Sometimes it feels like I did more stuff outside of my goals list than inside. Here is a reckoning of part of that, with some commentary as I deem, not fit, exactly, but something. This list also doesn’t include movies from my 2011 list.
Books
I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to my kids.
TV
Hadn’t seen before:
- The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (season 1)
- Caprica (season 1/the series)
- Dexter (season 6)
- The Guild (season 4)
- Homeland (season 1)
- Mr. Bean (the series)
- Mr. Sunshine (season 1/the series)
- The Office (seasons 1-2)
- Phineas and Ferb (seasons 1-2, part of 3)
My friend Ben got us watching Phineas and Ferb. The whole family loves it. Often my 3-year-old and I will watch an episode on Netflix on my phone before he goes to bed, and when we finished the available episodes, we decided to try out The Avengers, which another friend had recommended to me a year or so ago. My boy loves it, and I think it’s a pretty fun show, too. He loves it so much that he wants to be Captain America, complete with pretending various household objects are his shield and throwing them vigorously about the house.
My sister has been telling me for a couple of years to watch The Office, and a few weeks ago I finally started watching, after having enjoyed Steve Carell in a number of movies. I don’t know how I wasn’t interested in the show before, because it is funny, at least up to where I am–the middle of season 3.
I always say that I’m watching enough shows as it is and I can’t be adding more, and I always lie. In addition to The Office, this year I also started Mr. Sunshine, because I enjoy Matthew Perry. Only nine episodes aired before it was canceled, though apparently there are four more on the DVD release that I’ll have to watch sometime.
After watching Battlestar Galactica, I got the Caprica DVDs from Netflix. It was a good show with some interesting elements, but ultimately not as fun as BSG.
The Guild is a hilarious web series and I watch the seasons on Netflix when they come out. Hopefully season 5 will hit shortly. I love Felicia Day.
I heard about Homeland on a TV site, I think, but had no interest until I found out it stars Damian Lewis, who I loved on Life, and also Morena Baccarin of Firefly fame (and I guess V, which I haven’t seen). With those two, I gave it a shot and loved it. Claire Danes is also good in it, and the guy from The Princess Bride, Inigo Montoya. The only unfortunate part is that it’s on Showtime, which means too much swearing.
Had seen before:
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Saturday Night Live, various “best of” compilations
Movies
Hadn’t seen before:
- Bad Teacher
- Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
- Despicable Me
- Grown Ups
- most of Hackers
- Juno
- The Men Who Stare at Goats
- The New Guy
- RED
- Tron
- 12 Monkeys
- Wake Up, Ron Burgundy!
- Zombieland
A co-worked recommended Zombieland to me based on my expressed like of Emma Stone. I did not like Zombieland, except for the part with Bill Murray, which was awesome.
I had no desire to see Grown Ups but watched it with my sister and her husband while I was visiting them last April. It was not as bad as I thought it would be, but Adam Sandler has still fallen far from his ’90s days.
I watched Juno because I had heard it was good and Ellen Page is in it. It also has Michael Cera, who I’ve liked watching in just about everything I’ve seen him in. And J.K. Simmons, who is awesome all the time, always. The movie was okay, but not what I’d hoped for.
Hackers was one of those movies that it seemed like everyone but me had seen, so I checked it out on Netflix streaming. It was pretty bad. I couldn’t press through to the end and gave up with about half an hour to go.
I had never seen Tron (the original) that I can remember, so we watched it before watching Tron: Legacy. Both were pretty lame, though the original was less lame.
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy! is a movie compiled from deleted and alternate scenes cut from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. It was surprisingly entertaining and coherent, for a given definition of coherent.
I watched Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop after reading Eric D. Snider’s review of it, and liking Conan when I do watch late night talk shows, which is very rarely. It was a pretty good documentary.
What possessed me to watch Bad Teacher, I know not, but it was not very good and I regret it.
Had seen before:
- Big Trouble
- A Bug’s Life
- Dumbo
- Elf
- Ernest Goes to Camp
- Ernest Goes to Jail
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- Home Alone
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
- Hot Rod
- The Lion King
- Ratatouille
- The Santa Clause 2
- WALL-E
- Up
Video Games
First time plays:
- Donkey Kong Country Returns
- Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4
- Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7
- Metroid: Other M
Replays:
- Metroid Prime
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii