Name something new (or new to you) that you discovered in 2008

[Symarip]

Find a new band you dig? Watched a movie that you consider an instant classic? Tell us about it. It doesn't have to be tangible. Maybe you fell in love or discovered a new path. The material is anything you want it to be.

This year has been an interesting one for me. As of tomorrow, I will have officially been in Virginia for a year. Most things Virginny I'm not a fan of forcing me to have to seek new ways of entertaining myself. I think I've become a better musician overall since I've been forced into this isolation and now have to depend on myself to practice, play, recall, and understand music. It's been very rewarding.

Speaking of music, my buddies, The Aggrolites from the West (read: better) Coast invited me to Warped Tour for a few dates. In my travels, I discovered a band I listen to at least every other day since called Bedouin Soundclash. They rock faces with a mix of The Police meets Bob Marley meets The Skatalites http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zvBD3CsI0M.

Oh, and I started posting on a little messageboard called Democratic Underground. There's a pretty good bunch that hangs out there even if they all worship bad television and crappy food.

[taterguy]

1. Facebook, boy am I a cliche

[NanceGreggs]

33. Same here ...

Just signed-on two weeks ago, and I'm now in touch with several friends I'd lost contact with over the decades - including an old friend I haven't been in touch with for forty years!

[SteppingRazor]

2. As far as music, I learned this year that Gogol Bordello is freakin' awesome. n/t

[Symarip]

14. They're pretty cool!

I checked them out a year or two ago.

[SteppingRazor]

15. I got into the album when it came out, but I learned this year that the live show...

is one of the best out there right now.

[mcctatas]

3. Diet Red Bull

The trainwrecky joy that is "The Bad Girls Club", Albannach, and I haven't tried this one yet but I have this horrible feeling that my life won't be complete until I get a ShamWow.

[TZ]

4. Rush, the band.

I've got a double CD playing in my car right now..Enjoying it immensely. Its easy to lose my self in the music and forget about my troubles..Thanks, DuStrange.
:hug: :headbang:

[Dr. Strange]

16. Woohoo!

:hug:

[TZ]

17. I've decided I have a new favorite tune

Subdivisions. It kind of sums up my life. Why do I get the feeling that Geddy Lee wasn't one of the cool kids in High School?

[Dr. Strange]

18. That was the first Rush tune I ever heard.

Totally fell in love with the band when I heard that one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9Ycq64Gy4

[flvegan]

5. I learned to not tutch the but.

[Arugula Latte]

19. Lol!

Many have learned that important lesson, it seems.

[redqueen]

6. Jamie O'Neill

Will definitely be reading more of his stuff. Hope it's as good...

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. I discovered an America that was ready for a non-white male president.

That, and Regina Spektor.

[unpossibles]

8. I love Bedouin Soundclash

and did not know you are friends with the Aggrolites! Awesome. I first heard them on Myspace, and since have decided they are one of my favorite newer bands (along with Firewater) - not surprising as I am a huge fan of the "Reggae Got Soul"/"Funky Kingston" era toots, which they obviously are into.

You may like Duppy A'Jamba, a reggae band from the area that has a lot of classic in their sound. Real nice guys too.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=57039317

[Symarip]

9. Aren't Bedouin Soundclash just tits?!?!?!

They kill it live, too.

Yeah, I've been a fan of The Aggrolites since day 1 which someday will mean I get to write a forward in a book somewhere, I think. I saw them the first night they ever played together live and it really hit me as history in the making. By chance, I became friends with Brian the guitarist and he was a driving force in getting me off my ass and into the spotlight again with my bands.

[underpants]

10. That pineapples don't grow on trees and that oxen are just working cows

seriously I did not know that. I thought pineapples were like coconuts :shrug:

I have to say that as sad as that is this is a vast improvement over what I learned in 2007
which was the details and acceptable methods to pick up men in bathrooms AND how to come up with a
really lame excuse (the Fla. Republican guy)

[Arugula Latte]

20. Yeah, and money doesn't grow on trees either, mister. So close the door

You're letting all the hot air out. What, you think your mother and I are made of money? You think that heating bill is going to pay itself?

[krispos42]

46. They're not grown in trees?

<checks Wikipedia>

Son of a bitch, I didn't know that.



Must be subconcious influence from cartoons.

[PaddyBlueEyes]

11. Found someone that makes me complete

no matter the circumstances...

[Symarip]

12. Aw.

I love you, too.

[PaddyBlueEyes]

13. LOL

Not even close...

[panhead1961]

21. SHAM WOW

[Symarip]

22. Special DOUBLE Offer?

Cancel the fucking internet! This is huge!!!!!!!!!111

[Stuart G]

23. Missouri Botanical Gardens....St Louis..

saw this for the first time...just beautiful

http://www.mobot.org/

[Symarip]

25. That place looks pretty cool.

Very relaxing.

[darkstar]

42. Ms. Darkstar works there

Edits their scholarly pubs and such.....

