I Have Better Taste than You: The Top 15 Albums of 2008

15) Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles



14) The Black Keys - Attack and Release



13) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend



12) My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges



11) Girl Talk - Feed the Animals



10) The Hold Steady - Stay Positive



9) Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls



8) M83 - Saturdays = Youth



7) Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever



6) The Walkmen - You & Me



5) No Age - Nouns



4) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes



3) Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life



2) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!



1) TV on the Radio -Dear Science

Book of the Year: The Lazarus Project

The usual end of year round up will dominate most of the posts for the next few days. When it came to deciding the best novel of 2008 there was really no question in my mind. It had to be Aleksander Hemon's fantastic and devastating third novel The Lazarus Project. The novel intertwines two stories, one being the true life murder of Lazarus Averbuch, an Eastern European Jew, who was shot to death in 1908 by the Chicago chief of police while trying to deliver a letter. His death sparked widespread paranoia about anarchy and dissent while only perpetuating unrest in the city's immigrant ghettos. The second story arc follows a Bosnian immigrant writer who becomes obsessed with the case and sets off to Europe with a photographer to try to understand Lazarus and his horrible fate. Hemon does a brilliant job balancing both narratives: one factual (kinda), one fictional. The novel is also interspersed with beautiful photographs, either from the Chicago Historical Society or by Velibor Bozovic. The photos enrich Hemon's hugely entertaining chronicle of loss, identity, and place. There is also an underlying comment on today's War on Terror. The Lazarus Project is one of those BIG IMPORTANT BOOKS we'll be talking about for years to come.

Merry Christmas Guys and Gals

Ranking the Coens - The 5 Best Coen Movies

5) The Man who Wasn't There

4) Raising Arizona

3) Fargo

2) The Big Lebowski

1) No Country for Old Men

Honorable Mentions: Miller's Crossing, O Brother, Where art thou?, Barton Fink,

The Thetans are Pleased - My Five Favourite Scientologists

When L. Ron Hubbarb made up all that crap about intergallactic battles and aliens giving you drug addiction, I bet that in in his wildest dreams he never would have believed the following Scientology would get in the celebrity community. Sure, actors are stupid but who knew they were Scientology stupid? Everybody knows the connections between the "church" and the Travoltas and Cruises of the world but not every celebrity follower is as vocal about their faith. So, here are my favourite super secret Hubbardites:

5) Nancy Cartwright (Voice of Bart Simpson):

4) Jason Lee

3) Giovanni Ribisi

2) Greta Van Susteren

1) Beck

Honorable Mention: Isaac Hayes, Leah Remini, Jenna Elfman, Sonny Bono

Just sayin'

"Watch out! It's coming right for you!"

Montreal, where I live, was hit by some pretty harsh weather last week. Well, not harsh by Montreal standards but still pretty ridiculous. As is usually the case, snow storms lead to icy conditions on the sidewalks. Normally, the city will send out its army of high school dropouts making $60 000 a year to salt the ice. However, Montreal has elected to put abrasive gravel down in some neighbourhoods. Problem is, gravel sucks; it doesn't work. As I walked home from work today, it came as no surprise to me that Westmount, a white upper class borough, was a breeze to navigate while Notre Dame de Grace (NDG=No Damn Good), a racially diverse and working class neighbourhood with a reputation for crime, was a wintery urban hellscape.

Just sayin'

SNIKT!

I'm cautiously optimistic about the new "Wolverine" movie (trailer below). I just hope it's more like the first two X-Men movies and less like the craptastic Brett Ratner third one.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD



Also, I think Hugh Jackman works out. Wait what? I mean, I love women!!!

Christmas Gift Idea - 'Tis but a Flesh Wound

This Black Knight seems standard enough,

it's only after you see him like this,

that those in the know recognize its Pythonesque significance. If you don't get it, you really need to watch "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or at least the following scene on YouTube:

The Black Knight doll is available at ThinkGeek.

A Broken Wing and Nothing More

I'm really digging the album from Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, "Sunday at Devil Dirt." The sweet voice from the Belle and Sebastian alum is the perfect counterpoint to the former Screaming Tree's brooding intensity. "Sunday" feels feels a bit like an album of Nick Cave ballads but that's not a bad thing at all. Their songs make me want to join the merchant marines and set out on an adventure full of fisticuffs, deals with Satan, and pale and tragic women. What can I say? I'm a romantic.

Here's the debauched and NSFW video to "Ramblin' Man" off their debut:

Riku - My favourite Finnish-American movie blogger

Billed as the most popular Finnish-American film themed blog, Richard Hourula's Riku Writes is certainly a blog worth checking out. Hourula writes thoughtfully about his greatest passion; movies. I don't always agree with him and he tends to focus on older movies but his engagement with his material is evident and well worth reading.

L'État Sauvage

The Samurai Buddha would like to call a moratorium on using the term "coup d'état," at least until a military junta shows up...

However, when one governs like "l'état c'est moi," a coup d'état might be necessary...

No one to blame but himself...

"To know a man, observe how he wins his object, rather than how he loses it; for when we fail our pride supports us; when we succeed, it betrays us." - Charles Caleb Colton