Illustration by Jillian Tamaki.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil. Back in 1982, Toronto band Anvil made a splash in the metal scene, eventually influencing Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer. A quarter-century later, British director (and former Anvil roadie) Sacha Gervasi was on hand to document their most recent European tour, a Spinal Tap-ish affair that combined a great deal of heart with some of the most hilarious logistical problems ever captured on film.

Andy Samberg impersonates Mark Wahlberg. Not that anyone was clamouring for an impression of underwear-model-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg, but SNL’s Andy Samberg absolutely nailed the genial, high-pitched street jargon that’s become Wahlberg’s stock-in-trade. Making matters more bizarre, Samberg envisions the actor talking to various animals, ending each interaction with a jaunty “Say hi to your mother for me.” Wahlberg was not amused.

Beyonce’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) video. Sasha Fierce persona aside, the Single Ladies single is a deceptively simple clap-and-stomp-along delight. This video – a stripped-down, single-shot clip that’s all about dope choreography – takes it over the top. Three words: stealth bionic hand.

My Bloody Valentine reunion tour. Too often, the return of genre-defining musical icons feels like a sad last gasp. But when reclusive British rock savant Kevin Shields finally came through with the long-awaited reunion of his shoegaze pioneers, My Bloody Valentine, the resulting performances made you feel like no time had passed since they released 1991’s legendary Loveless album. Thanks to a mindblowing technical set-up, the MBV concerts were a glorious, thunderous cacophony that left your ears ringing in the best possible way.

Robert Downey, Jr. The always unpredictable actor made a super-heroic comeback in 2008, playing debauched playboy Tony Stark in Iron Man and giving a risky, balls-out performance as a black-faced Method actor gone awry in Tropic Thunder.

Ben Stiller, left, and Robert Downey Jr. in a scene from the comedy Tropic Thunder. (Merie Weosmiller/Paramount Pictures/Associated Press)

Tropic Thunder . Yes, it’s offensive as all get-out, but Ben Stiller’s satire of war films had an awesomely high JPMR (jokes per minute ratio), not to mention Tom Cruise in a jaw-dropping role as a merciless movie exec.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains on DVD. Rarely seen outside of late-night cable, this 1981 cult rock movie finally got the loving makeover it’s always deserved on a new DVD, complete with a crisp new transfer and gossipy commentary from stars Diane Lane and Laura Dern. Today, the film’s real-musician cameos (Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Paul Simonon) make the backstage and tour-bus scenes feel surprisingly authentic, but the greatest moments belong to Lane, whose precocious performance as the Stains’ frontwoman, Corinne “Third Degree” Burns, went on to inspire numerous riot grrrl bands a decade later.

Joyland.ca. The brainchild of Canadian writers Emily Schultz and Brian Joseph Davis, Joyland.ca launched in the fall of 2008, and fast became the go-to spot for readers seeking the best voices in short fiction. The site wins bonus points for its blog, which features refreshingly earnest posts – from a defence of the exclamation point to favourite monologues from Paul Auster’s Blue in the Face.

Tracy Letts… the next David Mamet? Out-performing all those Mamet revivals in New York this year, Letts’s Tony- and Pulitzer-winning August: Osage County jump-started that rusty old dramatic vehicle – the dysfunctional family reunion – and brought it roaring back to savagely funny life.

Will Ferrell sings in Step Brothers. There’s something funny about Will Ferrell singing: His characters believe in their own musical talent and never doubt the profundity of the material they’re massacring. Think of Dust in the Wind in Old School, or the Afternoon Delight sequence in Anchorman. The tradition continues in Step Brothers, when Ferrell takes on Por ti volare, an operatic pop tune made popular by Andrea Bocelli. An unlikely satirical target, and comedy gold.

Been Thru This by Ivana Santilli. Santilli is one of Canada’s most underappreciated soul singers. With its fidgety, Basement Jaxx vibe, this hot-blooded single proved that she can rock a dance-floor with the best of ’em.

Lush Life by Richard Price. Richard Price may be the Poet Laureate of the Lower East Side. This, his eighth novel, paints a tough but loving portrait of the district’s changing face, and provides further evidence that he’s the best dialogue-writer in contemporary fiction.

