When Dakota and I saw the ever so reputable Pitchfork's "Top 200 Songs of the 2010's," we laughed. We cried. We messaged each other angrily. We did everything except enjoy the butchering of music representation of our coming of age, coming into our own decade. We each enjoyed a handful of songs on the lists, to be sure. But as self-professed amateur (emphasis on the amateur) music critics on a multi-year hiatus, and especially as music enthusiasts, we felt we couldn't sit idly by and watch Rihanna's "Work" or Justin Bieber's "Sorry" be dubbed objectively better than 99.9% of the music this decade.
After a short discussion, we both immediately got to work on making our own top 200 songs of the decade. We knew we wouldn't agree with each other, so we made our own lists. On my list (and I think Dakota did something similar with his), I didn't feel the need to pretend to present my list as purely objective--this is my top 200 songs of this decade. Some of the tracks are objectively good and critically acclaimed, whereas others are just part of a music niche I enjoy. I definitely acknowledge there's got to be dozens of artists that put out great stuff this decade that I've never heard of--my full time job isn't researching music. Nevertheless, here's what I got out of this past decade of music. Feel free to check out the stuff you've never heard of, or follow the playlist--or ignore it altogether. I don't care; I'm not your mom.
DJ Crazy J Rodriguez (Miley Cyrus, The Notorious B.I.G.)
156
Tokyo
Imagine Dragons
155
Drunk in Love
Beyoncé, JAY Z
154
HUMBLE.
Kendrick Lamar
153
Superfast Jellyfish
Gorillaz
152
Same Drugs
Chance the Rapper
151
Alright
Kendrick Lamar
150
Queen of California
John Mayer
149
Machu Picchu
The Strokes
148
Reminder
Mumford & Sons
147
S.O.B.
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
146
Under Cover of Darkness
The Strokes
145
Wizard of Meh
Pogo
144
The Promise
Reel Big Fish
143
Fragments of Time
Daft Punk
142
Worry
Jack Garratt
141
Shoot out the Lights
Mad Caddies
140
Broccoli
DRAM, Lil Yachty
139
White Knuckles
OK Go
138
I've Set Sail
Toh Kay
137
Harmony Hall
Vampire Weekend
136
Molly (feat. Brendon Urie)
Lil Dicky
135
Skyscraper
Streetlight Manifesto
134
Run the Jewels
Run the Jewels
133
Worry On My Mind
Suburban Legends
132
House of Gold
Twenty One Pilots
131
Wind In Our Sail
Weezer
130
Turn the Lights Off
Tally Hall
129
You Know As Well As I
Speak
128
Touch
Daft Punk
127
Born and Raised
John Mayer
126
To The Sea
Jack Johnson
125
Gold
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
124
Around the World in 80 Seconds
Ozma
123
You Oughta Know
Das Racist
122
California Kids
Weezer
121
bodyache
Purity Ring
120
Rivers and Roads
The Head and the Heart
119
How'd You Like That
The Kooks
118
A Hymn for a Scarecrow
Tally Hall
117
Linoleum
Streetlight Manifesto
116
Valerie
Ra Ra Riot
115
Honeybee
Steam Powered Giraffe
114
<3 (Heart)
Cherub
113
Sugartown
The Fratellis
112
Mouthful of Diamonds
Phantogram
111
You Put the Flame on It
Charles Bradley
110
Fred Astaire
Jukebox The Ghost
109
Black Skinhead
Kanye West
108
Swimming Pools (Drank)
Kendrick Lamar
107
Sun Hands
Local Natives
106
Shoegaze
Alabama Shakes
105
Everything Now
Arcade Fire
104
The Suburbs
Arcade Fire
103
Juice
Chance the Rapper
102
Never Say Die
CHVRCHES
101
Come Alive
Chromeo
100
Sober
Childish Gambino
99
The Age of Worry
John Mayer
98
I Won't Let You Down
OK Go
97
You
Tally Hall
96
Ungirthed
Purity Ring
95
Data & Picard
Pogo
94
Perfect
Rob Cantor
93
Little Town
Mad Caddies
92
There He Go
Schoolboy Q
91
Cameras
Matt and Kim
90
Too Young to Burn
Sunny & The Sunsets
89
The Great Unknown
Jukebox The Ghost
88
Nobody But You
Charles Bradley
87
Blockbuster Night Part 1
Run the Jewels
86
Never Be Like You (feat. Kai)
Flume
85
This is America
Childish Gambino
84
River
Leon Bridges
83
This Too Shall Pass
OK Go
82
Thinkin Bout You
Frank Ocean
81
XOXO
Cherub
80
push pull
Purity Ring
79
World News
Local Natives
78
You Think I Don't Know (But I Know)
