A slight change of plans this week, after missing the last few blogs, but we'll get back on track. Here are my favorite songs from 2012. #10 - I Won't Give Up – Jason Mraz #8 US Billboard Hot 100 chart, #11 UK Singles chart #9 - Cry Thunder - Dragonforce #8 - Ho Hey - The Lumineers #3 US, #8 UK I've discovered several good songs from TV commercials; this is one of them. #7 - Radioactive - Imagine Dragons #3 US, #12 UK If you need motivation for a workout, or just to get things done, listen to this song. #6 - Hideaway - Passion Pit This was a surprise find when I was just browsing iTunes, from a band I'd never heard of, and it wasn't even released as a single. #5 - Carry On - fun. #20 US, #126 UK This song has a message of hope in hard times (and also has an incredibly catchy chorus). Maybe more people should listen to it, especially this year. #4 - Sovereign Light Café - Keane #74 UK Keane is one of my favorite bands, and I only discovered them a few years after the movie "A Monster Calls" came out, which had the song "Tear Up This Town" during the credits. Sovereign Light Café makes you feel an excited form of nostalgia for places you've never even been to. #3 - Skyfall – Adele #8 US, #2 UK Following the tradition of great songs from James Bond films. The song won the award for Best Original Song at the 85th Academy Awards. #2 - Just Give Me a Reason - P!nk featuring Nate Ruess #1 US, #2 UK By far my favorite P!nk song. The melody/chord progression really grabs me for reasons I'm not sure of. The song also received two Grammy nominations in 2014. Such a tough call between this and my #1 pick, which is... #1 - Silenced by the Night - Keane #46 UK Another tough call, as I can't decide what my favorite Keane song is, this or "Everybody's Changing". Either way this song is underrated, only reaching #46 in the UK, and not charting at all in the US. Let me know what you think of the list, and feel free to post your own favorite songs from 2012 in the comments. Next week is "Top 10 movies of 2012", followed by the previously planned "Free Game Idea #2".
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These are my favorite movies from 2011. On with the list: #10 - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Rated PG-13; 60% on Rotten Tomatoes; directed by Guy RItchie This is a darker film than the first one, which isn't inherently bad, but I still prefer the first. There was one scene, however, that I really liked in particular: the verbal chess match between Holmes and his arch nemesis Moriarty. #9 - Children Who Chase Lost Voices Rated TV-14; Makoto Shinkai Makoto Shinkai has been called "the next Hayao Miyazaki", and this was his homage to the world-famous founder of Studio Ghibli. He's one of my favorite directors (and so is Miyazaki), but I liked his first two films better. While I still enjoyed it, I felt it was missing something. #8 - X-Men: First Class PG-13; 86% RT; Matthew Vaughn This X-Men prequel has x-cellent performances by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, which is reason enough to watch, especially if you're a fan. #7 - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides PG-13; 33% RT; #3 highest-grossing film 2011; Rob Marshall I liked this Pirates movie better than the third one, and maybe as much as the second one, so I can't quite understand why it didn't get good reviews. I know that by the time you get to movie #4 in a franchise it's harder to be original, but it still works. 6 - Soul Surfer PG; 45% RT; Sean McNamara The inspirational film based on the true story of a girl who lost her arm to a shark while surfing, but never gave up her surfing dreams. 5 - Rise of the Planet of the Apes PG-13; 82% RT; Rupert Wyatt The planet of the Apes series has had its ups and downs. The trilogy started by "Rise" is one of the ups. I was surprised by this one. I thought it would be a straightforward "ape learns to hate humans and wants revenge" plot, but it is far more 3-dimensional and nuanced. 4 - The Adventures of Tintin PG; 82% RT; Steven Spielberg I heard someone describe this movie as "a better Indiana Jones movie than Indiana Jones 4", which says a lot given that it's not an Indiana Jones movie. They definitely share a lot of things. They're both influenced by old adventure serials, both take place in similar time periods, and are both directed by Steven Spielberg. 3 - Source Code PG-13; 92% RT; Duncan Jones Like Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Source Code really surprised me (in a good way). I'm not usually a fan of thrillers, but the main idea was fascinating. Well written and acted. If you like psychological sci-fi, or unusual uses of time travel, you should check it out. 2 - Hugo PG; 93% RT; Best Picture nominee; Martin Scorsese It has a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, but barely made its money back at the box-office. A great semi-underrated family film about an orphan who stumbles into a toy shop owned by pioneering French filmmaker Georges Méliès, who was thought to have disappeared. 1 - Captain America: The First Avenger PG-13; 80% RT; Joe Johnston Just a fun WWII-era superhero blockbuster. Not much else to say. Let me know what you think in the comments. What are some of your favorite movies from 2011? Next week is "free game design idea #2".
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