Now that it 2008, it's time to discuss a few things about 2007. You start seeing stories about 2007 just after Thanksgiving, when the year isn't done yet. Seems strange to me.

So Happy New Year to you, Loyal Cruft Reader, here are my thoughts.

Books
The Good Fairies of New York - Martin Millar - This was my most enjoyable read of the year. Not a new book, but a great one. My review explains.

Glasshouse - Charles Stross - Stross's previous work have been excellent and Glasshouse was fantastic as well.

Sun of Suns: Book One of Virga - Karl Schroeder - Space Opera meets Niven's Smoke Ring in a new series. This is the first book. I eagerly await the third one to be published.

Games

Bioshock - A fantastic single player game. The first game in years without multiplayer that I've loved. Great story, music, game play, and astounding graphics. Perfection.

Portal & Team Fortress 2 from the Orange Box - Who cares about Half-life anymore? Portal is a truly innovative game that uses sharp writing and design to elicit various emotions. Team Fortress 2 tosses the notions of realism out the door and gives us a cartoon world of team based mayhem.

Movies

Dan in Real Life - I'm not sure why this film struck a cord with me. Perhaps as a father of daughters, I can relate. In any case, a well written and well acted film about people dealing with love & loss.

3:10 to Yuma - A classic western that looks at the motivation behind men's action. Fantastic acting and better writing.

Sunshine - A good attempt at hardcore science fiction. The last 20 minutes devolve into a horror film, disappointing me a bit, but worth seeing anyways.

Web Sites

Woot.com - I'm now firmly addicted to Woot, patiently waiting until 10PM when the new items appear.

Ask Metafilter - Not a new site. I've been a member at Metafilter since 2002, but recently I've enjoyed reading & answering people's questions in a sane, controlled environment.

Hardware

The iPhone - Simply the best mobile phone available. Fanbois can try to deny it, but the iPhone completely changes the face of the cellular phone industry. Strangers don't want to look at your Voyager or Blackberry, but they sure as hell want to look at your iPhone.

Humanscale Foot Machines - Michele bought me a FM500 for my desk at home to put my feet on when sitting. I highly recommend getting one. With the amount of time I spend at the computer, proper posture is essential.

Posted by michael at January 01, 2008 03:37 PM