I will be brutally honest - 2009 sucked. In fact, it sucked in many different and surprisingly creative ways. (btw, you know this must be Jason writing because of the oh-so-cheerful first sentence, and also by the extensive hyphen usage thus far.) I am not going to get too far into why, exactly, the year sucked, because that would make for a incredibly depressing blog post. This isn't to say that there weren't some very awesome things that happened this year - because there were. Click click click below to check some of them out.

Things In 2009 That Did Not Suck

good stuff in real life

Neither my wife or I were hospitalized this year! This is the first year since we've been married that we've managed to keep ourselves out of the hospital, so go us. (Our insurance is probably happy about this, too.)

I spoke at NLIT (The National Laboratory Information Technology Summit). People actually stayed for my whole presentation, people asked questions, and I knew the answers. This was surprising to me, since it was pretty firm evidence that I am, indeed a Grown Up. I also got invited down to consult on a project down at SLAC (the National Lab down at Stanford), which was *amazingly* cool.

I went to PAX (Penny Arcade eXpo). It was beyond glorious.

good stuff on tv

Battlestar Galactica - I loved this show. I'm still sad that it ended, but I'm glad that is was able to go out on such a gloriously high note.

Dollhouse - If Firefly was a perfect show that was gunned down too soon, Dollhouse is an interesting looking space rock that keeps burning brighter and brighter as it plummets to earth. A show that asks some really hard questions (and goes to some pretty dark places), Dollhouse was fantastic. I'll miss it.

Doctor Who (and Torchwood) - I don't need to explain, do I? If I do, just search wikipedia. And then start watching.

Community - It's quickly becoming one of my favorite comedies.

good stuff i read

I can never remember all the books I read in any given year. However, I *do* know that I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. You probably should too, since they were two of the best books I've read in recent memory.

good stuff i listened to

I tweeted about this earlier this week, but here are my favorite albums from this year (in no particular order). All of them are awesome.

It's Not Me It's You - Lily Allen
Splendor in the Grass - Pink Martini
Church Music - David Crowder Band
The Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
Raditude - Weezer
It's Blitz! - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Dawn Metropolis - Anamanaguchi

movies!

Ha. You have to wait. Look for my favorite films of 2009 list to start soon - probably later this weekend. But in the mean time, here's the list of movies I saw in 2009. There are a few more that I wanted to catch, but I think this is a pretty good list to draw from.

9
A Christmas Carol
Adventureland
Avatar
Chocolate
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Coraline
District 9
Drag Me To Hell
Fanboys
G.I. Joe
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
I Love You, Man
Inglourious Basterds
Julie and Julia
Knowing
Land of the Lost
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
Outlander
Ponyo
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
Taken
Terminator Salvation
The Brothers Bloom
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
The Perfect Getaway
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Up
Watchmen
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Zombieland

So, did I miss your favorite movie? And, can you guess what my favorite ten films will be? And I'll catch you in a few days with the actual countdown.

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