Ten Good Things from 2008

Well, I always wanted to do a top ten list - top ten albums, movies, books - but this seems to be a luxury of professional critics, who have listened to most of the albums, watched most of the movies, and read most of the books from 2008.  Intead, I've made a list of ten things I really liked about 2008.  In no particular order, and definitely not comprehensive, but still, good things.  

• Bon Iver - spare, beautiful, moving music
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy - also spare, beautiful, and moving.  Actually published in 2006, but I just read it last week. 
• Religion Dispatches - I love reading the articles on this site.  Almost always something fresh and insightful about religion.  
• Really good superhero movies - Iron Man, Hellboy II, The Dark Knight.  Entertaining, imaginative, and occasionally a little disturbing.    
• Turning Away from Jesus by Garret Keizer.  This is one the best pieces of religion writing I've ever read.
• Meeting Sarah.  She's my girlfriend.  
• Fewer death sentences in Texas. Including the Quintero life sentence, thanks to the hard work of my coworkers.    
  
• The election of Barack Obama - Yeah, I know, kind of obvious.  
• Magazines - I have discovered that they are filled with good things.  Newsweek, The Atlantic, Harper's (I really love Harper's), even Esquire.  
• Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog - Hilarious, original, even strangely touching.