This year has been fantastic for well-established superstars, but the year also saw more eclectic singles bubble up and find mainstream success. A number of indie bands struck a chord with weird yet accessible tunes. At the same time, several artists who have been kicking around for a while worked up songs that drew from their past but somehow managed to feel fresh. And that’s what it’s about, really: staying ahead of the curve while keeping in mind the past. Here’s our list of the 25 best songs of 2009.

25. ‘Alligator,’ Tegan and Sara

This Canadian indie-pop sister act has figured out a winning formula: Use the nasality of their twinned voices for good, not evil. On ‘Allligator,’ they take this feature and put it to a mid-tempo beat to spread the notion that alligator tears are something that actually exist.

24. ‘I and Love and You,’ The Avett Brothers

The title track from their major-label debut doesn’t beat around the bush: It’s all about how hard it is to say,”‘I love you.” It crescendos around the idea of Brooklyn being a refuge of sorts, which might not be such a novel idea, but these Southern boys more than pull it off.

23. ‘Relator,’ Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson

Forget that Tom Waits tribute record: ScarJo is more than just an actress crossover attempt gone awry. Her duet with veteran singer-songwriter Yorn is a suave Serge Gainsbourg/Brigitte Bardot-inspired break-up song that has Yorn and Johansson’s vocals cooperating quite nicely over a groovy confessional narrative.

22. ‘Heads Will Roll,’ Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The idea of Karen O singing “off with the heads” while ditching the heavy guitar riffs in favor of a more electro-dance groove seems like a risky move. But it works brilliantly and suggests that if she and her mates ever wanted to try to pull off electronica full-time, we’d be all ears.

21. ‘My Girls,’ Animal Collective

The ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ album showed a softer, more romantic side of the Collective, and ‘My Girls’ stands out as one of the most warped yet loving songs of 2009. When Panda Bear sings that material things don’t mean anything and he just wants an adobe house for his wife and daughters, you just can’t resist feeling something. Unless you’re a robot or made out of stone. Cold, cold stone.

20. ‘Cosmic Love,’ Florence and the Machine

Bursting out onto the scene in 2009 with a swelling voice, Florence Welch quickly entranced us like Fiona Apple used to. ‘Cosmic Love’ is unapologetically grandiose in its orchestration and builds her voice up over layers with each passing minute, getting loud but not abrasive.

19. ‘Islands,’ The xx

‘Islands’ demonstrates that these Londoners avoided the modern-day cliché of recording their album after repeatedly listening to the Gang of Four. The xx are subtle with both their guitars and vocals, doing the boy/girl duet thing well — this tune in particular works on a dark and seedy night as it does on a Sunday morning.

18. ‘Black Hearted Love,’ PJ Harvey and John Parish

In a move that returns Polly Jean to the more dirgy guitars of her ’90s work (and to her longtime producer John Parish), ‘Black Hearted Love’ is classic Harvey: dark and twisted yet with a killer guitar hook that pairs well with her wailing on about taking us to a place where her black-hearted love exists. At this point, we’ll go anytime, anywhere with her.

17. ‘Kinda Like a Big Deal,’ Clipse Feat. Kanye West

Whether or not the new Clipse record comes out this year remains to be seen. But at least we got ‘Kinda Like a Big Deal,’ and it’s as hard-knocking as we’ve come to expect from the Virginia Beach, Va., duo. It’s also contains a Kanye appearance that people don’t hate — and above all, that’s worth celebrating.

16. ‘Young Hearts Spark Fire,’ Japandroids

A cursory glance would suggest Japandroids are a mess, but ‘Young Hearts Spark Fire’ is the Vancouver duo’s most cohesive barrage of noise. There’s something raw and emotive about this track: As much as it sounds depressing, there’s a breath of hope that rings out in a way that can only be described as “droidstyle.”

15. ‘Baptized by Fire,’ Spinnerette

Being christened by a burning sensation doesn’t really sound optimal, but ‘Baptized by Fire’ moves through fast, driving synth lines that end up taking a backseat to Brody Dalle’s vocals, where she talks about devils and sounds like a modern-day Siouxsie Sioux.

14. ‘Ladies,’ Lee Fields and the Expressions

After four decades as a journeyman soul slinger, Fields is finally getting the respect he deserves — and he has done so by recording a fitting ode to the feminine gender. ‘Ladies’ sounds as retro and funky as when Fields always has, from back when it wasn’t retro, and we’re glad someone finally brought back the notion of ladies looking fine in the summertime this year. Feels like it’s been forever.

13. ‘The Mountain,’ Heartless Bastards

Frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom’s voice can be hit or miss as it hovers in the lower ranges, but on the title track of the Cincinnati group’s third album, she balances it out with a hard-rocking, heavy guitar blues jam that stretches over five minutes. More so, ‘The Mountain’ is a simple reminder that classic rock guitar wails will never go out of style.

12. ‘Help I’m Alive,’ Metric

Emily Haines‘ vocal style is perfect for anything dance related, and her Toronto-based band has essentially crafted a near-perfect dance song. ‘Help I’m Alive’ shifts through tempos, builds on layers of guitars and keys, and has a signature repetitive line in “My heart is beating like a hammer.” Really, that’s all you need.

11. ‘You Belong With Me,’ Taylor Swift

Although it’s hard to imagine that Swift is the “other girl” and not the object of some boy’s attention, here she taps into those days of high school like no one else did this year, crafting a song of lament that every alt-girl probably has identified with at some point in her life.

10. ‘Scarlet Fields,’ The Horrors

These Brits are awesome because they clearly listened to a ton of Jesus and Mary Chain, and there’s nothing remotely wrong with that. ‘Scarlet Fields’ is a bass-driven rocker that blurs New Wave and shoegaze, and is the perfect antidote to anything involving sunshine.

9. ‘French Navy,’ Camera Obscura

Glasgow’s finest combo captures it perfectly here: a hooky, ’60s Motown-inspired song, complete with a grand string section and Tracyanne Campbell’s throwback, airy singing of her confessionals, which reveal her as a bit of a control freak. In a good way, of course.

8. ‘Two Weeks,’ Grizzly Bear

People love this Brooklyn band for many reasons, but above all because they’ve become masters at vocal harmony — and ‘Two Weeks’ demonstrates that fully. The song is simple but not simplistic psychedelia, with Ed Droste’s and Daniel Rossen’s voices creating this high/low effect that swirls around a basic piano riff and stuttering guitar line. It’s haunting — but not at all scary.

7. ‘Paparazzi,’ Lady Gaga

It’s a love ditty for the celebrity-obsessed, and it defines the rapidly expanding career of one Lady Gaga. She assured us it was OK to ‘Just Dance’ and continually reinvented her ‘Poker Face,’ but this sinister-sweet paen to the pop culture romance is Gaga’s high concept summed up with harmonies.

