Left to my own devices

First things first: the title is a bit of a misnomer. What you are about to read isn't an overview of the "best" songs of from 2010 through 2019, which would require some sense of objectivity. These are my favorite tracks of the decade, in all their varied, often stupendous, sometimes awful, upside down glory. Now that we have that out of the way, let's begin. Over the next month, I will periodically drop a 10-song chunk of the Top 100 list, in countdown order. Today, we begin with songs 91 through 100. It would be tempting to label these "the bottom ten," but that would be inaccurate, as there are a lot -- A LOT -- of songs that I listened to during this decade that haven't made the cut. So, consider these the least of the best. Hmm, not sure that sounds much better. Regardless, here we go...

Someone on Twitter shared an article about amatonormativity recently. I read it, and found it interesting. The article posits that our society places too much of an emphasis on the supposed virtues of romance, monogamy, and generally romantic and sexual coupling, to the detriment of the healthy and deeper development of platonic friendships. Indeed, it would seem to put a stigma on being single and alone (or "self-partnered," as the Harry Potter grown-up-kids prefer to call themselves ).  From the article: "Amatonormativity is, essentially, "the assumption that a central, exclusive, amorous relationship is normal for humans, in that it is a universally shared goal, and that such a relationship is normative, in the sense that it should be aimed at in preference to other relationship types," according to Elizabeth Brake." This is one of those scenarios where I don't necessarily disagree with the premise, but have doubts about what comes af...

Regular readers of this blog, along with people who know me in real life, know that I love movies. It should therefore come as no surprise that, as the second decade of the 21st century comes to a close, I'm taking a page from roger.ebert.com  and making a list of my Top 25 films of the decade Granted, there's still two months left in the year, and that is when Oscar beat season typically grinds into full swing, but it would probably do a disservice to the previous 118 months by holding out on making the list, in case some unexpectedly wonderful piece of cinema should drop soon (something better than the decade has brought forward so far). So, we push ahead. It should be noted that these are all, obviously, subjective picks. You could call them my favorites, though I am truly attempting to choose what I consider to be the best from the past ten years. With that out of the way, let's proceed.