The very worst of 2011

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Earlier this month, Salon's critics offered their lists of the year's best culture -- movies, fiction, nonfiction, TV, even the top TV episodes (in a two-part slide show that concludes tomorrow). But at a time when there are so many top-10 lists, we also wanted to know what movie critic Andrew O'Hehir, TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz and book critic Laura Miller liked least this year. Culture editor David Daley moderated the discussion.

David Daley: Andrew, you ranked all the films you saw during 2011 from 1 through 198. And while there are some especially rotten movies in that final 10, your worst pick of the year was "Your Highness." Why did the badness of that film stand out over, say, "The Hangover 2" or "The Green Hornet" or "I Am Number Four"? Are you ranking the worst films of the year with the same consideration as the best?

Round table: Are there too many “best of” lists?

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Year-end culture roundups: They're about to be everywhere (including right here on Salon). For many critics and publications, December is a time for summing up the year's artistic achievements -- naming the year's Best Books, Best Movies, Best Albums and all-around cultural MVPs.

Some aggregators go a step further, collecting all the roundups they can find and lining them up for seriously hungry culture vultures. Want links to all this year's "best of" roundups in one handy place? Look no further than Largeheartedboy.com, David Gutowski's blog. (If you haven't guessed, Gutowski is a fan of the form: "There is only so much music I can listen to or books I can read in a year," he says. "I use year-end lists to discover works I missed or for some reason didn't give my full attention to.")

Are there too many of these lists? Not enough? Do most run-downs succeed in delving deeper than the year's biggest blockbuster releases? Which rankings are the most interesting, idiosyncratic or trustworthy -- in short, the best?

We asked a number of prominent critics and aggregators to share their thoughts; you'll find their responses below.

Salon.com > Culture

The very worst of 2011

Round table: Are there too many “best of” lists?