This will be mine soon enough. Oh yes. (Watch the video.)

The year’s end is refreshing. I savor this period of time like a fine wine. Not for the gift giving or the party partaking but rather for the cognitive thought process one utilizes while swishing around and sampling from the events that took place over the course of the last twelve months.

Normally, I would spend days deliberating and painstakingly deciding upon the top ten movies considered worthy of anybody’s consideration. This year, however, either a decrease in funds or an increase in a social life (more so the prior) resulted in a significant decline in the amount of movies ingested. Legally or illegally. So I decided to choose a swift three for your reading and viewing pleasure instead of the lengthy ten per normal protocol and procedure.

Without further stalling…

Top Ten Three Movies of 2011

1. Bill Cunningham New York {IMDB}
Nothing I watched this year has inspired me more to be a greater individual and more active photographer/artist than this movie. Bill Cunningham’s love and devotion to his craft lit a theoretical fire under my theoretical @$$. I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary which encompasses the life of Bill Cunningham, a well-known New York “street” fashion photographer, who lives to do what he loves without much concern for anything else. I have zero interest in the fashion industry but this movie made the fashion world compelling in a way I’ve never experienced before. Check out his ‘On The Street’bit off The New York Times website.

2. Drive {IMDB}
A badass movie with a badass character (Ryan Gosling as “Driver”). ‘Driver’ because his role as the driver is more important than his real name or who he is as an individual. He drives and drives better than everybody else on the road. Driver is the strong, silent type with a super human ability to maintain his calm and stay collected even in the craziest of situations. He’s both a gentlemen and a scholar. A robin hood among thieves. There is an interesting dialogue exchange between Driver and a child where Driver asks the child if there’s no such thing as a good shark (shark meaning bad guy). This scene is a great examination of Driver’s own character.

Then there’s Carey Mulligan as Irene (the leading lady) who makes it very hard not to fall head over feet for in almost every scene she’s in. I had to remind myself to close my jaw on more than one occasion.

3. Hanna {IMDB}
Hanna, a proficient and deadly child assassin. I for one enjoyed watching this girl somersault around, snapping necks and slitting throats. There was even an interesting perspective on nurture over nature (possibly a little over done). I have always regretted that I wasn’t raised to be a top-notch deadly assassin by some underground organization or unsurpassed master of the trade. I’ll make sure my children receive that which I never got. 😉

Check this movie out, especially if you enjoy movies like Leon: The Professional or any of the Jason Bourne movies.

Honorable Mentions: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Rule of Margin, The Help, Source Code, The Thing, and Captain America.

Movies I Haven’t Seen Yet (That would probably affect my decision-making altogether): The Decedents, Sherlock Holmes 2, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Artist, Take Shelter

Worst Movies of 2011: Hangover II, Bad Teacher

Most Anticipated Movies of 2012:The Hunger Games Django Unchained(Quentin Tarantino), The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan), Only God Forgives, Marvel’s The Avengers, Bond: Skyfall, Red Dawn, World War Z, Gravity, and Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson)

Now that my movie listing fetish is satisfied (for the time being) I can concentrate on other worldly matters. 2011 was a tough year for my family as I’m sure it was for a lot of people out there. I can only count my blessings and focus on the positive as I look to the future. 2011 was a year of…

Huge props to whomever helped create that video. You’ve moved millions.

My 2012 New Years Resolutions
Stop using the word ‘but’ so much in my writing.
Stop with the uncertainties and write with greater confidence
Take a writer’s workshop possibly.
Get a bike. Bike the trails.
Walk more. Run even
Climb that damn rock wall like I’ve always wanted to do.
Learn to have more patience.
Stand up straight.

This next year will be an exciting one. Armageddon here we come.

I’ve never seen so much stuff gathered in one place in all of my (short) life. It was hard for us to leave without seeing everything considering both my friend and I are ‘completionists’.

Completionist: (noun) A person who must complete every task and see every thing at least once in order to maintain sanity. Closely related to those with Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder.

I did manage to find one item worth purchasing in an endless supply of car parts. A Revere Eight 8mm video camera from 1947 in almost pristine condition. It’s going to decorate one of my shelves somewhere.

Chickens!

As far back as I can remember both my sister and my mother had the desire to own and raise chickens. Up until recently, they were forced to go without. That is until one of them purchased some land in the country where owning chickens quickly becomes a reality.

I never understood my family’s desire for owning chickens but now that I see them run to and from, free range in the yard looking for bugs and other delicious meals, and chase each other in hopes to steal the other’s newly found piece of food, do I now see the appeal. One could watch them play for days. And they supply you with eggs and cut down on the insect population around your house, which is very nice.

I also spent some time helping my sister build a chicken coop to house the chickens. Much was learned. Many fingers were injured. We took a corner of an old garage and turned it into a chicken pen. We built a nesting box and perch out of the scrap material giving them a place to sit and a place to lay eggs. Which should start happening soon. But for now, the age-old question was answered for us; the chicken came before the egg.

We still need to paint and seal the outside door and put a few more finishing touches to everything. I would like to add shingles to the top of the nesting box and perhaps add the names of each chicken to the pen somewhere.

The chicks were purchased at the beginning of spring, and they doubled in size with every visit I made. I guess I should have taken pictures of the progression. I’ll have to do that with the next batch.