Year in Review 2016

2016 was a big year personally and there’s lots to cover since i barely made a half a dozen posts, so without further delay here we go:

Best Movie

8. Moana
7. Zootopia
6. Star Trek Beyond
5. Doctor Strange
4. Captain America: Civil War
3. Finding Dory
2.  Deadpool 

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

This year Joy and I were able to catch quite a few movies in theaters and of course we had to go watch the blockbusters.  While Deadpool was a great Valentines treat for the both of us, i think by the time year ended Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was the most enjoyable and repeatable. I thought it was a great way to retcon into the original Star Wars Trilogy while making it stand out on its own. The first act of the movie was a bit of a jumble flying to one planet to another, but by the third act you were ready to see it all come together and see how the lead into Episode 4, A New Hope.

Best TV Show

5. Big Bang Theory
4. Silicon Valley
3. Mr. Robot
2. Game of Thrones

1. Westworld

This year in television had a really strong showing in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy realm with Westworld having the most intrigue of them all. Westworld had a great cast to go along with an immersive story line that really made you question every aspect of each characters and where the show was headed. Too bad that season two wont air until 2018 but at least there are plenty of other shows that i’m still into.

With that said the show that i’ve stopped watching is The Walking Dead. I really enjoyed the first half of season 6, but by the end of it i was out. At this point of the series i’ve gotten tired of Rick and the gang having to fight off the latest big bad guy, and really wanted to see the reclamation of planet begin, but the story is just more people dying and more evil trying to take over the world.

Best Book

Pancakes in Paris

2016 was a pretty bad year for reading. The only book that i did actually finish was Pancakes in Paris that i got the day before heading to Vegas for Christmas vacation and had time to read. Overall the book was fun to read, and made me realize to never actually own a business in France.

Best Trip

Las Vegas

Since we bought a house this year we didn’t really have the funds to go on any super big trip, but my trip out to Vegas for the LVI tournament was probably the most eventful since we did get 2nd place this time around, and ate some really good food at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, and Lotus of Siam.

Best Meal

Spring

We did a lot of cooking at home and i really liked the Thai BBQ recipe that i was able to perfect. We did manage to go to a few fancy restaurants, and Spring was probably the best of the bunch. Lots of fresh, simple, clean flavors without having to rely on massive amounts of pork or butter.

Best Game

Pokemon GO

This year i did a lot of public commuting to work so i had plenty of time to play some games on my phone, and Pokemon GO was a phenomenon for about a month and a half. My time playing has dramatically gone down since the release of the game, but i’ll still open up the app to try to finish my collection.  Most of my time now is co-playing Disney’s Kingdoms with Joy, and Clash Royale with my friends’ kids.

Other Highlights

1. We bought a house!
2. We’re going to have a second kid (girl).
3. Lots of visit to Knott’s Berry Farm, and one free trip to Knott’s Scary Farm (thanks Yelp!)
4. Trip to Legoland
5. Mickey’s Halloween Party
6. Trip to San Francisco for Peanut’s birthday
7. LA Zoo