the TEN albums of 2007.

These are in no particular order (that's what they all say, but this time it's real) and aren't chosen for artistic merit. Nothing I love really has artistic merit anyway.

Timbaland-Shock Value (or is it Timbaland- Presents Shock Value? or Timbaland- Timbaland Presents Shock Value? What the fuck?). Yes, everyone called this album a flop and said it wasn't very representative of Timbaland's work--and both statements are incredibly true. But, I loved most of the songs nevertheless, like "Time" with She Wants Revenge, "Scream" with Nicole Scherzinger and Keri Hilson, but especially "The Way I Are" with Keri Hilson and D.O.E. You have no idea how happy I was when that became a single.

Envy on The Coast-Lucy Gray. Spec-fucking-tacular. This year I drifted a lot from Alternative Press-featured, Warped Tour-playing alternative bands and loved a lot more indie music a la HypeM and Morning Becomes Eclectic. But Envy...ah, Envy stayed at the top of my favorite artists lists, even among all the changes. This album is spectacular, and if you don't agree after hearing "Sugar Skulls" or "Tell Them That She's Not Scared" or, best yet, "The Gift of Paralysis", well...then you are missing out on a load of great songs.

Feist-The Reminder. Oh, oh, oh...thank goodness for Uber.com for opening my sights to the wonder who is named Leslie Feist. She's got dancing skills, she's got an ethereal, marvelous voice...everyone knows "1,2,3,4" because of that great iPod Nano commercial, but there are a whole lot more of jewels on this album. "So Sorry" is great, as is "My Moon My Man". And on a bit of a side note, the Van She Technologic Remix to "1,2,3,4" is an absolute gift to the ears.

Mika-Life In Cartoon Motion. I noticed this didn't top any of the blog critics' year-end lists, but I think it's because most people forgot it even came out this year (early February, as a refresher). "Grace Kelly" was an amazing singalong, and Mika's falsetto was absolutely fantastic. "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" was also great, especially in that Ugly Betty commerial, but I loved "Happy Ending" and "Love Today." Oh, man. This album made my early year.

Band Of Horses-Cease To Begin. Funny how I had no idea who this band was until Death+Taxes showed me their good graces in their last issue. So yes, I haven't known about this band for long. But, this album is clearly amazing (tons of critics will back me up on this one) and Ben Bridwell has an uplifting voice. "The General Specific" (featured on Gossip Girl! Okay, I'll shut up) and "Is There A Ghost" are my favorites, but really. It's all good.

Bat For Lashes-Fur And Gold. Okay, so technically this was released in 2006, but I figure since I saw it on someone's list in The AV Club, I'm okay with putting it here. And thank the Lord, since THIS album is my pick of the year, hands down. I absolutely adore Natasha Khan and her great voice, "What's A Girl To Do" and its accompanying video, but most of all "Prescilla", consistently the most played song on my iPod. Oh, how I wait for the new 2008 album, Natasha.

Say Anything-In Defense Of The Genre. 26 songs can never go wrong, especially if you combine it with Max Bemis and Co. (26+ songs can go wrong, actually. Just look at The Mother, The Mechanic, The Path of The Early November. Oh, just thinking about the horrific The Path makes me cry). "Baby Girl, I'm A Blur" was quite catchy, to be honest, and "Retarded In Love" is my favorite...at least off Disc One. I like the 1st disc better than the 2nd, but both are albums to be proud of. Kudos, Say Anything. A great sophomore venture.

A Fine Frenzy-One Cell In The Sea. Greatestjournal and hype are actually really smart sometimes. Alison Sudol has a incredibly gifted voice that I'm really jealous of, and I remember hunting for this album for ages, which made the actual find that much better. This entire disc is amazing; I can't even pick favorites. I must admit, the lyrical content is not very substantial...but all is forgiven when I hear the vocals--off the charts and soaring.

Paramore-RIOT! I wasn't even anticipating this album, at least not that much. And then suddenly I hear "Misery Business" and think, "What the fuck is this mess? Hayley Williams' hair is hideous and where are those beautiful vocals of hers?" But, as Paramore always does, that single grew on me and there were plenty of other magnificent songs (like "For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic") on the CD. "Crushcrushcrush" was really catchy, too. But...WHY would they make "Hallelujah" anything other than acoustic?!

Tegan & Sara-The Con. I used to think Tegan & Sara's vocals were highly annoying and whiny, even though I sang along to So Jealous all the time. But, then I heard "Back In Your Head", which I must admit was a great first single off of this album. That song totally converted me into a Tegan & Sara fanatic, and now there's not one song I dislike from the duo/twin/whatever you want to label them. If you need to be converted, look no further than "Nineteen" or "Hop A Plane" or "Are You Ten Years Ago" or...the entire album.

