The year for living dangerously!

Yeah! Finally, the sad, monotone existence of 2008 is over! Dead and gone!

Alright, that's enough exclamation marks for now.

Another year has passed. A year that, for me, saw many transgressions. I ended a long relationship, moved from one job to another and spent many scattered weeks unemployed and chillaxed. 

I traveled to London for a week, Denmark for a day, and Malmö for two very pleasant weekends. My band found a new label and started working on our first album, to be released this year.

All in all, I think 2008 ended with a pretty cool cliffhanger, so I'm not one to linger on what has passed. That said, I think a recap is in order. Here now, listed in no reasonable order, is my 2008 favorites.

Live Music

Having just read and responded to His Holy Beardness' post about gigs in 2008, I realised what an awesome year it has been for live music. I finally got to see Best Band In The World™ Oceansize, albeit as an opening act for Coheed & Cambria. They still killed, though.

Alt-noiserock-legends Sonic Youth were never on my must-see list, but having just opened my ears to them this summer, I joined some friends at the Way Out West festival to check them out.

In retrospect, it was one of the brighter ideas of my concert-going life, since their show was among the best I've ever seen. Hell, I didn't even know half the songs. I didn't care.

My friend Olle, aging veteran of a thousand gigs at a thousand blood-soaked venues, who has seen Sonic Youth, like, seven times, could attest to their quality on the day. It was fantastic.

I also saw Cult of Luna again. I've seen them about five times now, and I never tire. Really.

This time they played at a good venue, with both drummers on stage and a longer set than usual. Incredible.

Aside from that, The Mars Volta, This Will Destroy You, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky and a Vessels concert in London were all good or really good.

As for 2009, I only have one concert in my calendar so far: Mono playing in their hometown of Tokyo on March 14. That should be cool, I hope I can get tickets (like, not that they might sell out, but I hope I am physically able to purchase a ticket in Japan. Maybe not, you know?)

Movies

I've seen alot of movies this year. More than I care to remember, which is why this recap won't really do them justice. Among the noticable were the many comic book adaptions, and their quality. The Incredible Hulk was alright, Iron Man was fun, The Dark Knight was excellent.

I was also happy to see at least two superb Swedish films. Yes, there are more than most care to recognize, but then there's also alot of shit. So when something is as good as Ruben Östlund's De Ofrivilliga, or Låt Den Rätte Komma In, it deserves to be noted. 

On the lighter side of things, the Indiana Jones series got its much anticipated closure in Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Temple of Magic Spears of Light In The Hands of Evil Corporations (NAMBLA). 

I could do without it, but it has its moments. George Lucas wants my money and I can't turn the man down. Just look at him.

Anyway, I had a good time at the movies this year. Looking into the future (as I do), I have high hopes for 2009. Apart from the usual "hey, cool!"-stuff that looms on the summer-horizon – Wolverine, Star Trek, Watchmen, Harry Potter and The Half-blood Prince – there are things like James Cameron's 3D revolution Avatar, which seems like a very big deal indeed.

Music

Again, the list is too long to even sum up. Among the favorites is Fleet Foxes self-titled debut, Cult of Luna's Eternal Kingdom, The Hawk Is Howling by Mogwai, The Mars Volta's Bedlam In Goliath and the heroic self-titled debut of United Nations. 

I've just heard alot of random stuff that made me go "dude, nice", and I really hope that'll continue this year.

TV

I don't watch TV. I do, however, watch TV-shows. On DVD. And that has for the last few years been one of my favorite things to do in front of my 32" screen. This year, the highs included two seasons of 30 Rock (which I had just heard really good things about, but never seen a single clip from) and the first, excellent season of The Wire.

Games

Well, okay, I won't try to cover everything I've done, seen, eaten, smelled, punched or raped, but I like games. Videogames, that is. Or console games. I don't know the right term for it. 

The kind where you're not as nerdy as PC-gamers but still can't pick up girls with it. That one.

I own a Wii, and buy enough games to sustain me constantly should I feel like playing. That has meant about five games this year. I started with Lego Star Wars, then moved on to Metroid Prime 3, took a while with that, then got Mario Kart for my birthday. That lasted a couple of months, then I bought Call of Duty 3 (a couple of years late, but I wanted to check it out). Went back and forth between that and Mario for a while, then I got Okami. 

Okami is easily the best game I've played this year, including the fantastic Metroid Prime. It looks, and plays, alot like Zelda (especially Twilight Princess, where you incidentally play as a wolf…) but only to the game's credit. 

It looks good, the story is good, it's fun, it's all shiny, Japanese-y, wolfy brilliance and I want more of it.

I also shared some of Fredde's PS3 funtime, namely GTA4 and Call of Duty 4 and 5. It was awesome. If I thought I had slightly more time to play games, or gave up hunting ducks, I'd get one.

As for predicting 2009, I have no fucking clue what to expect. But IGN does, so check that out if you give a shit. 

In less than four days, I'm leaving for Tokyo, never to return (for three months). It makes my eyes pop out just thinking about it.