Best of 2012

Best of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and now 2012!

Another year and another change to the categories of “best of”, which shows the pace of change mostly in technology in the world. Album of the year is now gone as buying albums are a thing of the past and has been replaced with Mobile App of the year.

	Mobile App of the year – Spotify Having Spotify on the IPhone and the computer has opened a whole new world of music, as well as a new way to listen to it. At home I can listen to friends playlists or what they are currently listening to or use the playlist radio feature to generate recommendations for me. This means I’m constantly exposed to new music which is fantastic!
	Cinema Trip of the year – Argo This year didn’t have as many cinema trips as other years, I think because of AppleTV and QuickFlix means we get as many movies as we could possibly want already through the post. The other movies I did see weren’t as good as I was hoping, Dark Knight Rises and Prometheus weren’t as good as I was hoping they would be. Argo is a fictional (but based on reality) story of getting some US embassy workers out of Tehran. It’s a really interesting story and recommend the movie.
	TV Show of the Year – 30 Rock It’s awesome when you find a TV show that has been running for a few years but you never watched, it means you have hundreds of episodes to watch. 30 Rock is one of those shows, it stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin and is based on running a TV show at NBC’s NYC offices at 30 Rockafella Plaza. It’s extremely funny and I’m sad their last season is currently being filmed. A close second is Homeland, which we’ve also loved as well as the continuation of last years top TV show Boardwalk Empire.
	Game of the Year – Ski Safari This little mobile app game lets you control a little guy as he skis down a mountain. He jumps on the back of yetis and can do loops in the air. All of which get you various different rewards. It’s super addictive and great fun. It’s lack of “buy credits” options makes this an original game where the developers goal of making a decent game without all of the tricky ways other apps try and get more money out of you is refreshing, hence why it’s a popular game and in the top 20 apps on the app store this year.
	Website of the Year – Gmail I’ve never featured gmail as the website of the year as I’ve never thought of it as a website. The tab I have open on the web for the majority of the time is Gmail, so it should get the accolade at least once!
	Purchase the Year – Focus Bike I only got this at the end of the year but this bike is awesome. It has hub gears and disc brakes and is great to take out on bike rides around Manly. The lack of metal chain means the ocean won’t rust it as quickly with a bit of luck.
	Restaurant of the Year – Margan Margan was the venue that Amy and I got married at last year, we were really pleased with it. Recently we went back to the Hunter Valley for a weekend and we went back and had lunch there. I had Pork Belly for the main and a delicious dessert, the food is so good for a restaurant which is practically in the middle of nowhere. We also went to Aria this year which is supposed to be a top restaurant in Australia but I found it pretty disappointing from a food/service standpoint. A lot of online reviews say the same.
	Trip of the Year – Kyoto Amy went to Japan for work and I went along with her. We had a little bit of time away from work so we made a trip down to Kyoto on the bullet train. I love Japan in general but Kyoto was also really awesome and one of the highlights of the trip. I definitely hope we can make it back there again sometime soon. We made some other awesome trips, Bali, Fiji and Uluru and Paperbark Camp to name a few!

2013 has a very high possibility of being totally different from the previous few years so watch this space!