The year- end mega- maTrIX

highbrow
The
yearend
megaMATRIX
David Mamet
fatigue.
Prop 8.
Airlines start
charging extra
for luggage.
The waning Bush
administration is still
inspiring excellent books
about its own idiocy.
Massive
layoffs,
everywhere.
Composer Elliott Carter
turns 100 this year—and
is writing music for his own
centennial tributes.
Hillary
becomes
secretary of
State.
Mad Men–inspired
sales of Frank
O’Hara.
The National
Review might as
well be written
by Sean Hannity
at this point …
… Likewise with
Bill Kristol’s
column in the
Times.
A theater in Berlin
releases tear gas at
a play based on
a children’s book.
Hillary comes
this close
to becoming
president.
John
Adams on
HBO.
The
Baltimore
Sun
subplot in
The Wire.
Shepard Fairey
makes history with
a little help from
some guy named
Obama …
Waterfalls guy
Olafur Eliasson’s
electric-fan
installation at
MoMA.
Bang on a Can’s
David Lang
wins a longdeserved Pulitzer.
“Bush’s War”
on Frontline.
The alldocumentary
Maysles
Cinema opens
in Harlem.
Kay Ryan is
named poet
laureate.
Ada Louise
Huxtable’s On
Architecture.
Yves Saint
Laurent’s
fall
collection.
… because
polling whiz
Nate Silver was
right on the
money!
Nadal versus
Federer at
Wimbledon.
Come on!
Sheldon Silver kills
congestion pricing.
Really?
Michelle’s
Narciso
Election Night
dress.
Completely
ridiculous?
The Republican
Party insults
our collective
intelligence.
new york | december 15, 2008
Alan Ball’s
True Blood
disappoints.
Gladiator
heels.
Scrabulous,
R.I.P.
Vampire Weekend
plays SNL in
sweaters, further
digging rock and
roll’s grave.
The rote, toolong ending of
The Dark
Knight.
Time magazine
rips off the
“Approval Matrix.”
The neverending,
spectacular fall
of Amy
Winehouse.
The first year since
1994 with
no postseason
baseball
in New York.
Menu calorie
counts ruin
every fastfood meal.
A year of
conflicting
reports ends with
no movement
toward an
Arrested
Development
movie.
Tom Cruise
gets even
weirder.
Another year
and goddamn
Frank TV
is still around.
The Real World
invades Brooklyn.
Local role models
Stephon
Marbury and
Plaxico Burress.
The continuing
discovery of new
people in the
Pratt family.
Laurence
Fishburne as
Thurgood
Marshall.
MGMT’s
“Kids.”
Cartoonists
Alison Bechdel’s
and David Rees’s
collections of
Dykes to Watch
Out For and Get
Your War On,
respectively.
The Super Bowl and
Final Four both
featured heartstopping conclusions,
and the NBA playoffs
weren’t bad either.
Shine a
Light.
The Stuff
White People
Like blog.
MILF Island
from 30 Rock.
Iron Man.
The underappreciated
The Bank Job.
The Real
Housewives of
Atlanta.
The series finale
of The Wire.
The series
finale of The
Shield.
Jason Sudeikis’s
overlooked Joe
Biden impression
on SNL.
That video of
Boston
Dynamics’
demonic robot
dog.
Britney loses
it.
Raffaello does not
work for the pope.
Michael
Phelps.
Usain Bolt.
T.I. and Franz
Ferdinand play a song
together at Diesel’s
30th-anniversary party.
David Cook wins. Nooooo!
Arrrrrchhhhullleetttaaa!
Paris Hilton’s
The Hottie and
the Nottie.
Katie Couric
gets serious.
David Paterson,
the swingin’
governor.
Feist on Sesame
Street.
Another year
without the Stooges
in the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame.
Miley Cyrus
vamps it up in
Vanity Fair.
Michelle’s
Narciso Election
Night dress.
Admirably
ambitious?
Madonna
and A-Rod. Just
weird.
Project Runway
is suspended
indefinitely.
A big hot mess.
Kathie Lee
dumbs down the
Today show.
Rudy goes
down.
brilliant
➻
2008: the year
the stock market
tumbled, Wall Street
collapsed, and our
governor resigned in
shame. Where were we
when this all went
down? Glued to our TV
sets, watching a revived
SNL, dancing around
to “I Kissed a Girl”
(and we liked it), and
gasping in awe when
Michael Phelps won his
eighth gold medal.
America mourned for
Heath Ledger, David
Foster Wallace, and
The Wire and celebrated
Britney’s comeback,
Federer’s triumph, and
a squat little robot named
Wall-E. Then, in the
wink of an eye, along
came Sarah Palin, and
we couldn’t see anything
else—until a certain
historical moment,
one of audacious hope.
