Best of the year

[egb_hibs]

Here's mine, what's yours:

Best Book: Sacred Causes by Michael Burleigh; second volume of masterful examination of political religions and religious politics since the french revolution. This one covers the 20th and 21st centuries and is thus more accessible than the first. brilliant stuff, and i'd be surprised if any reader didn't find one of their own sacred cows given a good shoeing. for example, don't read if you have any misty eyed affection for armed irish republicanism or if you like the popular black legend view of Pius XII in ww2.

Best Film: This is England; generally i find british cinema risible luvvie wank, but Shane Meadows stands out like a colossus, and his latest was a spot on evocation of the early 80s.

Best CD: Love it when I feel like this - The Twang

Best TV: UK - Spooks pishes on everything else despite it's absurd bbc-liberal MI5 agents, but of course the yanks are in a different class and the wire season 3 and shield season 4 boxsets have been my pick of the year.

[TonySoprano]

Best Book - The Damned United. I think it came out this year. No matter, it's the best sports book I've read in a long time.

Best CD - I'll go with Because of the Times - Kings of Leon

Best Film - either Control which I thought was brilliant and obviously had a magnificent soundtrack or Lives of Others which would have been my favourite bar a weak ending but is still superb.

Best TV - Sopranos Season 6. The end to me was well worth the wait, even if no everyone agreed. But the series itself had everything.

[1875]

Originally Posted by egb_hibs
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Best TV: UK - Spooks pishes on everything else despite it's absurd bbc-liberal MI5 agents

I agree, untouchable in UK TV, beaten only the TV brilliance that was the Sopranos.

Film - Nothing has really got me this year

Music - Modern Music is Rubbish
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Paper - I enjoy the Irish Independent when in Ireland and the Sunday Herald is da best of the rest....

Best Book, I'll get back to you, read tonnes this year with so much commuting, although I cannae mind the last real page turner I read other than 'These Colours Don't Run' and I read that front to back in weekend for other reasons.

[gun ainm]

Book - (I presume one published this year and not just one i read?) - The Testament of Gideon Mack was pretty good

Film - Pan's Labyrinth

CD - Candylion by Gruff Rhys

TV - Weeds (maybe just for Uncle Andy's masturbation chat)

[Broxburn_Hibby]

Book: 1812: Napoleons Fatal March on Moscow - This semester my history course was on the French Revolution, my mates dad loaned me the aforementiond book, turned out to be an excellent read.

CD: Reverend and the Makers - The State of Things.Superb album, going to see them next February, looking forward to it immensely.

Gig: (New Category
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) The Verve at Carling Academy last month...out of this world.

Film: I haven't been to see that much this year but out of what i did see i'd say 28 weeks later was the best out of an average bunch.

TV: Heroes

[Green Sleeves]

Book - If You Liked School You'll Love Work by Irvine Welsh (back on top form)

Movie - Control (Its Grim Up North starring Joy Division)

Documentary - Taking Liberties (goodbye civil liberties, hello police state)

TV Series - Family Guy (gets better and better)

Newspaper - Sunday Herald (best of a bad bunch)

Album - Life With You by The Proclaimers (we're not worthy
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)

World Leader - Hugo Chavez (no other serious contenders)

Politician - Alex Salmond (so far so good)

Most Pointless Celebrity - Russell Brand/Paris Hilton (same person)

[tortohibee]

book. havent read any new releases yet this year

film. beyond the gates. set in a rawanda school during the genocide.

sports moment, CIS CUP WIN lol

tv show. got to be rebus or lost season 3

album . killers, sams town

docu. undercover mosque ( dispatches )

[Bartok]

Book: Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Really good insightful commentary on the arrogance and ignorance that characterises the US occupation of Iraq.

TV: Extras (new here, dunno if it is in UK)

Music: pass. Haven't heard anything new I'd want to hear again.

Film: I'm looking forward to seeing Amazing Grace, but as it isnae right to choose something you haven't actually seen, I'll go for 300, just for the quality of the animation.

[Brainwrong]

Book: Until I find you - John Irving. Or, the novella in at the end of If YOu liked school you'll love work called The Kingdom Of Fife - Irvine Welsh.

