2012: videogames

Right, instead of flat out ranking them, I put them in groups, first group are the best games, second group the great games, third group the good-but-flawed games.

-- first group --

The Last Story
Let's get the negatives out of the way first: the game is a technical mess and probably too ambitious for the Wii, and the first two hours can be a bit annoying with the gameplay segment - short cutscene - gameplay segment - etc thing. And the story is typical JRPG fare.
The positives: everything else basicaly. It's my kind of RPG: it's (fairly) short at 20 hours (which just means it has no filler at all - quite the opposite from Xenoblade Chronicles), the battles are fairly short but can be quite strategic if you "get" the battle system, the music is great,... Anyway, someone else said it better than me (it is his job after all). I agree with him all the way - for me it's one of the best JRPGs this generation, together with Lost Odyssey (quite surprisingly also a Mistwalker game!), and of course easily one of the best games released in 2012. I own the limited edition, and it's easily one of my most prized gaming treasures. It's been quite a while since I finished the game, but writing about it made me eager to play it again.

Dishonored
I heard about this game long before it came out, it was on my very short "hmm, might be something I'd enjoy" list. When I heard it was out I checked some reviews and impressions, and it really did look like it was something for me. And it was! People describe it as "Bioshock vs. Thief", and they're mostly right, but it's also its own thing. Take the best thing about the game: the heart. Point and "shoot" it at people and locations and it will tell you secrets. Not really important for the gameplay, but cool to learn more about the world and its characters. I really love stuff like this, it's a more subtle approach to exposing the world which I vastly prefer over long cutscenes and walls of text.
And it's not that gameplay is bad either. I went through the game twice, once doing the no kill approach, the other doing a quicker, more direct approach (though I admit I still used stealth most of the time). Both were fun, and had an impact on the story

FTL: Faster Than Light
Man I hate this game. I started 33 games so far, won none of them. In only four of them I actually reached the last boss. And I'm playing on easy. I suck at it so much.
On the other hand, I can't stop playing it. Steam says I played it for 18 hours so far, and I'm still not bored of it. I WILL beat this game some day, and I'll consider it one of my greatest gaming achievements.
Anyway, the reason why I come back to it: every game is different, and luck definitely has something to do with it. I have so many war stories to share, I could make several long entries about how some of my games went. Actually someone did it already.
The music also helps; it's easily one of the best soundtracks of 2012, in my opinion only rivalled by Journey and Hotline Miami (you can listen to it on Ben Prunty's bandcamp). Lastly, if you have any imagination you can turn every game into your favourite sci-fi tv show. FTL has elements of Star Trek (some of the random events), Star Wars (rebel scum!) and Battlestar Galactica (jump!), and you can even name your crew. I tell you, you will swear when your Picard and Riker die in a fire!!
So really, it's one of the best gaming experiences I had this year. Yet this image from RPS sums it up nicely:

Journey
Yes it's only 2 hours long, and there's no action apart from jumping around a bit and avoiding floating thingies. But what an experience it is. You know what (and you can quote me on this): it's my favourite multiplayer experience this gen. I mean, it's not strictly a multiplayer game, but there is quite a difference between going solo and playing it online. I went through the game three times, and the last time I did most of it alone, and it just doesn't have the same impact. The game is at its best when you have the same partner from early on, it makes the event at the end more meaningful.
And yes, I admit it, the first time I finished the game, it made me a little emotional. Or I might have had something in my eye, I don't know. Anyway, it's a game I can recommend to anyone, it doesn't require that much effort or thinking (good for the more casual player), but it does have secrets and collectibles (of sorts) which means the obsessive gamer will enjoy this as well.
Again I'd like to link you to an article - I don't really care about the "games are art" debate but there are some good points here.

2012: music

2012 was a rather "passive" year when it came to music. I didn't buy many CDs, I only went to a few concerts and just one festival. However, I had quite a bit of fun along the way, and I continued enjoying some of my "old" music that's probably past its use-by date. Maybe I'm getting more conservative, maybe I'm just happy enjoying the things I know I'll enjoy.

