The Least Worst of 2006
Ok, Lets see here. So 2006 is almost over. Life has changed drastically for me near the end of it (This month particularly). And alot has happened this year. It's been one hell of a ride for both media and my life in general. This year has been very bizarre for me.
So on that note, I want to do something a little different and reflect on the year that has passed and tell you the best and worst stuff I've played, watched, listened to and been through. Enjoy
Edit: I finished up the Movie section and added a Best Album section. Enjoy!
Best game played: Okami (PS2) - This game has been pretty much a staple in my PS2 since I got it this year. I have played the game fully through 2 times and have just recently started on the 3rd pass. It's really that good. The amazing colours and textures that are prevalent through then entire game are nothing short of amazing. The studio who created this game (Clover Studios) was shut down by it's parent company (Capcom) this year and it makes for a bittersweet best.
Runners Up: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) - This game reinvented Zelda for the new generation. It was amazing from start to finish. But in the end, Okami was better.
Final Fantasy XII (PS2) - This game was tits. While I have made 2 (and 1/8!) playthroughs of Okami, I spent more hours in one playthrough of this game then I did on Okami. This game was balls out the best RPG of the year.
Worst game played: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (PS2) - From the slow pacing to the incredibly rudimentary action based battles, This game was just garbage. I wanted to like it, And I desperately tried to like it. But I just couldn't bring myself to do so. Your teammate AI is so brutally stupid that they get killed more often then they are alive. A real shame because I do usually enjoy the Shin Megami Tensei series.
Runners Up: RedSteel (Wii) - Awkward and Short
--
Best Console Bought Nintendo Wii - Generally, It's always weird to buy a new console, especially so close to launch, There aren't any killer apps that are screaming `Buy me! Buy me!`, That kind of stuff doesn't happen until later on in the life cycle of the system. But the Wii had the advantage of Zelda right out of the box. And I couldn't believe how awesome that game was. Now I didn't get the Wii any traditional way, I got it, sort of by accident. See, My brother is something of a gamer like myself. And he decided to get himself the Wii. Soon after, He took an opportunity to get himself a PS3. After he got himself that, the Wii sat untouched until Thanksgiving came around and he let me borrow it. After 2 weeks of him not having the Wii, We went on a family trip, I asked him, jokingly at the time, If he wanted to sell me the Wii, He of course, said no. Later on, Probably a week later, He called me and asked me if I was still willing to buy it and I, of course, said yes. A purchase I do not regret. The console is a blast. Everything about it is amazing.
Thank you, Jeff. You saved this spot from having nothing in it.
Runner Up: Nintendo DS Lite - Effing come on. The DS is amazing.
Worst Console Bought: Sony PSP (x2) - The PSP is much like that one family member that's always around at the holidays. You want to like them because they are family, But you just can't. They annoy you, They constantly do stupid shit to piss you off, They are just general pains in the asses to have around. That's the PSP in a nutshell. From the gay proprietary software, To the use of Firmware to limit what we can do on the machine, top the lack of any sort of A-list of games, And even if the games are good, they're ports of games that were good before they went on PSP, with shitty load times added into the mix.
I don't need a system, who's only use is for me to play SNES games on it. No thanks.
Runner Up: Sony PSP - I bought two of them (returned one, sold the other), So I can post it twice.
--
Best Book Read: Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk - This book is an old favorite of mine. I try to read it once a year or so. I keep forgetting that he's released a couple more books that I want to read. I just never think about it.
Worst Book Read: None, I didn't read anything else this year.
--
Best Movie I Saw: Ok. After watching `V for Vendetta` and `A Scanner Darkly` I feel like I should break down the movies that I loved this year into sections. I know it's kind of a pain in the ass. But it's hard to really lump one movie as my favorite.
Comedy is, Of course, Clerks II. The movie was stunningly brilliant. It had gross out moments, It had offensive moments, It had really hilarious moments, And it had very sweet and tender moments. Kevin Smith is a viable director and writer. And I think that he proved it.
Runner Up: I actually didn't see any other comedies this year.
Action is, V for Vendetta. This movie was quite literally, incredible. The Story, The vision, Everything about it just screams an amount of cool that the last two Matrix flicks just didn't have. I was insanely impressed with this movie.