6. ‘Little Bird,’ Eels

Taken from the forthcoming record ‘End Times,’ ‘Little Bird’ is Mark Oliver “E” Everett’s best ballad in years. Melancholy doesn’t get any better than comparing love lost to a tiny bird flitting around a porch. The instrumentation is sparse and sad, and the lyrics are punctuated with a well-timed ‘Goddamn’ throughout, making this a lovely exercise in the morose.

5. ‘1901,’ Phoenix

This is the year this French act will remember for one thing: They finally broke into the big time, thanks in part to ‘1901,’ a song that marks getting up for last call as an anthemic process. And it should be: Phoenix tap into those last-minute, last-hour feelings of desperation in a way that’s chic instead of anxiety-ridden.

4. ‘Empire State of Mind,’ Jay-Z

New York icon? Check. Song about New York, riffing on another New York icon? Check check. Fellow New Yorker Alicia Keys helping out? Sure, why not. All these things make up Jay-Z’s killer single, which serves as one of the best odes to the city that never sleeps in a long time.

3. ‘Fables,’ The Dodos

Sounding like a long-lost Beatles track, ‘Fables’ showed us that the Dodos weren’t just two dudes from San Francisco content to bang around instruments as loud and fast as possible; they also have a pop sentimentality that reflects not only a knowledge of the ’60s but an elemental yet mature approach to writing a love song.

2. ‘This Tornado Loves You,’ Neko Case

Anything involving one of popular music’s best voices comparing herself to a destructive meteorological force would surely get our attention. Case channels that fireball energy through an uptempo, winding country-rock tune that raises her swoon factor several notches from where it once was.

1. ‘Standing on the Shore,’ Empire of the Sun

Former Sleepy Jackson frontman Luke Steele’s Australian electropop duo takes an ethereal ’80s inspiration to a higher plane on the title track to what he’s described as a “spiritual road movie.” But don’t just take our word on how ‘Standing on the Shore’ has a transforming effect on those who hear it: Jay-Z came across the song on an episode of HBO’s ‘Entourage‘ and insisted that Steele appear on his ‘Blueprint 3′ album.

Slide Show >>

With the San Diego Padres leading the Chicago Cubs 9-0, the outcome is hardly in doubt, and writing the highlights should be easy. Then, Clay Hensley, who has pitched a near-perfect game for the Padres, steps up to the plate in the ninth inning and strikes out for the fifth consecutive time, possibly tying a Major League record. With an hour to go until showtime, Kosa confirms the dubious honor, then rushes to the edit room to compile clips of each and every strikeout for his account of what are simultaneously the pitcher’s best and worst nine innings. During the first commercial break, he debriefs anchor Dave Revsine. Moments later, Revsine is reading Kosa’s script to more than a half-million viewers. “It keeps you on your toes,” says Kosa, who was promoted three times in his three years at ESPN. “You’ll never come in to work and have the same experience twice.”

Slide Show >>

HAVE IT YOUR WAY
It’s opportunities like these, combined with a fast-paced business such as Bristol (Conn.)-based ESPN, that have helped catapult Walt Disney Co. to the No. 1 spot on BusinessWeek’s inaugural “Best Places to Launch a Career” ranking. Disney’s strong on-campus recruiting, solid benefits, and collaborative culture also helped land the entertainment giant at the head of the rankings, which identify top employers for new college graduates. Disney’s place at the pinnacle is also a testament to its popularity with students, but its desirability goes well beyond the company’s instant name recognition. In many ways, Kosa’s experience at ESPN, where he enjoys exciting, high-pressure work, rapid advancement, and immediate impact, is the new American workplace writ small. Because if members of his generation have their way — and they will — there will be a lot more employers like ESPN.

With this ranking, BusinessWeek has put together a guide to the employers that really shine. Unlike other such rankings, BusinessWeek’s incorporates feedback from three different sources. First we surveyed directors of undergraduate career services to find out which employers were creating buzz on campus. Next we asked those finalists to complete a questionnaire about pay, benefits, retention, and training programs, which we then compared with other employers in the same industry. Finally we asked Universum Communications to supply data from its survey of more than 37,000 U.S. undergrads about the finalists at the top of their list of most desirable employers.

The findings are often surprising. It’s now clear, for instance, that to attract the best and the brightest, companies are no longer competing only with others in their industry. More open to career experimentation than previous generations, college grads are applying across a swath of industries. The result: No. 4-ranked Goldman Sachs (GS ) could just as easily be vying with No. 43 Teach for America and No. 13 Google (GOOG ) as with No. 9 JPMorgan (JPM ) and No. 22 Lehman Brothers (LEH ) for the very same applicant. The intensely competitive market for top young talent means companies have to fine-tune their game. Consider No. 2 Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT ). Starting three years ago, the giant defense contractor made a big push to boost its appeal to undergrads, particularly the shrinking pool of U.S. engineering students. Based in part on input from focus groups, it stepped up recruiting, increased vacation time, and improved its mentoring program. In 2005, the number of applications for entry-level positions nearly tripled.

NETWORKERS
Like the baby boomers and Generation X before them, a new generation known as the Millennials, nearly 80 million strong, is just now starting to reshape the American workplace. Achievement-oriented and tech-savvy, the Millennials are eager for feedback and impatient to make an impact on their new organizations and on society at large. Networked in a way previous generations were not, thanks in large part to Internet phenomena MySpace (NWS ) and Facebook, they come equipped with many of the skills required by big employers, such as computer fluency and a knack for teamwork. But the same social networking skills and consumer smarts that make them valuable employees also make them acutely discerning job seekers.

Confronted with this demanding generation, also sometimes known as Generation Y or the Echo Boom, companies are scrambling to attract and retain the most talented among them. Some executives say they are offering entry-level employees more variety and challenges, providing senior-level mentoring, and even giving them opportunities to work for causes they believe in. Granting more competitive pay and benefits, faster career advancement, and more responsibility means taking big risks with the greenest employees on the payroll. Says Claudia Tattanelli, chief executive of Philadelphia research firm Universum Communications, which surveys Millennials: “The challenges are a completely different set than they were two, three, or six years ago.”

REVOLVING DOOR
Given the country’s demographics, some accommodation is inevitable. Entry-level hiring is expected to surge in 2007 by more than 17%, the fourth consecutive double-digit increase, according to the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE). And this could be only the beginning. By 2010, as the exodus of baby boomers from the workforce accelerates, census data suggest, two employees will be leaving for every new hire entering, and new college grads will be a precious commodity.

The numbers demonstrate only half the challenge. In crafting the perfect pitch these days, it’s not enough to have a marquee name or competitive pay, although those certainly help. To land the most desirable young grads, employers need to put something far more valuable on the table: the organization itself. Companies with corporate cultures that stress social responsibility, diversity, and the environment, all values that align with those of the twentysomething generation, stand to get the lion’s share of interest from job seekers.

