2010 in Lists

Posted & filed under End of Year Round-up, Life, Lists.

According to a long standing tradition, my last post of the year is that year represented in a series of list.

The List of Favorite New Albums of the Year

  1. mr. a balladeer — Sorry, Kid.
    (No contest. Absolutely gorgeous.)
  2. Arjen Anthony Lucassen’s Star One — Victims of the Modern Age
    (Although I’ve heard it all before, this is one damn fine, near-perfect album.)
  3. Daniël Lohues — Allennig IV
    (Again, a very fine collection of songs.)
  4. James Labrie — Static Impulse
  5. Apocalyptica — 7th Symphony
  6. Lunatic Soul — Lunatic Soul II
  7. Anneke van Giersbergen & Agua de Annique — Live in Europe
  8. Charlie Dée — Husbands and Wives
  9. Jon Oliva’s Pain — Festival
  10. Meat Loaf — Hang Cool Teddy Bear

(honourable mentions: Maiden United — Mind the Acoustic Pieces, Spock’s Beard — X, Hanson — Shout It Out)

The List of Favorite Songs of the Year

  1. mr. a balladeer — What the World Needs Now Is a Killer Storm
  2. Jon Oliva’s Pain — Living on the Edge (ogg vorbis, ~7MB, right click & save as…)
  3. Dio — All the Fools Sailed Away (YouTube)
  4. Prince — Gold (YouTube)
  5. Meat Loaf — Prize Fight Lover (official download)

Best New Version of an Old Songs

  • Anne Van Opstal & Hans Peter Janssens — Totale Duisternis
    (ogg vorbis, ~7MB, right click & save as…)
    (It’s probably just me, but “Total Eclipse of the Heart” never gets old.)

Most Ill-adviced Song from an Aging Rocker

  • Meat Loaf — California Isn’t Big Enough (Hey There Girl)
    (ogg vorbis, ~7MB, right click & save as…)
    (Sure, the lyrics are dumb as a doorknob, but hey, it’s tons of fun.)

Reissue of the Year

  1. Bruce Springsteen — The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story
    (This is how high the bar now lies.)

The List of Favorite Albums I Discovered This Year

  • King Crimson — The Court of the Crimson King
  • Claudia de Breij – Samen wakker worden, ergens heen, lekker eten en weer slapen
  • Air — The Virgin Suicides

The List of Performances I’ve Seen in 2010

  • 2010-12-29 — Dolf Jansen “Oudejaars 2010” with mr. a balladeer, De Kleine Komedie, Amsterdam
  • 2010-12-16 — The Serious Collectors, Zwolle
  • 2010-11-23 — Wende, Nieuwe Luxor, Rotterdam
  • 2010-11-18 — Anneke van Giersbergen & Agua de Annique + Yori Swart, De Vorstin, Hilversum
  • 2010-11-06 — I am Oak, Velvet Amersfoort (in-store)
  • 2010-11-05 — mr. a balladeer, Camping de Freek, Hoogmade
  • 2010-10-29 — Delain, Tivoli Oudegracht, Utrecht
  • 2010-10-22 — Anneke van Giersbergen & Agua de Annique + Bart van der Lee, Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht
  • 2010-10-15 — Jon Oliva’s Pain (DVD shoot), 013, Tilburg
  • 2010-10-03 — mr. a balladeer, Hilversum (living room concert in the attic)
  • 2010-09-18/19 — “Dans der Vampieren”, Stadsschouwburg, Antwerp, Belgium
  • 2010-09-10 — Slagerij van Kampen, private performance, Driebergen
  • 2010-08-18 — Wende (DVD shoot), Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht
  • 2010-07-24 — Ricciotti Ensemble, “Pinocchio in Love”, Belgenmonument, Amersfoort (Theaterterras)
  • 2010-06-30 — Devin Townsend Project + Anneke van Giersbergen, Dynamo, Eindhoven
  • 2010-06-12 — “Misery, een ‘Feel Bad’ musical” (showcase), Het Werkteater, Amsterdam
  • 2010-05-29 — Wende, “Chaos”, Koningklijke Schouwburg, Den Haag
  • 2010-05-07 — Mika, Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam
  • 2010-04-17 — Anne Soldaat & Maurits Westerik (GEM) + Blaudzun, Velvet Amersfoort (record store day)
  • 2010-04-02 — mr. a balladeer + TUDUDUH, Amsterdam (living room concert)
  • 2010-03-29 — Acda en De Munnik, “Ode”, Beatrix Theater, Utrecht
  • 2010-03-28 — Daniël Lohues, “Allennig IV”, Kleine Komedie, Amsterdam
  • 2010-03-05/06 — Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman’s “Whistle Down the Wind”, The Mayflower, Southampton, UK
  • 2010–02–13 — a balladeer, “Bye Bye Now, Bambi Woods”, Theater Castellum, Alphen aan de Rijn
  • 2010-02-09 — Acda en De Munnik + Metropole Orkest, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
  • 2010-01-26 — BLØF (acoustic), Beatrix Theater, Utrecht

The List of Concerts I Didn’t See Even Though I Had a Tickets

  • 2010-11-19 — Wende, Stadsschouwburg, Utrecht
    (Due to a fire in Utrecht there were no trains going in or out.)
  • 2010-12-10 — Brigitte Kaandorp, “Op naar De Kuip!”, Tivoli, Utrecht
    (A few days earlier I broke a rib. Going wouldn’t have been smart.)