Charles Bradley
77
Brand New Scar
Mad Caddies
76
Fall in Love
Phantogram
75
Polish Girl
Neon Indian
74
Dang! (feat. Anderson .Paak)
Mac Miller
73
Reflections
MisterWives
72
Toe to Toe
Streetlight Manifesto
71
Honeybody
Kishi Bashi
70
Helena Beat
Foster The People
69
Sugar (feat. Francesco Yates)
Robin Schulz
68
6's to 9's (feat. Rationale)
Big Wild
67
Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)
Run the Jewels
66
Peanut Butter Jelly
Galantis
65
Say My Name (Remix)
ODESZA
64
Be There
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
63
Local Joke
Neon Indian
62
POWER
Kanye West
61
Hand of God - Outro
John Bellion
60
Carried Away
Passion Pit
59
Camera Talk
Local Natives
58
Jackie and Wilson
Hozier
57
Humility (feat. George Benson)
Gorillaz
56
The House That Heaven Built
Japandroids
55
Wave Goodnight to Me
Jeff Rosenstock
54
Queensway
Coral Bones
53
Holdin On
Flume
52
Airplanes
Local Natives
51
Runaway
Kanye West
50
Fell In The Sun
Big Grams
49
This Must Be the Place (Niave Melody)
Kishi Bashi
48
Favorite Liar
The Wrecks
47
Cigarette Daydreams
Cage The Elephant
46
Memories
Weezer
45
Vice City (feat. Black Hippy)
Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar
44
Deadbeat Summer
Neon Indian
43
Jealous (I Ain't With It)
Chromeo
42
You & Me - Flume Remix
Disclosure, Eliza Doolittle
41
Adulthood
Jukebox The Ghost
40
Broad Shoulders (feat. Chance the Rapper)
Taylor Bennett
39
If Only for Memories
Streetlight Manifesto
38
Telescope
Cage The Elephant
37
Aftergold (feat. Tove Stryke)
Big Wild
36
You & Me
Tally Hall
35
Waiting for the Sunset
The Planet Smashers
34
Oh My Darling Don't Cry
Run the Jewels
33
Half Light I
Arcade Fire
32
Can't Stop It (feat. Lyrics Born)
Suburban Legends
31
Favorite Song
Chance the Rapper
30
Lovin' You, Baby
Charles Bradley
29
The Mother We Share
CHVRCHES
28
Everywhere I Go (Kings and Queens)
New Politics
27
The Hands That Thieve
Streetlight Manifesto
26
The Recipe - Bonus Track
Kendrick Lamar
25
Prom Night
Chance the Rapper
24
Ultralight Beam
Kanye West
23
James Dean
The Wrecks
22
Coming Home
Leon Bridges
21
King Kunta
Kendrick Lamar
20
All of the Lights
Kanye West
19
Wasting Time (Eternal Summer) - Acoustic
Four Year Strong
18
Someone New
Hozier
17
The Ballad of Mr. Steak
Kishi Bashi
16
A Little Honey
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
15
Summertime
Sex Bob-Omb
14
Junk of the Heart (Happy)
The Kooks
13
As We Move Forward
The Family Crest
12
You And Your Heart
Jack Johnson
11
Better Man
Leon Bridges
10
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Arcade Fire
9
On Melancholy Hill
Gorillaz
8
Need To Know (feat. Chance the Rapper)
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
7
Girl
Jukebox The Ghost
6
Sunday Candy
Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment
5
Rill Rill
Sleigh Bells
4
Heartaches and Pain
Charles Bradley
3
Because I'm Me
The Avalanches
2
Interlude (That's Love)
Chance the Rapper
1
Beyond
Leon Bridges
For those curious, mine and Dakota's playlists share around 31% of the same songs. Mine and Pitchfork's playlists have about 3% of songs in common (though Dakota's seems to have quite a bit more).
What a summer this 2019 summer was. This was the first summer in a long time where I didn't have a full-time job to maintain--which strangely made it one of my busiest summers of all time. Why? Because I didn't spend my time getting too tired to have fun by working 40 hours a week, but was still getting paid--which meant I could do anything. As you can imagine, being able to do anything for me can be pretty wild if not dangerous.
In the 40 days between June 13th and July 22nd, I only slept in my own bed four times. Sounds fun, right? But by the time I finally made it home from all my traveling and settled back into life after those 40 days, I found myself with just 2 weeks of summer vacation left before my job started back up at school. Suffice it to say I won't be doing that much traveling again next year. I think.
