REVIEW - 2013

2013 (No MPAA rating) ****
2013 was a year I began and ended with at my grandparents house.  I remember waking up January 1, 2013 to a few missed texts, one of which asked why I tweeted that 'Project X' was among one of the worst movies I saw in 2012.  Closing out 2013 I was standing in the TV room, holding a glass of champagne and trying to send various snap chats and texts. 

2013 saw the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl, much to my dismay. 

2013 saw 'Argo' winning Best Picture, over the likes of 'Amour', 'Beasts of the Southern Wild', 'Django Unchained', 'Les Miserables', 'Life of Pi', 'Lincoln', 'Silver Linings Playbook' and 'Zero Dark Thirty'.  If you haven't seen 'Argo' it actually is a really good movie.  Heck, most of those other nominees were also really good. 

2013 had heartbreak like no other.  And that is all I will comment on that, other than that I received some really good advice during that time, I also received the worst advice that I have ever heard during that time as well.

2013 proved that yes, the Pope can retire.  This ushered in the election of a new Pope that was the first Pope ever from Argentina, the first ever from South America, the first ever from the Western Hemisphere and the first non-European in over a thousand years.  He has achieved worldwide acclaim for his humility and service to the poor. 

2013 proved that even ONE SECOND is still way too much time left on the clock for a college football game. 

2013 showed that former child stars will still try way too hard to prove that they aren't kids anymore.

2013 saw the bombings at the Boston Marathon and the subsequent lock down of Boston for the manhunt to find the two suspects.  Conspiracy theories and sensationalized headlines immediately sprung about, with the Ball State Daily News' headline of 'Boston Massacre' sticking out the most amongst those sensationalized headlines. 

2013 I finally started a blog, with inspiration from someone who probably would not want to be named.  I had wanted to start one for a while, but after discovering that this person had a blog of her own that helped me have to drive to start one.  I've written about myself, my summer job, movies, stuff from my classes, and wrote a piece about the Boston bombings.  I've had fun doing this and will continue to do this, and I enjoy hearing whenever someone else says that they enjoy reading my blog.

2013 saw that goat noises can be inserted into random hit songs to much hilarity.

2013 saw the Colts lose in the playoffs to eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.  But that NFL season ended and a new one began in the fall, with the Colts once again winning the AFC South.  Just like the Manning years, the Colts have managed to win with a great QB, not much of a running game, and an inconsistent defense.  Looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for the Indianapolis Colts.  I was able to go watch a preseason game against the Bills, and it was how Colts preseason games usually ended up being:  a loss, with the other team looking GREAT.  The Bills kinda went in the polar opposite direction of that...

2013 saw egotistical celebrities name their child after a direction.  I feel shame just writing that.  It's giving attention to people that we shouldn't be giving attention to.  It's not the child's fault that it one day might be directionally challenged.  It would be like if I named my kid Silver, Tupper, Under, Glass, Hard, Soft, Dinner, Una (pronounced 'Uhna'), Be or simply A.

2013 was my favorite summer of working at Camp Chief Little Turtle.  Getting reacquainted with friends I hadn't heard from since the previous summer and becoming closer to some, to meeting new ones and also becoming close to some.  Not perfect by any means, but still a lot of fun and I'm very much looking forward to doing it again. 

2013 saw my niece turn 1 and my brother in the Army get deployed to Afghanistan.

2013 saw me to go places that I had never been to before.  Even though I had lived in Muncie during the school year I hadn't been to Amazing Joe's (pricey, but good), Scotty's Brewhouse (very pricey, but very good), The Locker Room (good drink specials and surprisingly good food for it being a bar)  or The Chug (cheap drink specials).  Piper's in Indianapolis was another restaurant I went to that I hadn't been to before (great brunch).  I hadn't been to Anderson University before this year. 

It was also a year where I went to places that I had been to before, but ventured further in them.  I had been to the mall in Anderson but I had never been to the movie theater inside of it.  I saw 'Safe Haven' and 'We're The Millers' at that theater.  I had also been to the Fashion Mall at Keystone in Indianapolis during FBLA state conferences, but I had never been to the arthouse, independent movie theatre inside of it.  I ended up driving there to see '12 Years A Slave', 'All Is Lost', and 'Blue Is The Warmest Color'.

2013 also had it's good byes.  Hollywood said good bye to James Gandolfini, Roger Ebert, Paul Walker, Peter O'Toole, Richard Griffiths, Jonathan Winters, Ray Harryhausen, Cory Monteith and James Avery, among others.  My family said good bye to our cat Only.  Yes, Only was his name.  


The music of 2013 came in like a wrecking ball.  It told me to light 'em up, be brave, get lucky, go berserk, cruise and live for the applause.  To go to the nearest thrift shop where I can find treasure, roar, play with cups and grab my suit and tie.  It welcomed me to the new age and was radioactive.  It told me that the lines were blurred and that I'll never be a royal.  2013 claimed that we can't stop, but others strongly disagreed.  2013 claimed to have the best song ever, which many people (including myself) also strongly disagreed with.  In the pantheon of great questions that songs have asked over the years, 2013 had the courage to ask "What Does The Fox Say?".  It also introduced the Harlem Shake.....whatever that is.  Seriously...someone just give me a reason as to why that's popular.  But the music of 2013 sometimes also made me think about the time when I was your man.  But it's important to not dwell too much in the past and look forward to what the new year will bring.  Whatever 2014 has to offer, I know that we'll be safe and sound.

2013 was a good year for movies.  I've written plenty about various movies in 2013 already, but in to sum it up it had it's fair share of great movies ('Saving Mr. Banks', 'Gravity' among them), good movies ('The Heat', 'The Croods' among them), and disappointing movies (including 'American Hustle' and 'Monsters University').

2013 I finally graduated from college.  It wasn't easy, but it wasn't too difficult.  It was a very interesting four and a half years.  It seemed like yesterday I was walking up the stairs moving into Hurst Hall.  Now I'm sitting on the couch at home, waiting on my degree to one day come in the mail as Ball State has their second snow day.  When I was there, we NEVER had snow days.  A few times we were 'delayed', but never closed for the entire day.  We did have two gun-related lockdowns while I was there.  And in both cases, no gun or gunman was found.  It does feel weird knowing that it's all over and that life goes on.  

2013 was an interesting year, full of ups and downs.  Despite the full **** rating, it wasn't perfect.  Heck, nothing in life is ever perfect.  You laugh.  You cry.  You get surprised.  You get disappointed.  You celebrate.  You learn.  You live.  You mourn.  You play.  You have a good time.  You have a bad time.  You do well on something.  You don't do well on something.  Wash, Rinse, Repeat until the day I die. 


TRAILERS

REAL JOB - This has been in development hell for awhile.  Still unsure of when this will actually happen, but it will happen at some point.      

CCLT - The fourth and possibly last installment in the yearly series working at Camp Chief Little Turtle in Pleasant Lake, IN.  Last year's installment was the most fun and it will be hard to top it, but we'll see how it goes.   

SUPER BOWL - Either the Broncos/Chargers/Colts/Patriots VS. Either the 49ers/Panthers/Saints/Seahawks, with Bruno Mars headlining the halftime show.  If it ends up being Patriots VS. Panthers I'll root for the commercials.   

THE OSCARS - It'll be way too long, but who knows maybe it'll be funny at least.

THANKSGIVING - There will be a lot of food.  And football.  And sleep.  A long day, but it should be fun.

CHRISTMAS - Food, presents, family and Christ's birth.  A long day, but also should be fun. 

NEW YEARS - Food, alcohol and watching the ball drop in Times Square.  A long night, but also should be fun.