HMS Friday’s Brief Round Up Of 2010.

Don’t worry this isn’t an exhaustive post littered with top ten lists for the year we decided to veer away from that. In fact we’ve gone straight for the jugular and cherry picked our top favourites for different categories which we feel stood out among the rest over the last 12 months. For that reason alone our disclaimer is that these are our selections and ours only, you can and probably will disagree with them and we still wouldn’t give a shit.

Best Film Of 2010: Inception.

Yes it merits at least a second viewing but it truly is sci-fi at it’s best. Grounded in a realistic structure never straying too far into the fantastical, it’s tense throughout and grips you from the start until the finish and has you trying to work out what the f@ck is going on in between. Honourable mentions go to How To Train Your Dragon, Kick-Ass, Scott Pilgrim, Toy Story 3, Shutter Island, The Prophet and Frozen.

Best TV Series Of 2010: Breaking Bad/Mad Men

The crew were split right down the middle over this decision so we decided to offer them joint honours. Breaking Bad continues to be the single most engaging and enthralling crime series ever filmed for the small screen. The chemistry, (excuse the pun), between actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul is electrifying. It was another great year for Mad Men as advertising executive Don Draper’s story continued to unfold and unravel at the seams with a few shocking surprises along the way. Never has a series managed to blend style with debauchery so effortlessly. Honourable mentions got to True Blood, Eastbound And Down, The Walking Dead, Party Down, Fringe, Lost and Justified.

Best Music Video Of 2010: LCD Sound System.

Directed by the legendary Spike Jonze this video for the band’s single Drunk Girls sees the group being mentally and physically abused by a group of overall wearing miscreants in panda style balaclavas. Unnerving, twisted, chaotic and at times hilarious this music video has it all.

Sportsman Of 2010: Lionel Messi.

Even if you don’t like football the wee man is a joy to watch. His feet seem to be at times covered with super glue, when he has the ball he dances round defenders like a graceful ballerina panicking the opposition every time he launches a blistering attack. The reason we chose Messi as Sportsman Of The Year is because in an age when six foot plus, muscular players seem to go to ground like a bag of bricks at the slightest of touches, 5ft 7 Messi bucks the trend, refuses to dive and instead rides out even the most brutal of challenges. Why? Because he loves to play the game, pure and simple and when he does we love to watch. He is the rarest of players – an honest one. Don’t believe us? Here’s the proof.

Man Of The Year: Nick Vujicic.

Don’t worry we didn’t vote for some CEO or multi-millionaire instead we honoured Nick Vujicic a man who was born without arms or legs but who continues to travel the world spreading his message of hope and motivation to thousands of schoolchildren. Born in Australia to Serbian parents Nick was brought into this world with Tetra-Amelia disorder, missing both arms at shoulder level and legless except for two small feet, one of which has two toes. The adversity Nick had to overcome from the start was colossal, initially refused enrollment at his local school due to his disabilities he was then relentlessly bullied by school mates before becoming depressed and at one point contemplated suicide. Instead Nick went on to become a motivational speaker, he has spoke to over three million people so far in 24 different countries spreading his message of hope along the way.

Woman Women Of The Year: The Tecktonic & Shuffle Girls.

In a year when most women looked up to the likes of Cheryl Cole, Fearne Cotton, Amy Winehouse and Megan Fox the HMS Friday crew have plumped for the one woman who doesn’t have a fragrance, movie, album or self to sell but instead throws caution to the wind and enjoys herself simply by dancing and throwing her hands up in the air to hardcore techno dance music. Yes, the tecktonic and shuffle girls, (tecktonik seen by many as a purer form of hardcore dance usually expressed through greater movement in the arms whereas shuffle concentrates on intense leg movement) are creating an underground dance scene among females, which grew even more this year, to almost epidemic proportions. In doing so gives everyone a little joy and raises the spirits of those watching. Our woman of the year goes to the one who slips on some track suit trousers, turns up the sound system and dances, no matter how stupid it may look to other people. 


Game Of The Year: Red Dead Redemption.


