Richard Ranks

Richard's Top 10 Albums of 2015 Time to get back on my ranking everything I can think of in blog form and not just in my head.  How about my 10 favorite records from 2015? Hope you enjoy this countdown (though the descriptions were written #1-10 so spoilers inherent): 10. Snoop Dogg - "Bush" This is going to seem like an insane 10th pick in the year of music we've had but honestly, I just wanted this up there because this album was criminally underrated in my opinion. It was a summer party album, nothing fancy, but it was amazing as that. Snoop was witty, the songs were catchy, and as a whole, I just found it a fun listen. If you don't mind some new age disco-funk meets west coast hip-hop, listen and don't think too much. Enjoy yourself.  "California Roll"  with Pharrell and Stevie Wonder is great and  "R U a Freak"  is my second favorite. 9.  King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard -"Paper Mâché Dream Balloon" I

Today is finally the day!  The 87th Academy Awards will honor the greatest films of the year and some of the greatest films of the past decade.  Below are my predictions for what WILL win, what COULD win (sadly there is no 2nd place) and what SHOULD win (as in my biased favorite).  For the big awards there will be a brief club but most awards just predictions. Best Picture Nominees: American Sniper Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Selma The Theory of Everything Whiplash This is easily the closest Best Picture race in memory, with all the usual predictors split evenly between Birdman and Boyhood.  While both ambitious in concept, I think that Boyhood, which was filmed over 12 years with the same actors and its great emotional pull will end up losing out to the one continuous shot of Birdman, partially due to the idea of Hollywood voting for Hollywood.  Birdman has already taken top prizes from the Produc