“Lesser mediums” was a bad joke that I already regret. I hope everyone realizes I’m being tongue in cheek! Here’s a list of five albums and five films I loved this year; if you haven’t already checked them out, I HIGHLY recommend you do. There’s no excuse not to! Unlike games, the cost of entry is MUCH lower than $60 a pop! I haven’t yet seen The Wrestler or Slumdog Millionaire, both of which would probably have made the list of films, but that’s how it goes when you drop a movie in December, right?

First, films!

5. All The Boys Love Mandy Lane

Of my top five movies this year, four were at the Fantasia Film Festival. This is probably because most of the movies I actually bothered to go see were at Fantasia. As such, a bunch of these probably didn’t even come out in 2008, but I think their Canadian premieres were in 2008, so that counts, right? Anyway, this is an AMAZING teen-slasher movie that starts with all of the grinning spookiness of the genre, and, at some point, warps into something really twisted and actually creepy. Highly recommended.

4. 4bia

Actually an anthology of sorts, 4bia is four short horror films by four Thai directors. Each one, however, plays out entirely differently; in fact, I’d say each fits into one of the horror subgenres that are actually relevant these days. The first plays out like an asian horror flick, but in thirty minutes. What makes it really crazy is that there’s no spoken lines, and (almost) the entire thing is shot inside a tiny Bangkok apartment. The second is a creepy black-magic-revenge story with buckets of gore, a huge departure from the previous one. The third, and audience favourite, is more of a ghost-comedy (if that makes ANY sense). And, the last one (my least favourite but that’s not saying much) feels like a Thai episode of Tales From The Crypt, about a mummified royal being returned to her country on a plane. All four are SO good, and they’re all bite-sized!

3. The Dark Knight

A no-brainer. Heath Ledger was a terrifying monster. What can I say? I never expected a cape film to be this good. It was. You’ve probably seen it, so I’ll shut up about it. But… wow.

2. [●REC]

A lot of horror this year, not because I’m a horror buff, but because I didn’t go see much else this year. [●REC] was astounding, though. If possible, make sure you don’t even see the commercial spots for the American Quarantine because it seems like a shot-for-shot remake (I didn’t see it, I heard it was bad) and it spoils a lot of the best moments. Just see [●REC]. I don’t think a movie has ever scared me more. All I’ll say to avoid spoiling things is that they completely SHATTER every idea I ever had about timing in horror movies. Best zombie movie of the decade, I reckon. Beats 28, Dawn remake, or whatever else. SEE THIS…

1. Let The Right One In

…But not before you see THIS. Best vampire movie of… well, EVER; this Swedish movie doesn’t patronize you by explaining for the fiftieth time all of the rules vampires need to follow. It’s not really a horror film as much as it is kind of an awkward kid-romance movie. Every character in this movie is intensely hug-worthy (thanks, Lyndsay, for pointing this out; Oskar really DOES look huggable) and an intriguing human being (or not, in one case). It’s a hard movie to explain, but see it.

Now, music!

5. Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali

I’ll be honest– I wouldn’t have checked this out if not for Metacritic. I’m glad I did, though; at once bleak and exuberant, the album really jsut gets under my skin and makes me want to do everything in my life with even a sliver of the vigour they bring to their music.

4. Portishead - Third

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much other than disappointment with this record. It was, what, eight years since the last album, or something? Plus, plenty of other bands have been making “combacks” recently and just proving to us that aging makes you lame. Portishead bucked the trend and made the perfect followup after such a long hiatus.

3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Aside from a few expections (three, to be precise: Joanna Newsom, Grizzly Bear, and Final Fantasy), the whole alt/freak/whatever folk scene has been at best uninteresting and at worst repulsive to me. This year, I added Fleet Foxes to my list of loved bands that get labelled as such, though. The EP is good, but the full-length is just astounding.

2. Zazen Boys - Zazen Boys IV

I can’t believe it took me until Zazen Boys IV to listen to Zazen Boys. I’m glad I did, though. Weekend is an amazing single, but it’s not even close to the highlight of the album. Honnoji is probably my favourite track (although practically every track is astounding). I wondered whatever happened to math rock that wasn’t boring; apparently it just moved to Japan.

1. Love Is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night

I don’t even know what to say. I saw them in Manhattan, then I saw them in Montreal. I can’t stop listening to their music. The songs are sorrowful and lonely, but also noisy and fast and cathartic and exhilarating. I still can’t stop listening to this over and over and over. I’m as smitten with this album as one can possibly be with something that isn’t a person (or, uh… tangible, really).