It is easy to despair of the human race. We value surface over content, take the paths of least resistance and venerate the lowest common denominator at the expense of the unique and beautiful. Mediocrity flourishes and creativity withers in a world where people would rather stare at a wall listening to Coldplay than do literally anything else.
But maybe it is not all rubbish. In fact, it is possible that the cultural world we live in is more vibrant and more beautiful than it has ever been. I mean, yes, there's a lot of crap, but that's because there are more channels for it to come through. Perhaps if we are prepared to look, we might find that the 21st century so far is, in fact, offering up some of the best film, television and music ever seen.
Here we are, then, with the absolute bestest things that have happened this year in the cultural and media world. I'm not pretending to have seen everything there is to see, nor am I suggesting that I am in any way objective. These are just things that made me go 'wow'. A lot.
Hans Zimmer's score for Inception
Before we get onto talking about films, stick this on.
The score, played live at the premiere.
Some film scores are so powerful and gorgeous that you leave the cinema with but one thought - how soon can I buy the soundtrack and play it incessantly whilst leaping about the house pretending to be in the film? This score - by ubiquitous film tunesmith Hans Zimmer and ex-Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr - is such a beast. Unsettled and unsettling, these tracks underscore the themes and emotions of the film, communicating a palpable sense of urgency and immense depth of feeling. If this doesn't get the Oscar, I will be a) surprised and b) consumed by furious rage.
Four Lions
One of my three top films of 2010. I saw this at the UK premiere, as if I was the Queen or something, and instantly - and prematurely - declared it the film of the year. Other contenders arose, but this is certainly up there at the very top.
There are various ways to describe Chris Morris's first film. "Dad's Army with suicide bombers instead of soldiers". "Carry on Jihad". "Furtive political correctness and transparently terrible taste". (Can you spot which of those was from the Daily Mail?)
Basically it is the story of four young Yorkshire Muslims who decide to commit terrorist acts in London. Except it's a comedy. Except... it sort of is, and it's sort of way more than that. Morris has explored the experience of the UK Muslim population and created a film which is human and tender and absurd in exactly the same way that most communities are. It is a brave, intelligent, funny and thought provoking film, and a perfect rebuttal to the more paranoid knee jerk reactions that have characterised our cultural response to Islam over the last ten years.
Misfits
A late entry here, and so possibly placed a little highly given my tendency to think things are brilliant simply because they only just happened. A bit like everyone voting 'Champagne Supernova' as best song ever in 1996, simply because it was the last thing they had heard and they hadn't yet realised it was ponderous, boring bollocks.
Anyway, there's no chance of that with Misfits. It's genius. Absolute, first class genius. Basically it's like the American show 'Heroes' - a bunch of ordinary people discover they have super-powers - only a million times funnier and with more believable characters.
The show is full of beautiful ideas: a psychopath who literally sees the world as a computer game, tattoos that control your emotions, a man who can manipulate cheese to deadly effect and - in the Christmas special - an evil Jesus. In among this madness the five leads - all great - deal with their powers in the way real people actually might. Greed, cowardice, insecurity and pride motivate their actions as surely as the (more occasional) bouts of heroism and altruistic self-sacrifice.
A truly brilliant show, and one which makes me realise there is a lot of good writing going on, and broadcasters willing to take risks.
Books
The struggle for best book of the year has been a difficult one for me. I'm not that great a reader, so it's unlikely any real, grown up 'books-of-the-year' have scuttled under my nose at bed-time. However, I have read some great stuff. 'Yippee Ki-Yay Movie Goer' by internet movie reviewer Vern is one of those books that I never wanted to end. A witty, insightful charge through the action movie genre, this is a collection of very personal film reviews that spiral off in all manner of pleasing directions.
Also brilliant was Russell T Davies's expanded version of 'The Writer's Tale.' This utterly fascinating book is a two-year long series of emails between Davies and Doctor Who Magazine writer Ben Cook, chronicling the gestation and writing of two years of the best show in the world. It is, of course, great for a Who fan like me to find out what went into the stories at the writing stage. But this is also a compelling insight into the creative process. It gave me great comfort to hear how even the biggest, most trusted writer on British TV can sit around all day prevaricating, then stay up until 6am typing away in a fit of self loathing. Candid and funny, this is the best book on script writing I have ever read.
There have been other pleasures - notably Stephen Fry's latest autobiography, which had me speaking like him all week, and David Nicholls's One Day, which made me cry. But without a doubt the best book of the year, for me, was Stewart Lee's account of the life of a stand up comic: How I Escaped my Certain Fate.
The book is a transcript of three of Lee's stand-up shows, bracketed by some background history that verges on autobiography but is more social commentary. Lee has not really gone with the comedic flow of 21st Century popular culture, and his account of how this has worked out for him makes fascinating reading. His writing is both informed and opinionated, dissecting the hypocrisies of our culture while remaining honest and self-critical. Best of all are the footnotes, which take up about half of the pages devoted to the transcripts of his routines, as they provide a running commentary on the thought processes behind his incredibe and unique live shows.
That'll do for now, I think. I have a few more 'best things ever', but I dont want to go on and on, like a mad drunk uncle at a forced family event. I'll be back soon with part 2, as if I was Harry Potter. Maybe I am Harry Potter. Only more drunk.
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