Runner Up: Equilibrium - I hadn't seen this movie until this year. But holy crap was it awesome. The story and the gunfights were fantastic. A top notch film.
Drama... This one is a tricky one. Do I count Black Comedy here, or in Comedy? Hmm. Anyway, The honour or best Drama goes to Walk The Line. Everything about this film was truly fantastic. The way that Joaquin looks, The way he sings, The way he acts. It's Johnny Cash incarnate and it was amazing
Runner Up: A Scanner Darkly - this movie was a mindfuck and a half. The slow degradation of a drug ridden mind of a undercover investigator is... utterly amazing. I have to watch it again and soon, just to catch all the nuances.
The Ice Harvest - Cold, Alone, Desolate and kind of heart warming all at the same time. It's an interesting juxtaposition that John Cusack is pretty well known for. I love this movie. It was funny and well written and interestingly dark without taking itself too seriously. Great film.
Worst Movie I Saw: Pirates of the Caribbean II - The 5+ minutes I watched while my friends and I were conversing in the living room were torturous.
--
Best TV Show: Heroes - This one was a toss up for me. Heroes or Battlestar Galactica. But Heroes has endeared itself to me moreso then Battlestar this year. It's great writing and very likable characters have pulled me in and held to me tightly. I love it. I wait for every new episode with baited breath. I think I will be into this show for a very long time.
Runners Up: Battlestar Galactica - This show is great. Everything about this show is awesome. But I just like Heroes more. Plain and simple. But this show is great for my Sci-fi fix.
Metalocalypse - Funny cartoon making fun of Metalheads and such? Sign me up.
Worst TV Show: Lost - I finally caught the first episode of this series and I can't see what the fuss is about. It's annoying and trite. For every one question answered, Two pop up in it's place. It's like a Hydra of Horseshit.
Runners Up: Lost - You know what? This so is so fucking terrible, It bares mentioning twice.
Assy McGee. - You know how when there's a car accident? You just can't look away from it as the car tumbles end over end toward oblivion? Yeah. Something like that, only with a talking ass.
--
Best Band Discovered: Holy shit. HOLY SHIT! How can I be asked to choose this? I could I do this to myself. It's like asking who your favorite kid is, Because the rest will be shot. I... I don't know... Shit... That's so subjective on my mood, Where I'm at, What I'm doing and how I feel. I don't know how I can answer it... Ok. I'll try. The Submarines - I don't think there are 10 people that have heard of this band (at least that was before Nip/Tuck. But they are amazing. The songs are soft and sweet, But really down. It's a very odd juxtaposition. The song Brighter Discontent is very much what I feel like recently. So I'll go with them as the best discovery of the year.
Runners Up: Loquat - Very Trip-hoppy. Very svelte, slick and cool. I like them alot
Sub Rosa - Local band from up in SLC. And they are fucking own. I know the lead singer. How badass is that?
Gregory and the Hawk - Jenna sent me a song by this band and I was blown away. This chicks voice is utterly impeccable and her guitar work is wonderful. A++ Will listen again.
Worst Band Discovered: To be honest, I haven't found anything that has struck me as so brutally bad that I want to shoot myself in the face. So, That's a good thing, I think. I guess I hated this band that Jenna also showed me called Hinder or something? Anyway, I guess it was so bad I completely forgot about it. Go figure.
--
Best Album: Johnny Cash - A Thousand Highways - I'm going to make this really fucking short. Because there is almost nothing that needs to be said here except this: If you haven't listened to this album and enjoyed it, You are utterly musically inept. Period.
Runner Up: The Beatles - Love - A wonderful collection of incredibly crisp remastered tracks from all manner of albums from their career. It's really really good
Worst Album: Everything I don't like. Including, for the sake of pointing fingers, Evanescence - The Open Door - A(nother) crappy album from a band that I used to regard as pretty good. Oh well.
--
Best Thing that Happened to Me: Actually, 2006 in general was a pretty unremarkable year for me, personally. I worked my job and I played alot of video games, I listened to alot of music and I watched some movies. It was pretty relaxed. And it hasn't been like that for a very long time. So that's a very good thing.
Worst Thing: My grandmother passed away. And this will be my first Christmas without her in my life. Merry Fucking Christmas...
