The top 10 - no particular order-ish

The Wonder Years - The Upsides
The best pop-punk album of the year. Think “The Starting Line” + some melodic hardcore giddy-up

Deftones - Diamond Eyes
I don’t consider myself a huge Deftones fan, but I probably listened to this album more than any other this year.

Rocky Votolato - True Devotion

Four Year Strong - Enemy of the World
A worthy follow up to “Rise or Die Trying”

Minus the Bear - Omni
Sure it doesn’t sound like the back catalog, but I dig.

The Damned Things - Ironiclast
They probably also get music video of the year for “We’ve got a situation here”

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever

The Republic of Wolves - Varuna

Josh Ritter - So Runs the World Away

Honorable mentions
Ryan Adams - III/IV
Wavves - King of the Beach
The Bled - Heat Fetish
Transit - Keep This to Yourself
Drake - Thank Me Later
A Day To Remember - What Separates Me From You

Hola Senoritas, check out pics that Jake and I took at this year’s warped tour. CLICK HERE

Check out the snl parody of an ICP video. Guess which one the joke is. YEAHHHHH ninja’s

-”Ass” Dan

That sure looks an awful lot like John Nolan in this new picture showing up on takingbacksunday.com

Let’s see if they can recapture some of that “Tell all your friends” glory.

It’s time for my yearly roundup on what I’ve been wasting my time with. Here it goes, somewhat in order but not really.

BEST MUSIC

Every Time I Die - New Junk Aesthetic
The best thing since Hot Damn! and sliced bread

Brand New - Daisy
“vices” definitely has some early nineties influence, grunnnnnge.

A Day To Remember - Homesick
…now available with more gang-vocals

Converge - Axe To Fall
The best thing since Jane Doe and sliced bread

Set Your Goals - This Will Be The Death Of Us
I’m all about the Haley Williams cameo

Cave In - Planets Of Old EP
Only a few jams but they own hard

Fireworks - All I Have To Offer Is My Own Confusion
Dude’s voice was annoying at first but I couldn’t stop listening. Reminds me of Take This To Your Grave era Fall Out Boy.

Kevin Devine - Brother’s Blood
last.fm tells me this is my most listened to artist, probably because it only scrobbles when I’m at work and I find Kevin’s voice soothing and conducive to efficient programming?

New Found Glory - Not Without A Fight
Pop punk’s not dead

Title Fight - The Last Thing You Forget
This will have to do since Saves the Day will never record another Can’t Slow Down

As Cities Burn - Hell or High Water
Kind of sounds like trainwreck era Boys Night Out, kind of..


BEST TV

Dexter
It was cool to see Dexter off his game and lose his cool. And whaddup with that ending?!

How I Met Your Mother
I watched every season in the span of a few days, new favorite comedy.

True Blood
This is the only vampire show I watch

The Office
May not be the best season, but I still love this show.

Mad Men
Back when dudes were dudes. I want to drink scotch right now.


BEST MOVIES

Zombieland
The Hangover
D9
500 Days Of Summer
Star Trek

Sweet jesus, Glassjaw will be joining Brand New for the last few days of their tour including the two stops in Toronto Nov 21+22. More Dates

Oh hai, check out some photos that Jake and I took at warped. http://blog.muchmusic.com/warped-tour-oh-9-recap/