Presenting: Maisonneuve's second-annual roundup of our most-read articles and blog posts of the year! Music articles scored high this year, with two pieces about Lady Gaga cracking the top ten spots, our take-down of the xx garnering a huge amount of traffic and our review of Arcade Fire's The Suburbs generating thoughtful discussion on Twitter. Major American websites like the New York Times, the Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan, Marginal Revolution, Steve Quayle and others linked to us this year, pushing pieces like "Diseases of Affluence," "The Intelligent Universe" and "The Eh-List" to the top. Read on for the complete lists.

Most Read Articles

1. Diseases of Affluence, by Kevin Patterson

Everywhere Western ideas touch down, people get fatter. Urbanization is literally making us sick.

2. The Intelligent Universe, by Abou Farman

The next stage in evolution—a machine consciousness able to manipulate time and space—is just around the corner. The catch: humans will no longer be in charge.

3. The Music We Hate: The xx, by Max Halparin

"If you wanted to revisit the awkward horniness of your grade-school days, the xx was the right band to listen to in 2009."

4. The Eh-List, by John Semley

You've heard of grindhouse, blaxploitation and kung fu flicks. But Canada has its own unique B-movie tradition—Canuxploitation—and new directors are catching on.

5. How to Run a DIY Party Space (Without the Cops Shutting You Down), by Madeline Coleman

Five tips for starting a semi-legal hangout.

6. Old Gays, by Jean-Yves Girard

The generation that launched the queer-rights movement is entering its golden years. Some are still in no hurry to step out of the closet.

7. How to Make the New Yorker's 20 Under 40, by Daniel Lametti

Move to Brooklyn, read Marilynne Robinson, toil on your first book for at least three years and doubt yourself endlessly.

8. The Music We Hate: Lady Gaga, by Amelia Schonbek

"Gaga takes everything she touches—weirdness, feminism, being queer—and makes a carnival-esque spectacle of it."

9. This Little Piggy Went to Market, by Marit Mitchell

As more consumers demand ethically-produced meat, can boutique butchers really feed a population?

10. Why the Giller Uproar Isn't Gaspereau's Fault, by Amelia Schonbek

The backlash against The Sentimentalists' publisher has distracted us from what we're supposed to be talking about: literature.

Most Read Blog Posts

1. Lady Gaga's Pro-Logo Video, by Ryan McNutt

The Gaga offers hope to a generation: we can be as weird as we want.

2. Things to Write on a Mother's Day Card, by Andrea Bennet

"Dear Mum, I appreciate the vegetarian chili you made me in August of 2007."

3. A Letter to Maclean's From a Concerned Asian Parent, by Madeline Coleman

What we learned from the Maclean's "Too Asian?" story: lazy Asians just can't compete.

4. The Trotsky Revolutionizes Teen Film, by Braden Goyette

Jay Baruchel's nerdy comedy manages to be funny, sweet and political, all at once.

5. Tips for Becoming a Better Smoker, by Mark Mann

Smoking isn't an addiction. It's a love affair.

6. What if Avatar Took Over Harper's "Findings"?, by Drew Nelles

James Cameron meets one of America's most venerable magazines.

7. How to Make it As a Writer? Be a Man, by Steven W. Beattie

Publishing is marred by an ingrained institutional sexism.

8. On Arcade Fire's The Suburbs, by Ryan McNutt

Reflections on a moving work about aging and the past.

9. The Art of Knit Graffiti, by Leslie Ordal

Why yarn bombing is replacing street art.

10. Appalling Conditions at the G20 Detention Centre, by Justin Giovannetti and Lex Gill

An in-depth report on police abuses during Toronto's G20 meeting.

Related on maisonneuve.org:

—Maisy's Most Read Stories of 2009
—Intelligent Reactions to "The Intelligent Universe"
—Your Thoughts on "Diseases of Affluence"

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