So, the year has less than 10 hours remaining, or at least that's so here in the good ol' Central time zone. There's nothing really profound to be said here that hasn't been said before or might actually mean something. It's been a big year filled with big changes, not to mention a new president-elect. Then again, every year is full of changes, many big. It seems categorically impossible to live a year as a functioning human being without something significant happening in 365 full days (or 366, as the case was this year).*

There are a few things, however, that will never change. Among them:

-Rednecks driving Hummers on the interstate must, repeat MUST, be obnoxious no matter what. It doesn't matter who you are or what you're doing, they will tailgate you, swerve erratically and then flip you the bird when passing/being passed. They seem to forget that a Hummer's main measure of power, torque, doesn't translate to speed. Yes, they'd be at an advantage if you need to drag a log or boulder around, which is surely the reason they have such a vehicle.

-Politicians will always be politicians. "Legal" = "Right", correct?

-People (read: Parents) will spend an insane amount of money on ridiculous stuff. Today's glowing example of this are tickets to see the Jonas Brothers at the Ryman Auditorium. Please know this isn't meant to be viewed as complaining, especially coming from one of the dastardly people selling the tickets at crazy prices online. Nobody is making these people pay these prices, yet they do anyway. It's all about what they perceive the value of the tickets be and what they're comfortable paying. Supply and demand is the cornerstone of capitalism and that is a good thing. By the way, the show is billed as a special acoustic performance by Jonas Brothers and friends, which screams Miley Cyrus (OMG, OMG, OMG). Yes, the one and only. However, it would seem likely that Taylor Swift would NOT fall in that category these days. Juicy!


* Go ahead, admit it, you had already forgotten 2008 was a Leap Year. It just goes to show that while it is a unique little thing on the day itself, it doesn't really matter. Not unlike celebrating a New Year as if it is anything more than a symbolic day that inevitably will come if you wait long enough.

Ok, here it is, just in time for digesting as you digest the holiday season: The, for lack of a better name, Best of 2008. So here go the 43 best albums, split into some random categories for easy browsing (but not ranked within):

Debut Full-Lengths:
Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, Blue
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
The Baseball Project - Volume One
Wild Sweet Orange - We Have Cause To Be Uneasy
The Uglysuit - The Uglysuit
The Dreadful Yawns - Take Shape
The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave

2nd Efforts:
Tapes N Tapes - Walk It Off
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Black Mountain - In The Future
The Whigs - Mission Control
The Broken West - Now Or Heaven
Torche - Meanderthal
Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight

Bands That Don't Make Bad Albums:
TV on the Radio - Dear Science,
Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins
The Walkmen - You & Me
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Nada Surf - Lucky
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Sun Kil Moon - April
Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Ryan Adams - Cardinology
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Alkaline Trio - Agony and Irony
The Sea and Cake - Car Alarm
Shearwater - Rook
The Secret Machines - The Secret Machines
REM - Accelerate

Side Projects:
Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Etc.:
The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Parts and Labor - Receivers

As for the compilation CD that some of you have come to associate with the season more than your family and birth of Christ, this year the decision was made to be more concise and thus, less sprawling. This year is a one-disc effort, comprised of a song from each of the first 19 albums listed above. Obviously a second disc could have been made if the additional effort were there, but it wasn't. As if toting one compact disc around doesn't seem so early 2000s, toting two CDs is almost prehistoric (maybe 1995ish, when Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness came out). Most of the bigger-name acts were left off the CD since most people are already familiar with those. Sorry. Other omissions from the compilation were metal songs, since not everyone is awesome enough to listen to heavy stuff, and really long songs, since even though this compilation is always about quality, sometimes quantity is important also.

'Tis the season for...

...McRib to be back.

...watching The Bucket List just because it's on (see previous entry).

...the #9 and #11 teams in the nation playing on December 23 in something called the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

...good drivers to become bad drivers.

...bad drivers to become worse drivers.

...your car to appear invisible to every other driver on the road, so they may cut you off without recourse.

...keeping a minute-by-minute tabulation of how much you've spent on someone else, while trying to assume what someone else has spent on you.

