2005: Five Cultural Discoveries

1) The Wire Series 1 (HBO series)

Brilliantly written, brilliantly acted, brilliantly directed - one of the best things I've ever seen on TV.

2) Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club

I've never liked Sam Cooke as much as others seem to, but this live album is an eye-opener - he tears the club down. And he also instructs the audience to "wave their handkerchiefs round and round" - you don't catch too many artists doing that these days.

3) The novels of William Cooper

Actually a rediscovery - I read Scenes from Provincial Life and Scenes from Married Life when I was young, but all I remembered was that I liked them. Anyway, they're fresh, compulsive, intelligent and funny; strange to learn, after all we've been told, that sexual mores in 1939 were so similar to our own.

4) "Secret House Against the World", Buck 65.

Country and western rap. Really. And even more amazing: it's good.

5) Maynard's Sours

Were they this year? I can't remember. It doesn't matter. Anyway, they combine the sugar crusts of fruit pastilles with the sourness of wine gums. Is this wasted on an American readership? That doesn't matter either. Genius.