Top 5’s of 2008
A crazy year. I got married, the economy faced a meltdown and Oscar got a haircut. Okay let’s get into it:
- See Top 5’s of 2007.
- See Top 5’s of 2006.
Top 5 Albums
1. Bon Iver – For Emma, Years Ago
Released in 2007 apparently but I didn’t get my hands on this until 2008. It is really Justin Vernon’s year. Listening to this record was instantly unforgettable, due to the simplicity of it. A guitar, a voice you warm to and occasionally a selection of instruments that fuse together beautifully, in what sounds like harmony stretching the walls of the very place the record was recorded (his father’s cabin no-less). Seeing him live in January will be very special indeed. He also released the Blood Bank EP this year with four very likable tunes.
2. Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight
These Scottish rockers delivered an album with such gorgeous hooks and melodies it was a shame when you actually listen to the lyrics that it’s essentially a heartbreaking, break-up album. But by god, one of the best break-up albums in recent memory.
3. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
‘Your Protector’ is probably my favourite track of the year and I even included it as my part of the wedding invite CD mix (which btw, has been on high-rotation on more than a few of my mate’s CD players). Fleet Foxes bring a fresh, mature sound to 2008 and I can’t wait to see them on January 2nd.
4. Sigur Rós - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
When some people first laid their ears on the first single Gobbledigook, they freaked thinking the band had lost their trademark sound. When I first heard it, it was instant love and just another example of why this band continues to be loved by critics and music aficionado’s worldwide. Change can be good but once you bit into the entire album, the band’s sounds we all know and love were in there in spades. Seeing them perform this album live earlier this year was undoubtedly the happiest I’ve ever seen the band and the fans.
5. M83 – Saturdays=Youth
Sean over at A Reminder puts this record as ‘…a big, beautiful pop record that sounds like it should be soundtracking some 1980s John Hughes film that was never made.’ That’s the PERFECT analogy with this record and come on who doesn’t love John Hughes teen movies?
Other Notables: Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer, TV on the Radio – Dear Science, Portishead – Third, Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours, Augie March – Watch Me Disappear, Black Mountain – In The Future, Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning – Some For All Of Us…, Shearwater – Rook, Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, The Grand Archives – S/T (the EP tracks were unfortunately better than the polished LP release), Spiritualized – Songs in A&E, Ray LaMontagne – Gossip in the Grain, Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs, Glasvegas – S/T, Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing, Flight of the Conchords – S/T, Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Biggest Disappointments: Ryan Adams – Cardinology, The Verve - Forth, Okkervil River – The Stand-Ins, Kings of Leon – Only By The Night.
Most Overrated: Actually I liked all the albums that received high praise this year so none for me. Perhaps The Presets (or was that last year?)
Best Mix CD: My wedding dance mix of course. 7 hours of the best party music you’ll ever need. Shame the guests only partied for 2 hours of it!
Top 5 Films
Note: All films were released in Australia during 2008.
I have been slack with Hooverdust film reviews in 2008 only because Facebook’s Flixster app stole the limelight. Not in 2009 though since I recently deleted my Facebook account for good :)
1. The Dark Knight
Sure, sure send the hatemail but really, was there a more entertaining piece of cinema this year? Is this the greatest Superhero film ever made? Does it look shit-hot on Blu-Ray? You bet your ass it does! Heath’s performance and Nolan’s direction is what brings this to the A-level. And hey any filmmaker who references Michael Mann’s Heat is alright with me.
(read review)
2. Wall-E
I don’t get how some people still don’t count animation on par with live action films because Pixar make much better films than most live-action filmmakers. Wall-E isn’t my favourite Pixar film but it’s damn close. Watching this brought me back to being a child in the same way E.T does and it’s clear the filmmakers have that strong sense of childhood nostalgia ingrained in their mindset. Wall-E rules!
(read review)
3. Slumdog Millionaire
A late entry but oh what a fantastic film from director Danny Boyle. The slums of India never looked so good (which shouldn’t be a positive mind you) and the narrative is engrossing and well-paced. Boyle has quite the resume right now doing everything from zombie and sci-fi movies through to childhood dramas and now a Bollywood film (well it is sorta). The world’s his oyster and I’d say he’s in for an Oscar or two.
(read review)
4. Juno
Going back to the beginning of the year and let’s not forget this little gem. Ellen Page, the soundtrack, Diablo Cody’s screenplay and Jason Reitman’s spot on direction won the minds of many, including my own. Plus if you were an Arrested Development fan and needed a fix, this should suffice until the movie comes out hopefully next year ;)
(read review)
5. The Strangers
A throwback to horror films where suspense was the key element. A creepy, little thriller that takes more than a few notes from John Carpenter’s original Halloween in terms of camera work and mood. The ending didn’t quite live up to the first three quarters but it’s still a very effective SCARY film.
Other Notables: Iron Man, Cloverfield, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Once (would have been in the top 5 had it been released this year), The Kite Runner, Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Also I haven’t seen The Wrestler, Milk, Man on Wire or Frost/Nixon yet.
Biggest Disappointments: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull I’m now starting to believe Spielberg signed onto this one and wished he never did once Lucas started making all the decisions. Luckily it didn’t feel like an Indy film so my childhood memories are still safe. The National - A Skin, A Night - Vincent Moon’s La Blogotheque snippets are usually fantastic but this documentary was just for the lack of a better word - fluff. I want to see the band do what they do best - perform on stage!
