Light & Day - The Polyphonic Spree - 2002 - Beginning Stages of...
If this song does not make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, then I do not know which one will. I saw this band live at the TLA in Philly and it was, for lack of a better term, an explosion. 30 people on stage with at least 20 different instruments, all in white gowns, all smiling. You don't see that everyday.

- The Rising - Bruce Springsteen - 2002 - The Rising
Another hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck type of a song, but obviously for different reasons. If anyone was going to write about what happened to the New York area in the fall of 2001, well, it just had to be Bruce. Thank the gods he heard the call. Seeing this done live at Giants Stadium, with the NYC skyline in the background, on a warm summer night, was a reminder that music has some special powers. It was like the sky was saying we could all sing along with the Boss again, it was time.

- Use Somebody - Kings of Leon - 2008 - Only by the Night
Sure, I liked the first couple of albums. I respected the work ethic and how they kept churning them out, but it wasn't until Only by the Night that I grabbed the iPod and hit replay and then replay again. For the past two years the Kings of Leon have been the saviors of rock in the mainstream, and a band that all (from rappers to indie bloggers) still admire. They didn't sell-out, the audience came to them, count me as one of them.

- Hair of the Dog - Mike Viola - 2005 - Just Before Dark
Mike Viola is the artist that I have seen the most live on this list. Be it Joe's Pub in NYC or in Hoboken or some two-bit longe in Morristown, NJ, this is the artist I travel to see and the one that speaks to me the most. Just Before Dark was a record that Viola recorded live at the legendary Largo in LA. He wanted to make a laid back homage to Macca, and in the end, he made my perfect sunny Sunday morning with coffee record. Here is a Youtube of the track:

- Somewhere Down The Barrel - The Dissociatives - 2004 - The Dissociatives
Here is a one-off experiment band from Down Under that I found via the Swap Project. Daniel Johns (VERY underrated here in the States) from Silverchair plays the lead with an Aussie DJ Dance Producer to create something different, crunchy and catchy.

- Stars - Switchfoot - 2005 - Nothing Is Sound
Switchfoot is a "faith-based" alternative rock outfit that my ear caught thanks to their involvement with Andy Sturmer from Jellyfish (Sturmer added vocals to the track). It's a good rock track that one needs to play loud, in the car, and at night of course.

- Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own - U2 - 2004 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
I read when this album came out that Bono wrote and sang these words for his fathers funeral mass. When I wrote my Father's eulogy, I had this song playing on a constant loop in the background searching for inspiration. This song will be with me forever.

- Us - Regina Spektor - 2004 - Soviet Kitsch
Here is one of those songs that takes you back to the first time you fall in love with someone. All wide-eyed and hopeful and without a care; "They'll made a statue of us....", so brazen and naive and perfect.

- The Long Way Around - Dixie Chicks - 2006 - Taking the Long Way
The best Fleetwood Mac songs since Rumors.

- New York, New York - Ryan Adams - 2001 - Gold
Every bar that I went to in the NY Metro Area after 9/11 played this song. "I'll always love you old New York..." became something of a lullaby for the last call crowd. Here is a YouTube of Adams on Letterman:

Okay, that's it for now. Come back later for the next 35 plus tracks of The 00s. I am seeing three installments here.

My Most Anticipated Movie of the Summer - The Hangover

May 7th, 2009
Thursday Night 8:40 PM

Out of all of the movie trailers I have watched or articles I have read this past spring about the 2009 summer movie season, this is the one movie I am most excited about seeing On a cinematic level, The Hangover is what some movie snobs would dismiss as juvenile, but on a comedic level, it has the potential and promised to offer pure unadulterated debauchery crossed with cringe-worthy audacity. You do not see those two in the movies everyday. The movie comes from manic mind of Todd Phillips, the man who gave us the modern day comedy classic Old School. According the the movies website the synopsis is as follows:

Two days before his wedding, Doug and three friends drive to Las Vegas for a wild and memorable stag party. In fact, when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning, they can't remember a thing; nor can they find Doug. With little time to spare , the three hazy pals try to re-trace their steps and find Doug so they can get him back to Los Angeles in time to walk down the aisle.

