Here's a list of things I did to kill time and entertain myself with for the year 2011. You'll notice that not everything is from the year 2011 though. The books I read and the video games I played are from different years. Only the "Movies" list is strictly films I'm rating from 2011, because I don't have time to list every single movie I saw this year.
BOOKS 
Hawaiian Dick: Byrd of Paradise
Story by B. Clay Moore
Art by Steven Griffin
OK, NOTHING SPECIAL
Mass Effect: Ascension
By Drew Karpyshyn
OK, NOTHING SPECIAL
Richard Stark's Parker: The Outfit
Adapted and Illustrated by Darwyn Cooke
OK, NOTHING SPECIAL
Mass Effect: Revelation
By Drew Karpyshyn
OK - This was the best book I read in 2011. It beat out the other books because if you've ever played a "Mass Effect" game then you'll understand why it's cool to know how Saren learned how to gain control of the Geth.
MOVIES
Tree of Life
AWFUL - the worst movie of 2011 and a clear example of why I hate film critics and the so-called "artists" of Hollywood.
Paul
AWFUL
Batman: Year One
AWFUL 
Attack The Block
AWFUL
Your Highness
AWFUL
Terri
BAD
Super 8
BAD
Battle: Los Angeles
BAD
Limitless
OK
Cedar Rapids
OK
Captain America
OK
BTW - 2011 has to be the worst year in movies that I can ever remember!!!
Thor
GOOD
Atlas Shrugged Part I
GOOD - As a fan of Ayn Rand I was glad that they were somewhat able to capture her genius with this film. Her writing definitely reads better than acted out on screen, but hopefully the film at least introduces a new audience to her work. 
Ayn Rand: In Her Own Words
GOOD - The best film I saw in 2011. A decent documentary about one of the greatest minds of all-time.
VIDEO GAMES
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
OK - but then again why is a 34 year-old playing this to begin with?
Full House Poker
OK - Online poker was banned on April 15, 2011. Next thing I knew I was playing this game and betting "play money" for fun. Poker in America has hit an all-time low.
Singularity
GOOD 
Dragon Age II
GOOD
LA Noire
GOOD

Half Life 2: Episode 1 & 2
GOOD - Dear Valve can we please get a fucking resolution to the world of Half Life? It's been long enough!!!
Dead Space
GOOD
Age of Mythology
ALL-TIME GREAT GAME - finally got around to beating this RTS classic.
Mass Effect
ALL-TIME GREAT GAME
Gears of War 3
ALL-TIME GREAT GAME
Limbo
ALL-TIME GREAT GAME
Portal
ALL-TIME GREAT GAME
Batman Arkham City
ALL-TIME GREAT GAME
Mass Effect 2
ALL-TIME GREAT GAME - The best game I played in 2011 and easily one of the best video games ever made. And there's a good chance that "Mass Effect" will top this list again in 2012 as "Mass Effect 3" comes out in March.
Here's a whole new batch of weird stuff on hundred dollar bills. Someone told me that these markings are actually called "chop" marks and that they are used by foreign countries to keep track of non-counterfeit bills, but I think there's more to these unusual works of art. There's a conspiracy in here somewhere.
LETTERS
A red letter B in a circle.
Two letter B's in a blue circle.
A purple letter P.
Blue letters SPN along with a purple symbol of what looks like a diamond.
NUMBERS
The number 28698.
SYMBOLS
Blue Arabic writing in a circle.
All kinds of marks: Arabic symbol, a sun with writing inside it, random numbers, and initials RIB.
A money symbol on money, kind of redundant.


Being that I play a lot of poker I always have cash on me. And something I've noticed in the last year or so are the mysterious markings I keep seeing on hundred dollar bills. Now I know it seems to be trendy to hate on the Federal Reserve and blast the U.S. Treasury for how they bail out people, and being a poker player I don't have any love for either of them at the moment, but that doesn't mean I would fuck with their money.

On the left: A blue triangle with a B in it, the red number 396-2 On the right: a blue RP in a circle
Of the 16 examples I have; 13 have markings on the front of the hundred dollar bill while 3 are on the back. What kind of sub culture is doing this? Is this the work of a Banksy type character? Is it some kind of elaborate form of communicating? Or is this what art school dropouts do to leave a mark?
I've grouped the markings into four categories so far: Symbols, Animals, Letters/Initials and Random.
SYMBOLS
A red diamond with KK on one point
Could this have Middle Eastern connections?
Another possible Middle East connection?
This one looks like a fraternity symbol.
LETTERS/INITIALS





ANIMALS
A blue lion.
A red cat.
A blue bird with the initials A M on it.
RANDOM
I don't know what this is or if I even have it right-side up.
Two random blue markings on the right side of the bill with a red G in the bottom righthand corner.































PHOTO BLOG: BATSTO VILLAGE
When you usually think of ghost towns you usually picture tumbleweeds going through somewhere in Arizona or Nevada, but located right in the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens is a town that time has forgotten. Batsto Village was founded in 1766 and survived until 1989. Today the streets and houses are empty. Walking around this abandoned town is much like a time warp into the past and a reminder that nothing lasts forever.



Inside the Wharton State Forest is where you can find Batsto Village. The town is a registered historical place and is maintained by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection which explains why the houses don't have broken windows and why the walls haven't crumbled. But like everything else in the Pine Barrens there lives a vibe of eerieness and something strange. 

The Batsto River

The Batsto General Store


An Abandoned Mansion


An Empty Stable
Batsto Village: The Ghost Town of the Pine Barrens


























