Best Albums of 2008 (Finally)

A combination of busyness and laziness meant that I haven't been able to compile a best of 2008 album list for a while, but here it is...

Best Albums of 2008:

1. WHY? Alopecia
2. Born Ruffians, Red Yellow & Blue
3. Bound Stems, The Family Afloat
4. Sigur Ros, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
5. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
6. M83, Saturdays=Youth
7. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
8. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
9. Hot Chip, Made In the Dark
10. Azeda Booth, In Flesh Tones
11. David Byrne and Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
12. Hercules & Love Affair, Hercules & Love Affair
13. Blitzen Trapper, Furr
14. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah: Part One
15. Blood Red Shoes, Box of Secrets
16. She & Him, Volume One
17. Los Campesinos, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
18. Evangelista, Hello, Voyager
19. HEALTH, Health/Disco
20. The Ting Tings, We Started Nothing
21. Coldplay, Viva la Vida Prospekt's March Edition
22. The Submarines, Honeysuckle Weeks
23. Chairlift, Does You Inspire You
24. Deerhunter, Microcastle
25. Gang Gang Dance, Saint Dymphna
26. Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
27. Golden Animals, Free Your Mind and Win a Pony
28. Anathallo, Canopy Glow
29. The Duke Spirit, Neptune
30. Amanda Palmer, Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
31. The Mountain Goats, Heretic Pride
32. Dead Meadow, Old Growth
33. School of Seven Bells, Alpinisms
34. Grand Archives, Grand Archives
35. Darker My Love, 2
36. Duffy, Rockferry
37. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
38. R.E.M., Accelerate
39. I Was a Cub Scout, I Want You to Know That There Is Always Hope
40. Mogwai, The Hawk Is Howling
41. Nauschka, Ferndorf
42. Lykke Li, Youth Novels
43. Does It Offend You, Yeah?, You Have NO Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
44. The Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust
45. Hello, Blue Roses, The Portrait is Finished…
46. Glasvegas, Glasvegas
47. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
48. Mates of State, Re-Arrange
49. Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst
50. Mirah, The Old Days Feeling
51. Foals, Antidotes
52. Ra Ra Riot, The Rhumb Line
53. The Shaky Hands, Lunglight
54. High Places, High Places
55. The Fireman, Electric Arguments
56. Fall Out Boy, Folle A Deux
57. Plants and Animals, Parc Avenue
58. Metallica, Death Magnetic
59. Kate Nash, Made of Bricks
60. Beach House, Devotion
61. Theresa Andersson, Hummingbird, Go!
62. Okkervil River, The Stand Ins
63. Friendly Fires, Friendly Fires
64. Shearwater, Rook
65. Lydia, Illuminate
66. Marnie Stern, This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
67. Noah and the Whale, Peaceful the World Lays Me Down
68. The Cure, 4:13 Dream
69. Jenny Lewis, Acid Tongue
70. Tapes 'n Tapes, Walk It Off
71. The Roots, Rising Down
72. Charlotte Sometimes, Waves & The Both of Us
73. Tilly and the Wall, O
74. UNKLE, End Titles: Stories for Film
75. Patti Smith and Kevin Shields, The Coral Sea
76. Earlimart, Hymn and Her
77. Castanets, City of Refuge
78. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
79. Ten Kens, Ten Kens
80. Murs, Murs for President
81. The Uglysuit, The Uglysuit
82. Sian Alice Group, 59:59,
83. O'Death, Broken Hymns, Limbs, and Skin
84. Bodies of Water, A Certain Feeling
85. Parts & Labor, Receivers
86. Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping
87. The Knux, Remind Me in 3 Days
88. Rachael Yamagata, Elephants…Sinking Teeth Into Heart
89. The Walkmen, You & Me
90. Sun Kil Moon, April
91. Santogold, Santogold
92. Lightspeed Champion, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge
93. No Kids, Come Into My House
94. The Last Shadow Puppets, The Age of Understatement
95. Wilderness, (K)no(w)here
96. Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, Not Animal/Animal
97. These New Puritans, Beat Pyramid
98. The Hush Sound, Goodbye Blues
99. Bloc Party, Intimacy
100. Shiny Toy Guns, Season of Poison

