Best Idea of 2008

I was thinking hard all week about what the end-all Best Of 2008 category should be. I thought about doing Best Blog, Best Day, Best Person, etc. But, I think what it comes down to is that I’m actually Best-Of-ed out, so to speak. It’s time to look forward! So my Best Idea of 2008 is actually one for starting 2009!

I’m fortunate enough to be hooked up with a cycling team for ‘09 again that is providing a super training camp in a nice, warm area (San Luis Obispo). This year, however, it’s not until March. I was kind of down on that fact the last few weeks, thinking back to a decent trip last year this time to Georgia. Then I thought, “Hey, no reason why we can’t do it on our own!”

So I recruited some similarly-minded folks and we’re off to the North Georgia Mountains this coming week! January 1-8, 2009 shall be filled with two epic car rides, six epic bike rides, near-constant recovery hot-tubbing, and tons of food, music, and movies to keep our ADD-ridden minds somewhat occupied!

First update tomorrow from the car! Happy New Year’s Eve!

Best Movie of 2008

Maybe this is too much of a teaser, but I’m actually not going to go out on a limb and pick one.

Unfortunately, I just didn’t seem to make it to the theater much this year. I missed out on 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days; Milk; Happy-Go-Lucky; and a number of others I wanted to see, whereas WALL-E, Dark Knight, Burn After Reading, and the other big-name films this year still left a bit more to be desired. And, quite honestly, this was no 2007, where two flicks just absolutely blew all others out of the water: No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood.

But enough about MY favorite movies. What are YOURS?

Best Book of 2008

Bad boy. I did not read any books that were published in 2008, whereas a slough of 2007s were on my list last year. It’s all well and good though, as this statistic reflects my burgeoning research interests in 19th-early 20th century poetry and comparative literature. This year, my Best Book of 2008 (that is—book I’ve read this calendar year) is undoubtedly Friedrich Hölderlin’s Hyperion.

How could this not be up my alley? Hegel’s and Schelling’s roommate at Uni Tuebingen, where I studied only 200-some years later, who decided, unlike his philosophy buddies, that he could find greater truth in poetry. The book is essentially about the freedom of the mind against the futile unity of it and one’s perception of the world. Does that make sense? Well, maybe that’s why this guy mostly wrote poems!

Best Meal of 2008

Another no-brainer. Since I finally built up the courage and decided to dedicate the time to making it in the spring, gnocchi has had a stronghold in the apt.’s kitchen. Mark Bittman will tell you how it’s done best!

This photo (yeah, yeah, too lazy to take my own decent one, but it gives me a chance to give a shout-out here) comes from an amazingly well titled food blog: Never Trust a Skinny Chef.

Best Coffee Shop of 2008

This has been a sad category ever since Filter closed. I loved that place perhaps a little too much. It’s also a tough category because I didn’t hit Bliss or the new Fillin’ Station this trip home in Mankato. But I was happy to catch a few new ones [to me] in Chicago: Savor the Flavor and Avanti. Julius Meinl is a perennial favorite as well (especially because we’re two blocks from it now), but I think that would take the cafe/restaurant cake, as opposed to coffee place. So, between the aforementioned two: Avanti definitely has a pro in proximity. It’s also close. Savor the Flavor might be a bit cooler, though, and it’s open later. Alas, it’s in Lincoln Park. They’ve both got their goods and bads, I suppose. What to do?

I guess we should let ‘em split this award then. There are bigger problems in the world than splitting hair, such as: Having just talked about all these places, I can’t wait to get back to Chicago tomorrow and go visit them again!