My exercising has been coming along alright after the original set back from earlier in the year. I have been able to do this more regularly the past few weeks, and starting to mix a few things more into it. For the most part I have been riding the exercise bike, but I have added some walking into my routine as well. The exercise bike I feel I have slowly been pushing the intensity up on it, so I am hoping if I keep riding the bike on a regular schedule that I can start to see some more results. I have started longer walks as well, I did a lunch time walk on Friday, and then I have done two early morning walks. I am hoping the weather stays mild as I think if I can keep these regular, I can also push up the speed that I am walking. I feel that I am walking a good distance, as my morning walks take me 35 minutes or so, and I cover a lot of ground. If I keep at them for the next few months, maybe by spring I might be able to jog or run for part of it. I want to build up the strength in my legs, so that I would be able to handle it. The walks must be doing something as my body aches a bit today, so I have hit some muscles that I haven’t used for a bit, so I am happy about that. I also planning to add some more stretching into my routine as well.

some resolutions that still need more of my attention.

I did clean out a lot in my office, when I was off for a few days a few weeks back. I still have more to do, notable the basement. I am hoping that when I take some time off in a few weeks, I can tackle that a bit more of the basement and get some more things cleaned up.

My Podcasting is still not there yet, I did figure out some issues with my mixer, so I am hoping I am close to recording again. I sold my Mac Mini a few weeks back, and I have found another program that will allow me to enhance my Podcast on the PC.  So I need to get focused again on my collecting podcast, pick a topic, and start going on it. The Mixer really did take the wind out of my sails, if I was in a better position financially, I would sell it and get something else, and still might do that, but will see.

My Model building is still out there as well. I got the idea to build up my workspace down stairs so that it will have everything I need. Slowly I am building that up, the big thing right now is getting a new computer for the basement. I had my eye on laptop, but after looking for awhile, just nothing really impressed me in the price range I wanted to spend. I am now thinking that since I sold my Mac Mini, I will replace that with a newer one that is wireless. But I have been holding off, as I am not certain when they will be releasing a new version. I still have memory from the last Mac Mini I bought, and how a month or two after they came out with a wireless one. I don’t want the same thing to happen again, so I am taking a bit of a wait and see attitude to see if something new gets released in the next few months.

My reading is not going anywhere right now, I am thinking I might have to either set some time for myself each day to read, or pick a new book that will really grab me. I find I still spend a lot of wasted time each day, that I could be reading. So I am going to have to figure out where I can fit it in, as I know I have time, just pushing myself to do so.

So hopefully if I keep myself more accountable through these updates, that when I get to the end of the year, I will have more successes then failures in the terms of resolutions.

I was able to go and see Star Wars Episode 1 the Phantom Menace on opening day. This time around, it was in 3D. When it originally came out, I could not go opening day, as at the time I was busy at work, and a few other things happening that did not allow me to go first day. Being a big Star Wars fan, that always ate at me a little bit, so I have corrected that

I went with my Dad and two nephews, and had a good time. Epsiode 1 is what it is, and I know that a lot of people really dislike this movie. I will admit, that if I rank all the Star Wars movies, this one would be at the bottom of my list, as it can get a bit slow at times, and doesn’t have the best pacing. But to me, the movie does really setup what the Star Wars universe was, on a greater scale then the Original Trilogy ever did. I am a big Star Wars fan as stated, so I like to do the “Deep Dive” so to say into the who Star Wars universe. This movie gives a person plenty to get into, like myself, who wants to be immersed into that universe. I am really looking forward to the other movies coming out. The 3D in the movie was alright, I don’t think it will ever be a showcase 3D, but it was well applied in my opinion, and added some depth to the scenes. I guess maybe in the end, the 3D was more just a vehicle to get Star Wars back onto the big screen. I am amazed, that a movie that a lot of people pan, that 13 years after the fact, it still can get released into the theatre again. There are plenty of Academy Award winning movies that would not be able to be released 13 years after the fact, even some of the big blockbusters from the past few years, could not even get released again.

In the evening, I watched a great documentary on CTV/TSN hosted by Michael Lansberg. In the documentary he shared about his own struggles with depression, which I felt took a lot of courage to do so. There was one scene near the end of the documentary, that really resonated with me, not many words were spoken, but I could feel it, as I have felt it. Michael was talking with Mick Foley and Roddy Piper on his show, and at a break, he got up to take a break and walk away, just that little moment is one that I have had many times, and could sense what he felt at that time.

The documentary also really hit home with me as they talked to Stephane Richer former NHLer, Darryl Strawberry former MLBer and Clara Hughes a Gold Medal winning Olympic Athlete. It really did show to me, that people could look to have everything, but still depression is there, and they have struggles. They talked about an emptiness inside that cannot be filled, and I have felt that, they talked about being on top after winning and still cannot feel joy of the success, I felt that as well. It was a real powerful documentary, and meant a lot to me to see people struggling with the same things I do. I commend all those brave people for having the courage to be on the documentary and share with everyone else. I encourage people to watch this show, I think it is well worth it. It is called Darkness and Hope .

I have to admit, I am a bit nervous to write this post, as it is hard to admit to others my depression. I was talking with a friend during the day, there is still a stigma about depression, where a person is viewed of as weak, so why I was so inspired by the people who shared about theirs. To see people talking about it, and having the same feelings as I did, really did show me that this is a disease. This is something I have struggled with for years, it has flared to near intolerable levels 3 or 4 times in my life. Once in my teens where I actually did think of suicide, but a well timed call from a friend was able to draw me back. Another time in my first year of a new job, where it led to me breaking down in my managers office as the pressures of work overwhelmed me. Then the most recent time, which was a few years ago, where a difficult software upgrade at work pushed me to the brink, when it was done I went through months of post traumatic stress, and not really sure if I ever fully recovered from it.

But I think what is the most maddening for me, is that daily depression, the one that lays in the weeds, not enough to send you totally over board into despair, but enough that it holds you back from doing what you want in life. The type where by the time you get home from work, you don’t have energy or desire to really pursue what you want in life. The depression that always acts as a wall between myself and the life I want, causes me to doubt and second guess. Even this blog post took me a few days to write after the fact. But inspired by the brave people I saw on Bell Lets Talk day, I decided to write this. To beat this stigma of depression, I think more people like myself need to share and not be so afraid of what other might think. The day has shown me there are more people out there who go through depression and can help.

I have to say, I usually feel uneasy about days off, as I tend to have all these ideas, and when it does not pan out, I get feeling down. I guess I don’t like the idea of wasting a day off, but then that is usually what happens.

The first thing I did, was started to clean out my office. I had this on my 2012 resolutions, and I think I made some good progress on it. There is still some more I need to do, but I think I did a good job of getting rid of the clutter. I have to say it was harder then I was expecting, especially when I got to a bunch of old computer games. It took a bit of me to toss them in the trash, but I did. I guess the tough part is that I have some memories of those games, and playing them, and it was tough to part with. But I am not going to go back and play them, and they were taking up space. I don’t believe that I am hoarder, but at times I do see some of the same tendencies in me, like the one that something has a use, or like I stated, I have memory attached to it. I also cleaned out a bunch of other items, as well, keeping in my mind, that I will not be using this again, and it needs to go. I really could not believe how many boxes I have kept around. As well I threw out some old books that I will not be reading again, and also a bunch of cables that are not of use. Again, had to say to myself I am not going to be needing these, but it was hard. My next step is to paint the office and put up some shelves. That will come down the road, as now that I got some of the clutter out of the room, I might be able to get a vision of what I want.

It was near the end of the month, and my registration on my cars were due, so I headed to the registry place. It was busy as I suspect a lot of other people were doing the same thing. I was finally able to get the cars registered, with a day to spare. Truthfully, I had pretty much forgotten this, so it is a good thing I remembered or I could have been inline for a ticket if caught driving with an over due registration. Like anything, the cost of the registration has gone up. I don’t really fault the government, as things cost what they cost, but I will blame myself and the place I work for, for not keeping my salary more current. After that I headed to get some gas and a car wash. Not sure why I washed the car, as it was warm out, and pretty much dirty by the time I got home. I stopped off and got some spicy chicken wings for lunch and headed home.

Another thing I needed to do, was get my gas bill figured out. I had not received a bill in quite sometime and I had the gas company calling me. I had called them a few times, and they never knew anything. I would ask who is providing my gas, and they would not be able to tell me. Finally I got to the bottom of the issue, and it turned out that they had been sending the bills to the wrong address. I got that corrected, and fortunately the bill was not to high. I am going back to a shared services contract next month, so glad I got the loose ends tied up.

