My favorites of 2004

Here are some good things from the past year:

Albums These are not really listed in any order. I tried to think of ones that were actually released in 2004.

Blueberry Boat by the Fiery Furnaces

Funeral by Arcade Fire

The Slow Wonder by AC Newman

i by The Magnetic Fields

Van Lear Rose by Lorretta Lynn

Tres Cosas by Juana Molina

Every Night by Saturday Looks Good to Me

A Girl Called Eddy's self-titled album

Smile by Brian Wilson

Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes by TV on the Radio

Our Endless Numbered Days by Iron and Wine

A Ghost is Born by Wilco

Satanic Panic in the Attic by Of Montreal

Shake the Streets by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

The College Dropout by Kanye West
EP:
Love the Cup by Sons and Daughters (I think this maybe got a narrow release before 2004) I think Sons and Daughers also should get some special mention for their nice URL.

Reissued CD:
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain by Pavement

Live Shows:
I saw over 25 shows in 2004. These were some of the better ones.

Fiery Furnaces at Bowery Ballroom
Guided by Voices at Pier 54
Beulah at Bowery Ballroom
Lambchop/Pernice Brothers/The Long Winters at Bowery Ballroom
Sufjan Stevens at the Seaport

I haven't kept careful track of what movies I saw, but I liked:

The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme remake)
Finding Neverland
Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Secret Window (goofy but Depp was good. I am looking at the NY Times list of 2004 movies. I thought this was older. I saw it on videotape.)

I saw a bunch of other movies, but can't say I was all that enthusiastic about most of the others.