Column: Thanks for Listening

All the different magazines and various TV shows have these end of the year top 10, top five, best of, and everything else to try and wrap our heads around what has happened during the last year. I will bite and add my two cents to what I saw during not only the last year, but to the year coming up.

So goodbye, Father Time 2010, and hello, Baby New Year 2011.

The year 2011 big thing that I am already sick of? The Royal Wedding: Really, just go to Vegas and save everyone like a couple billion dollars. A coin, really, to commemorate your marriage? Enough!

Best movies of 2010:

1. “Inception”

2. “The Town”

3. “Toy Story 3”

4. “True Grit”

5. “The Social Network”

Worst movies of 2010:

1. “The Wolf Man”

2. “Shutter Island”

3. “Avatar”

Movie I want to see soon:

1. “The Fighter”

Worst new movie trend:

3D

I am so OK without having to wear glasses and have things coming at me. I do not mind one or two movies in 3D, but it seems like everything is now 3D and having to pay three more bucks is just not worth it. Seriously? “Saw 3D”?

Best TV shows of 2010:

1. “Modern Family”

2. “Parenthood”

3. “Lie to Me”

Worst TV shows of 2010:

1. “American Idol”

Enough already. Even Simon knows when to say when.

2. “Stars on Ice”

We have way too many C-list stars doing stuff on TV. You know what I would watch: “Stars Meet Sharks Week.” Drop some stars in the water with some chum and you will see the ratings go crazy!

Best books of 2010:

1. “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand

2. “Mark Twain Autobiography”

I just started into this but to know that he would not release it for 100 years is amazing. I cannot wait to see an open and honest take on the world 100 years ago.

Your 15 minutes of fame are over, people:

1. The Old Spice guy

The one on a horse and trying to be funny.

2. Jet Blue Guy

The one who jumped out of the plane because of his stress of working.

3. Tea Party people

4. The Burger King guy

5. Vampires

Cool music artists and albums in 2010:

1. Jamie Johnson: “The Guitar Song”

2. Kid Rock: “Born Free”

3. Janelle Monae: “Archandroid”

Worst new music artists in 2010:

1. Justin Bieber

2. Ke$ha

I realize that every 12- to 13-year-old girl will now hate me (for the JB pick), but I like real music and not mop haircuts combined with terrible singing. You can add Kate Perry in that terrible singing portion as well.

Famous people who left us in 2010 and I will miss:

Tom Bosley, John Wooden, Ron Santo, Bob Feller, Don Meredith, Merlin Olsen, J.D. Salinger, Leslie Nielsen and Art Linkletter.

Anniversaries in 2011:

10th — Sept. 11, 2001.

20th — Persian Gulf War. U.S.-led forces began bombing Iraq after a U.N. deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait expired.

30th — Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States

40th — American cult leader Charles Manson and three of his followers were found guilty of first-degree murder. (Sentenced to death March 29)

50th — John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States

100th — The first landing of an aircraft on the deck of a ship. American pilot Eugene Ely landed on a specially built platform on the battleship “Pennsylvania” in San Francisco Bay

Some questions to ask yourself in 2011:

1. Am I better off this year than in previous years?

2. What can I do to make someone else’s life better this year?

Happy New Year. Don’t drink and drive, and please stay safe!

Thanks for listening.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s column appears every Thursday.