A list of some of the best stuff I read, heard, saw and otherwise empirically ingested (voluntarily, or in some cases otherwise) in 2008.

Best Music. Consider 2008 a redemption from the notably milquetoast year prior (as discussed here). ’08 saw the release of some serious ripper jammers that would leave even the most austere of wizards proud.

1- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!”
2- Magnetic Fields, “Distortion”
3- Fucked Up, “The Chemistry of Common Life”
4- My Disco, “Paradise”
5- Triclops, “Out of Africa”
6- The Melvins, “Nude with Boots”
7- HoAg, “Dr. Cowboy”
8- No Age, “Nouns”
9- Times New Viking, “Rip It Off”
10- Portishead, “Third”

Honorable mention: Monotonix, “Body Language.” Metallica’s Rick Rubin-produced “Death Magnetic” didn’t suck nearly as bad as I thought it would. It’s probably the best thing the band has released since “…And Justice for All.”

Biggest disappointment of 2008: Mountain Goats,“Heretic Pride.”

Worst album of 2008: Guns N’ Roses,“Chinese Democracy.”

Most overrated bands of 2008: Vampire Weekend, Fuckbuttons.

The Best Shows I saw in 2008 (whittling this down to a mere 10 was tough):

1- Seeing Leatherface in Los Angeles (as reviewed here.)
2- Seeing Monotonix nearly cause a riot in NYC was both hilarious and a reminder of the days of my youth when I actually feared how a show would end.
3- The three times I saw Triclops (the second show resulting in me getting my front tooth knocked in. Ouch!).
4- Seeing Fucked Up play for 12 hours straight at a clothing store in the Bowery (I only made it through a little more than 21/2 hours, but seeing Moby take the stage and play Black Flag songs with the band was fucking surreal).
5- Seeing the reformed, original line-up of Killing Joke.
6- Both time I saw Wire play (once with Die!Die!Die! and another time with Times New Viking). Incidentally, both shows were free. Booyah.
7- Every time I saw Dysrhythmia play (I’m counting at least 3 times).
8- Jeremy Enigk.
9- Chinese Stars.
10- Comfest ’08. D’uh.

Best Movies I saw in 2008. This year wasn’t nearly as good for film as the freakishly fantastic 2007. Still, there were some diamonds in the rough:

1- The Wrestler
2- Synecdoche, New York
3- Harvey Milk
4- Man on Wire
5- Slumdog Millionaire
6- W.
7- Burn After Reading
8- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
9- Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
10- The Dark Knight

Notable mentions: Iron Man, Rambo (I’m not even joking).

The Best Books I read in 2008 (as far as I know, only one of these actually came out in ’08 … though one was released in ’07 and another in ’06 … lending hope to the belief that while I continue what seems like an eternal game of literary catch-up, I’ve finally managed to (unlike last year) appropriate a few ‘recent’ releases to my reading roster.

1- Cormac McCarthy, “The Road”
2- Raymond Chandler, “The Long Goodbye”
3- Raymond Carver, “Cathedral”
4- Gillian Flynn, “Sharp Objects”
5- Paul Bowles, “The Delicate Prey and Other Stories”
6- Michael Chabon, “The Final Solution”
7- Martin Amis, “The Second Plane: September 11: Terror and Boredom”
8- David McCullough, “1776”
9- Vivian Green, “A New History of Christianity”
10- Thomas Pynchon, “Vineland”

Notable mentions: The time I read Anna Karenina, in five days, while fasting
(as discussed here). Going back and re-reading a few of David Foster Wallace’s works was a wonderful trip down memory lane, albeit a sad one.