Now that 2008 is over in a few days, looking back how was the year for you overall, in your personal life, pop-culturally, or news events? I'll have to say it was pretty good, but short of being great. The recession made things tough and effected me in some ways. However, I am happy with the news we received on Nov. 4th which will determine our future for the next 4 or hopefully 8 years. The music of this year was pretty good, and the movies were decent. Overall, 2008 was better than 2006 and 2007, but that's not saying much. Out of this overall crappy and depressing decade, I'll have to say it's my 4th favorite year (or should I say sucked the least) after 2000, 2004, and 2005.

I liked the fact that the USA Basketball team(The Redeem Team) won the gold medal and proved the US players are not a bunch of snobs after all.

I liked that Obama got elected too.

2008 was better than 2007 to me accept for the US economy which went into shambles in the latter portion of this year.

It was ok for me. 

Winter 2008-Best Winter that I ever had.
Spring 2008-It was okay.
Summer 2008-This is where nothing happened.
Fall 2008-It was fine until the end of November, and Christmas was dull.

Dave Barry Year in Review: Bailing out of 2008.

His version's funnier than mine.  (I had to dig back to 1996 to find a suitable musical accompaniment.)

Die in a fire, 2008.

We dont live, we just scratch on day to day
With nothing but matchbooks and sarcasm in our pockets
And all we're waiting for
Is for something worth waiting for.
  - Nicole Blackman

Ok year for me.

This year had a few major problems that shouldn't be overlooked. For one, gas prices got as high as $4.50 here in Rochester. Also, I'm really starting to notice the effects of global warming this winter (yesterday it got to around 61, but the day before it was only 32). Music this year was better in the sense that ringtone rap pretty much ended after 'Low' slipped off the charts, but hip hop seems like its stagnated right now (the only big rappers this year were T.I., Lil' Wayne, and Kanye West, the latter of which isn't doing nearly as well as he previously has). I also hate how there have only been 3 #1's on the Hot 100 in the past two months ('Whatever You Like', 'Live Your Life', and 'Single Ladies'), none of which were any good musically. I think things have gotten beyond stale this year, sort of like how 1990 was, but we all know how great 1991 was for music, so maybe 2009 will bring some real music back into the charts. Since the video game industry exploded after the Wii came out in '06, the average quality of video games has gotten worse and worse. Now I'll admit, Gears of War 2, GTA IV, Tales of Vesperia, and Fable II are all phenomenal games, but for some reason unoriginal trash like Wii Music and Guitar Hero Aerosmith have been doing great despite poor reviews. I think what's happening to the video game industry now is similar to what happened to the music industry in the late 70's - the Wii is the gaming equivalent of disco, as it seemed fun and innovative, but has proven to be nothing more than a fad (A Wii backlash is happening already among hardcore gamers). Politically, bailing out the banks was a dumb idea, but the auto bailout was smart. F*** Wall Street, they NEED regulation NOW.

On a lighter note, a few good things did occur this year. Gas prices are now down to $1.70 here, which is REALLY cool. Bush is finally out of the White House, so maybe the egotistical Boomer influence will begin to dissipate. Republicans have lost a lot of ground and big oil companies will surely feel the effects of this. Music, while stale, isn't nearly as stupid as it was last year, and it looks like Soulja Boy's new album is gonna flop. There were some pretty good movies this year too - obviously the Dark Knight, Four Christmases, Step Brothers, and Tropic Thunder just to name a few. Maybe that retarded Saw frnachise will finally end too. Personally, this year started off lame but has gotten much better. High school was stupid, even during my senior year, but college is a much more enticing place, and my new friends are much more intelligent than the retards I associated myself with in high school (I still find it hard to believe I hung out with those people). I have a job now so I don't have to mooch off anyone to buy food or anything, which I always felt bad about. I'm going to the gym now (went from 172 lbs. to 154 in three months), I'm taking classes I actually like, I feel much better about my health and I'm much more aware of what's going on around me. You guys probably don't give two s***'s, but I just thought I'd share  :).

