Top 3 of 2010: My Favourite Things

I’ve made it an annual tradition to write what my favourite things of the year are in a blog post.  My blogging hit a serious downtown this year as I got too busy with having a kid, and changing jobs at my company.  I plan to rectify that this year and blog at least once a month, and hopefully twice a month if I get the time.  I’m excited for this year, but it’s fun looking back.  Here are my favourite things of this past year.

Top 3 Games:

It was the year of the sequel.  Each one of these games completely blew away the game before it.  The all deserve to be on this list, and if you haven’t played them, go out and put money down on them.  You will not regret it one bit.

1) Mass Effect 2 (xbox 360) – The first game was one amazing space opera.  It had some flaws, but overall was a much improved experience which took out all the stuff I hated in Mass Effect (Mako driving!).  The space mining was a bit tedious, but overall the game was executed very well.  I’m excited to see how this crazy space trilogy ends.

2) Starcraft 2 (PC) –12 years in the making? A rumoured 100 million spent to make it? Well all of that was worth it.  The best RTS game of all time has captured my attention since I got into the beta in March.  I still play it regularly and have a blast.  There is a pretty amazing e-sport scene surrounding the game over in Korea, and it makes watching the game played fun to watch.

3) Uncharted 2 (xbox 360) – Naughty Dog blended Indiana Jones and game playing perfectly, then improved on it.  This game was a ton of fun, and I’m really excited for the third one coming out sometime this year.

Runners Up: God of War 3(PS3), Assassins Creed 2(xbox 360)

Top 3 Albums:

1) Brothers(Deluxe) by The Black Keys – Hadn’t heard of them until their grammy nomination.  Now I can’t get enough of this blues rock brother combo.  Do not miss this album.  It’s like if you took Gnarls Barkley and Stevie Ray Vaughn and mashed them together.  So weird, yet so good.  Pick this one up.

2) Travel Vol 3 by Future of Forestry – The idea of releasing about 5 songs every 6 months or so is awesome.  More bands need to this more often.  I loved the first two volumes, and the third one of the set was by far the best.  The tempo was increased, more guitars added and the lyrics just as strong.  You need to pick this up.

3) Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots – After a many year hiatus, mutliple “super groups” and apparently a few times in rehab.  The group has reformed to put out which I think was one of the best albums of the year.  If you are a child of the 90s then you owe yourself to buy this album and give a good listen.

Top 3 Movies

1) Inception – Does Christopher Nolan ever make a bad movie? So far the answer is no, and this movie blew away my large expectations for it.  It is a bit mind bending, but simply amazing.

2) True Grit – This one squeaked into my top 3 at the very end of the year.  The Coen brothers do it again with this sort of remake of the original.  This movie was carried by the actors and the excellent dialogue written for them.  Go see it, you still have time.

3) Scott Pilgrim vs the World – This movie was about an hour and half of pure 90s video game references and inside jokes.  It was great to see a film that seem to have been made for my child hood growing up in Canada with the tastes that I have.  It is definitely not for everyone, but it was definitely for me.  If you did like the movie, make sure you go up and pick up the comic books the movie was based off of as well.

Runner Up: The Book of Eli

Top 3 Trips

1) The Hospital - I became a father this year.  Driving to the hospital after Jenn’s waterbroke was something I’ll never forget.  It’s been a pretty crazy experience over the last couple months, learning to be a father but I hav enjoyed every minute of it.. (well most minutes).

2) Europe (Germany, Italy, Austria) - Jenn and I finally got to do our planned trip to Europe.  We are still paying for the trip months later, but it was worth every penny.  Getting to see things like the coliseum and Dachau were pretty amazing.  I could go on for hours about the trip, but I won’t.  Oh yeah, and the food was awesome too.

3) San Francisco –San Fran makes it onto the list for the second straight year as I was able to attend my first GDC.  I had been following the event for many years, and now I was finally able to attend.  I don’t think I’ll get to go to it this year, but it was a blast nonetheless.

Top 3 Restaurants

1) Churchill Arms – For the second straight year, Churchill Arms makes my #1 favourite restaurant.  I still order the same thing every time.  They even got featured on Regis and Kelly this summer.  Get the curry half and half.  They’ll know what you mean and you won’t regret it.

2) Zen Sushi Bar – We are crazy blessed with Asian food now in Charlottetown.  We have Korean, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, and we just now need a Vietnamese place, but regardless of all that, the first real sushi restaurant opened and it good.  It’s a weekly tradition amongst some of my coworkers and we enjoy the trip to the small little shop every time.

3) Casa Mia - They keep me caffeinated daily.  That should say enough.

Top 3 websites

1) Netflix.ca – This year we finally got the video streaming service to Canada and it’s awesome.  The only draw back is that their selection is a tad on the week side.  With the cost only being $8/month, it is very easy to overloook the poor selection, because there is usually something to watch there.  It’s really only 1 movie rental to keep a subscription, so until there stops being stuff I want to watch, I’ll continue subscribing.  I also read somewhere this year that they were 95% of all Canadian web traffic one evening.. that is nuts.

2) Gawker Blogs – This company runs a ton of different blogs such as Kotaku, LifeHacker, and Gizmodo.  They keep me up to date on a ton of different topics and the information is pretty reliable and fast.

3) Huffington Post/Drudge Report- This is technically two different sites, but both exist on the extremes of Right and Left news.  Usually the truth lands somewhere in the middle, but they keep me informed of what’s going on in the world from two very different perspectives.

Runner Up: http://www.google.ca/ig?hl=en – It’s the first thing I see when I launch a browser, and therefor should always make my list until someone figures out a better replacement.

Top 3 Shows

1) The Walking Dead - As soon as you think zombies have been done way too many times, something fresh comes out.  This year it was AMC who are best known for Mad Men and Breaking Bad revealed a 6 part first season of the hit graphical novel of the same name.  It was very well done, and an excellent first real step into a series around zombies.

2) Fringe – This show has really pushed it story line forward this year and made some huge improvements over last years wishy washy parts.  So far the season has been great, and I hope it ends as strong as it began.

3) The Daily Show with John Stewart - The most trusted name in news for people of my age.  He leaves no one alone, and pokes great fun at the obsudirty that is American politics.  It’s a great way to kill 20 minutes while eating supper and always makes me laugh while keeping me informed.

Top 3 Books:

I did not read much this year, therefor this list is not as strong as it could have been.  I will be reading more this year for sure.

1) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins–I came across this on a “Best books you’ve probably never read” list.  I had never heard of it, but it got me hooked.  I finished the book in about 3 days staying up late to get through it.  It’s pure teen fiction.  Treat the book like fast food and you’ll enjoy it.  It isn’t going to change the world, but it was definitely a really fun read.

2) Tribes by Seth Godin – This small little book had some great quotes in it.  It takes a look at how each person has the capability of influencing others within their Tribe.  The world is becoming increasingly accessible to anyone.  Reading through this gave me a new perspective on just that.

3) Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff- Last year his website made my top list, now this year his book did.  It’s a funny take on the stupid and crazy things Christians do.  I love satire, and Jon Acuff does it well.  Pick it up if you like a good laugh.

Well that’s it for this year.  Hopefully 2011 will have just as many good movies, books, games, and trips.