Best/Worst Lists!

[RandomAnthony]

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for your best/worst lists of the year...best/worst films, books, music, television, dressed, days, accomplishments, whatever it may be. The lists can be as long/short as you want and don't have to be exclusive to cultural artifacts of this year (e.g. if you saw an old film this year, and it was the best one you saw, you can include it here). Got the rules? Who cares? We're not going to follow them anyway:)

BEST/WORST FILMS

On David's encouragement I went on a mad Bergman kick this summer and enjoyed the filmmaker's work a lot. "Winter Light" is the best one, and anyone who disagrees with me is wrong. I'll have to think about other Best/Worst films more before I comment. My "best time in a theater" was seeing "Superbad" in a crowded theater early this summer. That was fun.

BEST/WORST DAYS

My worst days were the two days in a row my old cats (brother and sister) died this August. They were inseparable and in some ways I was glad they only lived a day apart from each other, but damn, that was tough.

My best days...hm...we took our kids to Galena/Dubuque (sp?) for a low key mini-vacation in the spring, then to a waterpark on Thanksgiving. Both those days were great. On one day in November I hooked up with some people from around here in Chicago for lunch then hooked up (not that way) with some hometown friends to see DBT/and The Hold Steady. That was a great day, even if I needed a week to recover.

BEST/WORST MUSIC

I listened to more Stars of the Lid and Stars (two different bands for the unitiated) than anything this year. I have to think on this category more.

BEST/WORST BOOKS

I want to reflect upon this category before I comment much as well, but 1) 2008 will be etched in my memory as the year I almost finished Murakami's catalog, and 2) The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao reminded me why I loved books. Worst book...that awful Tucker Max Maxim article, er, poor excuse for something to read.

BEST/WORST TV

I loved 30 Rock and The Office. And Flight of the Conchords grew on me, and Weeds. Worst TV? I don't know, I didn't watch what I didn't like. This was also the year in which I didn't watch much television at all.

BEST/WORST ACCOMPLISHMENTS

After a drunken Memorial Day weekend I decided to get healthier and succeeded. I'm proud of that. It was time...I wasn't as busy at work and my mind was in the right place. Worst accomplishment? I'm still struggling with the discipline or prayer/meditation.

And...you?

[Dave]

BEST/WORST TV
Stephen Colbert's Christmas special / Fringe

BEST/WORST BOOK
Bleak House / Bend in the River

BTW, am I the only one who's distracted by RA's misplaced slash in his last two categories?

[RandomAnthony]

Damn. I should give prizes for the first people to see my typos in my posts. I can't seem to avoid the typos. I'll fix it now.

[Dave]

BEST/WORST PEOPLE
The person who sent me free tea (you know who you are) / Me, for pointing out people's typos and grammatical errors

[[deleted user]]

BEST/WORST FILMS
I barely saw any movies this year. I'm drawing a blank. Pineapple Express is definitely the worst movie I saw this year (Sorry, Shelly!), but I can't pick a favorite.

BEST/WORST DAYS
My best days were my two trips to San Francisco. I wish I could go there all the time. Great food, museums, parks, music, people. It was perfect! I saw a childhood friend, I met goodreads friends, I saw Bonnie "Prince" Billy twice! Kick ass!

My worst days involved a break up, screaming, crying, insomnia and medication. Not fun. Didn't know I was so terrible at coping with the world.

This was also the year that I got poison oak (twice), stinging nettle, a bee sting on my lip and a giant, inflamed spider bite.

BEST/WORST MUSIC
This year I mostly listened to Elliott Smith and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. ♥ ♥

The worst music is whenever I happened to hear some "Prairie Home Companion" and/or "The Thistle & Shamrock" or "World Music" on NPR.

BEST/WORST BOOKS
"The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" was probably my favorite book of the year. Then I read his short stories, "Drown," which were great as well.

"Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" was my favorite non-fiction.

