Finally, The Best Of 2008

That's right, it's the best of 2008. As the coolest person you all know, I feel as though my opinion should be valued more highly than others. And as such we have the best of 2008. These aren't actually opinions though, they are facts. Every statement in this post is as true as the statement "the Red Sox play in Boston" or "Georgia Tech over Georgia was a fluke."

Without further ado... (Some of the subject ideas were stolen from McCluca, so big ups)

Favorite Female Celebrity: Anne Hathaway
The reason Get Smart is in my 2008 top 10.

Favorite Male Celebrity: Clint Eastwood
Changeling? Gran Torino? Still bad ass? Yes.

Top News Moment: Sarah Palin and my subsequent boner.

Top Sports Moment: Game 5 of the ALCS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wAlL988Z_U&feature=related
Red Sox down by 7 runs in the seventh inning facing elimination win the game
2nd place: UGA Basketball wins SEC Championship in staggering fashion
3rd place: Kansas kicks the piss out of UNC in the Final Four (I will no doubt remember this long after I've forgotten every other sports moment of 2008)

Favorite Athlete: Jon Lester... what a year.
By sport: MLB (besides Lester): Jonathan Papelbon, NBA: Mario West, NFL: Adrian Peterson, NCAA FB: Knowshon Moreno, NCAA BB: Greg Paulus (but whatshisface from Kansas who had the monster game against UNC deserves love as does Sundiata Gaines), NHL: Ilya Kovalchuk, NCAA Baseball: Josh Fields & Dean Weaver...

Five Best Movies (So Far - I've seen 45 of them this year which is about 35 more than most of you, but intend to see 100 more):
1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. The Dark Knight
4. My Blueberry Nights
5. Changeling

Three Worst Movies:
1. The Happening
2. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
3. The Eye

Best Blog:
"How Hi The Fi?" http://howhithefi.blogspot.com/

Five Best Albums (no order - this is also subject to mass overhaul)
Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
T.I. - Paper Trail
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords

Favorite Hip Hop Song:
T.I. (Feat Rihanna) - Live Your Life

Best Live Band I Saw This Year:
Of Montreal

Favorite 2008 Book Of The Very Few I've Read So Far:
John Hodgman - More Information Than You Require

Funniest Internet Video:
Andy Samberg & Co: Jizz In My Pants (SNL)
2nd Place: Bo Burnham - I'm Bo Yo

Favorite Things I Got Into In 2008 That Don't Necessarily Have Anything To Do With 2008:
Cormac McCarthy, The Office, Flight Of The Conchords, Book Collecting, The City Of Atlanta, Octane Coffee, The Hawks, The Falcons, The Thrashers, cigars etc, and, oh yeah, this blog.

Hopes For 2009: I hope the blog continues to grow and turns into something more interesting. I hope the Red Sox win the World Series, Duke wins the NCAA Championship, UGA wins the BCS, Jeff Gordon wins the Sprint Cup, Love, New Music from Bob Dylan, Sufjan Stevens, DMB... New book by Cormac McCarthy... The movie "The Road" is the best of the year, a high paying job, losing weight, staying healthy, strengthening friendships, seeing more independent films, broadening my horizons further, having time to read my books, making lots of money, figuring it all out and continuing my 24 1/2 year dominance of everything. Happy new year, bigness.

A Survey About 2008

Looking back at 2008
Borrowed this from Phillip who borrowed it from Katy...

Where did you begin 2008?
Gainesville, Florida in a repulsive bar around very few people I still speak to.

What was your status by Valentine's Day?
See previous question

Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Nope

Did you have to go to the hospital?
Nope

Did you have any encounters with the police?
My all time greatest police encounter: I had the police called on me for going to get my stuff back from my ex before the police ultimately decided that I had every right to do what I did and she would've been breaking the law if she'd kept me from doing it. I am not very good at capturing the epicity of this in words.

Where did you go on vacation?
I can't remember any true vacations. Just lots of mini ones.

