Happy New Year!

I wish all of you a year filled with Happiness and Prosperity! May 2011 be your year!




Happy New Year!

My Favorite Things: 2010

10). The Hub

Though most of it is the same, Discovery Kids quietly became The Hub in the Fall of 2010. So why is this good? If you like older shows, like Happy Days, Family Ties, Batman and more, then you're in luck. I DVR Happy Days each night, and enjoy it!


9). Family Guy "And Then There Were Fewer"

Though the most recent season of Family Guy has been pretty lackluster (let's stop focusing on only Brian and Stewie), the season opener was anything but. Funny and mysterious, "And Then There Were Fewer" is, in my opinion, the best Family Guy episode yet.

8). Tangled

Though it probably won't win any awards (that will be Toy Story 3), Tangled was an ingenious movie that was funny and touching. And it's doing something Princess and the Frog didn't: it's making money.

7). Jimmy Kimmel

In a year when most people were Team Coco, I was not. Overrated and not that funny, I was saddened to see most people ignore Jimmy Kimmel. He is the funniest of all the late night talk show hosts. Watch him, and you won't be disappointed. Not to mention, he hosted a great "Aloha to Lost" special.

6). Betty White

Whether she's hosting the best SNL in recent memory or staring in her own

5). Modern Family

By far the funniest show on TV, Modern Family is the rare show where I really can't choose a favorite character. I love each one. Even the kids.

4). Fringe Seasons 2 and 3

Fringe was a pretty cool show up until the end of Season 2, when it became incredible. It has became my favorite show on TV right now. It's just awesome.

3). Toy Story 3

I was very young when the first movie came out. Now, just like Andy, I'm off to college. This movie was not just funny, fun, and enjoyable. It tackled themes that only a Pixar film could do. And I cried a little at the end, like 90% of the people who saw it.

2). World of Color

Nothing about this show disappointed me. I loved the entire thing. It was emotional, as well as a technological wonder. I only saw it live twice, and have watched it numerous times on video, but I still love it. I look forward to seeing it again on my next trip!

1). The Lost Finale

A roller coaster. Emotional. Heart wrenching. Mysterious. Surprising. Fun. I could go on and on to describe the greatest show ever to grace TV, but that may become tedious. Instead, we'll end 2010 with the clip that made me and many of you, cry your eyes out.

Disneyland: 2010

Disneyland has changed a lot since this time last year! Disneyland saw many refurbishments to rides that surely needed them while it quietly celebrated its 55 Anniversary. The park looks better than ever! Disney's California Adevnture saw a huge increase in the amount of construction work, with the debut of World of Color, the retheme of several attractions, and groundbreaking for The Little Mermaid and Carsland. Please note that some of these are my own pictures, while some belong to dlfreak over at MouseInfo.com. He always has the best pictures, so I encourage you to check them out!
We have a lot to look back on, so let's go!

Disneyland

Star Tours closed earlier this year in preparation for Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, which opens May 2011.

Remember Honey I Shrunk the Audience? Well, that aging ride was put out to pasture for good to make way for Captian EO: Tribute.


The Disney Gallery, which had been MIA since The Dream Suite was created, was finally brought back to a really nice location in the Main Street Bank. The Disney Gallery is now connected to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, which opened last year.


And let's not forget the 4 month long refurbishment for the Rivers of America. All the boats and Fantasmic! went down while new additions were made to the Rivers. New effects were also seen in Fantasmic!





Disney's California Adventure
I thought there were a lot of walls at DCA in the beginning of the year! But now, there are many, many more! One thing that has slipped many people's minds (including mine!) are the new additions to Grizzly River Run. Slowly, the white water raft ride is being transformed into a 50's era National Park. Unfortunately, I have no pictures. But rest assured, by the time Golden State is ready to be tackled in Phase 2, all of the extreme sports references to the mountain will be gone.

Through various stages, the Red Car tracks in Hollywood Pictures Backlot were completed. The land was also announced to become Hollywoodland in the future. To combat the closure of the main entrance, temporary one was built between a bug's land and Tower of Terror. This became permanent in August.



