The best and worst of 2009

Zero nine was a rubbish year for new media. Shit music, shit movies and shitty endings to well loved TV shows. There was more entertainment to be found following the cult of celebrity and the trashy tabloids. This while significantly sums up the decade of the naughties, here are my significant media moments of the year that was.

Best Movies of 2009
Only 4 movies make my list of 10. This is James Cameron’s fault. Had he not caught be off guard and helped me realise how much I had settled for less than satisfactory cinimatic distraction I might have included others.

1. Avatar
   A cinimatic experience. From the get-go you can see that Avatar was made to be a movie event. It suffers from none of the tranlation issue that plague novella adaption (Watchmen). The story works and never drags. It is also significant for the advances in technology. This is the first film I have seen where I could not see the seams between CG and reality. Bravo.
2. Moon
3. District 9
4. Sherlock Holmes

Best TV of 2009

1. Lost
   Time travel, Dharma and Star Wars! The penultimate season of Lost was a slow beginner. But by the time we reached episode 8 (LaFleur), the writers were back in the swing of things and mysteries were unravelled. A shortened season due to the writer’s block strike of 2008, the finale is one of the most memorable. Honestly… we could have ended the show right there and I would have been happy.
2. Dexter
   The show was at the risk of visiting the same old story lines after the carbon copies of seasons 2 & 3. But this year the writers really pulled one out of the bag with a villain that was genuinely disturbing and a whole new lifestyle for Dexter to deal with. There were a couple of duff episodes in which not a lot happened (a first for Dexter) which keeps this from being my favourite for the second year running.
3. Battlestar Galactica
   With only half a season to wrap up the story, you could see the writers were tearing the story up at the seams. The last handful of episodes felt like a rushed job. Character arcs were resolved and we had a definitive ending (which I enjoyed). However, I did finish watching the show with a sense that I’d been cheated of a proper ending. And can someone tell me what the hell happened to Starbuck?!?!
4. Honorable mentions
   Fringe is growing on me. But I’ve still to see season 2. Family Guy is enjoyably creative. “Road to the Multiverse” is one of the most memorable episodes I’ve ever seen. However the remainder of the season, including the Star Wars spoof have been very forgettable. And who the hell thought the Cleveland Show was a good idea???

Best PC Games of 2009

1. Batman: Arkham Asylum
   Batman delivers. End of.
2. Men of War
   War is hell. And fun! So I went back and played it again, twice!
3. Plants vs. Zombies
   Games are supposed to be fun. There was nothing choris about PvZ.
4. Fallout 3
   There were a lot of naysayers baying at FO3 for lack atmosphere and direction. It oozed with it! If you couldn’t     enjoy this game then perhaps you should return to your basement and rewrite your own text adventure.
5. The Sims 3
   Not for me, but my family have ruined my gaming cred on my Xfire profile! More than half a month has been spent wasted on this game.
6. Grand Theft Auto IV
   Was released in 2008, but I couldn’t get it working on my PC until 2009 (after installing Vista no less!!!). A significant game with oodles of polish.
7. Mirror’s Edge
   Unique and artistic. I only wish it included multiplayer.
8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
   A diamond in the rough, 10 times better than the movie.

Best Websites of 2009

1. Big Picture
   A well presented picture blog detailing current events from around the world.
2. reasons why it’s worth to be a pcgamer
   Forgive the broken English title. Adrian Werner has been collating the most thorough list of worthwhile PC games for 3 years now.
3. Dropbox
   Synchronising your documents and folders has NEVER been so easy!
4. Google apps
   It’s a no brainer really. Messages, calendars, docs, spreadsheets and photos. Google manages them all neatly in the cloud.
5. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
   Four of my 5 favourite games journalists writing about PC games in one place.
6. Lifehacker
   The many, the proud, the geeky. Want to know what antivirus is most popular these days? Want to find out the cheapest route to a Windows 7 upgrade? Want to know how to make your own gummi bears? Lifehacker has it all.
7. LogMeIn
   Control your home PC from anywhere in the world. Even with New Zealand’s attrocious connection speeds, LogMeIn handles it with ease.
8. WordPress.com
   Saved me $100 in hosting costs…
9. Newzbin
   Ahem.
10. Failblog
    If you ever need to feel good about yourself, just spend a few minutes browsing the fail blog.