May
The summer started the way it always does--my group of friends getting together in mid May during the basketball playoffs to write down our summer goals. But this time, it started out with Grillin' and Chillin' and concrete smashin'.
Me trynna act like I know how to swing a sledgehammer (May 4th 2019)
As for the goals I wrote that day, you can find them here. In review, I did most of them (16 of 25) despite being out of town for literally about half the summer. Honestly, I had a lot of work intensive, long-term goals this year. When I was actually home, I made a lot of progress with writing, getting in shape, and learning guitar--but I didn't PR my 5k time and I wasn't home enough to say I did guitar and writing 5 days a week. I aced an exam, ran through a lot of video games, re-studied my least favorite branch of mathematics, and did an ill-advised 45 mile bike ride with my mutually unprepared friends.
But my first goal? "Run that race today." Or in more descriptive words, "run that half marathon on a whim that Matt and Katie were running that day as we were writing goals." Well I ran it with them and all things considered, I'd say it went pretty well. We finished somewhere around 2 hours and 13 minutes--though really I was just jogging alongside them the entire way and didn't want to mess up their pacing, so time wasn't really part of my goal at all. Not that in all my (non) preparation I coulda ran it much faster anyways, if at all.
May the Fourth half marathon with the Matt and Katie in Farmington, which was technically my first half marathon race. I didn't actually sign up, but I did get a medal that I'd eventually realize glows in the dark four months later (May 4th 2019)
But as soon as school actually got out on May 24th, it was almost strictly business. I left out of town less than 24 hours later on a trip to LA to see Lindsey for our shortest trip of the summer together (4ish days). This trip was certainly the least action-packed of all our trips (more on all those other trips with her later), though one of the highlights was definitely the man date I got to go on with John Luna, eating at both Bludso's BBQ and Pink's hot dogs, buying a date soundtrack at Amoeba, and having discussions about funk and soul music and whether or not it's okay to be a fan of Donald Trump as an actor/TV personality.
June
My first day of summer not in LA, cross country practice started and I ran my first 5k time of the summer at 23:57 (55 seconds off my PR set in 2010). By mid-June, Jesse was hosting his annual 24-hour gaming party charity event, at which I spent 15 hours playing Spyro, speedran Minecraft with Kyle, beat a few other games, and ate the least healthy food I could get my hands on.
Next up was the 45 mile bike ride summer goal Matt, Kevin, Katie, and I made to bike the entire Jordan River Parkway trail. The trail follows the Jordan River from Utah Lake up to the Great Salt Lake and, all stops considered, took us about 8 hours of beautiful scenery and painful riding (our butts weren't ready for all day on a bike saddle).
Biking the entire Jordan River Parkway Trail--the conclusion of 45-miles of sun, guzzling water, and the 8 hours of sitting on a bike seat that none of us were really ready for (June 3rd, 2019)
Besides playing a lot of disc golf and participating in Dakota's summer-long tournament (I got second because I actually showed up every time), the next big summer experience for me was leaving the country for the first time. I flew up to Edmonton, CA for the Solsnitch fantasy quidditch tournament and had hella fun. My team was not good. But I felt like I played fine and got to experience a unique camping tournament with people from another country where the sun goes down at 10 PM and comes up at 4 AM when it's the summer solstice. And I got to experience customs, I guess? I also got to bike around and explore the city of Edmonton, and even took the time to sit in on a legislative session for the province of Alberta where they were discussing education bills.
In the middle of my 40 days of almost never being home, I took the one full day of me being in town to destroy the math content PRAXIS without any preparation and after a day of international travel, staying up almost the entire night hanging out and playing video games. Because it's actually a pretty important test for my career, I was actually pretty stressed about taking it, despite my careless attitude. So I'm thankful it was easier than I thought it would be and that the actual exam went well (quick numbers: I needed a 165 to pass, the average score is 160--ended up with a 190 out of 200). Before the end of summer, this would lead me to finally get my official teaching license.
Literally the next day, I flew out to Los Angeles/Hollywood to see Lindsey some more and hang out with my Lost Boys fam. We went to stand up comedy shows, saw an especially remarkable production of Les Mis at Pantages, went out to see several movies, ate a lot of food, John and I went to Disney (which was actually low-key the best time I've ever had at Disneyland), and we all played in the Funky Fiesta fantasy tournament.
"Three dudes hanging out"
John Luna, Nick Offerman, and I sitting in the parking lot before he performs at John's comedy show (June 2019)
As far as the tournament, I was actually pretty stoked my team made the finals and performed pretty well (after a slow start) because on paper we were supposed to be pretty good. We ended up with second place, but also I managed to somehow win my first ever tournament MVP in my many years of playing quidditch. So that was really neat.