Favorite Gigs of the Year

  1. 2010-11-18 — Anneke van Giersbergen & Agua de Annique + Yori Swart, De Vorstin, Hilversum
  2. 2010-08-18 — Wende (DVD shoot), Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht
  3. 2010-03-05 — Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman’s “Whistle Down the Wind”, The Mayflower, Southampton, UK
  4. 2010-10-03 — mr. a balladeer, Hilversum (living room concert in the attic)
  5. 2010-09-19 — “Dans der Vampieren”, Stadsschouwburg, Antwerp, Belgium

(Honourable mentions: all other living room concerts by mr. a balladeer and the a balladeer gig, Anneke in Utrecht, Devin Townsend for the intensity, and Mika for the fun.)

The List of Artist I Listened to the Most According To Last.fm

  1. Meat Loaf (336)
  2. Bløf (283)
  3. Porcupine Tree (276)
  4. Bruce Springsteen (275)
  5. Daniël Lohues (260)
  6. Dio (237)
  7. Melissa Etheridge (236)
  8. mr. a balladeer (222)
  9. Acda en De Munnik (214)
  10. a balladeer (180)

(This list does not include what I played on my mp3-player while travelling. And yes, that makes this list pretty pointless.)

The List of Books I’ve Finished in 2010 (in reverse chronological order)

  1. Ron Currie — God is Dead
  2. John Green / Maureen Johnson / Lauren Myracle — Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances
  3. Jonathan Stroud — Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon
  4. Stephen King — Full Dark, No Stars
  5. Strunk & White — The Elements of Style (3rd Edition)
  6. Isaac Asimov — Second Foundation
  7. Isaac Asimov — Foundation and Empire
  8. Kevin J. Anderson — The Map of All Things (Terra Incognita: Book Two)
  9. Isaac Asimov — Foundation
  10. Michael Scott — The Necromancer (Book Four of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
  11. Jonathan Stroud — The Ghost of Shadow Vale
  12. Guus Kuijer — Waarom kinderen wel cowboytje, maar nooit jezusje of mohammedje spelen (pamflet)
  13. Guus Kuijer — Hoe een klein rotgodje God vermoorder
  14. J.M. Barrie — Peter Pan
  15. Edgar Allen Poe — Spirits of the Dead: Tales and Poems
  16. Terry Pratchett — Mort
  17. Neil Gaiman — American Gods
  18. Stephen King — Blockade Billy
  19. Philip Pullman — The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
  20. mr. Harmen van der Wilt — Smalende godslastering verboden? Onderzoek naar de geldigheid van de argumenten voor afschaffing op het verbod op smalende godslastering
  21. H.P. Lovecraft — The Road to Madness: The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft
  22. Vladimir Nabokov — Lolita
  23. Rich Wilson — Lifting Shadows, The Authorized Biography of Dream Theater (revised second edition)
  24. Neil Gaiman (et al.) — Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams & the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  25. Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman — Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
  26. Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine — Last Chance to See
  27. Eoin Colfer — And Another Thing… (Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Part Six of Three)
  28. Franz Kafka — Het proces
  29. John Green — Paper Towns
  30. Klaas Hendrikse — Geloven in een God die niet bestaat: Manifest van een atheïstische predikant
  31. Terry Pratchett — Carpe Jugulum
  32. A.J. Jacobs — The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

Favorite Books (Fiction)

  1. J.M. Barrie — Peter Pan
  2. Philip Pullman — The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
  3. Ron Currie — God is Dead
  4. John Green — Paper Towns
  5. Jonathan Stroud — Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon

Favorite Books (Non-Fiction)

  1. Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine — Last Chance to See
  2. A.J. Jacobs — The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
  3. Neil Gaiman (et al.) — Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams & the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The List of the Books That Were So Tedious I Didn’t Bother Finishing Them

  1. William H. Calvin — De rivier die tegen de berg opstroomt; Een reis naar de oorsprong van de aarde en de mens

The List of Places Where I’ve Spent the Night this Year

The List of Museums I’ve Visited This Year

  • Cavalerie Museum Amersfoort (2010-01-15)
  • Naturalis, Leiden (2010-01-29)

New Favorite Website of the Year

Favorite Words of the Year

  1. Uitfaseren
  2. Crapdammit

The List of Things I Really Should Stop Saying or Do Before I’ll Never Get Rid of ‘Em Again

  1. CTRL+SHIFT+[insert random word here]
  2. De tering
  3. Developing HTML for email.

The List of Things That Need to Go the Way of the Dodo

  1. Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 7 and down
  2. Microsoft Outlook versions 2007 and up
  3. ‘Exclusive’ bonus tracks with albums

Favorite Photo of the Year

The List of Things of Which I Found Out That They Don’t Work, Like, at All

That’s it. For now. Website stats will follow next year, as will everything else I find worth telling. Finish off the year whatever way you like, and have a good next one.