THE BEST OF 2011

A few more days, and we'll say goodbye to 2011.

Normally, I post this on the 31st, but I have a feeling that I'm not going to have internet access again, just like last Christmas, I thought to just post this today. My favorites of 2011.

But before I proceed, I'd like to give thanks to all the readers, followers, contest participants, all those silent readers, the people who followed my twits and liked my Facebook page (I am hoping you'd interact with me more there, specially those non-bloggers who I really don't know personally). I appreciate your taking your time to read about what goes on inside my head, even if most of the time they're not that interesting.

Enough drama, let's get on with the awards:

BEST MOVIE (International)
LAST YEAR: Toy Story 3
This film wasn't a part of my nominees of best films for the year, and I don't really think you'd all agree that it's the best film of the year if you see it. There were three films this year that gave me a wide smile after finishing the movie. Harry Potter, Crazy Stupid Love and my pick this year for best movie... The Help. It's a period film about a girl who wrote a book detailing the challenges of being a 'colored' maid, earlier in the last century. It's a film that you'd really root for the protagonists of the story. It made you care about the characters. I don't know what it is with Emma Stone, but so far she hasn't done any bad film in my book.
RUNNER-UP: Crazy Stupid Love, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

BEST MOVIE (Local)
LAST YEAR: My Amnesia Girl
This is the year of the indie films. Before, when I hear indie movie I instantly think of gay films. This year's best film is essentially a gay film, but it defied the norm. Zombadings: Patayin Sa Shokot Si Remington didn't have mandatory sex scene. It did not portray us Filipinos as poor people. And it made me laugh out loud throughout the entire movie. Films like these and Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank gave me hope that Pinoys can do really good films and not just cheesy romantic comedies. Although I'm really looking forward to seeing Unofficially Yours next year (John Lloyd forever!!!).
RUNNER-UP: Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank, No Other Woman

GAME OF THE YEAR
LAST YEAR: Mass Effect 2
The last few months have been hard on my wallet. All the good games came out within  weeks of each other. But there was no other game this year that made me stay at home on weekends, forget that I'm in a relationship and basically ruined my social life other than The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This game literally has no ending. I'm 100+ hours into the game, yet I'm still not half into the main story. Massive is not an appropriate description of Skyrim. It's not a perfect game. I own the PS3 version and I experience (take note, it's in the present tense) lag whenever I've played more than 6 hours of the game, it's not for those people who crave action every minute into the game (you do a LOT of walking in Skyrim), and even if it's got a hundred of people in the world, you'll hear the same voices over and over again. But then it lets you kill dragons. DRAGONS for cripes sake! Nuff said.
RUNNER-UP: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Gears of War 3,

BEST OF TV
LAST YEAR: Dexter
This year I'm really torn about this category. A lot of shows really deserve being on this list. I really got hooked on all these shows this year and they really delivered the goods. But I have to make one choice. Game of Thrones. Where else can you see incest, blood, gore, sexposition (exposition while in the middle of having sex), beheadings, DRAGONS, and heroes not be safe from death? Nowhere. Well, Once Upon A Time just did the last part. HBO didn't just give us a modern day Lord of the Rings. They stayed faithful interpretation of the original George Martin series (A Song of Ice and Fire) and they gave it to us in 10 straight weeks. I can't wait for April to see Season 2 (A Clash of Kings).
RUNNER-UP: Once Upon A Time, Shameless

BEST OF PINOY TV 
LAST YEAR: Showtime
I don't get to religiously watch the primetime teleseryes, but from time to time i try to catch up. There aren't a lot of shows that I find really interesting. Like I said in a previous post, some of the stories being shown these days are recycled stories from before but only give a different twist that would at least make it seem like a new show. Lost relative. Kidnapping/hostage taking towards the end. But it's not really those scenes that make us watch them. It's in the meat of the story. The acting. The way it makes us feel better about ourselves seeing we don't have family members who want us dead. And it's always a positive if it makes us laugh. I've always been a fan of Xyriel's acting, and seeing Coney Reyes brings me back to those days when I was a kid watching my mom cry while watching Coney Reyes on Camera. 100 Days to Heaven deserves this award.
RUNNER-UP: Budoy

