Whatever, here's the 10 least terrible things I can remember from last year:
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10. OCRemix
Last year, OCRemix.org released a free 4-disc album of remixes from nearly the entire Mega Man X series. And then they released a free 4-disc album of Donkey Kong Country 3's soundtrack... both of them.
It is difficult for me to explain why this is good news to me. Those games, and their music were a part of my path to growing up. I discovered OCRemix sometime in the early Dorkade, and back then I wouldn't have imagined it could happen. I'm honestly not sure where this collection of amateur musicians can go from here.
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9. Prometheus
The stupidity and pointlessness of Charlize Theron's character aside: I like it when a movie is more concerned with questions, and the search for answers than actually supplying them.
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8. Final Fantasy XIII-2's Soundtrack
I may be wrong, but I imagine the prominent emphasis on vocals in this soundtrack did not appeal to many. I'm also not sure why it did not bother me, because singing is a sore point for me. Unless it's really good, it irritates me. There have been times where I have felt that vocals and lyrics are a distraction. But it makes a strange sort of sense here.
It couldn't possibly compare to the soundtrack of Final Fantasy XIII(which was my favourite thing that happened in 2010). Nor does it have to. And any game with the music that plays during the fight against Omega can't be all bad.
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7. Four More Years
Well at least 65,000,000 of you aren't completely retarded.
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6. Skyfall
Skyfall was definitely the best Batman movie of 2012. Although I did think it was strange how he wasn't called Batman, didn't wear the suit and was played by a different actor. But Javier Bardem as the Riddler and Judi Dench as Michael Caine were inspired casting choices.
In any case, it was way better than that stupid James Bond movie with Bane in it.
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5. Game Grumps
My computer died around the time Jon Jafari and Arin Hanson started recording "Let's Plays" of video games. I've been a fan of both for a while now, and never imagined they'd become such good friends. I almost didn't believe my friend when he told me about it. Watching them play and comment over video games has become part of my daily regimen, my routine to convince myself that life is still worth living.
IT'S TENOUTTATEN!
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4. Red Vs. Blue: Season 10
I watched this entire season in one sitting. The last two episodes alone convinced me I needed to make room on this list(which sadly meant I had to bump Minecraft out).
After an abysmal ninth season, and a slow, round-a-bout method of telling this story, it feels like Rooster Teeth finally brought closure to their legacy. Maybe it's not goodbye. Maybe it's just not here right now.
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3. The Walking Dead Show
I've heard this show compared to a soap opera, which strikes me as unfair. If you watch one episode of a soap opera, you have seen every episode. The Walking Dead is in its' third season, and the most recent episode is almost indistinguishable from the premiere. The cast, the setting and the stakes have undergone wild changes. The few characters who are still alive from the first episodes have either grown as human beings or descended into madness. Important characters have been allowed to die, contracts be damned. The rules have changed.
I didn't think much of it when it first started out. But it has slowly evolved into the zombie apocalypse story I've been waiting for.
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2. Katawa Shoujo
A freeware dating-sim made by 4chan accomplished more than any AAA blockbuster video game in 2012. And unlike The Walking Dead point-and-click adventure game, only one of the endings in Katawa Shoujo is a savage disappointment. It is free of the jingoism, corporate meddling and polygon worship of modern video games. It is a noble challenge to what a video game can be.
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1. ~SHE WON~
In September 2002, when I was a sophomore in High School, I met a person of enormous importance to me. After some very poor judgment calls on my part, I distanced myself from this person. I was too ashamed to let myself be her friend.
I haven't seen or talked to her in 7 or 8 years. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her. This person found me in the worst place in my life, and tried harder than anyone else to pull me out. It is to my great shame that I never knew how to appreciate the depths of kindness and patience she showed me. In a lifetime of rejection and abuse, she extended a hand of companionship.
People die. It's a thing that happens. Nobody who gets hit by a car or winds up with cancer ever thinks it will happen to them. Nobody is immune to it, and nobody sees it coming. Nobody really knows how much time they've got. I confess that whenever I watched the news, and heard about a young woman in my province being murdered, I'd wonder if it was her. I've worried for so long that I'd never get a chance to tell her how sorry I am.
In September of 2012, almost to the day when we first met, she showed up in the front page of a local newspaper. Successful. Married. Happy as a clam.
SHE WON.
So many people are losing the war. If anyone should get the life they deserve, I'm glad it was her. I'll always regret that I wasn't there for my friend. I'll always miss her. But now I'll never have to worry about her.
END OF LINE
~A.H.
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