2014: A Year in Review

I've not got any resolutions for the New Year, not because I'm not resolved to do anything but more because I'm already in the middle of doing the things I've previously resolved to do. Most notably, perhaps, is buying (and then moving into) a new house - the chaos of which means the typical resolutions towards healthier life style are just a bit trickier and are being filed under "things to do after we move". Also on that list is a whole truck load of domestic things - it may surprise you to know that "paint new house" requires me to be in the new house before it can be undertaken.

I've been toying with the idea of not drinking, but I don't think I would say I'm resolved to it. Certainly the genealogical leanings play on my mind from time to time and in 2014 I think I thought "I'm getting too old for this shit" too many times. I haven't quite worked out if I've quit and if so for how long or if I'm just going to work out a more age appropriate way to enjoy alcohol. 

At the start of 2014 I decided to record one thing everyday that was good. It would be like a micro-diary or calendar, I did it for a number of reasons:

1. I like keeping records of stuff. I keep a journal of films I've seen, my photo everyday for a year is something I'm immensely proud of, and of course I record losses and victories of board games I've played.
2. I knew 2014 was going to be a big year for me (what with getting married and all) and I liked the thought of having a log of it all. I suppose point 2 might be the same as point 1.
3. Regardless of how much I like my job (which of course varies wildly from day to day) I wanted to remind myself that I was capable of being more than just a teacher and regardless of how busy or tired I was I could, and should, always make a little time to do something I enjoy. A bit of a work to live move rather than live to work. It didn't have to be monumental, watching a TV show for half an hour or reading a comic.
4. I'm prone to negativity. Sorry. I thought that taking a moment each day to reflect on something positive, and moreover to ensure I did something deliberate that I'd enjoy, would be a good thing. A little something to show I was in control.

And it was good. I can now tell you one enjoyable/awesome/fun/nice/good thing for everyday of 2014 and that feels good. The variation of "things" is like a microcosm of life in that they range from the mundane to monument. The box I had to write in was about 4cm long so comments were fairly limited here are a few highlights (with added explanation)

May 29th: End of Empires
Toby Frost still asks me to "proof" his books, I'm not convinced he needs or wants me too but it means I get to read it before it hits the shelves! I did the majority of End of Empires whilst overlooking the Bay of Naples, which was nice.

July 7th: Black Science

Comic book discovery of the year, Black Science is reminiscent of the 1950's TV series of Forbidden Planet ...on acid. It's a wonderful celebration of everything Science Fiction can be - truly free and more than a little unhinged.

July 13th: Tringe

Full day of stand up comedy including Marcel Lucont, Rob Deering, and Tony Law

July 19th: I am Batman
Outstanding stag do in North Wales, some kinda blog entry for this is overdue/necessary.

July 31st: Ginstitute

Making Gin with Aled!

August 9th: Wedding!

That's right, got married! Likewise blog overdue.

August 20th: Helicopter and August 26th: Sharks!

Not a reference to 1966 Batman but 2 highlights of my honeymoon!

September 6th: Vinyl
Bought myself some record to play on this

September 18th: First viewings + valuation
Got the ball rolling on moving house!

December 22nd: Lip Sync Battle

Inspired by Jimmy Fallen, we had a lip sync battle, it was awesome.

Not surprisingly the build up to and the day of the wedding. Regular appearances came in from seeing people, food, drink, and playing games - these four best combined in named events: Brofest, Geekend, and The 4 Boardmen of the Apocalypse. Also top scores for making things, comics and oddly sorting and tidying.

I have played a lot of games this year (see reason 1), 258 to be exact, of which I've won 133. Pretty good really. I also know how many games you played here and how many you won, of course you may not care for stats the way I do.

So let's go 2015, what you got?

2008 Film Review

The Good Films are never quite as interesting to talk about so I'll just let you know my top films of the year and throw a few recommendations at you.
So best film of the year is too hard to call so I've chosen 2: In Bruges and The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight
Unless you've been living in a box you'll know what The Dark Knight is all about so I won't drone on about it too much simply to say that I absolutely loved it, it certainly helped that both times I saw it were on IMAX screens. I've always been a big Batman freak, Christopher Nolan is a genius who had already proved himself to be more than capable of doing a batman film, and the cast was just superb so it was already a recipe for success and it was better than I dared to hope! Highlight for me has to be Heath as the Joker - absolutely mesmerizing, and the opening sequence robbery.