Regardless, I voted this year as mildly bad  :P

Personally, this year sucked!!! I lost my grandmother in Feb. and my oldest sister in Nov.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( The good thing was granddaughter #3 born in March.



Cat

This year sucked it!

definitely best of times, worst of times, both in terms of current events (economic meltdown vs. obama election) and personal events (new job and financial solvency, vs. terrible setbacks in terms of personal emotional struggles both for me and for people close to me).

:) :(

Wii Music and Guitar Hero Aerosmith have been doing great despite poor reviews. I think what's happening to the video game industry now is similar to what happened to the music industry in the late 70's - the Wii is the gaming equivalent of disco, as it seemed fun and innovative, but has proven to be nothing more than a fad (A Wii backlash is happening already among hardcore gamers).


I don't see Wii type games going away any time soon. They're casual games that attracts casual players (and possibly the whole family). Hardcore gamers might not like it but oh well you're not a big market to the video game companies anymore. Their target audience now are the millions of people who wants to play something simple and fun to pass the time.

What really saved this year from being terrible is moving into one of the last McMansions built in October. It was my first year to COMPLETELY have a 40-hour work week, so it was quite a change from growing up. 2008 truly felt like my first "Adult" year; I have less time to do free things as a result. I bought my first ever new car, a Nissan Altima. But pop-culture wise, it was a DARK year, even if the movies did pretty good. Even though Obama will be sworn in 2009, the US can't do things by itself like it could do even as recently as the late 1990s, thanks to the rise of the Asian economy this decade along with the incredible expansion of telecommunications. Unlike late 2001-2002 when there was some patriotism, this year was definately a year without hope. People are simply more open-minded than ever and lack soul. Music sucked this year for the most part (as it has this entire decade), and especially embarrising was Television.

Is it just me or did 2008 go by slowly for anyone else?  I don't know, maybe its because of all the changes.  In my opinion, 2008 has easily been the most changeful year since 2001.  In December 2007, January 2007 still felt very recent to me.  By way of comparison, in December 2008, January 2008 feels like a really long time ago.  Both in personal terms and pop culture terms, it just feels more distant to me than it really is.  

2008 was a decent year.  Second year of college has been decent, although not too much different from the first year.  I've finally started building a nest egg for my dreams of travel (also, lower oil prices = lower ticket prices!) and with the increase in value of the dollar in late 2008, I can finally afford international travel.  In my everyday personal life I took small baby steps to improve my state of affairs, although things, as I stated, haven't changed too much.

In pop culture, its been a weird one for me.  It had some good movies, although I liked 2007 better.   2008 for video games has been both good (decent 360 lineup, DS lineup good and better than 2007's lackluster lineup) and bad (Wii had a terrible lineup for the second half of 2008, despite a great first half lineup).  Musically, it wasn't too bad, although this was the year I started to lose touch with Top 40 radio and delve into the undeground and indie scenes more.  Mainstream music wasn't necessarily bad, just terribly generic.  Tv-wise, it didn't seem too different from last year at all.  Then again, I stopped paying attention to 90% of tv years ago.

I have a feeling 2009 will see the beginning of the end of pop culture in its current form, which is already nearing its end.  When the economy is down and people are suffering financially, gross materialism in pop culture tends to decline.  People don't want to hear about materialism when their quality of life is in decline.  In short, 2008, both in pop culture and my personal life, is merely a prelude to 2009.

It was an ok year.

IT has been up and down, both culturally, politically, and financially. 

It was hell driving to work knowing that I had to fill up my gas at $4.00 a gallon.  I am glad it is going down, but I have a feeling gas prices will go up again once Obama hits the office.

Musically, it has gotten better.  Older bands are coming back and newer bands show some sort of talent rather than power-chord after power-chord of unoriginality.  TV has been good also.

