This year, when YouTube could broadcast the culture’s every laudable, laughable move, we were delighted to see the brilliant (Helen Mirren, Spike Lee, the cancellation of O.J.) make such a valiant stand against the despicable (“I mean, what if they had done it?”). And it’s in that celebratory spirit that we present the top ten things we loved—or were deeply, deeply in favor of—in movies and art, pop and classical, books and theater.

These lists, which go from the great (No. 10) to the greatest (No. 1), are as eclectic as they are impassioned. We found ourselves enthralled by Ryan Gosling and Maggie Gyllenhaal and Beyoncé (her record anyway), as well as by Sir Norman Foster, the “sound of swoosh,” and a book on mathematics and destiny. We also asked a few notable New Yorkers to tell us about their cultural high points, and we singled out people in the culture businesses who had exceptionally good years. We looked at what people will be saying about the Oscars race—and what you should say right back at them. And because the good rarely comes without the bad, we paid unloving tribute to a number of bona fide cultural stinkers. As for our own choices? Get ready to pounce.