Albums:

Liars - WIXIW

I bought this album close to when it came out, but only started listening to it about two months ago. Why didn't anyone tell me how great this album is?? Right now I'd say it's my second favourite album of theirs, along with their debut (number one, of course, will always be Drums not dead). I have to admit some songs feel very familiar, in the sense that I swear I heard some of these arrangements before on a Radiohead album. On the other hand, it's still a Liars album through and through. Brats is a great sequel to Scissor and Plaster casts of everything (and has a great video as well), and most other songs just have this typical Liars-ness about them.
I've yet to listen to a Liars album where I don't like at least one track (though I suppose their debut comes close), and this one is no exception. I'm not a fan of the title track for instance, and Flood to flood just sounds overly familiar in that annoying way. On the other hand, there are more tracks I love here than on the previous two albums. Hard to pick one favourite really. His and mine sensations? Who is the hunter? A ring on every finger? No.1 against the rush? All great, and the opener and closer are pretty good as well. So, yes, album of the year. Even though I only bought three albums released in 2012...

Geneva Jacuzzi - Lamaze

A little backstory: I saw Geneva Jacuzzi perform as support act for Yelle a year or two ago. I was impressed, wanted to buy her album, but the merchandising girl already left before I could even reach for my wallet. Anyway, at some point this year I saw some youtube videos of her again, and decided to order the album off her site for my birthday. It arrived - quite late - with a free bonus album of her earlier work.
Anyway, the reason why I like it so much is the deliciously lo-fi 80s electro style of the entire album. It has a certain atmosphere that's hard to describe, it's cheezy and catchy but there's a weird, darker vibe to it as well...a neon-nightmare about a zombie with roller skates and pink leg warmers, maybe. In any case it's something I tremendously enjoy, and people who consider themselves to have good taste should stay far, far away from.
Favourite tracks: Clothes on the bed, Bad moods, Dreamtime, Do I sad, Relay racer.
And I must share some video with you:
Bad Moods
Love Caboose
Bad Moods (live) this video is from around the time I saw her, by the way.

Björk - Biophilia

I finally gave this a proper listen this year, thanks to that awesome gig (see below). I'm still not really a big fan of this, but it's definitely better than Volta. There's just a big feeling of déjà-vu (déjà-entendu?), as this is basically a mix of Volta and Medulla. It flows better as an album than those two, but I would say the individual songs aren't as good this time around. The standout track for me is Thunderbolt, you just can't beat those electro-farts at the end of the song. Hollow is a guilty pleasure of mine, if I'm in a bad mood I might accuse it of being Björk-weird just for the sake of being Björk-weird, but I like it really. But I bet 9/10 people hate it. Mutual Core is, I guess, this album's Pluto, maybe a bit more interesting in terms of song structure. But like I said, when I listen to the album now it's more about the memories of that gig rather than the actual quality of the songs.

Live:

Björk (Pukkelpop)
I already wrote pretty much all I have to say about this here. I have really good memories from this (that Possibly maybe version coupled with that electronic gizmo!), out of the three Björk (festival) gigs I saw this was the best, maybe not in setlist (then again, Possibly maybe!), but definitely in terms of audiovisual...stuff. Oh and also the fact that she was headliner so no bored Muse fans waiting for them to come on while annoying the shit out of me (which happened last time), nope, I was surrounded by Björk-friendly people which certainly added to my overall enjoyment. It was one of those rare gigs where I left surprised at how much I enjoyed it, happy that I was there, and sad knowing that an experience like this only comes along every few years.