Honorable Mention

1. Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs
2. Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak
3. The Dodos, The Visiter
4. The Bug, London Zoo
5. Welcome to Mall, Amadou & Mariam
6. The Airborne Toxic Event, The Airborne Toxic Event
7. Nas, Untitled
8. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
9. The Nightwatchman, Fabled City
10. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
11. Wolf Parade, At Mount Zoomer
12. Abe Vigoda, Skeleton
13. Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid
14. The Academy Is…, Fast Times at Barrington High
15. Chris Walla, Field Manual
16. Fennesz, Black Sea
17. Thrice, The Alchemy Index, Vol. III & IV
18. Panic at the Disco, Pretty.Odd
19. Adele, 19
20. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
21. Women, Women
22. Pink, Funhouse
23. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
24. Headlights, Some Racing, Some Stopping
25. Man Man, Rabbit Habits

Golden Globes Recap

So………the Golden Globes were last night and I pretty much skimmed them out of obligation. There's not much for the non-film person to appreciate, since it's basically a huge dinner at the Beverly Hilton with lots and lots of awards given out in succession - no dance numbers or monologues. Still, they've been a good precursor to the Oscars and this year, I'm kind of curious to see how much of what happened at the Globes will carry over into February at the Academy Awards. For instance:

Heath Ledger won, which was what most people were expecting, but this just gives more ammunition to the belief that he's a lock for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. And for the closing shot of the "dead people" montage.

Mickey Rourke won. Best Actor Front-runner? I thought Frank Langella, being 70+ could pull an Alan Arkin for Frost/Nixon, but…

Frost/Nixon, Doubt, and Benjamin Button were all pretty much shut out. Not that the Golden Globe noms/winners usually parallel the Academy Awards, but, it's interesting…

Also, Sally Hawkins could be the Marion Cotillard of last year? Although Kate Winslet's two wins are telling…

And, and, Slumdog Millionaire, my pick for best film of 2008, won every award it was nominated for, including Director and Best Picture. This pretty much locks my belief that it's going to be the indie film garnering a Best Picture nomination, but the fact that it also won awards for Screenplay and Score makes me think it could potentially win more. Every time an indie film does this well, it makes me really happy and it shows that having a strong story can triumph over a big budget or name stars.

Ahhhh…Slum Dog, you are awesome!

Plans for 2009

1.) Use my film degree more. If not by directing more music videos or short films, then by hanging out at Blockbuster more often and criticizing the film choices of others.

2.) Figure out to stay vegetarian without developing any sort of nutrient deficiency … subsequently, play the "vegetarian card" more often while on dates and in social settings…

3.) Get a girlfriend with a cool accent, become the unwitting participants together in some international espionage ring, then tragically break up with said girlfriend in the rain in the streets of some Eastern European city. If none of these situations present themselves, then just get a girlfriend.

4.) Schedule spontaneous travel.

5.) Buy a car that won't break down or get parking tickets.

6.) Most of all, rock for justice harder than ever before. Keep an eye focused on the less fortunate, strive to influence culture, not be influenced by it, and learn to be less selfish when it comes to how I spend my time, money, and resources.

Salivation

Isn't it a gross word?

I can't live in a world where people salivate and masticate constantly.


In other news, I am going to start writing here again. I have a recent job. Rock for Justice has recent life. And I am directing a few music videos. Hooray. Hooray for the bulldog.

new post

not really, but just a comment that it's funny that my last post was in august and was about weed…well a lot of cool stuff looks to be in my future, so i should be posting more in the near future.

stay tuned (if you read this)

weed

yes, this blog is about weed.

i've been thinking about it a bit because this past week I got a phone call from a friend of mine who's on the road touring with his band. he was obviously high and the phone call itself was quite hillarious. but it got me thinking.

