Best of 2008

You can tell how I feel about the movies in any given year by how long it takes me to put my 'Best of' list together. This year, I'm doing it 4 hours before the Oscars start. Some of my friends do a Top Ten list, and I've adopted the tradition, but I rarely can come up with 10 movies that I love. Last year I had 7, but this year, it's much shorter.

First of all, the best entertainment in the world of pop culture 2008 was definitely on TV this year. So, I'm going to say Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL tops my entertainment list, followed closely by "The Daily Show. "

Other TV bests:
Drama -- "Mad Men" and "Friday Night Lights" (I would say that FNL was overall more satisfying on a weekly basis, but "Mad Men" is so crazy-good and so beautiful to watch.)
Comedy -- "30 Rock" (obviously). The best episode EVER was the one with the "Subway Hero." I re-watched it about 100 times.
Guiltiest pleasure -- "The Hills"
Best new show -- "Privileged" (okay it's the only new show I'm watching, but it's cute.)
Show I'm most looking forward to watching on DVD -- "In Treatment"

Best movies:
1. Doubt
2. Elegy
3. Sex and the City (I'm a fan!)
4. Slumdog Millionaire (Loved it but it was so violent, I can't put it any higher. I do hope it wins tonight, though.)

Performances:
Actress: Meryl Streep. I so hope she wins for her performance in Doubt because she portrayed this role beautifully. Although I love Kate Winslet, I definitely did not think her performance in The Reader was her best and I'm disappointed that this is probably (finally) because I really did not care for this movie at all. But let's face it, she'll probably win because we know that the Academy will reward any film about the Holocaust no matter what it is. The only one that would be more disappointing to me is if Anne Hathaway wins. She's super annoying, the movie was boring and I don't think her performance was anything spectacular.

Actor: I'll go with Mickey Rourke, although I had a hard time loving this movie. Plus, his face is so weird, it's distracting. But his performance was great.








Supporting Actress: This is the only race that I feel is wide open. I am going to go with Amy Adams. Viola Davis was very good in Doubt as well, but I have a hard time saying that she was the best of the year when she only had 13 minutes of screen time, or whatever it was.



Supporting Actor: I'm pretty sure Heath has it in the bag, and I agree that he was fantastic in that role. I hated the movie, however, and really am baffled by all the praise The Dark Knight is getting. I thought that Josh Brolin was really good as the sad sack politician in Milk, and I also thought Philip Seymour Hoffman gave another great performance in Doubt. It's kind of a given, but I'll go with him.

Books -- Three Cups of Tea. I wouldn't normally choose non-fiction as my favorite book of the year, but this book was definitely the best book I read this year.
I couldn't even think of any fiction that I loved, but the closest I came was American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. (which I do not recommend for my mom!) I have been in two book clubs this year, so most of the books I read were for them. I don't know if that is a bad sign that I can't say I read anything that I loved this year. But Three Cups of Tea was for the group that I am in with church friends, so that's pretty good.

Theater:
I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think I have to go with Hair in Central Park. I found the ending so powerful, it almost brings me to tears even now.


Concerts:
1. Bruce Springsteen (nights 1 & 3) at Giants Stadium
2. John Mayer in CT
3. John Mayer in NJ
4. Bon Jovi in the new Prudential Center
5. Foo Fighters


Sadly, I can't say that I even bought any CDs in 2008. Oh wait, I did buy the new Death Cab CD, but I didn't like it as much as past CDs. If I got Coldplay's new one, it probably would have been that one. I know, I'm sort of lame when it comes to new music.