Radiohead (Sportpaleis)
My only gig this autumn!!! Never happened before. Well maybe it has but I have a short memory. Anyway, I think this was the fifth time I saw them, and truth to be told, it also felt like that. While they did play a brilliant set, and had an awesome stage set-up (apart from the QR codes between the songs - who still uses that anyway?), all I could think between songs was "ooh, what song will they play next? Will it be one of my favourites? Please let it be one of my favourites!!" So really, Radiohead had sadly turned into a greatest hits band for me. Not that I don't enjoy the new album - I like their latest more than the previous two actually - but you just don't have that emotional resonance with new songs yet. I did enjoy the gig, I really did (they played Kid A, MY Kid A!!), but it's quite possible I'll skip them next time they're in the country. For what used to be my favourite band ever, that's kind of bad. End of an era! (Maybe it's a good thing I don't have a favourite band anymore... )

Looking forward to 2013:

The Knife: (my new-old favourite band ever!) they'll release a new album and do a short tour. I'm curious, and cautious. They can never do something like Silent Shout again, so it'll either suck or be the best thing ever. Hoping for the latter, expecting the former.

Daft Punk: new album and new tour. Maybe. Just like above, I'm not really sure what to expect, although I did like the Tron: Legacy soundtrack. If they do tour "live" I'll make seeing them Priority One.

Goldfrapp: new album and no doubt tour. They haven't released an album I hated yet, so come on, I dare you!

Ladytron: less optimistic about this one, didn't care much for the last album apart from Ace of Hz. Still love the first two albums but the band just isn't really relevant to me anymore. Sadness.

M.I.A.: loved Bad Girls (would be video of the year if it wasn't for Liars - Brats), and I still listen to MAYA regularly, so I'm looking forward to the new album. As always some tracks will annoy the hell out of me, but there some good stuff on all her albums.

That's all the music talk for now!
Oh yeah, my last.fm page if you want to spy on what music I've been listening to lately can be found here.

2012: TV series

It's the first year I do this, but looking back at 2012 I spent far more time watching series compared to previous years.


Game of Thrones - season 1
Game of Thrones, man. What can I say about it? It's really one of the best things that's ever been on TV. Haven't read the books (yet - ordered the whole set!) but I find it hard to believe they're even more awesome than the series. And I've only seen season 1. Bought it on blu-ray, and it's great, well worth the money. The reason why I haven't seen season 2 yet is due to that, in part - it's not been on tv over here yet, and the blu-ray quality spoiled me, so I don't want to see it in shitty quality on my laptop.
Anyway, season 1 had quite a few awesome scenes - loved Viserys getting his golden crown for instance. I actually really enjoyed everything related to Daenerys and Khal Drogo - sad how it ended really. Sad how some great characters (nooo Boromir! hehe) are already out.  On the whole, I think Arya and Tyrion are my favourite characters, obviously for very different reasons. And in a way, I even like Jaime "childpusher" Lannister hehe.

Oh and Varys The Eunuch is great as well. And Lord Baelish. Nice couple :)
Anyway, love the entire world and all the houses and everything. In a way it's sad I discovered this series relatively early - if they already released 5 or 6 seasons it would be fun to do a marathon viewing.

The Walking Dead - season 1 and 2

Talking about marathon viewings: it took me a week to see season 1 (which has 6 episodes). I watched season 2 in three days, and one day I saw 5 eps. So yeah, I rather liked it. It's not without its flaws, I felt like some things dragged on for way too long (like a certain someone being dangerously crazy), but I can't complain as the gruesome zombie death to stupid humans arguing ratio is fairly okay. It could always be better, but I won't complain too much. I must say I'm pretty indifferent to most of the characters, but I love Glenn (please don't tell me he'll die any time soon!) and Daryl (he's the Sawyer of this series hehe). Not going to spoil things, but Dale and Shane are pretty much yin and yang, so the end of season 2 makes sense in a way.
To be honest I am getting somewhat of a Lost feeling from this: there are a lot of unanswered questions, there are some similar characters, and everyone dies :)

Mad Men - season 1 - 4
Took me a looong time to get through this, and I still wonder why I saw four full seasons. Nothing ever happens! Well, there was the infamous lanwnmower incident in the season 3 episode "Guy walks into an advertising agency":

