Excuse me for a moment while I blurt out some random lists…
Telly
In 2005, Doctor Who had finally been brought back, and given proper respect. This year, David Tennant just went on to fully restore my faith in the show. I’ve not enjoyed or looked forward to TV as much as this year with Doctor Who. Sure there were some stinkers - "New Earth’ was an awful way to start the season, and ‘Love and Monsters’ might’ve been OK it if it weren’t for the Peter Kay ending - but the rest was decent drama. ‘Girl in the Fireplace’ and ‘Army of Ghosts/Doomsday’ were my highlights. Now when I think of 2006, I always think of that farewell scene on the beach.
Music
(Once again, not everything on this list was released in 2006, it’s music I listened to in that year).
- The National - “Alligator”
- Pelle Carlberg - “Everything. Now!”
- Starflyer 59 - “My Island”
- Mew - “And the Glass Handed Kites”
- Beck - “The Information”
- Duke Special - “Songs from the Deep Forest”
Honourable mentions for Thom Yorke’s “The Eraser”, The Submarines’ “Declare a new state” and “Imogen Heap’s ”Speak for yourself“. Hammock’s new album ”Raising a voice…" came too late to make the list, but will definitely be high in this years.
Podcasts
- The Garrett Murray Podcast
- The Show with ZeFrank
- Ask a Ninja
- MacBreak (hiring Merlin was genius!)
When I finally got to meet Garrett and Shawn at @media, I had no idea that they were podcasting together, but I’m glad I found out. Most of my favourite moments are summed up in the End of year best o, especially Shawn’s relaxation tapes. The grizzly bear and xylophone prank calls didn’t however.
OS X Software
- Omniweb 5.5
- Camino 1.1a
- Firebug Extension for Firefox (the best thing to happen to web development since the WebDev extension)
- Letterbox plugin for Mail.app (finally - a 3 paned vertical view in Mail, what I’ve always wanted)
- Linotype FontExplorer
Finally, 2006 brought a new version of Omniweb, with the updated Webkit, and what a difference it made. I’ve been living it in pretty much since it came out, which I guess means I’m playing around less. I just hope that Omnigroup give it some much needed interface love in 2007 to bring it in line with their other apps. Camino is also becoming a shining light amongst OS X browsers, and I think that all Mac users need one webkit browser, and one Gecko-based. I know which 2 I use!
Web Apps
- Basecamp
- Bloglines
- (the revamped) Google Reader
- Flickr Gamma
Rather than use IM now (which I never did much anyway), I just dip in and out of Twitter. Sometimes just leaving a status (that previously I would’ve done via my IM status), other times joining in the conversation. It particularly made watching the MacWorld announcements more fun, with Garrett every now and then chipping in with just “HOLY HELL!”.
Resolutions for the new year
- Must finish the Correo icon for Nick. Version 0.1 had to go out without a final icon for me! The shame!
- I want to use this journal for more of the throwaway screenshotty stuff that I’ve been posting to Flickr. Be warned.
- Get that darned book written. Somehow.
- Be more adventurous with colour.
OK I’m done. Thanks!