The worst book I read this year was "Memories of my Melancholy Whores" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

BEST/WORST TV
If you don't count DVDs, I only watched two shows this year. So, LOST was the best and America's Next Top Model was the worst. A new season of Flight of the Conchords is coming, though!

BEST/WORST ACCOMPLISHMENTS
I decided to learn to play guitar and I've been learning! I also lost twenty pounds, though I feel guilty calling that an accomplishment because most of it had to do with the bad stuff up in the worst days section.

Worst: I still smoke!!! SORRY, SELF!!!!!!!

[Dave]

BEST/WORST OF THE INTERNETZ

Premiere of the new season of Flight of the Conchords on Funnyordie.com/The sites that ran stories questioning Barack Obama's birth certificate

[Matt]

BEST FILM
Saw very few films this year, but still massively impressed with The Dark Knight because of Ledger's performance and also because the screenplay worked at many more levels than the normal superhero flick.

BEST/WORST DAYS
Worst day: I feel your pain on this one, RA. July 13 - came home from a weekend trip to discover our kittie was very sick. She died two days later. Lots of guilt at the time for having been gone.

Best days: Early August weekend trip to St. Louis. Looked at historic homes and did the William S. Burroughs pilgrimage. My current avatar is a photo from that trip.

Late March: Did a google search on the author Isaac Adamson and the first result was his user profile on some website that I had never heard of called Goodreads. Five minutes later I was an addict.

BEST/WORST MUSIC
Worst: Whatever is usually playing on the radio between the time that I put the key into the ignition and the time that I pop in a CD.

Best: Dawning realization that i'm becoming one of those old guys that doesn't pay attention to new music. Not sure if I should be concerned about this or not. This year: The Birthday Party, The Stooges, Velvet Underground & Nico, Swans - Great Annihilator, Portishead - Dummy, Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X, Nick Cave - Let Love In, Neubauten, Slayer.

BEST BOOKS
J.G. Ballard "Concrete Island", Cormac McCarthy "The Road", Mark Danielewski "House of Leaves", Murakami "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle", Borges "Collected Fictions"

BEST TV
BSG and the Le Femme Nikita DVD sets (I like my terrorist stereotypes to be suave and European...ya wanna make something of it?)

BEST/WORST ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Worst: Had been averaging about fifty books per year in previous years but will fall well short of that this year. Ironically enough this probably has something to do with the time spent on this website.

Best: Started working out once again a couple of months back, now i'm all fierce (or something...). Also started trying to write again after a very long break.

[Dave]

BEST/WORST MOVIE

A tie between two documentaries: Little Dieter Needs to Fly and Microcosmos / 300

BEST/WORST THING I ATE

The Hibachi Grilled Salmon, Island Ahi and Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish combo plate at Roy's in La Jolla / Humble pie, when I lost to my sister's roommate at Trivial Pursuit

[[deleted user]]

Ooh, that's right! Microcosmos is my favorite movie I watched this year. My list is complete. Thanks, Dave.

[Pamela(AllHoney)]

WORST DAY
I too lost a kitty this year. She was a calico and her name was Deanna and she was 15 yrs old.

[Sally, la reina]

BEST/WORST FILMS

We just got home from Slumdog Millionaire. Easily my favorite movie this year, but I'm a total sucker for Danny Boyle. Also, fantastic soundtrack.
This summer we saw The Dark Night at the one theater in Lihue, Kauai, on our honeymoon. That was fun.

Worst movie: Sweeter's parents rented something called The Christmas Cottage to watch last weekend during our visit. I'd rather gouge out my eyeballs with dirty toenail clippers than endure that piece of shite again.
I was also disapointed by Step Brothers Will Farrell finally let me down.

BEST/WORST DAYS

This year my absolute worst day was Saturday, December 13. It is going down alongside Saturday, April 13, 2002 as the worst day of my life.

