Updated on December 10, 2021
New Year’s Eve and Day are upon us, marking the end of 2010, “the Year We Make Contact” (and also the end of these “2010” puns…we’ll miss you, puns-inspired-by-that-“2001”-sequel-with-that-guy-from-“Jaws”-in-it). While the only beings I’ve “made contact” with are Bay Area residents from this year’s vacation in San Francisco—which compared to staid/conservative Milwaukee is culturally alien, so I suppose “mission accomplished”—2010 did give me plenty of memories otherwise. Which of course gives a flimsy lead-in to my posting a “best of 2010 on Anthony’s Notes” list, like everyone else online this time of year. Given the blog isn’t a full year old, however, I’ll pull in some items from earlier in the year/from my old blog, hence the inclusion of sports, etc. in some parts:
January
I rang in the then-new year watching “2010: The Year We Make Contact.” I thought it was odd like “2001,” but at least it didn’t have a weird “flower power”-era psychedelic montage at the end that didn’t make sense. Cue a year’s worth of “2010: The Year We Make Contact” puns, to everyone’s annoyance.
Mildly annoyed through the year at people pronouncing “2010” as “two thousand and ten,” not “twenty-ten.” An annoyance that’ll continue in 2011, as I’m hearing “two thousand and eleven” and not the less-wordy/easier to say “twenty eleven.”
The most hyped gadget of the year, the iPad, is announced. At the time, I thought it sounded like just a giant overpriced iPod Touch.
February
The Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver. Canada beats the United States for the men’s gold medal in hockey with a goal shot in overtime so fast, I (and everyone else) didn’t even see it. Heather over at lectio.ca (and her fellow Canadians) all cheer (and wear those red-and-white maple leaf Winter Olympics mittens).
Bill Watterson of “Calvin and Hobbes” fame gives a rare interview to the Cleveland “Plain Dealer” (a newspaper, yes).
“Up” is nominated (but doesn’t win, of course) for the Oscar for best feature.
March
The US Postal Service, to save money, proposes cutting Saturday mail delivery (*gasp*). Still-giddy-from-the-Winter-Olympics Canadians mock the sacred American ideal of, uh, Saturday mail delivery.
April
Ubuntu 10.04 is released, with new features (including a social network menu).
I finally see the new iPad in person, and decide… it’s still just an overpriced giant iPod Touch. However, I do decide a tablet could be useful for reading comics on (and save diminishing space that piles of floppy comics is taking up).
I attend C2E2 in Chicago, and enjoyed it. Will be back there in 2011 (C2E2 will be held on St. Patrick Day weekend).
Archie announces its first gay teen character, a landmark moment for the company and American entertainment for children (and us aging fans) in general.
HP buys Palm, sparing WebOS from oblivion, though its market share and attention continues to dwindle with the rise of Android to market dominance (and Microsoft coming out with Windows Phone 7). I’m eligible for a new phone in late 2011, and while I still like WebOS, I think my next phone will be something running Android.
May
Cover-date for my first-ever published magazine article (appearing in “Linux Journal” magazine), about DVD video conversion program Handbrake. Several other articles follow over the rest of the year. Other than starting this site (and one or two other things), this is my biggest achievement of the year, and I’m proud of it.
A new Looney Tunes TV show is announced, set to debut in the fall. However, as of this writing, “The Looney Tunes Show” will debut several months from now. Still no Looney Tunes on American television otherwise, to my annoyance.
June
The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. Cue big victory parade in Chicago.
Another magazine article, about GCstar, is published in “Ubuntu User” magazine.
July
A “Sunday Funnies” set of stamps featuring Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, and Archie is announced.
I head off on vacation to San Francisco, enjoying the Bay Area. Never had to wear warm weather clothes in *July* before, though.
DC Comics kills off a lot of its Johnny DC line. Of course, they still have room for more endless crossovers/shock-value-violence Joker-mass-slaughter stories. My reading of Marvel via their kid-friendly Marvel Adventures line picks up to make up for the DC cancellations. (While Marvel doesn’t seem as gruesome or bloodthirsty as DC, I’m still avoiding their mainstream-set books, too).
I start my new website and blog, my first hosted site. I discover how nice and powerful WordPress is (compared to Blogger.com).
Wonder Woman gets a lame new costume, and an even lamer new origin. “Late 60s Diana Prince stories 2.0.” Expect her to go back to normal in 2011 (or ’12), with the whole change swept quietly under the rug.
August
Not much of note, besides shifting to the new site/blog.
September
An article on backup program Back In Time appears in “Ubuntu User” magazine.
Apple releases its new iPod line. I’m less than impressed by the new Nano, but wristwatch strap makers have a field day.
“Veronica” #202 featuring Kevin Keller is released.
Google releases a 50th anniversary logo of the Flintstones.
October
DC and Marvel hype up lowering their prices on new books (somewhat) starting in January to $2.99 from $3.99, with DC cutting their page count to make up for it. Meanwhile, Archie announces Kevin Keller’s getting his own miniseries in 2011.
Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) is released, with some incremental upgrades from 10.04 (F-Spot is replaced by Shotwell, and improvements made to Gwibber).
Apple releases an updated and cheaper (starting at $999) MacBook Air model, plus a new version of iMovie that allows customized trailers (as long as they don’t use actual studios’ names).
On the heels of the Flintstones, Google for Halloween releases another logo based on a Hanna-Barbera character, this one Scooby-Doo.
November
Teletoon Retro holds a poll to vote for five favorite cartoon characters. The winners: Bugs Bunny, Batman, Spider-Man, Optimus Prime, and Scooby-Doo.
Facebook announces a supposedly-not-but-is-anyway email feature. I expect some sort of email-related Facebook security hijinks to make the news in 2011 (or later).
I post what seems to be my most popular blog post so far, a guide on what to do after installing Ubuntu 10.10.
December
Yahoo announces plans to spin off delicious.com somehow (after temporarily giving us reason to think it was being shut down altogether). More online talk about Yahoo’s future as a company in the face of “da Google” (to quote “Pearls Before Swine”).
Pixar announces a line of US postage stamps for 2011, plus the US Postal Service announces all new stamps will be “forever stamps” starting in 2011.
And that’s it. 2011 should hopefully see just as many new and interesting developments for me, this site and the world at large.
