I know this is late…It’s already April, but I had the idea to blog about it today while sitting at work. Wednesdays are very boring for me. I have three classes in the morning, and nothing after lunch. So since I have a lot of free time, I figured I’d let you know what I did, and didn’t like from 2009.
Vacation:
We took a lot of trips in 2008. We went to Taiwan, China, various places around Korea, and of course our trip to America. The winner is: China!
Almost a year ago, Shadi and I had a short break from school. We decided to take 3 days and go to Beijing. It was so worth it! I have to say my favorite part of the trip was of course, The Great Wall. Trying to describe it is nearly impossible. You really can’t grasp the ingenuity and just how impressive it is until you are there. Driving up to it, it was just amazing to see how huge the mountains are. We went at the perfect time. The weather was perfect, and we went right when it opened, and there were hardly any people there when we were first starting out. All in all, we had a fantastic time in China. However, we wouldn’t go back to Beijing. I think if we ever go back to China, it’ll be to a more rural area and see the landscape. I’m tired of visiting cities. The worst part of our city was how tired we were. We walked so much in those 3 days that we needed a vacation for our vacation!
The worst vacation we went on was to Taiwan. It was so boring and all the books we had for the country was terrible. People weren’t friendly at all, everything was dirty, and we just didn’t have a good time. The best part of the vacation was the zoo. Taipei has an amazing zoo. Also, the Taipei 101 was really cool too, and we got to ride our first bullet train, which was fantastic.
Best Album
Easily for me, the best album of 2009 is Dream Theater’s Black Clouds and Silver Linings. I’m a huge Dream Theater fan, and of course, I was so excited for the new album to come out last June. The album mainly deals with fear and loss. Usually of the band members contribute lyrics and music. This album however, all but one song are about personal experiences by the drummer, Mike Portnoy, and the guitarist, James Petrucci.
Four songs are written by Petrucci, three about personal experiences. A Nightmare to Remember is about a horrible car accident he was in as a child. Wither is about his song writing and his fears of writers block. The Count of Tuscany is about an experience he had in Tuscany, where he thought he was going to die. Finally, he wrote A Rite of Passage about the Freemasons.
Here is the music video for A Right of Passage. It’s not the full song because they had to cut it for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZNZAgbgMeY
Wither was also made into a music video. It’s a slower song, and most of you might like this one better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpMDEQSwXjw&feature=related
And one of my personal favorites, The Count of Tuscany. The song is 19 minutes long, but it’s amazing, and the story is very amusing if you listen to the lyrics. This is part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbuCNSm3Tb0
Portnoy wrote two songs (and when I say songs, I mean lyrics. All of the band members write the music for all the songs together). A little back story: Portnoy is a recovering alcoholic. He wrote 5 songs spanning several album about the twelve steps of alcoholism. The first song was released on their album that came out in 2002, and is finally finished with The Shattered Fortress on Black Clouds and Silver Linings. I have to say, this is another personal favorite of mine on the album. Especially the final line, “I am responsible, when anyone, anywhere reaches out for help, I want my hand to be there.” It gives me chills every time I hear it.
The last song Portnoy wrote for the album is The Best of Times. He wrote the song for his father, who was diagnosed with cancer before the album was written. Luckily, Dream Theater was able to record the album, and Portnoy was able to play the song for his father before he died. I love this song. It brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. It’s so sweet. “…a young boy and his father, idol and best friend. I’ll always remember, those were the best of times!”
You can listen to A Shattered Fortress part 1 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4oA3nuxs7E&feature=related
And The Best of Times part 1 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKGsLTSsQk4&feature=related
I don’t have a worst album of 2009…mostly because I’ve been obsessed with Dream Theater. Another album I like from 2009 is the Glee soundtrack. I love that show…which brings us to….
Best New TV Show
I have to say, the best new TV show of 2009 was Glee. I love that show! It’s about a high school glee club, and all the drama from high school. It’s a great show, but it’s not for everyone. I’m not much of a fan of musicals, but they have some real talent on the show, and I laugh at least 3 times during each episode…which is hard for a show to do. Glee airs Tuesdays on Fox.
Another great show from 2009 is Flashforward. Flashforward is about what happens after the entire planet blacks out and sees the future for 2 minutes. It’s a pretty fun show. You can see Flashforward on ABC on Thursdays.
The worst new TV show of 2009 is Stargate Universe. I tried to like SGU…I really did. I love love love SG-1 and Atlantis, which Universe is based on, but I just hate it! It’s just like Battlestar Galactica. It’s not even a Stargate show! It has none of the charm of the other two series, and I’m giving it one more episode before I give up on it altogether. I hate the shaky cam from BSG, I hate all the stupid “drama” and horrible characters that no one cares about. I also hate all the stupid camera angles. It just doesn’t have any charm, and really forced plots.
Best Movie
I don’t have just one favorite movie from 2009. I saw a lot of movies, and some I really liked, and some I hated.
I think my favorite movie was Up! I love Pixar, and I couldn’t get enough of Up! The movie was so fantastic. It touched a lot of sensitive subjects (i.e. death and absent parents), and the story was just amazing. I cried 3 times during it. Don’t let the idea of a “child’s” movie make you think twice about this movie. It’s amazing and reaches people at any age in life.
Other movies I recommend you see:
Gran Torino: Yes, technically it is a 2008 movie, but it had a wide release in 2009
Martyrs: It’s a 2008 French horror film, but I saw it last year, and was released in Korea in 2009. It’s really depressing and apart of the French “torture” movement. It’s brutal.
Precious: this movie is really depressing, but really well acted and the story is good.
Zombieland: really really fun horror flick.
District 9: a great flick from South Africa. I was totally blown away.
Food, Inc: a scary look into the food industry in America. Buy local!
The Blind Side: It’s good, but I don’t think Sandra Bullock should have won best actress.
Paranormal Activity: I was very surprised by this movie. It scared the crap out of Shadi and I. Watch it with the lights out!
Julie and Julia : Only for Meryl Streep. She’s amazing.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil : It’s a documentary about the band Anvil! Never heard of them? Not surprising. Just watch it to see how pathetic these guys are.
I also want to mention a 2008 Australian film called Lake Mungo. This movie only recently got released in 2010 in America, but I want more people to see it. It’s totally unpredictable. I had no idea where the movie was going, but it was terrifying (in a spooky way. There is no gore in the movie).
The worst movies of 2009 are: Knowing, Friday the 13th, Last House on the Left, Drag Me to Hell, The Unborn, Angels and Demons, The Broken, The Proposal, The Reade‘, Revolutionary Road, The Invention of Lying, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Sherlock Holmes, I Love You, Man, The Princess and the Frog, The Hangover, Star Trek, An Education, and The Hurt Locker.
That is it from 2009. I hope you enjoyed my list. Again, sorry it’s so late!
Kathleen
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