After that I packed up my Wii, and listed it on a for sale site. My Wife and I no longer use it, and I decided we may as well sell it and get something out of it. I asked what I felt was a fair price, and looks like I might possibly already have a buyer. I could have probably parted it out and sold it for much more, but did not really want to have multiple listings, and might take some time to sell that way. My guess who ever is buying it might be doing that, as they might have the means to do that. Maybe I watch to much Storage Wars/ Pawn Stars, but I could see where someone could double their money at least by parting it out. So I am hoping that by the end of the day, I have the Wii moved.

My next order of business is to list my Mac Mini, I am in the process of cleaning it up and then I will reinstall the OS on it, and then list it as well for sale. My plan is to buy a new Mac Mini, and will no longer need this one, so if I can get a bit of money for it, it will help goes towards the new one. I also have a bunch of change I am going to take to the bank, and see what I can get out of it.

So onto Tuesday, and I have the day off, so I am hoping I can have another productive day.

No further updates, but my other goals are still on my mind constantly, so hopefully in the next month I can start making those more of a reality.

It came down to I had the wrong driver selected in the recording program, and that I am limited to using this Mixer with a recording program that supports an ASIO driver. I am sort of up in the air about what I am going to do with the mixer. I don’t really like using the Cubase software that has come with the mixer, it is much more then I really need, as there is so many settings to configure. I might play around with it a bit over the next few months, record a few podcasts, and see how I feel. I sent the tech support a question as well if there is some other recording programs that would work with this mixer that I could try. I might just sell it as well , and use the money towards a different, less advanced mixer.

At least this is off my mind now, and I am grateful for that.  It has been a bit of a journey of frustration and doubt. So I am hoping now I can get my collecting podcast back on track, even if I have to use software I would not normally use. Hopefully this is the start of some good things coming for 2012.

One of the reasons why I like Sci-Fi so much, is for the Ships. There is something about them that really grab me, so I was thinking, why not talk about some of my favorites.

Original Series Cylon Raider

When I was a kid, a friend down the road from me, had a toy Cylon Raider, and I would remember going over and always gravitating to that toy. The Cylons in side were pretty small, and it shot little missiles, but I thought it was real cool. I am not really sure why I never asked for one from my parents, it might have been there were other Star Wars toys that I wanted more. But I had a lot of good times playing with my friends Raider.

When the updated Battlestar Galactica came out, I was interested to see what the new Cylon Raider would look like, and to be honest, I really did not like it, and still dont. I get the idea that in the new series that the Cylon and Ship are one, but I guess the design of it really did not grab me. They did come out with some larger Cylon ships that were bombers, that were more reminiscent of the original, but they never got a lot of screen time.

Jupiter 2

I think what I like about this ship, is it simplicity, as it really is just a saucer, almost like what one would imagine of a flying saucer from that era. It spun when it flew, landing and take off. It had a big front wind shield so to say, where they could look out to help navigate. But since it’s mission was to take the Robinson’s to different planets as they found a new place for the people of Earth, it was sort of a futuristic Motorhome.  There was two floors to it as we saw on the show, with the upper level for navigation, and the lower level for living.

It did seem for the size for the Ship, that they were able to pack a lot into it, as they had a Land Chariot, a bunch of equipments, and a crew of 7 plus a robot. The sets looked quite large compared to the scale of the ship when we saw it on the outside. I suspect back in the 60′s, they did not put as much thought into the scale like they would now. Also it was Lost in Space, so a very Cheesy show. But still, I really liked this ship, and some day I hope that I can get some sort of model of it.

Blackbird BSG

I chose the Blackbird out of all the Vipers as the one to put on my list as I found it different from the rest, but still very familiar to the over all design. They don’t really consider it a Viper, but part of me still does. It is cool as it is black, and made for stealth. Built from carbon fiber they use it to go on secret type missions when they want to do surveillance, since it cannot be detected like the standard Viper.

It was named Laura after president Roslyn on BSG, and it is a pretty simple design. There is not a lot to it, and it is pretty sleek. I think part of the reason why I like this ship so much, was that it was in some of my favorite BSG episodes. I always liked more of the space and ship based episodes compared to all the dramatic and arc based episodes. So anytime they got out in the ships and did battles or missions, I really liked the episodes.