My best days...
The wedding day was fun. My sister, bridesmaids Siiri and Shannon, and Shannon's manfriend Fred woke up before dawn to hike to a waterfall. Of course the wedding was amazing too. The day after was also great. Nothing to do but wake up in a five star hotel and fly to Hawaii. :)
Also, the day of my batchlorette was fun. Four of us went to Water World and to my favorite Mexican restaurant for margaritas after.

BEST/WORST MUSIC

Lucinda Williams "Little Honey" is right up there at the top of my best albums of 2008 list. This year I've also really loved the title track, and the rest of the album "Evil Urges" from My Morning Jacket. I'm also surprised by my love of the M I A "Kala" album this year, but I couldn't stop listening to it. (Thanks Gus!)
But hands down, my very very favorite album of the year is Sons and Daughters "This Gift."

Worst albums of the year? I was really disappointed with the new Portishead, but I don't know if that was released this year or last.

BEST/WORST BOOKS

Worst books: Eat, Pray, Love Twilight (sorry) Feed and most of all Maximum Ride, The Angel Experiment. Yes, I read a lot of Young Adult lit this year.
Best books:
I'm so glad I discovered Murakami this year. I'm going to read The Wind up Bird Chronicles next, but for now I think I'll say Dance, Dance, Dance was my favorite.

BEST/WORST TV

This year I really enjoyed watching Top Chef online. Also, The L Word redeemed itself with the most recent season.
Mad Men tops my list.

Worst TV? I don't like The Office. There, I've said it.

BEST/WORST ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Best accomplishment: snagging a highly coveted GTA position at CSU. Networking and hard work finally paid off. Second best was presenting at the Literature Symposium this spring. Scary as hell, but well worth it. And winning the Garvey scholarship!

Going to yoga every day (or at least every other day sometimes) for the month of November. I've slacked in December and I can tell and I will get back on the ball soon.

Worst accomplishment: Stringing along the coffee shop owner all summer just to return from the honeymoon and quit because I'd gotten the GTA. Sorry coffee lady, but you were a bitch to me all Spring and kind of deserved it.

[Matt]

Sally: I felt the same way about the new Portishead, but perhaps that was unavoidable considering ten years of expectations.

[Julie]

I guess I am about to go all Debbie Downer on you for a little.

Well, I think there is a theme here, as my cat died this year as well.
It was pretty shitty, because she was only a year and a half old. She ate something that poisoned her.

Then, my boyfriend just broke up with me for the second time in one year a week before Christmas...
And I live with him and his family right now, so that sucks ass.

Oh, and my Grandmother got breast cancer and feels like shit all the time now.(But, she got through treatment and is cancer free, so that is on the best side.)

So that was the worst of my personal year, and I am looking forward to 2009, cause it is gonna Rock!!

Now to the Best....
I spent a lot of time with my sister this spring and became really close to her.
She is eleven years older than I, so we weren't super close before, and I am so happy that we are now.

I learned how to prepare taxes, and though it sounds like the most boring job in the world, I love it!
Does that make me a total dork?
That's okay, I was a dork long before.

And my best and worst movie of this year is the same movie-Twilight.
It was the worst movie of the year for obvious reasons,(just watch it to understand)
It was my favorite movie of the year because I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. I was still laughing two hours later until my whole face hurt. Sometimes I can just think about that movie and crack up!
I cannot wait to watch it again. Funniest movie of 2008. I am sure that makes me a little strange, but why wouldn't you love a movie that makes you laugh that hard?

[[deleted user]]

Sorry about your tough year, Julie. Thankfully, you're an optimist! 2009 is looking good, what with Twilight coming out on DVD and everything!

[Julie]

Thanks Montambo...
I am very optimistic about the coming year.
Hope I didn't kill a good thread with my bitching and moaning.

And the worst music to me every year is Christmas music. I don't like it very much to begin with, but when they start trying to 'jazz up' old christmas songs it gets sickening real quick.

[Meen]

Montambo's spider bite and the thread that grew up around it were pretty traumatic for me.

[[deleted user]]

Sorry, again, about that, Mindy!