Everything at once

Fortunately I was in far better shape on Jan 01, 2012 than on the same day one year ago.  The previous night did not see me breaking my glasses (which I'm still mad at myself for) and at no point did I roll around on the floor like some sort of drunken larva.  Consequently I'd say that this year is off to a better start.  This is not to say that 2011 was a bad year- far from it.  And so, without further adieu, I present to you the best (and worst) of 2011.

Best movie:

Another Earth - Just as the title implies another earth appears not far from our own.
Runner Up:

Blue Valentine- A pitch perfect story about a couple's crumbling marriage.

Best non-movie that did not come out in 2011: 

Dr. Horrible's Evil Sing-Along:  Thank you netflix!  It's a musical about an aspiring evil super villain (Neil Patrick Harris), his nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) and shared loved interest Penny (the always watchable Felicia Day).  It reminded me of Soon I will be Invincible by Austin Grossman but with songs and more emotion.

Best book:

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma: This novel is a combination of historical fiction and science fiction though with less emphasis on the latter.  The protagonist of the story is none another than H.G Wells (author of The Time Machine) and, I'm going out on a limb, by saying the omniscient narrator is Time itself.  I can't say much more about the book because it would be easy to spoil something and that would be streets behind.

Best TV show:

Breaking Bad: Season 1 -An overqualified high school chemistry teacher gets diagnosed with cancer and decides to start making crystal meth in order to make enough money to leave something behind for his family.    Season 4 - A loathsome meth producer will stop at nothing to get what he wants.  Okay so clearly I'm not suited to write promos for tv shows and I'm really oversimplifying things but watching the moral descent of Walter White (aka Heisenberg) has been some of the most riveting TV I've ever experienced.

Best music:

Purr by Dance Hall Crashers - Is it 1999 you ask?  No, but that's the awesome power of DHC.

Best more recent music that I haven't been listening to for the past 11 years:

Cape Dory by Tennis - It was Capital M who came across this husband wife duo.  It's mellow but surfy and entirely reflective of a year spent sailing (or so I would imagine).  Check out the album's title track if interested.

In Light by Givers - Maybe there's something about living up north that makes me want stuff that sounds like summer. The Givers are from Louisiana and it's hard not feel a little bit warm and dancey (or a lot) when listening to their stuff.  I'd recommend starting off with "Ceiling of Plankton."

Worst Christmas CD (maybe ever): 

A Very She & Him Christmas by She & Him:  Tinny, hollow and totally devoid of any Christmas cheer.  Definitely not recommended for men or woman living far away from their loved ones.

Best use for a hair dryer that doesn't involve hair:  

#1 Some days I don't have hot water.  The exceedingly cold weather freezes the hot water pipe and I'm left with a state of matter that comes close to being a Bose-Einstein condensate.  The solution is take a hair dryer, put it on Max Power, and point it at two holes drilled strategically behind the toilet.  Give it ten minutes and, voila, the hot water is back.  

#2 Due to lack of student interest I took it upon myself to cook the turkey for our Christmas party. I've made turkeys before so I knew what I was getting into.  However,  I was not expecting the turkey to be almost completely frozen six hours before it was due to be served.  Out came the hair dryer to the rescue.  I had to leave the dryer in a place I'd rather not mention while I went back to the school to teach an afternoon class.  By the time I came back the turkey was thawed enough to at least take out the neck and giblets.  The important part of this story is that no one (that I'm aware of) got food poisoning from the meal that was served an hour and half later than intended.

Best Christmas present (for running up north):

The Extreme Run Jacket from the Running Room.  It doesn't stop the locals from laughing at me as I plod past them but it certainly keeps me warm.  'Nuff said.

Best pre-wedding moment:

#1 It wasn't that M and I hadn't thought long and hard about what song we would use for her walk down the aisle but it wasn't until a day before the wedding that we finally committed.  We were driving in our rental car heading towards the wedding site while, somewhat desperately, shuffling through the music on my (awesome) laptop.  We settled on something from Amelie's soundtrack that ended up working really well for the big moment.  Thank you Pressure for helping two indecisive people make a decision.

(Photo taken by S. Curry) - I think the scenery also helped

#2 Seeing one of my oldest and closest friends.  Time and distance have severely limited the the contact we've had but whenever we get together it's as if we just saw each other the day before.

Best moment of 2011:

Honourable mention:
Jeff and Danielle's wedding in The Bahamas.  The weather was perfect, the people were great and the dancing - well, you can judge for yourself:

(I love this photo of M)

Thanks as always to everyone who puts up with my intermittent posts.  I wish us all a wonderful 2012.

Ps - I've added three pop culture references to this post.  Can you find them?  Good luck.