Best of, 2011 edition

Finally get that tree up, do some last minute gift-bagging (wrapping is not for me), and the holidays will be upon us and gone and 2011 will be over, and once again I’ll be left feeling like I should have done one of those best-of-the-year posts that everyone seems to do  J. Eric has a nice post over at Indie Albany listing his top 20 albums of the year; while returning to the full-time working world has made it possible for me to buy albums again, as far as I can tell I bought three, and none of them was released this year, except perhaps “Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under.” Buzzfeed listed “21 People Who Died in 2011 And Will Be Missed;” I’d heard of 11 of them. Top TV shows? Well, we gave up cable this year. Movies? Didn’t go to a single one.

So with that in mind, and before I forget to do it at all, here are my best of 2011 picks:

• Best TV Show I Never Watched Before: Doctor Who (with David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor).
• Best Not In Any Way New Artist: Amanda Fucking Palmer and Dresden Dolls.
• Best Book I Re-read: Erik Larson’s “The Devil in the White City.”
• Best Movie: the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of “A Touch of Satan”
• Best Re-discovered Vacation Spot: Old Forge, New York.
• Best Financial Security: Weekly paycheck.
• Best Bike Ride: every one of them, even the commutes.