...public outlets of music (e.g. the mall, the radio) to manage to play the worst Christmas music ever created. Just play versions of "O Holy Night" one after another, minus Mariah Carey's. That song shouldn't sound like it's being sung by an over-zealous American Idol hopeful trying to impress the judges.

...realizing how incredibly good Mark Kozelek/Sun Kil Moon is.

...being thankful for lower gas prices, among other things.

...frozen pizzas, it seems.

...difficult first experiences this time around.

...driving to work in 9 degree weather.

...cashmere.

...finishing up that 2008 compilation (see next entry).

...getting ahead of yourself with book purchases, some of which might not be read by this time next year.

...leaking shower drainpipes and non-responsive maintenance men

...utter disappointment and bad luck in fantasy football after a season primarily filled with the opposite.

...no regrets. Seriously.

...spending.

...hating the New York Yankees even more.

...taking liberties with hours at work.

...upcoming work travel to Hayti, Missouri. Note the location of this place. Truly one of those places you assume you'll never have a reason to visit.

...internet hilarity.

Spending a chunk of money every month for digital expanded cable with the sports package, HBO family of channels and an HD box is quite a commitment, so the value has to be extracted from it on a month-to-month basis. In order for that to happen, it requires a day-to-day effort. That means watching a good bit of TV and really using the features that push the price up. This can be accomplished by only watching the HD channels, which is not hard to do since almost every major cable channel has an HD version to enjoy. And for whichever don't, there are those few "HD only" channels that show stuff that just looks better in HD.

In an effort to make all this "getting your money worth" happen, it means you are forced to subject yourself to some interesting (awful) television. The haven for this just might be the FearNet movies that are available On Demand. As bad as these movies are, there is no surprise involved. Just reading the descriptions tell the story. Everything from Midnight Meat Train to Gravedancers is available, but are exactly as bad as they sound. Midnight Meat Train did have Vinnie Jones in the cast, but his role was as a serial killer that doesn't speak (his tongue was ripped out, duh), works in a meat processing plant and brutally murders people on a "special" subway train at midnight every night. Just remember, it's free...so long as you pay for the service each month.

Ok, so this desire to get the most out of TV is all bad, specifically the On Demand aspect of it. There's the potential to watch some good stuff, including last night's selection, Adaptation. Then there's also Tremors and not just In Demand, but In Demand in HD. Life is sweet.


High-Definition programming can, however, make almost anything worth watching. Case in point is Modern Marvels on History Channel. The name Modern Marvels sounds pretty exciting and brings to mind images of skyscrapers, bullet trains and modern warfare, but that's not always the case. Last night's episode was all about coldcuts and tonight features turkey. Ok, maybe even HD can't save an hour-long show about sandwich meat, it's history and place in society.

Of course, "special" cable features isn't solely to blame for all the crap on TV. This blog has pointed out several examples of bad/annoying TV over the past few months, but there's an unlimited amount of material to critique. Commercials may be carrying the banner of bad television currently. Very possibly this may be best illustrated by McDonalds decision to market their Chicken McNuggets by referring to fanatics as "Nuggnuts", as in "nuts" about "nuggets". Ok, even as a childhood fan of McNuggets, this is gross. Nobody, especially PETA folks, is under the assumption that McNuggets are "good" food, but they have a certain charm. This charm is hardly helped by calling people who eat them Nuggnuts. However, Nuggnuts probably really get into coldcuts in HD.

It sounds proper when The New York Times refers to the current president as "Mr. Bush" or Hillary* as "Mrs. Clinton", but sometimes this seemingly self-gratifying and unnecessary practice comes across as simply self-gratifying and unnecessary. Take for instance an article about the band Fall Out Boy. Ok, overall, they are pretty terrible, but not in a loathesome way. At least they write and perform their own music and seem to stay out of trouble for the most part. They might even enjoy what they do, so there's really not a blog post anywhere in there.**

However, reading the article smoothly gets harder with the repetitive use of "Mr. Stump" and "Mr. Wentz". Regardless of the fact that the writer couldn't decide who he wanted the article to actually be about, there is a great chasm between the perception of a Mr. Stump or Mr. Wentz and the guys the article is talking about. The point seemed to be to illustrate how unremarkable and unnoticable Stump is, while portraying how flamboyant and megalomanious Wentz is. It doesn't seem like either intent was accomplished.

