10 Things that Made 2008 Not Suck

(Idea shamelessly swiped from MamaPop). 

The list of things that made 2008 suck is kindof easy to come up with. 

1. The economy
2. See number 1
3. … And repeat.

Anything that makes me kindof not enjoy listening to NPR qualifies as suckitude of a highest level. Major suckitude. Suckisaurus Rex. Total Suckage. Our economy couldn’t suck any more if it had an electrified sucking machine. Which it couldn’t. Because we’re all too broke to buy any new electronics. 

There was some cool shit that happened in 2008, however, so, while I have put the year on Notice, it has narrowly escaped the Wrath of Roth. 2009? You’d better look sharp. I’m watching you.

Anyways, here’s the list.

10. Weezer’s Pork and Beans video. It features Kelly (of “Let’s Get Some Shoes fame), the Numa Numa Guy, the Evolution of Dance and a host of other internet sensations. What’s not to love? See for yourself:

9. Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia. Yeah, the movie was cheesy. But her performance made it a hell of a lot of fun. If I kick half as much ass as she does when I’m her age I will be quite pleased with myself. 

8. Proposition 8: The Musical. Proposition 8 itself might be the worst thing to happen to California since their last wildfires. But, in musical version, it’s awesome!  As Jesus/Jack Black would say, “Latah, Sinnahs!”

7. George W. Bush having shoes thrown at him at a press conference. The only reason that this isn’t ranked higher is because the reporter who flung said shoes missed (well, I will begrudgingly admit that Dubya has some reflexes). My schadenfreude has probably placed me one some sort of CIA watch-list. And I don’t care.

6. Vlad and Boris Sing: Misses Palin. I want to fly into your airspace. I made a telescope for you. I made a telescope for you! 

5. Going Green is getting more and more popular. Sure, I hate faux hippies (you know the type… dreadlocks, drive SUVs) as much as anyone. I have mixed feelings about green as a fashion statement. But, you know what? More and more people are seriously thinking about how we impact the fragile eco-system that we live in. And that’s a good thing.

4. Kristian and I don’t have any more weddings to go to in the foreseeable future. I love my friends. I love that they have found love and happiness. I loved their weddings. Now I’m loving the fact that we will now have some weekends to ourselves. We’ve been to like 18 gajillion weddings (give or take about 17 hojillion) in the past 12 months. Now it’s time for baby showers!

3. Tina Fey.  I have a girl crush on Tina Fey. There, I said it. I feel so much better now. If you haven’t seen her Sarah Palin impression, it’s quite possible that you have spent the last few months living under a rock. And that’s a damn shame, because it was a most excellent impression. If you’re not watching 30 Rock, well, you really should be. And by “should be,” I mean YOU HAD BETTER BE. Because if it goes the way of Arrested Development and gets cancelled then it is ALL YOUR FAULT. And I would hate to have to hold that against you.

Not only was her Sarah Palin impression eerily hilarious, she also provided us all with 30 Rock, Baby Mama (shut up, I LOVED that movie) and some American Express commercials that didn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out when our tivo was live.

2. I finally finished my album. The last (first) time I put out an album, Bill Clinton was in office. Yes, it has been that long. And what a long eight years it has been. I’ll try not to gush too much about this album, but I think that it’s been (almost) worth the wait. Speaking of things that were worth waiting eight years…

1. President Barack Hussein Obama. It’s not like the past few centuries of slavery, oppression and things generally sucking for black people were suddenly erased. But don’t try and tell me that we haven’t made one giant leap forward. A leap that would make Neil Armstrong proud. And not just towards racial equality.

Call me a deluded optimist (and I’ve been called worse), but I think that Obama can do some really great things for this country. As long as we figure out how to get out of this handbasket.

As I sat (anxiously) watching returns with friends on election day and Jon Stewart excitedly announced our new president (yes, we were flipping back and forth between CNN and Comedy Central), I was flooded with a feeling that I can only describe as optimism. A feeling that I think a lot of us have been unfamiliar with for the past, let’s say, eight years or so.  Bring on 2009!