10. She & Him – Volume One
Zooey Deschanel always struck me as an indie chick in the same vein as a Jenny Lewis. Her first album with band mate M. Ward was a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I love her voice. On the other hand, I’m not really into 1960’s female pop music. In the end tracks like “Sentimental Heart” and “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” edged this album in front of The Headlights’ Some Racing, Some Stopping for the last spot on my list.

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9. Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Chris Walla recently described Narrow Stairs as a “reactionary” album backlashing against the accessibility of Plans. I tend to agree. Songs like “Cath…” and “Long Division” are enough to keep the album on my end of the year list, but I can’t help being disappointed by this album. Please return to Transatlanticism your fan base is depending on it.

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8. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
Coldplay can do better than this. Its not that this is bad, its just not at the same level as their previous work. Where is this album’s “Fix You” or “Politik”? I really tried to give this album a number of chances throughout the year, and eventually it worked its way onto this list, but I’m not going to lie, I was expecting more. “Viva La Vida” and “42” are stand out tracks, but the rest of the album just runs together for me.

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7. Mates of State – Rearrange Us
I never listened to very much Mates of State. It wasn’t because I had anything against them, I just never took the time. Finally, this year I decided to check out Rearrange Us. The husband and wife combo of Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner are a little tamer on this album, with more piano and less synth, but it still works beautifully. Songs like “Get Better” and “Now” defined the soundtrack of my summer road trip to Colorado. Good times.

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6. The Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride
Some albums need time to grow. Their stories need to find a place in your brain for a few months. Then, when the time is right, they all make sense. The album ties together and you wonder how you could have ignored all of this when the album first arrived. I never doubted that John Darnielle is one of the best songwriters of our generation (after all Craig Finn of The Hold Steady thinks so). Heretic Pride tells stories of broken lovers and failure in such a way that you still remain hopeful. Darnielle describes the emotions of his characters so realistically that you almost have to believe he’s been there. Maybe he has.

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5. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Boys and Girls in America was perfect. It may very well find itself sitting in the top slot of next years’ “Albums of the Decade.” Knowing this, I prepared myself for a letdown. Unsurprisingly, Stay Positive could not up the ante on its predecessor. Luckily, it never tried to. The Hold Steady are getting older, and they are starting to feel it. Stay Positive is about aging gracefully. The characters are still there, pawing around to find their fulfillment in bars and dumpsters, but they have a new perspective. Prom night is over, and it is time to come to terms with what comes next. What do you do when the kids at your shows have kids of their own? You stay positive. Stay Positive finds The Hold Steady continuing to grow and evolve as they come to term with their growing age. The solo at the end of “Lord I’m Discouraged” might be my favorite solo Tad Kubler has ever played. Sure, its no Boys and Girls in America, but its definitely not a swan song. The Hold Steady are still going strong, and I’m excited to see what’s next.

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4. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes should have been born in a different time. Their music sounds old, as if it is hiding some ancient wisdom, gained through a lifetime of experience. Then I find out these men are my age. Are you kidding me? Many bands take several albums to find their voice, but Fleet Foxes already seem perfectly consistent on their first full length. Their harmonies and slow meandering music are beautiful. Like Joanna Newsom’s Ys, Fleet Foxes seems to shatter the idea of modern music more than anything else I listened to this year.

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3. No Age – Nouns
No Age hails from Los Angeles, and I guess that fits perfectly. If you asked me to describe their sound, it would be hard to avoid the word “noise.” Its not that Nouns isn’t beautiful, but there is really no other way to describe it. Like their city, the commotion on the album is constant. Layer upon layer of drums and guitars stack to create strangely poppy songs. Think The Postal Service meets My Bloody Valentine. Then, once you have listened to it, sit in amazement at the realization that only two people are responsible for all of that noise. It’s incredible. This album also holds the distinction for best packaging of any album I bought this year. I heartily enjoyed the photo book included with the liner notes.

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2. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Yes, this sound is gimmicky, I agree, but it is so infectious! Sure, it seems kind of ridiculous that a bunch of Ivy League graduates are borrowing African pop music to sing songs about being rich in New England. Yet the cast of Vampire Weekend pulls it off flawlessly. Songs like “Oxford Comma” plagued my brain for months at a time, in a good way. The driving drums during the bridge even worked great as motivation for my half marathon training. No album represented the soundtrack to my final semester more so than the self-titled album by indie’s most over-hyped newcomers. Will the sophomore album ever deliver? I don’t care. I’m still enjoying the first.