Telly: It's fucking pish so I don't watch it.

Music: Pacific Heights by Instra:Mental. Nowt else decent heard that was released this year.

Film: The Darjeeling Limited.

[egb_hibs]

Originally Posted by Green Sleeves
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World Leader - Hugo Chavez (no other serious contenders)

i'd go for sarko; taking on the reactionaries.

[Lix]

Books I'm with Tony Soprano. Absolutely LOVED The Damned Utd. Definitely the best sports book I've ever read.

Film I'm a bit crap at movies ... I don't watch enough. Been trying to catch up on ones I really should've seen by now ... but just went to see The Golden Compass on Tues night and it was really good. Having loved the books I was concerned the film wouldn't live up to them, but think they did an amazing job.

Music Have loved a lot of tunes rather than albums this year, but probably best album goes to Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare. Amazing 2nd album.

TV I'm going to join in the consensus with Spooks - it's the only TV I really watch. Have enjoyed the box sets of Life on Mars, Lost and just got Heroes but not started it yet.

[broonieboy]

Book - I quite enjoyed Winter in Madrid, set in the spanish civil war.

Film - Not seen much, saw Last King of Scotland on dvd last week. Quite good.

Album - The Enemy, we'll live and die in these towns

Sports - take a guess!

TV show - Heroes

[evy]

Originally Posted by tortohibee
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book. havent read any new releases yet this year

film. beyond the gates. set in a rawanda school during the genocide.

sports moment, CIS CUP WIN lol

tv show. got to be rebus or lost season 3

album . killers, sams town

docu. undercover mosque ( dispatches )

Sam's town disappointed me greatly, but i still bought it!

Film - dont watch many films as i usuallly have trouble staying seated for that length of time, but borat was funny ven if was really weird.

Sports moment - not including the CIS, has to be barny v taylor world darts final (what a match)

album - tough one, i love the arctic monkeys, the enemy, the pigeon detectives etc, but i'm gonna go for the arctic monkeys

t in the park performance - kasabian (would be killers but was only there on the sunday)

book - harry potter and the deathly hallows, love harry potter mainly because the first one was released when i was 11/12.

[HibeeAnderson]

Best Book: Last King of Scotland (better than film), City of God (add much more to film recommended), Heartfelt(borrow a copy), The last Harry Potter(already a classic) and a must read Bringing down the house by Ben Mezrich. was going to summarize the book but got full review, so here it is Sorry
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Bringing Down the House tells a true story that anyone who is remotely interested in gambling will enjoy. A handful of MIT students, under the tutelage of a blackjack guru, learn how to legally beat the system utilizing just their brains and a complex communication method. Reading like a thrill ride of a movie, we follow the team through the heart-pounding ups and downs that accompany such a rewarding yet risky lifestyle.

The primary protagonist is Kevin Lewis, a typical MIT student, bright and a bit geeky, until he is recruited to join a secretive blackjack team created by Mickey, a shady but brilliant man who has made his living at blackjack. Kevin's learns the system, and his life is soon overtaken by this flashy double life, joining the team in making dozens of trips per year to Vegas and other casino locales.

Speaking of the card-counting technique, don't pick up this book looking for a hard core book on how to beat blackjack. This book, a New York Times bestseller, was written for the masses, not as a how-to instructional book, but as entertainment. And entertain it does. Painting an accurate neon picture of the insane indulgences of Las Vegas, the book is fiction come to life with its vivid locations and colorful characters.

Mezrich writes in a way that promotes continuous reading, pushing the reader naturally from one chapter to the next without pandering to melodrama. As a Harvard graduate, his style is educated without being pretentious. Unlike many fellow alumni, he doesn't partake of a gratuitously voluminous lexicon, but uses a basic yet plentiful vocabulary that makes for an untroublesome read.

Some will say that the book wouldn't be interesting if it weren't true. Probably, it is true, and that's part of the allure. If there is anything negative to say about the book, it might be the breeziness of it. Like a beach novel, the tale is told in a straightforward (although non-linear) manner. There is no pretense of heavy-handed morality or anything of that ilk. But that's fine. This just a story; a very enjoyable and appealing one.