The former ampitheater was demolished and made way for a beautiful viewing terrace dubbed Paradise Park.

The Little Mermaid construction has also increased. The ride opens May 2011.

Silly Symphony Swings also opened this year, surprising many people with its rich details and beautiful surroundings.

Across the way, Burger Invasion and Pizza Oom Mow Mow closed to become Paradise Gardens eaterie..

Maliboomer finally disappeared, which shocked many fans because it happened so quickly. Still, it is nice to see it gone! A park is supposed to open in its place, featuring a meet and greet.


Mulholland Madness also closed, to be turned into Goofy's Sky School next year.

Carsland rockwork has dominated the DCA skyline, with topping off occuring in October. The Bountiful Valley Farm closed to make way for more Carsland space.



To add to World of Color, Glow Fest was a popular, albeit tacky, Dance Party. ElecTRONica premiered in the fall, which was much nicer and even more popular

Meanwhile, the big event this year at DCA was its new nighttime show. World of Color premiered to the park guests in June. It has been well recieved, and later, Troncore was added after the show, which has been recieved well, too.

In the front of the Park, walls have gone up around sunshine plaza. It will be a mess next year as stores close and walls fill the land. The new turnstiles should be open by August, though the letters are slated to be removed in January. But come may, there will be

a lot less walls throughout the park!

Disneyland Hotel
The Disneyland Hotel is finally getting a decent theme to a retro Disneyland. The towers are being transformed, and the rooms are beautiful. The pool area is also seeing a major makeover. The entire thing will be finished by 2012. Perhaps then something will be done about Paradise Pier?




It's been a fun and exciting year at Disneyland Resort. Things will be even better next year, with new rides and the fastly approaching opening of Carsland. Stay tuned!

GH Weekly Roundup: 2010 Edition, Part II

As we go into the second half of the year, we can still feel the reprucusiions of Micheal's jailtime frequently. But Micheal begins to feel that he owes Dante, and they begin to bond like brothers. Micheal meets a girl named Abby through Sam, who was introduced to have sex with Michael. They never did, but they soon became close friends. No one approves of this relationship, but they do seem to like each other.

Also affecting many characters was Kristina's disdain for her father. To get back at him, Kristina pretended to date Johnny. Though he didn't want to at first, Johnny went along with Kristina's plan as a way to get back at Sonny for how he treated Claudia. He did eventually decide this was a bad idea, and convinced Kristina to stop. But Sonny had planted a bomb in Johnny's car, and as he raced to stop the bomb from detonating, Kristina and Johnny witnessed the explosion. Though no one was hurt, Kristina was still angry.

When Franco returned, so did his mother. Franco was planning a big exhibit in California, which Jason and Dante crashed. A chase led to the supposed death of Franco, but this death was fake. For Franco's plan was going smoothly in Port Charles.

Franco had kidnapped Liz's baby and the hospital was put in lockdown as they searched. Meanwhile, an insane Warren Bauer opened fire on people in the hospital, injuring Ethan and Mac. He came after Kristina, but Mac was able to kill him in time. When the baby couldn't be found, they oepned the hospital up and Lucky went to search for the baby.

The search took him to Oregon, where Franco had given Aiden to his mother. After some convincing, she gave him Aiden back. It was very touching watching Lucky with his son. If only he knew the truth...

After being thrown out, Luke bunked with Lucky for a while before he left town. Lucky was soon caught up in an FBI investigation where he posed as Ronan O'Riely and went to Ireland. It was revealed that Ronan was working for a mysterious a crime figure who has a connection to Brenda Barret. Towards the end of September, Lucky was surprised to catch up with Luke who encouraged him to start a relationship with Siobhan, who he met and became friends with in Ireland. When they all returned to Port Charles, Lucky and Siobhan were kind of an item.