I know it sounds a bit much on face value, but watch the trailer and tell me it does not look awesomely bad. (And I mean that is a good way.) It stars a bunch of "who are those guys" or "oh that's the guy from that chick flick" or "The Office" or "that guy I just saw at the Comedy Store". Along with those three up-and-comers, it also features my new favorite retro 80s boxer in a mind blowing cameo. Which leads me to ask: "Why is Mike Tyson haunting my every thought (and my blog for that matter) this week?"

Below is the red band trailer. Listen to Tyson crank out the Phil Collins classic "In the Air Tonight" in the background, it makes it worth the two minutes of your life you will lose.

Learning to Live on "The Invisible Speck of Dust"

May 5th, 2009
Tuesday Morning 7:40 AM

Seattle

This morning, as I fought the clock and the golfball size rain pellets that drop at the heads of the good people of Seattle, I was fortunate to make it to the airport on time. While I was standing in the security line I found myself reading news on my Blackberry, which I do excessively, like I am being trapped in some Pavlovian condition/experiment. One random article about the new Mike Tyson Documentary caught my attention and in the process floored me. It went on to provide one of those ear to ear grins that I do when I read something captivating. Along with the grin, I had one of those eureka, finally moments. One of those, "why am I reading about the new Mike Tyson documentary and whoa did he just say that?", moments. The grin was provided by Tyson director James Toback in an interview with the ailing movie critic Roger Ebert. Toback was discussing Tyson's torment and the "illusion of immortality" that the famous boxer possessed during the prime of his professional life. From there Toback took the conversation to a whole new level and one that I wish more people would discuss in their day to day lives.

Look, if you have read this blog since its inception last December, then you know that my 37th and 38th year on this planet have been mostly about me coming to terms with the inevitable cycle of life and loss. Truly, I am fine with the subject. I learned to accept this aspect of life many, many years ago. In fact, it was when I was 11 and my Grandfather passed. I prepared for my own mortality both mentally and emotionally and I am better for that way of thinking. The more difficult aspect of loss, to me, is for the people that are still walking and breathing with us that, for one reason or another, choose not to share the precious moments we have left here on this rock in the cosmos. Toback summed this up perfectly in his conversation with Ebert:

"Because we say, well, yeah, but I'm not really dying because I'm going on to the next life. I don't mean just to be cute about it, but people like that need to look at the Hubble telescope photographs and say, this is where we live.

"We are in an invisible speck of dust. 'We' meaning our whole solar system but if you wanna narrow it down further, our planet, and if you wanna narrow it down further, ourselves. We are almost invisible specks of dust in this great huge, vast, expanding cosmos. And once you actually say, that is what's real, that's where we are, then you can say, well, then what purpose is there in life?

"Well, you're here so you make the best of it; you do what you can. You enjoy what you can, you create what you can and then when it's time you don't whine and you go. [Except] we're never conditioned to think that way. It's never taught. I mean, parents don't teach it, schools don't teach it, religions don't teach it. It's a kind of warped need to mythologize death into everything but what it actually is."

Exactly.

Funny how these little, meaningful quotes find you in certain times of life. Timing truly is everything. Currently, I have been struggling with not the loss via death that I dealt with over the past year, but more about the people that come in and out of the living, breathing life. The ones we know and touch and feel, not the one that we "think" we have a 50% chance of knowing where they are now. "Who knows?", I say. How presumptions of me to pretend that I know what happens. Our (my) primitive minds surely don't. The books we read, or "books" that certain folks cherish and memorize verbatim, do not provide tangible, practical answers. We are guessing folks and Toback nails this point and boils it down to the logical.

The ironic thing is that in the past two days, I have been reading on my Kindle Dr. Bart D. Ehrman's fabulous Jesus, Interrupted and I found myself viewing the most recent, startling images from the Hubble on my laptop while waiting at the airport yesterday. These two topics have always tweaked my interest and they have always made me question, "what do we really know about the historical aspects of the Western Civilization's "Great Book" and "what do we really know about the world where we live?"

Fact - We humans have only seen about 10% of the known Universe thus far. Without the Hubble that number would be a fraction of that. Think about that for a second.