Yeah, that was frakking awesome. Hahaha they all got little bits of foot in their mouth hahahaha. You can just watch that gif over and over again.
Oh, and this is how I reviewed the series on twitter: "Don is a Dick (in more ways than one), Betty is a childish, spiteful bitch and Joan's tits are too big." I still stand by that; it's quite hard to find a likeable character in this show (maybe understandable considering it's about marketing people!). I liked Betty at first but after the first season she really became an annoying, selfish bitch, and she honestly doesn't seem to have a clue on how to raise children. Funny how she objects to Don's adventures, but she was already in the arms of another guy before divorcing Don. Hypocrite much? Saying all this, I obviously love her, I need someone to be annoyed with in a series or I get bored hehe.
Oh yeah, the only character I actually like is Kinsey - gotta love his beard in season 2 and 3. I might have a little mancrush on him just because of that beard really. Also, seeing his reaction above...that's not a very straight way to react is it? So I was pretty sad to not see him in season 4, which was pretty much the worst season I'd say.

Side note: I really love the early 60s setting and all the racism, sexism, etc. I think Republicans nowadays still have that same mindset. Carter Pewterschmidt from Family Guy would fit in this series as well hehe.

Spartacus: Blood and Vengeance (and Vengeance)
Have a bit of a weird history with this series - saw the first 4 or 5 episodes last year, but only saw the rest of the first season when it was on tv again. The second half is really so, SO good. The first half was really some random fights and shit, second half has lots of political intrigue and really even rivals that Rome series in sheer awesomeness. Also, Batiatus is one of the best characters ever. He's a slimey little worm but he grows on you. And the stuff that comes out of his mouth...oh boy. Made me laugh so much whenever he used foul language in a creative way. A small selection:

"By Jupiter's cock!"
"And what, I wonder, does good Solonius receive for convincing me to spread cheeks and accept deeper ramming?"

"You council to suck the cock that pissed on me!"

"That man has fingers in all the proper assholes. He wiggles them, and every one of them shits gold."

"Once again the gods spread the cheeks to ram cock in fucking ass!"

"Should he have issue he can reason to my cock!"

"At last the gods remove cock from fucking ass!"

"If not for yourself, do it for coin and cunt!"

"Juno's cunt and Pluto's asshole!"

We can always put some of that in a meme:

John Hannah is so boss hahaha. 

Anyway, I'm halfway through Vengeance (season 2) and it's just not the same without him. It's not completely boring (mostly thanks to Xena Lucretia and Ilythia). I should've probably watched the "Gods of the Arena" thing first, also because it's more about Batiatus. The new Spartacus (RIP Andy Whitfield) is also...hmm. Not that I don't like him, but he looks younger and smaller than Andy. I mean, he's not bad on his own, but...you know.



Okay, that's all I can think off for now.

2012: cinema visits

I didn't go to the cinema much at all this year, not really sure why. I guess when a ticket costs almost as much as the DVD/Bluray that comes out 6 months later, it's easier to skip a few. The death of my small local cinema plays a part in it as well I guess, although I think I only went there twice this year, and I stopped going to their alternative movie nights a few years ago. I'm part of the problem! I think it's an interesting debate: what is causing the death of small-scale cinemas? The big, expensive cinemas with their 3D and other crap, or how cheap DVDs are nowadays, and Blu-ray basically offering a better experience (with the proper TV) than in the cinema? Easy answer is that it's all little bit of everything of course. Anyway, I'm going to miss going to the cinema for €6 (nowadays it's around €10-12 in the big cinema), and especially their "movie day" in July where they showed recent movies for €2,5. Sadness :(

Anyway, moving on, the actual reviews!


