Best/Worst of 2008

Best Albums:
1. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
2. Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson3. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Guilty Pleasure Albums:1. Elephant Shell - Tokyo Police Club2. Agony & Irony - Alkaline Trio

Best Singles:1. "Guarantees" - Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold2. "L.E.S. Artistes" - Santogold - Santogold3. "Grounds for Divorce" - Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Guilty Pleasure Singles:1. "Don't Trust Me" - 3OH!3 - Want2. "Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis - Sprit

Best Movies:1. Vicky Cristina Barcelona2. The Dark Knight3. The Wackness
(Must Still See: The Wrestler)

Guilty Pleasure Movies:1. 27 Dresses2. Jumper

Most Disappointing Albums:1. Intimacy - Bloc Party2. Day & Age - The Killers3. Only By the Night - Kings of Leon4. Dear Science - TV On the Radio
5. Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust - Sigur Ros

Worst Movies:1. Step Brothers2. Wanted3. Funny Games

The Basketball Diaries

The Basketball Diaries was released in 1995. Leonardo DiCaprio was just coming off of his performance in What's Eating Gilbert Grape.  Lorraine Bracco had been in Goodfellas only five years before. Yet, in this movie, both of their performances were weak. DiCaprio either oversold, undersold or didn't seem to care. He was 21 and had little movie experience though. Bracco was just a throw away mom. And Mark Wahlberg had not yet shed his Marky Mark image, if he ever has.

The book, an autobiography, that the movie is based on, has gotten good, even great, reviews from what I have seen. DiCaprio and Jim Carroll, the author, even look very much alike. But, the movie did not translate well. Carroll's book seems to be about brutally honest young teenage drug use. It does not exactly have a happy ending, since Carroll would go on to move to California and keep doing heroine. The movie on the other hand was destroyed by Hollywood. It tries to make the story a happy one where the main character overcomes, just like in every other movie. It wasn't honest, it was manipulated.

Although the movie didn't live up to my expectations, it wasn't completely horrible. You could still feel what DiCaprio was trying to sell. You could still see the pain in his eyes. It just wasn't worth sitting through for 100 minutes. If you're looking for something about Catholic school boys gone bad, go see The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. If you're looking for something about drugs and the brutality that they cause, go see Requiem for a Dream. Apparently Jim Carroll even disliked the movie. The Basketball Diaries gets a 5 out of 10.

Someone Punch Me in the Face

I'm listening to the new The All-American Rejects album, When the World Comes Down.

I think I like it. A lot.

Move Along was my favorite album of 2005. I loved it. But, I don't know why now.

But, now I think I could easily begin to love this one too.

So, please, someone punch me in the face.

iTunes (My Groove)

Loads of people will go on and on about how they loathe iTunes.

I, on the other hand, loved it even before I had a Mac.

It has numerous amazing features, but there is one in particular they I enjoy most: My Groove (part of iTunes Essentials).

Go check it out. It is playlists of songs for different situations. I never actually buy the songs I don't have or the playlist itself, I just make my own playlist and add the songs that I do have. It really helps me to discover new artists and artists that I have looked over.

My favorite Groove is Study Rock. I also have Indie Chillout, Melancholy Mix, Sad Songs, and Late Night Driving Songs.

Does anyone else use this feature? What playlists are good?

This is all not mentioning Genius, the amazing new feature that generates playlists from one song in your library by putting songs that are similar in the playlist. I use this feature almost daily. Any song that is on one playlist will usually just produce the same playlist though. They need to expand it in many ways.

What are your favorite parts of iTunes? Or your favorite parts of whatever music player you use?

Let me know below.

High Fidelity

Why have I waited so long to watch this movie? I will not go on and belabor the many great reviews that this movie has received since it came out in 2000. I will say this though, if you are a music fan (specifically the 90's) and love cheesy romantic comedies (John Cusack is the lead after all) and you have not seen this, don't wait.

I was a child of the 90's and still to this day wish that I had been an adult of the 90's, not a child. I loved the 90's. They should put me on VH1.

Terrible and Terribly Tremendous

The Air I Breathe: It seemed mediocre at times, but was overall terrible.

Blood Freak: The best worst movie you will ever see.

Christmas Breaks as a College Student

Freshman Year: I'm happy to see you again, family. Ok, enough time here, time to get back to my friends. I love college.

Sophomore Year: I'm happy to see you again, family. Can I stay a little longer? College is tougher.

Junior Year: Do I have to go back and finish? Can't I just call it quits?

Senior Year: You people are still here? I want to graduate and leave this place forever.

Now We'll See Who Shits On The Sidewalk

I have watched too many movies over the last week to write complete reviews for all of them. So, I will write one sentence reviews for each:

Death Race: Ridiculous.

Slumdog Millionaire: Loved the slumdog, bored by the millionaire.

Sexy Beast: I should have kept this unwatched.

Seven Pounds: If you can suspend your disbelief, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Milk: Good for the movement, but so boring.

Valkyrie: Tom Cruise can kind of act again.

Doubt: The play would be better, but it is still great and the performances were superb.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The first two thirds went on forever, but the last third was gripping.

You can disagree, all you want, but you're wrong.

Have something to say, let me know below.