A Sea Of Red

As we close out 2011, I thought it'd be fun to have everyone list their favorites of the year. Here are the categories:

• Movie
  
  Book
  
  Videogame
  
  Meal
  
  Place you visited
  
  Sports Experience

Give us your pick & an explanation.

Lol shorty...always good foe a laugh

Most of my picks will not be things that came out this year but they certainly were favorites of mine:

MovieL Fireproof. How in the world did I go as long as I did before seeing this movie? Sherwood Films does amazing work. Cant wait to see Courageous

Book- Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy. Great book from a great man

Videogame

Meal- Spaghetti. I had it with my good friend Aaron Sparkman from Thomas Road and his wife. Wonderful people and Ive enjoyed being friends with them the last 4 years

Place you visited- Nashville, TN. I wasnt there for long but it was great to be in the home of country music

Sports Experience- Military Appreciation Day at Liberty This could quickly become a favorite tradition on the mountain

Movie - Didn't go to a theater in 2011 and can't remember any notable 2011 movies off the top of my head that I have actually watched. Best new movie to me that I saw in 2011 would be a tie between The Fighter and The Parking Lot Movie.

Book - Only books I read this year were older than 2011, so I don't have a best of 2011 here. Best book I read in 2011 (a 2010 book I believe) was "Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend" by Bill Russell.

Videogame - Don't play console or computer games anymore, so I'd have to go with Tiny Wings since all I ever play games on is the iPod Touch here and there. I didnt start playing Angry Birds until 2011, so I'll count that even though it came out in 2009.

Meal - I don't really remember any meals other than what I just had for dinner, so I'll have to go with my mom's lasagna then.

Place you visited - North Carolina Zoo

Sports Experience - Kentucky beating UNC, OSU in the NCAA Tournament and Hampden-Sydney hoops beating Virginia Wesleyan

Movie - I don't really watch movies.

Book - I actually during the summer, read a little of Elmer Town's Theology for Today. Really helped to refresh my Biblical and Theological knowledge. Dr. Towns is the greatest biblical theologian today.

Videogame - FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 (I'm addicted to this game)

Meal - My homemade Peruvian quesadillas.

Place you visited - Tie between Tampa and Rochester Minnesota.

Sports Experience - Salem Red Sox on July 4. Full count, 2 out, bases loaded for Salem, Lynchburg Hillcats lead 8-5. With one swing of the bat, grand slam to left field, Salem wins 9-8.

Movie:

Frankly 2011 was a pretty lame year for movies. I know I will be scoffed at but the best live action movie we saw this year was Soul Surfer. My primary regrets were missing both Cowboys & Aliens as well as War Horse. Kung Fu Panda 2 gets some love as well.


Book:

I realize it came out in Late 2010 but it was far and away the best book I read in 2011. Frankly it is the best historical biography I've ever read. I am dying to see what the movie looks like when completed.


Videogame:

OK, so we just have a Wii and everything else I play is on an Android phone. I lead a sheltered life. But this game on my phone makes me laugh every time.


Meal:

The mussels may have been better at a French restaurant in Ridgefield, CT but you can't beat the atmosphere dining outside in the midst of the Grand'Place in Brussels. Honorable mention goes to the crazy Italian meal I had in Chiba, Japan with octopus oil sauce on spaghetti with pizza topped with sushi.


Place You Visited:

The first shot is from my hotel room in Melbourne and the 2nd was from my first ever Aussie Rules game. I loved, loved, loved Australia and Melbourne in particular. I've had opportunities to live ex pat in different places around the world with zero temptation for me. Melbourne & Sydney would be tough to turn down. Honorable mention to Teton Valley, Idaho. Yellowstone and the aforementioned Chiba, Japan.


Sports Experience:

Sadly it was probably our season opener at Texas A&M. I didn't make it to any LU football games this fall. But even with a blowout loss at College Station, is was awesome being able to see the Flames so close to home.

Movie Courageous - Every man needs to see this.

Book - Don't read much other than the Bible.

Videogame - Words with Friends - lame.

Meal - My wife's General Tso's Chicken - real identifiable chicken breast meat. Yummm

Place you visited - The chapel at Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg - my youngest daughter was married there.

