Can a Republican win in Massachusetts?

If so, this is how they can do it. It's a long shot, but there's a lesson to be learned here about campaigning in the Web age.

Best Movies of the Aughts

Top 10 (in no particular order):

The Dark Knight - The film of the decade. Captures better than any mainstream film fear in the face of terrorism. It's a graphic novel "Silence of the Lambs," with a villain to match. Heath Ledger gave the performance of his too-brief career, and Christopher Nolan topped off the best decade of any aughts director.

Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe's best film won him a writing Oscar and a supporting actress statue for Kate Hudson, who's nothing since. It also featured a career-best performance by Billy Crudup, who has done plenty since. A love letter to music and the best teenage job ever.

City of God - It's been compared to Goodfellas, perhaps the best film of the 90s, and for good reason. A much grittier look at street life than the shiny "Slumdog Millionaire," it's chilling and breathtaking in its unwavering glimpse of life in Rio's slums.

Ratatouille - The representative for a flat out unfathomable decade by the best studio in Hollywood history (more on that in a minute). Its climatic scene, and Ego's review of Remy's dish, is perfectly written and animated. A joy.

Lost in Translation - Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanson bring a transient kinship, a temporary friendship and a chaste May-December romance to life. Two lost souls find each other for just a moment, and it's magical.

There Will Be Blood - The performance of the decade from Daniel Day Lewis, who followed his brilliant turn in the uneven "Gangs of New York" with this masterpiece. Paul Thomas Anderson, working about as far from the great "Boogie Nights" as he could, was no less capable of delivering a twisted look at the American Dream in the West decades earlier.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - The best of Charlie Kaufman's work, which is saying something given "Adaptation" and "Being John Malcovich." Also the best work of an incredible decade from Kate Winslet, who should have won her Oscar for this. A heartbreaking story about the link between love and our memories of it, and each other.

25th Hour - Spike Lee delivers his best work as a director by leaving the writing to somebody else. The cast is uniformly great, with Edward Norton more than ably supported by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox, all at the top of their game. Doubles as a Woody Allen-esque love letter to New York, at a time when the city needed it more than ever.

The Prestige - Christopher Nolan again, who made five movies this decade, four exceptional (The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Memento and Batman Begins) and one merely good (Insomnia). Christian Bale plays the Deniro to Nolan's Scorcese, turning in a tricky performance that hits every note. Michael Cane, another Nolan favorite, adds a high point to a ridiculous IMDB page. The ending proves the final, and best, trick of a movie full of magic.

Tropic Thunder - Narrowly edges out "Anchorman" for funniest movie of the decade. Robert Downey Jr. (who also did great work in "Iron Man" and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and "Wonder Boys") steals the movie, and an unrecognizable Tom Cruise delivers every time he's on screen.

Honorable Mention: The Bourne movies (best trilogy of the decade), Casino Royale (Best Bond ever?), Royal Tennenbaums (Wes Anderson hasn't been this good since), Before Sunset (just as good as "Before Sunrise") Thank You for Smoking (satire sharp enough to draw blood), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (transcended the rest of a surprisingly satisfying series), High Fidelity (about as good as a book adaptation can get), Once (the decade's best musical), Up (the earliest I've ever cried in a movie; 15 minutes in, tears exploded from my eyes), The Incredibles (subversive in all the right ways) Finding Nemo (and Monsters Inc., and Cars, and Wall-E and Cars; Pixar has yet to produce a bad film, the best streak ever)

Best of the Aughts

Everybody else is doing it, so why not me? It's list time. Separate posts coming for TV and films.

10 Best Albums:

I listened to less music as the decade wore on, but there's still a few I love.

My Morning Jacket - Live at Bonnaroo (Not released, but available at the link) - Best live album of the decade.

Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady - Name checks my favorite book in the first line, and then gets better.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco - Brilliant. Heard most of it live July 24, 2002, and it was awesome.

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker - I could throw superlatives at it, but know this: I listened to this more than any other album this decade.

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night - Could easily have been Youth and Young Manhood, because both were great.

OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - It's so much more than "Hey Ya!"

U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind - When they became the biggest band in the world again.

Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around - If for no other reason, and there are several, "Hurt."

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head - It's fashionable to hate, but "Clocks" is undeniable.

White Stripes - Elephant - The decade's best guitar solo: "Ball and Biscuit."

The return

Finals and Christmas are over, and better left behind, so it's time to blog again. Can we get to half a dozen by the end of Christmas break? One down, five to go.

"Welcome to Government Healthcare"

(Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

On Sept. 13, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, said:

We are on track to have an ample supply rolling out by mid-October, but we may have some early vaccine as early as the first full week in October.

By my count, this would be the last week of October. Good luck finding a shot. And that line in the photo above? That's our future. Can't wait.

(h/t Instapundit)

UPDATE: Here's a gem in a statement from the president (via The Washington Examiner):

The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels.

Um, yeah.

A Time For Choosing

My favorite political speech. I post it for two reasons:
1) For my buddy Steve.
2) Because it's always worth listening to again. It's 45 years old. If you take out a few of the dated references and change the names, it's as applicable today as it was then.

"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ash heap of totalitarianism."

How sweet it is

The Phillies, for the second year in a row, are National League champions. If somebody told me that would happen two years ago, I would have laughed, then cried. That Pedro Martinez is involved: priceless.