Our Favor!te Things 2009: Kevin

Considering he saw (500) Days of Summer eight times (at last count), we’re pretty surprised that our marketing head honcho Kevin Callahan actually had time to enjoy other pop culture delights this year. Apparently he did, and apparently these were his favor!tes.

Favor!te Film: (500) Days of Summer. Because “this is not a love story.” Because in the hands of actors less talented than Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel the movie could have taken an entirely different direction, but what they do in it is remarkable. Because I want to live in Tom Hansen’s apartment. Because of this.

Favor!te Concert: Nirvana, Live at Reading. Because very rarely can you be transported back in time and witness something amazing happen.

Favor!te Album: Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown. Because five years ago Rolling Stone wrote “Tell the truth: did anybody think Green Day would still be around in 2004?” and Green Day not only proved their importance then with American Idiot but far-surpassed it in 2009 with 21st Century Breakdown. Because seeing Billie Joe Armstrong in concert is a religous experience. Because What’s the latest way that a man can die / Screaming hallelujah? Because even though Billie Joe has a son in high school, you still believe him when he tells you how mom and dad will never understand.

Favor!te Book: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, Reif Larsen. Because every now and then you can get completely lost in the mind of a book’s character and forget that he doesn’t actually exist. Because Reif Larsen has created an inventive forms of storytelling. Because the interrior looks like this.

Favor!te Art-type thingy: Hamlet. Because Jude Law made the funny lines actually funny. Because he didn’t over do “To Be or Not to Be.” Because the scene of Polonius’s murder  was the best version I’ve ever seen. Because in my opinion Getrude is the toughest role to have and Geraldine James was incredible in it. Because the costumes and set decorations were brilliant in their simplicities. Because it snowed on stage. Because I’m a Hamlet snob so for me to like it as much as I did, it must be good.

Favor!te Fashion: Hoodies. Because a hoodie under a blazer is warmer than a winter coat. Because 2007 was the last time GAP made a decent hoodie. Because 2007′s hoodies are now perfectly worn-in. 

Favor!te TV Show: Gossip Girl. Because I lost a little faith after Seaon 2, but Season 3 has more than made up for it.

Favor!te Blog/Website: HTMLGiant. Because it contained the Best Essay of 2009: Blake Butler‘s “James Joyce does not exist.”

Favor!te Real Housewives: Dina Manzo and Caroline Manzo from Real Housewives of New Jersey. Because they are thick as thieves.

Favor!te Twitterer: @God. Because, well, he’s God.

Favor!te You Tube Video: When Pandas Attack. Because this is the video proof that underneath all that fur, pandas are mean fuckers.

Bonus: 

What are you most excited about for 2010? Emile Hirsch’s Hamlet may surprise a lot of people. Ed Westwick as Heathcliff and Gemma Arterton as Cathy in a new Wuthering Heights. And I still have high hopes for Shutter Island.

Who do you most want to smooch on New Year’s Eve? Patricia Highsmith. Because “My New Year’s Eve Toast: to all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envies, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle — may they never give me peace.” – Patricia Highsmith, January 1, 1947. 2:30 am.