2010 Others

Ok, I was supposed to talk about some other things in the last post, but I realized the previous entry has gone on too long (sorry, once I start talking about tennis, I usually don't stop)

So... here are the best of the others:

Best movie I saw this year: Inception.

It had everything, a great concept told in a very entertaining and exciting way, an interesting group of people you could root for, and if that didn't work for you, you could still take it as a great action/heist film with awesome visuals. And that top didn't stop spinning.

Best TV series: I usually just say The Amazing Race here anyway, so I'll just enumerate the 10 runner-ups:

Bones, Criminal Minds, Burn Notice, White Collar, Modern Family, Parks and Recreations, Cougar Town, Community, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Big Bang Theory.

(Note: not that I have a lot of time in my hands, I don't even download any of these via torrents. I just watch these shows whenever I catch them on TV.)

Best line from a TV Show:

"All I ask is one thing... and this is... I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch. Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality. It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. Amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. It's just true. As proof, let's make something amazing happen right now." (goes on to sing Freebird)

Well said, Coco. Well said.

Best Performance in a Movie:

Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit Girl.

*Don't watch if you're under 18 or are otherwise immature or have strong aversion to gore.

Best Viral Video:

I was tempted to give it to the Cebu Pacific's Dancing FA's, but I remembered this one. It was hilarious when I first saw it floating around on Facebook. Still hilarious now.

Top 3 Annoying Facebook Trends:

1. People saying "unlike" when they really mean "dislike".

2. People tagging me on pictures where I'm just a blur in the background.

3. People tagging others on pics of things that they're selling. (Thanks to Jun for reminding me of this!)

Best Fake Twitter Account:

@PCOSmachine

Top 3 Food for Delivery:

1. Shakey's Greek Summer Salad + mojo potatoes with Caesar dressing

2. KFC's California Maki Twister or Hotshots + Choco-Banana Krusher

3. Wendy's Big Classic Burger with cheese

Most Addicting/Time-Wasting Android game:

Sige na nga, Angry Birds. (Air Control and Word Up are the runners-up.)

Best New Restaurant/Food Place:

Bon Chon at the Ayala Triangle Gardens. Saraaap ng chicken wings.

2010 Sports

2010 sports was definitely dominated by the World Cup, and while the teams I rooted for fell by the wayside one by one (France, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands...) Spain was undeniably the best team in South Africa. Of course, in the last few weeks, our own Philippine Azkals also made waves here in Southeast Asia. Maybe it's too soon to think about seeing our boys play in Brazil 2014, but hey, there's nothing wrong in dreaming of seeing them maybe in the next World Cups in Russia and Qatar, right?

Since my blog is tennis-dominated, my year-end sports review will mostly focus on tennis.

Male Player of the Year: Rafael Nadal

Now, you probably know that I'm a die hard Federer fan, but 2010 was Rafa's year. He won 3 of the four grand slam titles, including his first US Open, which put him in the very exclusive group of players who have won all four Grand Slam events.

Female Player of the Year: Kim Clijsters

Caroline Wozniacki may have won the most WTA titles and ended the year as #1, and Serena may have won the most Grand Slam titles among the women, but Kim won two big titles (the US Open and the WTA Year End Championships) and managed to be significant for the better part of the year. So by process of elimination, she's my player of the year.

Saddest News of the Year: Elena Dementieva retires :(

Elena took the tennis world by surprise by announcing her retirement after playing her last match at the WTA Year End Championships, without any hints or advance warning whatsoever. She's had a great career, where she won an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, and ended each year ranked inside the top 10 for about a decade(!) An update on Elena's facebook page earlier today just said that she's been hired as the Vice President of the Russian tennis federation, so it looks like her post-pro tennis career is going to be great.

Match of the Year: Wimbeldon, First Round: John Isner def. Nicolas Mahut, 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(9–7), 7–6(7–3), 70–68

70. 68. Nuff said.

Breakthrough Players of 2010: Petra Kvitova and Ernests Gulbis

Kvitova made the semis of Wimbledon where she made Serena work hard before eventually losing. If she can play in 2011 like she did there at Wimbledon, she could be a contender. There has always been some buzz about the talent that Gulbis has, but it really was only this year that he showed what he can do on the court, which is to beat Federer and take a set of Nadal on clay. Too bad an injury stopped his momentum at the French Open. I was thinking that he was ready to make a serious run to the top 10 during the second half of the year. Maybe in 2011.

Players to watch for 2011: Grigor Dimitrov and Laura Robson

I've been following Dimitrov's career for a couple of years now ever since I heard people calling him Federer Jr, and found out that he was being coached by Roger's previous coach, Peter Lundgren. He has loads of talent, and went on to win 6 ITF titles the past year. He's now knocking on the door of the Top 100, and I expect big things to come from him next year. Robson, like Dimitrov, won the Wimbledon juniors title back in 2007. I saw her playing at the Hopman Cup in Australia last January and was very impressed by what I saw. She played great for a then 15-year old girl. I don't think she'll be breaking into the top 10 in 2011, but it'll definitely be fun seeing her rise up the rankings.

And of course, closer to home, props to our Asian Games gold medalists (all coming from the 3 B's, naturally): Boxing's Rey Saludar, Bowling's Biboy Ramirez, and Billiards' Dennis Orcollo.

