Saturday, February 14, 2009

2008 Top 5 Lists

Happy New Year! What can we say about 2008? For starters, I’m happy it’s over and I’m striving to remain optimistic about 2009. (On the plus side, hard times generally produce great art for future lists.) Thanks to DVD and hulu.com, the small screen finally gets a category in my tenth annual list. Not all of these selections came out last year, but that’s when I got around to them. So, unsolicited as always, I humbly submit my 2008 Top 5’s:

TOP 5 MOVIES
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (young love in/with NYC)
The Orphanage (Capra-esque horror)
Happy Go Lucky (anatomy of a truly happy person)
Rachel Getting Married (a trainwreck, yet I couldn’t look away)
Appaloosa (Ed & Viggo rock the Wild West)

TOP 5 DVD'S
Colma The Musical (authentic high school musical)
Be Kind Rewind (thoroughly sweded)
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (proto celebrity-stalker-homicide)
Talk To Me (back when radio ruled)
Gone Baby Gone (Southie hospitality)

TOP 5 LP'S/CD'S
The Hold Steady- Stay Positive (these sing a long songs will be our scriptures)
Titan: It’s All Pop! (Kansas City ‘78-82…powerpop’s halcyon days)
The Speedies- Speedy Delivery (hella hair and hooks with skinny ties too)
The Clash Live At Shea Stadium (rocks, despite the faux-hawk and imminent break-up)
Silver Sun- Dad’s Weird Dream (keeping the powerpop fires burning)

TOP 5 BOOKS
Lush Life- Richard Price (lower east side nightmare)
The Plot Against America- Philip Roth (guardian of liberty)
The Abstinence Teacher- Tom Perrotta (suburban jihad)
Then We Came To The End-Joshua Ferris (dot com bubbleheads)
Gentlemen of the Road- Michael Chabon (or as the author puts it “Jews with Swords”)

TOP 5 LIVE PERFORMANCES
AC/DC 12/4/08 Oracle Arena, Oakland (father-son bonding)
The Hold Steady/Drive By Truckers 11/24/08 The Fillmore, San Francisco (almost killed me)
“August Osage County” 7/26/08 Music Box Theater, NYC (full bore family dysfunction)
The Rubinoos 6/21/08 Great American Music Hall, San Francisco (powerpop gods rock the earth)
You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown 5/2/08 Trinity Church Sonoma, CA (a starlet is born)

TOP 5 TELEVISION/WEB SHOWS
Deadwood Seasons 2&3 (extreme manifest destiny)
Firefly Season 1 (cowboys in space, thanks hulu.com!)
Arrested Development Complete Series (be glad you’re not a Bluth, another hulu gem)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog (1st entry from the new small screen)
Lost Season 4 (mind bending flash forwards)

Let me know what you think and feel free to respond with Top 5’s of your own. I’m always on the lookout for material for future lists. Here’s to a brighter 2009!

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