fourfour's 44+ reasons to love 2008 (Part 5 - 4-1)

At last, we've come to the end. I can't believe how ridiculously time-consuming this thing was! It was seriously like packing a year into a week. Actually, take the "like" out and that sentence is just as accurate.

Reason No. 4 - Because MTV finally came around

 

After years of stuffing its lineup with portrayals of twentysomething assholery (The Real World went from a means to help motivated people attain goals to an end for famewhores) MTV subverted vapidness with brilliance via Paris Hilton's My New BFF. As for the other best new reality show of the year, The Paper, it represented the perfecting of something MTV had already proved itself good at: exploring the lives of articulate teens. There's nothing much more to add to the love letters I wrote to both (The Paper is here, Paris is here), although Bikini Corrie's tour de force speech bears repeating:

"I mean, Paris, I plead to you, that you more know so much than anybody else what it's like to have people see something of value and worth and hate you because you're beautiful and you didn't ask for it. I did not ask for this! It was given to me. I used to come home and cry in high school and say, 'Mom, I don't want to be pretty anymore.' And she'd be like, 'You stop it.' Heavy is the head the wears the crown. And, like, you were born into it. I was born the way I am, like...People call me 'Bikini Corrie' back home, because I have earned it! And it's not being cocky, I earned it."

Tracie called this "the best elimination speech in competition-based reality TV programming ever." I'm inclined to agree.

No. 3 - Because Mickey Rourke made me care about him

 

Not that The Wrestler was going to have any trouble sucking me in in the first place, it being about two things I'm obsessed with: the formerly famous and Jersey. Still, as Randy "the Ram" Robinson, Rourke goes beyond the call of duty to deliver maybe my favorite film performance of all time (it's certainly one of the most complicated that I've ever seen, as Rourke is playing at least three roles: the man, the wrestler persona and the actual wrestler). I don't even care that, like, everyone else in the world is fawning over this shit: it's deserving. Ram's character is honest right down to cliched nature (when he asked for, "A cold one," in his strip-club haunt, I swooned).

Darren Aronofsky basically grafted the main points of the 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat onto a comeback story. However, the director wisely lets Rourke run the show (a motif threaded throughout the film finds the camera literally following the Ram's lead, as we watch the back of his head). That devotion to character study is what ultimately makes The Wrestler the best movie of the year. It isn't perfect -- the parallel drawn between the Ram's fading career and that of his aging-stripper object of desire (Marissa Tomei's Pam/Cassidy) is obvious and as hokey as hair metal, for example. And yet, if you look past the bullshit, you can still enjoy this movie wholeheartedly. Just like a professional wrestling match.

No. 2 - Because Mariah Carey made her usual questionable choices public

I don't care about any celebrity like I do Mariah, so when it was announced that she had married Nick Cannon after dating him for, like, a second, I was upset. I figured that she was losing it yet again and I genuinely worried about her. But then I realized two things: 1) My favorite Mariah is the Mariah who's, in fact, lost it, and 2) Impulsively marrying a man about 10 years her junior is just a continuation of her youth obsession. She is, as she's said soooo many times, eternally 12 and aspiring to marry Nick Cannon is definitely something a 12-year-old would do. Toss him in with the Hello Kitty, the girl-throwing, the proudly high-pitched voice, the even more proudly set boobs and he's just another idiosyncrasy that makes Mariah so lovably ridiculous.

Not that I expect others to really appreciate that -- her album this year, E=MC², essentially flopped and I'd argue that it's all because of her. Its undoing was its lack of sophistication (which was overwhelmingly present on the infinitely more successfulThe Emancipation of Mimi) and deluge of Mariahisms ("This is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers," "I brings that levity," and "Cause my jeans, yeah they fit, but it might benefit / Me to throw something on to feature my hips / Accentuate my tits and steal the show," among them). No matter: still full of hits that never were (including "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time," whose inability to connect with audiences will forever remain a chart mystery to me), E=MC² played on my iPod at least three times as much as any other album all year. Since chart success has been inherent to Mariah's persona since her debut, I fear that her next outing will be subdued. But no matter how she tries to tone it down, her weirdness always oozes out in one way or another. That's the stuff I live for.

