The year is coming to a close, and with that comes the inevitable plethora of stories about the best/top/most memorable X of 2011.
So what better time for me to break out what I think are my best offerings of the year? I’ve done this for 2010, 2009 and a single list that covers all the years before that. I’m not saying these are the greatest things you’ll ever read, but if you’re here and want to know which of the 450+ posts I think may be worth your time, I think these top-10-ish lists are useful.
I’ve really tried to do some new things this year, including more pictures, adding a lot of video posts and even attempting a couple of audio stories. I also added two new features — the Twitter box to the right that shows you my 10 latest posts (you can click to see more), and the labels at the bottom of each post that allow you to click and find related content from the archives.
Without further ado, the 11 best posts of 2011 (in chronological order, not necessarily by merit):
An Offer You Can’t Refuse
A friend exposes a major hole in my pop culture experiences, and I find that watching “The Godfather” reminds me of “Almost Famous” in ways that have nothing to do with the storylines.
Voices From the Past
I go “This American Life” style with a story about how my mom’s family communicated by tape with my grandfather while he was deployed in Vietnam and Korea, with actual audio from the era as well as some perspective from today.
I Do Declare
I won’t even pretend like this isn’t my favorite post topic ever. I fulfill a dream by attempting to enter a professional sports draft, and get an official response letter from the NBA that makes me laugh every time I look at it.
Glory Days
A TV news story I did about the University of Maryland women’s basketball team and their national championship run. Unfortunately it does not include the subsequent riot and people being doused with a pepper spray hose.
Chicken Nugget Dreams
An example of me bringing in a Twitter conversation (ones I know people don’t mind me sharing, of course), as I melodramatically complain about Wendy’s not offering delivery service and my friend Jason letting me know that in other countries, they do.
We’re Jambin’
A post from the “not smart” category. I manage to run myself into a doorway, think I broke my hand, and fail so badly in explaining the situation to a friend that I have to create a graphic in Photoshop to fully illustrate what happened.
A Kool-Aid Miracle
I dust off a video from the archives — a faux infomercial for a miracle weight loss drink that helped me lose 20 pounds in 48 hours. It truly is a miracle!
Great PB & J Debate
I never thought it would end up being such a contentious issue, but if there’s one question this year that got people chiming in, it was this: When you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, do you spread the PB & J on the same piece of bread?
Watch and Learn
Another parody video, this time a series of do-it-yourself tips for self-explanatory things like how to drive a nail, use a faucet and read a digital clock (with bonus blooper video!). If you don’t find this funny, we probably shouldn’t be friends.
Lifehouse in the Nats’ House
Easily one of the most fun days I had all year, with an amazing baseball game followed by a free concert from one of my favorite bands (video included).
Nats a Wrap
A wrap-up of the awesome year we had attending Nationals games, including some really interesting moments like seeing a rookie pitcher hit a home run on the first pitch of his first Major League at-bat.
Pizza Hut and the (Re)Quest for the Pepperoni Smiley
Other than the NBA draft post, probably my favorite one of the year. I ask Pizza Hut to put my pepperonis in the shape of a smiley face…and they sort of comply.