Sports Experience - The LU-NC State game - made me really proud to be a Flames fan (except for the TO's).

Movie: The Help

Book: Moby Dick

Videogame: Scrabble on FB

Meal: Faidley's crab cakes (Lexington Market in Baltimore)

Place you visited: New York City

Sports Experience: Red/Orioles series in Batimore

Movie : Real Steel

Book: Empire from Ashes. It wasn't written in 2011 but I read it in 2011

Video Game: Angry Birds/Modern Warfare 3

Meal: 4 Way Tie (not to be confused with 5 way Skyline Chili)
Carnegie Deli NYC
Powers Hamburgers Ft Wayne IN
St Elmo's Steakhouse Indianapolis IN
Weber Grill Indianapolis IN

Places Visited
NYC/Niagara Falls/Niagara on the Lake. Wife's bucket list. REALLY liked Niagara on the Lake.
U2 concert at Soldier Field has to make honorable mention

Sports Experience: Games 1 and 2 Western Conference Final @ Dallas

Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

Book: Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire. The conclusion of the Wicked series, a take on the Wizard of Oz told from the point of view of first the Wicked Witch of the West, then her offspring after her demise.

Video Game: Scrabble on Facebook

Meal: Crab Cake Sandwich at Chateau Morrisette

Place I visited: Tie between Denver and Orlando

Sports Experience: Watching LU men's tennis finally beat Coastal.

Movie: The Descendants. 2011 was a bad year for movies.

Book: Battle Royale. Not new, but I read it in 2011.

Videogame: MLB 11 The Show by default.

Meal: Eating on the beach at The Turtle Club on Vanderbilt Beach in Naples, FL. Excellent seafood and perfect setting.

Place you visited: A few trips to St. Petersburg FL. We didn't travel much this year.

Sports Experience: None. The last day of the regular season/Red Sox collapse is seared into my brain, however.

I have a horrible memory, so this really an exercise in futility for me, but here goes...

Movie: Wasn't a whole lot of memorable movies this year. Can't really remember what I enjoyed. Maybe Super 8? I also enjoyed Rango, but probably shouldn't have let my kids watch it. There were a bunch of movies I wanted to see but didn't. They just didn't seem good enough to make to effort or the time.

Book: I read a lot of books this year, but the two that stood out the most are probably "Just Do Something" by Kevin DeYoung, and "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat.

Video Game: I didn't really have any time, but maybe The Impossible Game on my wife's phone.

Meal: I don't remember anything I ate last year.

Place Visited: Twitter. Twas a slow year for travel.

Sports Moment: UConn winning their third National Championship.

Album: Fleet Foxes and Young the Giant had some great ones, but right now (maybe because it's so fresh in my mind) my favorite of the year is MuteMath's new one, Odd Soul.

Movie - Transformers Dark of the Moon - other than the lovey dovey crap this movie capped off the 3 really well.

Book - a Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss

Videogame - i'm a grown up....who am i kidding, BF3 campaign.

Meal -

Place you visited - Disney World

Sports Experience - Michigan over OSU or the Bulls run.

Album - man. i'll probably say myolo xyloto. or fleet foxes

RubberMallet wrote:Album - man. i'll probably say myolo xyloto. or fleet foxes

Would have never taken you as a Coldplay fan, especially myolo xyloto. I love Coldplay, but much like x&y, I only like 2 or 3 songs off of this latest one.

Sly Fox wrote:As we close out 2011, I thought it'd be fun to have everyone list their favorites of the year. Here are the categories:

• Movie
  
  Book
  
  Videogame
  
  Meal
  
  Place you visited
  
  Sports Experience

Give us your pick & an explanation.

Movie: Three Muskateers 3d - Probably the most underrated film of the year.

Book: Success by Darren Hardy

Videogame: The only one I bought was NCAA 12. Not much of a gamer.

Meal: I have no picture of it but my mom's Chicken Tortilla soup. Not to mention, she made this right after I came home for Christmas break. Going from the rot to this was magical.

Place I visited: Mount Vernon - Probably was the only thing in the D.C. area that I hadn't experienced and it was beautiful.