Carly had hired Brooke Lyn to sleep with Dante to break up Dante and Lulu, but this failed. Brooke had drugged Dante, and Lulu found out. Dante and Lulu washed their hands of Brooke and are happier then ever. Brook became employed by Nikolas as an escort pretty much, which angered Liz when she returned from her maternity leave. Carly needed another plan to make Dante and Lulu pay, so she started digging around.

Starting early in the summer, Lisa's insanity began to show itself. Before Patrick told Robin about the one night stand while she was away, Lisa took joy in taunting Robin. And when the truth came out, Lisa still toyed with Robin. She wanted Patrick for herself. Things included scratching out Robin's pictures and boiling Emma's stuffed toy. She even stole Robin's HIV meds and threw herself in front of Robin's car to make Robin look guitly. And it worked. Still, Patrick stod by Robin.

One day, Lisa drugged Robin and took her into the woods, where she fell down into a well. Robin was visited by Stone, who helped her get through this. Patrick came and rescued her, but Lisa pulled a gun on Patrick and Robin. She then turned the gun on herself, though Patrick rescued her. Lisa was sent to Shadybrook, but was released a few weeks later. To this day, Lisa enjoys tormenting Robin. Recently, she has tried to drug Robin, but was caught. She gave the syringe to Johnny Zacarrah, who is blackmailing her with the syringe to help him.

Once a villian to Sonny, now Claire was quite the bedmate. Originally, she wanted Sonny to be the father of her child, and to get him to trust her in order to send him to prison, but the fling became real. Sonny wanted to be able to get Claire into a position of conflict so she couldn't bring him to prison. But he fell for her. She couldn't prosecute Sonny after Sonny was provoked by Johnny to shoot him, even though Sonny looked guilty. This was because Ronnie hid Johnny's gun. Though these charges were eventually dropped, and a peace treaty was made between Johnny and Sonny, once again Sonny was arrested for the car bombing. When the evidence that could put him away was discovered to be illegally obtained, Claire was reprimanded for pointing this out. Claire put everything on the line for Sonny. Unfortunately for her, Sonny began having dreams of Brenda Barret. And she was about to make another big impact in his life.

Brenda Barret became a model and a spokesperson for ASEC, a charitable organization. Unfortunately for her, a crime figure named the Balkan was after her. So someone from ASEC decided to give Jason a call to come and protect her. He eventually brought her back to Port Charles, where she ran into her old friends and foes. It was also at this time that the truth about Brenda's past was revealed. In 2007, Brenda dated The Balkan's son. When she found out about his ties to organized crime, she dumped him, prompting Alexander to stalk her. Three cops were on Brenda's security detail, one of them being Dante. They became close. One night, while out for a walk, Alexander attacked Dante. Brenda shot him to save Dante, but there was a coverup. And the Balkan wanted revenge.

Back in PC, Brenda was very hesitant to go be with Sonny again. However, they both gave in to temptation and decided to give it another go, nd are currently engaged (again!). Meanwhile, the Balkan sent some of his men to kidnap Brenda, but this resulted in Brenda killing another man. The family of the murdered man has filed a lawsuit against Brenda. The Balkan also has Siobhan on his payroll, as well as Jerry Jax. However, Jerry Jax was killed when he refused to listen to the Balkan.

After many months, The Balkan's identity was finally revealed. It just so happens that the Balkan is Theo Hoffman, a man who currently wants to sue the hospital for bad treatment. Theo was also brought on to help Diane with Brenda's pending lawsuit, though Theo has his own plans.

Carly's digging revealed some startling info about Brenda and Dante. She suspects that Dante and Brenda might have a child. Indeed, they do talk about "the baby" sometimes. But do they really have a kid?

To end things on a happier note, Luke and Tracy were married. Of course, there had to be terms. Luke had to be sober, not run away, and sign a prenup. Though he didn't sign the prenup, Tracy took him to the alter anyway. Luke and Tracy are happy now, and are probably the happiest characters on GH.




It has been quite a year, folks. I hope you have enjoyed my brief review of all the events that have happened on the show, and I hope you'll continue to come here for everything GH!

