Like clockwork at year's end, media pens were pushed to record 2010’s best. Regardless of expertise, everybody and anybody have gotten in on the opinionated act and no category of popular culture has gone untouched. The compilations began to flood my inbox at the end of November, arriving with the frequency of an overactive bladder. Most year-end lists and reviews I encountered either sparked a laugh or a yawn. Rarely did anything make me go “hmmm.”
If it wasn’t the New York Times touting 2010’s best books, it was The Daily Beast slinging its selections. In contrast, The Root, a Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive online product, served its published picks on an African-American platter. Collectively, the lists reflected little selection intersection, however, Rebecca Skloot’s book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” might've registered the lone exception. Different strokes for different critic folks, I suppose.
As would any newly recovering shopaholic, I almost deleted an email ofForbes’ Best Shopping Cities list before realizing my hometown of Houston had snagged top honors. Thank God, I wasn’t weakened to relapse. Slaving in the kitchen while baking holiday treats, VH1’s Hip Hop top made me say “Ahh” just as I did when getting my groove on to Trey Songz’ hit during many feverish 2010 nights.
Two days before Christmas, I opened the Wall Street Journal where all things hailed best in television, theater, and art, etc., splattered a full-color page. Our friends at Salon.com gave us the 10 best viral videos and if I never see Antoine Dodson again, that’ll be a-ok. Jeez, Louise, the inundation of 2010’s best, whether delivered via inbox, TV, magazine or daily paper, suggested ample impetus to abandon all news purveyors.
Like a rat to cheese, the exiting year’s overhyped best lists led me to crown my own 2010 worst. During a brief electronic sabbatical, I spotted a billboard that read “GOP is the New Black” on the way to take in Galveston’s holiday glitter. Of all places, it was posted alongside a well-traveled freeway bordering one of Houston’s decaying black neighborhoods.
Although the Raging Elephants, a local organization, were credited with the message’s crafting, the slick call for inclusion was lost upon the area’s Democratic stronghold. Strategically, the poor ad placement and clichéd message bombed like a teen mom.
According to Wikipedia, the catch phrase, “Gray is the New Black” was coined to reassign the color gray to black’s fashion status by designer Gianfranco Ferre in 1983. Bombarded by “Gay is the New Black” and “Unemployment is the New Black” in recent years, we were also subjected to a heap of takes on the phrase in 2010 ad nauseam: “Bitch is the New Black,” “Orange is the New Black,” and “Bitter is the New Black.” Face it, folks, enough is enough. “The New Black” has run its course so as we countdown to twenty- eleven, let’s adhere to “out with the old and in with the new.”
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Megan Corse
Greer McVay
Virginia DeBerry
Nick Carraway
Kathy Riordan
FrogTown Diva
Salon.com
Comments
Lezlie
@Lezlie, like fashion, unfortunately, locutions are cyclical. If it were up to me, X is the new black would be retired. Glad you enjoyed my year-end piece.