What did you purchase that was over $500?
Uhh... I can't remember

Did you know anybody who got married?
Didn't go to any weddings this year (except in the 1st week of Jan) but my friend Brendan got married the other day.

Did you know anybody who passed away?
Probably.

Did you move anywhere?
From Athens to Lithia Springs in January. From Lithia Springs to Buckhead in July. Hoping to be there for awhile.

What sporting events did you attend?
A ton. 2-3 Hawks games, at least 10 Braves games, 1 UGA football game, 1 Thrashers game, 2 NASCAR races, 11-12 high school football games, several other random high school games, and probably some I'm forgetting.

What concerts/shows did you go to?
Of Montreal in Athens recently. I'm sure I saw others but it wouldve been much earlier in the year.

Where do you live now?
Atlanta, GA

What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2008?
Oooh... uhh... I'll go with "Enjoy a new Jason Mraz song"

What has/have been your favorite moment(s)?
Game 5 of the ALCS. There is no greater feeling.

What's something you learned about yourself?
I learned a lot about love. Stuff like what really matters in a relationship...

Any new additions to your family?
I'm sure my brother has impregnated a few mexicans that we don't know about.

What was your best month?
June. But I can't say why or else I'll get sued.

What music will you remember 2008 by?
Hip-Hop in general. T.I., Lil Wayne, Chris Breezy... Living in Atlanta has really broadened my Hip Hoprizons. I expanded my Indie tastes too but to a much lesser degree. I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting.

Made new friends?
Actually I've made a ton of new friends. I still don't know how this happened. Most of the people linked to the right for fellow blogs were people I wasn't that close with this time last year. I'm pretty glad about that.

Favorite Night[s] out?
The Of Montreal concert... the night with Tyler and his work friends... and best of all, the night at the Venezias til 4am.

Any regrets?
Always.

What do you want to change in 2009?
I dunno, I did most of my changing in late 2008. I guess I'd like to lose weight and improve my faith but I've been working on those things for years now.

Overall, how would you rate this year?
Pretty crappy. No sports titles outside of the Georgia Basketball SEC championship... Spent a lot of time in relationships that are no longer going... Never overly thrilled with my work situation... I dunno. The year certainly had some high spots, too, but generally it won't be missed.

Other than home, where did you spend most of your time?
Friends houses, movie theatres, sporting events, work...

Change your hairstyle?
I keep it short now. That's probably not something I was doing this time last year.

Get a new job?
Yeah.

Do you have a New Year's resolution?
Sort of. Already mentioned it earlier.

Did anything embarrassing happen?
Hmm... probably... nothing comes to mind off hand.

Buy anything new from eBay?
Not as much as last year. Money hasn't been free flowing.

What was/were your favorite purchase[s]?
This laptop is certainly up there. My GPS, my crappy but excellent service phone, all of my books, DVDs and records, my DVD rack (i know, lame), the lunch boxes, everything pertaining to the Red Sox, work clothes, the Wii... I'm forgetting some.

Get married or divorced?
Haha!

Be honest - did you watch American Idol?
I hate everyone who watches this show including members of my family.

Did you get sick this year?
Of course. I'm still fighting off the damn cough from it, too. I'm on prescription meds though so it's almost over.

Start a new hobby?
Book reading/collecting! Also: lunch boxes (even though I only have 6), and then just expanding upon other hobbies... I also slowed/stopped some hobbies (I rarely buy new Red Sox hats)...

Are you happy to see 2008 go?
Absolutely. Anything I liked about 2008 could easily be repeated in 2009 whereas the crappy stuff is stuck in 08.

Drank Starbucks in 2008?
Yes. I love the Starbucks vibe: the music, the mugs, the people... but all of their beverages are awful. Which is why I am addicted to Octane which has all of the better parts of this minus commercialism.

What are you wishing for in 2009?
Red Sox World Series, Duke championship, UGA championship (2010?), love, money, health, the continuation of my favorite hobbies, a new job, Hanley Ramirez in a Red Sox jersey, Mark Teixeira's death... a fantasy football championship, the movie "The Road" to be brilliant, a new brilliant Sufjan Stevens album, Bob Dylan doesn't die... I don't die either.