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1. The Gaslight Anthem - The ‘59 Sound
The Gaslight Anthem hit their stride with this summer’s The ‘59 Sound. In their sophomore album, the band boldly moves away from their straight punk roots and embraces influences ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Miles Davis. Brian Fallon cannot seem to shake his fascination with the way things used to be, but he does it with so much sincerity that it never seems contrived. For a band that took so many risks with their album, it seems amazing that only the bluesy “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues” falls short. Songs like “Miles Davis & The Cool” and “Here’s Looking At You, Kid” benefit from a slower pace, while other like “Great Expectations” and “Casanova Baby!” remind you that these boys from New Jersey came to dance.

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Every single day during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college I would drive down 270 screaming every word to The Get Up Kids’ Something to Write Home About on my way to and from work. Last night, I got to scream along to every word with 200 of TGUK’s closest friends and family.

That’s right, The Get Up Kids are back.  It seems time heals all wounds.  There was ridiculous banter between songs and everyone seemed happy to be there. Go watch Matt Pryor fumble a romantic memory of his marriage proposal into a story about about his “3 ass kids” just before “I’ll Catch You.” I wish I could find a recording of James Dewees quoting Highlander after Jim told him he looked like a dark lord from Dungeons and Dragons.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a concert where literally every person knew every word to the songs before. When Matt let the crowd sing to “Mass Pike,” I think it was louder than when he had the mic.  “Holiday,” “I’m a Loner Dottie…,” and “10 Minutes” probably got the biggest reactions from the crowd. It was insane for all of them.

The band seemed to appreciate that their fanbase had “finally broken the age barrier,” noting that now they tipped their bottles instead of forming circle pits during the anthems. I was a little unsure of how an older crowd would react to music so obviously written for (and by) teenagers, but the great thing about music is how it can immediately throw a listener back to a specific time or place. For last night, we were all ten years younger, remembering what it was like to sing every one of the words with conviction.

As far as the set goes, TGUK played straight through STWHA in its entirely, then played “Campfire Kansas,” “The One You Want,” “On the Roof,” “Mass Pike,” “No Love,” and “Walking on a Wire” for their encore. I would have enjoyed “Shorty” or “Don’t Hate Me” off of Four Minute Mile, but I won’t complain. I’ll just have to wait until Spring 2009 : ).

Say what you want about Barack Obama, but here are a few things that changed with the election of Barack Obama:

• America sent a clear mandate, giving Obama over 333 electoral votes.
• This represents a giant leap forward in the long path of racial equality in America. We’re not there yet, but its progress.
• America’s reputation with the rest of the world just took its greatest leap since the end of WWII.
• While America may never have more than a two party system, Barack Obama redefined the way we do politics. He motivated an insane number of people and raised an enormous amount of money by leveraging the Internet and other new technologies. In doing this, he was able to out-politic a Clinton and essentially come out of nowhere to become president.
• We once again have a president capable of inspiring Americans to get off of their couch and take action.

It will be very interesting to see where we go from here.

Manny Ramirez: 4 HR 10 RBI .667 OBP 1.08 SLG 1.675 OPS (8 games)

Jason Bay: 3 HR 9 RBI .471 OBP .634 SLG 1.15 OPS (11 games)

The fact of the matter is that Jason Bay had a great series. However, Manny Ramirez put up numbers that are out of this world. I can’t help but wonder how our series would have been different if he were still here. Sure, he gets a little annoying in August, but do you really think we wouldn’t have made the playoffs with him? In a series where all we needed was a little more offense, I’ll take the 1.675 OPS every single time.

Tobias Funke is ecstatic that John McCain wants to save the U.S. from the horrors of hair transplants.