Me with the Spartans at Funky Fiesta, complete with the MVP tiara and our second place trophy (June 29, 2019)
July
After finally getting home from my two week Hollywood excursion, Dakota and his girlfriend had invited me on a trip to the Grand Canyon and to see her family in Chino Hills, CA with their friend Stephanie. The four of us drove through the night to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon, which I surprisingly hadn't even been to at all before.
Grand Canyon Sunrise feat. my hair being too long and the squad (July 4th 2019)
We spent the 4th driving from the grand canyon to Chino Hills, taking naps, going to a family BBQ, and going to Huntington Beach for a firework show over the ocean. Probably the highlight of the trip was Dakota and I breaking from the group to go see Leon Bridges perform at the Hollywood Bowl (which included us experiencing a real live earthquake at the bowl) and eating, as Dakota put it, some good, good BBQ.
"Tetherball is too easy"
Dakota and I playing feet-only tetherball at some gas station somewhere on the way from the Grand Canyon to California (July 4th, 2019)
We made it home after the long weekend, which meant I had about two days to rest, have my car break down and try unsuccessfully to get it fixed before leaving, and pack my things to head back to Canada--but this time, to Prince Edward Island off the east coast of Canada.
To fly to Canada in relative comfort and in good company, I first flew to Lindsey in LA for a few days before the long cross country flight so we could sit together. After some flight cancellations and flying all night and most of a day, we landed and Clay and Nancy picked us up at the tiny Charlottetown Airport. In all honesty, even though the idea of traveling with someone else's family you don't know--in addition to it being the family of someone whom you're not even necessarily dating--sounds like kind of an intimidating idea, I loved it. I felt like I got along pretty great with the family (though the one relationship I regret not developing more was with the family dog, Mr. Bean, who's literally perfect). But although there was so much to see on the island, and even though the island culture was so far from anything I'd ever seen before, and even though I had a lot of "firsts" I experienced on the trip, I think my favorite part of the island was honestly getting to know Nancy and Clay and experiencing firsthand a family dynamic I knew little to nothing about going in. New places are always cool, but to me, the majority of the joy of traveling has to do with the interesting people you're with and the new ones you meet along the way. Although their family is so different than my own in a lot of ways, I really enjoyed just spending time with them.
Tucker, AKA Mr. Bean--the world's first perfect being (photo by Lindsey, stolen from Instagram)
Upon arriving, I was basically given the lowdown on life on the island and was bombarded (not in a bad way) with coupon books and travel brochures and lists of things to do. They had me make my own island bucket list to accomplish before I had to leave, which consisted of:
-Seeing the bottle house (small houses, buildings, and a church made out of glass bottles)
-Seeing the confederation bridge
-Doing a ropes course
-Kayaking
-Golfing (my first ever round of golf)
-Lobster dinners(also a first)
-Seeing Anne of Green Gables in Charlottetown (the musical is set on PEI, fyi), as well as seeing the Anne of Green Gables museum
-Seeing the red rock beaches
-Going to a potato farm (okay, this wasn't on my list, but visiting the red dirt farm and digging up potatoes was low-key one of my favorite parts of the trip)
Lindsey and I on the ropes course on PEI (July 2019)
We also visited a lot of shops and in the evening we watched a few seasons of Animal Kingdom (family crime drama) with Nancy and Clay. Honestly, the whole island experience was literally like I had teleported to a new existence to experience some new thing I'll probably never see again, stay and live there with a new family for a couple of weeks, and then have it all end abruptly and be transported back to reality by an early morning airplane ride--just like that. If I had to pick one highlight from the summer, I think my experience with the family on PEI would be the clearcut favorite.
August
July ended and August began with a pair of great concerts. First was a Streetlight Manifesto show, and second was a co-headling Reel Big Fish and Bowling For Soup show. I won't go into detail on the shows, seeing as this isn't a concert review blog and I've seen all three bands multiple times before, but they were each great shows to see with friends. Since age 16 or so, good summer memories have often revolved around amazing concert experiences.
By the time my summer traveling and the concerts were over, I had less than a week before professional development started back up at school. I was back to running with the cross country team every day, but I had one more weekend trip to Moab with Lindsey between professional development and the first day of school. While she was here, we made it all the way down to arches national park, managed the Delicate Arch hike in the morning before the heat of the day set in, and went to the opening night of the Book of Mormon musical downtown in Salt Lake.
