Shut Up And Listen 42 Year-End Special Part 2 2002. Two thousand and two. MMII. Wow . . . okay, I really could care less what year it is. Just thought it would be a good way to start things off, but I wouldn’t want to lie, now would I? It’s hard to tell what I’ll remember most about the year. Probably comics, as this year was really comic-heavy and all, for me. My personal life was as shitty as ever, so nothing too memorable there. Same with friends. Friends were the same as always. I guess I could do a list of the best of whatever. Best Of 2001 Best album: Radiohead’s Amnesiac. A beautiful follow-up to Kid A. Some people say it’s Kid A’s ugly friend, but I liked it just as much as the other album—both albums were recorded at the same time; essentially, Amnesiac is the leftovers from Kid A. Best movie: Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. I know, it’s been out for a while, but I first saw it this year, so in my mind, it counts. I had just read the book and then downloaded this off of Morpheus after many hassles. It was one of the only movies I’ve seen that was true to the book so closely. The acting was pretty damn good, too. Best book: Fear And Loathing: On The Campaign Trail ’72 by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. This came out in 1973, but I got it for Christmas this year, so it counts, too. Hell, I’m only 200, or so, pages into it and I love it. If you’re a political junkie, this is fucking crack. So far, he’s just been covering the Democrats’ primaries and how things were going. I know McGovern will get the Demo nomination. I know he will select Tom Eagleton as his running mate. I know that Eagleton will be exposed as a former mental patient. I know Nixon will win again. BUT, I don’t know how we’ll get from Point A to Point B to Point C to American’s being morons again. Great read. Best comic: Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. I don’t follow this as a regular series; I just buy the trades and this year I got caught up until issue 30. This is a series that comics and the world need. A friend and I were talking about this, and he didn’t like the sci-fi mixed with the political stuff, but I had to point out that setting the book in the future and adding a sci-fi element is the only way to get through to a lot of people. I mean, others have been saying what this comic has for years now, and do people listen? Fanboys are idiots and need a little sci-fi, tits and big guns to get the message sometimes. Best video game: Okay, I’ve played like dickall of these, myself. I’ve played maybe ten different games this year that I didn’t in 2000 or before. My fav though is Conker’s Bad Fur Day, as I can’t get enough of it. It takes many familiar elements from other games, puts them all together and then twists them to create funny as hell scenes. The main game is great, but the real gem is the multiplayer portion. Where else can you be a Nazi teddy bear who runs around with a flamethrower, setting squirrels on fire? Or pissing on each other in a bathroom? Or be a caveman with a shotgun? Best Internet site: This one. You’re here, aren’t you? “You Face Forward Or You Face The Danger Of Shock And Damage” Okay, so there isn’t much to look back upon, so maybe I should look forward. What do I want to do this year? First off, I want to write. No big surprise there, eh? I want to try and get my shit out to more people this year than the last. Comics, columns, all that. Secondly, I want to get laid. Well, not so much get laid, as get a girlfriend. I mean, if all I wanted was to get laid, I’m sure I would have found some mean to that end—most likely not a very nice or morally good one, though. The year sucked for me as far as chicks go, but what else is new? I think my best move to stop being suck a pussy around chicks. In my effort to impress them, I often say the lamest thing a person can say. I need to become more suave and charming and . . . move on to the next one. “I Want A Perfect Body, I Want A Perfect Soul” Okay, I don’t want a perfect body. Fuck physical strength. Now, inner strength is something I do wish to improve upon. I was a bit more of a wreck than this year than I let on, for the most part. I wasn’t as bad as some people I know (which did prevent me slightly from being myself around them). Some things really got to me and I couldn’t handle them. I should have been able to, but I couldn’t. I’d like to this year, though. My first move should be to stop listening to depressing music a lot. I think that’s a big part of it. Music is a big part of my life and can affect me very deeply, so depressing music can be a killer—not literally. I’ve got to stop letting school drain me. Fuck it. It’s a job, that’s all. School is my job, not my life. That’s a lesson some people besides me need to learn, too. Hell, I should stop letting chicks get to me, too. Women are not the end-all and be-all of the world, no matter how much my brain likes to make them so. “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It And I Feel Fine” 2002. Another year, whoopee shit, eh? I bet I’ll keep living the way I always do and won’t change much. I’m not a changer. I hate change, even if it’s for the better, most times. Ah well, always next year, eh? Chevett Poll--December Results Yet another month has passed and so the poll must close and begin anew. Question 1: You like “Chad Kicks God In The Balls?” Funny as hell got 3 votes for a percent of 60% Dumb as hell got one vote for a percent of 20% Offensive as hell got no votes (somehow I feel let down) It was okay, nothing special . . . as hell got one vote for a percent of 20% Question 2: Done the Christmas shopping? (something I hope we’ve all done by now) Yeah got one vote for a percent of 20% Almost done got 3 votes for a percent of 60% None done got no votes And one person does not celebrate Christmas Question 3: Do you love Raymond 2 people (40%) do 3 people (60%) do not Question 4: Do you want to hunt me down and kill me in a very brutal manner 1 person doesn’t, which is weird 1 person asks where I live 3 people are outside my window New questions are up, except for a couple that stay around.