Not to ruin the surprise or anything, but to ring in the new year, the staff of Perfect World is making a huge list of our favorite items of 2008. One of the categories is Best Song. Without doubling up on artists and without delving too deeply into the dangerous cavern that is mainstream pop (Cut me some slack with the Katy Perry and Lady GaGa; the songs are addicting and practically force you to dance.), I put together my own Top Ten list. I haven't narrowed it down to the absolute best yet, but for your listening entertainment, here is one PWer's Top Ten Songs of 2008.

That's Not My Name – The Ting Tings

Let me just say, first off, I love Tyra Banks. I think she's beautiful, charismatic, a really talented model, and despite the fact that America's Next Top Model has deteriorated like every other reality show out there, I like that it gives opportunities to model wannabes. That being said, TYRA HAS LOST IT. Between the ridiculous roleplaying scenarios played out on recent cycles of ANTM and her very, very enthusiastic desire to be Beyonce, Tyra has gone insane. Now, this video is a bit old already, but I think it's an excellent portrayal of my point. Laugh, cry, discuss, comment, whatever. And think of Tyra next time you step into the tub.

This is the season when people rush madly from store to store with coupons and children in tow in order to snag the best deals of the year. It's a hectic time for everyone and great finds deserve to be shared. Target has cute pashima-like scarves in about a dozen colors for less than $20 each. I got one for each of my aunts (and one for myself).

Washington state six-string electric violinist Geoffrey Castle is performing two shows this weekend in Anchorage. However, his venue is Blues Central: a bar—a bar in which one has to be over 21 to enter. The injustice of this makes me want to hurl my collection of electric fiddle music across the room.

The man plays a six-string electric violin: the most versatile and awesomely esoteric instrument around, and I can't go! Certainly a bunch of inebriated, middle-aged, bar-hoppers will not appreciate the intricate blending of jazz with classical technique.

The same thing goes for every concert Bear Tooth puts on. They dangle bands such as Matisyahu and Cake in front of our noses and then yank them away, claiming we're too young. Certainly we're not too young to appreciate it however, for 16-20 year-olds is their prime demographic. So go ahead and separate the beer garden and the kids table, but at least let us see the music.

My friend Maggie and I are not obsessive people. We don't belong to Star Trek clubs or cults centered around video games. However, we have fallen madly, deeply, head-over-heals in love with Edward Cullen and Jasper Hale.

So profound is our adoration that we Fandangoed our tickets to the Twilight premier the day they went on sale. Honestly, while we claimed we would harshly critique the film adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s book, the movie could have been an utter disappointment and we wouldn’t have cared. We simply longed to see our perfect men—my Edward and Maggie’s Jasper—in action.

It can be fun to recommend things to other people. There's a strange sense of power in imposing your favorite things on others. At the same time, you always recommend in terror of utter rejection. There are few things worse than giving someone a treasured CD to listen to and having them say, "That was... interesting," with a look in their face as if they just experienced the aural equivalent of using a fifty-year-old public urinal.

Ever read Gregory Maguire? Try recommending his dark, depressing, occasionally perverse opus Wicked to a die-hard fan of the ceaselessly cheerful, more than slightly Glinda-fied musical adaptation. Or give a Joanna Newsom album to a pop fanatic and see if they think she sounds like the love child of an octogenarian woman and an angry squirrel. The fact is that people like strange things, and strange things are difficult to share.

Last week the Eagle River high hockey team played Chugiak—the most anticipated match of the year for those schools. Eagle River hosted, putting the music department in charge of providing the National Anthem. After all the choir students backed out, the hockey team asked the orchestra.

So, after much guilt-tripping on the part of my conductor, I conceded to perform. In an effort to make the evening more zesty I planned on playing the piece on my electric violin.

My conductor and I arrived at the rink early in order to set up the equipment. Unfortunately, the prolonged time in the slightly-above-freezing temperatures combined with utter terror froze my fingers solid. My tension peaked when one Chugiak hockey Dad asked my relationship status in an attempt to pawn his son off on me.

So many things seem different about this election than those in years past. First of all, election day was over two weeks ago and still people are talking about it. People like Al-Qaeda...
check it out
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3483479/Al-Qaeda-leader-racially-abuses-Barack-Obama.html

If you could say something anonymously to anyone and get it published, what would you say? Send your vents or shout-outs to us at perfectworld@adn.com or leave a blog comment at adn.com/pwblog, and they will be published here. Here's an example:

Hey you, ridiculously good-looking take-out server boy at Carrs Huffman. Where'd you go? You were my favorite part of honey sesame chicken and steamed rice.

Post your own below!!

The hard thing about blogging is trying to find something to blog about. While it is possible to blog about anything the more interesting blogs have some thought put into them. Especially since this is a teen blog I know that many teens don't want to post blogs raving about a new music video without talking about it at all, because of the reputations surrounding teens. We don't want to sound like stupid teenagers. To keep a good reputation built up and to keep up the credibility for more serious blogs, it is important to not make it look thoughtless. It is fine to post a blog or two every week or so with a link to a good video from youtube but who wants to read blog after blog like that? The more interesting and creative blogs are the more people are going to keep coming back.

