WEEKEND gives thanks

It’s nearly time to give thanks again, but we at WEEKEND aren’t as interested in the “traditional” platitudes people throw out around this time – you know, stuff like family, friends or world peace. Instead, we wanted to discuss the important stuff, like what we’re thankful for in pop culture from the last calendar year.

WEEKEND is thankful for:

“The Beatles: Rock Band” is released on September 9, 2009. One of the greatest bands of all time now becomes accessible to people all over the world, musicians and the musically-challenged alike. Gamers can now play or sing their favorite Beatles classics as Paul, John, George, or Ringo while experiencing trippy graphics that reflect the atmosphere of each era of the band. – Laura Sibley

Doug Benson, who makes smoking weed funny, Michael Jackson, who in death has achieved more fame than he did in life, MMA, for giving people what football only pretends to (utter ass-kicking) and burritos, for being awesome. – Doug Evans

“500 Days of Summer” for being the most charming, intelligent film of the year, the U2 360 Tour for giving me the best night of my life (OMG) and Community for its wit, its charm and its comedy. – Brian Welk

Hype Machine (hypem.com) for providing me many hours of musical delights over the past year. Whenever I am having a bad day regardless of where I am, I can always find something amazing be it an original, new release, cover, or remix to listen to and cheer me up. – Therese Kennelly

Thursday night comedy, not only on NBC (Community, Parks and Rec, The Office and 30 Rock), but also on FX (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League) for giving me a pretty solid excuse for not partying between 8-11:30 p.m. on Thursday nights.  – Paul Mattingly

The holiday video game season. We’re given at least one big AAA title every week for the next month and a half – “Brutal Legend,” “Modern Warfare 2,” “Assassin’s Creed 2,” “Dragon Age: Origins” and “Uncharted 2” – with so little time to absorb them all. Gamers have to endure the sparse months in the summer and fall. This is our digital feast. – Chad Quandt

Modern Family for building its characters up, not tearing them down and thus far managing to stay consistently hilarious. – Austin Morris

I’m just thankful Balloon Boy is OK, that I haven’t gotten swine flu (yet), that the new “Star Trek” movie didn’t disappoint (unlike 2008’s new “Indiana Jones” sequel) and that the Obamas finally picked a dog. The suspense was just killing me! – Mike Beam

Regina Spektor’s “Far” for moving away from the complex and unpolished style of her previous work, (these songs are a love affair between her voice and a piano) and Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse for being beautifully filmed, thematically rich and increasingly engrossing – even though it’s being canceled. – Kate Colvin

“Watchmen” for adhering (mostly) faithfully to the narrative of the comic and for Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited WWII tribute “Inglorious Basterds” for featuring everything a Tarantino movie should: snappy dialogue, thoughtfully crafted cinematography, irreverent humor and of course, lots of bloodshed, murder and revenge. – Megan Clayton

Despite the changing business model that is affecting all of print media, a few great comic book writers have put out some of their best work over the course of the last year, namely Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch with their limited “Captain America Reborn” and the amazing Brian K. Vaughan, whose “Ex Machina” run continues to be the best comic on the shelves. – Brad Sanders

Miley Cyrus for giving us the too-catchy "Party In The USA" and inching closer to her 18th birthday. – Adam Lukach

The topsy-turvy, time travel-heavy fifth season of Lost for convincing me that it is the most creative piece of media text to be crafted this decade and Twitter for allowing me to get pertinent news updates and passively stalk Taylor Swift simultaneously. – Cory Barker