• Blago's last act as Governor? A pair of pardons.
• Phillip Binder has been charged in the stabbing death of his older brother, Charles Binder. The stabbing allegedly occurred after an argument between the brothers over $2.
• Chicago's proposed venues for the 2016 Olympics have been approved by all 26 sports federations that will have competitions in the games.

Yup, here it is, the inevitable "Best of 2008" music list (a later post centering on the top local offerings is forthcoming). In order to spare our readers the pain of reading through yet another list that tries too hard to impress with obscure releases or toe the party line on Stereogum / Pitchfork approved artists, we continue our personal decade-plus tradition of merely listing what we actually liked in 2008. That means that the albums below are the one we kept finding ourselves turning to when we wanted to kick back and enjoy some tunes. Sure, there was more artistically challenging stuff released this year than some of the selections below -- and we certainly do appreciate that sort of thing -- but our year end list reflects which music ultimately did for us what we think rock and/or roll is ultimately meant to do to any listener: it grabbed us by the heart and/or crotch and wouldn't let go. more ›