2008 Media Recap

A rundown of my media consumption this year...don't worry it's for posterity charity

Best Albums I Discovered (didn't necessarily come out in '08):

• Shearwater - "Palo Santo" and "Rook" - Dense, heavy folk music
  
• Bon Iver - "For Emma, Forever Ago" - Folky folks music
  
• Nerina Pallot - "Fires" - Great voice, catchy piano pop
  
• Stephen Malkmus - "Real Emotional Trash" - His best non-Pavement album ... except for "Pig Lib."
  
• MGMT - "Oracular Spectacular" - I first heard of them in 2007, but never thought they'd get big.
  
• Vampire Weekend - "Vampire Weekend" - I was late to jump on this train but it's a very good album.
  
• Panic at the Disco - "Pretty. Odd" - Not at all the type of album I'd like, but yet I did. What is happening to me?!
  
• Fleet Foxes - "Fleet Foxes"
  
• Tobacco - "F**ked Up Friends"
  
• Oh No - "Exodus into Unheard Rhythms" (2006) - Hip Hop in a time capsule from 1993.
  
• Switches - "Lay Down the Law"
  
  Best Shows:
  
• The Sarah Silverman Program
  
• Battlestar Galactica
  
• 30 Rock (although the 2008-09 season has started a little lackluster)
  
• The Venture Brothers (it's from a few years ago but it's probably the densest and most culturally-savvy show since the Simpsons)
  
• It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (I finally got caught up and it's great)
  
• The Colbert Report
  
• Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father - devestating, mesmerizing
  
• Summer Heights High - The UK version of The Office directed by Christopher Guest
  
  Best Movies:
  
• The Dark Night
  
• Iron Man
  
• My Winnipeg
  
• Tropic Thunder (for the first half hour or so)
  
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
  
• The Prestige - I know it came out in 2006, but I've been a little behind. It's one of the best mystery films I've ever seen. Ever. Seriously.
  
• The Bourne Ultimatum - I thought the other two Bourne movies were just okay, this one kicked some serious ass.
  
• Manufacturing Dissent - the best documentary out there exposing the fraud that is Michael Moore
  (it was a seriously weak year for movies)
  
  Two concerts I went to:
  
• Iron & Wine in Buffalo; Glen Hansard in Massachussetts
  
  Biggest Disappointments:
  
• Ben Folds' "Way To Normal" - All the things that have irked me about his songs the last few years have culminated into this steaming pile of shit.
  
  
• The Foot Fist Way - Indie cinema is dead, and if it's not, I will now have to kill it after this sporadically funny but ultimately sloppy farce.
  
  
• The Wire, Season 5 - It was still good -- still the best show on TV, in fact -- but it was the weakest season of the series; the "serial killer" angle was something out of a bad Al Pacino crime procedural.
  
  
• From the Earth To the Moon - yes the 1998 Tom Hanks NASA miniseries. Some episodes were pretty good, some really boring (especially the one with the device of a filmmaker following everyone around), but ultimately it was just a TV movie. I don't know what I expected, just something a little better I guess.
  
  
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - It was a great concept and pretty interesting at times, but ultimately it suffered from the same aimlessness that has plagued French cinema for decades.
  
  
• Amy Poehler on SNL - She is just not all that funny, and her Hillary Clinton impression -- though iconic -- sounds absolutely nothing like Frau Cankles herself.
  
  
• Dane Cook "Rough Around the Edges" - the first chink in the Dane Train's armor; too dirty, too inside and just not funny enough. With this and his shitty movies, we may be seeing an epic shark-jump.
  
  Websites:
  
• Deadspin - Not as much as I used to since I don't read it at work anymore, but it's still the best place to find the "comedy pyramid"
  
• Politico, Talking Points Memo, Five Thirty Eight, RealClearPolitics, Wonkette, Pollster.com and just about any other left-leaning website in the universe this past year.
  
• BeerAdvocate
  
• BeerJanglin'! - naturally...
  
• Google Reader - now all my unhealthy obsessions in one easy-to-read interface!
  
• MP3Sale dot are-you. We'll keep it our own dirty little secret.
  
• Last.fm and Pandora - since I am too lazy to read about music and need someone who will tell me what to like.
  
• Wikipedia - the best site in the history of the internet, errors be damned!
  
  Odds and Ends:
  
• Hard N Phirm - the "Pi" song is a corker
  
• Tori Schulman from "Movie Up"
  
• "Firefly" the TV series and its movie follow-up "Serenity"
  
• POTUS '08 on XM Radio - my obsession for about 10 months until Election day
  
• The Vice Presidential Debate - the epic battle between the MILF and the Mouth
  
• Brian Regan's "The Epitome of Hyperbole" - finally a TV special that captures the genius of the greatest stand-up comic of our time
  
• Rock Band and Rock Band 2 - don't drink the haterade, it's a real hoot.
  
• Opie and Anthony and Li'l Jimmy Norton - outside of their Jill Nicolini phase, they did some great stuff this year. FRUNKIS! It's still my go-to radio show, even though I get Howard now too.
  
• Giants beating New England in the Super Bowl. What a wonderful wonderful moment in human history. Of course, no one in the LIBERAL MEDIAL will mention that in three consecutive seasons the Patriots have a) blown an 18-point lead to lose the AFC Championship, b) blown a perfect record to lose the Super Bowl and c) missed the playoffs (yeah yeah, I know Brady was out, cry my a river). Choke much, Bill Belicheat?
  

So there you have it, 365 days of me sitting on my ass. Hope you enjoyed it.