MUSIC

 » 2008 Year-End Music Report [composite] - Although 2007 wasn't all that bad, in general the past few years in music have been characterized by a few far-and-away bangers and a bunch of lackluster albums. 2008 changed all that, and as per our usual December tradition the LAS staff has tallied a collective Best Of list.

MUSIC

 » 2008 Year-End Music Report [individual A-M] - Through a simple mathamatical system of reverse scoring (#1 is worth 10 points, #10 worth 1 point), the year-end top ten picks of 22 current and former LAS staff writers were combined to produce a composite top 20. These are the individual lists, writers A-M.

MUSIC

 » 2008 Year-End Music Report [individual N-Z] - Yeah, yeah, you get the picture. Individual picks for the best releases of 2008, writers N-Z.

MUSIC

 » 2008 Year-End Music Report [composite] - Although 2007 wasn't all that bad, in general the past few years in music have been characterized by a few far-and-away bangers and a bunch of lackluster albums. 2008 changed all that, and as per our usual December tradition the LAS staff has tallied a collective Best Of list.

MUSIC

 » 2008 Year-End Music Report [individual A-M] - Through a simple mathamatical system of reverse scoring (#1 is worth 10 points, #10 worth 1 point), the year-end top ten picks of 22 current and former LAS staff writers were combined to produce a composite top 20. These are the individual lists, writers A-M.

MUSIC

 » 2008 Year-End Music Report [individual N-Z] - Yeah, yeah, you get the picture. Individual picks for the best releases of 2008, writers N-Z.

MUSIC

 » Steinski vs. Girl Talk - In the latest hypothetical brawl of the "versus" series, we're pitting a 1983-2006 Retrospective of Steven Stein's production work against the latest banger from the reigning king of dance floor mash-up madness. Thickening the soup is the fact that its a family feud of sort, with both albums coming from the Illegal Art label. Oh, drama.

COLUMN

 » Prop 8: No Rainbow - Traditionalists can spare me their high-minded Bible-thumping and sham family values speeches; what Proposition 8 came down to was hate and oppression. In the face of it we should all ask ourselves which is more courageous, casting an anonymous ballot in a private booth or fighting vocally for the right to make public record an ostracized lifestyle?

MUSIC

 » The Clash: Live at Shea Stadium - Released this fall as part of the expanding Legacy series, this live recording of the punk icons co-headlining New York in 1982 is, despite its shortcomings, a stark reminder that something like The Clash will probably never happen again.

CINEMA

 » Synecdoche, New York - Revered screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, taking on the role of director, propels the meta-film concept to ever-spiraling extremes. The result? A film so complex that you can basically say anything you want about it, as long as it's convoluted.

MUSIC

 » Land of Talk - When Elizabeth Powell's soothing voice and gentle guitar fade out on "Troubled," the fragile acoustic number that brings the band's otherwise electrified album Some Are Lakes to a close, the trio's je ne sais quoi already has me headed back to the album's opener.

MUSIC

 » Deerhunter: LIVE - Earlier this week at The Loft in Dallas, Texas, the ascention of Georgia's reigning psych-punk quintet continued unabated, with the band delivering a comprehensive set that surprisingly made the case for their sound being more provocative from the stage than from a stereo.

COLUMN

 » Glaciers of Ice: Volume 36 - It's the holiday season, and to spit in the face of the season of excess, I'm keeping this month's Glaciers short. That's right, a big middle finger to consumerism. Now, I'm off to get one of those discounted HDTV's…

MUSIC

 » El Ten Eleven: LIVE - Other bands might come up with hotter riffs or some asinine stage antics, but they will in no way be able to top the spectacle of this Los Angeles-based duo, who are one of those bands that absolutely needs to be seen in person.

MUSIC

 » Parts & Labor - If ever there was an audience out there that wanted to enjoy the Brooklyn band's bittersweet center but couldn't get beyond scaling the wall o' sound raucousness at its perimeter, their new album Receivers should do the trick.

CINEMA

 » Let The Right One In - With a pending North American remake scheduled for 2009, much to the objections of its original director, this beautifully rendered Swedish picture is a truly great film worth letting into your cinematic queue, that just happens to have a vampire at its heart.

MUSIC

 » Blitzen Trapper: LIVE - When they rolled into Chicago over the weekend for the second stop on their current month-long tour, the experimental folk sons of Portland proved that, however uneven their recorded work may be, in a live setting they are everything their proponents claim them to be.

CINEMA

 » Wu - The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan, director Gerald K. Barclay's inside-the-circle look at one of the most influential music collectives of all time, will premiere on BET network tonight and be released on DVD next week.