Some of the old recruiting orthodoxies are rapidly disappearing. Financial services companies, once the refuge of business majors and quant jocks, now accept liberal arts grads in droves even if it means a bigger up-front training investment to get them up to speed. Almost half of entry-level hires at Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan and a third of those at Goldman Sachs fall into this category.

In this rapidly shifting environment, many employers have seized the chance to distinguish themselves from the pack. Among the best 25 employers in the ranking are some that may not seem as if they would be hot with the graduating set, but they offer superior perks. Raytheon’s hefty pay packages, Verizon Communications’ (VZ ) benefits, and National Instruments’ (NATI ) training budget helped propel those companies to the top. More and more, companies will be forced to match similar enticements. Universum Communications, which supplied student survey data for the ranking, says that the number of corporate clients seeking research on the Millennials and their attitudes has increased 45% in the past six months alone. “Half of that is from clients who are usually only focused on MBA recruiting,” says Universum’s Tattanelli. “They’re now interested in creating a strong employer brand image early on.”

CODDLED
So who are these challenging Millennials? Researchers note that unlike the Gen Xers before them, who were the “latchkey kids” of the 1970s, many of these recent grads have grown up in households with actively involved parents and a strong support network in place. Coddled from an early age, as employees they are sometimes perceived by older colleagues, rightly or wrongly, as lacking a strong work ethic and having an unjustified sense of entitlement. With their overscheduled childhoods, many are also viewed as being unable to think on their feet, solve problems on their own, or take on leadership roles.

On the positive side, getting the job done well and efficiently is important to Millennials, say their employers. Boomers, by contrast, logged long hours and seemed to view face time as an end in itself. Teamwork and collaboration are this group’s strong suits. “Traditional career ladders are still important today,” says Anne Ceruti, vice-president for talent acquisition at Disney. “But collaboration is so much more important [to them] than it was for previous generations.”

The most important thing employers need to know about Millennials is this: They can afford to be choosy. According to WetFeet Research & Consulting in San Francisco, the number of entry-level job seekers receiving multiple offers has been on the rise for five years, and 82% are confident they will find the job they want. The competition is driving up pay. The average increase for U.S. employees in 2006 is 3.6%, but starting salaries for some new college grads outpace that. The average offer for civil engineering grads, for one, is up 5.4%, to $46,023; that for accounting graduates has jumped 5.5%, to $45,656, according to NACE.

If one thing sets apart the Top 50 employers in the BusinessWeek ranking, which spotlights not only companies but also government agencies and nonprofits, it’s their ability to give entry-level employees new opportunities early and often. Among the highest-ranked 25, for example, 21 provide extensive training programs that will hone workers’ skills and help advance their careers. “The issue for younger people thinking about their careers is whether [an employer is] an organization that’s going to develop them and provide a platform for other opportunities,” says Tom Tierney, the former CEO of No. 17 Bain & Co. who now runs Bridgespan Group, a consultancy for nonprofits.

Increasingly, the most popular and effective recruiting strategy is the use of internships. To identify promising recruits early and to sell them on a company at the same time, more employers are looking to their intern pool to fill full-time slots. Among employers that supplied internship data, nearly half increased their reliance on interns since 2004; at six companies on the list, more than 50% of the 2006 entry-level hires were former interns. At No. 4-ranked Goldman, that figure was 51%, up from 38% in 2004. “It’s really the primary driver of our recruitment,” says Aaron Marcus, Goldman’s global head of recruiting.

Companies facing increased competition for interns say they are giving them the one thing they crave more than money: responsibility. At L’Oréal Group, one intern represented the company at a charity event; at Abbott Laboratories (ABT ), instead of fetching coffee for higher-ups, as at some placements, Fabiola Salcedo, 23, conducted a detailed analysis of imports and presented her findings to senior executives. “[I chose Abbott] primarily because of responsibilities I was given when I interned here,” says Salcedo, who joined the company full-time last year. “I felt like I was really part of the department.”

Employers are also getting more creative with the tactics they use to draw these young candidates for both internship and entry-level positions. Accenture, (ACN ) ranked No. 20, advertises on coffee sleeves on select campuses and holds raffles via text-messaging to publicize career opportunities. Google feels students themselves can be the best recruiters. The Mountain View (Calif.) tech juggernaut recruits engineering undergraduates on roughly 80 U.S. campuses to serve as “pizza ambassadors,” providing classmates with pizza on Google’s dime during exams. JPMorgan Investment Bank runs an interactive derivatives trading game to identify top talent. It has taken on a viral life of its own: When the bank advertises the “Fantasy Futures” game at one school, participation surges at other campuses in the area.

If recruiting is employers’ first hurdle, retention is by far the highest. Those employers who provided the data reported that more than one-third of their new hires bolted within three years. And replacing them isn’t cheap. Training costs averaged nearly $10,000 a head, which can add up quickly when you’re hiring more than 1,000 college grads each year, as more than one-third of the ranked employers do.

The main reason young employees are heading for the exits, oddly enough, is the very thing boomers thrived on: the perpetual work day. Having grown up with parents who wore a grueling workweek as a badge of honor but were permanently sleep-deprived because of it, today’s young professionals are pushing for a more balanced life. Of the 37,000-plus undergraduates surveyed by Universum this year, the No. 1 career goal was to “balance personal and professional life.” “Building a sound financial base” ran a distant third, in part perhaps because young people are waiting longer to buy homes and start families.

To get the best hires to stick around, companies are more likely to provide a measure of freedom from cubicle life and offer everything from comp time to flexible work schedules. Those that don’t are paying a price. For years, Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY ) and Abbott Laboratories offered new hires 17 and 15 vacation days, respectively, while rival Merck & Co. (MRK )kept the standard 10. Merck is now finding that college grads actually care. “We’re looking at enhancing vacation because as recruiters we’re seeing some challenges,” says Merck’s director of university relations, Regina P. Flynn. “Even at entry-level they’re asking: ‘What time off am I getting?”‘ No. 2-ranked Lockheed Martin allows some employees who work nine-hour days to take every other Friday off and gives others broad latitude to make their own hours. Michael Van Gelder, a 27-year-old team leader on a multimillion-dollar government project who joined Lockheed five years ago, says that’s a big deal: “I’m not responsible to punch in and punch out. I feel I’m responsible for a job, not a shift.”

YOUNG IDEALISM
Often unable to offer competitive wages, nonprofits such as Teach for America Inc., No. 43, and federal agencies such as the CIA, which came in at No. 32, may nevertheless have certain pluses over for-profit companies in the bidding for young talent. Government jobs frequently have reasonable hours and solid benefits, and along with nonprofits they offer an outlet for youthful idealism, which is particularly strong among the Millennials, as it was among those who came of age during the 1960s. In the Universum survey, 27% of undergraduates now list contributing to society as a top career goal; the survey added the option this year after hundreds of students penciled it in. That’s good news for both federal agencies, where 44% of civil servants will become eligible for retirement in the next five years, and the nonprofit sector, where employment growth is outstripping that at for-profit companies.

