Entertainment of the past decade

By Nicholas Weiss

This is quite the task, deciding the best things that were made or happened in the years 2000 to 2009. My little project here will be my picks for the best entertainment pieces of the 2000s -- the games, movies and CDs that everyone from this decade should own and enjoy. One final word of caution: these are the items that I think are still good and could, potentially, be looked upon as some of the best of our time.

I would like to start with music because I listen to music so often that outside observers might think my life is a bad television show. I primarily listen to various rock-type bands, but there is always a place in my heart for pop and rap music. I like to sing along. If you happen to catch me dancing with a fine young lady and whispering something in her ear, it's more likely that I actually just bumped into her while I was doing my best Lil' Wayne impression.

Everyone who purchased music in the 2000s needs to at least have Kanye West's "College Dropout," Taking Back Sunday's "Where You Want to Be" and Avenged Sevenfold's "City of Evil." I can listen to each of those albums all the way through, all the time.

Pop enthusiasts might tell me Kanye West is too rude to be on my list, but they would be wrong because interrupting Taylor Swift actually has nothing to do with his great music. Boycott his self-help seminars, not his concerts. Rockers might tell me that these rocks bands were better before anybody knew about them but, again, that's just wrong. "City of Evil" has much more depth and musical value than "Waking the Fallen." I'm pretty sure most people don't listen to Taking Back Sunday because the indie kids think they are too mainstream and the people who listen to shows that Ryan Seacrest hosts have never heard of them because they aren't mainstream enough. I'm not sure what I can say, except: listen to this album. It is amazing.

My favorite movies of the 2000s were almost as hard to decide upon as my favorite albums. As it turns out, the last movie of the decade was also one of the best; James Cameron's "Avatar" may have stolen the story of Disney's "Pocahontas" page for page, but it did so with such skill and beauty that I didn't care. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't yet seen it, so I will simply say go see it now. Twice.

Despite all the Batman love, I think "V for Vendetta" was the best comic book movie ever made, with "Sin City" coming in a close second. A third movie from the 2000s that everyone must see is "Memento." It is reminiscent of Fight Club -- that would have made an appearance on this list had it come out a year later -- in that it includes a character's psychological struggle and subsequent general coolness. It has some hilarious parts to match the serious ones and the movie has masterful editing. It slipped under the radar a bit, but a favorable critical rating has helped the movie get into accessible Safeway DVD racks.

Finally, I have devoted so much of my free time to playing video games that I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Final Fantasy X and Call of Duty 4 are both must-plays that are head and shoulders above most other games in their genres.

Nicholas Weiss is a junior psychology and philosophy double major.