So what will happen between Robin and Patrick? Will Sonny and Brenda be married? Will Lisa be caught? Will Kate Howard be on more (please!)? Where is the Balkan storyline going? What about that bush crash we keep seeing on the previews? Will Olivia and Steve hook up? Do Brenda and Dante actually have a baby? And will Mac and Alexis finally date? Will we ever have a sweeps a kin to the Hostage Crisis or Black and White Ball again?

I guess will find out in 2011!

GH Weekly Roundup: 2010 Edition Part I

It seems like 2010 has flown by, but when I think about what has happened on GH this year, it feels like so long ago. And to think it was in January when we got a new opening credits that replaced the old aging one...

We had quite a few additions to the cast this year. Elizabeth's brother, Steve, became the Chief of Staff at Gh after Monica offered him the job. Though he himself has not had much of a storyline, he has been a guider to almost everyone on staff. Lisa was introduced as Patirck's ex from college who joined the GH staff. Although she is a good doctor, she is a horrible person. From the beginning, she was out to get Patrick. When the two got drunk and had sex, she became crazy for Patrick. IMO, she was a terrible addition to the cast.

But would you agree that Maya Ward has made a terrific addition to the cast? After Edward invited her to live with them, rumors flew that she would be in a relationship with Micheal. But that never happened. Instead, she had quite the relationship with Ethan, which I'll cover later...

We came into this year with me hating the new Michael. He was a punk and a brat and got away with things because he was in a coma for a year. And in November 2009, he killed Claudia Zaccarah. There was a coverup, and only a select few knew what happened to Claudia.

Unbeknowst to most, Franco, the serial killer/artist, knew about what happened. He had pictures and Claudia's body to prove the murder. But he wasn't really interested in that. He wanted to play a game with his idol, Jason. It ended with the kidnappings of Lulu and Sam, though they were both rescued. But the police found Claudia's body, and were using it to build a case against Sonny.

Sonny's son, Dante, who was undercover in Sonny's organization as Dominic, was bent on brining Sonny down. Michael was jealous of Sonny and Dominic's relationship. When he found out the truth about Dante, he was more than happy to blow that secret out of the water. It was the day of Jossalyn's christening when Sonny wanted to get revenge on Dante. In an intense moment, Sonny shot Dante as Olivia ran in, screaming that Sonny shot his son. Sonny was horrified, but Dante's life was saved. Sonny wanted to make ammends with his son, though Dante refused. However, when questioned about the shooting, Dante stated he had accidentally shot himself.

Over the course of the year, Sonny and Dante would become closer. Sonny was soon arrested for Claudia's murder. Jax was also involved in the undercover investigation, which angered Carly and she threw Jax out. Michael felt guilty, and tried to confess to Mac at the PCPD, but Mac did not believe him. Claire Walsh was brought in to help bring Sonny down, and the trial began. Diane argued that Sonny killed Claudia in self defense to protect Carly and Jossalyn. But Johnny helped Claire's case by stating Sonny had abused Claudia so much that it was only a matter of time before he killed her. Micheal was eventually subpeonaed to testify, and was sent out of the country to Sonny's Island.

Dante and Jax both wanted to protect Micheal. While visiting, Micheal (now played by the awesome Chad Duell) told Dante everything. Dante took Micheal back to Port Charles and thought about what to do. Eventually, the truth came out. Micheal confessed to killing Claudia, and the charges against Sonny were dropped. Dante believed this would help Micheal. He would probably get a suspended sentence and community service hours. Judge Carrol did give him a suspended sentence: 5 years in Pentonville with possible parole after 2. Everyone was mad, but no one was madder than Carly. She wanted revenge on both Lulu and Dante. Then she aslo wanted to keep Morgan away from Sonny, and Jax adopted the young boy.