I'll be back tomorrow with actual Best-Ofs for 2008.

Crazy Month: Office, VPILF, Fantasy and, oh yeah, Love

This has been a crazy month.
The gallon challenge video has been put on hold indefinitely but there will be photos posted here before too long.
Third, my fantasy football team (1-1) is terrible and I'm losing interest fast. Of course if I'm 5-2 through 7 weeks my tune will change. Oddly, I have arguably the best running back in the game and I'm still disappointed. Go figure.
I have decided to watch all of the Marx Brothers movies in chronological order (I own 12 of the 13) and this was a fantastic decision. As I shared a few posts back, the Marx Brothers, particularly Groucho, are unbelivably brilliant and hilarious.
The Red Sox are probably, knock on wood, going to the playoffs. We have a 6 1/2 game lead in the wild card and are only a 1 1/2 games out of the division lead. We were tied for the division lead the other day before losing twice. I really, really, really hope we win the division. In other news, the Yankees' elimination number is 3, meaning they're almost gone.
I just finished up my DVDs of The Office Season 4, which is wonderful, and the new season is less than a week away. I'll probably be blogging on that when it gets rolling. I bought a book called "The Office And Philosophy" by the people who do the "Pop Culture and Philosophy" series which I enjoy. It's basically a collection of philosophical essays with an Office touch. I'm dying to tear into it but I spend way too much time online working on mix CDs and talking to Patricia.
Sarah Palin: VPILF. It's nice to be able to vote with my junk. It was the only decision in life I wasn't already making with my junk.
So yeah, there will be a lot more to talk about now. I won't have such a hiatus again, I hope. Post some comments, fools, and feel free to ask questions or make suggestions for lists. I never get list suggestions. I'm thinking about posting mix CD tracklists. Hmm.

I Have A Mind To Join A Club And Beat You Over The Head With It

It should be a crazy busy day today. At work alone I have the following things to do:

• At least one interview for the Fulton paper
• Transcribe quotes for the Douglas and Fulton papers
• Call all four coaches in Douglas to finish up my football preview stories
• Transcribe the quotes from these conversations
• Write the football preview stories (4)
• Write features on one player from each team per aforementioned transcribed quotes (4)
• Write a blog entry for our new website
• Possibly write stories for Fulton
• Collapse

Tonight should be fun. It could be GALLON CHALLENGE day. It hasn't officially been decided that it's today, but personally I don't care anymore, haha, I'm not even going to prepare myself all that much except I'll probably avoid eating foods that will be grosser coming up than going down.

My Red Sox are close to getting Brian Giles for injury insurance. It's nice. It's also nice to see Jason Bay doing well while Manny could face a lifetime ban from baseball if they find out he mailed it in (see: collusion). Jason Bay getting love from his teammates makes me very, very happy.
I'm still unpacking at the new apartment. It's been extremely time consuming and tedious. Everything got jumbled by being in 2 different places and putting it all back together in nice new order is exhausting. I've been sorting through records, DVDs, books, magazines, newspapers and tons of random trinket-y things I've amassed over the years. The living room (home of the records, DVDs and lots of cool posters) looks great now. It took a long time but it finally came together. Now I'm working on my room. I have tons of shelf space which is something I've wanted for awhile. I think it's going to look chaotic, even when it's finished, but at this point the volume of crap I have makes it impossible for me to have a simple, sleek looking room.

Since the week's almost over and I haven't done one yet, here's the list of the week. This week it's "best looking female celebrities." They are in alphabetical order. I love them all (especially when no one's around).

• Ingrid Bergman
• Kate Bosworth
• Tina Fey
• Anne Hathaway
• Audrey Hepburn
• Norah Jones
• Grace Kelly
• Keira Knightley
• Rachel McAdams
• Dagmar Midcap
• Joanna Newsom
• Natalie Portman