Lindsey and I at the delicate arch--and yes, we got a little bit closer to it than that (August 11th 2019)
And just like that, the summer was over as I dropped Lindsey off at the airport in the morning of my first day back at school. But besides school and cross country meets starting as early as August 14th (truly a sin), my friend group did have one more summer memory to make up at Pat's cabin in Driggs, ID. In our 14 years of friendship, it was the first time Dakota made it to the cabin trips and I was also stoked Jesse and Jared came with us as well. The five of us lit fires, played Grand Traghee disc golf, saw mouse house, watched Dakota eat the entire stack of pancakes at Big Hole (which had apparently never been done before), went to Lava Hot Springs, and were just generally rambunctious in our 36 hours there. Stay tuned--there should be a travel video coming soon.
The Boys feat. Dakota in digital print (August 25 2019)
In the end, this summer I went a lot of places and did a lot of things for the first time--probably moreso than any summer in memory and definitely more than I expected going in. I spent time with people I care about and worked on my own personal growth and goals. Everything might not have worked out perfectly, I didn't complete all my goals, and there's never enough days in summer like there's never enough hours in a day. There's also certainly some other beautiful moments and memories I missed, and probably some that I've already forgotten. But to me, summer is the reoccurring holy time of our lives for being outside, exploring, improving, experiencing, and loving. It's for remembering what it's like to be a kid with endless potential. Even though it sounds cliché, if I had it over again, I wouldn't go back and spend my summer any other way--which is legitimately nice to be able to say.
1. Finish that half marathon today ✓
2. PR my 5k Time ❏
3. Leave the Country ✓
4. See the Grand Canyon ✓
5. Weigh less than 200 pounds ❏
6. Build a Minecraft mountain mansion with Dakota ✓
7. Beat the Spyro Reignited trilogy ✓
8. Bungee jump ❏
9. King's Peak ❏
10. Visit a new state ❏
11. Bike the entire Jordan River Parkway trail ✓
12. Quit Soda ❏
13. Finish one of last year's unfinished goals ✓
14. Write 5 days a week ❏
15. Play guitar 5 days a week ❏
16. Go on a date ✓
17. Beat a new video game ✓
18. Play video games for 24 straight hours ✓
19. Get into Clash of Clans (disclaimer: one of my students wrote this on my goals poster) ✓
20. Do some Grillin' and Chillin' ✓
21. Pass the Praxis ✓
22. Eat at 10 new restaurants ✓
23. Play Streetball ✓
24. Go to the dentist and the doctor ❏
25. Study analysis ✓
I've had some sort of soundtrack to my summers every year since probably 2005. Music plays an important part of my summers, whether it comes in the form of burning mixtape CDs or just bumping to the same Aquabats or Bowling For Soup album on repeat all summer on the DI-bought stereo (I have much more need for musical diversity these days). But since 2015, I've been officially documenting my summer playlists on Spotify, usually created at the end of the summer as a kind of retrospective answer to the questions "what did I listen to this summer, what music did I discover, which songs are now associated with specific summer memories, and which songs became newly important to me this summer?"
"No Sugar Tonight" by The Guess Who
On the day that kicked off my summer, I had just finished writing summer goals with the crew and was on my way to bandit a half marathon for my first time and on a whim. This song was the last song I heard before I got out of my car immediately before running and as a result (as Matt and Katie can attest) this song was stuck in my head the whole 13.1 and 2+ hours of running. "No sugar tonight in my coffee, no sugar tonight in my tea. No sugar to stand besides me, no sugar to run with me." And that's how my summer started.
"Grillin' and Chillin'" by Sammy Kershaw
It seems like every summer there's a song someone in our crew plays ironically only to have it catch on and get played ironically until it almost becomes unironic. One year it was "Goin' Up the Country" by Canned Heat, and another year it was Kanye West's "Bound 2." Whatever song it is for a given summer, it always makes its way into some of the videos we shoot and frequently crops up throughout the summer. "Grillin' and Chillin'" rose to notoriety at our summer goals writing party that started with a grillin' and chillin' BBQ, and was inspired by the now-infamous Applebees commercial--and now it's become permanently entangled with my 2019 summer memories.
"Mrs. Robinson" by The Lemonheads
This cover came from when I went on a man date in Hollywood with one of my favorite guys, John Luna. Although the date got off to a rocky start with our BBQ place being closed in the afternoon for a few hours, the date really started when we got to Amoeba Music to get a random CD to be the soundtrack we'd listen to on our date. That random CD ended up being It's a Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads. I'd say there's roughly one quality song I legitimately enjoyed off the album. Take a guess which one it was.
