Avatar

Ok, no true musical thoughts here (other than Leona Lewis was doing her best Celine over the closing credits) but if you get the opportunity, go see Avatar, especially in 3D. It is EPIC, as only James Cameron creates. You are truly transported to the other world (Pandora) and disappear into the story. The 3D is not done in a gimmicky way and provides an insane depth to every shot in the film.

Top 50 Albums Of 2009

As we approach the end of 2009, I wanted to go ahead and get some thoughts out there around the best music that was released this year. I do reserve the right to revise this list as we finish out the year as I still have a few things queued up on my iPod.

Here we go (The gaps that show up between numbers are where Greatest Hits albums slotted on overall ranking. They'll have their own list later):

Rank	Artist	Album	Rating	Release	Genre
1	Banner Pilot	Collapser	4.58	20090901	Punk

2

Superchunk

Leaves In The Gutter [EP]

4.20

0

Indie

3	Taking Back Sunday	New Again	4.00	0	Rock
4	Tinted Windows	Tinted Windows	4.00	0	Rock
5	Green Day	21st Century Breakdown	3.94	20090515	Punk
6	New Found Glory	Not Without A Fight	3.92	20090310	Punk
7	All Time Low	Nothing Personal	3.92	20090709	Punk
8	A Rocket To The Moon	On Your Side	3.92	20091012	Alternative
9	Lucero	1372 Overton Park	3.92	20091006	Rock
10	Every Avenue	Picture Perfect	3.91	20091102	Alternative
11	Charlie Robison	Beautiful Day	3.90	20090623	Texas Country
12	The Friday Night Boys	Off The Deep End	3.83	20090609	Rock

13	Cage The Elephant	Cage The Elephant	3.82	20090324	Rock
14	Single File	Common Struggles	3.82	20090407	Rock
15	Green River Ordinance	Out Of My Hands	3.82	20090424	Rock
16	Phoenix	Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix	3.80	20090512	Rock
17	The Leftovers	Eager To Please	3.79	20090609	Punk
18	Mat Kearney	City Of Black And White	3.75	20090519	Folk
19	Superdrag	Industry Giants	3.75	20090317	Alternative
20	Jet	Shaka Rock	3.75	20090825	Rock
21	Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses	Roadhouse Sun	3.75	20090602	Texas Country
22	Pearl Jam	Backspacer	3.73	20090920	Rock
23	Cartel	Cycles	3.73	20091020	Alternative
24	Keith Urban	Defying Gravity	3.73	20090331	Country
25	Pete Yorn	Back & Fourth	3.70	20090616	Alternative
26	Carrie Underwood	Play On	3.69	20091103	Country
27	Automatic Loveletter	Automatic Loveletter [EP]	3.67	20090203	Alternative
28	Daughtry	Leave This Town	3.67	20090714	Rock
29	Angel Taylor	Love Travels	3.67	20090331	Pop
30	Kelly Clarkson	All I Ever Wanted	3.64	20090310	Pop
31	Mayday Parade	Anywhere But Here	3.64	20091005	Alternative
32	Boys Like Girls	Love Drunk	3.64	20090908	Punk
33	The Thermals	Now We Can See	3.64	0	Alternative
34	Jason Aldean	Wide Open	3.64	20090407	Country
35	Pat Green	What I'm For	3.60	20090123	Texas Country
36	Count Your Blessings	Like Gum In Your Hair	3.60	20090120	Punk
37	The Audition	Self-Titled Album	3.60	20090428	Rock
38	Forever The Sickest Kids	The Weekend: Friday	3.57	20091117	Alternative

39	Josh Freese	Since 1972	3.55	20090414	Rock
40	Paramore	Brand New Eyes	3.54	20090929	Rock
41	Jemina Pearl	Break It Up	3.54	20091006	Alternative
42	Rancid	Let The Dominoes Fall	3.53	20090602	Punk
43	Crash Kings	Crash Kings	3.50	20090526	Rock
44	Rakes	Klang	3.50	20090323	Alternative
45	Bob Mould	Life And Times	3.50	20090407	Alternative
46	The Von Bondies	Love, Hate And Then There's You	3.50	0	Alternative
47	Weezer	Raditude [Japanese Edition]	3.50	20091103	Rock
48	Set Your Goals	This Will Be the Death of Us	3.50	20090721	Punk
49	K'naan	Troubadour	3.50	20090224	Hip-Hop

50

Miranda Lambert

Revolution

3.47

20090929

Country

Note the Lucero and Banner Pilot ratings are higher than they were in my original reviews. Upon repeated listens to these albums, they've continued to grow on me, so the ratings have gone up!