Now that 2009 has mercifully drawn to a close, it’s time for the first annual HPE Awards. I can’t say I’ll miss 2009 at all, but some pretty sweet stuff happened nonetheless.
Song of the Year: Unthought Known (Pearl Jam, Backspacer): As a Pearl Jam addict I happen to think all of their songs are about me or apply to my life in some way. This one took me a while to decipher, but once I listened to it enough it made the perfect anthem for my 2009. Plus it’s just awesome, and I love the way the music steps down right before my favorite lines:
See the path cut by the moon, for you to walk on
See the waves on distant shores, awaiting your arrival
Team of the Year: Denver Nuggets. Yeah, I know, they lost to the Lakers in the conference finals, but their playoff run was my favorite event in sports in years. Even the Broncos’ equivalent run after the 2005 season wasn’t nearly this much fun. They crushed the Hornets, smacked around the Mavs, and then gave the Lakers a brief-but-fun fight. Waving balloons at the free-throw shooters in the Western Conference Finals was about as cool as it gets, though the clutch touch of Chauncey Billups and the superstar emergence of Carmelo Anthony were just a little bit sweeter. This season the Nuggets are a killer 13-2 at home, tied for the best mark in the NBA.
Video Game of the Year: Batman: Arkham Asylum. It’s true, Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: Oh, Dreadfully Short in Total were awesome shooters with great online multiplayer in addition to fun main campaigns. But Batman! It’s just the baddest, most fun time I’ve had playing a superhero since 2004’s Spider-Man 2, and a terrific balance of feeling between superior skill and outnumbered vulnerability. My only wish is to play it more.
Movie of the Year: Sherlock Holmes. In middle school I took a class about mystery stories where we talked about Sherlock quite a bit, and for Christmas soon thereafter I got The Complete Sherlock Holmes, though I never read it. Plus it turns out Sherlock was the inspiration behind my favorite TV character, Dr. House. So I might have been destined to love this movie, but it’s a blast, with a great setting and cool action. I saw it in a packed house on Christmas night, sitting in the front row, which sucks at that particular theater, but I liked it a lot and will see it again soon for sure. And, oh yeah, I’m finally reading Sherlock now.
Although I think it’s like the nerdiest IP in history, before the last month or so this award would have gone hands-down to Star Trek, by the way, which was fun and the only good movie I saw for months. But recently I’ve seen The Blind Side and Invictus, which were also fantastic in their own ways.
Worst Movie of the Year: Transformers 2. Yeah, there were some cool fights, but even Megan Fox and that smoking Decepti-chick couldn’t save this script, plot, or poorly manufactured sense of tension.
Software of the Year: Windows 7. It’s stable, fast, works with everything, looks great, and puts XP and Vista to shame.
Non-Pearl Jam Album of the Year: The Resistance, Muse. This is just sick, and the start of my current favorite track, Guiding Light, simply can not be played loudly enough.
Suspiciously Good Customer Service of the Year: Apple. I took my iPod nano into the Apple Store down the street after a bunch of white specks (dust?) got behind the screen. The Genius told me he’d never seen that, and a few days later the store swapped me for a new one, which I wasn’t expecting. Sweet. Similarly, my iPhone 3GS became completely unresponsive (at a Windows 7 launch party, natch) and was replaced by someone who told me she almost never sees that happen. Only weird thing? My replacement Nano has the same white stuff under the screen now, and the guy who sat next to me while I was getting my phone swapped also had a completely dead iPhone. It’s always annoying when your gear has problems, but dealing with Apple is a million times better than trying to get an Xbox 360 fixed.
2009 was definitely a rebuilding year, but looking back it was pretty strong. If you think I missed anything, toss it in the comments.
4 comments:
Sounds like I need to check out the new Pearl Jam album.
Glad to hear your a Muse fan, Origin of Symmetry has been one of my favorite albums since it came out. Do you like the band Arcade Fire? I highly recommend their debut album Funeral if you haven't already heard it. The songs Wake Up and Rebellion are the best two songs on the CD.
I agree with you Team of the Year award, but I would've given the Movie of the Year award to Star Trek. So far, I've loved everything J.J. Abrams has done and he certainly didn't disappoint with Star Trek (that was the first Star Trek movie I've ever seen, so I'm definitely not a "Trekie").
I'm not very familiar with Arcade Fire.
The first draft of this actually had Star Trek up at No. 1. It was a good movie and I want to see it again. I had seen one Star Trek movie before but this one was pretty cool.
Best Co-Worker of the Year: Hands down, N to the J, Steinkamp. I mean, when it comes to dominating the Co-Worker scene you just gotta remember two letters. N to the... J
Best Made Up Personality of the Year:
Although there were many contenders to choose from, I'd have to say Mr. Cragler was a great MUP. Jay has not only provided us an opportunity to learn through his "hands on" approach to teaching, but he has been a guiding light of moral structure and integrity.
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