1. Life Like by The Rosebuds
2. Shade Side Sunny Side by For Against
3. Velocifero by Ladytron
4. 4:13 Dream by The Cure
5. Saturdays=Youth by M83
6. Alpinisms by School Of Seven Bells
7. Lust Lust Lust by The Raveonettes
8. The Hawk Is Howling by Mogwai
9. Object 47 by Wire
10. Some Racing, Some Stopping by Headlights

Random Year-End Thoughts on my favorite 2008 albums:

• The Rosebuds came out on top again. God bless 'em. After last year's amazing Night Of The Furies that topped my 2007 year-end, The Rosebuds continued to impress and outdistance.
• For Against is the greatest belated band discovery of 2008. I bought the outstanding new album and then promptly snatched up the earlier reissues.
• The Cure's new album is no Seventeen Seconds, but it's a solid entry and most of us longtime Cure fans are just happy that a new Cure album doesn't suck. I like 4:13 Dream quite a bit.
• The new M83 album is the best John Hughes 80s movie soundtrack that John Hughes never released.

1. Quantum Of Solace
2. The Bank Job
3. Transsiberian
4. Gran Torino
5. Iron Man
6. Let The Right One In

Random Year-End Thoughts on my favorite 2008 movies:

• Of course, it's going to be Quantum Of Solace. Just watch the "We're teachers on sabbatical" scene again. James Bond is heartbroken, bruised, battered, on the run, and pursued by his own MI6, but he's still not going to stay in some crappy run-of-the-mill hotel. He's going to stay in the most lavish five-star hotel in the city. Why? Because he's James Bond, that's why! It's good to see Daniel Craig's character gradually molding into the cinematic James Bond that we all know and love.
• The Bank Job falls in line with those old heist movies that I love (Le Cercle Rouge, Rififi, etc.). It's a criminally underrated film.
• Gran Torino is vintage Eastwood, just like the critics are all saying. I don't really see this one winning Best Picture, as it reminds me more of the old Eastwood movies that didn't seem to try too hard (Bronco Billy or Honky Tonk Man) and are destined for small-screen greatness on a late-night movie stretch twenty years after their initial release.
• The Dark Knight was good, but I'm more of a Tony Stark type of guy. So, Iron Man slides into my top five.

Editors/Hot Hot Heat/Louis XIV @ The Roxy, Atlanta, GA on 1/11/08
Snowden w/ Twin Tigers @ The Earl, Atlanta, GA on 2/22/08
A Place To Bury Strangers @ Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA on 3/17/08
Snowden @ The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA on 3/22/08
British Sea Power w/ Film School @ The Earl, Atlanta, GA on 4/21/08
Radiohead @ Lakewood Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA on 5/8/08
She Wants Revenge w/ Be Your Own Pet @ Variety Playhouse, Atlanta,
      GA on 5/23/08
Ladytron @ Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA on 6/13/08
The Cure @ Gwinnett Arena, Duluth, GA on 6/15/08
The Cure @ Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC on 6/16/08
R.E.M. @ Lakewood Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA on 6/21/08
Regeneration Tour (The Human League, ABC, A Flock Of Seagulls, Naked Eyes,
      Belinda Carlisle) @ Chastain Park Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA on 8/29/08
Mogwai @ Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, Georgia on 9/15/08
Dead Confederate w/ Twin Tigers @ The Earl, Atlanta, GA on 9/20/08
Wire @ Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA on 10/12/08
Deerhunter, Pylon, Jay Reatard and Times New Viking @ Variety Playhouse,
      Atlanta, GA on 10/31/08
The Sun And The Moon @ East Atlanta Icehouse on 11/7/08
For Against w/ Twin Tigers @ The Earl, 11/8/08
M83 w/ School Of Seven Bells @ The Earl, Atlanta, GA on 11/11/08
Snowden @ The Earl, Atlanta, GA on 11/29/08
The Rosebuds @ The Earl, Atlanta, GA on 12/1/08

I really can't narrow down a full Top Five here, other than what I'll specify below as my favorite show ever. Choosing five shows or even ten out of the above is sort of like having to pick just five or ten faithful Basset Hounds from a giant basket of puppies. These shows were all pretty good.

Random Year-End Thoughts on my favorite 2008 concerts:

• The Cure's Atlanta show was the best concert that I've attended in my 36+ years. Simply outstanding, and the Seventeen Seconds encore was one for the ages. The Cure's gig in Charlotte the following night was a near equal and worth the longest concert road trip of my year.
• I really didn't go out of my way to list all of the individual opening bands this year, but I couldn't neglect to list Twin Tigers, who have become my favorite current Athens act.
• For Against were everything that I expected them to be onstage and then some. An outstanding show from an unjustly overlooked band.
• Ladytron continues to inspire me with awe. It helps, of course, to follow the example of Carlos and I by standing close to the stage so you can actually see Mira and Helen instead of being blinded by lights. But, blindness still considered, Ladytron are a great live act for a style of music that lacks great live acts.
• Pylon still owns it, boys and girls.