Private-sector employers, too, are picking up on the importance of providing new hires with a way to give back to society. Goldman, for example, recently took the $2,000 company match on charitable contributions, a standard employee perk, and supersized it to $10,000. Other companies are ramping up programs that let employees contribute more time to volunteer work. Consulting firms such as Bain and Accenture allow employees to take subsidized sabbaticals to consult for nonprofits, and No. 23-ranked Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC ) allows employees to teach at local schools during the regular workday without docking their pay.

How, on the other hand, do companies like No. 29 Philip Morris USA appeal to a socially aware generation? Clearly any employer in a business that damages health or the environment will be a hard sell, but high-profile targets like tobacco companies are particularly so. Philip Morris, however, has an innovative recruiting pitch that promotes the opportunity to develop technologies that make cigarettes less harmful. CEO Michael Szymanczyk says the campaign touches a nerve with certain recruits: “People who are interested in challenges, interested in solving tough problems, find this to be an attractive place to work because it’s got plenty.” It doesn’t hurt that nearly 1 out of 5 entry-level employees earns more than $55,000 a year, far more than any other consumer-goods company in the ranking.

Having an opportunity to make a big impact can clinch the deal for young grads. At No. 21 Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (PBG ), especially promising new hires who go through the company’s training program can find themselves managing a team of employees within six months to a year, vs. the two to three years it typically takes elsewhere. And at Google, all employees are encouraged to spend one full day a week developing or working on a new idea of their own choosing. Google’s penchant for putting young employees in the driver’s seat is legendary. Salar Kamangar, who joined after graduating from Stanford University in 1999, five years before the company went public, wrote Google’s first business plan and led the engineering team that launched AdWords, its proprietary method for tailoring Web ads to search terms (page 68). It’s safe to say that without Kamangar, Google wouldn’t be Google.

While Kamangar was a self-starter, a common criticism of Millennials is that they tend to require a lot of hand-holding by managers. Having grown up in the cocoon of parental attention and positive feedback, they expect much of the same from their employers, including frequent evaluations and mentoring. That’s not always easy. Shan Cooper, Lockheed’s vice-president for diversity and equal opportunity programs, mentors five Lockheed employees and says newcomers want to be evaluated “weekly, daily, hourly.” Cam Marston, founder of Marston Communications in Charlotte, N.C., who advises companies on how to manage Millennials, says Cooper has it right: “I encourage my employers, even if they think they’re giving a lot of feedback, to double it.”

For the first time in U.S. history, four generations co-exist in the workforce, with many employees working well into their golden years. And that’s leading to a rising level of intergenerational tension. Employers are finding their newest hires may be blurring the lines between boss and friend. Says Marston: “There’s a difference between getting a drink with your boss and being your boss’s drinking buddy. The Millennials are trying to cross that line a little bit.”

One aspect of the Millennial mindset that worries some academics and executives is the generational preference for teams. Many of them, and to a lesser extent Gen Xers, grew up on a steady diet of organized sports and other team activities from before their first day of kindergarten. Even in school, solitary assignments have gradually given way to team projects. The result: a generation that feels most comfortable pursuing well-defined goals as part of a team. In the world of work, such a preference can be an asset. But as employees move into leadership roles, where goals are not always well-defined and success frequently requires a bold leap into the unknown, independent thinking and risk-taking could suffer. Every generation develops leaders, of course, but this one could have a harder time than most. Says Andrea S. Hershatter, director of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School undergraduate program: “It is going to be an interesting challenge for them to become creative, autonomous professionals.”

It’s easy to overgeneralize about a generation, and as critics of such armchair psychology point out, it often means extrapolating too broadly from the experience of upper-middle-class suburban youth. But these are largely the young men and women who will fill the management tracks of U.S. companies and, in doing so, transform the American workplace. By the time the last of them walk onto the job in 2022, their predecessors will have already ushered in a new age of work that bears only a superficial resemblance to the one the boomers and Gen X left behind.

What a year it was! After a 2008 sports season that was dampened by storms, the Tri-parish area had a rather quiet, yet productive, sports season. As 2010 approaches, it’s time to take a step and look back at 2009. The year was filled with everything from state championships to tragedy.

It also brought us the continued competitiveness of football in the Bayou Region.

What are the top local sports stories of 2009? Here’s the SportsNet Top 10 as determined by our staff.

Honorable Mention:

Leslie Bourgeois makes history

It took Nicholls javelin tosser Leslie Bourgeois three tries to finally etch her name in the history books.

But the senior didn’t give up on becoming the first Nicholls athlete to qualify for the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. on June 10.

Bourgeois officially qualified for the event when she finished fourth at the NCAA Regionals with a throw of 48.36 meters.

The throw meant she finally attained the goal the she set for herself when she first qualified for Regionals two years ago.

Even though she didn’t make it past the first round of her preliminaries – finishing ninth with a 143-feet, one-inch throw. Overall, it’s a senior season Bourgeois admitted she would never forget.

“I was pretty nervous for Regionals because it was my last chance and I didn’t want to come back home not having qualified,” the Raceland native said. “I was just happy to get the opportunity to compete.”

Earlier in the 2009 season, Bourgeois won the Southland Conference Championship in the javelin, posting a toss of 46.40m at the event. It was her second career Southland Conference title in the event.

Lardarius Webb drafted by Baltimore Ravens

During his two years at Nicholls, defensive back Lardarius Webb razzled and dazzled fans with his quick feet, animal-like ball hawk tendencies and shifty moves through opposing teams’ special teams units.

His skills garnered the attention of NFL scouts and on draft day Webb was selected by the Baltimore Ravens with the 24th pick (88th overall) in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

With Webb’s selection, it marked the third consecutive year that Nicholls has had a player taken in the draft following Jacob Bender (Jets) and Kareem Moore (Redskins).

Webb was a two-time consensus All-American at safety, and still stands as the only player in NCAA history on any level to win offensive, defensive and special teams player of the week awards as selected by the conference through the course of a season.

He holds the conference record for the longest punt return set in 2007 against Texas State when he took a 96-yard punt return to the house.

Upon his drafting former Nicholls head football coach Jay Thomas said it was a great day for Nicholls football.

“This is just a great opportunity for Lardarius Webb. He is such a great young man that is capable of so much, and we are all happy at Nicholls for him,” the coach said.

During his rookie season, Webb scored his first NFL touchdown on a 95-yard kick return for a score against the Denver Broncos on Nov. 1.

Top 10:

10. Rejuvenation of Nicholls basketball

Before the 2008-09 basketball season, the Nicholls Colonels hadn’t even sniffed the Southland Conference tournament since 2000 and had won no more than 10 games since that same year.

