Terribly Poetic

I thought I too would follow suit with other blogs, including Jared, and do a best of post for 2008.

Best Movie

The Dark Knight – I really tried hard to thing of a movie that was better this year than this one, but I just couldn’t do it with justification. I love the grittiness to the movie as well as the darkness that is evident throughout. I guess I am a sucker for “dark” movies. I can say that if it wasn’t for Heath Ledger, this movie would not be on the top of my list. He is brilliant, scary, and very creepy throughout.

Runner Up – In, Bruges – Another very dark movie, although this one has some dark humour. It makes the Dark Night look not dark at all in comparison and I wouldn’t recommend it to the faint-at-heart as it is extremely bloody and violent, however, the dialogue between two hit men (during the holidays I might add), who begin to differ on their views of life and death. It is a very wordy film, and one of Colin Farrell’s best films.

Best TV Show
Chuck – For those of you that know me, you maybe surprised to not see The Office listed as my #1. However, I feel that Chuck in its Sophmore season has really hit the mark this year. It’s action elements, mixed with the techie, geekie humour of its main character, Chuck, makes this my Best for the year. And the dry wit of character, John Casey, helps too. If you haven’t seen this show yet, nows a good time to check it out.

Runner Up – The Office: In its 5th season and still hurting my side with laughter. It only falls short of the top spot due to the fact that I felt a few episodes have not lived up to previous seasons in the bust my gut category.

Best Album
Bring Me Your Love by City and Colour – This was one of the hardest categories for me to pick. I too loved Coldplay, Death Cab For Cutie, José González (okay its technically 07, but I listened to it this year) and local artist Andy Shauf’s albums from this year. And my top Artist (according to Last.fm) is Thievery Corporation and I haven’t listened to their new album yet. But the airy, acoustic guitar driven music of City and Colour was a very frequented album on my playlist this year. Maybe it was the wounded pop melodies or the very soul-searching lyrics, but either way it makes my #1.

Runner Up – Faces Down by Sondre Lerche – again, this is an album that wasn’t released in 2008 (its from 2003), but the vocal melodies of this guy just put a smile on my face everytime I listen to it. While much of the music I listen to has a soulful, contemplative, even dark element to it, this artist is light, airy and uplifting. Which is why it makes my list.

Best Blog

Tie: Living In the Gray and abduzeedo – this one really had to be a tie as the first blog is a hilarious read every day, which happens to be a friend, and who I frequent comment to others should have her blog made into a book. She is an excellent writer for can laugh at herself and make her life such an enjoyment to many who follow her. The second, is a graphic design blog, which is entirelly different, yet a blog with great inspiration, tutorials and the like for use designers. I don’t miss an entry from either of these blogs, which is why I had to put them both on top.

Runner Up – Lifehacker – this one is for the geek in me. Always has the best tips, info and links to latest downloads. While it has TONS of content, of which I don’t read all of them, it does have some amazing stuff for us geeks.

Best Application

Fotomagico - This list wouldn’t be complete without at least one thing geekie on it. So here is my best application/download of 2008. This program makes creating slideshows a breezy. Adding Ken Burns effects is so much faster and simpilar than iPhoto, iMovie, or even Final Cut Pro. Creating slideshows for large movie projects and using previous applications always ended in headaches, until I discovered this app. Sorry PC users its Mac only.

Runner Up – 1Password – This app has made my passwords so much easier to manage and even more important, secure. I highly recommend this to everyone.

Best of the Best

iPhone 3G – Okay so I maybe biased to this because I just got one of these. But I truly believe that this product has changed the cell phone industry. Granted things haven’t changed as much in Canada due to the fact that Rogers holds a monopoly on data plans in Canada. But whenever I visit the states I see iPhones everywhere. This device as made it possible for many things in the online world. I believe it is bridging the gap between geek’s online worlds with the rest of the regular internet surfers. Either way, I love mine and hope that Rogers someday makes a data plan affordable to me, until then, I’ll stick with the great free WIFI hotspots and coverage I have in Saskatoon.

What does your list look like for 2008? What would you have changed on my list? I would love to hear in the comments or links to your blog’s Best of 2008 Post. Can’t wait to see what comes out in 2009!