Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 Year-End Wrap-Up

2010 was a tough year for me. Sadly, my mom passed away in July. I would like to thank my fellow bloggers and my readers for your kind words. They helped me through a rough time.

I didn't get around to watching many horror films this year, and most of the ones I did see, I didn't like. Saw 3D was a mediocre end to the franchise. The Human Centipede was surprisingly not very gory for a movie about a mad doctor who sews people's mouths to others' asses. And I haven't really seen many others. But within the past two weeks I've finally seen two movies I enjoyed: one enough to call it the best movie of 2010, and to give the other a honourable mention.

BEST MOVIE: Splice

I actually didn't watch this until a few days ago when I bought the DVD on Boxing Day and I really enjoyed it. It's nothing like what I expected and had a couple of pretty disturbing and twisted scenes, which made it better than I anticipated. I know Splice doesn't have many fans and probably won't appear on any other "best of" lists, but I find it fascinating.

HONORABLE MENTION: Frozen

I also just saw this film recently and it was pretty good. Frozen is tense and suspenseful. I was surprised that it held my interest considering it only has three characters and one setting, but the film managed to do it with its interesting characters and dialogue.


BEST BOOK: Dweller by Jeff Strand

If you haven't read this yet, go read it now. Dweller was not only the best book I've read this year, but possibly the best book I've ever read. I loved Owen at least equal to how much I love my cat, Betty, and I want my own pet monster now too.

HONOURABLE MENTION: Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

This book was actually released in 1996, but I'm including it because I read it for the first time this year. Even though I read it way back in January I never forgot about it because it made such an impact on me. Very gory and disturbing and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

BEST T.V. SHOW: The Walking Dead

Well, there aren't exactly a lot of horror T.V. shows to choose from, but at least there's one amazing one. The Walking Dead premiered on AMC this past Halloween and was a treat for all horror and zombie fans. But I was less than thrilled with how short the season was - a mere six episodes. And it won't be returning until October 2011! That's far too long of a wait, but I guess I'll just have to suck it up and try to be patient.


HONOURABLE MENTION: Scream Queens Season 2

 I enjoyed season 2 of Scream Queens even more than the first. Jaime King replaced Shawnee Smith and Tim Sullivan replaced James Gunn, both of whom I like better and the actress I was cheering for from the beginning won! When Gabby West won, I was so excited it was like I won myself. Too bad the role she won was only a 30 second non-speaking appearance.


BEST SONG: Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold

I thought I would include my favourite song of the year because of this awesome A Nightmare On Elm Street tribute video featuring it:



3 TECHNOLOGIES THAT CHANGED MY LIFE IN 2010:

I realize that I am waaay behind the times, but I finally caught up a bit in 2010 with the following gadgets that I acquired this year.

1. DVR

I finally got a DVR thanks to a free promotion with Bell and I don't think I've watched T.V. live since. I can't believe I didn't get one sooner. No more commercials for me! And I've watched at least double the amount of movies since I can record movies when I'm not home, sleeping, or otherwise occupied.

2. Kindle

I haven't gone anywhere without my Kindle since I got it. I originally was unsure if I would like it, but I absolutely love it. It's so much lighter than a book, so it's convenient to carry around in my purse, it's easy to read one-handed, and if I finish a book or get sick of one I can start reading something different. Thanks to my Kindle I'll be reading much more in 2011.

3. Wii & Netflix

Here in Canada we just got Netflix a few months ago. And a few weeks ago I got a Nintendo Wii from my super awesome boyfriend. So of course I got Netflix immediately and have been addicted to it ever since. Now I can watch as many movies and T.V. shows I want for only $7.99 a month, and I'll be taking full advantage of that.


 THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY YEAR: Fan Expo '10

I attended my first horror convention this past summer and got the chance to meet Heather Langenkamp and get her autograph (see left)! I had a great time and I'm saving my money to go again in 2011. I can't wait!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's!

5 comments:

Andrew Leonard said...

Happy New Year, Melissa. :)

Melissa Helwig said...

Happy New Year!

Fear Street said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! (One day late...)

Unknown said...

Have a great New Year. And, oh yeah - I gave your blog a little bump. And tweet.

http://thepoeticprinciple.blogspot.com/

Melissa Helwig said...

Happy New Year Fear Street and James! And thanks a lot James!