But entering the preseason, the Colonels took the initiative upon themselves to not let history repeat itself.

The philosophy paid off.

It took five years under head coach J. P. Piper for the Colonels to finally play meaningful games in March, but the Colonels defied the odds.

Behind the play of seniors Justin Payne and Ryan Bathie, the Colonels went from being predicted to finish dead last in the conference to finishing just two wins away from a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

“What I wanted people outside the program to understand is we have an incredible collection of young men here,” Piper said about going back to his first SLC tournament. “I’ve said it time after time through the years. It’s an honor to coach them. They are just a tremendous group of people. They bought in to what we’ve asked them to do.”

After defeating Texas State, 80-75, in the opening round, the Colonels fought Texas-San Antonio back and forth but dropped a two-point heartbreaker to the Roadrunners in the semifinal round of the SLC Tournament.

It wasn’t the perfect Cinderella ending to the season the Colonels had in mind but they believed it was one they can build upon.

“I’m very proud of my guys and the way they represented Nicholls,” the coach said following the loss. “We’re only going to get better. I think the program is in great shape and the future is very bright for the Colonels.”

So far in the 2009-10 season, the Colonels have struggled and are off to just a 4-9 start. But conference play is yet to begin and the team has been victimized by a non-conference schedule that’s seen the team face the likes of Oklahoma, Washington State, New Mexico and Houston.

9. The end of an era

One of the most historic volleyball rivalries in the area over the last decade has been that of the H. L. Bourgeois Lady Braves and the Terrebonne Lady Tigers.

A large part of that is due to Terrebonne head coach Chip Didier, who led the Braves to state titles in 1987 and 1989 and his friend, current Lady Braves head coach Peter Verrett III.

But after 11 years of pacing the Terrebonne sidelines, and 33 years total in coaching, Didier hung up the clipboard and decided to step away from the game he fell in love with.

“I’ve done as much as I think I can do with volleyball, he told SportsNet in an earlier interview. “It’s time for me to do some other things. I want every day to be a Saturday. I love the outdoors, hunting and fishing. My wife and I want to do some traveling. I want to do some things I can’t do on a regular basis.”

He capped off his final season in style, sweeping his rivals during the regular season and leading the Lady Tigers to their best finish in school history, 42-4.

Playing with added inspiration, the team advanced to the semi-finals in the Ponchartrain Center before falling to St. Joseph’s in the semi-final round of the playoffs.

After four years of coaching baseball at Ellender, he moved on to South Terrebonne for a four-year reign as head coach. The Lady Gators made the playoffs all four years. They lost the 1984 state title game by two points in the third set to the state’s top team, Andrew Jackson High School.

Didier had his most success during his eight years (1984-92) at Bourgeois – eight playoff spots earned, three state championship game appearances and two state championships.

Deciding he needed a new challenge, Didier took the head volleyball coaching job at Nicholls in 1993. He put together four consecutive winning seasons from 1994-97. His best finish at Nicholls was second place in the Southland Conference tournament in 1997.

Wanting to get back into high school volleyball, he took the job at Terrebonne in 1998. Although he did not go back to the state finals with the Lady Tigers, he still considers his time there to be the most fun of his coaching career.

8. “Redemption season” has ups and downs for LSU football

Following a 2008 season that saw LSU win just eight games and finish the season unranked, the Tigers took the field in 2009 with one thing in mind – redemption.

But while the Tigers did finish the regular season 9-3, most in Baton Rouge would say the 2009 season was one that was filled mostly with disappointment as the Tigers lost their three games by just a combined 21 points.

The first loss came on Oct. 10 when No. 1 Florida romped into Death Valley and limited LSU to just 162 yards on offense in a 13-3 win.

The news in Baton Rouge and around the country that week was the health of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who was a game-time decision with a concussion.

But the Gators’ defense stole the show on that night and dominated LSU’s offense.

LSU’s second setback was much like its first as the Tigers’ offense sputtered and stalled in a 24-15 loss to No. 2 Alabama on Nov. 7.

The Tigers were battered and bruised in that game and lost senior halfback Charles Scott for the season with a broken collarbone and lost sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson to a bum ankle.

The injuries came into play in LSU’s final loss of the season two weeks later – a 25-23 at Ole Miss.

LSU trailed 25-17 against the Rebels with three minutes to play. The Tigers scored a touchdown and recovered an onside kick to put them in a position to score the game’s winning points.

But following the completion of a 43-yard pass with one second left, LSU coach Les Miles had his team spike the ball, forcing time to run out and sealing the win for the Rebels.

The Tigers hope to open 2010 on a good note when they take on Penn State in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1 at noon on ABC.

7. The Houma Conquerors soap opera

It was supposed to be the happy return of indoor football to Houma in 2009 but by year’s end the city was left without a team once again.

After Houma’s first indoor football team – the Bayou Bucks – folded in 2004, former player Bucks lineman Franklin Thomas decided to bring a team back to the area as part of the Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL).

It seemed like a happy homecoming.

The team held auditions in early March, with several former Bucks players on the roster, and played its first game on April 19.

Then, things started going south. The team struggled on the field, and in the office.

For the team’s first home game on April 26, SIFL officials delayed that game two-and-a-half hours over safety concerns about a lack of padding on the dasher boards surrounding the field.

Then in July, reports surfaced that Thomas was struggling to pay dues. It ultimately led to the SIFL taking over the team.

“If he really had the money to pay (his league dues), he would have paid it off,” league owner Thom Hager said. “I think he’s a man of good character, but if you want to be in my league, you have to pay your way. There are no free rides for anybody.”

Several Conquerors players also admitted Thomas was late in paying players salaries and at least one player had a check bounce during the season.

Despite the drawbacks the team advanced to the playoffs with a 3-8 record before losing in the first round to the Louisiana Swashbucklers 61-19.

A few weeks later Thomas announced the Conquerors were leaving the SIFL and he would try to join a new league.

“We lasted the whole year. A lot of people didn’t think we’d make it,” Thomas said. “I think we did okay. I made a lot of mistakes and there are some things we need to correct. I haven’t denied that. We haven’t run from anything that was our mistake, but we’ve moved on.”

Even though the relationship with Thomas was tarnished, Hager still vowed to bring a team back to the area next season.

“I’m coming into Houma, and I’m coming into Houma strong,” Hager declared. “Houma has the best fans in the league. There’s no need to let those people down.”

6. Vandebilt Catholic continues winning ways

In what has become one of the most impressive dynasties in the area, the Vandebilt Catholic Terriers continue to outshine the competition.

Altogether, the school added a team state championships in girls’ soccer, girl’s swimming and boys and girls’ tennis.

Add an individual pole-vaulting title by Chris Watson, whose 15-feet, 6-inch leap proved to be just enough, and the Terriers’ athletic programs have certainly established themselves.

