2010 Summary Report
This is the last day of 2010. The time to sum everything up.
I didn't read much as I had a problem with reading for a while after my move to US. And most of the books I've read were not at all that memorable. I think that the last book of Peter F. Hamilton's Void trilogy - The Evolutionary Void was the weakest of all Commonwealth novels (I liked Judas Unchained but this one- not so much). On the bright side I discovered Charles Stross's Laundry universe and I think I will like it. In the end my favourite book of this year is by default Ian Cameron Esslemont's Stonewielder.
I liked all the movies I've seen this year which means just that I choose the right movies for myself. From Kick-Ass to Easy A. I think I liked Inception and Tron: Legacy the most. It's probably because I easily fall in love with visually pretty science fiction. At least their plots were better then Avatar.
Of animated movies I've only seen How to Train our Dragon and I loved it.
I didn't truly fell in love with any of the TV shows this year. In fact since Dollhouse ended I haven't felt excited about anything. At least Dollhouse made me think. I still watch television of course and there are some shows that I like but almost all of those got canceled or are about to be. The Gates, Persons Unknown, Happy Town had only brief summer lives. Caprica and Stargate: Universe had some interesting motives but never managed to capture audience. Chase is probably canceled. Fringe is hanging by a thread. All that's left are shows I watch for the "and then hijinks ensue' - Chuck and Eureka. I decide about V when it comes back because before it went back and forth between horrible and awesome. At least Burn Notice, Leverage and Nikita seem to be watched by someone besides me so they are to stay.
In the end I think that the shows I liked most this year are both British. One is obviously Doctor Who the other as you've probably guessed is Being Human. I need to finally watch Misfits too. I also liked the Dirk Gently pilot.
The Real Life was even more depressing this year. It started at the end of 2009 when the snow started falling on Europe just around Christmas and it didn't stop. It spread to all Northern hemisphere from Washington to Beijing. Except for Vancouver where the Winter Olympics had a large snow deficiency problem. Then came Eyjafjallajokull eruption that grounded whole airport travel to Europe. Then there were floods in Poland almost every month since May and some people have been flooded four times in one year. The floods in Pakistan were even worse as with poorer infrastructure and higher population density came much higher toll in lives. Same thing happened with earthquakes. The horrifying effects of Haiti earthquake made Chilean's seem lucky in comparison.
At summer Moscow baked in horrible heat and smoke. This summer was one of the hottest recorded both in Europe in America. In Poland people crowded the air conditioned malls. Here in North Carolina I preferred not to go outside. Then came winter with more unusually high snowfalls and the airports in Europe closed for the third time in one year. Then airports in US too. While Europe and Eastern parts of North America are turned into snowplains the West Cost was drenched in rain. In its last breath 2010 exits with the tornadoes ravaging parts of US today. Last winter I blamed El Nino. This year's rain and snow I blame on Eyjafjallajokull. More dust in the air - more rain/snowfall.
The Chileans got lucky again when the trapped miners turned out to be alive and the whole world cheered this one happy ending when they were rescued. It was still a disaster and being entombed is not a pleasant experience in any way but at least this story had a happy ending. This was happy tale of world cooperation and use of technology. Not all tales had such happy ending as my country still lives and will probably feel for years the aftermaths of the airplane disaster that killed our president, his wife and many of Poland's most prominent politicians and military leaders. Part of me still can't quite believe this.
And we shouldn't forget the greatest human fuck up of 2010 - the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This is when everything that could go wrong went wrong and we will feel the effects for years to come. Certainly the environment of the Gulf will.
I hope next year will be better (I'd rather not imagine it being worse). So...
HAPPY NEW 2011 YEAR.
May all your dreams come true and all the bad things happen in fiction.
I didn't read much as I had a problem with reading for a while after my move to US. And most of the books I've read were not at all that memorable. I think that the last book of Peter F. Hamilton's Void trilogy - The Evolutionary Void was the weakest of all Commonwealth novels (I liked Judas Unchained but this one- not so much). On the bright side I discovered Charles Stross's Laundry universe and I think I will like it. In the end my favourite book of this year is by default Ian Cameron Esslemont's Stonewielder.
I liked all the movies I've seen this year which means just that I choose the right movies for myself. From Kick-Ass to Easy A. I think I liked Inception and Tron: Legacy the most. It's probably because I easily fall in love with visually pretty science fiction. At least their plots were better then Avatar.
Of animated movies I've only seen How to Train our Dragon and I loved it.
I didn't truly fell in love with any of the TV shows this year. In fact since Dollhouse ended I haven't felt excited about anything. At least Dollhouse made me think. I still watch television of course and there are some shows that I like but almost all of those got canceled or are about to be. The Gates, Persons Unknown, Happy Town had only brief summer lives. Caprica and Stargate: Universe had some interesting motives but never managed to capture audience. Chase is probably canceled. Fringe is hanging by a thread. All that's left are shows I watch for the "and then hijinks ensue' - Chuck and Eureka. I decide about V when it comes back because before it went back and forth between horrible and awesome. At least Burn Notice, Leverage and Nikita seem to be watched by someone besides me so they are to stay.
In the end I think that the shows I liked most this year are both British. One is obviously Doctor Who the other as you've probably guessed is Being Human. I need to finally watch Misfits too. I also liked the Dirk Gently pilot.
The Real Life was even more depressing this year. It started at the end of 2009 when the snow started falling on Europe just around Christmas and it didn't stop. It spread to all Northern hemisphere from Washington to Beijing. Except for Vancouver where the Winter Olympics had a large snow deficiency problem. Then came Eyjafjallajokull eruption that grounded whole airport travel to Europe. Then there were floods in Poland almost every month since May and some people have been flooded four times in one year. The floods in Pakistan were even worse as with poorer infrastructure and higher population density came much higher toll in lives. Same thing happened with earthquakes. The horrifying effects of Haiti earthquake made Chilean's seem lucky in comparison.
At summer Moscow baked in horrible heat and smoke. This summer was one of the hottest recorded both in Europe in America. In Poland people crowded the air conditioned malls. Here in North Carolina I preferred not to go outside. Then came winter with more unusually high snowfalls and the airports in Europe closed for the third time in one year. Then airports in US too. While Europe and Eastern parts of North America are turned into snowplains the West Cost was drenched in rain. In its last breath 2010 exits with the tornadoes ravaging parts of US today. Last winter I blamed El Nino. This year's rain and snow I blame on Eyjafjallajokull. More dust in the air - more rain/snowfall.
The Chileans got lucky again when the trapped miners turned out to be alive and the whole world cheered this one happy ending when they were rescued. It was still a disaster and being entombed is not a pleasant experience in any way but at least this story had a happy ending. This was happy tale of world cooperation and use of technology. Not all tales had such happy ending as my country still lives and will probably feel for years the aftermaths of the airplane disaster that killed our president, his wife and many of Poland's most prominent politicians and military leaders. Part of me still can't quite believe this.
And we shouldn't forget the greatest human fuck up of 2010 - the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This is when everything that could go wrong went wrong and we will feel the effects for years to come. Certainly the environment of the Gulf will.
I hope next year will be better (I'd rather not imagine it being worse). So...
HAPPY NEW 2011 YEAR.
May all your dreams come true and all the bad things happen in fiction.