It is nice, eh?

[Deep13]

24. Apparently America is ready for a Black president. nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. apparently a black /Irish President is ready for a fundie preacher as part of the Inaugeral.

edit: spelling.

[Deep13]

47. Apparently, if evolution is outlawed only outlaws will evolve. nt

[Mojambo]

26. The BBC sitcom Peep Show. One of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. n/t

[XemaSab]

27. Morphine really does the job, as far as painkillers go

:hide:

[mentalsolstice]

28. Sony Reader and ebooks

Right now I have 27 ebooks loaded and able to easily carry in my purse, (and read at night with the lights off b/c of built in LED lighting). E-ink is a wonderful thing. Woo-hoo, I'm really reading again!

[Symarip]

29. How much did that set you back?

I've been curious about one of those since I saw one on a plane trip.

[mentalsolstice]

51. Give or take

...$400. However, I got 100 free classics (which I actually like), worth $1.99 in ebook form. I bought the PRS-700, but Sony is keeping the PRS-505 on the market, at about $250, with all of the same "you buy it, we'll give you these benefits." I also recently bought 5 modern-day bestsellers for $40.00, which is cheap, considering three of them are still only out in hardbacks, or the movie version is coming out soon (The Reader, Revolutionary Road, and Reservation Road).

I got my Reader at the end of Nov. 08, and I've already read 3 full books on it, which is a lot faster than I've read books in the past (well, since I went to law school 1987-90, and building up my career for several years afterwards, you can only read so much). For many years, I was limited to law journals and case files.

In bed, I'm a side sleeper, and I prop my Reader sideways to read, It is perfectly comfortable, and I can turn on the LED lights to read in total darkness. Page turns are stupidly easy.

[LadyoftheRabbits]

30. I discovered metal

Thanks to my ZombieNixon, and I've realized I fall more in love with him each year. (Sappy, I know. :P)

Edit: (Metal = music. :P)

[BlueIris]

31. I learned that people spend compulsively to make up for the lack of love in their lives.

That was news to me, even though I know that's part of the root of all addiction.

[KitchenWitch]

32. Wii

[Arugula Latte]

34. "Exercise TV"

Our stupid cable station pulled MSNBC from the regular line-up :eyes: so my husband decided he couldn't live without Keith Olberman and so now we shell out more $$ for a deluxe "on demand" kind of a TV deal. :eyes: BUT, the good thing is there is an Exercise TV option where you can just call up all sorts of work-out shows whenever you want. :woohoo: I work out at home and this has been so great for me ... I've learned all sorts of new exercises and it's fun to have someone explaining how to do things and to give me ideas for different types of cardio and strength moves. :bounce:

[KamaAina]

36. The "Rick Roll"

:evilgrin:

[mainegreen]

37. Javascript interceptors.

They are the apex of all that fucking rocks.

Intercept alert()? FUCK YEAH!

[JimWis]

38. Facebook & DU.

[harmonicon]

39. Liz

She's nothing but trouble and is going to fucking break my heart into a million pieces, if I'm ever able to find it again.

Still.... damn. *sigh*

Every other damn thing this year completely fucking sucked, so something that only sort of sucks but makes me a tiny bit happy must be better than nothing.

[cemaphonic]

40. Drive By Truckers

Retro arena-rock band that's been around for 10 years or so. They're pigeonholed as a "Southern Rock" band, because they are from Georgia, and wrote a double-album concept record mostly about Lynyrd Skynyrd (which is much better than you would think something like that would turn out), but there's as much Springsteen and Stones in their sound as anything else. I'm kinda surprised that some of the classic rock radio stations haven't started picking them up.

[Shine]

41. I have transformed my life this year and have embarked on a new path

going back to school again, after 22 yrs, to get a masters in counseling psychology.

It's time to take my natural skills to the next level.

:thumbsup:

[Robeson]

43. Charmin Extra Strong...

...has been a godsend...:D

[old mark]

44. I discovered I really like Johnny Ramone's guitar playing,

and after a long study of his work on youtube, I have worked out a few of his songs.
His playing was deceptively simple, but really incredible.

Also re-discovered an interest in the painter Franz Kline - some of my current work turns out to be a bit similar, even though I had not seen his work in maybe 40 years. He was from PA, too.....

Not a bad year, overall.

mark

[krispos42]

45. I realized that the music group "The Beatles" is spelled differently from the insect

For my entire life I've been spelling "The Beatles" correctly but without realizing that is is not spelled "The Beetles".


I'm weird.

[Bertha Venation]

48. There is treatment for a chronically inflamed, painful achilles tendon.

It really works. Several treatments over a number of weeks relieves the pain.

[Nikia]

49. I recently had a baby (Nov.16)

And discovered that it is hard being a new mom. I also love my baby even more than I thought that I would. It's like being in love.

[tandot]

50. I discovered that I am pregnant

and we'll be first time parents by June 09

:)