the first indy wrestling show in Seattle had this skinny skeleton kid in the opening match in a wild brawl around a punk club and a decade later I just watched him win a world title live. That's pretty neat.

When there's an instrumental break during karaoke

Since we’re all making fun of Rod Dreher, I think about this at least once a week

If a company that I watch ever made a storyline about how much they are overcharging me on tickets, I'm pretty sure I would have the self respect as a fan to never watch that company again. #WrestleSky

the CHIKARA Grand Championship was antithetical to a lot of the core aspects of what made the promotion unique -- tag and trios wrestling being the primary driver of stories and teamwork being necessary to achieve greatness in the promotion -- and, some great matches aside, never should've happened

Heh HEEEEEEEEEHH

This might be a controversial opinion, but I don’t think pro wrestling fans should have their own gimmicks

#TheTenX5 At long last, I'm seeing you in the HMs with 45 more songs. "Tightrope" was the clerical error that should have made my main list but wasn't hurting for points so y'know, it is what it is. Thanks and see you in the '00s.

i’m so tired

the amount of stations and cool little radio shows I've had access to through Radio Garden has been, in small but wonderful ways, life-changing. The internet's still full of cool little things to find if you want to find them.

#TheTenX5 50. "Cut to the Feeling" by Carly Rae Jepsen (2017) (12 PTS) when I finally saw CRJ live in 2023, this was the set closer and the song the crowd was obviously most excited to hear, myself included. A cathartically joyous pop song, and the only way I can end my list. See you in the HMs!

#TheTenX5 49. "Shut Up Kiss Me" by Angel Olsen (2016) (11 PTS) due to clerical error on my part not every '10s song from my #1C000LEST list is in my top 50! But this one sure is, how am I going to allow a song with a bridge that grabs you by the shoulders this hard not get in? I can't. I won't.

#TheTenX5 48. "Slow Burn" by Kacey Musgraves (2018) (11 PTS) boy, I just immediately locked into this on the first listen. A perfect distillation of everything Kacey's great at, probably the best push-and-pull between her country songwriting chops and her Gentry-esque cosmic folk-y streak.

#TheTenX5 Day 47. "Sweet Life" by Frank Ocean (2012) (11 PTS) the Channel Orange decision was "which song do I give 11 points to" and then eventually I was like "well heck why not both?" In spite of what Frank asserts here, sometimes the best song *is* the single (or at least *a* single...).

#TheTenX5 Day 46. "Super Rich Kids" by Frank Ocean ft. Earl Sweatshirt (2012) (11 PTS) oh hey I finally figured out what I'm doing with the Channel Orange decision I had to make! The mind-numbing long-term psychic damage of California wealth haven't sounded this smooth since Steely Dan.

#TheTenX5 Day 45. "ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?" by Tyler, the Creator (2019) I don't want to end pre-bonus season on a bad episode, so here's one of the best album closers of the decade. Maybe *the* best? The little interlude in the middle is so wonderful.

Chuck Norris jokes were the first memes that people who weren't funny could join in on. A true harbinger.

#TheTenX5 Day 44. "E·MO·TION" by Carly Rae Jepsen (2015) still remember getting to this title track on my "well, now seems like the time" listen of this album while I was driving on a sunny day on a work trip in California. One of my favorite "oh, okay, I get it" musical moments from that decade.

Hey. Y'all remember Chris?

#TheTenX5 Day 43. "The Math of Love Triangles" by Rachel Bloom (well, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast" officially but it's just Rachel and some singing math professors) (2016) 🎵we're starting to suspect / you don't sincerely want to know about triangles 🎵

#TheTenX5 Day 42. "Heels" by Sir Babygirl (2018) getting some sidequests out of the way pre-bonus points! Crush On Me was a real hidden gem of an album and "You don't, you know me anymore / I CHANGED MY HAIR [repeat as needed]" is one of the most fun bridges of the decade.

#TheTenX5 Day 41. "Black Sheep" by Metric (2010) Space Jam🤝Scott Pilgrim vs. the World "I think this movie exists better in my memory than me ever revisiting it again at a later age but the soundtrack will always be dear to me, especially the song they made for some of the villains"

#TheTenX5 Day 40. "Lazarus" by David Bowie (2015) hard to choose from the Icon From Yesteryear's Somber Farewell tracks (multiple still in play!) but this was always the lock. So funereal, so stately (the horns!), and he drops "I was looking for your ass" in the midst of all of it. Later, Dave.

#TheTenX5 Day 39. "Out the Window" by Confidence Man (2018) Definitely my favorite of the long line of "let's make a dance track that's going to be catnip for soundtrack curators" ConMan singles ("Holiday" a respectable 2nd).

#TheTenX5 38. "Stay Gold" by First Aid Kit (2014) naturally I'm not backing either main First Aid Kit candidate in mains (stay tuned for HMs!) and am instead opting for this third-party option. The Soderberg sisters' harmonies are always great but how they sing this chorus has always stuck with me.

#TheTenX5 37. "Southwestern Territory" by The Mountain Goats (2013) I mean yeah, of course I'm picking *something* from the Mountain Goats' wrestling album. A great driving song, especially on weeks where I'm drowning in solo fieldwork, and this is one of those weeks so it's on my mind a lot.