Perhaps the most impressive streak was that of the tennis teams. The boys and girls teams won their sixth and seventh Division II state titles respectively.

On the boys’ side the team earned 11 of 15 points on the first day of competition to seal the deal. Jacob Richard and Nicholas Caletri defeated teammates Jake Clements and Michael Thompson 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to clinch the doubles titles while Jessica Bourque and Julie Cronan defeated fellow Terriers Alexandra and Sarah Bourgeois 6-1, 6-1 to also win a doubles titles.

“Each title feels better than the one before,” 19-year Vandebilt tennis coach Kevin Ramirez said. “I’m kind of speechless. This was a phenomenal year.”

However, the tennis titles weren’t the only streak to continue.

The Lady Terriers soccer team earned their second consecutive state championship with a 5-0 victory over Teurlings Catholic.

It was the first two girls state soccer championships at the school.

“It was all about senior leadership, head coach Philip Amedee said.

The Terriers also earned their sixth state title in girls swimming, a runner-up in boys’ swimming and a runner-up in women’s basketball to cap off their year.

5. LSU baseball wins sixth national championship

When Paul Mainieri took over the LSU baseball program in June 2006, he had one goal – to return the Tigers to the summit of college baseball.

The Tigers had won five national championships from 1991-2000, but had since fallen on hard times and had gone nearly a decade without a national championship.

But Mainieri’s vision became reality in 2009 when the Tigers roared through the College World Series and won their sixth national championship.

“I’ve dreamt my whole life of having this moment,” Mainieri said following the game. “It’s almost surreal.”

The Tigers won eight-straight games to open the NCAA Tournament to place them in the National Championship series with the nation’s No. 1 seed Texas.

The teams split the first two games of the series, but the Tigers were too much in the championship game and earned a dominant 11-4 win.

Junior outfielder Jared Mitchell earned the Most Outstanding Player award for the College World Series. Following the season, Mitchell was the highest Tiger taken in the MLB Draft, going in the first round to the Chicago White Sox.

4. High school football teams fare well in playoffs

The 2009 high school football season proved yet again the teams from the Tri-parish area could still compete with the best of them.

Altogether, nine teams – Central Catholic of Morgan City, Patterson, E. D. White, Vandebilt, South Terrebonne, Terrebonne, Central Lafourche, South Lafourche and Thibodaux – made the playoffs.

Of those nine, E. D. White, Patterson, Thibodaux, Vandebilt and South Lafourche advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

By the time the quarterfinal round came around, only Patterson, E. D. White and Thibodaux survived for another week.

And following that week, only the E. D. White Cardinals were left standing.

The Cardinals were the only team to win their quarterfinal game, and advanced to the semifinal round for the first time in 27 years before losing 42-0 to Parkview Baptist on Dec. 4 in a game that was hampered by rain, sleet, wind and even snow flurries.

Even in the loss, E. D. White head coach Kyle Lasseigne was thrilled for his seniors who he believes laid the foundation for a successful future of E. D. White football.

“It was a great season,” he said after the game. “It set the tone for our program. It’s a place that we definitely want to be. Hopefully when people talk about E. D. White, they’ll talk about us the same way they do Notre Dame of Crowley, Parkview and those guys. Not a whole lot of people believed we could play in a semifinal playoff game. It’s a credit to our kids.”

3. H.L. Bourgeois plays day after teammate’s funeral

It’s one thing to return to play football after losing a teammate, but it’s another to actually take the field the day after his funeral.

That’s exactly what the H.L. Bourgeois Braves faced Oct. 10 against Archbishop Shaw.

The entire football team and nearly 300 students attended the funeral of fallen Brave Dominique “Neak” Hanzy the night before the Braves were scheduled to take the field.

Hanzy, 16, a junior starting defensive back, died along with four of his cousins in an Oct. 4 car crash in Gibson.

To honor their fallen teammate, players wore decals on their helmets with the initials “DH” and number 20. Coaches wore ribbons and heart lapel with the number 20 in royal blue and gray and several players had special towels made reading “R.I.P. 20″ while others put those same letters under their eye black.

At the time of the incident, H.L. Bourgeois head coach Joe Riley said it was a difficult week leading up to the 41-12 loss to the Eagles.

“When you’re as close-knit of family as we are, it’s hard to lose a member of the team to tragedy,” he said. “We had almost no practice and just went out and did the best that we could.”

The Braves considered canceling the game but H.L. Bourgeois principal Nason Authement and Riley decided Hanzy would have wanted the team to continue playing.

“I think this is what Dominique would want us to do,” Riley said. “He was always a smiling, happy-go-lucky kid and loved playing football.”

Hanzy had started all five games for the Braves prior to his death, recording 43 tackles and one pass breakup.

2. Nicholls fires Jay Thomas

After calling Thibodaux home for 13 years as a member of the Nicholls coaching staff, Jay Thomas was officially relieved of his duties, along with two assistant coaches, by the administration Nov. 20 after serving as the Colonels head coach for the last six seasons.

The announcement came one day after the Colonels finished the season with a 45-30 victory over Southland Conference foe Southeastern Louisiana, their second consecutive win of the season and third overall.

Thomas said he was shocked when he heard the news from athletic director Rob Bernardi that the university wanted to go in a different direction.

“I just happened to find out by the athletic director telling me in so many words Wednesday that he wanted to meet with us on Friday morning,” the 49-year old said after hearing of the news. “I just wanted to know what it was about, it was time for us to part ways. That’s what I was told.”

The official decision came after a morning meeting between Thomas and university officials. Thomas said he informed the team the night before the game that the university would likely not bring him back next season.

Thomas had an overall record of 27-35 as head coach. Thomas led the Colonels to the Southland Conference Championship in 2005. In his first four years, he accumulated a 21-21 overall record.

He was named the 2005 Southland Conference Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award that same year.

However, over the last two seasons, the Colonels had gone 6-14.

The team’s only wins in the 2009 campaign came against Duquense, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana – teams with a combined 9-24 record on the season.

A search committee was formed to select a new Colonel football coach. In the meantime, wide receivers coach Kent Keith assumed the role as interim coach during the recruiting process.

1.Tri-parish area gets Saints fever after best start in team history

After starting the season a franchise-best 13-0 the New Orleans Saints created a stir in the Tri-parish area that had fans chanting “Who Dat” and wearing black and gold nearly every day of the week.

“Saints fever” captured the hearts of all as businesses showed support on their signs, local sports stores witnessed increased sales and fans dangle Saints merchandise on nearly everything they owned.

Some, even went as far as using car chalk to paint the words ‘Who Dat’ on the back windshield of their cars, decorating yards with various Saints items and decorating Christmas trees with the famed black and gold.

Suddenly the Saints were an epidemic.

From the time Black Friday approached until after Christmas, Saints merchandise was atop of every local football fans’ wish list.