Politically, man I  can't wait till Bush leaves office next year and put in jail.  The democratic party in Downtown Tampa during the electons was hot, as many were jumping up and down whenever Obama won a state.  Hopefully he kicks ass.

I vote "good". The economic situation obviously has been terrible so that's the main negative. Obama getting elected was a nice positive and I hope he does a fine job. Musically it has gotten so much better though it can still get better, the charts right now are the best they've been since at least around spring 2005 or so.

http://images.starcraftmazter.net/4chan/for_forums/die_in_a_fire.jpg

Die in a fire, 2008. 

For me, the first half of 2008 was good.

The second half of 2008 was a piece of sh!t.  >:(

Is it just me or did 2008 go by slowly for anyone else?  I don't know, maybe its because of all the changes.  In my opinion, 2008 has easily been the most changeful year since 2001.  In December 2007, January 2007 still felt very recent to me.  By way of comparison, in December 2008, January 2008 feels like a really long time ago.  Both in personal terms and pop culture terms, it just feels more distant to me than it really is.  

2008 was a decent year.  Second year of college has been decent, although not too much different from the first year.  I've finally started building a nest egg for my dreams of travel (also, lower oil prices = lower ticket prices!) and with the increase in value of the dollar in late 2008, I can finally afford international travel.  In my everyday personal life I took small baby steps to improve my state of affairs, although things, as I stated, haven't changed too much.

In pop culture, its been a weird one for me.  It had some good movies, although I liked 2007 better.   2008 for video games has been both good (decent 360 lineup, DS lineup good and better than 2007's lackluster lineup) and bad (Wii had a terrible lineup for the second half of 2008, despite a great first half lineup).  Musically, it wasn't too bad, although this was the year I started to lose touch with Top 40 radio and delve into the undeground and indie scenes more.  Mainstream music wasn't necessarily bad, just terribly generic.  Tv-wise, it didn't seem too different from last year at all.  Then again, I stopped paying attention to 90% of tv years ago.

I have a feeling 2009 will see the beginning of the end of pop culture in its current form, which is already nearing its end.  When the economy is down and people are suffering financially, gross materialism in pop culture tends to decline.  People don't want to hear about materialism when their quality of life is in decline.  In short, 2008, both in pop culture and my personal life, is merely a prelude to 2009.


For me 2008 flew by. I remember bringing in the new year 2007 into 2008 like it was a few months ago, not an entire year. I guess it's because I did a lot and like they say, time flies when you're having fun. I agree with you about the Wii lineup getting week and no games worth buying in the foreseeable future. The last Wii game I got was Mario Kart, and before that was Super Smash Bros. They need to come out with a Star Fox game and a 3D Donkey Kong adventure game, to keep those franchises alive. On the other hand, the PS3 lineup was good in 2008 with GTA IV, Metal Gear Solid IV, Prince of Persia, and Sonic Unleashed; and continuing to look good in 2009 with games on my wish list such as Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., Street Fighter IV, and God of War III. I just wish they hadn't cancelled Tekken 6.

2008 was a pretty good year for us, lost of change. I came home from Iraq early January 2008. We relocated from Texas in May/June 2008. My sister got married July 2008 (I gave her away), had my first Thanksgiving and Christmas since 2005, and my other sister returned safely from Iraq December 2008. So as you can see lots of change and good things for us.

It was hell driving to work knowing that I had to fill up my gas at $4.00 a gallon.  I am glad it is going down, but I have a feeling gas prices will go up again once Obama hits the office.
i don't think obama will have much to do with it, but gas will definitely come up again when summer gets here. whether it goes up to four bucks again will be interesting to see.

Winter 2008 - Pretty much rocked
Spring 2008 - Good times
Summer 2008 - Things are starting to go downhill about July, but the Olympics were fun...movies rocked too
Fall 2008 - Sucked...too much election, credit crunch...basically got a little better around November and December was good.

Winter 2009 - pretty good looks like