1. Because of Prop 8

Recently, I found myself at a party in California, surrounded by four guys (two sets of husbands) whom Prop 8 directly affected. Instead of grief, however, the tone of the discussion was one of hope. My friend Jeff explained that had Prop 8 been shot down, it would have been a very, "Duh," moment -- California is known for being so liberal that keeping an expanded definition of marriage was practically expected. When it passed, he reasoned, it demanded national attention and political action extending way beyond California that would not have arisen otherwise (at least, not at that moment). This injustice kicked our asses into action, he essentially argued. That someone about to be stripped of his rights could look past himself to see the possible greater good of a setback was so inspiring to me. If he's hopeful, how could I not be?

Changing small minds is a process. There's no magical switch to flip that will allow people to unlearn the hatred that propels them to support discrimination. Fuck what Huckabee says (which: duh, but still) -- it's amazing to me that those against equality think that they can rationalize their beliefs as being motivated by anything but hate. As those of us who are right become more outspoken and involved, let there be hate from those who are wrong. While they're given the opportunities to spew their shit, their words ring increasingly hollow; their rationales grow increasingly threadbare (my favorite is the trend in religious officials to decry opposition to their bile in an argument that essentially goes, "You must tolerate my intolerance!"). Look, if the passing of Prop 8 didn't get people riled up about the acceptance of hatred, I doubt the outrage against Rick Warren would have been half as strong. We're only getting louder, our cause is only growing in its relevance. And though Obama's defense of his Warren choice ("What we have to do is create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable") sounds like the reasoning of someone who's never known conviction, we know better than our President-elect. Feel free to disagree, just be ready for a fight.

Finally, I was going to do a rundown of things I hated in '08 like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Leona Lewis' diabolical scheme to adult contemporize pop music and noted homophobe Byron Crawford's shitty ignorance about exactly what "gay" means that yields shittier writing, but whatever. Fuck that. There's only one real thing that bothered me in '08 enough for me to mention is...

The ubiquity of dude scarves

 

Seriously, guys: most Bea Arthur-ass trend EVER. Let's do better in '09. You stop it.

(Collage swiped from COED.)

Comments

[Eman]

Great. I like reading your posts

[Brian]

It's an interesting take on Prop 8. I've always said I'm thankful for Fred Phelps and his gang of loonies, because if there's anything that has ever united our country, it's the belief that Fred Phelps is off his rocker.

Also, I'm not a very interactive person when it comes to watching television or movies by myself, but when Jon Stewart said "Religion is more of a choice than homosexuality," I put my fist to my mouth and shouted "Oh, shit!"

[mara]

great list. i too found myself loving mimi's album after an initial, understandable hate. mariah will probably settle down and have a baby now, and name it after herself, accordingly.

things can only go up after prop 8 passing, you know? that's how i look at it.

the only thing i question is why you're still looking at mtv...i stopped watching it years ago. i just can't, you know?
happy new year.

[priya]

Wait, you didn't like Benjamin Button...?

[HokieJM]

OMFG Rich - I LOVED this post! My favorite part was regarding dude scarfs - I absolutely HATE them. Those and those damn suit vests! When I see the 2 together, I nearly have a heart attack!

[Chris]

"Most Bea Arthur-ass trend ever". Hahahaha. Oh god, the end was the cherry on top of an amazing year end list.

[Skawt]

Thank heavens someone brings up those ridiculous scarves. They're EVERYWHERE in Portland, it's like a cancer.

[steele]

Great conclusion to a great set of posts.
Although I was anticipating the Leona Lewis bit.

Hehe, "you stop it."

[TyTy Baby]

I heart this blog.

[Terri Strange]

Yeah, the dude scarves ARE everywhere in Portland....

I'm glad to read someone actually willing to say that Obama doesn't have conviction over this whole Warren issue, although I've been aware of this for the past year. It gives me a sense of hope though to see that people are getting kicked in the butt and ready to start holding people like him accountable to their votes, 2009 is gonna be a fighting year.

