Favorites of 2008 – Additional Details

Over the past few days, I’ve posted my version of  year-end awards in the form of “Brent’s Favorites of 2008″.  I wanted to share some additional comments about some of my choices.

Restaurant (National Chain): Cheddar’s

The food and service are usually excellent at Cheddar’s, but what really sets it apart is that the prices are less expensive than other similar restaurants.

Restaurant (Fast Food):  Chick-Fil-A

I usually eat lunch at Chick-Fil-A 3 or 4 times a week, so that pretty much made it a shoo-in for my favorite fast food restaurant of the year.  The reason I eat there so much is that I discovered many of their menu items contain significantly less fat than other fast food places.

Restaurant (Local): China Wok

China Wok doesn’t have the biggest buffet among Chinese restaurants in the area by a long shot, but the food is so much better that it’s a great example of quality over quantity.  That’s not to say that there isn’t a good selection, because they still pack a lot of variety into their buffet.

Video Game: MLB Power Pros 2008 (PS2)

It might seem a little surprising that I picked a PS2 game as my favorite video game of the year, but I have PC games as a separate category, and I just bought my XBOX 360 a few weeks ago.  MLB Power Pros 2008 is a game that I would have dismissed without a second thought if not for the great reviews I read about it.  The players have a very cartoonish look, similar to the Miis on the Wii.  The player creation system plays out like a minauture Role Playing Game.  But, if you get into it, you’ll find that it plays a much better game of baseball than most “serious” baseball games.

PC Game: TrackMania Nations Forever

It wasn’t until I picked TrackMania Nations Forever as my favorite PC game of the year that I realized I must not have played many PC games that made a lasting impression on me during 2008.  That’s because I didn’t start playing TrackMania until the last week of 2008, yet I already thought it was better than any other PC game I could remember playing during the year.

TrackMania Nations Forever is a free racing game that is loads of fun.  The graphics are sharp and the gameplay is outstanding, and I understand that it will run well even on lower-end PCs.  It includes around 65 tracks, but there is also a track editor, and when you play online, if you choose a server that is using tracks you don’t have, the game will automatically download them for you.  There are also websites where you can download additionl tracks and car models.  I’ve read that there are literally thousands of user-made tracks available.  And yes, all of this is free.

For $40, you can upgrade to TrackMania United Forever, which adds 6 additional racing environments and vehicle types.  I’ll probably do that soon, because the amount of content available for the free version of the game is nearly infinite, with more coming every day, and I figure $40 for “nearly infinite” times 6 is a pretty good deal.

Card Game: Rage

I’ve only played Rage once, but that’s as long as it took for it to become my favorite card game.  The basic rules are similar to Rook or Spades where you make a bid on how many points or tricks you think you’ll win, and then try to win tricks by playing the highest card.  Rage includes some special cards that spice up gameplay, however, such as cards that allow you to change the trump color in the middle of a hand,  eliminate trumps altogether, or cause whoever wins the trick to lose 5 points from their total score.  I just hope I get to play it again, because it got very mixed reviews from my friends.

Board Game: Scattergories

I didn’t actually play Scattergories very much in 2008, but when I think about all of the board games I like, Scattergories is still my favorite after all of these years.  Some readers might be shocked that I didn’t pick Sorry or Oh What a Mountain!

Website: Facebook.com

I seem to spend as much time on Facebook as I do on all other websites combined, so it must be my favorite.

Favorites of 2008 – Part 2

After I posted my Favorites of 2008 list a couple of days ago, I thought of several more categories I should have included. In particular, I failed to include any musical categories in my list. Also, Rich posted some additional categories he’d like to hear my opinion on. So, here are my Favorites of 2008 – Part 2!

