Time.com does a nice job of year-in-review stuff, for example, and obviously people can find what they're interested in on their own, so I recognize that this is not a major contribution to the blogosphere, but I la la love the reviewing at the end of each year. So....
Speaking of Time... their top awkward moment (Bush dancing while waiting to endorse McCain) is pretty funny, and their ninth (but my top) political line is Colin Powell endorsing Obama on Meet the Press and saying "is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?"
Words of the Year include hypermiling (New Oxford American Dictionary), bailout (M-W), overshare (Webster's New World), and meh (me). The American Dialect Society will announce its word in early 2009, but it looks like the word will be change.
Minnesota Shopping Center Association Awards (yes, such an award exists...) go to Best Buy in Mall of America for redesign, SuperTarget in Southdale for design and aesthetics and many others. Sheesh. And the only non-metro prize was awarded in Mankato.
Best New Bars of the cities include moto-i, Barrio and Seven Sushi. I do not get out much. Never even heard of these. Hmmm...maybe now is the time to start a New Year's resolution to get to these places...
Minneapolis, economically, ranked 137 out of 200 in The Best Performing Cities of 2008, according to the Milken Institute, but tied for first place with Seattle as being the most literate city of 2008.
Best Books of the Year for adults that I have read include The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer, Away, by Amy Bloom, Anathem, by Neal Stephenson, Persuasion, by Jane Austen, The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas and The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy.
Best Books of the Year for teens that I have read include The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Paper Towns, by John Green, Little Brother, by Cory Dotorow, and Sweethearts, by Sara Zarr.
Best Books of the Year that I intend to read include Books: a memoir, by Larry McMurtry and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larsson (Library Journal), The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery (Washington Post), Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout (The Atlantic), The Plague of Doves, by Louise Erdrich (CS Monitor) and 2666, by Roberto BolaƱo (NYT), and City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare (Teens Top Ten, because I've read the others).
Two of the five things we learned from Michelle Bachmann are the truth about the Declaration of Independance: 'Guess what? Not all cultures are equal!' and the geography of the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge: 'dark most of the year' and 'no trees' courtesy of the Uncommon Loon Awards from Minnesota Montly Magazine.
How To 2008: How to do almost anything with social media is a great resource to keep on hand. Especially for those who are new to things like Google Reader, or for those who decide to join Twitter.
Sad and too-early farewells include Heath, Tim, and local blogger Emilie Lemmons.
2 comments:
Thanks for the links--and I *loves* me some Mayor of Casterbridge! Did you notice that at the beginning of Chapter 20, Hardy uses the old English slang words "hagrid" and "dumbledore" in the same paragraph? Or am I the only human that nerdy?
Oh, maaaaaaannnnnn - I completely missed those references! But, yup, there they were. Thank you for pointing those out!!
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