Most Overrated: Paranoid Park. Now don’t get me wrong, I really liked this film but it got way too much praise for something rather slight and a topic that has already been covered many times by Van-Sant.
Top 5 Gigs
The best year of my life in terms of gigs and they were all at the beginning of the year. I doubt it’ll ever be topped since I’ve seen Arcade Fire (x2), The National, Spoon (x2), Andrew Bird, Sigur Ros, Explosions in the Sky, José González, Andrew Bird, Okkervil River, Broken Social Scene, Iron & Wine and Augie March. A tough order to topple although I’m seeing Fleet Foxes on Friday, Bon Iver and Frightened Rabbit very soon :)
1. Arcade Fire (29th Jan, Forum Theatre & Big Day Out 2008)
2. The National (18th Jan, The Corner)
3. Sigur Rós (1st Aug, Festival Hall)
4. Spoon (31st Jan, The Corner & The Big Day Out 2008)
5. Explosions in the Sky (16th Feb, The Corner Hotel)
Top 5 Watched TV Shows
Lots of fantastic TV this year, most of it seen on DVD:
1. Oz (all seasons)
Well it wasn’t really made this year but I did get through the entire series on DVD and like all HBO dramas, it was life-changing. The last three of seasons never quite matched the first three but I’m glad I didn’t watch this on SBS. Something tells me if I missed an episode, I would have been lost.
2. Californication (seasons 1 and 2)
Despite the characters being pretty much nasty pieces of humanity, I still find something irresistible about this show and I think it has a lot to do with the writing. The dialogue is quick, witty and kinda sharp if you can see past all the nudity.
3. Dexter (season 1 & 2)
I watched the pilot maybe a year or so ago, it didn’t take and I left this one. Then a few internet buddies recommended I give it another go and “bam!” just like that I was hooked. Can’t wait to see the 3rd season.
4. The Gruen Transfer
A great ABC (Australia) series about the world of advertising and commercials. Will Anderson is the perfect host for this show as he brings in some humour when it’s needed and the guests are typically heavyweights in the Australian advertising sector. It’s a fun, educating watch.
5. Lost (season 4)
Season 4 unlocked all kinds of pandora’s boxes for many of the characters and re-watching the entire series again on DVD reconfirms my belief that this show will be one of the best prime-time series ever made. Network 7 here in Australia moved the show back to 10:30pm at one point because they thought no-one was watching. That’s right – they were all waiting for the DVDs!
Other Notables: Entourage (season 5) - at least the peyote episode. Wallace & Grommitt in ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’ - I love Aardman and seeing the thumbprints in the characters, and The Hollowmen - Hilarious Aussie political commentary.
If you’re looking for Flight of the Conchords, that was in my Top 5’s last year.
Guilty Pleasure: So You Think You Can Dance (US). When it was on, I snuck in a few viewings. Much more watchable than Idol anyway.
Top 5 Personal Flickr Favourites
2008 hasn’t been a great year for photos for me since I’ve been otherwise pre-occupied but that will change in 2009. I guarantee!
1. Oscar and his Flying Leap
2. Lyns
3. Stella
4. Rock Wedding
5. Amon Amarth @ Billboards
Top 5 Moments
1. Marrying Lyndsay
I married my soulmate. As perfect as I could have hoped and then some. The wedding itself went by in an instant but it was wonderful to be surrounded by the people who I care about most.
2. Buck’s Night
My mate’s put in a brilliant effort all-round and it ended around 6am. Nice.
3. Getting down on one knee and proposing to Lyns
There comes a time in most men’s lives when you perspire more than an Olympic athlete. This was it.
4. Landing teaching jobs at two Uni’s
I managed to land two teaching jobs this year which was a nice bonus and I plan to keep them both in 2009. The staff and students have all been inspirational and I look forward to working with some really talented individuals in 2009.
5. Getting my Canon 5D
Although I’m yet to take an excellent photo with it (I’m my worst critic), I’ll be putting this puppy to good use in 2009!
2008 has been a year of great change for me, getting married and moving to Bendigo. I’ve also met some old and new wonderful people along the way who made the year even better. 2009? We’ll just have to see where life takes me.
Eaten By Ants
Playing with YouTube HD, the Canon HV20 and some interesting film effects.
Now that I can embed HD youTube videos on my blog and link directly to them, I’m not sure where Vimeo stands.
Merry Xmas 2008!
Hope you all have a safe and wonderful xmas. Be sure to come back here on New Year’s Eve for my annual Top 5’s :)
What happens this Xmas at casa di Hoov? Well… Oscar will wrap the Christmas lights around him, run up the tree and launch a magnificent leap over the tree star in slow-motion, turning his head to my camera, tongue out and a slight wink of reassurance. Meanwhile Lyns does her best march around the house to the Little Drummer Boy wearing only her elf outfit and throwing ice cubes at me since we ate all the snow. Finally, I sit…. a lot…. with a premium beer in one hand and several remotes in the other, stroking my beard with my left foot and rubbing salt into the Turkey’s arse with my right. Fin.
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Hooverdust is a pop culture blog designed and developed by James Sann. I cover a range of topics such as Film, Music, TV, Photography, Design and teh internets.
Based in Melbourne and Bendigo, Australia, in my professional life, I am a freelance multimedia designer, photographer and a part-time University lecturer & tutor.
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