Phoenix

This was a real cool ship in my opinion, it was a pretty basic design, and was blue and red. But what the Phoenix could do made it so special. 4 of the members had their own vehicles which would be located in different parts of the ship. It was always cool, when they would show clips of the Phoenix picking them up. Jason had a race car that would fit into the nose of the ship, Keyop had a buggy of some sort that was in one of the wings, Princess had a cool looking motorcycle that went in the other wing, and Mark had a jet that would be docked in a hangar in the back of the Phoenix. All their vehicles could transform from standard type vehicles to the special vehicles they used to protect Earth. Another thing that made this ship so cool, was that they could transform it into what was called the fiery Phoenix, which was that the ship turned into a flaming bird.

Original Series Basestar

Again, like the Cylon Raiders, I really liked these ships, especially when they traveled in numbers, as they looked like a formidable opponent. Basically they look like two disks which tapered down and connected to each other. They had a much different look to them then the Galactica did, since they did not have a real traditional ship look to them. I guess they are a Basestar, so in a sense probably more of a Spacestation then a ship. I guess another argument could be made that they come off a bit similar to the Deathstar, since both are sort of round, and a ship or station that does not have a lot of detailing to it.

So that is my list of top 5 Sci-Fi ships that are not in Star Trek or Star Wars. I was going to add honorable mentions, but to be honest, there are probably quite a few ships I could add, so I think I will leave it at this list. Also, I only included shows that I watched a lot of, as I am sure there are plenty more cool shows with cool ship I have not seen. Maybe this list is a bit of a reminder to me that I need to watch some more Sci-Fi . My Followup posts for Star Trek and Star Wars I will add Honorable Mentions.

I am a person who likes to make resolutions, but I will admit, more often then not, I don’t keep them. But this year I am in the mood to do so, so I will. The past few days, I was going through my older posts, and I did find it interesting to see how I was feeling at times over the past few years. So more the anything, this might be a post I come back to in a year or two from now, so will be interesting to see if I have progressed on what I want to achieve.

Fitness – Pretty common for everyone to make, but I think something I have to address. I am not in bad shape, but I could be better. I think in the past I have had very ambitious goals in the area of fitness, so I think I will just make the resolution to be more regular with exercising. That is what I struggle with the most, is that I will exercise regularly for a month or two, and then fall out of the schedule. Then all the gains I made go away, and I am basically left at the point when I am started. I do believe that being fit is a key to having a productive and happy life, so I am going to make a better effort to work at exercising and being more active. I want to try and mix it up a bit, maybe some walking, some exercise bike, and maybe a few other things thrown into the mix. I guess I do have a goal in that I would like to wear Jeans again, it has been years as I have felt I was to heavy for them, so I am hoping at some point in 2012, I can get a pair again.

Clean Up Around the House – My office is a mess, and I want to paint it, so I want to get onto that in 2012. Clean out some of the papers and things that I don’t need, and then paint it a different colour. I spend a lot of time in my office, so I would like it to be a room I like to spend time in. I have a few others Ideas I would like to do with it as well, so I will put forth the effort to remake this room somewhat.
Also my basement storage room is a real mess. It is dark and dirty, and that is another room I want to give some attention to. Clean out some old garbage, paint the walls to brighten it up, and change the flooring. It is not the best space, but I think I can make better use of it. I will have a few weeks of time off to use up in the first quarter of the year, so I am hoping to work on those projects at that time.

Hobbies – Each year I make the resolution to work on the pile of models I have in my basement, and I never do. But over the past few years I have been slowly building up my hobby area in the basement that I think I am close to getting to these. I want to buy a laptop, for reference when I am working on models, and I think I am close to doing so. So I really want to commit myself to getting some models done this year.
I also want to keep more regular with my Podcasts, as stated in my previous post, I have issues with my mixer, so my collecting podcast will be a bit of a ways off until that is sorted out, but once I do, I want to get back to my monthly schedule. I am hoping the laptop will help, as I think it will allow me to work more out of my basement, as I just work better underground
I also want to be more regular with reading, as I sort of fall off on that just like fitness. So I really want to make myself read a bit each day as I really do enjoy it. My Sister and her Husband bought me a bunch of books for Christmas, so I should have plenty to read for 2012. I am not going force myself to read a certain amount of books in a period of time, but if I can be regular with reading then I will be happy. Books are great, especially at work, as it is a few minutes I can escape to other places.

