31st Annual Justies - 2008 Year in Review
December 31, 2008 | 1 Comment
As we come to the end of another glorious year we’re given an opportunity to look back from whence we came. The best way of doing so, as evidenced by the countless TV shows and posts across the internet, is through a year in review. Like everything else around here, things are handled a little bit differently. So, without further whoop-de-do (it sounds better, go with it), I present the 31st Annual Justies.
Best Olympic Moment Not Involving Michael Phelps
The Olympics were two of the greatest weeks of 2008 and there were dozens of amazing moments ranging from the incredible Opening Ceremonies to the unforgettable I Love Beijing theme song. There were so many great moments this year it’s hard to choose just one that stands out. Ok, that’s a lie. There’s one moment that was far better than any other and is, quite frankly, the greatest moment in aquatic sports history. The Justie for the Best Olympic Moment Not Involving Michael Phelps goes to Jason Lezak’s amazing comeback in the 4×100 relay which won the USA a gold and created one hell of a story. There has never been a comeback quite like that nor has there been an instance of shear determination. Way to go Lezak, way to go.
Greatest Thing on TV
All in all, it’s been a pretty crappy year for TV. The Writers Strike cut a lot of seasons short and seemed to affect the quality of TV for this season as well. So the pool to draw from here is obviously pretty slim. But there were some stand outs. The Office and 30 Rock have been stellar and new shows Fringe and Life on Mars have been entertaining. But one show has been better than the rest, so the Justie for Greatest Thing on TV goes to Chuck. Chuck is consistently entertaining and just quirky enough to be endearing but it was “Chuck Verses Tom Sawyer” that pulled it in. Twin Galaxies, arcade games and Rush? Can’t get much better than that.
Best Unintentional Use of Keywords to Drive in Search Engine Traffic
People search for funny things on the internet. Some people spend tons of money and time trying to figure out the best combination of Julianne Hough, Will Smith, Taylor Swift, Brittany Spears, Tom Cruise, the Jonas Brothers and Wil Wheaton to get their search engine ranking high enough for people to notice. Around here I do things a little different. I write things and then see how people find them. If a Miley Cyrus mention gets slipped in, well, so be it. It was earlier this year while perusing my site logs that I came across this category’s winner. The Justie for Best Unintentional Use of Keywords to Drive in Search Engine Traffic goes to this post about Chinese food and Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I’ll let you figure out what people were searching for.
Crappiest Thing to Happen to Someone Other Than Me
A lot of crappy things happened in 2008 including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires and a new Rambo movie. I jumped off a cliff and blacked out in the water, but I’m exempt from this category for obvious reasons. No, there was one crappy thing that unfortunately deserves this Justie; the Crappiest Thing to Happen to Someone Other Than Me Justie goes to the economy. Sure, I’m affected indirectly, but whatever. The economy pretty much sucked this year and have put hundreds of thousands out of work. Unfortunately it looks like it may get worse before it gets better but one thing is for certain, it will get better. Here’s to hoping that the economy earns the 2009 Justie for the Greatest Thing to Happen to Someone Other Than Me.
Most Addicting Social Media Outlet
Hello my name is Justin and I’m a social media addict. This year there were plenty of social media sites begging to earn an addiction: Facebook, Shelfari, Strands, and Last.fm just to name a few. But there was one that stood out far above the rest — possibly combined. The Justie for the Most Addicting Social Media Outlet goes to Twitter. I wasn’t the only one addicted either. Not only did twitt rank as one of the years ‘buzzwords’, but now CNN even takes comments — and in some cases breaking news — from Twitter.
Strangest Nuance in a City I’ve Traveled To
This one is a tough one to call. I’ve been a number of places this year including Seattle, The Bahamas, New Orleans, Key West, North Carolina, Georgia and Utah. In those various places I’ve seen a fair share of strange things, like the odd traffic lights on the highway in Seattle, but by far the Strangest Nuance in a City I’ve Traveled To goes to Utah. Why Utah? Their numbering of streets is absolutely ridiculous. Everything is laid out in a grid, which makes sense, but that grid is far too large. For instance, we had to turn from S 700 E onto E 10600 S. Does that make any sense? Then, thrown into the middle of that was State St which does make sense. I don’t get it. Way to earn that Justie, Utah.
Coolest Thing of the Year
Despite all the crappy things that happened, 2008 had it’s share of some pretty cool things. Myron Rolle won a Rhodes Scholarship and I read Snow Crash, both pretty cool. The Dark Knight made a ton of money while the Devil Rays won the American League without any. Tiger Woods had the comeback of his career and Bill Gates ended his. All of these things are pretty cool, but only one can win the Award. The 2008 Justie for the Coolest Thing of the Year goes to The Olympics.
It was going to be pretty hard to beat the summer games. They began with the coolest Opening Ceremony ever performed (no video links available, stupid NBC) and included some unforgettable moments, a lot of which occurred in the pool. Michael Phelps won a record setting 8 gold medals, which will probably never happen again. Countless records were broken, smaller countries shined and for a few weeks in August the world actually came together and enjoyed each others company. You can’t really get much cooler than that.
All the Justies have been handed out and I’ve got nothing left for 2008. The ball will soon drop and bring in 2009. Let’s see what happens.
Tropic Thunder is the Movie of the Summer
July 31, 2008 | 0 Comments
Tonight I was able to catch an “advanced showing” of Tropic Thunder. I’m going to preface this by saying that while I think Robert Downey Jr. is one of the best actors working in the business I don’t really care much for Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Though for some reason I have been very excited about this film for a long time. After seeing the film, I now have a new appreciation for Ben Stiller.
Tropic Thunder opens August 15th, but I saw it tonight. Ha!
Tropic Thunder, in case you don’t know, is a film about a group of actors making a Vietnam war movie based on a Vietnam war book. The director, feeling pressure from the studio, decided to rig up cameras in the jungle and drop the actors in it — to get a realistic effect. Instead, the actors find themselves in a very real fight (not to sound corny) for their survival. I don’t want to give away too many plot points because, well, the movie is worth seeing and I don’t want to spoil it at all.
As I said above, Robert Downey Jr. is one of the best actors in Hollywood. In this movie he’s “a dude playing a dude playing another dude” in that he’s playing Australian Kirk Lazarus who’s playing the part of Sgt. Osiris. The catch is that blonde hair, blue eyed Lazarus undergoes a “controversial skin pigmentation treatment” to literally become the African American Osiris. This results in a tour de hilarity that I haven’t seen in a very long time. Downey Jr.’s character never breaks character (follow that?) and really steals the entire show.
The one thing I have never liked much about Ben Stiller is that he is pretty much the same character in all of his movies. That’s not to say he isn’t funny, but he’s pretty much the same guy. In Tropic Thunder Stiller plays washed up action star Tugg Speedman, the leader of the rag-tag group of soldiers actor and for the first time I didn’t see Greg Focker. Interestingly enough Stiller also produced, directed, and wrote the film. So yeah, new light for Ben Stiller.
The movie is pretty much non-stop laughs mixed with a nice amount of “holy crap did they just do that!?” moments which well earn the films ‘R’ raiting. There are also a few surprising co-stars that are just as hilarious as the stars. I don’t want to give anything away, but look for great performances by Matthew McConaughey, Tobey Maguire and Tom freaking Cruise (who, like Downey Jr. is also one of the best actors out there despite him being absolutely crazy).
I would highly recommend Tropic Thunder once it comes out August 15th. Hell, I might even go see it again. I’d say it was even better than The Dark Knight It was that good.