Among some of the hottest items sold were the Saints NFC South championship apparel and Jeremy’s Shockey’s No. 88 jersey.

Nash Pitre, manager of Sports Avenue in Houma said the frenzy was reminiscent of that of the 2006 season in which the team went to the NFC Championship game before losing to the Chicago Bears.

“Our sales had nearly doubled immediately,” the Houma native said. “The minute we get stuff in, it’s gone.”

To many die-hard Saints fans that stuck it out during the many woeful years believed the season was extra special so far.

“After all the turmoil the fans have been through, it’s good to be able to experience this,” Houma native Alex Ludwig said. “It means just a little more.”

The hoopla has dimmed, the last buses have pulled away, the guys with the brooms have cleared the debris, and the thick steel door marked “2009” has been shut and locked for once and all in the great big vault of movies.  Now comes the time to map, retrospectively, the highs of the just-ended movie year.

And, in fact, it was a year filled with highs.  It’s always dangerous to instantly declare a year (or, indeed, a movie) great, but 2009 was filled with riches from the usual suspects as well as several from surprising little places — and a reasonable number of big event-type releases that didn’t disappoint.

In some genres, it was a truly golden year.  2009 gave us spectacular science fiction films:  “Avatar,” “District 9,” “Moon,” “Star Trek,” and, why not, “Watchmen,” all distinct in tone, ambition, scale and impact.  Animated films were powerfully strong, including “Coraline,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Ponyo,” “Sita Sings the Blues,” “Up” and (depending on the year in which you saw it) “Waltz with Bashir.”  And while the mainstream Hollywood romantic comedy is a big, dead ugly, unwatchable thing, such alternative versions on the genre as “(500) Days of Summer,” “Adventureland,” “Away We Go” and “Paper Heart” indicated that the future — younger, sprier, smarter — is richly promising.

Some directors who have never failed us — Pedro Almodóvar, James Cameron, the Coens, Henry Selick, — continued their lifelong streaks of quality work.  Others whose output can vary — including Wes Anderson, Kathryn Bigelow, Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh (with THREE films, one more than four hours long), Quentin Tarantino, and John Woo — hit the ball pretty darned hard this year.  Heartening, all.

As I sat down over the past few weeks to digest it all, I noticed something that hasn’t happened, as I recall, in more than 20 years of compiling these sorts of lists.  My two favorite films of the year — one a drama, the other a documentary — were directed by women, and at least three of the remaining films in my best-of-the-year list, though directed by men, had female protagonists or a strong female perspectives/presences right in their centers.  I suspect this may have more to do with the way I viewed the world in 2009 than anything else, and I’m certainly not satisfied that women filmmakers get anything near their due in this business, but it’s encouraging to see that the glass ceiling doesn’t keep fine works by women from reaching the highest level and wide (or at least wide-ish) audiences.

What with a couple of  little cheats and an honorable-mention list, I’ve indicated 25 films from 2009 that I’d more or less happily watch tonight.  But, as I always indicate by signing my name to my work, I’m only one fella, and there are other voices out there.  Among them are those of my colleagues Stan Hall, Marc Mohan and Mike Russell, who have compiled their own best-of-2009 lists.  And, please, feel free to share your own views by commenting on our selections.

As for now, lovely to chat, but there’s a whole new movie year breathing down my neck, so TTFN!

The Top Ten Films of the Year

1. “An Education” (director Lone Scherfig) So rarely does the word ‘perfect’ suggest itself in connection with the commercial cinema that I am deeply suspicious of my instinct to apply it to this immaculate film about a teenage girl falling prey to an older conman in suburban London circa 1961.  But, really, it’s the only fitting response to this film, from the details of décor, wardrobe, music, photography and pacing to the breathtaking acting — especially that of the leading (and stupefyingly young) actress, Carey Mulligan, but also the work of her fellow performers Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Cara Seymour and Olivia Williams.  It’s a tale of seduction that seduces, a story about hard lessons that earns high grades with real application, a vision of a vanished age and vintage styles that delights in the faithful reconstruction of the past without resorting to fetish.  It inhabits the era of “Far from Heaven” and “Mad Men” with the exactitude of those fine works but none of the iconoclasm; it honestly believes in the reality of the world it depicts, and that’s a large part of its charm. “An Education” comes to us from inside a girl’s head and heart, and it has the craft, taste and plausibility to let us feel that we are ourselves in that rare and precious place.

View full size“The Beaches of Agnes”2. “The Beaches of Agnès” (Agnès Varda) Now in her 80s, the great nouvelle vague director has created a one-of-a-kind autobiography celebrating her homes, the bodies of water near them, the people and events in her life, and the films that all of those things have led her to make in more than 50 years of living in her very bones as an artist.  There’s immense humanity and poignancy and pathos in the film, but wit and whimsy as well:  Varda is not one of your ascetic aesthetes but rather a full-blooded woman who relishes the sensations of being alive.  The whole thing gives you a lift, but the most buoying aspect is the evidence it affords of Varda’s still-vital, still-playful, still-inventive and still-probing mind, heart and soul.  A deeply confessional and heartening documentary.

View full size“Star Trek”3. “Avatar” (James Cameron) & “Star Trek” (J. J. Abrams) Perhaps these films each deserve a position of their own in this list, but I see them as entwined in the ever-ongoing progress of gigantoid Hollywood movies and the culture that surrounds them.  “Avatar” is simply groundbreaking in a number of mind-boggling ways: a fully immersive cinematic experience about being fully immersed in another world. The story may be weak, but, then, there aren’t many good films of Anton Chekhov’s works, so…. “Trek,” on the other hand, is a brilliantly written reboot/remake/remix of overly familiar material that affords pure entertainment if not exactly eye-popping viewing.  This was a great year for science fiction films — two made my runner-up list as well — but these were easily the class of the field.

View full size“A Serious Man”4. “A Serious Man” (Ethan and Joel Coen) Part of me wants to ask whom the Coen brothers think they’re kidding, but a bigger part beholds this film about an ordinary man’s existential dilemma and realizes that they’re not kidding at all.  A delicious cast of near-unknowns (your big stars here are Richard Kind and Adam Arkin, okay?) are deployed around a painstakingly reimagined ‘60s suburbia in a game of religious depth and comic frivolity — or is it comic depth and religious frivolity?  Whichever, the Coens have reached a mastery well beyond anything most artists can aspire to, and they have a personal signature that is at once inscrutable, alluring and intoxicating.  Nobody — anywhere, ever — is remotely like them.