Collecting – The one goal for collecting I have had is getting a complete Star Wars vintage collection, and maybe a few vehicles as well. I sort have this in my mind each year, but other things come up, so it falls to the way side. So I think I will try and get back on this, and set myself to a schedule of one vintage figure a month. Some months will be more expensive depending on what I am looking for, and might make sense for me to mix in some of the more costly figures with the ones that are not as much. But it is something I really would like to accomplish as a collector, and I don’t think it is a unrealistic goal.
My other goal is not really my goal, but the hope that some of my pre-orders come through. I have pre-ordered a classic style Battlestar Galactica Viper Helmet, and hoping that it comes through in 2012. I also have a Premium Format Han Solo in Carbonite statue on pre-order, that should be in the 1st quarter of 2012. Both are a bit of money, but I am putting some money aside to help pay for them. They are two things I really excited about.
I will keep up with my Star Wars Kubricks and Hasbro Astro-Mechs, as I really enjoy those. Also there should be a few Star Trek Diamond Select ships on the way that I want to get, so I think that 2012 should be a decent year. Of course there will be some other things that come up over the year that I will want, but I will make sure that I keep to a budget. I do feel proud that over the past few years, I have really been more selective in what I buy, and really don’t have any regrets in terms of collecting.

Personal – I want to work harder at being happier with the person I am. I think I have come to realize who I am, and how I fit into this world. Some times I struggle with it, as I tend to compare myself to others, and fail to realize that everyone is different. For sure there are things I can change about myself, as they need changing. I tend to spend more time observing, then doing, and I really want to be a person that does instead of watches others live their life. I want to point to my accomplishment, and feel good and proud about them. This is a journey I work on every day, but the start of the year is a nice time to reflect on it.
I also need to get out of my head, as I tend to get lost in my own world in there, and at times I think I lose touch with the outside world. I will always be a bit of a introvert, but I would like to break that up more. I guess part of me worries that I will become consumed by my idiosyncrasies as I get older, so I am hoping that over the past year or so, I have come to recognize them, and  work at changing them a bit. The saying, idle hands are the Devils workshop is so true, so if I can keep myself more occupied, it will help with my overall personality.

I will have to come back to this post later in the year to see how I am doing on these. Most of these things on my list are nothing new, so maybe I am using the New Year as a bit of a check point on them, and re examine on how I approach them.

Just want to wish all the people who read this Blog a Happy New Year and all the best for 2012.

2010 I felt was a bad year for me, but 2011 was a pretty normal year, so I will take it. Nothing really jumped out at me as being overly special.

The highlight was the trip Tao tao and I took down to Yellowstone park in August. We went for a week, and spent some time in Montana and Wyoming, and it was nice. Not a big type vacation or anything, as we did not hit any major cities, but something that we could afford. I found a peaceful trip personally, as no stress of having to keep a schedule. We just sort of arrived when we arrived. The driving was pretty laid back, we spent a lot of time in the park hiking, and over all it was relaxing. I might not have felt it at the time, but I think it was a great trip that I needed, as I think it helped me get to a calmer place.

The Podcasting front was a bit of a let down. I started up my collecting Podcast JediJeffs Basement, but after a few episodes, I had to stop, as I ran into equipment issues. Basically I purchased a new mixer, as the previous one I could not record in stereo. I had the same issue with this one, as I cannot record in stereo. So I am sort of at a loss right now on it. I am working with the vendor to try and get it to record in stereo, but not going well. I really would like to do my podcast in stereo as it is a bit of a pride thing with me, so that is why I am not releasing anymore until I can get them recorded in stereo and sounding good. So I am hoping that in 2012, I can find some sort of resolution to this and get back to my collecting podcast. Champodcast is still going, we did more podcasts this year then last, but I think Jason and I want to commit ourselves to a better schedule and a more polished podcast.

On the work front, it was not the year that 2010 was. I would not call it a success at all, but more a realization about where I am with my career. I think I am ready to take another step in my career, but realize that it will not be with my current employer. So I will start the year more actively looking for other jobs that I feel I might be qualified for or that I find interesting, and see where it takes me. I was also talking to a co worker of mine about possibly a career change, and might look at going back to school if possible, and getting into some sort of engineering field. I also had another enlightening conversation with another coworker, who told me, where you really get ahead financially and maybe even in a job sense, is not what you do from 8 to 5, but what you do after those hours. So I want to also focus myself on trying to find more jobs in the website side of things, to do after hours. I am hopeful by 2013, I have made some moves in some direction to change up my life in the career area.

