By Well, 2003 has disappeared in to the ether and 2004 is upon us.
I spent the transitional period at a party with some roleplaying friends. The journey to the party was rather hairy, going across Hensingham tops in driving snow, couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of you without everything becoming a white blur. Didn't help that there was a taxi half-way up the hill from Keekle with hazards ablaze in the middle of the road. The dumb-schmuck didn't even have the sense to pull in to the side.
Anyway, I must convey my own personal thanks to Steve & Jo for hosting this year's bash. Plenty of alcohol was consumed, some more than others, and lots of nibbles were happily dispatched. As the party wound down the Gamecube was brought out and a 3 way melee ensued on Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters, a multi-player favourite. Although how successful we were is debatable, considering we were all drunk and it was close to 4am. Ended up crashing the night and woke up at 9am this morning, decided that it was unlikely there'd be anybody concious just then, and I went back to bed; finally re-emerged just before midday, to be greeted by a plate of toast and cup of tea, within 10 seconds of walking in to the kitchen. Stayed for lunch, which consisted of a rather excellent homemade chilli soup, before departing homewards about 2pm.
2003 saw quite a few changes in my life. Although I actually changed employers at the back end of 2002, 2003 has been a period of settling in to the job, learning, and where possible, improving the systems in place, and bonding, to a certain degree, with a new group of work colleagues. I suppose it helped somewhat that there were a few people in the company that I already knew. And as 2003 came to a close I can happily state that I think I've settled nicely and 2004 should be a period of growth within the business, especially with the Safeway purchase by Morrison's.
From a personal life point of view I briefly revisited my relationship with Amanda. It always seemed that there were too many other issues around the edges of the relationship that would have prevented it from developing long-term.
Standouts in TV entertainment terms included Alias, which has developed into a really excellent series, and season 3 will hopefully be on Sky soon. 2003 also introduced me, after recommendations from Colin and Scoot, to the rather excellent CSI. Buffy came to an end and Angel went from strength to strength. There are some really good shows in the first half of the new 5th season, which should hopefully come to Sky in the near future.
I don't really think there were that many standout movies in 2003. There were movies that I enjoyed, but they weren't what you could call excellent. I didn't actually see Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl at the movies, caught it on DVD at Blackpool, but I would rate it very highly. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was one movie that I had waited all year to see, and thoroughly enjoyed. Both Matrix movies were enjoyable, but felt a lot like just more of the same, and I think they were missed opportunities. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was not the big event people might have been expecting. Whilst it brought the story full circle, as it were, it really wasn't anything special, when viewed against the previous 2 movies. No doubt, I saw other movies in 2003, but none spring to mind as worthy of mention.
Musically, 2003 saw the emergence of Evanescence as a global force, rather than just the huge hits they were in their native Little Rock, Arkansas. If you can find any of their pre-Fallen stuff, it's worthy of a listen. Dido continued to dominate the UK musically, with her second album topping the charts for extended periods. The Darkness also became huge forces in the UK, although I personally feel that their lead singer is trying desperately to be some kind of new Freddie Mercury, and painfully hasn't got the vocal range or presence to carry it off. In fact, parts of their album is painful to listen to.
2003 saw me reading new works by Anne Rice, David Eddings, Tom Clancy, Robin Hobb, Terry Pratchett and Raymond Feist. But the book I've enjoyed most this year is Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden, a fictional account of Julius Caesar's early years. The second book, The Death Of Kings, is due for a hardback release next month.
Game-wise I don't think there was anything huge in 2003. In fact I only bought 1 or 2 games for the Gamecube and beyond Soul Calibur II I can't think of another PS2 game that I bought. On the PC Prince Of Perisa: The Sands of Time and Neverwinter Nights are probably the standout game of the year for me, especially with NWN's 2 expansion packs. I also enjoyed Freelancer, Unreal Tournament 2003, Halo, Max Payne 2 and Need For Speed: Underground, which I'm currently in the middle of playing through. 2004 may eventually see releases of Doom III and Half-Life 2, as well as scheduled releases for Unreal Tournament 2004 and Quake IV. Other games just around the corner include Black & White 2, Lord Of The Rings: Middle Earth Online, The Matrix Online, Everquest II, The Sims 2, Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, World Of Warcraft and X2-The Threat, which will tide us over nicely until Elite 4 sees the light of day. Frontier Developments are still keeping that tight to their chests. One other future game that has caught my eye is Bioware's Jade Empire, which is currently only planned for the XBox. We can only hope that they rethink that and release a PC version too; I still think the PC is the best games platform.
Anyway, way too long a post. Let's see what 2004 has in store...