Feist gets cuddly with the residents of Sesame Street. (Theo Wargo/Sesame Street Workshop)

Awesome celebrity cameos on Sesame Street. From David Beckham teaching Elmo the meaning of “persistent” to Neil Patrick Harris hoofing it as a singin’, dancin’ Shoe Fairy to Feist melodically counting to the number four, Sesame Street seemed to surpass Saturday Night Live as the measure of showbiz cred in 2008.

Endgame at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. OK, how’s this for crazy celebrity casting: indie film fave John Turturro and Elaine Stritch in a revival of Samuel Beckett’s post-apocalyptic classic? It worked beautifully in this bleakly funny production at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Freehand Books. Alberta has plenty of talented writers but a dearth of literary publishers, so the arrival of this plucky little Calgary imprint was welcome news. Even better, Freehand made a smash debut when one of its four inaugural titles – Marina Endicott’s charming sophomore novel Good to a Fault – landed on the Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist.

Sad Robots EP, Stars. We were a bit concerned when Montreal dream-pop band Stars made some weird swerves toward pallid soul on their last album, In Our Bedroom after the War (2007). But the epic, sparkling songs they offered up on this year’s Sad Robots EP are evidence to suggest the group is back in top form.

Scorched. In the 1970s, Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre helped bring the great Michel Tremblay to the attention of English Canada. Now the company is providing the same service for another major Quebec dramatist, Wajdi Mouawad. This year, it remounted and toured its excellent English version of Mouawad’s Incendies (Scorched), a breathtaking epic inspired by the playwright’s own background as a refugee of Lebanon’s 1970s civil war.

Slumdog Millionaire. The sleeper movie of the year was anything but sleepy. This picaresque tale of a poor Mumbai urchin who ends up appearing on a popular game show was director Danny Boyle’s most exhilarating film since Trainspotting.

Stephen Colbert eating crow. The funniest sight on U.S. election night was Colbert’s puffed-up right-wing pundit trying desperately to divert attention from the Obama landslide. A jubilant Jon Stewart, his co-anchor for Comedy Central’s coverage, was having none of it.

Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles. On the way to his daughter’s lesbian wedding in Los Angeles, New Yorker Benjamin Ford is grounded at O’Hare Airport in Chicago. Holed up in this purgatory, Bennie pens a venomous letter to his airline, which evolves into a stock-taking of his own failures. As savagely funny as Amis or Roth.

Swedish dance-pop singer Robyn had a stellar year. (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)

Robyn. Once just the chirpy personality behind cheesy ’90s Europop hit Show Me Love, Swedish singer-songwriter Robyn reinvented herself as a master of dance music that’s as clever as it is catchy. With the North American release of Robyn’s self-titled album of well-produced synth-pop, a new audience thrilled to the platinum-haired singer’s hip-hop-infused beats and aching melodies.

Jon Sasaki’s I Promise It Will Always Be This Way at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. When 26 players outfitted in mascot costumes took to Toronto’s Lamport Stadium for a 12-hour performance piece, artist Jon Sasaki intended their efforts to result in a “comment on futility and pathos.” But as the near-tireless mascots clapped, egged on the crowd and danced to stadium rock (Cum on Feel the Noize), they elicited an overwhelming response, and onlookers even took to the field to join in the fun. The result was that true rarity: a genuinely participatory art installation.

In Search of the Youth Crew by Cadence Weapon. This cut, from the Edmonton rapper’s sophomore album, Afterparty Babies, is a booty-shaking blur of randy rhymes and whirling beats.

Asia Argento in Une vieille maîtresse and Boarding Gate. Ms. Argento delivered two knockout performances this year: First, she was a 19^th-century scarlet diva wreaking havoc in Une vieille maîtresse, then she waged an all-out headgame war against Michael Madsen in the globetrotting thriller Boarding Gate. That Argento acted her most triumphant scene while wearing nothing but lingerie and stilettos is only further testament to her utter fearlessness.

The Stand Ins, Okkervil River. If The Stage Names (2007) came on with the dizzying energy of a Hollywood red-carpet premiere, then Okkervil River’s followup, The Stand Ins, is the sound of a washed-up starlet singing from the gutters of Sunset Boulevard. Frontman Will Sheff remains the best lyricist in indie rock (“Oh, what a hot half-life I half-lived”), and his has-been and never-was characters don’t feel maudlin, thanks to the rousing guitars, soaring horns and la-la-la choruses that serve as twilit backdrop.

NEXT>> | <<BACK