Sports Experience: This was the first time that I hadn't been a VT football game or a Duke basketball game so I have to go with the Redskins vs Steelers in pre-season. Tons of people showed up and we beat the Steelers.

ALUmnus wrote:

RubberMallet wrote:Album - man. i'll probably say myolo xyloto. or fleet foxes

Would have never taken you as a Coldplay fan, especially myolo xyloto. I love Coldplay, but much like x&y, I only like 2 or 3 songs off of this latest one.

i like most of x&y and half of viva. this one i like about 1/2 of it as well. i guess this is more of a case of me just not really getting into much new music beyond my dubstep kick.

as for being a coldplay fan. my music interests have swayed to lighter stuff in the past. i think that just come with age.

Just so you can relive the misery Adam

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jbock13 wrote:Just so you can relive the misery Adam

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Thanks for that.

Sly Fox wrote:As we close out 2011, I thought it'd be fun to have everyone list their favorites of the year. Here are the categories:

• Movie
  
  Book
  
  Videogame
  
  Meal
  
  Place you visited
  
  Sports Experience

Give us your pick & an explanation.

Movie: The Help...went in with low expectations and loved the movie..really clean as well

Book: World War 3 by Ian Slater

Videogame: Modern Warfare 3

Meal: Hondo's in Richmond, VA...classy joint..amazing filet mignon

Places Visited: Go to the outer banks every summer but me and my wife went to Ft. Lauderdale in November to get away before our first born arrives in March..Florida weather is perfect in November..also stayed at the same hotel as the Redskins when they played Miami...so I was pretty thrilled to walk in from dinner and see Brian Orakpo waiting for a taxi with a couple females in hand of course

Album: The Whole Truth by Da Truth..first Christian Rap artist that Ive ever heard that wasnt corny ex: T-bone

Sports Experience: Knicks vs Celtics...first playoff game in Madison Square Garden in a LONG TIME..amazing atmosphere

My album of the year was El Camino by the Black Keys. I didn't listen to a ton of new music for the first time in many years. From the small pool of albums I listened to, that was the clear winner.

bballfan84 wrote:Meal: Hondo's in Richmond, VA...classy joint..amazing filet mignon

I've been wanting to go there but haven't made it yet. I hear nothing but positive reviews.

Movie: I really enjoyed the Lincoln Lawyer, Bridesmaids, and Midnight in Paris

Book: It's a few years old, but Churched by Matthew Paul Turner

Videogame: NBA 2k, Bioshock 2, and a random assortment of Kinect games.

Meal: Sly I literally think I ate at the exact same restaurant at the Grand'Place in Brussels this summer. My favorite meal of the year was also in Brussels, Belgium at a little Italian place called Toscana 21. It was better than any Italian food I've ever had.

Place I visited: I finally got to visit Amsterdam, it was a really cool city. The city gets sort of a crazy reputation because of all the prostitution and drugs, but there is a ton of stuff to see and do there.

Sports Experience: It was just a regular season game, but I had a really good time at the WVU-Purdue basketball game that I attended in January. The Greenbrier Classic was a lot of fun this year also.

pbow - I'll file away Toscano 21 for my next Brussels trip. Grand'Place is awesome. I was there in Late June. We have a British-based associate who gets all of our assignments in Amsterdam, Rotterdam & the Hague. But I'm hoping to score a project there this summer as well.

cjsweat - Thanks for the reminder about Mt. Vernon. We're hitting DC on our family road trip this summer and that is one place I have never visited.

Mallet - We seriously need that served up at a future tailgating event.

Haize - I would have been fine with the Skyline or Gold Star. When I'm in Indy I usually hit Long's bakery for donuts & then a tenderloin sandwich at Mug-N-Bun. I've heard good things about St. Elmo.

jbock13 - What makes your quesadillas Peruvian?

I guess I should add my album as well ... The Reckoning by needtobreathe.

SLY St Elmo's is an institution! Icant eat seafood but I hear the shrimp cocktail is all that and a bag of chips! Also, a little further north in Carmel is Bubs Burgers. AMAZING. Especially if you can eat the 22 oz burger!