Sean's Best & Worst of 2013

Many television shows, magazines, websites and newspapers have best and worst of 2013 lists. What makes my list different is that I'm posting this in January 2014, well after everyone else.

Best Movie I Saw In The Theater: Most lists will have 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, American Hustle or Captain Phillips at the top of the list. Unfortunately, I only saw two movies in the theater in 2013. Therefore, my vote goes to This Is The End starring Seth Rogan, James Franco and Jonah Hill.

Worst Movie I Saw In The Theater: The Heat. I enjoyed this movie, but not as much as This Is The End.

If you think my list so far is a bit ridiculous, I encourage you to stay here. It gets better.

Best Sports Moment: Pirates Wild Card win over the Reds

The first Pirates playoff game since 1992 was incredible. My brother and I drove to Pittsburgh on the evening of the Wild Card game for a funeral the following day. We listened to the first few innings in the car including hearing the "Cueto" chant, him dropping the ball, and Russell Martin's home run. Then, we watched most of the rest of the game with my parents at a Quaker Steak & Lube by the airport and saw the 9th inning and highlights in a small hotel room that we shared as an entire family.





I still get goosebumps watching these videos.

Worst Sports Moment: The entire Penguins-Bruins Eastern conference finals.

Best TV Show: Breaking Bad. In other news, the Earth is round. Honorable mention to Orphan Black, Parks & Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Happy Endings.

Worst TV Show: Oh Sit! CW still hasn't cancelled this show!

Best Book I Read: While Midnight Rising: John Brown and The Raid That Sparked The Civil War by Tony Horwitz was fascinating and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was captivating and had the most unexpected twist I experienced in a book in years, I'm going with Someone Could Get Hurt: A Memoir of Twenty-First Century Parenthood by Drew Magary. I really enjoy Magary's writing, and I guess this book seemed to speak to me at this point in my life.

Worst Book I Read: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Okay, this may not be the worst book I read, but it definitely did not live up to my expectations. The Great Gatsby is supposed to be known as an American classic, but I didn't get it. I disliked every character, who had no redeeming values, and really don't understand why the book has the status that it does. I already know that Mr. Brame is going to completely disagree with my choice.

Best Song: I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift. Yes, I've lost any street cred I may have had. I listen to pop music regularly as background noise, and I never got tired of this song. In the middle of writing this, I found that I first wrote a blog post about this song in December 2012. I guess this song isn't eligible for 2013. In that case, I'll go with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for Thrift Shop and Can't Hold Us.



Worst Song: This was a tough decision. We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus get an honorable mention, but the winner goes to Perfume by Britney Spears. I just think this is a terrible song.



Best Blog Post: I'm cheating and going with every post of the Pittsburgh Sports Blogger Interview Series.

Worst Blog Post: So many choices. Let's go with Sisqo Coming to Fairfax.

My Life

I haven't written as much as I'd like lately, so I thought I would share an update about my life.

- On Monday, I left a banana on the counter. On Tuesday, I locked myself out of the house. I'm worried what I might forget at home over the next few days.

- Of course, I need to remember not to keep the keys separated from my cell phone and wallet.



- In December, the dictator of my homeowner association was removed from power. While I supported the coup, the new regime hired a new management company. This management company has been quite aggressive in sending "friendly reminders" about violations to the point of ridiculousness. Sure, power washing needed to be done, but a notice because the tree limbs could interfere with traffic or pedestrians? Unless Dwight Howard is sitting on Shaquille O'Neal's shoulders or an 18-wheeler comes down my street, no one is running into the tree branches. We're not to the point where there is a disturbance in District 12, but there are some disgruntled people.

- Despite this, I really like my neighborhood. We've lived in four different places in Northern Virginia, and this is the first time where we know our neighbors.

- I know this sounds silly, but the fact that we regularly see public buses and airplanes fly overhead are huge pluses. My son loves airplanes and especially buses so this adds to our outside fun.

- Celebrate Fairfax was successful again this year, and my son enjoyed his first time as a walking attendee. His favorite part of the festival: "driving" a Fairfax Connector bus and a fire engine.

- On the topic of Celebrate Fairfax, a volunteer was arrested for taking money from one of the admissions gates. In a nice touch, she's wearing a volunteer T-shirt in the mug shot.

- I'm currently reading "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough, so I'm now a little freaked out by heavy rainstorms even though I don't live near any bodies of water or below a poorly built and maintained dam.

- Finally, congratulations to "This Is The End" for being the first movie that I've seen in the theater in 2013.