At siyempre, kay Manny Pacquiao. :D

Best Of '09... Part 2

Best Viral Videos of 2009:

JK Wedding Entrance Dance

In second place:

Kanye Interrupts Taylor Swift at the VMA's

(worth mentioning: Baby Dancing to Single Ladies, and Susan Boyle's Britain's Got Talent Audition)

Best Weirdly Awesome/Awesomely Weird TV Character:

Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

In second place:

Sue Sylvester, Glee

Best Dessert Place of The Year:

Classic Confections (Nono's Chocolate Oblivion cake)

In second place:

Tie: Cafe Breton (Adam and Eve crepe), Wicked Kitchen (Gluttony)

Best Fish Dish I Tasted For The First time This Year:

Cookbook Kitchen's Parmesan Crusted White Fish

In second place:

Fely J's Tilapia with Sweet Plum Sauce

Best Sandwich for Lunch In the Office:

Subway's Italian B.M.T. in Parmesan Oregano Bread with Honey Mustard and Sweet Onion dressing

In second place:

Delifrance's Frech Dip Roast Beef

Most "I don't get it..." Music Trend of 2009:

Justin Bibier being popular (I mean come on, his voice is exactly a quarter of an octave lower than Alvin and the Chipmunks')

In second place:

K-Pop girl bands.

Most Annoying Showbiz Issues of 2009:

Hayden Kho sex tapes. (Seriously, a senate hearing? So you just couldn't find anywhere else to waste our tax money on, Bong Revilla?)

In second place:

Manny Pacquiao's alleged extra-marital affair with Krista Ranillo. (At least he didn't try to beat Tiger Woods' list of hoes.)

Best Starbucks Pastry That I Eat With My Cafe Mocha:

Banoffee Pie

In second place:

Cinnamon Swirl

2009 Pinoy Hero:

Muelmar Magallanes

In second place:

Efren Peñaflorida

Best Of '09... Part 1

Best movie I saw this year:
(500) Days of Summer

In second place:

Up

Most under-appreciated TV shows (because I don't know any friend who watches this show):

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

In second place:

The Soup

Best Trip I Took In 2009:

Coron, April 2-6

In second place:

Caramoan/CWC, Feb 21-24

Best Nickelodeon TV show:

Spongebob Squarepants

In second place:

The Fairly Odd Parents

Best "The Amazing Race" elimination:

Season 15, Dubai Leg Part 2: Mika and Canaan gets eliminated after Mika refuses to go down a 90-foot waterslide, allowing Globetrooters Flight Time and Big Easy to overtake them (this after the GTs fell behind by almost an hour when they couldn't figure out the right sequence that would open the combination lock of a briefcase that holds their next clue)

In second place:

Season 14, Beijing Leg Part 2: Kisha and Jen gets eliminated after Jen insists on taking a bathroom break, allowing Jaime and Cara to overtake them (this after Kisha and Jen gets U-Turned, and Jaime and Cara got lost for 3 hours++ finding a Chinese Opera House)

Most Unwelcome News of the Year:

Typhoons Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) Flood + Damages. :(

In second place:

Ampatuan Massacre. Grrrr.

Most Addicting Website of the Year:

Facebook

In second place:

Tie: Television Without Pity/Twitter

Best Sporting Event of the Year:

Roger Federer wins a record 15th Grand Slam title in Wimbledon, 16-14 in the 5th set, over Andy Roddick

In second place:

Roger Federer wins his 14th Grand Slam title and 1st ever French Open to complete a career Grand Slam.

Best Music Of The Year, Question Mark.

So the Grammy Awards will be handing out its awards later today, and here's my take on some of the categories (actually, these are the categories I've managed to find out of google that interested me.)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Raising Sand
Coldplay, Viva La Vida
Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Radiohead, In Rainbows

I only have In Rainbows and Viva La Vida, and between the two, I think I like Viva La Vida more, but I prefer Radiohead's discography in general, and they haven't won this award yet, and I think it's time they should.

SONG OF THE YEAR
"American Boy," William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle Featuring Kanye West, artist)
"Chasing Pavements," Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele, artist)
"I'm Yours," Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz, artist)
"Love Song," Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles, artist)
"Viva La Vida," Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay, artist)

This is actually a very solid list of nominees, unlike previous years where some songs just make you go WTF?! That said, I want Adele to win this. She is awesome.

RECORD OF THE YEAR
Adele, "Chasing Pavements"
Coldplay, "Viva La Vida"
Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love"
M.I.A., "Paper Planes"
Robert Plant and Alison Kraus, "Please Read The Letter"

Even though Viva La Vida has that catchy chorus, I actually prefer Violet Hill. So go Adele again. (Although I wouldn't be surprised if Plant and Kraus turn out to be the Grammy equivalent of Oscar-bait epic dramas?)

BEST ROCK ALBUM
Coldplay, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus
Kings Of Leon, Only By The Night
Metallica, Death Magnetic
Raconteurs, Consolers Of The Lonely

I love the new KOL album, but it looks like this category is Coldplay all the way.

BEST ROCK SONG
Bruce Springsteen, "Girls In Their Summer Clothes"
Radiohead, "House Of Cards"
Death Cab For Cutie, "I Will Possess Your Heart"
Kings Of Leon, "Sex On Fire"
Coldplay, "Violet Hill"

I'd be happy if any of the four bands take this.

BEST POP PERFORMANCE, FEMALE
Adele, "Chasing Pavements"
Sara Bareilles, "Love Song"
Duffy, "Mercy"
Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love"
Katy Perry, "I Kissed A Girl"
Pink, "So What"

Adele, Duffy (even though there are more songs on Duffy's Rockferry album that are better than Mercy, imo) or Sara Bareilles would be a satsifying win. Please don't let Katy Perry's gimmick to stardom win an award.

BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM
Beck, Modern Guilt
Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs
Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple
My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
Radiohead, In Rainbows

In Rainbows! Woohoo!

BEST NEW ARTIST
Adele
Duffy
The Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

If Adele or Duffy lose to The Jonas Brothers, I'm going on a tween murder spree. Like, srsly!

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Now playing: Adele - Chasing Pavements
via FoxyTunes