Best things of 2010

OK, please bear in mind this isn't supposed to be a definitive "best things of the year" list. This has been cobbled together off the top of my head (as I suspect is the case with most of these things). Just thought I'd mention a few things I've enjoyed in 2010 ...

Music

Gil Scott Heron's great comeback record:

Gil Scott Heron - Me and the Devil by treylord

Grinderman's second album …




And my personal favourite tune of the year …

Find more artists like Planet Creature at Myspace Music

Comedy

Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge

The Collings and Herrin Podcast / As it Occurs to Me

Curb Your Enthusiasm Series 7


Online literature (apart from Philistine Press)

My favourite literature sites at the moment are:

http://www.haggardandhalloo.com/ - updated every day with a wide variety of literary and cultural stuff.

http://www.carcinogenicpoetry.com/ - an exceptional poetry blog, with a new anthology colleting together the best of 2009-10.

http://www.indiefeedpp.libsyn.com/ - the best of the poetry podcasts, alongside http://www.larrywinfield.com/sundownlounge.

Plus three great champions of the short story:

http://www.theshortreview.com/

http://www.theshortstory.org.uk/

And a mystery blog tucked away in some obscure part of the Guardian website called "A Brief Survey of the Short Story." This guide to classic short story writers is virtually impossible to find if you don't have the direct link, so here it is - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/abriefsurveyoftheshortstory


Literary reference of the year ...

I almost managed to get through the whole of 2010 without mentioning that 2010 was the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey. We're now so far into the future we've gone past one sci-fi novel and onto the next.


Merry Christmas, Happy new year. See you in 2011.