Mike's Pick of the Year 2006

Credit for this one goes to my friend Rich. On Sunday we were trying to decide on our album of 2006. Last year's album was definitely Relient K's MMHMM (Even though it was actually released at the end of 2004), but this year there weren't any clear winners. So instead I have compiled a number of other categories which are listed below. I might add some more as I think of them but in the mean time feel free to add your own list of favourites from the year in the comments.
Here are my favourite things from 2006:

• Album of 2006

  As I said there were no clear winners. These two did stand out for me:

  • Thursday - A City by the Light Divided.

  • Goldfinger - Disconnection Notice

    Technically 2005, but we only got it this year :)
  
  And the closest to winning would be this one:

  • Further Seems Forever - Hope This Finds You Well

    Just pretend that Bye Bye Bye isn't on the album.

• Movie of 2006

  Cars (Disney/Pixar)

  This was a clear winner for me. Especially considering what a let down I thought it would be. I remember seeing the trailer for Cars before the Incredibles and feeling my heart just sink. We eventually went to see it just before it closed its run here and I was amazed. Great story, great cast and above all a fantastic looking movie. A real Pixar classic.

• Website of 2006

  BlenderNation

  There are many good sites out there, but BlenderNation stands out as my favourite. The site is constantly updated with tutorials, improvements, plug-ins and other interesting links, mainly aimed at a Blender users but useful for any 3D designers. Definitely my favourite for the year.

• Christian Event of 2006

  Casting Crowns Concert

  There wouldn't even be this category if it wasn't for this event. I cannot express how much I (surprisingly) enjoyed this concert. It was so refreshingly real. I'm really not into any Christian worship bands, but Casting Crowns have such a different approach to what they do. It gave me a real sense that Christianity isn't about expensive equipment and overhyped anthems, there was no need to have an AWESOME experience - or feel left out if you missed it. Great band, great concert.

Themed Fonts at TypeNow

Yes, I finally managed to update the logo on the page, and it only took three days to blog about it. If you're wondering, I got the Lego font from TypeNow. There's a whole bunch of really cool movie, game and band themed fonts there. Great for any purpose, especially themed events. I would read up carefully on the license before using it for anything commercial - They are free, but I would still be careful. Eight bananas.

Wii have a problem

Nothing really special about this site, it just gave me a good laugh. Check it out here. Its a site solely dedicated to the injuries incurred to household furniture at the hands if butterfingered, over enthusiastic Wii players.

For those who don't know, Wii is Nintendo's latest game console running in competition to Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's XBox 360. The console comes with a remote that you can swing around to control your player. Wiihaveaproblem is a collection of what happens when the remote flies OUT OF CONTROL and the strap breaks. Its very funny.

Wikipedia's Entry on the Fine-Tuned Universe

I actually found this whilst reading about the atheist Anthony Flew. It explains the idea that life in our universe would not be possible if the constants (such as our distance from the sun) that govern it were changed slightly. If one of these were tweaked by even the tiniest amount it would be utter chaos. Well, more like utter nothing, but utter chaos sounds cooler.

As with most controversial topics, I prefer reading the Wikipedia entry over a specific Christian view, mainly because you get to see both sides' views. This isn't always true however. The entries on Wikipedia are written by the public and are subject to the bias of the writer. Keep this in mind whenever you're researching something there.

Be warned that this may not be everyone's chocolate moose, or even their chocolate yak, especially if the word universe sends you to slumberland. If you're like me however, this one is right up your milky way. I'd give it 8 bananas.

Custom Mouse Pointer in XNA Tutorial

Its been a while since my last pick - I've been really busy at work preparing for a new release so there hasn't been much time for browsing.

Today I came across this tutorial on getting a custom pointer texture in XNA. Granted, its not rocket science to get this right, but Mykre's Space does it so nicely. I have become quite a fan of Mykre's blog over the last couple of weeks, there are some great articles for all you game developers.