PixlBit

I like 2009. I just like that number. I don't know why, but maybe it's because I have good associations with that year. Below is a breakdown of those associations. 

MUSIC:

What do I remember from music that year? Well, there was an Alice in Chains album,  Black Gives Way to Blue, without original lead singer Layne Staley. William Duvall sung and did an incredible job. He sounds just like Staley, plus the album was good. Then there was a song off Cheap Trick's album Latest, Sick Man of Europe, that I liked a lot. They always have a song I really dig on each of their albums, even though I never really followed them or collected their albums. Then there was the reunion of the Dio led Black Sabbath, calling themselves Heaven & Hell. Black Sabbath is really good with Dio. Mastodon's Crack The Skye was another great effort by that band. Finally there was the Halo 3: O.D.S.T. soundtrack. I felt the piano solo parts were a bit cornball, but I always enjoy O'Donnell/Salvatore's orchestrations, and so enjoyed the album. 

GAMES:

Again in chronological order. If I don't mention the system, it's Xbox 360. I got Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection in February. Halo Wars and MadWorld on Wii in March. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood in June. Little King's Story on Wii in July. Wolfenstein in August. Defense Grid on XBLA, Halo 3: ODST and Muramasa: Demon Blade on Wii all in September. Then it was, very appropriately, Demon's Souls in October for PS3. God of War Collection on PS3 in November. And finally Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes on DS in December. A very good year in gaming for me. I really liked all these games a lot.

BOOKS:

Not much again. Just another Halo book. Halo: Evolutions. This was a collection of short stories in the Halo universe by different authors. The most memorable one for me was Mona Lisa about the UNSC ship Red Horse investigating the ship Mona Lisa lying adrift next to the ruins of the first Halo ring destroyed at the end of the first game. The derelict ship is, of course, full of The Flood, and mayhem ensues. It's a great little horror story, perfect to retell at Halloween, and not unlike the story of Dead Space, now I think of it. It was written by Tessa Kum and Jeff VanderMeer, two authors I know nothing about. 

FILM:

So I saw a lot of movies in the theater this year, but my favorites are just six in number.

First there is the Crank sequel, Crank: High Voltage. How crazy is this movie. Jason Stathem has been given an electric heart that needs frequent recharging, or he'll die. It's just as crazy and fast paced, and full of funny one-liners as the first Crank. Oh, I wish for a third movie, but it'll never happen, alas.

Then there's the Halo movie that got turned into District 9. This is about aliens who become permanent settlers in South Africa, in a kind of very familiar ghetto. Sharlto Copley is a human cop and catches some disease that slowly turns him into an alien. He gets to see life from the alien's perspective and eventually has to choose sides. Interesting film.  

Then there's Terry Gilliam's move The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. His movies are so delightfully mad. I still couldn't tell you what this movie was about, but it includes some kind of circus. Aren't all Gilliam's movies like a circus?

A new Pixar film, Up! was really great. The sad opening sequence had me crying so loud in the theater that a little kid noticed me and I almost had to leave. After that, I was fine though. Super fun film. Dogs flying WWI style airplanes. Can't go wrong there.

Then Watchmen, the movie based on the Alan Moore comic book. I read the comic much later and finally understand the ending. The movie didn't really wrap things up very well, but I still loved it. 

Finally Zombieland, a more humerous take on the zombie apocalypse with Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. I still love all the trailers for the film with the Van Halen song Everybody Wants Some. Running zombies are hilarious to me. I want to do some short films with running zombies. 

And that was my 2009. What's memorable to you?