"Dream Baby Dream" by Bruce Springsteen
For the first and only time on this list, this isn't a memory I'm going to share with you guys, but it is important. It did originally catch my attention in a nice scene in the movie American Honey, which I randomly watched with Lindsey. Gotta keep the fire burning. Dream baby dream.
"Ocean Man" by Ween
Okay this one is a little bit harder than the others to explain away. I think the craze started when I read a comment on Reddit where someone mentioned the song, listened to it and laughed, sent it to Dakota, and now a few months later we're still talking about it. Although it wasn't written for Spongebob The Movie, it was reasonably made famous recently by it and it doesn't entirely make sense--but then again, I guess what meme really does.
"Rivers and Roads" by The Head and the Heart
This song was (probably only in my mind) the theme song of our 47 mile excursion to bike the entirety of the Jordan Parkway Trail in one day. Importantly, the completely paved trail follows the entire Jordan River as it runs from Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake and intersects with, at one point or another, basically every important road in Utah. I sung it out loud as we biked, now and then, and when I wasn't singing it, it was stuck in my head. Songs getting stuck in my head seems to be a reoccurring entry into this playlist, but the songs are also usually relevant in other some way, too, so...
"James Dean" by The Wrecks
My distinct memory for this song came while sitting in a plane in Alberta, Canada about to take off. When I heard the intro scream and the rocking, self-deprecating yet self-accepting lyrics, I felt a rise in my chest and I listened to it another 2-3 times after it ended. We can't all look like James Dean, but who cares? Also, a fun fact: one of my students recommended The Wrecks to me. Thanks, Hannah.
"Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)" by Four Year Strong (acoustic)
Here, Lindsey gets her own entry on this playlist since she's an important part of my summer. In a nice moment of flying down the highway to the airport to drop off Cam, this song came on and I immediately recognized it from my times of being friends with Dakota and seeing these guys at Warped Tour, even though I don't listen to these guys much at all.
"If It Feels Good (The it Must Be)," "River," and "Beyond" by Leon Bridges
With Dakota at the Hollywood Bowl, I saw Leon Bridges in concert and it was a big deal for me. In short, I loved it. Here I've got listed the opener, the closer, and the new song I didn't know beforehand that I fell in love with, which are all memorable in their own right.
"Because I'm Me" by The Avalanches
This song kept cropping up this summer and it all started with Dakota adding it to our four person roadtrip playlist "A Roadtrip Where We End Up Hating Each Other" as one of his 10 songs. He wanted to delete it to add something else while I happened to be listening to it, and I told him "no."
That brings us up to date, but the summer is only half over! Tune in sometime in August for the rest.
Before we get started, it should be noted this is clearly not a ranking of the best movie scenes of all time. I wouldn't even attempt to address something as vast as every scene in the entire universe of motion picture--something I having a casual, passing knowledge of but an enthusiastic interest in. If it wasn't clear enough from the title, these are my favorite movie scenes I've ever seen: perhaps the most memorable I've seen, perhaps the funniest, or perhaps the most entertaining or touching or inspirational. Looking back after making the list, I noticed I seem to have an affinity for long, stylistic takes and good usage of music, especially good music intros, and, of course, Robin Williams as an actor. Just a heads up for y'all at home. But also, many of these scenes, especially the music intro scenes, were moments when watching the movie for the first time where I thought, "Well alright, this is going to be a good movie." So here you go:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 -- Yondu Arrow Killing Scene
As a character, Yondu is pretty complex and interesting; I was really excited when he got his own character arc in Guardians 2. Before this scene in the movie, he hits a low point in pretty much every way possible. But this is the moment where everything finally starts to change for him as a result of him getting his fin back. Marvel used this moment to show what an engaging miscreant Yondu is in all of his unrelenting, casual vengeance, while he executes dozens (hundreds?) of crew members who had a part in doing him wrong. Not only does this scene show off Yondu's character as a ruthless ravager, but it does so while taking full advantage of slow-mo shots and general badassery as the bodies of his enemies fall all around him--all while a somehow fitting and ironically upbeat 1960's song blares throughout the spaceship. Man, if there's one trope in this movie I never got sick of, it's the use of music that the characters actually hear in the movie the same as we're hearing it in the theater, which magnifies the effect that we're actually experiencing something with the characters rather than just watching a movie with a good soundtrack.
This scene is just incredibly well shot. The dozens of detailed and emotive slow motion deaths and the shower of bodies falling all around from the rafters is grisly, yet satisfying on behalf of Yondu and his vengeance. Of course, Yondu goes on to have two other incredible moments later in the film: the self sacrifice/Mary Poppins bit, and a touching space funeral scene that I almost also included in this list.
