It’s one of those rites of passage in growing up, isn’t it? Your first car purchased entirely on your own with zero parental involvement. Plenty of kids are forced to hit that milestone in their teens, but I was lucky enough to get old Murray (as I called my old, grey ‘99 Toyota Corolla) for free from my folks when I graduated. We had adventures. All kinds of good times, really, but when I got back home from Christmas last year it was time to say goodbye (look, I know I “technically” got my car in 2011, but it was the 30th and that’s close enough!). ...

Even the Pittsburgh Pirates played video games this year. Knock on wood, you guys, but I managed to get through 2012 without having all my video games stolen from my house while I was sleeping [EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s 2013 now, you dummy. You don’t need to knock on wood]. Should that even be an achievement? 2012 seems to be a shift in the status quo. Perhaps it’s because the new console generation hasn’t yet kicked off, but I feel like fewer and fewer AAA, big budget titles have been grabbing my attention lately. Of the 56 games on this list I feel like very few (about 12) were big, huge landmark games. Maybe that’s not all that different, but it feels different… ...

(Photo by jimmymac333) Man do I love me some movies, guys. The following listing of my favorites is not limited to movies that were released in 2012, but rather what I saw in 2012 that I most want to talk about. Prometheus - I’ve never seen a movie from the Alien franchise, but something about the trailers and the Fassbender hype made me want to catch this one in the theaters. After failing to get most people interested, Ian and I caught this flick. Look, guys, it’s not the greatest movie out there, but Fassbender is amazing, the movie is stunning, and that emergency “caesarian”? Absolutely terrifying and awesome to watch. I want to make everyone watch that hyper tense scene. ...

This year did not go as planned. That’s actually fairly unfair to say considering that eleven of the twelve months went, more or less, the way they were supposed to, but it’s that one big even that’s going to color the way this annual event goes. So here’s the thing, guys. Normally these posts are all written in the month they occurred, but I was way behind all this year and, well, my planned topics don’t make sense any more. Despite how I might have wanted to write about time I spent with Tiffany as a specific landmark of the year, going back now and writing about it doesn’t make sense. I’m not in that moment. ...

A French (I think) poster for Django Unchained (Photo courtesy Lyricis) I had a really fun weekend hanging out with Eric’s family as they went to catch movies in shifts. Maybe when she gets a little older I’ll just babysit while you guys go catch the movies together. Movies This is 40 - During the movie I realized that Judd Apatow is making slice-of-life style movies. Sure, not a whole lot “happens”, but there’s tons of character work. Sure, some of it is just there to be funny, but the movie was the funny version of all those indie dramas about lost love and/or the maturation of relationships. Going into this think more Funny People than Knocked Up. Also Apatow’s kids do an alright job acting. ...

Cabin pictures aren’t up on flickr yet, so here’s Eric’s home tree (Photo by DJOtaku) The long drive from North Carolina is over and I had a lot of fun while I was with the family for Christmas. I hope all of you had a great holiday too. Movies The Dark Knight Rises - Watched it with my Dad over the holiday since he hadn’t seen it. I still think it’s a little bloated, but it was nice to see the same Nolan care for detail the second time through and know what was leading to what. ...

http://youtu.be/3MqYE2UuN24 I know this is true, but I still don’t run in the rain.

http://youtu.be/M1r1tS464jE My favorite part of the year has returned! Yes, Kees van Dijkuizen’s year-end megacut of the year’s movies has debuted once again. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/aY_Ixf1_P0A Guys, “Rainbow Connection” is one of the greatest songs in movie history. Deal with it.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the survivors who experienced this terrible tragedy. I wholeheartedly agree with the president; we cannot retain the status quo. http://youtu.be/gfaYUrgcCrY Full text from WhiteHouse.gov: Thank you, Governor. To all the families, first responders, to the community of Newtown, clergy, guests – Scripture tells us: “…do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away…inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” ...