#TheTenX5 36. "BOOGIE" by BROCKHAMPTON (2017) of all the 2010s posse cuts set to a beat that revolves around a sample from an obscure New Japan Pro Wrestling theme this is probably my favorite

#TheTenX5 35. "Shine a Light" by Shabazz Palaces (2017) *finally* shopping local and picking a song from the Seattle music scene. The Dee Dee Sharp sample here is one of my absolute favorite beats of the '10s.

#TheTenX5 Day 34. "Sally Ride" by Janelle Monae (2013) when I fly I make a playlist running about the length of the flight and this has been a staple song #2, meant for when the plane's taken off but is still ascending. Any time it's still on and we've broken through the clouds is a great feeling.

#TheTenX5 Day 33. "Merry Go 'Round" by Kacey Musgraves (2012) The lead single off of one of the best debut albums of the decade, and a welcome counterpoint to the intolerable "small heartland town as idyllic Real America, free of the taint of the Big City" trope/line of thinking.

His message from 1969 is as timely now as it was back then. Rest in peace, Country Joe. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScxI...

#TheTenX5 Day 32. "Empire Ants" by Gorillaz (ft. Yukimi Nagano) (2010) like most of the rest of Gorillaz fandom this is one of my favorites of theirs, a good song that gradually and gracefully gives way to a really great song. The moment where that switch happens gets me every time.

modern conservatism is just posting a photo of a Big Mac you bought thirty seconds ago and going "never forget what they took from you"

don't put marbles in your nose (PUT THEM IN THERE) do not put them in there

#TheTenX5 Day 31. "Cool" by Soccer Mommy (2018) like yesterday's pick, it feels like it's plucked out of the pages of a high school notebook in the best way. Always a fan of "do I want them or want to be them" songs (in this specific case I think it's explicitly the latter).

#TheTenX5 Day 30. "Kiss Your Lips" by Allo Darlin' (2010) an endlessly winsome, summery indie pop song. So winsome, in fact, that the singer freely admits that her favorite Weezer song is off Pinkerton and it's sweet and endearing and raises no concerns. Impressive feat, earns a spot on the list.

#TheTenX5 Day 29. "The Bug Collector" by Haley Henderickx (2018) gorgeous, dreamy folk. One of my favorite songs about love/relationships of the '10s and it doesn't really provide any concrete details about the people involved, just bugs and a daily routine that's seemingly gone on for ages.

"The CIA conspired to make me less cool than I was when I was 25" is the most succinct Gen X manifesto I've ever heard

#TheTenX5 Day 28. "Replicant" by They Might Be Giants (2013) Was torn between my TMBG pick being the most literal song they've ever written or something more typically opaque and, well, fuzziness won. A song made for a sleepless night in a motel you'd like to check out of as soon as possible.

#TheTenX5 27. "Hold Up" by Beyonce (2016) and here's my other Beyonce pick! *Maybe* my favorite Beyonce song overall! I love that it uses the sparseness of the Andy Williams sample to just bounce around various ideas/contributions/interpolations without the song ever feeling scattered.

#TheTenX5 26. "After the Storm" by Kali Uchis ft. Tyler the Creator, Bootsy Collins (2018) So smooth! Love that on top of his own solo work, Bootsy Collins also has a 30+ year run as one of the most effective cameos in pop. Just let him say stuff for ten seconds and a great song gets even better.

#TheTenX5 HM5. "This is America" by Childish Gambino (2018) one of the two songs I most associate with the time around the start of the job I've mostly had for the last eight years! Wow. Weird. Time flies. I'll make the other song my next pick in my main list.

#TheTenX5 HM4. "Ousama ni Nare" by the pillows (2017) honestly I was just thrilled that someone voted for a pillows song and it wasn't me. It's very good too, they just churned out good indie guitar rock on the regular for a couple decades there until they just suddenly called it quits.

#TheTenX5 HM3. "Fists of Fury" by Kamasi Washington (2018) Doing my part to shore up the jazz vote a little by giving some points to a Kamasi pick that was not mine! This one is also excellent.

#TheTenX5 HM2. "Where Are We Now?" by David Bowie (2013) the actual swan song album will be represented in the back half of my main picks but this one's very good too and could have been a good sendoff song as well. Glad it wasn't, though!

alright, time to get started on my #TheTenX5 HONORABLE MENTIONS. HM1. "The Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga (2011) since, well, getting to this spot would in fact be being on the edge of glory, wouldn't it

#TheTenX5 Day 25. "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings" by Caroline Polachek (2019) Ending my first half by getting into THE ZONE. I missed Chairlift so my first impression of Caroline Polachek is her square dancing in Low Budget Hell and truly, great way to meet an artist.

#TheTenX5 Day 24. "Pink + White" by Frank Ocean (2016) I have hard Channel Orange decisions to make but I'm saving that for the back half LIKE A PRAGMATIST (coward) so for the meantime I'm picking my Blonde rep. What a shocker, I like the really smooth one with a Jon Brion string arrangement.

#TheTenX5 Day 23. "Ain't Got Nobody" by Weezer (2014) I guess the joy of loving a loser sports team is that every now and then they actually win and it's something special when they win, and that's how I feel about the 2-or-so album run Weezer had in the mid-'10s. The riffs in here are real fun!