My running thoughts on the debate:

• John McCain wants to argue about 18 billion in pork barrel spending, when Obama is asking him about 300 billion dollars in tax cuts for the top 5%. Typical.
• John McCain continues to bask in the “glory” of his ridiculous nicknames, further reminding Americans how long he has been kicking around a political system most people have expressed disapproval with.
• Obama argues that healthcare, education, and alternative fuel must go through, despite the recession. McCain wants to cut military spending, which seems to, at least on paper, makes a little more sense.
• McCain then talks about a spending freeze, but specifically excludes “national defense.” Didn’t he just talk about cutting that heavily if he were president?
• “I have opposed the president… It is well known I have not been Ms. Congeniality… I am a maverick of the senate.” McCain’s voting record: voted with Bush 95% of the time.
• Obama claims Al Queda is stronger than it ever has been since 2001. I’m skeptical.
• “Senator McCain, you were wrong” I wish ABC would start playing “You Were Right” by Built to Spill in the background right now.  You were wrong… when you said… everything’s gonna be alright.
• Obama: “So that we can capture and kill Bin Laden.” That’s an interesting word choice…
• Obama takes pot shots at McCain for threatening to “bomb North Korea into extinction” and “[singing] songs about” attacking Iran. Hilarious, but probably not productive.
• “Forming a league of democracies…” Seriously McCain, you mean the UN? I just don’t understand how this is any different, except you somehow believe you would be able to control this new “league” more. This is just another extension of the belief that America always has the best way of dealing with the rest of the world.
• Obama talks of including China and Russia in these talks with Iran. This makes much more sense. These are two major trade partners with the country.
• Let me get this straight, if you talk to someone you legitimize their behavior? That’s ridiculous! “I reserve the right, as president of the United States, to meet with whoever, whenever I want to in order to protect American security.” This sounds much more reasonable. Obama took it home to McCain pointing out how ridiculous this idea of ignoring world leaders is.
• McCain returns to this “legitimizing” argument. Yet he fails to explain what he’s actually talking about… Then he talks about the average height of Koreans. Seriously, I’m lost.
• John McCain talks about looking into someone’s eyes and seeing “K-G-B” then says immediately after that he doesn’t want to go back to the Cold War. From my perspective, that is not very consistent.
• (I finally switched over to FOX to avoid the stupid Amber Alert message running across the ABC screen. I just need to make sure I switch back before the commentary starts)
• The last question just plain sucks. What is the probability of another 9/11. Seriously? Did Giuliani write in?
• Obama busts out the trump card: the way we our nation is perceived. We cannot do anything on the global scale without the respect of other free nations. Isolation and unilateral thinking are no longer possibilities in this increasingly global world. We must restore ourselves as a country willing to discuss and analyze the opinions of other nations. This is more important than ever.
• Decision: Obama. With the exception of maybe two talking points, Obama remained confident, and stuck to the message he has been riding through the election season. He reminded America that McCain is another four years of what president Bush has started: a failing economy and terrible foreign policy.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man… Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Romans 1:22-25

How often do we exchange the glory of the immortal God for our own idols?

Former television sports anchor? Loser of Miss Alaska? Lifetime member of the NRA? Mother of child with questionable morals? Irrelevant state? Ethics violations?

Seriously people. Sarah Palin brings nothing of value to the table. She votes pro-life? Cool… I guess. Do you really think the supreme court is going to flip that decision? Also, how on earth does having a child with down syndrome count as a plus in our messed up political landscape? If anything, she should probably be spending more time with her FIVE (ridiculously named) children. I won’t even touch the Bristol saga…

My point is this: the Sarah Palin pick is indicative of the fact that our nation would rather vote for our politicians like it is an episode of American Idol than based on how capable they are of doing the job.

I’m not saying Obama is an ideal candidate, in many way he represents the same Track (pun intended) as Palin. However, I’m kind of sick of the way we work with the rest of the world, and John McCain certainly can’t fix that. I’m also kind of sick of the way we’ve lowered taxes but jacked up our spending. When did the Republicans forget how to balance their budget? Or help people?

Our schools are a mess. The economy sucks. Our foreign policy is embarrassing. I’m not naive enough to believe that Bush caused all of this, but I certainly don’t think four years of McCain will fix it. Will Obama? I’m not sure, but I guess I’d rather find out. At least we’ll have someone articulate and charismatic at the helm.

I’m not convinced that the Supreme Court will ever overturn Roe vs. Wade, and that is honestly the only reason I would even consider voting Republican in this election.