What you won't find here is Jesus, Stephanie, Mom or any of my close friends. Naturally, Jesus and Stephanie is an automatic 1 and 2, while Mom is a solid 3rd, and we all know who the coolest are among Mikey, Wookiee, Ty and so forth, so why bother? This is the list after them.
Now, there are things like CDs and some movies on this list that existed before 2006, but this is the year I discovered it... so, without further ado, I give you the first part of
The 100 Coolest Things About 2006
100. The Brand New Heavies “Get Used To It”
Apparently, the lead singer, N’Dea Davenport, left the Heavies for a while, and they put out subpar music. For whatever the reason, she’s back and having not known what they sounded like before, I guess I’m glad, because this is just a funk-filled cd. I discovered, and bought, it at Starbucks, based on liking “All Fired Up” and “We’ve Got” but learned quickly its just a great album of rhythm, music and funk.
99. Michelle Malkin
You perhaps don’t know who Michelle Malkin is… well, think of her as a simple conservative blogger, sorta like me, only she’s on it every day, her blog filled with links and commentary on the biggest topics and news of the moment. Plus, she’s right up there with Sandra Oh as the hottest Asian I know.
98. Chris Daughtry singing “Hemorrhage”
It was perhaps one of the first few episodes of American Idol when bald Daughtry took the stage, after a whole hour of the same stuff—pop mostly—and even Pickles and My Girl McPhee who dazzle me always sounded the same… and then, Daughtry belted out Fuel’s “Hemorrhage”, in a performance I ended up watching three times via VCR. It rocked.
97. “Desperate Networks” by Bill Carter
A book I bought on a whim, just because the book jacket flap intrigued me, and it turned out to be a quick, highly entertaining read. It’s a behind the scenes look at some of the biggest shows on television now, entertaining because Desperate Housewives, Lost and American Idol really struggled to find their place on TV—and were passed on by other networks before finding their homes. And CSI’s William Petersen? He wanted to do a show about the Old West, before being talked into the part of Gil Grissom. It should be in paperback by now, or close to it… I recommend it.
96. Arby’s Four for $5
So, for five bucks, you get your choice of any four of the following: Jamocha shake, medium drink, potato cakes, curly fries, Arby’s melt sandwich, cheese sticks or some sort of fruit turnover. I chose the sandwich, fries, cheese sticks and a medium Mountain Dew. It’s a fried nightmare. Curse you Arby’s… curse you!
95. The Papajohns.com Bowl
It wasn’t so much that it was my first bowl game, it was more that it was my first bowl game AND my first game from a luxury sky box. They had attendants there, serving up wings, fried chicken, sandwiches, drinks and so on, plus a huge seating area where we could watch the game in style. The real Papa John was two boxes over, as were Andre Ware and some other guy doing the ESPN2 commentary. Plus, the East Carolina’s chancellor was in the next box, and we could see him very unhappy as South Florida kept running up the score… plus, what looked to be his daughter was there as well, and I was highly amused by how bored she seemed the whole time. Good times.
94. “Casino Royale” starring Daniel Craig
Having never even been a big Bond fan at all, I didn’t know how I would like this movie. And the answer is: A lot. Instead of being filled with ridiculous gadgets and uber-fast cars, it actually had a feasible story. Watching Bond turn into a “Double-0” agent was cool, as was Daniel Craig’s entire take on the character, seemingly cheesed to death by Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan. And Eva Green? She looked much better onscreen than in her profile.
93. “The Devil Wears Prada”
I thoroughly enjoyed this flick from beginning to end. Anna Hathaway has finally shed her “Princess Mia” image (being naked and cursing in “Havoc” and “Brokeback” will do that) to become a pretty good actress, and Emily Blunt is great as her rival-turned-ally assistant-counterpart, but the star of the movie is indeed Meryl Streep. She’s icy, she’s venomous and, it turns out, she’s human. A well done chick flick.
92. Justin Long
How can you not like this guy? He was Brandon on Galaxy Quest, a Trekkie-type nerd forced to take out the garbage, and is again a nerd in “Dodgeball” (who ends up getting the hot cheerleader), he took the lead in “Accepted”, Steph loved him in “Ed” and you probably now know him best as “Apple” in those Apple & PC commercials. He just seems like a guy that you’d enjoy hanging out with, or even poking fun at. Oh, and he's going to be starring alongside Bruce Willis in DieHard 4: These Movies Won't Die... Hard.
91. Iced Café Con Leche
Grande sized, filled with ice and six pumps of vanilla syrup, then with cold breve (half-n-half, for you non-Starbuckians), I’ve finally found a coffee drink that I enjoy and actually look forward to partaking of.
