Consider this a hot list. It contains everything that we talked about this past year, from the phones we used and albums we bought to the TV we didn’t get to watch and the Nunchucks we were swinging. — Michael Clawson
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iPhone ••• There will be many revolutionary cell phones, but the wonderfully simple, and much coveted, iPhone, with its touch-screen interface and sleek design, was the first to go down in history before it was even released — just ask the folks who waited outside stores overnight for one. Photos, music, the Internet … there seemed to be very little the gadget couldn’t do. Apple hit gold with the iPod, and then under the gold the company hit diamonds with the iPhone. They better keep digging._____________________________________
Wii ••• Nintendo was fighting a losing battle with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 2 (now 3) until it reinvigorated home gaming with something other than the thumbs. The Wii, with its Nunchuck and Wiimote, allowed real physical motion to seep into video games, breathing new life into games that simulated table tennis, fishing or bowling. A year after its release, the Xbox and Playstation consoles are fairly easy to nab in stores. Line up and wait for the Wii, though, which has sold 15 million and counting._____________________________________
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The Sopranos ••• The hit HBO mobster series came to a screeching halt back in June with a black screen. Cable didn’t go out; that was the real ending. Creator David Chase, months later, admitted that Tony Soprano wasn’t whacked, just went on being Tony Soprano. So much has already been written about what happened, or what we think has happened, but let me just offer this: the ending could not have been handled any better. It was aggravating there wasn't more to behold, but it was classic television that catered to the characters' needs, not ours._____________________________________
Toy Recall ••• Nothing takes the fun out of toys more than Chinese lead paint. It’s like one of those Consumer Reports sketches Dan Aykroyd did on Saturday Night Live, but less funny and with cancer. The lead scare made toy shopping this holiday season a frightening experience. And someone, for heaven's sake, can we not do some tests on these toys before we put them in the hands and mouths of toddlers?!? It blows my mind that Americans who are creating toys for children never even bother to see what is in the toys as they come off the boat._____________________________________
“Icky Thump” ••• The White Stripes revisit ’70s-era acid and fuzz with this brain-scrambling garage-punk anthem that is easily the best song of the year. This guitar does not gently weep, it wales. The whole album is excellent and worthy of purchase, but the first song is just vintage White Stripes, the kind of song that gets better with each listen. Trust me, I've listened to it way too much._____________________________________
Cormac McCarthy ••• First he wins the fiction Pulitzer for his brilliant post-apocalyptic novel The Road, then brings his elusive self to a mega-hyped interview with Oprah, and then watches as the film version of No Country For Old Men, a book he wrote, stomps toward Oscar greatness. That’s a good year. Now cross your fingers that The Road, when it's adapted to the screen like it is right now, doesn't come out like the book-to-film adaptation of I Am Legend._____________________________________
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Feist’s The Reminder ••• Folky and poppy all at once, Feist’s third album is the best album of the year. And if “1234” doesn’t put a smile on your face, take your smile in for repair or replacement._____________________________________
Harry Potter ••• In one of the most anticipated endings of the year (along with the fate of Mr. Soprano) J.K. Rowling brought her Harry Potter series to a close in July with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And then several months later she drops a bombshell: Dumbledore is gay._____________________________________
Bad Behavior ••• Short of putting cocaine on this list, let’s just put all the devious behavior: Paris Hilton goes to jail, Britney Spears completely falls apart, Don Imus infuriates black people, Amy Winehouse acts crazy and high, Idaho Senator Larry Craig has a “wide stance,” a college student screams “don’t tase me, bro,” Alec Baldwin reprimands his daughter with voicemail, David Hasselhoff is occasionally drunk, Michael Vick loves pets, Anna Nicole Smith dies. And recently, Jamie Lynn Spears, at the ripe ol' age of 16, gets knocked up. Can we have less celebrity scandal, please._____________________________________
Halo 3 ••• There are better video games out there to play (The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Bioshock) but Halo 3 turned its release into a worldwide event. And really, the game is quite good. Groundbreaking, even. If I were to have only one complaint, it wouldn't be about the game necessarily, but the temperament of its online players. They're rude, obnoxious and snotty beyond all comprehension. Worst of all, because pretty much anyone can be good at the multiplayer game, most players tend to get a little cocky. Well, a lot cocky. And those kinds of people are never enjoyable to be around._____________________________________
Rage Against the Machine ••• The political rock band finally got back together. No word on why they ditched fans during the post-9/11 Bush years, when a band like RATM was needed. I photographed them at Vegoose in Las Vegas at the end of October and it was one of the highlights of my career. The energy pulsing from that stage so intense. If only they could have actually said something to the fans that were there. The band is notorious, singer Zach de la Rocha especially, for not speaking to audiences on their stages. For the most part, you could even close your eyes and not be able to distinguish the live band from the CDs. But those are negative comments ... the band's reunion was long overdue and very much appreciated._____________________________________
TMZ.com ••• TMZ has broken every celebrity news story of the year, so it’s on top of its game, but something doesn’t seem right about that weasel of an editor, Harvey Levin. Someone should point a camera in his face (or crotch) while he’s at the supermarket._____________________________________
M.I.A. ••• British techno gangster M.I.A., real name Mathangi Arulpragasam, had a wild past couple of years with money and visa problems that kept her from touring. By the time she did come over to the States, touring behind her wild album Kala, she was in top form with her dirty gunshot-soaked rap._____________________________________
Neil Young’s Live at Massey Hall, 1971 ••• Without a doubt the greatest live album ever recorded. And it was kept from us until this year, too! It’s just Neil and his guitar (or piano), and it’s beautiful._____________________________________
Radiohead’s In Rainbows ••• The album is great, maybe Radiohead’s best, but they did something better than the music: the British band pretty much gave it away. Fans were asked to choose what to pay. You can’t put a price tag on art, so the plan was genius._____________________________________
Big-screen TVs ••• Call 2007 the year of high-definition home theater. Bigger, clearer widescreen TVs (both plasma and LCD) are cheaper, HD DVDs and Blu-Ray movies are readily available, and even the cable and satellite companies are upping their signals to provide higher resolution pictures. Have you gone 1080p yet?_____________________________________
Giada De Laurentiis ••• Manly Emeril and his hollered “bams!” gets real old real quick. Food Network needed some grace to its programming and Giada De Laurentiis, who resembles an elegant mixture of Natalie Portman and Celine Dion, serves it up nicely with her delightful shows on Italian cooking. Granddaughter to movie producer Dino De Laurentiis, Giada is the underground alternative to even Rachel Ray, who, truth be told, is goofy and awkward in the kitchen. And Giada’s food actually desires to be edible._____________________________________
Tween pop ••• Ashley Tisdale, Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron … we wouldn’t know there names if girls ages 7-13 weren’t chanting their names continuously. Of course, all four of them come from either Hannah Montana or High School Musical, two Disney shows that could rule the planet if not watched by a special United Nations committee. But there’s an even uglier side than that: Hannah Montana concert tickets were scalped through the roof while Hudgens’ nude snapshots hit the Web._____________________________________
***This Volume feature originally ran in the West Valley View Dec. 24, 2007.***
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