This book appeals because of its simple and stated premise: taking down Vegas. It's been said many times many ways (as in the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven), but I'll reiterate. Since the casinos take money from almost everyone, there's a shady, almost criminal view that the public has of them. Therefore anyone who can take millions of dollars from Vegas is a hero, doing what anyone would love to do. Reading of these exploits allows the rest of us who don't have the necessary skills to live vicariously through the protagonists.

Bringing Down the House is compelling largely because it is true. While I'm sure certain characters and events are composite or exaggerated, the outlandishness of the tale allows for such eccentricities. Relatively short (272 pages), the book is difficult to put down, providing an easy and completely enjoyable read.

Now, when is the movie coming out?

Best Film: American Gangster, The Prestige (class), Talladega Nights, 28 weeks later,Letters from iwo Jima,The Last King of Scotland and The Departed (best film for a long time).

Best CD: Arctic Monkeys new one, Queens of the Stone Age, Kings of Leon, not this year but brought back into the mix - Rolling Stones Flashpoint live (Start me up,Paint it Black,Sympathy for the Devil and Brown Sugar are tunes so is Give me Shelter but thats another cd)

Best TV: - The Hatton/Mayweather was decent but more of a session rather than general tv viewing. I'd probably go for Heroes, The War at Home, Scrubs, Mock the Week, Have I got News for you and some random games show on at a silly time in the morning by a couple of weegies. It was pure genius.

[Haruki]

Book : Not published this year but I read little modern lit. "Jurgen : A Comedy of Justice" by James Branch Cabell. Both hilarious and profound. Can't praise this book enough. A monstrous clever fellow.

Film : Again, not produced this year but I only got the heads up from a female buddy this year : Dead Man's Shoes. Sick, funny, clever and has a moral message of sorts. All the main ingredients I like in a film. Stylishly shot too.

TV : Hibernian vs Celtic. Both hilarious and uplifting. Ha ha Boruc. Ha ha Caldwell. Ha ha Hartley. Ha ha cltic.

CD : The Go! Team "Proof of Youth". Indie, I think, is becoming very generic. The Go! team aren't. They're fresh, they're innovating, they're catchy as f#ck. Cheerleader chants, rap, guitars, soul, kitchen sink etc. And they're pretty much the must fun you'll have with your clothes on. Brilliant album. "Do it, do it. Alright!"

Paper : The Sunday Times. What's a hangover without it?

Life experience : Wee man scoring a hat-trick in a 7-0 final win and scoring, in the same tournament, a goal within two seconds of kick off and having everyone watching laughing at his goal celebrations. Got a bit of dust in my eye that day.

[Sancho Panza]

Best Book: The Damned United and The Testament of Gideon Mack have already been mentioned and I can only thoroughly recommend both. Among the other things I've enjoyed reading this year were Calcio: A History of Italian Football by John Foot, Simon Sebag Montefiore's Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, The Tenderness of Wolves by Steff Penney and Alain Fournier's classic Le Grand Meaulnes. My top read however was Joseph Roth's masterful evocation of Weimar Berlin - What I Saw: Reports Form Berlin 1920-33. Amongst the finest reportage I've ever read.

Best Film: Can't say that I saw anything really outstanding at the cinema this year. Am looking forward to seeing The Lives of Others on DVD, however. The best thing I saw this year (although it's actually a couple of years old) was The Return. It's a Russian film about a long-absent father who turns up out of the blue to take his two sons on a road-trip. It's pretty slow and nothing much happens but it was incredibly haunting and atmospheric; stayed with me for days after I saw it. EGB, if you haven't seen this, I can't recommend it highly enough to a fellow Russophile.

Best TV: Series 3 of The Wire, no contest. If there's a better programme than The Wire then I've yet to see it, although honourable mention must go to The Sopranos for bowing out in some style.

Best CD: I can't remember if it's from this year or last, but Rodrigo y Gabriela's eponymous debut studio album did it for me; pretty unbelievable sound from just two people playing nylon-strung Spanish guitars. If it is from last year, then it has to be Manu Chao's La Radiolina from 2007 that gets the nod.