2008 So Far

I've seen more movies than you. I've listened to more music than you. It actually is true. It's not necessarily a good thing, but it actually is true. Surprisingly, I never watch things as they come out. I see relatively few movies in theatres and I generally wait for the musical year to end to read lists of what's better and what's best. It's something of a pretentious process, but it is what it is. This disclaimer is designed to point out how unusual it is for me to be ranking things that came out that year in July of that year. Here we are, halfway through July and I have the best of what I've seen and heard. I am 100% positive these things will change and I could end up hating all of them by the time it's all said and done, who knows? Technically There Will Be Blood was a 2008 movie, but it counts for 2007 because it won Oscars last year.

The 2008 movies I've seen, ranked in order of preference (with parenthetical commentary):

8. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Aliens. I'm not spoiling the movie for you, aliens are involved. Aliens. Aliens from outer space.)
7. Definitely, Maybe (My mother was in charge of renting movies on the 4th of July.)
6. The Incredible Hulk (If both Hulks can take any amount of punching without impact, why do they continually punch one another?)
5. Semi-Pro (This ranking proves how awful the previous three were.)
4. Get Smart (Pleasant surprise. Miss Hathaway should be Mrs. Rehm before long.)
3. Iron Man (I dare not rank thee any lower lest I upset thine fanboys.)
2. My Blueberry Nights (Incomparably beautiful. Will probably change it to #1 by the end of the year.)
1. WALL-E (Emotional attachments to metal boxes don't come easy. The first third of this movie is perfection. The pre-spaceship third is absolutely without flaw.)

For music I had to go ahead and nix the terrible stuff. I don't listen to shitty albums over and over so it's hard to accurately rank them. I've narrowed it down to 5 so far.

The Top 5 2008 albums I've listened to, ranked in order of preference (with more parenthetical commentary):

5. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave (Beautiful, clever, whatever)
4. R.E.M. - Accelerate (Love the band, hated the last album, welcome back boys)
3. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (Hate the band, couldn't be more surprised, gets better each time)
2. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (Love them, love this, right album at the right time)
1. Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords (Perfect comedy and damn good music)


That's it so far. What you could possibly do with this information is beyond me, but enjoy and feel free to comment on it. I could use some commentary. Couldn't we all?