View full size“The Damned United”5. “The Damned United” (Tom Hooper) In some sense, all the best art is parochial, and this story about the spectacular rise and fall of a soccer coach in 1970s England proves that truth more than most.  And yet, as specific as it is, there’s plenty of raw entertainment in this adaptation of a remarkable (and fact-based) David Peace novel, what with Hooper’s detail-rich direction, Peter Morgan’s cliché-free script and, perhaps most of all, Michael Sheen’s magnificent performance as the great, volatile hero, the brilliant Brian Clough. You don’t need to be a fan of the game or its history to appreciate the excellence of a film that makes the mud of a wintery soccer field feel as real as the bitterness of a proud man being dealt an ironic comeuppance.  Like “Hoosiers,” which isn’t about basketball, or “Raging Bull,” which isn’t about boxing, it’s one of the best sports films I’ve ever seen.

View full size“Broken Embraces”6. “Broken Embraces” (Pedro Almodóvar) In their fifth film together, Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz turn for the first time to one of the Spanish writer-director’s favorite tropes: the artist haunted by memories of a broken romance and a failed project.  Pitched between Alfred Hitchcock and Douglas Sirk, this offhandedly exacting film reveals a director at the height of his craft and a star who has soared into an orbit that a very precious few actresses — and I’m thinking of the likes of Bardot and Loren and Monroe — have ever inhabited.  And Almodóvar’s art has grown so rich and mature that he can poke fun at his own work without for a moment seeming precious or cute.  This is one of the great careers in the history of world cinema, and we’re watching it unfold before us, film-by-exquisite-film.

View full size“Revanche”7. “Revanche” (Götz Spielman) A searing and quiet thriller that accumulates painful emotions, harrowing coincidences and an impending sense of doom in a sexy, mysterious skin, creating unforgettable tension and, surprisingly, real feelings of pathos and empathy.  Austrian writer-director Spielman crafted a hard, fine film out of shattering events and the most delicate irony imaginable: an offhanded opening shot that tells us in advance how it will all turn out.  It’s deliberate, it’s terrifying, it’s precise, and, above all, perhaps, it’s both human and humane.  A genuine sleeper that deserved a wider release and bigger audience.

View full size“Coraline”8. “Coraline” (Henry Selick) & “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (Wes Anderson) In a year when high-def, 3D, streaming video and whatnot all came of age, we were treated to two magnificent instances of the most painstaking sort of film craft of all: stop-motion animation. Both of these films adapted well-loved texts with tender care and obsessive attention to detail, both expressed the singular sensibilities of their directors, both were filled with material to appeal to anyone interested in a genuine spectacle or a good story or a moment of ‘how-did-they-do-that?’ wonder.  Film is becoming digital, increasingly, but it takes the original set of 10 digits that your mama gave you (i.e., your fingers) to make movies like these — and brains and heart and a funny bone don’t hurt.

View full size“The Lovely Bones”9. “The Lovely Bones” (Peter Jackson) A devastating story turned into something wondrous by Jackson, who, despite all his nerd cred, broke out internationally more than a decade ago with “Heavenly Creatures,” another story about adolescence, fantasy and murder. Here he adapts Alice Sebold’s story about a dead girl’s relationship with the family and the murderer she left behind on Earth with special effects that recall Vincent Ward’s underrated “What Dreams May Come,” with which this film shares quite a few details and textures. Jackson’s as good at rendering the trashy fun of the 1970s as imagining a teenage girl’s idea of heaven, and his cast is particularly fine. Sometimes hard to watch and reflect upon, but moving and rewarding. (opens in Portland January 15)

View full size“Up in the Air”10. “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman) The most charming movie star of our time, George Clooney, was born to play a corporate hatchetman who lives to gather frequent flier miles and loyalty points while hopscotching a battered economy like Death in an impeccable suit.  The slickness of Reitman’s previous work (“Thank You for Smoking,” “Juno”) is appropriately subdued in this tale of economic and personal wreckage, and even a botched final act doesn’t diminish the film’s powerful vision of how disconnected and desperate and rusted-out our once-shiny new world has become.  A marvelous supporting cast, razor-sharp writing, and, in Clooney, an embodiment of a previously amorphous modern malaise: a deeply disconcerting, surprisingly toothsome mix.

A Baker’s Dozen of Delights Just Shy of The Tippy-Top

“(500) Days of Summer” (Marc Webb) Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy beats self up for the better part of 18 months, audience is entertained immensely.

“Anvil!  The Story of Anvil” (Sacha Gervasi) The rock-and-roll lifestyle as lived by a couple of almost-made-it metalheads still chasing the dream in Canada; a documentary to make “This Is Spinal Tap” look like a hootenanny.

View full size“The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”“The Bad Lieutenant:  Port of Call New Orleans” (Werner Herzog) An absolutely guano-crazy reimagining of Abel Ferrara’s guano-crazy 1992 original, with Nicolas Cage tearing himself and the screen apart with merry madness.

“District 9” (Neill Blomkamp) We have met the enemy and they is us, or we is them, or we are becoming them, or all of that, or something.  Low-budget sci-fi with high polish and deep reality.

“Drag Me to Hell” (Sam Raimi) When you absolutely, positively have to have screaming goop-mares, twisted tales of cosmic irony, and horrifying, guiltless laughs, only Raimi will do.

“The Hurt Locker” (Kathryn Bigelow) War is Hell, yeah, but Hell can have an addicting allure for some, and this nervy portrait of an Iraq War bomb imparts a vivid taste of that terrible habit.

“The Informant!” (Steven Soderbergh) With its director in droll, zippy mode and Matt Damon beefed up and dryly funny, a movie that asks if using a crook to catch a crook is such a good idea after all.

View full size“Me and Orson Welles”“Me and Orson Welles” (Richard Linklater) A titanic performance by Christian McKay as the young (and, yes, sexy) theatrical genius anchors a charming backstage drama. Heck, even Zac Efron is good!

“Moon” (Duncan Jones) Quiet and smart sci-fi that feels like the sort of short story that used to turn adolescents into lifetime fans of the genre.  A stirring debut by its writer-director and a fine performance from Sam Rockwell.

“Precious” (Lee Daniels) The most shattering American domestic drama in memory, with ferocious acting by Gabourey Sidibe and, especially, Mo’Nique, and dreamy directorial inventions that shock and amaze.

“Red Cliff” (John Woo) Even cut down from a original version of more than four hours, this film about warfare and courtly intrigue in ancient China was easily the epic experience of the year.

“The September Issue” (R. J. Cutler) The deathly ice queen of fashion, Anna Wintour, is both cemented as an icon and demythologized completely in a compelling documentary about her work and world.

“Tyson” (James Toback) A 90-minute interview with the former heavyweight champion and living, breathing tabloid headline machine that both frustrates and enforces every preconception you might have about him.  Electrifying.

No, No, A Thousand Times No
View full sizeHaving ‘fun’ in “Pirate Radio”
“Pirate Radio” (Richard Curtis) Not only the year’s worst film, but quite possibly the poorest excuse for narrative entertainment I’ve ever encountered: a  shocking waste of talent, material and time.  A Ten Worst list in and of itself — nothing was remotely as bad.