Wednesday 31 December 2008

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.

9 comments:

  1. Well, I finally got to watching Pushing Daisies, and it is quite a unique and entertaining show. But that Ugly Betty is hilarious, too. I have yet to watch a full episode of Grey's and I've not seen Housewives in years. Isn't Sylar playing Spock in an upcoming Trek venture?

    I don't remember watching any movies this year--well, at least ones that stand out in my mind.

    See ya next year!!! Happy 2009 to you, too!

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  2. Happy New Year IVD .
    Its been a gas reading your blog over the past year and We all look forward to more fun and frollicks next year :-)

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  3. Happy New Year IDV! (and to Sex Pest too of course)

    Who is the hot guy from Star Trek Enterprise then? I thought that was Connor Trinneer.

    I don't remember watching a lot of new movies this year but I did watch the James Bond one. I'm surprised to see that the divine Daniel Craig didn't make your list.

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  4. That was it?! Good god you ripped through that like an old guy on viagra banging a prossie!

    Ahem.

    I totally forgot about Cloverfield for my review of the year. And I really liked it. Still, I don't think it would've been in my top three - just an honourable mention.

    I still can't believe you didn't like Dark Knight. We obviously have nothing in common. NOTHING!

    Have a Happy New Year you old witch!

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  5. Bad witch. You've given BEAST gas.

    My fave bits were the Tour of Castle DeVice and I love it anytime you write one of your sagas that includes all of us.

    And I think I speak for all of us when I say that we're impressed that you've managed to keep a man this long...especially when exchanging money is not involved.

    Thanks for a great O8!

    Note: You may want to broaden your colour palette this year. Orange is SO last year.

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  6. Eros: Sylar is playing Spock in the new Start Trek film out May this year! I can barely wait!!

    BEAST: More frollicks coming up, but I hope the gas isn't what made your duvet quite so stinky?

    CyberPetra: The hot guy is Connor Trinneer from Enterprise, it's just that he's now playing a character on Star Gate. I don't believe he gets his clothes off as much in Star Gate as he did in Enterprise, though. Bah.

    I didn't watch Quantum of Solace (or anything else with Daniel Craig in it in 2008), so he was ineligible for the list, sadly.

    Tim: And you'd know because you're old now (anything over 30 is old) and have that sort of experience?

    We have to disagree about some things, otherwise our life together would be too sickly sweet. The Dark Knight is just one of those disagreeable things.

    MJ: Oops! Sorry about the unintentional provocation of BEAST's gas. Although, you should be safe way over there in Canada?

    There will definitely be more adventures for us all over The Cusp this year - I can feel it in my water. Although, my adventures down at the docks have now sadly ceased.

    I'm not sure yet what colour I will be championing this year. Possibly turquoise? What do you think?

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  7. What do you mean you haven't seen Quantum of Solace? Oh my.

    So that settles it, the next time I'm watching something Star Trek, it'll be Enterprise.

    I quite fancy Scott Bakula too don't you know.

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  8. Your recaps are the best. I loved the orange t-shirt saga. It was so fun to read and remember the months. I must take issue with your dislike of the Dark Knight though. I was entranced (although I will agree with you about Batman's stupid hoarse whisper)

    all the best of 2009 to you, SP, and Beaky!

    PS And now I continue sobbing uncontrollably after reading your "anything over 30 is old".

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