The Hobbit
I enjoyed it. I didn't love it. Do you really want to know why? For me it had two main problems: the party hanging off things, falling down things, and just when things seem really really really bad... they get rescued!! Like, 10 times throughout the movie. Which leads me to major problem number 2: no tension at all. Two movies to go, and you've seen LOTR so you know Bilbo and Gandalf won't die. The dwarves, well, sure some of them might die, but it's not like that's the end of the world is it? There is danger in pretty much every step they take, but you know they're going to get out of it somehow. I suppose that's number 3: the second part has one action scene after another, but it's all pointless in the end.
I also feel like it's a movie with two souls, so to speak: in part Peter Jackson wants to recreate the simpleness of the book, but then he also wants to inject more epicness into it... and what you get is a mix of both that really felt weird to me. Personally I'm VERY interested in Middle-Earth and its history, and I would love a movie (or a mini-series) set in the first and second ages with guys like Glorfindel and Elrond kicking all sorts of ass - but all that just doesn't really add anything to this movie.
Anyway, let's talk about the good things: the scene with Gollum was awesome, I like Bilbo a lot more than Frodo (partly because of the acting, partly because we never really got to know Frodo's personality in LOTR did we?), and Gandalf...Ian McKellen is such a good actor. He doesn't even have to speak, you can really read things from his face.

Skyfall
Best Bond Ever!!!! Sort of. It's very much The Dark Bond Rises hehe, but really, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Good flow, good action scenes, loved the new Q, loved the Scotland scenes, loved the Shanghai and Macau scenes, loved Javier Bardem as the "is he gay or just crazy" villain...was very sad at the end - you should know that Goldeneye was the first Bond movie I've seen in the cinema (and I still love it, I consider it one of the best "classic" Bonds), so I have a certain attachment to certain...people. I am looking forward to the next Bond, whatever it will be like, but as far as I'm concerned they can now return to underground/under sea/inside of a vulcano lairs, and a bit more humour/sillyness in it.
Saw it again this week actually - I was surprised how much I still loved it. Love the underlying themes as well - not that they're very subtle, but still. I would say it's my favourite movie this year.

The Dark Knight Rises
It's my favourite one in the trilogy. Stop laughing!! First of all, it has the best villian. Rhas-al Gul's plan failed. The Joker just played around a bit - and he sort of won, but didn't live to see it. But Bane, he broke Batman, and he broke Gotham, something the other two tried but failed at.
Yes, there isn't much Batman in this, but The Dark Knight was really a Joker movie, so that complaint doesn't hold. I thought the general flow was the best in the three as well: TDK seemed very random at points, and Batman Begins was basically 2 movies in one. This had a proper beginning, middle and end.

Ted
I liked it, it had some good, or so bad-it's-good jokes, but the actual story was pretty boring and cliché. I mean, when it's on tv I'll watch it again and laugh, but as a movie it's really not that good. I generally don't like these relationship comedies, and despite being a lot "dirtier" than average, it still hasn't changed my mind.

Prometheus
Haters gonna hate. Apart from the last 10 minutes or so, I loved it. I mean, how frakking good is Michael Fassbender in this? Best creepy gay robot ever. Yes, the story and the way events play out is familiar, characters are pretty dumb, there's the awkward abortion scene, and a lot of other things I really didn't mind that much. I'm aware of its flaws, but it's greater than the sum of its parts. Or something like that. It reminded me of Sunshine mostly - great movie, apart from the last act. Oh, and probably also helps that I didn't get caught up in the hype.
It's also a beautiful movie, art-wise and sound-wise as well, I really love their jumpsuits and other little things you generally only notice on a second viewing. Bought it on blu-ray and don't regret it at all. I'd say my biggest gripe is that story wise, it's obviously the first part of a series, as there are far too many questions unanswered - and I honestly fear the answers will be stupid. It's like Lost all over again.

Snow-White and the Huntsmen
I was bored and wanted to go the cinema. This was the only thing they played that was vaguely interesting. I honestly don't remember much from it...um...oh, I enjoyed Charlize Theron's role and I wish she had more scenes. Sometimes it's more fun to root for the bad guy I think, and this was one of those movies.

