With Christmas just a few days away and the new year not much further off I was reflecting on the past year. Aw yes, reflection—something that is abundant online and in the mind—seems these days reflection is everywhere. There are going to be plenty of bloggers talking about great designs of 2006 and predictions for 2007 but not me, I don’t fit in that realm. I rather talk about, well, me (that’s a joke y’all)!
Taking stock in the last year made me realize that I’d forgotten I had undertaken some big changes in my life. I bought a car then shortly thereafter left my secure job of 3 years (and health benefits) to go in business with 2 other people then left that business to sit here and write this entry, i.e. I’m unemployed, but I’m happier this year than I have been in quite some time and that’s the largest, shiniest reflection of all. I guess what I’m trying to say is all in all, it’s been a pretty good year and nothing makes a year better than a list, at least that’s what they say on all the respectable blogs…or are they?
So without further ado, “20 Things I’ve Enjoyed This Year.”
Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus.
The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship and betrayal, and about the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of fathers over sons — their love, their sacrifices, and their lies.
When four decidedly eccentric members of a Washington, D.C.–based conspiracy watchdog organization witness the brutal murder of a National Intelligence Center employee, they become entangled in an all-too-real drama that includes an intricate terrorist plot to kidnap the president—and ignite WWIII.
A murder mystery set against a religious conspiracy theory involving Leonardo Da Vinci’s paintings, Jesus, Mary Magdalene, their child and the Holy Grail, The Da Vinci Code mixes page-turning suspense with art history, architecture and religious history.
Anyone who has managed the process of developing or redesigning a Web site of significant size has likely learned the hard way the complexities, pitfalls, and cost risk of such an undertaking. While many Web development firms have fantastic technical expertise, what sets the topnotch organizations apart is the ability to accurately manage the planning and development process. Web Redesign: Workflow That Works directly addresses this crucial area with a specific, proven process.
This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.
Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Now, 20 years later he’s decided to try to fulfill his lifelong dream by asking her for a date. There’s one small problem: She’s Drew Barrymore and he’s, well, Brian Herzlinger, a broke 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker from New Jersey.
Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him.
Tells the seemingly random yet vitally connected story of a set of incidents that all converge one evening at 11:14pm. The story follows the chain of events of five different characters and five different storylines that all converge to tell the story of murder and deceit.
As the devoutly single Don Johnston is dumped by his latest girlfriend, he receives a anonymous pink letter informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him. The situation causes Don to examine his relationships with women instead of moving on to the next one, and he embarks on a cross-country search for his old flames who might possess clues to the mystery at hand.
Welcome to Trinity, S.C., a small town with more chills than charm, where sinister Sheriff Lucas Buck won’t let anyone—including local doctor Matt Crower or the determined Gail Emory—stand in the way of his evil plans. Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) served as producer for this cult-hit television classic created by teen idol Shaun Cassidy, which lasted for a single season.
During the day, Dexter Morgan is a jovial employee in the Miami Metropolitan Police Depoartment’s crime lab, but his meticulously crafted life masks his true nature. In reality Dexter is a disciplined and murderous psychopath (a self-admitted “monster”), and he slakes his bloodlust at night by carefully killing the serial killers he tracks down during the day. Based on the novels (Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter and Dexter in the Dark) by Jeff Lindsay.
Several crises threaten Tony and his crew; for starters, rival boss Johnny Sack is in prison, and the always-tense relations between the New Jersey and New York families are strained through the unpredictable behavior of Sack’s surrogates. Then there are the inevitable power struggles that ensue when certain family members are eliminated, by natural and other causes.
Season four of ‘The Wire’ centers on the lives of four young boys as they traverse adolescence in the drug-saturated streets of West Baltimore. The new episodes of the series examine their world through the theme of education, asking viewers to consider the world that awaits these boys, and to consider further the American commitment to equal opportunity. Probably the best season since the first.
This one-hour weekly docu-soap from the creator/executive producer of “American Chopper” follows a group of real-life paranormal researchers as they investigate haunted houses throughout the country, encountering every type of imaginable haunting. Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, plumbers by trade, head up TAPS—The Atlantic Paranormal Society—a group of ordinary, everyday people with an interest in getting to the bottom of your otherworldly disturbances.
How about you? What have you enjoyed this year?
My name’s Jen; I’m a cynical, sarcastic, ex-drummer who is fond of dark humor. I've held way too many factory & retail jobs but finally found my calling one Christmas holiday in a dark, musty basement. I am now a CSS & XHTML web standards looney and can be found daily—when I’m not at my Mac—at the local fair-trade coffee shop buying an iced-soy mocha no matter the temperature.
I am also the owner of Pop Stalin Design specializing in CSS & XHTML web design as well as custom WordPress themes.
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