As the new year begins, and I start archiving all of my 2011 information, I thought I would recap 2011 in an unorthodox "Best Of" post.
Best New Album of 2011
The best album of 2011 goes easily to Florence + The Machine for Ceremonials. I cannot say enough good things about this album—it rocks in a way that so few do. I recommend that you listen to it from start to finish, using your good headphones, as loud as is comfortable. Ceremonials improves upon the stellar work already done in Lungs by adding layers of complementary complexity.
Best Purchase of 2011
This was probably the hardest category to judge. The contenders were priced from $10 to $30 000 and each was special in their own way.
- 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe, 3.5 L AWD Crossover SUV
An obvious choice for inclusion: a large crossover with almost every option standard, the best warranty and service, and for $10 000 less than a base-model American car. I can attest to the electronic stability control's ability to keep the car completely under control even while making sharp turns on unimproved dirt roads at speeds as high as 80 km/hr. The 10 km/l (city) 206 kW engine is also more than capable of owning anything other than a sports car. Incredibly roomy, and can still make a U-Turn within a residential street with feet to spare. - Sony MDR-7506 Studio Monitor Headphones
In November of 2011 the ≈10 year-old headphones I use at work (almost 6 hours a day) started failing. In true geek fashion, I began researching replacements rather than just picking up whatever $20 pair was on sale at Best Buy. After this purchase, I can say without a doubt, that your music experience to date has been absolute crap. I am now re-listening to all my music because I can now hear instruments I never new existed on the recording. Crisp, tight highs without booming bass in a light and comfortable package. - LEGO Space Police Message Decoder (set #6831)
This set completes my collection of Space Police I LEGO sets—a collection I started when I was 8 or so. The sets were first released in 1984, and were the first LEGO theme to incorporate "good" and "bad" organizations as well as lights.
Best Event of 2011
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The best event of 2011 goes to the Boise Music Festival where I got to cross two items off my bucket list: see MC Hammer live, and purchase a Joan Jett concert T-Shirt firsthand. Yes, that's right, "Can't Touch This" and "Bad Reputation", live, in a single event. Less well known, but possibly more impressive was the "School of Rock" band, in which a bunch of kids rocked harder than most of the other performers that day.
Best Book Read in 2011
The best book I read in 2011 would have to be George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones (Book 1 in the Song of Ice and Fire series). Aside from being well-written and set in an interesting world, what made me love this book is that the story revolves around the women and children instead of what you would initially think of as the adult male main characters. This series has become popular of late due to the HBO miniseries based on it, however in my defense, this book was on my list years ago.
Best TV Show in 2011
I had to remove the word "new" from this category, because almost without exception, all the new shows this year were absolute crap. The few new shows I do enjoy, I enjoy because I can watch them just as well while doing seven other things at the same time as they require an average of 7.625 brain cells to understand. The show which I most enjoyed in 2011 was Castle. I'm pretty sure the purpose of Castle (and all of television for that matter) is simply to provide a stage for Nathan Fillion to show us how awesome he is. Nathan's intellectually hilarious Rick Castle is placed against Stana Katic's outstanding breakout performance of Det. Kate Beckett, and supported by a laundry list of stellar supporting roles, including, my prediction of "starlet to watch," Molly Quinn.
Best New Movie in 2011
Sucker Punch takes the cake, although I expect you won't agree with me. It seems as if this movie's merging of over-the-top action sequences mixing concepts from fantasy, anime, steampunk and WWII with abstract commentary on the injustice and horror of the protagonist's situation confused most of its audience. However, I will leave you with a one-sentance synopsis that should explain my love of the movie: five heroines armed with bastard swords, flintlocks and bedazzled 1911s take on an army of steampunk nazi-zombies with help from a rocket propelled mecha with some of the best team fight choreography I've ever had the pleasure of feeding to my eyeballs.
Tthat completes (for the moment) my "best of" post for the year.