Pop Culture Buzz

2008 TURNED OUT TO BE A GREAT YEAR FOR POP CULTURE. THIS WAS A YEAR OF BIG LET DOWNS AND QUIRKY SURPRISES. READ MY PICKS, NUMBERED IN ORDER, FOR MY FAVORITE MOVIES, TELEVISION, MUSIC AND CONCERTS BELOW. LET ME KNOW IF YOUR FAVORITES MADE THE CUT AND MAKE A COMMENT!

THE BEST MOVIES OF 2008

1.) “Wall-E”
2.) “Milk”
3.) “The Wrestler”
4.) “Slumdog Millionaire”
5.) “Pineapple Express”
6.) “Hamlet 2″
7.) “Religulous”
8.) “Let the Right One In”
9.) “Kung-Fu Panda”
10.) “The Dark Knight”
11.) “Baby Mama”
12.) “Man on Wire”
13.) “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”
14.) “Revolutionary Road”
15.) “Horton Hears A Who”
16.) “Frost/Nixon”
17.) “Role Models”
18.) “Tropic Thunder”
19.) “Bolt”
20.) “Iron Man”
21.) “The House Bunny”
22.) “Be Kind, Rewind”
23.) “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army”
24.) “Snow Angels”,
25.) “Bigger, Stronger, Faster”

THE BEST HORROR FILMS OF 2008

1.) “Cloverfield”
2.) “Splinter”
3.) “Quarantine”
4.) “The Ruins”
5.) “The Strangers”

THE BEST TELEVISION OF 2008

1.) “True Blood”
2.) “30 Rock”
3.) “Mad Men”
4.) “The Soup”
5.) “Lost”
6.) “Summer Heights High”
7.) “Big Brother”
8.) “Judge Judy”
9.) “So You Think You Can Dance”
10.) “The Office”
11.) “Wipeout”
12.) “Reality Bites Back”
13.) “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List”
14.) “The First 48″
15.) “Little Britain USA”

(MY MUSIC CHOICES ARE BASED ON ALBUMS AND SINGLES THAT WERE RELEASED WORLDWIDE IN THE YEAR 2008 - ROBYN, M.I.A., RIHANNA AND KYLIE MINOGUE HAD ALBUMS THAT CAME OUT IN 2007! THE SINGLES FROM THOSE ALBUMS DON’T COUNT, THEY MADE MY LIST LAST YEAR!)

THE BEST SONGS OF 2008

1.) Sam Sparro - “Black & Gold”
2.) Hercules & Love Affair - “Blind”
3.) Duffy - “Mercy”
4.) Estelle - “American Boy”
5.) Alphabeat - “10,000 Nights of Thunder”/”Fascination”
6.) Robin Thicke feat. Mary J. Blige - “Magic”
7.) The Ting Ting’s - “That’s Not My Name”
8.) Beyonce - “All the Single Ladies (Put A Ring on It)”
9.) Adele - “Chasing Pavements”
10.) MGMT - “Time to Pretend”
11.) Goldfrapp - “Happiness”
12.) Lilly Allen - “Guess Who Batman (Fuck You)”
13.) Cyndi Lauper - “Into the Nightlife”
14.) Death Cab For Cutie - “I Will Posess Your Heart”
15.) Of Montreal - “St. Exquisites Confession”
16.) Hot Chip - “Ready For The Floor”
17.) The Freemasons - “When You Touch Me”
18.) M83 - “Kim & Jessie”
19.) Natasha Bedingfield - “Love Like This”/”Pocket Full of Sunshine”
20.) She & Him - “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?”
21.) Morgan Page feat. Lissie - “The Longest Road”
22.) Pink - “So What”
23.) Gnarls Barkley - “Run”
24.) Neyo - “Closer”
25.) Ben DJ - “Me & Myself”
26.) Portishead - “The Rip”
27.) Gabriella Cilmi - “Sweet About Me”/Sarah Bereillis - “Love Song”
28.) Annie - “I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me”
29.) Mutya Buena feat. Amy Winehouse - “B-Boy Baby”
30.) The Raconteurs - “Old Enough”

THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2008

1.) My Morning Jacket - “Evil Urges”
2.) Jenny Lewis - “Acid Tongue”
3.) Alphabeat - “Alphabeat”
4.) Robin Thicke - “Something Else”
5.) Hercules & Love Affair - “Hercules & Love Affair”
6.) Kaskade - “Strobelight Seduction”
7.) Santogold - “Santogold”
8.) Vampire Weekend - “Vampire Weekend”
9.) Adele - “19″
10.) Duffy - “Rockferry”
11.) Goldfrapp - “Seventh Tree”
12.) The Ting Tings - “We Started Nothing”
13.) MGMT - “Oracular Spectacular”
14.) Ashlee Simpson - “Bittersweet World”
15.) Sia - “Some People Have Bigger Problems”
16.) Lykke Li - “Youth Novels”
17.) Midnight Juggernauts - “Dystopia”
18.) Moby - “Last Night”
19.) She & Him - “Volume One”
20.) Madonna - “Hard Candy”
21.) Kate Nash - “Made of Bricks”
22.) Ladyhawke - “Ladyhawke”
23.) Cyndi Lauper - “Bring Ya to the Brink”
24.) Coldplay - “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends”
25.) Erykah Badu - “New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)”
26.) Sam Sparro - “Sam Sparro”
27.) Ray Lamontagne - “Gossip in the Grain”
28.) Bon Iver - “For Emma, Forever Ago”
29.) Crystal Castles - “Crystal Castles”
30.) Beck - “Modern Guilt”
31.) Fleet Foxes - “Fleet Foxes”
32.) Death Cab For Cutie - “Narrow Stairs”
33.) Cat Power - “Jukebox”
34.) The Killers - “Day & Age”
35.) Lucinda Williams - “Little Honey”

THE BEST LIVE SHOWS OF 2009

1.) Mark Ronson - Coachella 2008
2.) My Morning Jacket - Greek Theater
3.) Calvin Harris - Cochella 2008
4.) Madonna - “Sticky & Sweet Tour” Oakland, CA
5.) Mika - The Warfield
6.) Rilo Kiley - Coachella 2008
6.) Robyn - Popscene S.F.
7.) Justice - Treasure Island Music Festival
8.) Hot Chip - Cochella 2008
9.) My Morning Jacket - Coachella 2008
10.) Vampire Weekend - Coachella 2008
11.) Kaskade - Coachella 2008
12.) Goldfrapp - Coachella 2008
13.) Robyn - Bimbo’s S.F.
14.) Roger Waters - Coachella 2008
15.) Duffy - Coachella 2008
16.) Dimitri From Paris - Coachella 2008
17.) Chris Isaak - The Filmore S.F.
18.) DJ Mehdi - Coachella 2008
19.) She & Him - Bimbo’s S.F.
20.) Prince - Coachella 2008

DISAPPOINTING LIVE PERFORMANCES

1.) Hercules & Love Affair
2.) Chromeo
3.) TV on the Radio
4.) Midnight Juggernauts
5.) Death Cab for Cutie
6.) The Racontuers
7.) Sia
8.) Kate Nash
9.) The Verve
10.) Gogol Bordello

THE WORST MUSIC OF 2008

Metro Station - “Shake It”
Lady Gaga - “Just Dance”
Britney - “Womanizer”
David Archuletta - “David Archuletta”
David Cook - “David Cook”
Nickleback - “Dark Horse”
Janet Jackson - “Discipline”
Jonas Brothers - “Burning Up”
Miley Cyrus - “Break Out”
Basshunter - “Now You’re Gone”
Dido - “Safe Trip Home”
Kanye West - “808’s and Heartbreak”
Terrence Howard - “Shine Through It”
Jessica Simpson - “Do You Know”

THE WORST MOVIES OF 2008

“Meet The Spartans”
“Vantage Point”
“Star Wars: The Clone Wars”
“What Happens in Vegas”
“The Love Guru”
“Hancock”
“Fred Clause”
“Meet Dave”
“10,000 B.C.”
“The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

THE WORST TV OF 2008

“American Idol 7″
“Three and a Half Men”
“The Hills”
“The Real World Hollywood”
“Living Lohan”
“Denise Richards: It’s Complicated”
“The Mole”
“The Moment of Truth”
“The Tyra Banks Show”
“Paris Hilton’s New BFF”
“A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila”
“Hole in the Wall”
“I Love Money”
“Top Design”