[Maria]

Why does that scarf always accompany severe hygiene issues? I long for the day that it is cool to look CLEAN.

[Jennifer]

SCARFSTERS! I highly doubt the great Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak would endorse this busted fad.

HOWEVER. Bottom row, center is hot in a pensive, forlorn hipster kind of way.

[LoveMyselfFirst]

The fact that you can include, MC, Prop 8, and dude scarves in the same post, makes me further heart you, Rich!

Yes, Ms. Mariah did herself in on this album by being too much of herself. TEOM was a much better and more mature album, but E=MC2 has grown on me so much and it's a shame that it flopped. But, I look forward to more Mariahisms in 2009 with her potential Cannon bun in the oven.

Well, this chick has to migrate. Bye!

[pockets]

Hey, now, I love me some Bea Arthur.

[Maleficent]

If you've seen how Mariah spent her New Year's Eve....IE, squeezed between Jay-Z, Beyonce, and L.A. Reid's wife, sitting on Nick's lap, essentially smothering the little hat-wearing guy like a beamingly happy pork chop covered in sequiny gravy....

http://www.rap-up.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nye09_barts3.jpg

You just KNOW she's gonna bring some of that crazy chick hotness in 2009.

[Mandy]

yeah dude scarves are not cute. but aw benjamin button was super cute. it was like forest gump II. sewwwww qt.

[Uncommon_Whore]

Did you mention that the Asian girlfriend with bangs was a necessary accessory to said scarf?

[JuJu]

I used to be an active member of ONTD (2004) before it became so mainstream. Now I only check it once in a while. it used to be a lot better back when Erin (the owner) was an active part of it. now it's full of garbage like Hannah Montanna, Lady GaGa, Jonas Brothers, and Gossip Girl. People only post on that community now for the sake of commenting and the douchery associated with it.

seeing the fringe scarves every where is annoying, i agree. as a fashion accessory, they're really not that bad though. they're derived from a Balenciaga collection by Nicolas Ghesquière. it's amazing how influential that accessory was to the world.

for me, i think the most annoying thing that came of out of 2008 was the birth of the hipster, they've ruined Brooklyn (especially Williamsburg) and that fringe scarf as well.

Great list, Rich. why didn't you like Benjamin Button?

[iarrowk]

I think the Bea Arthur comparison only legitimizes dude scarves in my eyes!

[B.Floyd]

She says "Accentuate my tits"? I must have the edited version. I appreciate that song so much more now.

[Miss Lisa]

Portland is cold. A scarf does make sense. And Bea Arthur is fierce. As long as hipsters don't start wearing her trademark floor-length vests, I'm OK.

California isn't quite the liberal mecca it appears to be. Perhaps California could work on that in 2009.

[sybil]

umm juju hipsters have been around longer than 2008.

and that scarf is still being worn? folks are 4 yrs late

[pete]

Rich, this year-end series has done what i thought impossible, made me adore you even more. ever since i found out you think big guys are hot i've had this "what if i'd never moved to san francisco when i turned 23 in '92, and i still lived on the east coast?" thing going through my head, so we could cross swords, er, paths heh heh. seriously, you're the only internet guy that regularly makes me wanna lick my screen. i think your love of "goodbye horses", fabulous stains and new order were the main things that increased my love. ever seen Times Square with Tim Curry, Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado? i'd love to hear your take on it. big hearts across the continent xo pete

[DLCS]

Mickey Rourke owned the screen as Marv in "Sin City." I hope he doesn't go the John Travolta Comeback Route and do a few powerful roles followed by "Battlefield Earth 2."
Here's wishing Aronofsky gets the Oscar he was denied for "The Fountain" (that was one of the most gorgeous, compelling, and thought-provoking movies ever, which a lot of people probably didn't like because they had to think about it) and Rourke gets the Oscar he deserves.

Happy New Year, Rich and family!

[Yamini]

I'm very curious on your opinion of Benjamin Button! I rather enjoyed it.

Also, that Daily Show interview just proved that no matter how "rational" someone like Huckabee tries to be regarding that issue, there are just so many loopholes that cannot be ignored.