I don't really get weed and I hope I'm not alone. To be fair, I have never tried it, which is kind of interesting considering my history. Though I hit the cigarettes and alcohol pretty hard in high school, along with some painkillers and other things I won't get into (all without my parents' knowledge, so I hope they don't check my blog or facebook), for some reason, premarital sex and marijuana were two lines that I could never bring myself to cross. So, yes, I have no experience with MJ and how glorious the experience is of being under the influence of it. I could be completely off base with my thoughts and I know I'm leaving myself open to the argument of "you've never tried it, so you don't know how great it is." Well, I've never tried heroin either, so I guess I can't really form an opinion on that either.

Wow, that last comment sounded a little bitter, but the truth is that in the past month or so, my opinion on "recreational drug use" has changed from apathetic to downright against it. I find it extremely hard to justify the use of marijuana and it's been bothering me how casually my buddies from high school, band friends, and fellow filmmakers are with the subject.

The bottom line for me is that smoking the reefer is illegal, no matter how little you do it. You could probably argue that it shouldn't be illegal, that there should be an age limit on it similar to alcohol and tobacco, or any number of reasons that the "legalize it" crowd gives as justification for their drug use. I don't think any of those reasons matter as long as the laws of our country stand as they are. The fact is that currently, in 2008, the drug is illegal and until it's made legal, you shouldn't use it. Period. And if you don't choose to recognize the laws of our country, that's fine, but don't complain the next time someone steals your shit. Chances are that that person doesn't care about laws either.

The problem complicates itself for my friends who are Christians that use marijuana. Even if MJ was legal, there is another thing that bothers me about it. It's the fact that using weed puts you under the influence of a substance. Even if you argue, as most people do, that weed has no harmful side effects, you can't deny that it influences your behavior. I don't have to have tried the drug to know that. I've been drunk enough times to know the scariness of waking up and not remembering what you did. More than that, I prize my Christian witness very highly and I don't understand why I would not want to be thinking clearly at all times, with that goal in mind. This world is hard enough to navigate as it is.

As an example, I find myself swearing a lot more when I'm intoxicated. Normally, I try to watch my language. I don't have a problem inherently with swearing (I think I already swore in this post, in fact), but I do know that it causes a lot of people to stumble and that it could potentially at some point hurt my Christian witness. However, when I've been drinking, I find that my inhibitions slide away slowly and it becomes more difficult to check myself on what I'm saying. That's why I've cut down my drinking significantly lately, also. The negatives of being drunk far outweigh the positives for me. I would imagine it's the same way with weed and, like I said, I just don't get it.

I don't remember - are obeying laws and saying no to drugs still uncool? If so, I'm sorry for coming off as some sort of parental figure lecturing the world on its problems. Those of you who know me know that I'm not the judgmental type and that I don't pick the people I spend time with based on what they do or don't do. But, if you can't talk to your friends about this stuff, then who can you talk to?

So, if you're a "recreational drug user," I definitely still love you, but please explain to me the appeal, because I don't understand it...

Warped Tour 2008 Day 1 (part 1?)

ah, yes, a long gap in posting, but this blog hasn't died yet. i've just been really busy with Rock for Justice, getting ready for Warped Tour.

you're probably thinking - Warped Tour? Didn't that happen earlier this summer?

The tour actually ends this Sunday, but we recently found out that we could get a few spots on the latter half of the tour - basically as many stops as we wanted, as a non profit. Since the tour had already started up by the time I found this out, we weren't able to officially join up with the tour as a non profit and we definitely didn't have the capital to be able to afford the bus and funds necessary to get across the country, we decided to just do the local dates - San Diego and LA.

San Diego was yesterday and it went pretty well.