--
So there you have it. My Best and Worst of 2006. I hope you all enjoyed reading it.
Feel free to make your own list in my comments or on your own journals.
Peace,
J.
So on that note, I want to do something a little different and reflect on the year that has passed and tell you the best and worst stuff I've played, watched, listened to and been through. Enjoy
Edit: I finished up the Movie section and added a Best Album section. Enjoy!
Best game played: Okami (PS2) - This game has been pretty much a staple in my PS2 since I got it this year. I have played the game fully through 2 times and have just recently started on the 3rd pass. It's really that good. The amazing colours and textures that are prevalent through then entire game are nothing short of amazing. The studio who created this game (Clover Studios) was shut down by it's parent company (Capcom) this year and it makes for a bittersweet best.
Runners Up: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) - This game reinvented Zelda for the new generation. It was amazing from start to finish. But in the end, Okami was better.
Final Fantasy XII (PS2) - This game was tits. While I have made 2 (and 1/8!) playthroughs of Okami, I spent more hours in one playthrough of this game then I did on Okami. This game was balls out the best RPG of the year.
Worst game played: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (PS2) - From the slow pacing to the incredibly rudimentary action based battles, This game was just garbage. I wanted to like it, And I desperately tried to like it. But I just couldn't bring myself to do so. Your teammate AI is so brutally stupid that they get killed more often then they are alive. A real shame because I do usually enjoy the Shin Megami Tensei series.
Runners Up: RedSteel (Wii) - Awkward and Short
--
Best Console Bought Nintendo Wii - Generally, It's always weird to buy a new console, especially so close to launch, There aren't any killer apps that are screaming `Buy me! Buy me!`, That kind of stuff doesn't happen until later on in the life cycle of the system. But the Wii had the advantage of Zelda right out of the box. And I couldn't believe how awesome that game was. Now I didn't get the Wii any traditional way, I got it, sort of by accident. See, My brother is something of a gamer like myself. And he decided to get himself the Wii. Soon after, He took an opportunity to get himself a PS3. After he got himself that, the Wii sat untouched until Thanksgiving came around and he let me borrow it. After 2 weeks of him not having the Wii, We went on a family trip, I asked him, jokingly at the time, If he wanted to sell me the Wii, He of course, said no. Later on, Probably a week later, He called me and asked me if I was still willing to buy it and I, of course, said yes. A purchase I do not regret. The console is a blast. Everything about it is amazing.
Thank you, Jeff. You saved this spot from having nothing in it.
Runner Up: Nintendo DS Lite - Effing come on. The DS is amazing.
Worst Console Bought: Sony PSP (x2) - The PSP is much like that one family member that's always around at the holidays. You want to like them because they are family, But you just can't. They annoy you, They constantly do stupid shit to piss you off, They are just general pains in the asses to have around. That's the PSP in a nutshell. From the gay proprietary software, To the use of Firmware to limit what we can do on the machine, top the lack of any sort of A-list of games, And even if the games are good, they're ports of games that were good before they went on PSP, with shitty load times added into the mix.
I don't need a system, who's only use is for me to play SNES games on it. No thanks.
Runner Up: Sony PSP - I bought two of them (returned one, sold the other), So I can post it twice.
--
Best Book Read: Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk - This book is an old favorite of mine. I try to read it once a year or so. I keep forgetting that he's released a couple more books that I want to read. I just never think about it.
Worst Book Read: None, I didn't read anything else this year.
--
Best Movie I Saw: Ok. After watching `V for Vendetta` and `A Scanner Darkly` I feel like I should break down the movies that I loved this year into sections. I know it's kind of a pain in the ass. But it's hard to really lump one movie as my favorite.
Comedy is, Of course, Clerks II. The movie was stunningly brilliant. It had gross out moments, It had offensive moments, It had really hilarious moments, And it had very sweet and tender moments. Kevin Smith is a viable director and writer. And I think that he proved it.
Runner Up: I actually didn't see any other comedies this year.
Action is, V for Vendetta. This movie was quite literally, incredible. The Story, The vision, Everything about it just screams an amount of cool that the last two Matrix flicks just didn't have. I was insanely impressed with this movie.
Runner Up: Equilibrium - I hadn't seen this movie until this year. But holy crap was it awesome. The story and the gunfights were fantastic. A top notch film.