The Avengers
Of course I loved this, how could anyone not like this? I can't even pick my favourite part... the bromance between Banner and Stark? The Iron Man/Thor fight? Everything Hulk? To be fair, it has some flaws as well, when I first saw it I felt like 90% of the movie is spent on the airship thing. I do hope the sequel has some more variety in the settings, or at least spend more time in an actually interesting setting. And as much as like Tom Hiddleston as a villain (that evil smirk!), we already had him in that role once didn't we? Still, very entertaining and the best of the Marvel movies.

This must be the place
Sean Penn is awesome as a retired Robert Smith. I loved both the down-to-earth-ness and the weirdness/randomness in this. It's hard to explain, but, yeah. Not that it's a must-see or anything, but I enjoyed it. The story and flow is a bit weird - it's a road movie of sorts, but then not really. It's a "special" one hehe.


Right, that's all I have to say.

Australian Open 2012 review

Well, like I said, my predictions were wrong :)

I also have to admit I like the first week of a slam so much more than the second week, especially in the past couple of years, where there's a certain predictabilty, especially in finals and eventual winners of the tournament. The first week is more exciting because there's always going to be a (minor) upset (here: Nishikori over Tsonga), or a youngster/relatively unknown player going on a streak (here: Kukushkin, Tomic), or an "old" guy showing off (here: Hewitt). While the quality of tennis is generally better in the second week, I'd say the first week is more exciting if your love for tennis isn't just player-related.

Australian Open 2012 preview

Due to the time difference, the Australian Open is basically the open that happens while I sleep. So it's probably my least favourite of the four majors, but I know I'm going to spend some nights in front of the tv and only going to bed at 6AM.
Anyway... now for my analysis/predictions/nonsense.

THE MEN

first quarter:
Probably the easiest quarter for the 2 highest seeds. The only one here who could cause an upset is Raonic. A 4th round match against Djokovic is extremely likely. I expect a good match, but Djokovic is going to win eventually.
QF: Ferrer-Djokovic

second quarter:
A much trickier quarter. Murray-Harisson will probably be a good first match, but I still expect Murray to pull through in -at most- 4 sets. I'm also interested in what Nishikori will do here. Still, I don't expect any major surprises here.
QF: Murray-Tsonga

third quarter:
Interesting quarter with Dolgopolov and Del Potro. Verdasco-Tomic is an interesting first round match. I'm going with Tomic here. It's kind of hard to guess where Fish is mentally and physically, but I do expect him to be upset by Del Potro. I'm also expecting a Federer-Dolgopolov 4th round.
QF: Federer-Del Potro

fourth quarter:
This quarter has Baghdatis, Nalbandian and Dimitrov floating around. I'm honestly not expecting them to do any major damage.
QF: Nadal-Berdych

Semifinals:
Djokovic-Tsonga
Federer-Nadal
Tsonga instead of Murray? Yes. If Tsonga can play like he did at the end of last year, he can easily take on Murray - even if it takes him 5 sets. I expect Federer-Del Potro to be a 5-setter as well.

Final:
Tsonga-Nadal
Winner:
Nadal
Surprised? You shouldn't be. The more Nadal complains about "not being ready to win", the more he's actually going to win. It's his "worst" slam, although he did win 100% of the finals he played here!! (he only played one).
I suppose a Djokovic-Federer final (with Djokovic winning, of course) is far more likely, but I like to be surprised. Of course, being a Federer fan, I'd like him to win everything, but I'm not sure about his form right now.