Fact - The four men that allegedly "wrote" about the life of Christ have two different accounts of his birth and four different accounts of his death. They can not even agree on the town of his birth and the exact day of his death. I would think those would be two things that a historian would want to check their facts on. They can not even agree on which Kings and Leaders were in "office" at the times of those events. And why do we entrust so much into these famous words that these infamous historians wrote as, pardon the pun, as "Bible"? We just do, because its what we have been told.

So why are people so dogmatic about beliefs, why do they think they know the answers to what lives a trillion miles away or that something will happen to us after we pass? I think the appropriate answers are that people will always think what they want to believe (what they have been taught) and that we really do not know much about the Universe or about what happened or what didn't happen 2,000 plus years ago, but that we need to offer some sort of answer to keep us going.

Our human condition is about grappling with the past and traditions and finding a place on this speck of dust that is, can become, home for us (you). If the loss of this past year taught me anything, it is that our time is so minuscule that in a blink of an eye, three years goes by, and you wake up one day lucky that you are still here. Then you say - "now what am I going to do with this time and this life?" That poignant question is more for me then my readers. I sit here on the eve of my youngest daughters birthday, some times thinking I know less about myself then I did 5 years ago. Are those my experiences catching up to me? My uncertainties? Am I removing myself from traditions with each step and breath I take or am I constantly falling back into them, accepting the life I need, not the one I crave?

Luckily, the quest for answers continues.

Here is a link to Ebert's article with Toback that I mentioned. It's a good read and will make me want to see the Tyson documentary.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090503/PEOPLE/905039997/

"We Are America, We Do Not F-ing Torture"

April 25th, 2009
Saturday Morning, 11:45 AM


I know am a little late to the party on this one, but being on the road and out of your element will do that to you. Plain and simple - this clip is bloody brilliant. I am not sure where you may stand on the Torture issue, personally I am against it and how it tarnishes America's image and our standing as a nation built on laws. The beauty of this clip is not that Shepard Smith is going against the grain of his party and his channel, it is not that he curses on national cable TV (who cares), it is that he makes a simple point and stands by it. There is no room for "torture is bad, but" in this debate. You can not play both sides of the fence or request to move past this because it happened many moons ago and we have to move on.

To our President, you can not request to save it for a rainy day because we have too much on our plate now. The Justice Department won't get in your way Sir. You can champion your 100 days and beyond causes while they do their job and investigate these failures of civility and prosecute those in charge and adhere to the laws Geneva Convention. As conservative David Brooks proclaimed Thursday on Charlie Rose, "It is astonishing what they've (the White House) done" in the first 100 days. Use this Political Capitol and do something astonishing on this torture issue. The far right is so lost on this issue that they have to trot out one of the least popular VP's in American history, a man that best ideas were 15 years ago and a radio host to try and fight this issue. They are even losing the Reporters on the far right flagship station, good form Shep. Happy to see someone over there has a brain and a heart, "oops".

My Favorties of "The 00's" - Movie Edition

April 24th, 2009
Friday Morning, 8:15 AM

San Francisco

I am sitting at the corner of Geary and Taylor, the 500 block, having a cup of coffee writing this blog. I love this town. I love the air, the temperature, the characters, the cultures that intertwine, the architecture, the hills and most of all the griminess of the city. San Fran reminds me of New York pre-Rudy. A little beat down in sections, and blossoming in other. More then any other America city, and this includes Rudy's hometown, San Fran reminds me of the US, Europe and Asia all rolled into one. It's a joy to visit here and take it all in. It's 8:15 in the morning and already during a brisk morning walk I heard a trumpeter in the distance and watched a busker playing Dylan's "Visions of Johanna". The city is alive and so am I.

That basker did more then entertain me briefly this morning, he gave me an idea for a blog that I wanted to share. See, it's the end of the decade (already) and it's time to reflect on the 10 years that came and went. Over the course of the next 8 months I will write about my favorite movies, music and moments of "The 00's" (what else to call it?). Hopefully some of these moments in entertainment and pop culture will be new to you and you will want seek them out.