Brent’s Favorites of 2008 – Part 2

• Band/Singer: Freezepop
• New Band/Singer that I discovered this year: Bat for Lashes
• Album: Future Future Future Perfect (Freezepop)
• Radio Station: WVEK FM 102.7 (Tri-Cities Classic Hits)
• TV Station: Sci Fi
• Laundry Detergent: Abraxo
• Kool Aid Flavor: Didn’t drink any
• Gatorade Flavor: G2 Fruit Punch
• Toilet Paper: Whatever is on the roll
• Leather or Pleather: Pleather

Most Disappointing of 2008

As a follow up on my “Favorites of 2008″ post, I thought I’d do a “Most Disappointing of 2008″ list as well. I know that I sometimes enjoy reading “Worst Of” lists more than “Best Of” lists, because they’re usually more interesting. Again, these are just my opinions – nobody else got to vote!

Brent’s Most Disappointing of 2008

• Restaurant: Taco Bell
• Movie: Deathproof (Might be from an earlier year, but I didn’t watch it until this year)
• T.V. Show: The Price is Right (with Drew Carey as host)
• PC Game: Warhammer Online
• Website: WarhammerOnline.com (For the complete lack of Official forums or message boards)
• Sporting Event: Brickyard 400 (Cautions every 10 laps due to tire problems)
• Sports Team (Pro): Atlanta Braves (For not coming close to making the playoffs)
• Sports Team (College): University of Tennessee Volunteers Football (Poor record, not Bowl Eligible)

If you can think of any other categories you’d like to know my opinion of, post them in the comments!

I’d also like to note that I plan to discuss some of my picks for Favorites and Most Disappointing in more detail in my upcoming posts.

Favorites of 2008

As many other websites do, I thought I’d do a sort of year-end awards on my blog. Of course, these are just my opinion. Nobody else got to vote on these, so that’s why I’m calling them my “favorites” instead of “awards”.

Brent’s Favorites of 2008

• Restaurant (National Chain): Cheddar’s
• Restaurant (Fast Food): Chik-Fil-A
• Restaurant (Local): China Wok
• Movie: The Mist
• T.V. Show: Ghost Hunters
• Video Game: MLB Power Pros 2008 (PS2!)
• PC Game: TrackMania Nations Forever
• Card Game: Rage
• Board Game: Scattergories
• Grocery Store: Food City
• General Merchandise Store: Target
• Electronics Store: Circuit City
• News Source: Kingsport Times-News
• Website: Facebook.com
• Sporting Event: Super Bowl
• Sports Team (Pro): Tennessee Titans
• Sports Team (College): University of Tennessee Volunteers (Football)
• Athlete (Pro): Peyton Manning (QB, Indianapolis Colts)
• Athlete (College): Eric Berry (DB, UT)
• Pro Wrestler: Chris Jericho
• Amusement Park: Dollywood

If you can think of any other categories you’d like to know my opinion of, let me know in the comments!

I’m Still Here!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I haven’t abandoned my blog!  It seems like every time in my life that I’ve tried to become a regular contributor to a website, whether it be my own or someone else’s, I wind up apologizing over and over again for not posting regularly.  Then I’ll get back on track and post regularly for a while, but then the next thing I know I’ve let a month pass without posting.  I’m once again going to try to recommit myself to posting on my blog on a regular basis.  I’m going to try to post at least once a week from now on, and more often if possible.

One thing I plan to do is to resume a couple of recurring series that I had running on my blog a few months ago.  One of those is my Andy Griffith Show episode rankings.  I got through the first four seasons of the show, and I hope to rank the remaining seasons soon.  Another series that I want to resume is my Dollywood series.  I made a few posts about Dollywood, but I have a lot more that I want to post.

I’ve also made a few movie and restaurant reviews over the past few months, and I want to try to do more of that as well.  I’ve going to try my best to post a review every time I watch a movie.

Of course, I’m not going to limit myself to the topics above.  Expect to see a wide variety of things discussed as I get back into blogging on a regular basis.

And finally, thanks for reading!

