Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center was wildly disappointing. This film could have been the defining film of our times, but it ended up being nothing more than a generic disaster film. It’s a missed opportunity, which I think was brought about because Oliver Stone lost his nerve. But can there even be a defining 9/11 film in this day and age?

I’ve experienced several historical events, but nothing quite like 9/11. I lived in D.C. when 9/11 happened and I used to drive right past the spot where the American Airlines jet crashed into the Pentagon. That particular day I passed by twenty minutes before it happened. I still remember the morning DJ joking about “some idiot who slammed a Cessna into the World Trade Center” (“how can you not see the World Trade Center?”), and I remember the horror in his voice when he learned it wasn’t a Cessna. Then there was actual panic and confusion and people talked about the Capitol being destroyed and the White House. It took me six hours to get home, fifteen minutes away, as they closed the bridges and soldiers set up road blocks.

I also remember the shock and disbelief that this was happening in our country. And I remember feeling sick upon seeing people jump to their deaths in New York. All of this is vividly etched in my brain as it is for so many of us.

When I heard that Oliver Stone would do a film about 9/11, I had high expectations. Stone is a leftist nut, but he had undeniable talent at one point. Platoon was brilliant, as was Wall Street. Platoon was so good it literally broke the Vietnam spell in our country and ended the tension between the public and the soldiers who fought in Vietnam. Wall Street (ironically) inspired an entire generation of kids to become Gordon Gekkos. Heck, even The Doors was great and turned me into a fan of the group. So I expected something pretty incredible from World Trade Center, even if it was likely to be liberal.

In fact, I expected something that would mirror the shock, the disbelief, the panic, and the horror that people felt. I expected something that highlighted the selfless bravery we saw on our televisions that day. I expected something that caught both the grand scale of what this meant to the country and also something that captured the personal effect this had on so many people and so many families.

Instead, I got a remake of The Towering Inferno.

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So the music website Pitchfork unloaded its top 500 songs from the last ten years, and it was a mix of mainstream mediocrity, desperate hipsterism, and legitimate inspiration. For every great choice they made (say, Goldfrapp), they immediately canceled it out with some horrible wrist-slitting trash (Britney, Justin, more Britney). But, rather than rag on Pitchfork (I picture their contributors looking like homelier versions of Michael Cera), which is an otherwise pretty good site despite its easily mocked pretensions, I’ve decided to post my own list of the top songs from the last ten years.

It’s in some kind of order. Here we go:

“Civilized Worm,” The Melvins. A song Ozzy would have sacrificed his first, second and third born for. You kind of wish he had. How did this song not become a massive anthem? I ask again, how did this song not become a massive anthem? It should have been bigger than lingerie football.

“One More Robot – Sympathy 3000-21,” The Flaming Lips. Off the Yoshimi album, it’s the best thing the Lips ever did. One subtle note change by Wayne Coyne is enough to make you feel like calling everyone you know and telling them how much you appreciate their smell. (more…)