Every year we celebrate the same holidays. And while we no doubt look forward to the days off of school and the excuse to eat, some of those mainstream holidays end up running together after a few years. So, after much diligent research I have discovered that there is an abundance of quirkier events we can celebrate. In fact, there are so many that I only compiled a list of my top five favorites for the next few months.

11/1 National Authors Day
11/7 National Men Make Dinner Day
11/13 World Kindness Day
11/15 I Love To Write Day
11/20 Name Your PC Day

12/5 Bathtub Party Day
12/16 National Chocolate-Covered-Anything Day
12/21 National Haiku Poetry Day
12/25 A'phabet Day or No "L" Day
12/26 National Whiners Day

1/4 National Hypnotism Day
1/7 I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day
1/10 Positively Penguins Day
1/15 Women In Blue Jeans Day
1/21 National Hugging Day

Yesterday our country made history. We elected the first black president of the United States, put aside all the political opinions and party sides and just enjoy the historical context. No matter what happens in the next four years history has been made. It’s one of those moments that we will be able to look back on and remember where and when we found out.

As for me, I got to go over to a friend’s house that has the same political views as me and spend the night waiting for results. It turned out we didn’t have to wait that long for the presidential results. We stayed up waiting to see if we could get some idea of what was going to happen on the Alaskan front. This election it seemed all every teenager had an opinion and expressed it too. But not matter which way you wanted the election to go you have to admit that we went down in the history books yesterday.

I am too old to trick-or-treat this year. I've actually been too old to trick-or-treat for several years, and so Halloween for me has become like Valentine's Day for bitter, lonely spinsters. But this year, instead of staying home to reluctantly hand out candy to snotty, ungrateful little monsters, I am going to go out. I need to keep my mind off of the trick-or-treaters, or I might just snap and start handing out rasins and toothbrushes.

Maybe I'm slow on the pick-up, but after reading a magazine article on Anderson Cooper I discovered just how awesome he is. Currently a reporter for CNN, Cooper is traveling through Africa working on a story entitled Planet In Peril about the origins of HIV and the monkeypox virus. Check out some of his articles, including swimming with sharks and other foriegn correspondence, on his blog:

Anderson Cooper Blog

If you aren't familiar with Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, you need to be. Put his politics aside. The guy is hilarious. Join me as I laugh at him in what is possibly the best video I've ever seen.

(Background: This is Byrd's response to the whole Michael Vick dog fighting incident.)

We've pretty much got Nordic skiing down, we've sufficiently tested our limits at Alpine skiing, and we simply won't let ourselves sink to the level of snowboarding. Next on the list for skiing junkies is the most classic of alpine techniques: Telemark. Personally, I find this style trumps all other forms of skiing. While soul-crushing at first it has the potential to be the most rewarding.

Check out this link to gain inspiration from Stephane Dufour: French tele god.

Free the heel, free the mind.

On Saturday, I went to the Dimond Mall. I was specifically looking for clothes that would keep me warm, with the coming winter.

While looking through racks in Gottschalks, I came across some items that made my inner "eco nerd" go absolutely crazy.

I am pleased to say that I have found environmentally friendly clothing on racks here in Anchorage. The brands were Awake Couture and OneWorld.

The brand Awake Couture used recycled products to make its tags and hangers. The tshirts and bags i found under the brand OneWorld were made out of organic cotton!

So, next time you're wandering around the Dimond Mall, hop into Gottschalks, ask a salesperson for one of the brands above, and feed your inner green.

Anchorage officially has snow. This means the end of justifiable wearing of flip-flops outside and the beginning of the excuse “the roads were bad”. People are either getting out their snowboards and skis or getting ready to hibernate. I am the latter. I am not big into the snow sports, I do some extreme sledding at Kincaid Park but that’s about it. The snow is something pretty to look at, not be in. I wear many layers when stepping out of the house complete with hat and gloves.

I’ve been dreading the first snow fall. The snow seemed to be coming down the mountain faster this year. I felt I still had a little while till it actually reached us, but Sunday afternoon I looked out the window and quickly looked away, hoping I was just imagining it. I wasn’t. It really was snowing. It didn’t stick where I live; I thought that was the end of this early snow. But it came back! And this time it stuck.

Everybody has guilty pleasures, and at least one is usually a TV show. Those shows you think are really stupid but are addicted to anyway. I have always thought that ‘America’s Next Top Model” is a stupid show but then one night I watched it because it was on after my original program and I got hooked. I still criticize it all the time; I mean, what provides itself with more opportunities to be mocked than a bunch of skinny girls (one isn’t a girl this season!) making fools of themselves on the runway, during photo shoots, and catfights. But I still admit to tuning in every week to find out who is kicked off.

My top ten reasons for being absolutely addicted to the Midwest.

1. It is still 80 degrees Fahrenheit towards the end of September.
2. There are actual beaches, with sand.
3. You get to experience some pretty awesome thunderstorms.
4. Lake Michigan, like an ocean except fresh water!
5. It's easier to dance in the rain when the rain is warm.
6. Satellite radio, with the stations you actually want to listen to, and no commercial breaks, actually works in the Midwest!
7. It is for the most part, completely flat, which makes biking to work way easier.
8. The next town is about five minutes away, so it's hard to be stranded someplace for long.