Remember Apple's Newton?
Not many people do. It was one of many Apple flops from the 1990s. It died an ignominious death in 1998.
As much as it's been fun to see what Steve Jobs as done with Apple since he regained his leadership role, the new iPad reminds me of the Newton.
It's really not that cool.
Sell your Apple stock before its too late.
Best Blog: Land of Laura Lot. Honest. Insightful. Funny. Great storyteller. Give her a read. Best Movie: Gran Torino. This Clint Eastwood picture just edged out The Dark Knight for my best movie of the year. This movie isn’t in wide release until January 2009 but I got a sneak peek at it over the holidays and I really liked it. Both movies had themes of sacrifice, redemption, and salvation but Eastwood’s pick did it on a more intimate, personal level. Look for my review sometime next week.
Worst Movie: The X-Files: I Want to Believe. I loved this TV show – except for the final episode. This movie however, had none of the magic that made the show so popular. How can you have a true X-File movie without aliens or true paranormal stuff going on. This movie didn’t have any of that. Just a pedophile priest. Yuck!
Best Book: Discovered two great writers this year: Lee Child and Robert Crais. All their novels are wonderfully written with great plots and characters. It came down to Crais’ The Watchman and Child’s Echo Burning. I’ll give the edge to Echo Burning simply because Reacher’s a more intriguing character. Both books, however, are great reads.
Worst Book: Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love that Survived by Herman Rosenblat. Don’t call it a memoir if you’re going to make it up. (Read more about it here.)
Best TV Show: LOST. If this comes at a surprise, you haven’t been reading my blog very long.
Worst TV Show: Don’t watch enough TV to give an award here. (Thank goodness.) Best Political Moment: Seeing Barack Obama elected. I didn’t vote for the guy, but it was cool to see that anyone can become president regardless of their race.
Best Political Moment: Seeing Barack Obama elected. I didn’t vote for the guy, but it was cool to see that anyone can become president regardless of their race.
Worst Political Moment: Endless choices here. I’ll give it to Utah state senator Chris Buttars who wanted to pass a resolution that would require retailers to say “Merry Christmas” to their customers. Uh, that kind of goes against the spirit of the holiday. Can you say Bah Humbug, senator?
Best Personal Moment: Finishing my first novel five months ago.
Worst Personal Moment: After finishing it realizing I could do better. A lot better and deciding not to do anything with it for the time being. On the bright side, I’m just about done with a novel that is publishable.
Best Person Ever to Live: Marathon Girl. I'd be lost without her. Great wife, mom, editor, and runner. Can't imagine life without her.
2008 was great. Here’s to hoping 2009 is even better!
Happy New Year everyone!
It's hard to believe that 2007 is almost over. Thankfully I had enough of a life that I can bring out my annual review and awards to those who are deserving of the honors. Best Blog: Mars No More (Ali's blog). She's a young widow raising two teenagers in Australia. Despite her circumstances, she refuses to wallow in self-pity. Instead we see a woman who's willing to do what it takes to keep her kids on the right path and keep her family together.
Best Movie: With three young kids, Marathon Girl and I don't get out much. (Though we are getting away for dinner and a movie this weekend so this could change.) However, The Children of Men was still the best movie I saw all year. (Technically a 2006 release, I didn't see it until January 2007.) It's a story about the value of human life and what happens when the world no longer has any hope. Read my review here.
Worst Movie: Transformers. I never liked Michael Bay's movies that much anyway but this pile of crap just makes me want to stay miles away from Transformers 2 and anything else he has planned.
Best Non-fiction Book: The Art of Seduction
Best Fiction Book: Echo Park
Worst Book--Fiction or Non-Fiction: I Am Legend
Best Fake Book Cover: Trevor did a great job of capturing what I'm sure everyone wanted the cover of Room for Two to really look like.
Best TV Show: American Idol. Okay, that was a joke. I'm not a fan of the show. The real winner in this category is LOST. Come on, did you really think I'd pick something else?
Best Promising TV Show: Moonlight. Marathon Girl and I are enjoying this show more and more. Too bad the writer's strike has put an end to it -- for now.
Best Moment: Holding the first copy of Room for Two in my hands.
Worst Moment: Being unemployed for five weeks. (I didn't blog about this but have an entry about it that I'll be posting soon.)
Strangest Moment: Having all our garden plants and vegetables turn outvery small. I'm really hoping we do a better job this summer.
Best Sports Moment: Watching the New England Patriots amass a 15-0 record with a shot to end the season 16-0 this Saturday. (If the New York Giants top the Pats on Saturday, that that will supplant this entry as my best sports moment.)
Worst Sports Moment: The BCS. Reading about the mess this creates every year has made me glad I no longer watch or care about college football.
Worst Political Moment: Watching the candidates for mayor and city council of our fair town attack each other through anonymous political ads. It was enough to make me think the city would get along just fine without any form of government.
Best Political Moment: There wasn't one.
Best Burger Joint: Apollo Burgers. They make the burgers tasty and filling. After eating one of their burgers you'll never want to eat anywhere else.
Best Web Site: The Drudge Report. Sure, he makes it sound like the world is going to end any minute even if it isn't. However, he has the best collection of current events at any given time. Thank you, Matt!
Best Getaway: Blackfoot, Idaho. Okay, this isn't a place I'd stop at if Marathon Girl didn't have family there. However, our kids love it and it's great in the summer because it's never very hot. And the family Marathon Girl does have there are fun to hang around.
Best Christmas Card: If you can find a way to get on Mr. Sensitive's Christmas card list, you should. He sends the most original cards year after year. And his creativity hasn't waned since he's gotten married.
Hoping you all had a great 2007 and looking forward to an even better 2008!