Pete Wentz is really annoying, but he's never done anything to warrant his personality being brought up every time Fall Out Boy releases an album, launches a tour or appears on TV. Yes, he's dated/married Ashlee Simpson, but the writer almost seemed to intentionally only mention "Mrs. Simpson" once throughout. This would seem to be one of those cases of the NYT wanting to be high-brow in its approach and delivery of information, but can't resist the "juicy" details that all the other media outlets get to use.

It would seem this entire article could have been equally effective in the following form:

Fall Out Boy is a band with a new album out. Their lead singer is uncharacteristically quiet and unassuming, considering he's the lead singer of a platinum-selling band. Their bass player, usually an unreconized afterthought in many successful bands, is a bit of a glory-hog. He's probably best known for his marriage to Ashlee Simpson, who is probably best known for being Jessica Simpson's sister, who is probably best known for being dumb and formerly married to a guy in 98 Degrees, who are probably best known for not being N'Sync, who (except JT, omg!) are probably best known for not being The Backstreet Boys, who are probably known for being the evil second-coming of New Kids on the Block.

Fin.

* Hillary Clinton no longer can merely be described as "former First Lady" or "New York Senator" or "Secretary of State" or "Presidential hopeful". She has become a prescence best described simply as herself. Much like Oprah. This isn't a compliment, by the way.

**Ok, there's not really anything warranting a blog post here. It's Monday, it's cold, it's raining and work is slow.

So tonight the Heisman Trophy will be awarded. Does anyone care? As great as the Heisman is (and yes, it is) for tradition and name-recognition, does it really mean anything a year later? This year it might since last year's winner is back a year later as a finalist and might become only the 2nd ever two-time winner. Ok, so does anyone care beyond that? It's hard to imagine why anyone would. The Heisman is a glorified popularity contest most years, not unlike Student Government elections in middle school. By that logic, the highest ranked teams are the most "popular" and the quarterback is the most "popular" position on the field. That said, this year's finalists for the prestigious award are the starting quarterbacks for the top three teams in the final BCS rankings. If that really is the logic/trend/whatever, John Parker Wilson should be 4th in Heisman balloting, no? He is, after all, the starting QB of the #4 ranked team.

ESPN loves broadcasting the Heisman presentation and does so as if it is still what it might have once been. Does anyone watching the presentation on a Saturday night during the holiday season really need to know who Bradford, McCoy and Tebow are this year? Anyone that has even remotely followed college football this season should already be well-acquainted with these guys thanks in no small part to ESPN's efforts during the season. Now the regular season is over and the viewing public gets to hear even more. Glory!

In light of today's events, should we expect another trophy someday named after an Auburn head coach? Would people really care about the Chizik Trophy any more than today's version of the Heisman Trophy? However, to be fair and historically accurate, Heisman took the coaching job at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, not Auburn University.

American education has eroded to the point where the correct spelling of Pan's Labyrinth is 4th on the list of most-common searches starting with "Pan's L...". Yes, labyrinth is a tough word, but come on. Such mediocre interest in spelling is sad in its own special way. Maybe The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson should be required reading for everyone, even though it probably doesn't really help with spelling.

FYI:
1. Labarinth
2. Labryinth
3. Labrynth

Is it possible that, as much fun as they may be to watch, the old James Bond movies just aren't very good? More than anything, this may be a result of modern high-tech movies that can make almost anything look real and if not real, very impressive. The old Connery-era Bond films are quite hokey and seem to be primarily propped up by nostaligia and originality more than anything else. Yes, Connery is great, but for a generation that is more familiar with him being Indiana Jones' dad or maybe even the captain in The Hunt for Red October (note to self: go back and watch that soon), the impact just isn't as great. Don't let this come across as Connery bashing. It isn't in any way. Without Sean Connery, the Jeopardy! skits on Saturday Night Live would have never been as good and Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves would have sorely missed a great King Richard cameo.

In all seriousness, go watch an old Bond movie and try to keep a straight face through even half of it. If you need a recommendation, try Diamonds are Forever. Even that classic could use less scenes chasing a moon-rover replica across the deserts of Las Vegas and more...something. Maybe Plenty O'Toole?

Sushi has likely become more and more prevelent in many peoples' diets in recent years, unless those people just so happen to live in Japan. Do people really eat a lot of sushi in Japan, or is it just another instance of Americans taking a desirable element of foreign cuisine and completely blowing it out of proportion? Either way, sushi hasn't quite reached pizza's level of immortality, but it's a fast-riser.

The uniqueness of sushi is likely the draw. It feels like a piece of edible art much of the time, which is nice, but there has to be more substance than that. Right? This need is frequently met by the naming of various sushi rolls at the restaurants that serve them. Basically there are a few ways to make this happen:

-Conjure up ANY common reference to Japan or the Far East in general. This includes, but is far from limited to, Godzilla, Tsunami, Kung Fu, Ninja, Tokyo, Mt. Fuji.

-Include a city name, whether it is relevant or not. Common favorites are Philly and Miami, but depending on what city you're in, you never know what to expect. People must like feeling as though their sushi experience is augmented by a cognative association with a place, be it local or exotic.

-Just pick an ingredient of the roll and combine it with a one-word description of how it is prepared/served. This might include the likes of "spicy tuna", "crunchy shrimp" or "dead fish". Ok, so this seems pretty normal and predictable.

Last night's excellent sushi experience included a foray into unchartered naming territory, though. It was a big ball of rice with shrimp "exploding" from the center with lots of bright red garnish and thinly peeled carrots that looked not unlike ripped flesh. The name of this creation? The "Pearl Harbor Bomb". There was a tinge of guilt as it was being eaten, but it was pretty good. Seriously, though, come on.

Just in case there were ever any doubt as to which of the leading brands of cola you should be drinking, here's further proof. Since advertising is so important, even for the some of the most recognizable brands/products on Earth, here's a little experiement. Which makes you feel better and like you want to have a nice, cold carbonated beverage?

Coca-Cola:


Pepsi (click for all the wonderful detail):




So, the lesson in all this: when counting calories, take pleasure in the thought of a single calorie committing suicide in the most heinous ways possible. Not only will you be cutting calorie intake, you'll feel so much better!

One more thing: does anyone actually drink Pepsi Max?

One more more thing: this artwork looks like the kind of thing that might become trendy tattoo designs for emo chicks, kinda like those characters with the long arms/legs and generally mopey countenance.

In the spirit of the recently-passed holiday, here are a few things to be thankful for:

-Cold weather. It just makes things a little more interesting when waking up in the morning leads to curiosity as to whether there is a surprise blanket of snow outside. Usually, this curiosity is tempered by just really cold air, a frozen-over windshield and chattering teeth.

-Belle & Sebastian during house cleaing. There's just something about it. It just goes together. It just works.

-Cookies. There is no reason too insignificant to give, receive and eat cookies this time of year. Maybe some of the US's economic troubles could be improved if the national currency were cookies for the next month or so?

-Tom Cruise. Ok, so he's already established himself as a nut-case, but just in case the attention he'll be receiving for his upcoming film Valkyrie, in which he plays a Nazi with an eye-patch, isn't enough, he's brought more joy to the lives of normal people. Yes, Tom spent his Thanksgiving with Katie and their best couple-friends, David and Victoria Beckham. Their lovely holiday was capped off by Tom performing some kind of ceremony to "merge" the two families into one. This may be a lame excuse for a swinger lifestyle, but whatever.

-Shopping for yourself on the internet. Indulgent? Yes. Convenient? You betcha.

-Holiday parties. Ok, so there's only one on the calendar so far and it's for work this Saturday. It could be fun, but Vegas ain't betting on it. Fun is what you make it, but some lands are just more fertile than others.

-Really crappy performances at trivia night. Ok, this is nothing to be thankful for, but let this serve as a reminder that it can never happen again. Ok, so the company was nice and that is worthy of thanks.