COMIC EVENT OF THE YEAR
LAST YEAR: The Thanos Imperative
Earlier this year, Marvel said that 2011 was going to be the year of the mutants. They did good on that promise with really great stories like Schism and Regenesis. But undeniably, this year's event is the Dark Angel Saga. Critics have been unanimous in proclaiming this storyarc as a modern day classic. Comparisons with The Dark Phoenix Saga is well-deserved, if not an understatement. This is an awesome story. The tale of Angel's descent into becoming the heir of Apocalypse is as gripping and as emotionally straining as other literary classics. It's beautiful when it started and much more how it ended. The Dark Angel Saga is a perfect example of how to write a comic event.
RUNNER-UP: DC: The 52 Initiative, Spider-Island

BEST COMIC SERIES
LAST YEAR: The Walking Dead
While The Dark Angel Saga instantly put Uncanny X-Force on the front row of this list, credit must also be given to other perfectly written series. And my hats off to Scott Snyder in making me read Batman. His Detective Comics was just riveting. A story you can't put down and stop reading. He knows his Batmen, whether it's Bruce or Dick, and he knows how to give them a challenge. Detective Comics' The Black Mirror and now his Batman's Court of Owls storylines are just some of the best stories published this year. I don't want him to leave this book as I think Scott and Batman are a perfect fit. Credits to Jock, Francesco Francavilla and Greg Capullo for giving the matching tone in terms of the art for Scott's words.
RUNNER-UP: Uncanny X-Force, Amazing Spider-Man

BEST IN MUSIC
LAST YEAR: Baby (Justin Bieber)
We don't really get a lot of quality Filipino music these days. I don't know if we're lacking good songwriters or if we just ran out of creative juice in terms of song making. What we're left with are bands with song whose lyrics don't always make sense and really good singers singing really used up remakes of songs. Then in came Zia Quizon's Ako Na Lang. It's refreshing in the ears. It sounds sosyal. It's uptempo. And you can't help but put the song on repeat. I loved this song. Whenever my phone randomly plays this song, I wouldn't listen to anything else anymore. I am not sure if her album contains remakes too (hopefully not), but listening to these kinds of songs make me hopeful in our ailing music industry.
RUNNER-UP: Adele

NEWS OF THE YEAR
LAST YEAR: President Noynoy
Don't you just hate it when Filipinos are put in bad light. I am proud to be a Filipino. I don't want to leave this country. But when you have an incompetent and bratty President, a corrupt ex-president, a boxer who longs to someday become a Vice President (or God forbid the future President), a sibling rivalry that ended up in murder between a Senator's half sister and poor brother headlining the news, it makes you change your mind a bit. Thank God, Shamcey Supsup and Gwendolyn Ruais made us forget about those thing even for just a couple of hours. They may not have won their crowns, but at least our attentions have been diverted to something pretty and not nasty.
LAST YEAR: The Arroyo's

BLOG OF THE YEAR
LAST YEAR: The Deadbeat Club
I loved short posts. They are easier to read. They don't make my nose bleed. And when done the right way, they entertain. I don't like long posts. I don't like posts written so lengthily with no direction and have no point. Bloggers tend to do that. But there is one blogger that does that, yet he still successfully gets me engaged in reading his long posts. He got me reading through his ordeal in finding an empty cubicle where he can dump his shit. I don't know how anyone could be so gifted in words. I'm jealous. His blog is not for everybody, you'd probably find this guy arrogant or snobbish. He probably won't find the time to visit your blog back if you comment on his posts. But he is a great read. This year the Best Blog is Lio's Same Shit, Different Day.
RUNNER-UP: Wickedmouth, Human, All Too Human, Ms. Chuniverse

Agree? Disagree? What were your bets for the year? And you've got til Sunday to join my little pacontest, see posts below. :)

I might not be online again on Sunday, so HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone!!!