So looking back, 2011 was a pretty low key year. Nothing really jumps out as me at being overly memorable. But for being middle aged now, maybe that is alright, I might have needed the year, to get me prepared for 2012, and hopefully some changes.

Movies 2011

Due to a few different factors this year, the amount of movies I saw were much less then I had in the previous years. In the past, I would go to a movie every week, and I would see good movies, and ones that were not as good. But over the past few years, I have gotten much more selective on what I see, I think a lot of it has to do with the cost of Movies in general, and that I am married now, so I would be paying for 2 instead of one. But here is my list for the year 2011

I have to say, I really love this movie. When I saw it in the theatre, it just really grabbed me, and gave me a real good feeling. I think a lot of it has to do with it being such a nostalgic movie with it being set in the late 70′s. The kids were right around my age, and I could really relate to them. At times it felt like I was traveling through a time machine back to a time when things just seemed a bit more simple. The story as well was very much a throw back to some of those great Steven Speilberg movies of the 80′s, but as well felt very fresh compared to the movies we have to day. Not saying there is anything wrong with today’s movies, but it was nice break. All the actors in the movie were top notch, the Alien creature was cool, and the story for me left me with something to think about. This movie is a movie that I feel I can watch again and again, just because of the nice feelings it gives me.

2. Thor

I have to admit, that  going into the summer movie season, I was starting to wear down on Super Hero movies, as we had gotten so many the past few years, and this summer there were going to be a lot. But I think of all the Super Hero movies, this was the one I was looking the most forward to. I know nothing of Thor as I have never read the comic, but I liked the idea that he was sort of tied to the past, and also that he was from a different planet. I think maybe for me, it added something a bit different to the genre that some of the other Super Hero movies did not have. I saw this movie, and I have to say, I enjoyed it from start to finish. I saw it again on Blu-Ray and enjoyed just as much and maybe even more. I found the story moved very well, and that it took place in a few different locations, that were both very different, Asgard and Earth. There is something about this movie, just like Super 8 that left me with a very comfortable feeling. There was a post on the Treks in Sci-Fi forum about comfort movies, and if I was to add movies to that list, This one and Super 8 would be added to that list.  This movie I can watch over and over, and always find some enjoyment out of it.

3. The Adventures of TinTin

I normally don’t like movies that are a mix between life action and cartoon, so when I heard that TinTin was going to be that, I was a bit let down as I was hoping for live action.  I have to say after watching this movie, I was very pleased with the result. I felt they did a Fantastic job and it matched up with my idea of him from the comics. The story was action packed and a lot of fun, the 3D was awesome in this, and I was really pulled into the story. This movie was based off some of the comics, and I recalled parts of the stories. It has been years since I had read the comics, but after watching this movie, it has made me want to read the comics again. I really hope they make another, as this movie was really great.

4. Cowboys and Aliens

This was the movie I was most anticipating for the summer. Just the concept of a Western mixed with Sci-Fi had me really intrigued, and I could not wait for this to come out. I was pretty pleased with this movie, I thought it caught the wild west pretty well. Sort of left me wishing they would do more westerns, as they just don’t make many of those anymore. The Sci-Fi element was pretty good as well, and it was fun to see how the Cowboys took on the Aliens at the end. I will say I was hoping for maybe a larger Alien presence, but I guess from a story aspect, if there is to much Alien technology, then it would have been to much for the Cowboys to over come. But I have to say, this is two thumbs up from me, and a nice change from movies we might normally see.

5. Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon

I was never a big Transformers fan when I was younger, as it sort of got popular when I was getting into my teens, so I guess you could say I was a bit to old at the time . But the 3 movies so far I have really enjoyed. I know a lot of people have a lot of complaints about them, as they find that they are not as true as they could be to the cartoons, I can’t really argue with those comments, since I never really grew up with Transformers. This movie I really enjoyed, and I found that it was very well filmed, the 3D was awesome, the movie had bright and vivid colors. I really like the full out carnage that happens in this move, and really enjoyed nearly every piece of it. I also did not miss Megan Fox at all and found Rosie Huntington-Whiteley to be a good replacement. I guess the complaint is that the female leads might be sexualized to much, and maybe that is so, but I thought for what the movie was about, she did a great job. My one complaint about this movie, which is weird, is I really disliked the NASCAR tie in, as the scenes they had just really threw me out of the movie, but besides that, really enjoyed the movie.

