The Arts Poll 2009

FAVORITES OF THE YEAR

MOVIE: “UP”

ALBUM: LADY GAGA, “THE FAME MONSTER”

SINGLE: MILEY CYRUS, “PARTY IN THE U.S.A”

BOOK: “I DON’T READ BOOKS”

STUDENT PRODUCTION: HPT 161: “ACROPOLIS NOW”

What was your favorite celebrity death of 2009? (MJ, Ted Kennedy, Farrah Fawcett, Kanye’s dignity, etc)

- This is a morbid question.

- Roman Polanski’s freedom.

- Farrah because it was anal cancer. Who gets that?!?

What was your favorite use of the “Imma let you finish” meme?

- God, imma let you finish, but Sega had one of the best Genesis of all time!

- Yo Balloon Boy, Imma let you finish, but Amelia Earhardt had one of the best disappearances of all time.

- Yo Descartes, I’m really happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but empiricism is one of the best theories of epistemology of all time. OF ALL TIME.

- Yo MLK, I’m really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but last night, I had one of the best dreams of all time. Of all time!

What was your favorite Lady Gaga stunt? YouTube links are considered appropriate answers.

- Lady Gaga reveals herself to be Peter “Petros” Shields in unconvincing disguise.

- The one where she jumps off a fucking building and dies.

- When she sat down to the piano on SNL wearing a rotating glass ball, preventing her from playing.

What was your favorite pandemic of 2009? This includes both newcomers like H1N1 and old standbys like obesity.

- BIEBER FEVER.

- Pandemic of Peruvian flute bands.

- Mono. I got it and it rocked my world.

In a short essay, please explain why “Kid A” is either superior or inferior to “In Rainbows.”

- I think this question is a prime example of why everyone on The Crimson hates Arts.

- I don’t really understand. I think these are albums by Radiohead, but I can’t be sure at this point. I like the song “High and Dry” a lot and also the one from Romeo and Juliet.

- Honestly, “In Rainbows” is better. “Kid A” was out there—oh, look, weird music can get popular. But who the fuck cares if it’s popular or not when assessing an album? People do the shit they were doing on that album better. I mean, I love some of those songs, and I like the whole philosophy behind the album—it’s very Cagean and shit. And that’s cool. But I rarely listen to Cage’s compositions. I read his books and talk his talk when I’m drunk at parties, and then I go home, and I listen to Weezer. In that sense, I think “In Rainbows” is just better music...Radiohead is a band, and popular music is popular music. Anyone trying to conflate it to more than that in order to sustain some wet dream is fooling himself.

- In Rainbows was free to download, right? My boss at Borders Bookstore tells us that we’re not supposed to get people to sign up for the Borders Rewards program by telling them that it’s a free card because when we tell people something is free, “[we’re] essentially telling them that it’s worthless.” I guess he would say Kid A is superior. I’m pretty sure we don’t have that in stock at Borders though.

- Kid A is the best album of all time, full stop. I’m not feeling nearly eloquent enough to explain the reasons why, so just go listen to “Idioteque” instead.

- “Kid A” was made first and old things are better than new things.

- Kid A is inferior, because the only thing superior to rainbows are unicorns.

Any other opinions on 2009 or the decade or anything?

- I’m an English major, so I read real books.

- WTF? Why is there a radio button for “I don’t read books” but not “I don’t listen to your twat music”?

- OBAMA-mania!!!!

- If it weren’t for Momentum having been such an awesome show, I never would have taken this shitty poll.

- You’ll never take me alive.

- Circumcision is necessary for a beautiful penis.