The 100 Coolest Things of 2009... Introduction & What Didn't Make It

I ask the question again, for the fifth straight year... What makes something "cool"?  Everyone's answer is different, but for me, its one of those "you'll know it when you know it" kind of things.  For the fifth straight year, I've made my list of the 100 coolest things of the past year... music, movies, people, places, food and anything and everything I could think of. 

The list ended up being close to 200 different things... I cut many of them immediately, as they had no chance of making the list ("Watchmen" came to mind), then I made three catagories... The Coolest, Mid-Cool and Just Cool.  Then divided up the leftover 137 things I had listed into where they belonged--the top of the list, the middle of the list, the bottom of the list.  I ranked them one by one, made several moves, then had a final column of the 48 things that didn't make the list.

And, in no particular order, here are the 37 things that almost, but didn't quite, make the list... Tim Tebow... "Public Enemies"... "District 9"... "Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian"... Colleen Earnest... Phil Earnest... Ken Jeong (left, as featured in "The Hangover")... Leslie Mann... Jamie Cartledge... "2012"... Lisa Murphy... WWE: Raw... Investigative Discovery... Hulu... "Right Round" by Flo Rida... "Appaloosa"...  The trip to Dahlonega, GA... "The Pelican Brief" by John Grisham... "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3"... "The House Bunny"... "He's Just Not That Into You"... KT Baby... "Man vs Food"... "Race to Witch Mountain"... "17 Again"...  "Terminator: Salvation"... "Confessions of a Shopaholic"... "High School Musical" Theme Song... "The Notebook"... "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"... Netflix Watch Now option... "Prep & Landing"... "A Christmas Carol"... "Sherlock Holmes"... "The Wrestler"... "Couples Retreat"... Jeffery Dean Morgan in "Watchmen"

Now I'm not going to tell you what was 101st, nor am I going to allude to what was 137th... but, starting in the next day or so, I'm going to give you, one by one, the 100 Coolest Things I found about 2009... some of them are repeats from previous years, some of it is older stuff that I discovered in 2009, and some of it is brand new things that I enjoyed this year as it presented itself to me.

Curious about what's been featured before?  Here's a quick page giving a rundown of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008's coolest things of those particular years...

So, sit back, relax, and check back soon for the annual year in review...