2. Good Will Hunting -- "You're just a kid"
For a man with one of the most prolific, renowned, and cherished acting careers of all time, Robin Williams's park bench scene might be his best scene of all time. At the very least, this scene is my favorite scene Robin Williams ever did. In an incredibly long one-shot monologue, his character, Sean Maguire, finally rips Will, the arrogant genius main character, a new one and calls him out on all his issues.
Armed with just the writing and Robin's performance, this scene kept me emotionally invested in his character's point for five straight minutes. In one long take, his character not only provides a deep conflict resolution opportunity for the two characters, but also reminds us that we as people are meant to experience life more than we are to be just being accumulators of knowledge. He stimulates our minds into exploring what the purposes of our own lives are, while sharing the purpose his own character has found as he symbolically opens up about his own tragic past to Matt Damon's closed off character. He makes us wish to be better as people and to be more open to others by addressing the problems of living a guarded life. And he does all this in one sitting, one take, and with no distractions from his performance. What a perfect scene.
Above all, though, my favorite point he makes is that our fellow people are by far more interesting, more important, and more worth caring about than anything else in the world. Nearly anything else, we can "read in some f***ing book." I've said it before, but I strongly believe it: our interactions with our fellow people are the most important things in this world. Maybe I subconsciously got that idea from this movie.
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World -- Amp vs Amp
In all honesty, my favorite scene from Scott Pilgrim is probably the opening credits scene where we get our first taste of Sex Bob-Omb and the stunning yet meaningful visual effects in this film. But for the sake of diversity and not wanting to put 10 different music intro scenes on this list, I went with a more visually important and entertaining fight scene later in the movie in which Sex Bob-Omb battles against the Katayanagi twins. You know, the scene where Edgar Wright literally redifines the meaning of the phrase "Battle of the Bands" in an amp vs amp showdown?
In this scene, we finally see some development and determination from Scott as a character in his determination to date Ramona as he slams angrily on his bass guitar with new purpose. As a result, we get to watch a huge grunge rock behemoth metaphorically (right?) take on a pair of electric keyboard dragons. Without the perfectly fitting grunge music, or the comic book-like effects, or the monsters battling, or even simply the constant wind effects on the band members' faces, this scene would feel incomplete. Instead, it all comes together beautifully in what I consider by far the best of the 6 evil ex boss battles in this movie.
4. Superbad -- Intro/Opening Credits
My love for this scene is a lot less profound than many of the others on this list. I just love it because it's vibin'. What an excellent way to kick off a movie and tell the audience via a creative intro, "Yo, you're gonna love this movie." Although Superbad isn't one of my favorite movies of all time or anything, I do recall that for the first 45 minutes or so the first time I watched it, I was convinced it just might be a perfect movie until it kinda lost me in the second half.
5. Big Fish -- "The story of my life"
Okay, I hate most Tim Burton films, but I ADORE Big Fish. Something really sets it apart from his other work. For me, it might simply be the fact that I am generally enthralled by simply listening to stories, and this movie is made up entirely of stories. Or it might be the optimistic, surreal, fantastical, enamoring, alluring love story Tim managed to put together with Ewan McGregor as his lead. Who knows?
This movie can be hard to interpret as it's layered with a lot of symbolism in the flashback storytelling. But one of my favorite ideas from the end of the movie is the dual theme of forgiveness and being there for your loved ones. The old man (Edward) wasn't there for his son (Will) the way he should have been. But as his father is on his death bed, Will forgives his him for all of his shortcomings and ultimately decides to be there in his time of need--not just physically, but emotionally, and in such an important way. In this scene, Will finally accepts his father for who he is after struggling with it all movie, and in doing so he provides his father with the words he needs to hear on his death bed. This scene tells us that forgiveness and kindness towards people who need it is far more important than past wrongdoings or any grudge we might hold against others. Combine that with a fanfare reprise of dozens of fantastic characters in a scene that blurs your vision on what in this movie is reality and what is fiction, and you've got something special.
6. Kingsmen -- Church Fight scene*
*Content warning: inappropriate slurs and incredibly graphic violence
A big part of how much I enjoy movies has to do with the expectation I have/have created going in. When I was going to see Kingsmen for the first time on the big screen, literally all I knew about it was that it was "a British spy movie" and that "it wasn't bad." Although all that is basically true, it turns out that Kingsmen is also so much more than that--as you can see from the clip above.
What an absolute massacre. Although violence usually makes me uncomfortable and excessive gore makes me a little squeamish, I was absolutely floored--in a great way--while watching this violence unfold. Watching an impressively long take of Collin Firth absolutely decimating an entire church full of people in an all-out brawl on a huge screen while legendary rock "Freebird" solos blare in surround sound is not a feeling I'll soon forget. And that's all I have to say about that.
