My Favorite Movies of the Year*

It's getting to be that time of year when people talk about their favorite things. Me being a "people", I figured it would be appropriate to write a list of my favorite films.

10. Attack the Block

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

8. Thor

7. Captain America

6. Step Up 3D

Game Night

Like the person who wrote the article that inspired me to write this post (http://www.rocket-shoes.com/board-games-revisited-as-an-adult/), I am not a competitive person. For me, I thrive when nobody is watching or pushing me. I am not a great strategist and I focus more on harmony than how to prevail. I like to build and create, but only for myself. I follow rules, but I don't focus on minutia and I tend to scrutinize them if I don't understand the logic. All this means that I am not a natural game player, but I end up playing some of the most obscure and complicated games on a regular basis.

See, I live with three guys who love games. They stay on top of which games have won the Spiel des Jahres and frequent websites like Boardgame Geek. They thrive when it comes to strategy and numbers. We have a whole cabinet full of games and new ones come every couple of weeks. I play because they play. That isn't to say I don't have fun. I enjoy the company and there are a few games that I genuinely like. There are also more than a few games that I loathe.

In general, I tend to like simpler games that focus more on creativity (Dixit, Loaded Questions). I'm also a sucker for games that have a theme I like or good art (Last Night On Earth, Small World). I'm not usually a fan of games that put players in direct conflict with one another or games that rely heavily on chance (Settlers of Catan, Family Business). I'm playing the game not to win, but as means to socialize and relax. When I have to think too much, it stops being relaxing and when I have to make opponents out of my friends, it stops the socializing. I like games, I just don't like it when they get in the way of fun.

They Were Tears Of Joy!!!

Dear the Internet,

Saying you like Pixar is like saying you like the Beatles; of course you do, everybody does. I like Pixar. A lot. I've seen almost all of their movies in theaters. I have most of them on DVD. I've even met Brad Bird (writer/director of Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille) while I was working at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. It was just a handshake and a hello, but I still cherish it. So, because Cars 2 is coming out tomorrow (and even though it's getting bad reviews, I still want to see it), I thought it would be fun to rank my favorite Pixar movies. This, with a few exceptions, was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. To make things interesting, I'm also going to just admit the point at which they made me cry. Fair warning though, there are spoilers in here, especially when I talk about what made me cry.

A True Love

Dear the Internet,

I have a new love in my life and her name is 16 oz Insulated Klean Kanteen.

I upgraded from a Nalgene to my blue 27 oz Klean Kanteen a little over ago year and haven't looked back. It's durable, doesn't taste like plastic when the water gets warm, and doesn't give me brain tumors or whatever was supposed to happen if you drank out of an old Nalgene.

Getting My Ass Kicked

Dear the Internet,

When it comes to playing sports in general, I would give myself a B-. I, unfortunately, wrestled in high school, so I don't have a whole lot of skills that carry over to playing sports socially. For some reason, nobody ever wants to start a recreational wrestling team or go and have a wrestle at a picnic. Most of what I've learned about how to play different sports comes from playing pick up games in college. This means that if you're looking for somebody to do a layup or juggle a soccer ball or do anything with grace, I'm probably not your guy.

Hitting The Road

Dear the Internet,

Last year I ran the SF Marathon and finished just fast enough to say that I "ran" it. I had a lot of fun, but towards the end of training I was spending two hours running after having a full work day. This year I couldn't really justify the time commitment, so I signed up for the half marathon. I didn't really stop running after the marathon, but I definitely cut way back. I've started to ramp it back up in preparation for the race. This means that I get to put on those wonderful shorts that show off my pasty white, tree trunk legs and don the running shirts that let you know precisely where my nipples are.