NEW YEAR'S SPECIAL: A Final Look Back At 2011

In my final post for 2011, I wanted to share this year's zeitgeist video made by the folks at Google which looks back on the past year in a musical and moving way.  I know it's basically an ad for Google and it's web services....but it's a damn good one!  I especially love the inclusion of the gay solider Randy Phillips telling his dad he's gay from back in September, just hours after Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed.

Anyway, 2011 was a clearly momentous news year in many ways that will not soon be forgotten, from the triumphs and tragedies of Arab Spring to the Occupy movement this fall.  In little under 3 minutes, this video captures the emotions of a remarkable year...

The Top Grossing Films of 2011 Are All Sequels

There was a somewhat disturbing article in the NY Times yesterday reporting that, to date, 7 of the year 10 top grossing films were sequels.  The third TRANSFOMRERS movie dominated the summer and the box office too, landing at number 2 for the year with 352 million dollars. With the release of more sequels hitting holiday screens (i.e. SHERLOCK and MI4) its possible that 2011 may go down in history as a year in which all of the top 10 grossing films were sequels.  Unbelievable.

Sequels have been around for decades in Hollywood but the pace has picked up to a distressing degree in recent years.  And then studios wring their hands and wonder why people are not going to the movies?  The answer is simple: give the audience something new to see.  In 2010, original films like INCEPTION and TANGLED were in the top 10.  Let's hope that the new year brings more truly new films to the theatres and get the sequels going on a downward trend.

The Year In Words From Webster's Dictionary

Continuing this week's year end roundup, I present the year in words courtesy of Webster's.com.  Each week, the dictionary's website highlights a word that has shown a big surge in search requests on the site.   For example, "zany" was the word of the week for December 14th after Mitt Romney used it to describe his then-surging opponent Newt Gingrich.   There was "mercurial" the week Steve Jobs died and "lewd" back in June when the Anthony Weiner scandal peaked.

Their list for the entire year reads like something of a snapshot of 2011's language zeitgeist. As a writer, I visit the site often and I always enjoy reading about Webster's word of the week while sometimes getting clarification about meaning and/or usage of the word of the moment.   My personal favorite entry for 2011?  Haboob, the usage of which caused a bit of a political storm this summer.  Don't know what it means?  Well you can actually see one in one of the big holiday movies out now.

A Trailer Mashup/Recap Of The Films Of 2011

More year end madness--today, a mashup of the movies of 2011.  Scenes from the trailers of the years films have been expertly edited together by the SleepySkunk to remind us how a lot of things blew up this year and, amidst all the destruction and carnage, there were even some beautiful cinematic moments worth remembering as well.  Can you name all the pictures?  (Hint: the list of films is here.)  Music by Lords of Acid and Randy Edelman, from the DRAGONHEART soundtrack.

TIME'S Person Of The Year is "The Protestor"

Today, TIME magazine named its Person of the Year and it's actually more than one.  "The Protestor" is their "person" who has had the biggest effect on the world's event in 2011.  I thought they might be more specific, like chosing "the 99%", the phrase that has been popularized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, or the young men and women who bravely brought about an Arab Spring.  But I think using the more general term is actually more apt, in that it shows what a remarkable and broad range of protest this tumultuous year has seen around the world.

In fact, just two days ago, protestors took to the streets of Moscow to express their anger over what has been called a fixed Russian election, where longtime leader Vladamir Putin's party remained in power despite popular unrest. In some ways, it seems the world has a bit of a protesting virus that just keeps spreading.  First it was the Middle East, where protests in one country seemed to inspire those in another, eventually leading to the unthinkable toppling of Egypt's longtime leader Mubarak.  In the US, who would have guessed that the handful of original protestors who camped out in a park a couple blocks from Wall Street would have sparked a national movement encompassing thousands of people in less than a couple months?  

One of the main runners-up for TIME's honor this year was Admiral McRaven, who orchestrated the attack that killed Osama Bin Laden.  But the death of the leader of a weakened and increasingly marginalized Al Qaeda is less momentous than the birth of a global movement in which the masses, in the still-prophetic words of the fictional Howard Beale, are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore.

Tron 2: Coming Not As Soon As I'd Prefer

After recently writing about plans for "Ghostbusters 3" (20 years after GB2), a friend alerted me to the production "Tron 2.0". It's currently being shot in Vancouver in Sony Digital 3D with a budget that was initially rumored at $300 million (!) until Disney released a statement saying "it was nowhere near that". Meaning it's what...only $150 million?

Anyway, for those who remember the original "Tron", it was Disney's most expensive film to date back in 1982....even more than the megabomb "The Black Hole" (which lived up to it's name). The original Tron was no blockbuster but it did decent business on its release and has developed a loyal techie-cult following for it's odd neon-colored depiction of the inner workings of a CPU. Geek heaven, right?

There is mucho secrecy surrounding the new Tron, with very little info on plot or pictures or even trailers. What is known is that two original cast members, Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner are returning. Last summer, Disney screened a sneak preview/trailer at Comic Con in San Diego and the crowd went totally berserkers. You can hear them in the bootleg copy of that screening below. It's curious why Disney has not posted this online themselves but my guess is that they want to build some serious anticipay-yay-shun, making the fanboys wait. And it's gonna be a long wait at that--IMDB has it scheduled for release in 2011. Sigh.