7. Baby Driver -- Coffee Run/Opening Credits
Another overly long take (160 seconds) with an incredible usage of great music selection that's played within the movie--and another Edgar Wright scene. So what else is new?
What I loved most about this scene is simply how much Ansel Elgort was just feeling the same music we were while watching in the theater. Watching Baby prance around the streets of Atlanta, lost in his own world, interacting with but not caring about the world around him--well, I feel like that while jamming to music just all too often. With a lot of the lyrics plastered on walls and trees and lamp posts, and movements and sound effects syncing up to the music? It's almost cheesy, but to me it feels way too fun and relatable for me to anything but love this scene. Not to mention, every time I watch it, I find something new that I like about it that I had missed previously; it's just kinda magic that way.
8. La La Land -- Griffith Observatory Scene
It's pure bliss; it's pure fiction; it's pure impossibility. It's overly romantic and idealistic. It's completely beautiful. This scene is basically our first real chance to fall in love with the music from La La Land and with Mia and Sebastian as a couple. Although the love story is cute and nice, I've always more liked what this movie says about potential and dream chasing. I know plenty of people who hate it for what I like about it, but I left the debate as to whether it's a good movie back in 2016 when I decided I personally really enjoy it. Here at the iconic Griffith Observatory, the stars and musical motifs (yes, I know this is a musical, but it's also about jazz) hit their stride and show off in a stunning, dance-among-the-stars fantasy and it speaks to my soul.
9. A Knight's Tale -- Chaucer's Introduction
I once memorized this monologue for a party back in my Jr. High days because I liked it so much, and I am generally not good at memorizing things. I think that'll suffice.
10. Ferris Bueller's Day Off-- Opening Monologue
It's hard to remember that when we all watched this scene for the first time, we didn't have any idea who Ferris Bueller was as a character or that he's actually faking being sick to get out of school--until he sits up and iconically drops the line: "They bought it." Two minutes in and things are already starting to shape up into a great movie--starting with a character establishing monologue while Ferris casually goes about his day getting ready for his day off and describing his systematic method of faking sick, all while dropping quotable nuggets of wisdom along the way. He also does a bang up job of casually reminding us of what it's like to live life as a teenager without responsibility and with a desire to stick it to the man at every turn--not to mention the narrow scope of teenage self-importance. All this in just under about 160 seconds.
11. Nacho Libre -- Nacho fights Ramses
I watched Nacho Libre for the first time as an adult the other day and I was floored by how I missed the meaning of this scene as a teenager.
To be fair, I don't actually care much about this scene or the fight until the moment Ramses has his foot on Nacho's neck (2:27 in the video) and Sister Encarnación walks in with the orphans to finally support him in living his dream. The next two minutes is where the entire plot of the movie actually ends up mattering and the film ceases to just be about a guy working to live out his dream as a luchador. This moment is where the movie really becomes about finding strength in doing things for others and the importance of helping others in need. See, his whole career, Nacho has a strong desire to wrestle, but he is such a stinky warrior. But once he decides that he'll wrestle for the kids, and not for the fancy lotions and fame for himself, his magical eagle powers activate and he's somehow able to beat the best wrestler in the region (or maybe the whole world???). And, of course, it's not to be forgotten that the sister finally supports him in his cause and brings the orphans along to the wrestling match. Yeah, of course the idea is corny as heck and the concept isn't new or profound, but with these real and characters that you inevitably grow attached to throughout the course of the film--and the lovable man that is Jack Black as a Mexican wrestler--I absolutely adore this scene. Add in the concept of the greater powers of fate and/or God allowing all these things to happen the way they do for the bettering of the world and the lives of poor Mexican orphans, and you've got a potentially happy tear-jerking end to a fun movie.
12. Dead Poet's Society -- "We don't read and write poetry because it's cute"
Both as a mathematician and as a teacher, I value this scene now more than ever. But the first time I saw it was in my 11th grade English class as I was in the process of considering what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. What is the purpose of life? How should I spend my time here on earth? Why am I even stuck here at school for 8 hours a day anyways? I didn't have the real answers to these questions, but I did find this scene stimulating potential answers and forming ideas in my brain while the film offered me a sobering and inspiring perspective on the matters at hand.
It's easy to say that this movie is just about an unrealistic, eccentric teacher with some generic, overly idealistic methods, armed with trite phrases. But don't forget, likely the reason "carpe diem" is a household phrase might very well be because of Dead Poet's Society's Academy Award winning screenplay and Robin Williams's inspiring role in bringing it to life.