Today I will start with a combination of both music and movies. Today I will write about the best musical I watched this decade, and believe me, I am not a fan of musicals. See, this one is a little different. In this one there are no dancing bears or songs about steamboats in the south or songs about Jets and Sharks. This one is about a basker and a pianist immigrant, the music they create and the chemistry they share and it is about those moments in time that give you clarity and most importantly give you hope and the drive to push on. I start my favorite list with the movie Once (2006).

For me Once was one of those movie experiences that simply moved me. I sat there for two hour enjoying every moment and effortless word of the film. I remember the day I watched Once fondly. I remember coming out of the theater to a beautiful May day, with the sun raging as my eyes adjusted to the contrast of dark and light, I inhaled the fresh air of the city street and smiled. I left the theater knowing that the movie and its music would be with me for the rest of my life. Once was the perfect example of those great movie experiences which force you to recall the person you saw it with, the time of year it was and why you even went to that movie in the first place.

In a nutshell, Once is a little parable of friendship and chemistry and choices and music all set in present day Dublin, Ireland. It is the story of a Dublin basker and a Czech immigrant that share a piece of time together. They share their past and inspire each other to focus on the best possible future, together or alone. The centerpiece of the movie and the "gotcha" moment that hooks into you, is an organic scene at a music store. The Girl (the movie never give the main character names adding mystery to the moments) is a classically trained pianist that comes to this shop from time to time to play and practice. The shop keep likes her playing and welcomes her back with a smile. The Guy, the basker with guitar in hand, leads her in a song he recently composed. They play it together for the first time, with himself coaching her during the song and a little something happens along the way. They feel it as much as we do and the chemistry is undeniable. The moment is pure cinematic gold. It is right up there with Fred and Ginger dancing or Elliott and ET talking or Ray Kinsella and his Dad having a catch. It is a "goosebumps" moment and one that reminds you how much fun the movies can be.

That moment at the piano won them an Oscar for the song they performed, Falling Slowly.



From there we spend a week with the two characters, watching as they become friends (and maybe even more), we hear them share stories about past loves and we listen to them make a demo tape that could change both of their lives. Guy lost his love and Girl lost her love and they find each other in the love of music. For a piece of time they share something only the two of them can. It is intense and whimsical. Will it last forever? You will have to watch to find that out. The final scene/shot is one of the simplest and most rewarding I remember from the decade.

I personally shared that movie with a friend that I do not speak with anymore. One of those friendships that serve a defining purpose in life, but end up crashing and burning due to the intensity of the chemistry and external circumstances. The relationship of Guy and Girl will always remind me of my relationship with the friend that I saw Once with. Our friendship was a vessel that took us from one part of life to another, a conduit to understanding ourselves and our future. Like Guy and Girl, there was wonderful music made (those moments at the piano), there was fear and doubt, the past which clung to us and there was an ending where one was at an airport and one was looking out the window thinking about the gift that the friends gave to each other.

For me and my list, when Guy and Girl are sitting at the piano singing about “sinking boats, home and time” it became one of the defining moments in cinema from this past decade, right up there with the first time we meet Heath Ledger's Joker and his pencil trick in The Dark Knight, or the time when it seems to take 20 Boston Police Officers to hold down Sean Penn after he finds out that his daughter was murdered in Mystic River or the time we spend with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore in the car during Children of Men, or the time we see Leo and Jack lock insane eyes with the Dropkick Murphy's playing in the background of The Departed, or the time Julie Delpy attempts to seduce Ethan Hawke in her Paris apartment 10 years after Vienna in Before Sunset or the time Daniel Plainview finds oil and pretends to find God in There Will Be Blood or that time I sat in the theater thinking that “God Only Knows” would fit perfectly at the end of Love Actually and it "actually" starts right on cue. (I know Love Actually?. My only defense is that I was in a pretty severe post first baby, post 9/11 haze of fear and hope and Christmas. Couple that with British shmaltz, my favorite song of all time, and you have a movie moment for me.) But who cares, it's the movies. They are all there waiting to take us away from it all, sharing them in the communal church of pop culture & art, and the good ones force us to feel, react and live.

What are your favorite movie moment of The 00's?