i think i saw more movies in the theater this year than i’ve seen in the past 5 years combined. best ones were Iron Man, Punisher: War Zone, and Rambo 4.

the biggest disappointment was Romero’s Diary of the Dead, even though i somehow knew i wouldn’t like it beforehand. and i think had Dan not been so aggressively disgusted and angry with the movie that i would’ve disliked it more than i did, instead of being compelled to defend the movie from him and find good things about it. actually i was more disappointed in Indiana Jones 4, i just remembered that. ugh. actually maybe Vin Diesel’s Babylon AD. although i think i also knew that would suck, too, but i wanted so bad for it to be awesome. sorry, Vin. we’re such kindred spirits in our floundering careers.

best 2007 movie i saw in 2008 was Inside, as i think zach can attest to. i also got into the rest of the Death Wish movies which are pretty sweet. best 2008 movies that i saw later in the year on video were Jumper and The Ruins. pretty awesome.

i can’t remember any specifically bad or good things that happened to me this year that i could list here, everything kind of blurred together. most of it was spent writing scripts/comic pitches that nobody liked, reading news about the world blowing, and getting a slew of terrible reviews for my book Water Baby. my book The Abandoned came out in Italy this yea, that’s pretty cool.

can’t even remember what books and comics i read… the Ruins? that was good. i think i read a bunch of HP Lovecraft, that wasn’t bad.

best movie nights were definitely both He-Man/She-Ra movies, Inside, Spawn, Wicker Man remake.

worst movie night: “hypothetical situation girl” debate night, and the one where Rob didn’t show up

best movie we should have seen: Twilight, on opening night

dumbest movie performance: Michael Caine/Alfred

best show i got into: Battlestar Galactica

best weather: snow

worst game i ran: Zombie Game 2

hottest: Melonie Diaz, Jennifer Hudson, Selena Gomez, Francia Raisa, Keke Palmer, Tamarr the Wegmans cashier, and of course the always smokin’ Rachael Ray

best new tea: constant comment

best youtube discovery: Mitch Magee’s Welcome to My Study (http://www.youtube.com/user/mitchmagee)

I’m not sure I can be as extensive as you guys. I really have to do a new to me list.

Best Album:

Chessie – Manifest. Preordered this to get the special edition photo. Listened to it a lot. Last time I checked their myspace had most of the songs I consider to be standouts.

Best Television:

24, watched through it all for the first time this year. Great experience all around.

Best Video Game:

For me 2008 will likely become the year I got back into gaming. I’m on a quest. To find another game that grabs me as much as quake 3 arena instagib. games I played this year. portal is definitely incredible. the valve experience has in a way made feel a deeper appreciation for what I do.

Best Movie Night:

have to agree with zach about he man, although charlie brown was pretty good as well

Best future:

I look forward to some more podcasts. getting a new computer and playing some games. getting into roguelikes.

Of the very small number of albums I purchased in 2008, I’d say the best was “Keep Your Eyes Ahead” by the Helio Sequence. Jesu’s “Conqueror,” which I think came out at the beginning of 2008, was also good.

Some more-or-less pop songs I enjoyed in 2008:

Lupe Fiasco, “Dumb it Down”; Coldplay, “Violet Hill”; Charlatans, “Oh! Vanity”; Kings of Leon, “Sex on Fire”; M.I.A., “Paper Planes”

Best old movie I happened to discover in 2008:

“Sanjuro” (Akira Kurosawa, dir.)

Best reading:

Roberto Bolaño, “The Savage Detectives” (also “2666,” which is starting strong); Junot Díaz, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”; José Saramago, “Blindness”; Érico Veríssimo, “O Senhor Embaixador”

Best Mexican food, non-taco truck category:

Chicken burrito at Chuy’s Taqueria (Winters, CA location)

Best Mexican food, taco truck category:

Adobada and cabeza (beef cheek) tacos at El Paisano (Woodland, CA)

Best retail experience:

Browsing through and buying antique maps at the mighty Schein & Schein (Grant Ave., San Francisco)

Best urban discovery:

New Orleans; San Francisco (tie)

Best upgrade:

Ditching my 1992 Chevy Caprice wagon for a 2008 Toyota Corolla; getting an office (runner-up)

Best wine:

Pretty much anything made by August Briggs (Calistoga, CA).

Best gift:

Getting an unwanted but awesome leather jacket for free from my ex-girlfriend’s cousin.

Best political story, paradigm-shift category:

Obama elected president…obviously.

Best career move:

Taking a position at UC Davis; taking a temporary position at a Providence landscaping company (runner-up)

Best dodging of bullet:

Not having a basal cell carcinoma (relatively mild form of skin cancer) on my nose.

Best silver lining:

Watching the devastating economic crisis actually get people talking about better regulation and more infrastructure spending, and watching free market fundamentalism crash and burn (for now).

Best celebrity sighting:

James Franco at City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, two days ago.

Best future:

Spending a month in Brazil this summer if I have enough cash; moving to Sacramento at the end of the summer; hopefully realizing my dream of owning a white suit at some point; attending an expanded movie night soon!