Natural Disasters: All Justin Bieber jokes caught trespassing in this section will be shot on sight. I don't like him either, but unlike you [insert expletive-filled rant I won't even bother to start to fill in] guys, I have priorities when it comes to what's newsworthy. It's called professionalism. GET IT. But seriously, if you were to look only at the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the airplane-grounding volcanic eruption in Iceland, the oil well failure in the Gulf of Mexico, and the mine collapse again in Chile, you would think the news hour would be a bleak place. But far be it from me categorize all the stories by one recurring pattern. I'm just here to tell you about said patterns. And you are welcome to pray for any and all victims at any time.
Heck Freezes Over: In the entertainment world, many of the impossibilities we consigned ourselves to over the past decade came true. We got a good, or at least passable, video game movie out of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Yeah, I know it's been done before (my shout-outs to Mortal Kombat, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and FFVII Advent Children), but think of the horrible success rate they're coming from. More to the point, The Beatles' catalog was released on iTunes, Shantae got a sequel, and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise got not one, but two good games for consoles: Sonic Colors and Sonic 4: Episode I. The only thing that could make this better would be the release of Duke Nukem Forever, and while that sadly didn't happen, we did get the announcement that work was being moved to a developer who knew what they were doing.
Question Mark: This is more of a personal thing, but there are some items whose career I am very curious to see unfold. Apple launched the iPad mid-year, which is basically the same cool **** that the iPod Touch and iPhone are... only bigger. Being that and not quite a regular computer (wake me when you can run OS X), I personally think it's a waste, but far be it from me to force that opinion on you. And then there's Justin Bieber... Will he crash and burn fast, become more mature in his songwriting, or keep on keeping on? I'd like to know, and while I won't be getting into his music anytime soon (unless it's run at 1/8th speed), I will say this: *why* is all his worst stuff his most popular?
Remakes: In the anime market, most of the big names were remakes or extentions of pre-existing series. I'm talking about the series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Dragon Ball Z Kai, and the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. I'm also throwing Naruto Shippuden in there; even though it's a sequel, not a remake, of the old series, it got an English dub. And since it moved from Cartoon Network to Disney XD (Disney!?), the former network is pretty much *done*.
Now let's run over all the stuff you shouldn't have missed. Don't worry, it's never too late to catch up.
Best Movies: Toy Story 3, Inception, Despicable Me, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Tangled
Worst Movies: Alice In Wonderland, Shrek: The Final Chapter (just had to throw that in there ^v^), The Last Airbender, The Tourist
Best Video Games: Angry Birds (iOS), Call of Duty: Black Ops (Multi), Sonic Colors (Wii, DS), GoldenEye (Wii)
Best Music Artists: Lady Gaga, B.o.B., Bruno Mars, Eminem
And finally, the themes which defined my personal life in 2010.
Not Quite Adulthood: I graduated college in May with flying colors, but then... nothing. I've been trying to get a job since then, but with no luck. Out of the dozens of applications I've sent over the past seven-plus months, you could count the number of interviews on your hands - even one finger, if you only consider in-person interviews with the employers themselves. From what I understand, my family and I have been living reasonably well for the past few years, but now I can say the recession is finally catching up to me. I can totally understand them having to choose carefully and look over someone like me who has little to no professional experience under his belt... so far. I'm scheduled for one more interview around the start of the new year, though, so I'm throwing everything I've got at it.
The World: The upside of this year was well-suited to the geopolitics buff I have become. I was able to travel the world on mutliple occasions throughout the calendar year. After my sister stayed over in England with her school orchestra over the previous New Year, I responded by taking a class trip to Germany and a graduation vacation to Japan. I shall have to share with you travel tips at some point. And to top it all off, we all went to Disney World during Thanksgiving Week, giving us a chance to catch up on what we missed. And for everything else, I hope the future will be kind enough to let me go on many more adventures - Lord knows how many itineraries I've been cooking up in my head.
Internet Reviewers: The Internet fad which defined this year for me would be Internet reviewers, like the fine folks of That Guy With The Glasses. I started out with Atop The Fourth Wall and the Nostalgia Critic in late '09, and throughout the following year I explored the many other talking heads the site had to offer. In fact, I got so into it that TGWTG was the inspiration for starting this website! So I'd like to offer a dedication and thanks to you guys, and here's to a happy and productive 2011 and beyond!!
No comments:
Post a Comment