It's incredible how immersive the game is and how such an simple control scheme manages to just draw you in. You're constantly on guard for what the next choice is going to be, and at times it becomes clear that they simply intend for you to fail. Just like the characters you're playing there are simply some things you can't do. You miss 3 buttons in a row and something bad happens and you realize that seems like exactly what was supposed to happen.

I shot and killed a man today, and I find that it's really sticking with me. I find myself going back over the scenario and trying to figure out what I could have done differently to avoid that. Maybe if I'd just intervened a little earlier... I don't know. But the thing is, I never consciously made the choice to shoot him, but at the same time I didn't do it accidentally. I tried to talk him down, but it just came to a point where, with how he was talking, I felt certain that he was about to shoot my partner and instinct took over, I pulled the trigger. And I immediately thought "Holy crap, I just shot him..." It wasn't conscious, and it's not as if I accidentally bumped the button, at that moment I was just so immersed in the game that I instinctively knew that at that moment I had to do that. And I find that amazing, and I'm left wondering what that instinctive choice means for the rest of the game...

And now that I have 2009 out of the way I can finally get around to my best and worst of the decade list...

The Best of the '00s:
1. Amelie
2. Once
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Vanilla Sky
5. Mulholland Drive
6. Brother, Where Art Thou
7. Spirited Away
8. The Departed
9. WALL-E
10. The Dark Knight
11. Moulin Rouge
12. Love Actually
13. Garden State
14. Up in the Air
15. Lost in Translation
16. Thank You For Smoking
17. In America
18. Spider-Man 2
19. V for Vendetta
20. Punch-Drunk Love
21. Juno
22. Artificial Intelligence: AI
23. Memento
24. There Will Be Blood
25. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
26. Saved!
27. The Incredibles
28. 300
29. Across the Universe
30. Watchmen
31. Super Troopers
32. Keeping the Faith
33. (500) Days of Summer
34. American Pie 2
35. Minority Report
36. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
37. Brothers
38. Up
39. Ratatouille
40. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
41. Meet the Robinsons
42. The Dreamers
43. Donnie Darko
44. The Mummy Returns
45. Children of Men
46. Hot Fuzz
47. Stranger Than Fiction
48. The Whole Nine Yards
49. The Boondock Saints

The Worst of the '00s:
1. Envy
2. Little Nicky
3. Bedazzled
4. Shallow Hal
5. The Happening
6. 28 Weeks Later
7. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
8. The Final Destination
9. Million Dollar Baby
10. John Q
11. Pulse
12. Little Black Book
13. Southland Tales
14. Smiley Face
15. The Ex
16. Bewitched
17. Nacho Libre
18. Date Movie
19. The Fast and the Furious
20. Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny
21. Grandma's Boy
22. Harold & Kumar, Escape from Guantanamo Bay
23. The Phantom of the Opera
24. Scotland, PA
25. Hot Rod

It's Oscar time once again, so that means it's time for my yearly best and worst of list for the previous year.

The Best of 2009:
1. Up in the Air
2. Brothers
3. Watchmen
4. Crazy Heart
5. The Young Victoria
6. A Single Man
7. Moon
8. The Hurt Locker
9. A Serious Man
10. Up
11. An Education
12. The White Ribbon
13. Paranormal Activity
14. (500) Days of Summer
15. Precious (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire)
16. Inglourious Basterds
17. The Hangover
18. Paris 36
19. Sherlock Holmes
20. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Worst of 2009:
1. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
2. The Final Destination
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
4. Drag Me To Hell
5. Fanboys
6. Race to Witch Mountain
7. Coraline
8. Bride Wars
9. 9
10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Once again it's time for the annual list of movies from the previous year which I've seen, timed with the Oscars to give me a chance to see the films that take some time to make their way to Ohio.

"X" marks the movies I've seen.

