The record industry is still dying, and yet very fine albums keep right on coming out. Here are my 10 favorites from 2010 -- that was the year that was.

(1) Arcade Fire, "The Suburbs" (Merge) -- Supposedly there aren't any "consensus" bands anymore, acts everyone can agree are worthy. Except for Arcade Fire, a Montreal band that's easy to love all the way around. Truly great.

(2) Laura Veirs, "July Flame" (Raven Marching Band) -- If you want someone's attention, whisper. Better still, murmur softly and set it to catchy, exquisitely crafted acoustic pop arrangements. Lovely.

(3) Doug Paisley, "Constant Companion" (No Quarter) -- Speaking of quiet, this is the sort of record that might have you holding your breath for fear of breaking the spell. It's sturdy enough to hold up, though.

(4) Robert Plant, "Band of Joy" (Rounder) -- Plant continues his Appalachian Mountain hop, this time with iconic Nashville country-blues guitarist Buddy Miller in charge of the proceedings, yielding wonderfully spooky results. Plant will bring this show to Raleigh in February. You'd be crazy to miss it.

(5) Titus Andronicus, "The Mointor" (XL) -- Screaming bloody murder also has much to recommend it, especially if one is obsessed with the Civil War and Bruce Springsteen in equal parts. Club-sized arena rock never had it so good.

(6) Kanye West, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" (Roc-A-Fella) -- You have to give the guy credit for boundless ambition, as befits an ego of West's magnitude, and danged if he doesn't pull it off. West still ain't quite as good as he thinks he is, but he's getting closer.

(7) Carolina Chocolate Drops, "Genuine Negro Jig" (Nonesuch) -- In which the best new old-time stringband in America (not just the Triangle) graduates from cool novelty to serious contender. The aforementioned Buddy Miller is tentatively set to produce their next album, which should be fantastic.

(8) Sharon Van Etten, "Epic" (Ba Da Bing) -- It's only 32 minutes long, barely album-length nowadays. Nevertheless, the cheekily titled "Epic" packs a year's worth of obsession, single-minded determination and emotion into its seven songs.

(9) The Love Language, "Libraries" (Merge) -- Brian Wilson has nothing on Stuart McLamb, main man of The Love Language. "Libraries" is a sonic pop cathedral, both beautiful and terrifying, haunted by McLamb's dead-of-night howl.

(10) Alejandro Escovedo, "Street Songs of Love" (Fantasy) -- Love lost, found, squandered and thrown away is the overriding theme to Escovedo's rippin' new album, a great followup to 2008's equally stellar "Real Animal." Long may he roar.

Outlaw (8pm, NBC) - NBC was supposed to show this doomed Jimmy Smits drama last Saturday at 8pm, but locally, it aired at 3:30am instead. What's up with that, NBC-17? If things go as they should tonight, you can see Garza and his crew take on the case of an orphan who is denied an organ transplant. Elizabeth Pena guest stars.

Runaway (8pm, BET, MTV) - Kanye West debuts his 35-minute "Runaway" short film, about a Phoenix-like character who falls to earth and is rescued by Kanye. According to Spin magazine, the film has fireballs, sports cars, sheep, a Michael Jackson statue, a Scottish marching band, and Nicki Minaj narrating in a British accent. It also features nine different songs, including a track by the band Bon Iver.  Selita Eubanks stars.

Growing the Big One (9pm, Hallmark) - A new Hallmark movie starring Shannen Doherty as a Seattle DJ who leaves the city behind to tend to her recently deceased grandfather's farm, which he was in danger of losing to the bank. In order to pay off his debt and save the farm, she decides to enter a local pumpkin-growing contest. She teams up with a neighbor (Kavan Smith) to grow the pumpkin, but wouldn't you know it, love blooms as well.

Pit Boss (10pm, Animal Planet) - In the second season finale, Shorty is hurt during a dog rescue. Also, Ronald and Shorty argue over Ronald's shifting priorities, and Seb's relationship issues escalate.

Saturday Night Live (11:30pm, NBC) - Emma Stone is the host and the musical guest is Kings of Leon.

Law & Order: Los Angeles (9pm, NBC) - If you missed this new show's premiere earlier in the week, here's your chance to catch up. It's not bad. It's pretty much exactly like the old "Law & Order" except set in Los Angeles, where things just seem too bright and shiny to be a real "Law & Order." But I think it's a work in progress and will get better. This first episode has a bit of a "Lindsey Lohan ripped from the headlines" vibe.

Iconoclasts (9pm, Sundance) - In the fifth season premiere of this series which profiles creative visionaries, Charlize Theron joins legendary anthropologist Jane Goodall in the wild to learn about primates.

Saturday Night Live (11:30pm, NBC) - Three time Emmy-winner Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") is the host and Kanye West is the musical guest.

Austin City Limits (12 midnight, UNC-TV) - The 36th season kicks off with a show by Jimmy Cliff who performs a mix of his greatest hits and songs from his "Existence" cd.

See, this is why you can't totally quit SNL. Just when you think the show is beyond lame and that a guest host like Taylor Swift is sure to be weak and boring, it surprises you with goodness.

Not greatness, but solid goodness.

There were many solidly good moments in last night's show, starting with Swift's hilarious "Monologue Song," in which she took some jabs at Joe Jonas and also addressed her current boyfriend Taylor Lautner (the werewolf in "Twilight") and of course, Kanye West. And speaking of "Twilight," the digital short spoof on that movie ("Firelight") which subbed Frankenstein monsters for vampires, was dead-on. I also loved Swift in the PSA about dangerous things parents do while driving. Even the very last skit, an infomercial for an album called "Bunny Business," had funny impressions of Natalie Merchant, Shakira, Adam Duritz, and Jennifer Hudson.

Click below to watch Taylor Swift sing her "Monologue Song."

The first episode of NBC's new "Jay Leno Show" wasn't exactly different from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and it didn't exactly change my mind about Leno not being funny. But I also recognize that I am probably not his intended audience, so read this with a grain of salt.

As was anticipated in the aftermath of the Kanye West-Taylor Swift trainwreck Sunday night, the most intriguing part of Jay's whole show was when he sat down to interview Kanye, and actually made him cry by guilting him with this dead mother. But we'll get to that later.

...But is anyone really surprised at the stunt he pulled last night at poor Taylor Swift's expense? We shouldn't be. In any event, here's a pretty good response.

ADDENDA: Good for Beyonce; and a goofy apology.

SECOND: Obama calls Kanye out; and the conspiracy theories fly.

One of the consequences of Michael Jackson's death is that his family has regained the spotlight, and like a lot of us, Michael has some crazy folk in his family.

Which brings us to LaToya Jackson.

But before we go there, last night's Video Music Awards on MTV opened with a tribute to the King of Pop, with Janet Jackson. (Kanye West: rude jerk. Beyonce: class act.)

Last month's Raleigh stop on the Kanye West tour went off with no incidents or public tantrums to speak of, which has not always been the case. But boy howdy, is he making up for that now. Angered over criticism of the 4:25 a.m. start time of his performance at the Bonnaroo Festival, West took to his laptop to fire back at his detractors in his inimitable fashion (NSFW warnings apply). Somebody fix that man's caps-lock and exclamation-point keys...

(Found via Idolator.)

ADDENDUM (7/16/08): In case anybody was wondering, West wants it known he writes his own blog posts.