Drama... This one is a tricky one. Do I count Black Comedy here, or in Comedy? Hmm. Anyway, The honour or best Drama goes to Walk The Line. Everything about this film was truly fantastic. The way that Joaquin looks, The way he sings, The way he acts. It's Johnny Cash incarnate and it was amazing
Runner Up: A Scanner Darkly - this movie was a mindfuck and a half. The slow degradation of a drug ridden mind of a undercover investigator is... utterly amazing. I have to watch it again and soon, just to catch all the nuances.
The Ice Harvest - Cold, Alone, Desolate and kind of heart warming all at the same time. It's an interesting juxtaposition that John Cusack is pretty well known for. I love this movie. It was funny and well written and interestingly dark without taking itself too seriously. Great film.
Worst Movie I Saw: Pirates of the Caribbean II - The 5+ minutes I watched while my friends and I were conversing in the living room were torturous.
--
Best TV Show: Heroes - This one was a toss up for me. Heroes or Battlestar Galactica. But Heroes has endeared itself to me moreso then Battlestar this year. It's great writing and very likable characters have pulled me in and held to me tightly. I love it. I wait for every new episode with baited breath. I think I will be into this show for a very long time.
Runners Up: Battlestar Galactica - This show is great. Everything about this show is awesome. But I just like Heroes more. Plain and simple. But this show is great for my Sci-fi fix.
Metalocalypse - Funny cartoon making fun of Metalheads and such? Sign me up.
Worst TV Show: Lost - I finally caught the first episode of this series and I can't see what the fuss is about. It's annoying and trite. For every one question answered, Two pop up in it's place. It's like a Hydra of Horseshit.
Runners Up: Lost - You know what? This so is so fucking terrible, It bares mentioning twice.
Assy McGee. - You know how when there's a car accident? You just can't look away from it as the car tumbles end over end toward oblivion? Yeah. Something like that, only with a talking ass.
--
Best Band Discovered: Holy shit. HOLY SHIT! How can I be asked to choose this? I could I do this to myself. It's like asking who your favorite kid is, Because the rest will be shot. I... I don't know... Shit... That's so subjective on my mood, Where I'm at, What I'm doing and how I feel. I don't know how I can answer it... Ok. I'll try. The Submarines - I don't think there are 10 people that have heard of this band (at least that was before Nip/Tuck. But they are amazing. The songs are soft and sweet, But really down. It's a very odd juxtaposition. The song Brighter Discontent is very much what I feel like recently. So I'll go with them as the best discovery of the year.
Runners Up: Loquat - Very Trip-hoppy. Very svelte, slick and cool. I like them alot
Sub Rosa - Local band from up in SLC. And they are fucking own. I know the lead singer. How badass is that?
Gregory and the Hawk - Jenna sent me a song by this band and I was blown away. This chicks voice is utterly impeccable and her guitar work is wonderful. A++ Will listen again.
Worst Band Discovered: To be honest, I haven't found anything that has struck me as so brutally bad that I want to shoot myself in the face. So, That's a good thing, I think. I guess I hated this band that Jenna also showed me called Hinder or something? Anyway, I guess it was so bad I completely forgot about it. Go figure.
--
Best Album: Johnny Cash - A Thousand Highways - I'm going to make this really fucking short. Because there is almost nothing that needs to be said here except this: If you haven't listened to this album and enjoyed it, You are utterly musically inept. Period.
Runner Up: The Beatles - Love - A wonderful collection of incredibly crisp remastered tracks from all manner of albums from their career. It's really really good
Worst Album: Everything I don't like. Including, for the sake of pointing fingers, Evanescence - The Open Door - A(nother) crappy album from a band that I used to regard as pretty good. Oh well.
--
Best Thing that Happened to Me: Actually, 2006 in general was a pretty unremarkable year for me, personally. I worked my job and I played alot of video games, I listened to alot of music and I watched some movies. It was pretty relaxed. And it hasn't been like that for a very long time. So that's a very good thing.
Worst Thing: My grandmother passed away. And this will be my first Christmas without her in my life. Merry Fucking Christmas...
--
So there you have it. My Best and Worst of 2006. I hope you all enjoyed reading it.
Feel free to make your own list in my comments or on your own journals.
Peace,
J.