2008 in review

This year's ceremony will be rather rushed due to lack of time. Most of it is rushing away through the hole that Continuity Girl obviously bodged when attempting to repair it. Still, I'll make a quick start on what's happened here at Castle DeVice throughout 2008, beginning with the first three months of the year, then the Host will take over for the actual awards. Here we go:

January: French & Saunders go to the movies; A Jake Gyllenhaal interlude; MJ temporarily closed (not her legs or her gob); Six quirks were disclosed.

February: Beaky prepares for 'relations'; Snaps were given at a rubbish award ceremony; Valentines day was spent over the Cusp with Timothy Scissorhands; Chocolate snot; A miserable meme; Broom was temporarily replaced with a Poppins-a-like umbrella; Earthquake!

March: Juno at the cinema; A very disappointing Flash; Rear window jungle; Royal status confirmed; The beginning of Books; Visiting Cybertron; Sleeping Beauty over the Cusp.



The nominees for the most engaging film are: Cloverfield, Juno, Iron Man, X-Files: I Want To Believe and Wall-E. I'm giving this award to Cloverfield as it really drew me in. The shaky, hand-held camera work, the fleeting glimpses of the monster, the sense of fear and panic - All these things really made me believe I was there in New York as the monster went on the rampage.




Oh dear. These films really did nothing for me: Alien vs Predator: Requiem, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Dark Knight. AvP:R started off promisingly with an annoying kid getting impregnated by a face-hugger, but it all went downhill from there. Still, it was good for a laugh. However, the most disappointing film was The Dark Knight. I found it too dark and bleak with a convoluted plot and not enough of Arron Eckhart ( * ahhhhh * ) as Two-Face. Plus, what was with Batman's ridiculous voice?




My favourite TV show out of the few I've watched this year: Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Pushing Daisies, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty, goes to Pushing Daisies. It was a refreshing, funny, sweet and stylish show. Such a shame that the first season was cut short by the writers strike and that it has now been cancelled after the second season. I'm hoping that creator/producer Bryan Fuller is able to make a movie to resolve the plotlines.




April: A personal Q&A; Choosing a new Demon Box; April update after Demon Box traumas.

May: Invasion by the bestriped Yorkshire Poofs; A books read update; 'Five things' meme; Little cakes; Beakzilla!

June: The Frog Prince - Over The Cusp for T-Bird's birthday; Movie meme; A service for Broom.



My favourite book contenders are: Star Trek: Destiny series by David Mack, Star Trek Terok Nor series by James Swallow and S. D. Perry & Britta Dennison, and MODE - The Ugly Betty book by Ann Donahue. I have read an awful lot of Star Trek books this year, so it's no surprise to see that they form the majority of this catagory. The Ugly Betty book is a last minute entry from Christmas, but isn't good enough to see off the winner: The Star Trek Terok Nor series. I wanted Destiny to win, but I haven't received, never mind read, the final book yet.





I've only bought two albums (that I can remember) this year, so it makes choosing my favourite a lot easier. Between Seventh Tree by Goldfrapp and Out of Control by Girls Aloud, Seventh Tree gets it. It has a beautiful, modern folk-esque sound which I think will endure longer than Girls Aloud's sophisticated and feisty pop.





The best rediscoveries this year include: Hue & Cry and The Eels, both found on YouTube, and Most Haunted - with the spectacularly crap-haired Yvette Fielding - as reintroduced to me by SP. Hue & Cry have to be my favourites because I bought their 'best of' album.




July: Office dares; 400th post - A postcard from MJ; Growing dragons; More books read updates; Norwich - An actual city; The infamous orange T-Shirt.

August: Gorgeous gingers; Hot older men; Shopping with The Wiggler; How many Civil Servants does it take to answer a phone?; A week at the cinema; Have you seen this Blackbird?; A certain librarian's birthday over The Cusp; Male synchronised swimming.

September: Coven origins; Attack of the giant spider; TV as watched by IDV; Heavenly music; Another book update.



This was going to be the Sexiest Actor category, but Eric Dane would have won (again) easily, so I changed it to Most fanciable Male. The nominees are: Eric Dane (Dr Mark "McSteamy" Sloan in Grey's Anatomy), Zachary Quinto (Gabriel "Sylar" Grey in Heroes), Lee Pace (Ned the Pie Maker in Pushing Daisies) and Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark, aka Iron Man). As you have probably guessed, the winner isn't Eric Dane, but Lee Pace!





Best actress nominees are: Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully in X-Files), Jennifer Garner (Vanessa Loring in Juno), Anna Friel (Charlotte "Chuck" Charles in Pushing Daisies) and Chandra Wilson (Dr. Miranda Bailey in Grey's Anatomy). The winner - just pipping Gillain Anderson to the top spot - is Chandra Wilson for her feisty, commanding, yet sensitive, turn as Dr. Bailey in Grey's Anatomy.




October: Tour of Castle DeVice; How the witch became; Wonky-mouthed Beaky; Items of Interest; Margaret 2.0 - The cheeseplant from Hell.

November: The Princess and the Pee; Top Secret Tim - Dreamy in Speedos; 6 weird thing6; Mrs Beaky - The pest of a thousand decibels; Attack of the Smug Marrieds.

December: Explanation of the Sex Pest; Piloting with Goldfrapp; Elephants and a Phoenix; Introducing Audrey; Final book update.



The Hottest Sci-Figure for the third year running is Connor Trinneer (He's still appearing in crappy old Stargate: Atlantis as Michael Kenmore. I haven't watched it, but I don't need to - I know what he looks like)!




And that's it for another year! I hope you all enjoyed it? I've certainly had fun poking around your blogs this year, even if, for the past two months, my new status as a Smug Married hasn't enabled me to visit or comment as often as I used to. I'm sure this will wear off soon, and things will be back to normal in 2009.

Happy new year everyone! See you in 2009.