Honorable Mention: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

I just went to this recently, more so because my wife wanted to see it. But I have to say, it was really good, maybe almost good enough to make my top 5. I find Tom Cruise the person a bit weird, but as an actor he is top notch. This movie was really stunning and all the tech gadgets really cool as well. Every time I see a Mission Impossible movie, it feels like it is better then the last one. So I have to say, I thank my wife for making me go with her.

Regrets

I think my main regret was the amount of movies I missed this year, as I saw way less then I normally would. Top of the list would be X-Men first class, as for some reason, when it came out, I was either busy or something about it was holding me back from seeing it. I picked it up on Blu-Ray and will be watching it soon, but I am thinking that I might regret not seeing this one in the theatre. I also regret that I fell behind on the Harry Potter movies, as I missed the last one, since I had not seen the one previous. So it is another I will have to wait and see later. I missed a few others like Conan that I wanted to see in the theatre, and really wanted to see more movies this year.

Television – 2011

These were my favorite TV shows for 2011. Was hard to come up with a list as liked a lot of shows and found a lot of them really close in how I felt.

Great show, I really love it. It is a show both my Wife and I can watch, which is rare as we don’t watch many of the same shows. The past season has been awesome, with Episodes occurring in different universes with the same characters, but slightly different. The 4th season started off with Peter missing, and leading up to him coming back. They have really taken this show in a direction I never dreamed of. They have a good mix of episodes that tie into the mythology of the series, as well stand alone episodes. Just a really great show, that I enjoy a lot.

2. Hawaii 5.0

This reboot I really like a lot. Normally I like more of the shows with a bit of a Sci-Fi angle to them, but this show is just a lot of fun, with a lot of action. I like all the actors on the show, I like the cool sets and scenery, makes me really want to go to Hawaii. I find as well they have a good mix of stand alone shows and ones that tie into a larger plot of the series. This is one show that I make a habit to watch pretty quickly each week.

3. How I met Your Mother

I really enjoy this show a lot, it is very funny, but also has some deeper themes to it as well. I think as well this show has a lot of hidden geek cred to it, which they pull off so well. It sort of comes off much more real then a show like the Big Bang Theory. Every time I watch this show, I get some good laughs, as the comedy they do in it is something I really like. They had some deeper episodes last year as well, like when Marshall’s Dad died, it was so unexpected and just very well done. Another show that I try and watch as quickly as I can.

4. The Office

I still really enjoying this show, even with Michael Scott leaving. I found his replacement Robert California to be just as funny and given the series a bit of a different feel. Some of the episodes still feel very close to what it is like to work in an office, so at times it is fun to laugh at things that might be very true.

5. Person of Interest

This was a new show in the Fall, and I have to say, I am really enjoying it. I like the idea of being able to predict crimes that will happen, and then having a pair of vigilantes working to prevent them. It has a bit of a loose sci-fi twist in how they are able to predict what will happen, and they are just starting to get into deeper elements of the story, which I feel are going to get real interesting in the second half of the season. I like Michael Emerson in this show, I feel it is a great followup from his work on LOST.

Honorable Mention: Castle/The Mentalist/Terra Nova

I could not decide between these 3, and truthfully, these could have all hit my top 5 list as well. Terra Nova I felt got better as the season progressed, but it started out very weak. I have been enjoying Castle and the Mentalist as well, they are always very solid, but for me, from a strict crime based show, I will give Hawaii 5.0 the nod. But with that said, both Castle and The Mentalist are great shows that I look forward to watching every week. Again, any 3 of these shows could have easily been put on my top 5.

Regrets

I think my largest regret for 2011 is the lack of Sci-Fi shows. I really enjoy Sci-Fi, but there just was not much on for me to watch. I am hoping in the new year with Space Channel being broadcast in HD on my cable provider that I might find a Sci-Fi series I have been missing out. People talk about a few, but I have never seen them since they were never on HD, so hopefully I can go back and catch up.