Jason wanted to kill Dante, but Sonny convinced him not to. Jason decided to give up his freedom and go to prison to protect Micheal. Claire, who felt terrible for helping Micheal get into jail, helped Jason. It's a good thing, too because in prison Micheal was attacked by Carter and may have been raped. Jason was forced to kill Carter, but before he died, Carter told him "Franco says hi". It was revealed that Carter was working for Franco, who would be returning to torment more people.

To get back at Lulu and Dante, who were more in love than ever before, Carly hired Brook Lyn to sleep with Dante to break them up. Spinelli, who was recuperating after a breakup with Maxie, decided to help Carly get revenge.

But all became slightly better when the Judge agreed to release Micheal from prison into the care of Dante. Sonny liked Dante even more now, though Carly did not. Jason had to stay in prison, until Franco came back to town. Claire decided to get Jason released to catch Franco. And what would happen next would surprise everyone.

Remember the Elizabeth/Nikolas/Lucky love trianlge? That flame was quickly extinguished, ey? After Lucky found out the truth, he was enraged and heart broken. He wanted nothing to do with Elizabeth or Nikolas, and began drinking. Lulu felt the same way. Elizabeth suffered a mental breakdown, and went to Shadybrook. After a while, however, Elizabeth learned she was pregnant. Who was the father, Nikolas or Lucky? She hoped it would be Lucky, but a determined Helena decided to switch the paternity test results and make Nikolas the father so there could be a new Cassidine heir. Nikolas wanted to use this to build a family with Liz, but she didn't want him.

During the spring, Elizabeth met a terminal cancer patient named Shirley. By time baby Aiden was born, she accepted Nikolas in her life, and they agreed to share the baby.

Kiefer Bauer and Kristina Davis appeared to be a happy couple, but we all knew that wasn't true. Keifer was abusive towards Kristina, and Kristina was hit and forced into sex. Kristina met Ethan and developed a crush on him. Ethan insisted she was too young for him, but she peristed. One night, Ethan got really made at Kristina for sabbotaging his date. She was devestated and returned to her house, where Keifer was waiting. He beat her and left. Ethan felt guilty and went to see Kristina, but ended up rushing her to the hospital. Kristina was scared that Sonny would kill Kiefer, so she framed Ethan for the beating. When she refused to press charges on Ethan, Sonny was furious and wanted Ethan dead.

Dante and Lucky, who became partners and friends, investigated Kristina's beating and believed that Kiefer was really the culprit. After they questioned Kiefer, he went to go convince Kristina to keep the charges on Ethan. When she refused, he beat her again. But this time Alexis found out the truth. Unfortunately, justice could not be served, for Alexis hit Kiefer on the way to the hospital. Kiefer died, prompting his father to swear vengence.

We were all very happy to see Georgie on the show for a visit. Maxie was very sick, and was dying. Georige visited Maxie and told her she had to choose between living and dying. And Maxie choose to live.

Also returning for a brief stint was Skye Quatermaine. She wanted Luke's help in finding her former husband Alcazar's hidden funds for herself and Lila, and enlisted Luke's help. This angered Tracy, and that was just the start of Luke and Tracy's downfall.

Helena kidnapped Tracy, and Luke went to find her. He was captured as well, and Tracy became very sick. While trapped, Luke confessed that they were never really married. And when Tracy got better after they were rescued, she threw Luke out.

And that was just the first half of the year. We have a lot more to cover, including Brenda's return. I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2.

2010: The Year in Review

I hope you all enjoyed a great holiday, but now it's time to look to the future. It seems that at this time of the year, everyone is doing the same thing. We spend time remembering the past year, and when it is over, we find ourselves looking forward to a new year and a new start.

It has no doubt been a busy year.

Over the next week, I'd like to spend time remembering 2010. On Monday, we'll look at the year on General Hospital. On Tuesday, we'll look at the year at Disneyland. On Wednesday, I'll name my 10 Most Fascinating People of The Year (take that, Barbra Walters!), and on Thursday I'll name my Favorite things of 2010 (take that, Oprah!).

Enjoy the snow (if you have any) and enjoy your gifts. We're in for a treat this week!