And that's all for the year! There are a couple Honorable Mentions here and there, namely Kanye's Graduation, Stars' In The Bedroom After The War, Sondre Lerche's Phantom Punch, Rilo Kiley's Under The Blacklight, and more that I can't recall at this moment.

be my valentine?

I just had a Valentine Filliol-Cordier fixation going on for the past hour. She's a model that I found through Nylon, hails from France, lives in London...and it's always the European cities that look most chic. She hangs out with The Like and dated Jamie something from The Kills...is this too much information? Anyway, TheFashionSpot provides endless photographs to fulfill my temporary obsession. And that's usually how it goes with all models or all people...a fleeting, ephemeral glimpse into one life, one person...and then too soon, I forget everything about them.

This post would probably be more fitting timed on Valentine's Day, but who am I to pick and choose dates and times? It's early Christmas morning, which never means anything special in this household considering presents are bought on a whim, and we don't have a Christmas tree or white lights outside. Not even snow, in this state we call California. Oh, no, Christmas only feels like Christmas because of the new Google sign and the profuse amounts of Christmas songs on the radio, not to mention A Christmas Story playing on TBS all day and night.

I'm still debating whether I'm a big holiday person or not. Do I love sipping eggnog on a December afternoon? No, I don't, considering I've never tried eggnog and frankly it sounds disgusting. Do I love gift exchanging? As of now, shopping for presents for others is only a dash of fun overwhelmed with a whole load of stress. But maybe I am evolving...after all, I didn't cry out in pain because I heard yet another Christmas song as I walked through the mall these past few days. Then again, that doesn't mean I love the winter holidays. For me, summer and autumn were always the best. The easy summer, laying around and doing absolutely nothing in the hot SFV sun. Then the autumn rolled around, and with it school...and as much as that blew, it meant reunions with friends who'd been away the entire summer, and along with that my birthday, which I consider the best holiday ever.

Once again, this is a whole lot of ramble. I notice I don't really mention the immediate, day-to-day things I've been doing lately. What I've been doing, where I've been going, and who I've been with this vacation. Well, to be honest, I don't think those things are as important as what's running through my mind as these day-to-day things occur. And I'll toast to that.

expose: self-help is bs, and unproductivity blows.

I'm finding it hard to take the self-help advice offered everywhere--in books, advice columns, magazines..."10 Ways To Boost Your Confidence!" and then it lists 10 facts that you already knew. Meet people that make you comfortable. Just smile and say hi. Tell yourself you look beautiful in the mirror, and you'll start to truly believe it. Uh, no shit. But it's because I can't do any of those things that I'm reading your stupid article anyway, Cosmopolitan or Seventeen or whatever magazine or book is telling me this bullshit. It's a paradox, an oxymoron (what's the difference among all those words anyway?). If I actually could boost my confidence, then I wouldn't have to read any self-help book. And if I'm reading your list, then it's pretty hard to boost anything anyway, since I need some 2-page article to "change my life." There's no in-between, no saving grace, no hope. You basically learn to suck it up and change, or you just go along in your normal processes, whining about how much you lack self-esteem.

Speaking about finding it hard to do things, I'm finding it extremely hard to focus and actually care about school with my countdown: two days until winter break! Seven days until Christmas! And thirteen days until 2008! But before all those milestones of life, I have to get through petty FRQs and quizzes here and "first-person sources required" on first drafts there. You know, I think I've been bitten with senioritis (Word just red-underlined this word...God knows that Word needs to "learn spelling", considering how many times I'm going to use it in the next year) a little too early. I probably got it last year, in fact, when I just decided to stop caring. Go with the flow. If I didn't read the chapter for history, just don't bother ever doing it. I'll put it off, continually, constantly, until finals come around, I cram and pull all-nighters (or as close to an all-nighter as you can get), and ace that shit and make the 89.5%. Works 99% of the time. Actually I'm bound to crash, sooner or later (again), but until then I'll continue with my poor, unproductive study habits.

There's more on my mind, but then again, there always is...peace out.

how many new beginnings can there be?

Night falls and you’re embarrassed, again, because of regrettable actions that only make you look bad. They’re on the other side, laughing, sneering at you and your forgettable words, your forgettable ____, you’re forgettable to them tonight. And you didn’t quite picture it in your head like this. It was supposed to turn out better, you were supposed to receive a standing ovation…an encore…but all you get is laughs.

Actions are fine…smooth motions that you thought you could get away with. Everything plays out like you want it to until someone calls you out on your game. That’s always the problem, right? Those blunt, open, frank people who always call you out on it. Whether good, or bad, your game is up. Everyone knows your secrets. There’s no hiding out here now. play the game. Constantly, falling into the trap of attempts at alluring others. Failure or success, who knows? But I’m quite done playing the game.

Like Bartleby from Melville’s quite terrifying story. Maybe I’ll just prefer not to the next time things come around, and another chance at playing the game tempts me. But who could resist, tonight?