Best picture
X - "Avatar"
X - "The Hurt Locker"
X - "Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
X - "Up in the Air"
X - "Inglourious Basterds"
X - "Up"
X - "The Blind Side"
X - "District 9"
X - "An Education"
X - "A Serious Man"

Actor
X - George Clooney, "Up in the Air"
X - Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
X - Colin Firth, "A Single Man"
X - Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
X - Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

Actress
X - Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia"
X - Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
X - Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
X - Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
X - Carey Mulligan, "An Education"

Supporting actor
X - Matt Damon, "Invictus"
X - Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
X - Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
X - Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
X - Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"

Supporting actress
X - Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
X - Mo'Nique, "Precious"
X - Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
X - Penelope Cruz, "Nine"
X - Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"

Director
X - Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
X - Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
X - James Cameron, "Avatar"
X - Lee Daniels, "Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
X - Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"

Animated feature
X - "Up"
X - "Coraline"
X - "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
X - "The Princess and the Frog"
X - "The Secret of Kells"

Animated Short
X - "French Roast"
X - "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty"
X - "The Lady and the Reaper"
X - "Logorama"
X - "A Matter of Loaf and Death"

Live Action Short
   - "The Door"
   - "Instead of Abracadabra"
   - "Kavi"
   - "Miracle Fish"
   - "The New Tenants"

Original screenplay
X - "The Hurt Locker"
X - "Inglourious Basterds"
X - "The Messenger"
X - "A Serious Man"
X - "Up"

Adapted screenplay
X - "District 9"
X - "An Education"
X - "In the Loop"
X - "Precious"
X - "Up in the Air"

Best foreign-language film
   - "Ajami"
   - "El Secreto de Sus Ojos"
   - "The Milk of Sorrow"
   - "Un Prophete"
X - "The White Ribbon"

Best film editing
X - "Avatar"
X - "District 9"
X - "The Hurt Locker"
X - "Inglourious Basterds"
X - "Precious"

Best documentary feature
   - "Burma VJ"
X - "The Cove"
X - "Food, Inc."
   - "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers"
   - "Which Way Home"

Best documentary short
X - "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
   - "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
   - "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"
   - "Music by Prudence"
   - "Rabbit à la Berlin"

Art direction
X - "Avatar"
X - "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"
X - "Nine"
X - "Sherlock Holmes"
X - "The Young Victoria

Cinematography
X - "Avatar"
X - "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
X - "The Hurt Locker"
X - "Inglourious Basterds"
X - "The White Ribbon"

Costume
X - "Bright Star"
X - "Coco before Chanel"
X - "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"
X - "Nine"
X - "The Young Victoria"

Original Score
X - "Avatar"
X - "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
X - "The Hurt Locker"
X - "Sherlock Holmes"
X - "Up"

Original Song
X - "Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog"
X - "Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog"
X - "Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36"
X - "Take It All" from "Nine"
X - "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart"

Sound Editing
X - "Avatar"
X - "The Hurt Locker"
X - "Inglourious Basterds"
X - "Star Trek"
X - "Up"

Sound Mixing
X - "Avatar"
X - "The Hurt Locker"
X - "Inglourious Basterds"
X - "Star Trek"
X - "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Visual Effects
X - "Avatar"
X - "District 9"
X - "Star Trek"

Makeup
X - "Il Divo"
X - "Star Trek"
X - "The Young Victoria

--2/5/2010: Added "Paris 36"
--2/5/2010: Added "I'll Divo"
--2/11/2010: Added "Logorama"
--2/11/2010: Added "French Roast"
--2/11/2010: Added "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty"
--2/11/2010: Added "The Lady and the Reaper"
--2/11/2010: Added "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
--2/19/2010: Added "A Matter of Loaf and Death"
--2/19/2010: Added "Bright Star"
--2/19/2010: Added "Food, Inc."
--2/21/2010: Added "A Single Man"
--2/24/2010: Added "Crazy Heart"
--2/24/2010: Added "Coco before Chanel"
--2/25/2010: Added "The Secret of Kells"
--2/27/2010: Added "The Lovely Bones"
--2/27/2010: Added "The Cove"
--2/28/2010: Added "The Last Station"
--3/4/2010: Added "The White Ribbon"