Best of 2009

So 2009 is drawing to a close. Some pretty horrible stuff happened to me and my family in 2009. I can't always shrug it off and look on the bright side. But I have been very lucky to have family and friends who love and support me. My sincere thanks to all these people. But for now, I'll just focus on the trivial and the little rays of light.

Actually, before I talk about trivial things, I will say that I'm currently editing the second to last chapter of my novel. For good this time. Last time I was just editing for the beta readers. Now I incorporated the comments of all those who finished in my editing. I'm so close I can taste it! So my New Years resolution is definitely to send my story to an agent in 2010.

Now for my exciting entertainment bests of 2009!

Best Movie: Counting both plot and special effects, Star Trek was the best movie I saw in 2009. Since we're counting plot, that's why Avatar's not here. My YouTube review of the film is the most watched of all my YouTube videos. Of course, this is just because I posted it as a video response to the amazing, hilarious, and beautiful CommunityChannel's video where she mentions Star Trek. But I still think my review's pretty good.




Best Novel: I confess I haven't finished reading it yet, but I highly suspect that Unseen Academicals will be my favorite novel published in 2009. Much as I love Pratchett, I normally don't like the wizard books of Discworld. But from what I've read so far, this one ranks up with Interesting Times as the best wizards' book. I mean, Ponder is the freakin' Carmerlengo! That alone is worth reading. But the rest is just as excellent.





Best Picture Book: I knew this was going to be published long before it was, but I'm ecstatic that it's finally here. It's easily my favorite modern poem ever. Although, I have to confess I'm not as crazy about the pictures. Dave McKean's always been a bit dark to me, which I wasn't sure entirely fit how I imagine the tone of the poem. But I know that Neil Gaiman really likes working with him, and the pictures aren't bad. It's just that they're more an acquired taste.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great year and happy 2010!