THE WOMEN

first quarter:
Wozniacki, Clijsters, Li Na and Jankovic are in this quarter. Wozniacki will get either Safarova or Jankovic in the 4th round - could be interesting. I expect her to pull through though. I'm also not 100% if Clijsters is fit enough, I guess we'll see it in the first few rounds. Fourth round against Li Na is very likely.
QF: Clijsters-Wozniacki

second quarter:
Some interesting names here (Schiavone, Goerges, Penetta) but I still think the highest ranked players will be in the quarterfinal:
QF: Azerenka-Radwanska

third quarter:
Sharapova, Serena Williams, Kuznetsova, it's like we're in 2004 again! This quarter might have the most interesting matches in the first week. I'm also not sure how fit Serena is right now, but if she's fit enough, she'll get to the quarterfinal for sure.
QF: Williams-Sharapova

fourth quarter:
I don't see any surprises here.
QF: Kvitova-Stosur

SF:
Clijsters-Azerenka
Williams-Kvitova

F:
Clijsters-Kvitova
W: Kvitova
(well unless Kvitova loses in the first round, like she did at the US Open -_-)

Note: nothing ever happens the way I predict it, so if you want to bet on something, try the opposite of everything I said here.

Tennis 2011 review & 2012 preview

What can I say about 2011 that hasn't already been said?

Nothing.

Except maybe that Nadal didn't have a bad year at all. Djokovic dominated him, sure. But he still won 4 tournaments and reached 10 finals (3 GS finals - won one). How anyone can call this a bad year... the mind boggles. Maybe he should've won more, yes, but it's obvious Djokovic was just too good, even for Nadal.

At the end of the year, it's also fun to look back on the year, and see the flow of the year. Most of the year it was all Djokovic of course, but at the end, Murray won 3 tournaments in a row in Asia, and then Federer won 3 tournaments in a row (and I'm sure Federer fans will forever remember his 6-3, 6-0 victory over Nadal at the World Tour Finals). So while Djokovic was the dominant force for most of the year, he didn't do much after the US Open, which is why I can't rank his season over Federer's 2006 and 2007 seasons.

As for live tennis, the only thing I saw was one day at the BNP Paribas Open (aka Bercy). It was a bit last minute, so I only got tickets for Friday. The line-up was nice though, especially the Djokovic-Tsonga match.........which then got canceled because Djokovic pulled out. Boo. I was really looking forward to that. Still, I got to see Federer (even though it was probably his worst match in the tournament, or even in the three tournaments he won), Ferrer-Isner (I quite like Isner now, Ferrer was pretty much how I e

xpected, still like him though), and Murray-Berdych. That was maybe the "best" match, not in terms of tennis, but excitement. You had the feeling that either of them could win. They're far from my favourite players really, but it was still...watchable. I now respect Berdych a lot more thanks to this match, he's really not as dumb as people think. And he does deserve a place in the top 10. At number 9 or 10, maybe, but still!

Also, I took some pictures! 653 to be exact...trimmed them down to 160 and put them online, right here. Yes, they're pretty awful, I didn't even tag them properly and stuff. Oh well.

As for next year, I might go to Roland Garros for the first weekend, or fri-sat-sun at Bercy again. Although the World Tour Finals are right after Bercy, which means the top players will probably pull out of Bercy, or lose early so they have a few days off before the WTF. So a weekend of Roland Garros makes more sense I guess.

And now my craaaaazy 2012 predictions:

- at least 2 slams and an olympic medal for Nadal. Nadal ALWAYS bounces back. Even though, like I said, 2011 wasn't that bad at all for him.

- Djokovic is going to drop down to number 2 after Wimbledon. Nadal back to 1.

- Federer might win a slam, but he'll also not make the second week of one (my guess is Roland Garros). He'll not reach number 1 again.

- Someone outside the big 4 will win the WTF.

-Del Potro in the top 5 at the end of the year, will be in the US Open final.

-Tsonga is going to defeat another top 4 player in 5 sets.

-The young dogs (Nishikori, Dolgopolov, Tomic etc.) will upset a few players, but won't make an impact on the top 10.

- Kvitova will be n°1 for most of the year, and will also defend her Wimbledon title.

-Wozniacki won't have a good year. I see her dropping to n°3 or even lower.

I'll stop now, that's enough nonsense already!