2009 – The MOsies

No posts for ages then two at once…. Kinda like the snow we’ve been having!! My second of the 2009 posts is going to be my favourite stuff from 2009, awards I’ve called the MOsies (well, “Mick’s Picks” sounds terrible and lets not even go anywhere near “The Mickies”)

Best Film

This was a very tough category to choose. Films like Star Trek and District 9 have made it a great year for film, and late entries by Avatar and Inglorious Basterds capped off the year in style.

I’m going to go for two movies in 2009. The first of these is The Hangover. Set in Las Vegas, it tells of 3 guys who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy, and must try to remember what happened the night before to find him. These kinds of films can sometimes show all of the good bits in the trailer. Not so with the hangover. It will have you laughing non-stop. Highlight for me is the baby jacking himself:

Second goes to Zombieland, another over the top comedy movie. It tells the tale of Columbus, a geeky high-school kid, and Tallahassee, a fear nothing redneck, who meet up and try to survive the zombie outbreak. Again, it’s a leave your brain at the door movie, but we all need those every once and a while. It also has the greatest cameo in a movie. Ever. (I won’t spoil it here because it has to be seen)

Best Book

I’m going to cheat a little bit on this one. The “Best Book” is the best book I’ve read this year. And book is an understatement, because it’s actually a series of books. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King follows the tale of Roland Dechain, and he goes in search of the mythical Dark Tower, the center of the known world and the pillar of existence.

I couldn’t put down these books , reading them one after the other to its conclusion. The characters are well thought out, and complement each other. The story starts off as a normal wild west type tale (the main character being inspired by The Man With No Name), but quickly becomes a sci-fi fantasy tale of other worlds and the mysterious Crimson King.

I’d heartily recommend these books, and with the rumour that they’ll soon be turned into movies, there’s no better time to pick them up.

Best Music Moment

I was going to do a best album, but then I realised that I actually don’t think I’ve bought an album this year, at least one that was only released this year. A lot of people would say all of the Michael Jackson tributes would have to be the outright winners in this category, and while he is a legend and will be sorely missed, that’s not what I have gone for. I’ve gone for Rage Against the Machine toppling the X-Factor’s stranglehold on the Christmas No 1 spot. No one saw this coming, and a lot of things had to come together to stop the armpit-trousered one having another X-Factor chart-topper. The song choice was inspired, it was the perfect anthem to “Rage Against” the X-Factor.

Best Game

What a year it’s been for games!! MW2, Fable 2, Assassins Creed 2, Uncharted 2 (wow that’s some amount of sequels) have lit up the screens and been bought by the truckload. However, I’m going to go against the grain. My choice for Game of the Year goes to…. UFC Undisputed.

Released back in May, this is one of the most authentic realisations of the growing sport of MMA. All of the fighters are perfectly realised, and there’s enough scope for strategy that you can make a game plan and try enforce it on the opponent. It has pick up and play gameplay, but also has a hidden level of depth that people who have the time and will to master will find many nuances. I challenge anyone to get this game round a mate’s house, and not find everyone gathered around the tv shouting at the two fighters on the screen.

Special mention also has to go to Arkham Asylum, it brought Batman back with a bang to consoles, and suits the more adult tone of the Batman franchise of recent years. That, and it’s really cool to be able to Bat-a-rang someone in the face.

So those are “The MOsies” for 2009. I know you wont agree with my picks, so please tell me what you would choose or anything that I have forgotten

2009 – My Year in Review

Well it’s been an eventful year to say the least But one that I wouldn’t change for anything in the world. I thought I’d do a “best of” 2009 post as part one of my 2009 review posts. So, here’s the best of the best of whats happened me in 2009

Hostelworld makes me permanent

Earlier on in the year, the company I work for, Hostelworld.com, made my contract permanent. This was such a huge relief, not that I’d done anything majorly wrong or took down entire websites with one wrong line of code, but more like a weight off my shoulders. I definitely feel I’ve become better integrated into the company this year, what with being on the social committee and almost getting naked at the ten-year anniversary party (sorry, no photos of this…. at least I hope not), and it continues to get better as I’ve recently took up a new role within the company

Concerts, concerts, concerts

This truly was a great year for concerts. Back in April, myself and Kyra went to see the greatest band on the planet – AC/DC. This show absolutely blew me away, from the completely over the top entrance, complete with runaway train (runnin’ right off the tracks) to the 70ft inflatable Rosie sitting on top of it! Also this year were Metalica and Green Day.

There were a few more unusual concerts too, including “Bugs Bunny on Broadway”, “Across the Stars – the music of John Williams” and “Video Games Live” – a whole concert of video game music. Here’s hoping 2010 is even halfway as entertaining.

Holiday to Pernink

I travelled away this year with the missus to Pernink in the Czech Republic. I’d never heard of the place before I’d left, but it is one of the most quaint little towns I’ve ever been to and I’d love to go back again. I got to meet a lot of my girlfriend’s extended family, and we had an absolute blast over there, from canoeing between cities to sitting out by the fire melting mallows and drinking.

We also went camping during the summer. It was my first time ever camping, and even though it rained the entire time we were there, I still really enjoyed it.

Halloween

One of the definite highlights for me this year was Halloween. I loved my costume, and it got some pretty decent reviews I keep having to try to top myself each year with a new costume so much so that I reckon I’m going to have to severe an arm to keep the increase in expectations going

Back into the Poker

Happy to say I’ve finally gotten back into playing poker again. The poker nights up in Monastery have become more and more competitive, and more and more fun since they’ve started, and it’s getting to the stage where absolutely anything can happen. First four cards on the flop all aces; check. Straight Flushes; check. Dean getting lucky on the river time and time again; check . Hell, we’ve even had Mario coin music counting our chips. It’s starting back again this thursday (though I did win an unofficial game New Year’s Day that took my winnings up to a 50% increase on what I’ve put in so far) and I can’t wait.I’ve got my chip and chair ready

And Finally…

Finally, I want to talk a bit about softball. I took this up in March 2009, hoping that I wouldn’t embarrass myself. And while I can’t say I’ve not done that (running off base in my first game, struggling to catch the ball for about 2 months), I’ve had so much fun doing it it doesn’t matter at all. I’ve met some truly cool people on the 1Z Blazzers – Tommy, Rach, Caro too many to list here (and I know I’d forget someone), we’ve had some memorable wins – No one who was there will forget both our victories against Marley and our final win against Munster 2 at IOST – and had a laugh all the while. Tommy, Steve and that broken wheelchair can definitely attest to that, as well as Air-Guitar Moore

On a final final note, myself and Jessica celebrated our one year anniversary this year. I’m sure it will be the first of many, and I can’t wait for each one of them.

So that’s it, my own happenings in the year of 2009. What were your best moments? Keep an eye out for my 2009 Awards, and hopefully it’ll be more of the same for Twenty-Ten…. Yes, I’m saying Twenty-Ten.

M