I'm guessing I might post more on the tour later, which is why this is only a tentative part 1, but I felt a little like sharing my thoughts on this year's tour, apart from the non profit. The official blogs on the RFJ page will hopefully show photos/interviews/video of our experience on the tour, but they're posted as a collective opinion :) so this is me talking now…

This year's lineup, from a musical standpoint, was a little disappointing. I've never really been a fan of Warped Tour, to be honest, mostly because of the rampant commercialism. Festivals, of course, are always freaking sweet because they showcase a ton of bands in one place, for one price, but Warped takes it a step too far, in my opinion. The fact that every stage is sponsored and that banners and ads are everywhere takes a slight edge away from the rebellious, anti-establishment punk rock dream that Warped is still trying to live. The lineup this year didn't do much to help that. Again, from strictly a musical standpoint, the acts lacked the diversity of previous tour lineups and when you have Katy Perry playing the tour, you know that Warped has pretty much become for tours what MTV now is to music television - a celebration of the current trend among 12 - 18 year-olds. (Nothing against Katy - she is a cool girl, but just saying…a far cry from Rancid and NOFX.) This year, they had an Old School stage, which featured older acts and there were more veteran acts, like the Vandals or Horrorpops, but those stages had far less attendance than, say, Cobra Starship or Forever the Sickest Kids.


But, yeah, that's just as a musical critic. I wasn't there as a musical critic, but as a non profit, and, in that aspect, the tour pretty much rocked my face off. I have always appreciated the fact that Warped, more than other tours, has allowed non profits the opportunity to speak out on the entire tour. Since the tour caters more specifically to the younger generation, I think it's key for any non profit really to try for a spot on Warped. You will get to talk to and reach out to so many kids who may end up being the next world changers. And, as a huge part of Rock for Justice's mission statement is to raise up the people who think they can't help, Warped was an absolute blessing. So many people bought into what we were doing and were incredibly encouraging. Our booth didn't have much of a Rock for Justice presence, as we're still working on getting shirts and more event plans out, but we have brought our friends, the Give a Damn? documentary, on board and they pretty much pimped out our booth…in all, great success.

To get to talk to so many bands and to hear how many bands actually desired to step outside their music and use their positions of influence for good rocked. I've heard some depressing stuff about a lot of the bands on the tour and, so it was good to hear a lot of them step away from their diva or rockstar images. They might have been putting on a front for us, but I don't think that was it. The backstage area was such a chill environment, and myself and a few others spent a majority of our time back there, that we were literally hanging out with the bands - not hanging out in the sense of meeting them once at a concert, but spending some concentrated conversation and down time with them. It's hard to be fake then, in my opinion, and so that was very encouraging.

It was kind of a bummer to be denied video access, but that's going to come when we're back on the tour Sunday in LA. The venue put up restrictions to video crews at the last minute and there wasn't much the press company could do, so they just denied video access to all crews, except for the really major ones. Not a big loss - but we'll have to pack some acoustic performances and video interviews into one day now. I think it's do-able. We were done with all our interviews by 6 and we talked to quite a few bands.

I did keep thinking, however, about how much I wanted Rock for Justice to complete its mission of standing apart as a non profit that puts the tools for action into the hands of people. There are certain non profits (not to name any specifically) that had trendy shirts, tour with bands, and bump elbows with artists, but the actual mission of the organization is a little difficult to define. In some respects, the non profit becomes just another band - they get the benefits of being paid to travel on tours and hang with famous groups. I almost think that groups like this become their own celebrities. When a non profit conducts almost as many interviews as the bands that support it and when it has its own tour bus and uses its name to get into concerts for free - I think there's a problem. I want nothing more than to see Rock for Justice live out in the lives and hands of people who see its mission and are inspired. More on that later probably, but my one fear as I look beyond Warped Tour to RFJ's future is that this is as far as RFJ will go - that we might become a name-dropping organization that schmoozes with celebs, but doesn't bother to do legwork to actually help the organizations it is supposed to be helping raise awareness.

By now, I'm just aimlessly rambling, so time to cap off this post. I'll be back at Warped Tour on Sunday and I will definitely let more thoughts trickle out in the coming days. This is my personal blog, so while what I say may be a bit lengthy at times, I hope I can give a more intimate view on some of the behind the scenes work of what I'm doing.

until next times,

cheers,

-m