This year has been a long one so I thought it deserved a brief rundown of what caught my attention the most, I’ll probably neglect some great things from early on in the year but that’s the nature of a list compiled so long afterwards.

Best Movies:

• The Dark Knight Rises. Now this was inevitable, I ended up seeing it 3 times in 3 different theatres including Imax. The first time was also extra special as it was the midnight screening after seeing the previous 2 films in the same theatre. Seen it a couple of more times since and it’s still a thrill to watch.
• 21 Jump Street. I even surprised myself by putting this second but remembering how much I loved this movie and still loved it after watching it countless times there was no doubt about it’s place on this list. Some of the best jokes and one liners and it even made me think Channing Tatum might not be so bad.
• Iron sky. Ever since I first saw the trailer and thought “what on earth is this, I can’t even…” it already had a spot reserved on this list. At times it can be hard to stay engrossed when a movie is so heavily wrapped in CGI but they pulled it off.
• Nitro Circus: The movie. Yes, I’m going to include action sports in my movie rundown because they are what I watch the most. This movie is ridiculous, stunts that merit being in an action movie yet performed by a group of friends just looking to have some fun and push themselves.
• Girl & Chocolate: Pretty Sweet. This year has been pretty slow for Skateboard movies but the much anticipated sequel to 2003’s “Yeah Right” was spectacular. It was a bit of a shock getting used to the young blood having the longer parts and old legends such as Koston, Howard, Caroll and Biebel relegated to cameos but after re watching Pretty Sweet several times there’s no way I couldn’t include it on this list.
• Honorable mention: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. if you were to ask me now, I would have put this in first place but it’s still a recent movie for me so I felt it should be left off.

Best Music:

• I See Stars - Digital Renegade. I haven’t listened to it for a couple of months but it’s at the top of my last.fm so there’s no denying the top spot here as well.
• The Wedding - No Direction. I can’t explain why I love this album so much but the fact that it only took me one listen to head straight to Amazon and order it should say more than words.
• Set it Off - Cinematics. Scene + Melodies + Orchestra, enough said, will probably be playing it long into 2013.
• Handguns - Angst. Seeing as Man Overboard didn’t release an album this year I was left with the next best thing.
• Enter Shikari - Flash Flood of Colour. I had to double check that this actually came out this year as it feels so long ago and with a release date of the 16th January it just scrapes into this years list.
• Honorable mention: Muse - The 2nd Law. A huge album that I’ve listened to a lot but it’s been a long time since I last did and I feel that stops it from making a “best of” list.

Video Games:

• Alan Wake (PC). Although this game technically first game out a few years ago on xbox and I played it their first, I can’t miss an excuse to have it on another list seeing as it was only released on PC this February. Favourite game ever, it’s hard to even put it in the same chart as traditional video games as this transcends everything before it. The most scared I have ever been in my life has been playing this game.
• Sniper Elite V2 (PC). A bit of a niche title but has some of the best graphics I’ve seen matched with flawless gameplay earned it a solid second place on my list.
• Max Payne 3 (PC). It may not have been what everyone had hoped from Rockstar but this was still a solid effort along with a Story that kept on going all the while keeping it fresh made this one of the few games I played through twice.
• Honorable mention: Battlefield 3 (PC). Although the core game was released in 2011 the added multiplayer modes and maps that have been introduced over this year and with still one more pack to drop I felt this game has done a great job at keeping me playing through 2012.

Best Gadget:

• Are they even gadgets anymore? My gadget of 2012 is my laptop, a 15” Thinkpad, I felt it needed mentioning as without it I wouldn’t have had such a successful summer with GSOC and as the work I did is how I define my year it earned some of the limelight.

Fail of the year:

• Windows 8. Yes, I use it, but if they had just brought the performance boosts and the sharper theme they would have had a winning solution, the whole metro thing is just awful. Along with all the little niggles I keep coming across have earned the latest from Microsoft my thumbs down this year.