Trip To Indy – Update

As you might have noticed, I wasn’t able to blog during my trip to Indianapolis like I’d hoped.  I had problems with my laptop, and I didn’t get it working until a few hours before we left for home.  I’ll post about our experiences from the trip in the coming days.

Trip to Indianapolis

This weekend, I’ll be going to Indianapolis to watch the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Sprint Cup Race.  I’m not sure yet if I’ll have Internet access during the trip, but if I do, I’ll try to post a trip journal here on my blog.

A Little Q & A

As I continue to try to get back in the swing of posting on a more regular basis, I thought I’d respond to some of the questions and comments that readers have posted over the course of the past few months.

In response to my column about Wrestlemania 24, Rich asked if there is still such a thing as wrestling PPVs. I can confirm that yes, they still exist. I’m still a pro wrestling fan, although I don’t watch all of the PPVs any more. The group of people that I watched PPVs with a few years ago dwindled from a high of more than a dozen down to just 2 or 3 most of the time nowadays. We now skip most WWE PPvs, because they are the most expensive, and most of them aren’t worth the price. We do watch all of the TNA PPVs, because they’re always good. We’ve been ordering Ring of Honor’s occasional PPVs too.

In response to one of my Dollywood posts, Dan posted some great thoughts about Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo. Dollywood and Silver Dollar City are sister parks (they are owned by the same company). Dollywood was once a Silver Dollar City also, and many of the attractions that were built in the 70s and early 80s were duplicated at both parks. I talked about the old Inventor’s Mansion that used to be at Dollywood, and Dan said that Silver Dollar City still has one! He also said that there is still a Flooded Mine at Silver Dollar CIty, but that it had been redone electronic guns and targets throughout the ride. That sounds similar to Dollywood’s new ride for 2008, the River Battle. It has water guns that can be used to shoot at targets – or bystanders!

Norma replied to one of my Andy Griffith Show posts and asked if there was anywhere that she could get the duet of Andy and Peggy singing “Down in the Valley” without having to buy all of Season 3 on DVD. I’m not sure, but I’ll post a link to it if I find it anywhere online. Norma also said she had read that Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee) thought that Andy didn’t like her. I actually thought that I had heard it the other way around – that Bavier didn’t like Andy. I’d thought I’d heard somewhere that among other things, Bavier didn’t like the fact that she was never mentioned in the opening credits of the show along with Andy, Barney, and Opie.

Lawson asked how many movies I’ve watched since my post last month where I said I’d probably start reviewing every movie I watch in order to generate more content for my blog. Well, I have to admit that I’ve watched several, but I didn’t get around to reviewing them. I’ll try to do a better job of posting reviews of the movies I watch from now on.

I mentioned a while back that I was planning to start a mailing list and send out notifications when I update my blog. Only one person has asked to join that list, so if anyone else would like to be added, let me know! Rich also pointed out that that you can use a site like Google Reader or Bloglines, and add the blogs that you read to it. That allows you to just check one website when you want to see who has updated their blog.

I’m Alive!

When I started this blog a few short months ago, I told myself I wanted to be sure that I updated it often enough that I’d never have to make a post apologizing that it’s been so long since I updated. Of course, that quickly went out the window, as it’s been over a month since I posted. I’m going to try to get back to posting on a regular basis soon.

I plan to continue my series on Dollywood and my Andy Griffith Show rankings, as well as posting my thoughts on various and sundry topics. I’m also going to try to start posting reviews for every movie I watch, so there should be more posts along those lines as well.

If there are any topics you’d like to hear me talk about, let me know and I might do a post on that too!

Quick Notes on Comments

I just wanted to make sure everyone noticed that you can post comments on any of my posts.  In the template I’m using, the comments link uses such a small font that I wasn’t sure if everyone noticed it.  I’ve also got my blog set up so that comments won’t show up until I approve them, so that is why your comments might not be displayed on the site right away.  I did that to make sure I don’t get any spam comments.