In Bruges
In Bruges is on an altogether lower key - two hitmen (Brendan Glesson and Colin Farrell) are directed by their employer (Ralph Fiennes) to lay low in Brussels for a few days after some event (which is revealed part way through the film). It's an extremely black comedy about life and death, hell and redemption, as things in Bruges start out dull veer into excitement before heading to dangerous. It's excellent to see Colin doing some decent acting again it seems you have to wait years between his good performances as he calls in his performances in Hollywood blockbusters, presumably for the money, in this it certainly looks like he's doing it for the love. Hard to pick a highlight as its consistently excellent and the interaction between the two leads is perfect, Brenden Gleesson is always a pleasure to watch and this is going back to classic I Went Down territory.

Very worthy of mention: Pineapple Express; Burn After Reading; Be Kind Rewind; There Will Be Blood; Son of Rambow; Juno; Iron Man; Frost/Nixon.

Films I somehow missed and must get round to: No Country For Old Men; Gone Baby Gone; Sweeney Todd.

Ok on to the Bad Films. To be perfectly honest I watch a lot of bad films (I watch far too many romantic comedies for a start) but most of the time I'm prepare for the films to be nothing more than popcorn entertainment and that's all I want - I'm fairly forgiving to bad films. That said here are some stinkers I saw in 2008:

I'll start with the worst, Lost Boys 2 - I'm not sure that Lost Boys was what you'd call good but it was a lot of fun and certainly has a place in many hearts of my generation - to anyone who regards it fondly I would issue this warning - Stay away from Lost Boys 2, it's worse than you could imagine! Mind you Corey Feldman is vaguelly amusing to watch as he hams like never before! People who aren't bothered about the original are hopefully smart enough to stay away from the sequel anyway!

Close second has got to be In the Name of the King, all in all it was a pretty bad year for Jason Stretham, lets be fair he's never going to be a good actor but his hard man formula should at least deliver some entertainment, shouldn't it? Deathrace and Transporter 3 using hard man plus car formula were watchable nonsense but poor imitation of earlier hits. In Bank Job he attempted some acting as a cockney hard man (not much of a stretch there) and managed to be almost plausible as a human being, almost. The less said about In the Name of the King and War the better.

Also a pretty bad year for Mark Wahlberg - We Own The Night had all the ingredients of a great movie including a pretty ace looking cast but vered wildly between gritty and realistic and action packed, in the end failling to be either and ending up pretty boring. Marky Mark took scowling to a whole new level in the frankly baffling computer game movie Max Payne, didn't expect much and got about that.

Plentiful "weak, lazy, and generally half-arsed comedy" awards get handed out including Love Guru, Tropic Thunder, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, and Step Brothers.

There were a whole bunch of totally underwhelming films this year, not necessarily bad just chronically mediocre most notably The Day The Earth Stood Still, Hancock, and 21

So a lot of middle of the road rubbish in 2008 rather than anything overtly offensive, I think I may have carefully avoided the real dross. I am incredibly glad to have (deliberately) missed Mamma Mia, Sex and the City, and The Happening.

2008: A Year in Numbers

I'll probably do a review of 2008 in words at some point but for now here are some numbers for anyone who is interested:

5000+ Photos*
217 Films, 30 of which in the cinema
30 Years old
27 Buildings stayed in
21 Books
21 Blog entries here
13 Birthday Parties
9 Flights
7 Concerts
6 Countries
5 Blog entries on Things We Know
4 Continents
5 Boat Trips
3 Plays
2 Book launches
1 Stagg Do
1 Rugby Match
1 Wedding

*Everyday in 2008 I took at least one photo, depending on how many photos you can be bothered to look through (366, 53, 12) click one of the links:
Best of the Day
Best of the Week
Best of the Month