Viva La Viva Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay
Sea Sew - Lisa Hannigan
This Gift - Sons & Daughters
Top 5 singles:
American Boy - Estelle featuring Kanye West
Another Way To Die - Jack White & Alicia Keys
Violet Hill - Coldplay
In My Arms - Kylie Minogue
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Top 5 films:
Juno
In Bruges
Mamma Mia!
The Darjeeling Limited
El Orfanato
Top 5 cricket moments:
Daniel Vettori's beard
Being out of the continent, in communicado, when we got decimated by South Africa
KP getting the boot
That is all.
Top 5 cities:
Lima
Cusco
La Paz
Arequipa
Milan
Top 5 gigs (in Liverpool):
Echo & The Bunnymen @ Liverpool Echo Arena
Coldplay @ Liverpool Echo Arena
Wayne Shorter Quartet with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra @ Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
The Raconteurs @ Liverpool Carling Academy 1
The Bays with The Heritage Orchestra @ Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Top 5 gigs (outside Liverpool):
Radiohead @ Arena Civica Milano
British Sea Power @ Manchester Ritz
Gogol Bordello @ Manchester Academy 1
The Feeling @ Manchester Academy 1
Mercury Rev (but really, Howling Bells, as a favour to Dave) @ Manchester Academy 2
Top 5 miscellaneous:
Hamlet
Capital of Culture Year
Discovering Gilmore Girls
Learning Spanish
Tetris on the Wii
Toby:
Top 5 theatre:
The History Cycle Henry Vi, Part One - Richard III (Stratford). Startlingly wonderful.
Hamlet and Loves Labours Lost (Stratford)
Uncle Vanya (Cardiff)
Metamorphosis (Iceland National Theatre; the Rep) Incredible physicality.
Harvey (The Crescent)
Top 5 books (recent-ish release):
Half of A Yellow Sun (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid)
Notes on A Scandal (Zoe Heller)
The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
Dreams From My Father (Barack Obama)
Top 5 books (other):
Required Writing (Phillip Larkin)
The Bell (Iris Murdoch)
Secret Tuscany (Jonglez)
A Book Full of Beans
Chamber's Dictionary
Top 5 films:
Enchanted
Persepolis
Juno
Kung Fu Panda
There Will Be Blood
And before anyone says anything about the positions 4. and 5., stop. Think about what you're going to say. Realise you're wrong.
Top 5 films not in Toby's top 5 films:
WALL-E
Batman: The Dark Knight
No Country For Old Men
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
I should clarify I only saw thirteen films in 2008, so by the end of this we're getting to the mediocre...
Top 5 cricket moments (unseen this year, since those seen were few and not particularly edifying - a day of Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith excellent but irritatingly saving the Lord's test against England):
Panesar overturning New Zealand at Old Trafford
Sidebottom's hat-trick in New Zealand
The emergence of James Franklin on the same tour
The false dawn of annihilating South Africa in the one-day series in September
Stanford's inability to change cricket with money only: cricket wins, as usual.
Top 5 cities:
Florence
Birmingham
Exeter
Siena
Liverpool
Top 5 concerts (all):
Brahms' German Requiem (John Elliott Gardener; Edinburgh)
Beethoven Missa Solemnis (Symphony Hall, Birmingham, sung)
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto; Saint-Saens Organ Symphony (ibid)