2010, the year that was

The beginning of a new year means it’s time for another year-end review post.  2010 was not a particularly happy year, even though there were some bright spots.

The low was definitely losing my dear cousin Elena to cancer.  She was my age and very dear to me, and unfortunately there was nothing that could be done to save her.  She left behind a husband and two young daughters that will surely miss her endlessly.

Pretty much the same thing happened to the husband of a friend of my best friend Vittorio, which only compounded the year’s sadness.

My work visa was renewed for three more years, which is a good thing, but my job kept getting worse.  I feel more and more isolated and less and less appreciated and I don’t have a choice but to stick around, since in this economy finding another job would be unthinkable.

On the political front, President Barack Obama, who had given us all so much hope, caused us gays a lot of heartaches and headaches with his continual refusals to forcefully step up to our defenses and instead keep raising stumbling blocks that only slowed our progress down.  Now that the Democrats have lost the House and saw their supermajority in the Senate shrink, even less will be accomplished in general, and specifically on the gay rights front.  Thankfully, just when all hope seemed vanished, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was finally repealed, which was a victory so huge we haven’t yet seen all of its benefits.

On the environmental front, in 2010 the greenhouse effect got worse, but countless idiots still deny its very existence.  We also witnessed the biggest man-made natural disaster in history with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, whose ill effects will be felt by both humans and animals for decades to come.

Fortunately there were some highs as well.  Ray kept being very successful at his job(s), finally allowing us to actually afford some improvements on the house.  We added a playroom downstairs for the kids, by finishing half the basement, and a patio with a marvelous gazebo outside for us.  I can’t wait for the spring to finally start using them...

The kids are doing all right, although we’re still dealing with a series of behavioral issues with our son Daniel.  The dogs on the other hand, are getting old.  Diablo is still in excellent shape for her age, but we can tell that she’s slowing down and sometimes has a lot of trouble getting around.  Mina is still her usual hyper self, but her separation anxiety has gotten much worse, so much so that she’s now heavily medicated.

Finally, the high of the year was my road trip with my best friend Vittorio, which took us to my number one destination ever: the Grand Canyon National Park.  It is breathtakingly beautiful.  Words simply cannot describe its vastness, greatness or beauty.  It really is a wonder, a marvel to behold.

We also saw the Vermillion Cliffs, Hoover Dam, Route 66, Lake Powell, Marble Canyon, Glen Canyon Horseshoe Band and the marvelous Monument Valley, just to name a few.  We concluded the trip in Las Vegas, which turned out to be more attractive than I expected it to be.

All things considered, this was my favorite road trip to date, and I feel incredibly lucky to have seen such unbelievable wonders as only nature can create.

To conclude, the movies.  2010 was a very prolific year.  Between my few trips to the theater and a bunch of rentals (from Netflix and the cable premium channels) I saw 75 movies last year.  Here’s the recap:

10
March of the Penguins
The Kids Are All Right
Toy Story 3

9
Avatar
Earth
Food, Inc.
Inception
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Temple Grandin
The Social Network

8
(500) Days of Summer
127 Hours
A Serious Man
Coraline
Despicable Me
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Mamma Mia!
Pan's Labyrinth
Saturno Contro
Sherlock Holmes
Shutter Island
Sunshine
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
The Informant!
The Road
The Town
Up In The Air
Wanted
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Zombieland

7
28 Weeks Later
Alice in Wonderland
An Education
Bee Movie
Crazy Heart
Easy A
I Love You, Man
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Pandorum
Paranormal Activity
RED
Surf's Up
The Blind Side
The Crazies
The Orphanage
The Polar Express
The Princess and the Frog
Treasure Planet
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Wedding Crashers
Yossi and Jagger

6
Cat's Eye
Free Willy
Heavenly Creatures
It's Complicated
Quantum of Solace
Resident Evil
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Splice
The Invasion
The Lovely Bones

5
2012
Altered
Lions for Lambs
New Nightmare
Shrek the Third
The Book of Eli

4
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Space Chimps
Twilight

2
Diary of the Dead

As is to be expected, there were some clunkers, but overall I saw a lot of very good movies, and if I had to come up with my list of 10 Best Picture nominations (following the new rules of the Academy Awards...) they would be:

Avatar
District 9
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
March of the Penguins
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Temple Grandin
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
Up in the Air

And my Best Picture of 2010 was:

Toy Story 3

An unconventional choice that will no doubt be different from whatever the Academy ends up crowning, but a necessary choice for the overall achievement of this animated movie.

How often does the third chapter in a series improve upon both its predecessors?  How often do animated characters move an audience to tears and laughter as heartfelt as those solicited by this cinematic gem?  How often does a screenplay bring an audience back in time to a period we all lived through -- the loss of innocence, the moving on from our childhood interests?

For all its glorious perfection, Toy Story 3 was the best movie I saw in 2010.

Now on to 2011, since I already have 3 movies to blog about...