And those were just
the biggies. Herewith,
everything else that
happened in this
momentous year.
Suspiciously young
Chinese gymnasts.
despicable
Our
deliberately
oversimplified
guide to
the year in
culture.
Britney gets it
back!
The year of
Craig
Robinson.
Hundreds of people
freeze in place for five
minutes in Grand
Central for an Improv
Everywhere stunt.
The Paper on
MTV.
The Hold Steady’s
“Constructive
Summer.”
Randy Jackson
Presents:
America’s Best
Dance Crew.
The Cloverfield
monster doesn’t
disappoint.
The Biggest
Loser, couples
and family
editions.
The Real
Housewives of
New York.
lowbrow
Hole in the Wall.
Get in that hole!
The puppy
cam.
P h oto g r a p h s : Pat r i c k M c m u l l a n ( M a m e t, c l i n to n , s p i t z e r , e d wa r d s, g i u l i a n i , f i s h b u r n e, p h e l p s, j ac k s o n , s p e a r s, co o k , Sp e n c e r P r at t, C y r u s, L e e, M a d o n n a , r o d r i g u e z , W i n e h o u s e ) ; r i c h p e d r o n c e l l i / a p ( p r o p 8 ) ; g e t t y i m ag e s (a x e ) ; d o n a l d b ow e r s /
g e t t y f o r co mpa n y ag e n da ( s i lv e r) ; a p (gy m n a s t ) ; p r a s h a n t g u p ta / co u rt e sy o f h b o ( t r u e b lo o d) ; f r e d e r i c k m . b r o w n / g e t t y i m ag e s f o r a m a (g l a d i ato r h e e l s ) ; J i m M c I s a ac / G e t t y Im ag e s ( pa l i n ) ; j o e r a e d l e / g e t t y i m ag e s ( m i c h e l l e o b a m a ) ; k e n t
e a n e s / co u rt e sy o f h b o (j o h n a da m s ) ; co u rt e sy o f c b s (co u r i c a n d pa l i n ) ; b e b e to m at t h e w s / a p (c a rt e r) ; c h i p s o m o d e v i l l a / g e t t y i m ag e s ( b u s h ) ; m at t h e w s e p t i m u s / co u rt e sy o f M o m a ( e l i a s s o n ’ s v e n t i l ato r) ; J u l i a n F i n n e y / G e t t y Im ag e s ( n a da l a n d
f e d e r e r) ; f i r s t v i e w ( ys l m o d e l ) ; n i co l e r i v e l l i / co u rt e sy o f h b o ( t h e w i r e ) ; p r a s h a n t g u p ta / co u rt e sy o f f x ( t h e s h i e l d) ; s cot t w i n t r o w / g e t t y i m ag e s ( pat e r s o n ) ; a n j a n i e d r i n g h a u s / a p ( b o lt ) ; s a m e m e r s o n / co u rt e sy o f pa r a m o u n t (c lov e r f i e l d) ;
t r a e pat to n / co u rt e sy o f b r avo ( b i g g e s t lo s e r) ; k e v i n m a zo r / co u rt e sy o f pa r a m o u n t ( s h i n e a l i g h t ) ; t h eo wa r g o / co u rt e sy o f p b s ( f e i s t ) ; d o n a e d e l s o n / co u rt e sy o f n b c ( s u d e i k i s ) ; Pat r i c k W y m o r e / co u rt e sy o f f ox ( h o l e i n t h e wa l l ) ; co u rt e sy
o f b r avo ( h o u s e w i v e s o f n e w yo r k ) ; j ac k e n g l i s h / co u rt e sy o f l i o n s g at e ( b a n k j o b ) ; c h r i s t i a n j a k u b a s z e k / g e t t y i m ag e s ( m g m t ) ; v i r g i n a s h e r wo o d / co u rt e sy o f b r avo ( h o u s e w i v e s o f at l a n ta ) ; b o b r i h a j r . / w i r e i m ag e ( r a fa e l lo) ; k at y w i n n / g e t t y
i m ag e s ( s t e fa n i e p r at t ) ; j u l i e j aco b s o n / a p ( m a r b u ry ) ; m a n u e l b a lc e c a n e ta / a p ( b u r r e s s ) ; b a r b a r a n i t k e / co u rt e sy o f b r avo ( p r oj ec t r u n way ) ; co u rt e sy o f wa r n e r b r o s. p i c t u r e s ( b at m a n ) ; co u rt e sy o f t b s ( f r a n k t v ) ; da n a e d e l so n / co u rt e sy o f
n b c ( va mp i r e w e e k e n d) ; B r u c e G l i k a s / F i l m M ag i c (c r u i s e )