Rockstar Games proved once more they know better than anyone else how to construct and develop a rich, detailed multi-layered gaming experience which blasts the rest of the competition out of the water. Unjustly described by some critics as Grand Theft Auto on a horse Red Dead Redemption opened up a virtual portal for gamers to revisit the wild west and take to the plains raising hell along the way. They also managed to produce one of the finest pieces of downloadable content for a game with Undead Nightmare. Zombies and cowboys? What’s not to like about that match-up? Honourable mentions go to Call Of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Rising 2, God Of War 3, Donkey Kong Country Returns and of course Angry Birds.

Best Epic Fails Of 2010. This lot!

Finally what review of the year would be complete without a look at some of the fails in the last twelve months. Here’s an outstanding collection of the very best ‘epic’ fails of 2010 proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that you should never underestimate the sheer stupidity of people.

And just to round things off here’s our very favourite ‘epic’ fail of 2010, from the slowest and most unco-ordinated run-up to a jump in the history of epic fails, to the eventual disasterous landing and subsequent hilarious embarrasment, it has it all. Here’s to 2011. From everyone at HMS Friday have a Happy New Year.

Five Amazing TV Shows We Brits Don’t Know About.

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! That’s the collective sound of the crew of HMS Friday letting off some frustrated steam on deck, because once more our TV channels this winter are clogged up with property evaluations, failed attempts at losing weight, wanting to look ten years younger, please vote for me on this talent contest, listen to how I sing don’t I look great, look at how I’m dancing don’t I look great, there are spiders in my hair but don’t I still look great based programmes, which suck the very f@cking soul from our seafaring bodies. There exists an enormous lack of reasonable, decent, engaging programmes on British TV for people who would love to actually look forward to something on their box which didn’t feature a cast of no-mark, no-name, self appointed celebrities jostling for attention.

Just to accentuate our point and prove that we Brits are pretty hard done by in the TV entertainment stakes we’ve put together a list of five shining examples of quality programmes we are missing out on. Five fantastic shows that you’ve probably never heard of and know nothing about becasue they’ve either been hidden away from view or ignored completley.

1.Breaking Bad

Yes, we are fully aware seasons one and two were actually shown in Britain but they were broadcast on FX a channel not everyone in this country has and the second series was aired at stupid o’clock in the morning on Five US. Considering the series is now entering it’s fourth season with 33 episodes under it’s belt along with six Emmy awards it’s about time a mainstream channel picked it up and gave it a reasonable time slot.

Concept – Chemistry teacher finds out he has inoperable lung cancer, to provide extra cash for his family he starts to make and sell crystal meth, with help from an ex-student turned drug dealer. Both are sent sprawling over the line into a life of crime. One of the darkest and most engaging programmes in TV history.

2. Bored To Death

To our knowledge this has never been aired in the UK and is now about to enter into it’s third season.

Concept – Jonathan Ames, played by Jason Schwartzman, is a struggling novelist who has read a ton of cheap detective novels, so when his girlfriend leaves him he advertises his services on a website as an unlicensed private detective and starts taking on cases. Accompanying him is best friend and comic book artist Ray Hueston, played by Zach Galifianakis, who also suffers from various psychological issues and George Christopher, played by Ted Danson, Jonathan’s boss who also happens to be addicted to alcohol, cannabis and sex. Hilarity ensues.

3. Terriers

First season has finished in the States and so far there are no plans to air it over here in Britain.

Concept – Ex-cop and recovering alcoholic Hank Dolworth, played by Donal Logue, (Blade), sets up yet another unlicensed private detective agency with help from friend and former criminal Brit Pollack, played by Michael Raymond-James, (True Blood)  investigating cases in and around Ocean Beach, the beach front neighbourhood of San Diego. It’s from the creator of The Shield what more of a recommendation do you need?

4. Community

Now in it’s second season Community did air here in the UK on October 5th hidden away on Viva, yes there is actually a channel called Viva. No plans as of yet to show the second season.

Concept – A suspended lawyer, played by Joel McHale, has to attend community college after his degree is found to be invalid by the bar association. While attending college he meets a collection of misfit students at a Spainsh study group. The series plays heavily on movie parodies and references. Think Spaced with a touch of Glee. Plus Chevy Chase is in it, what more do you people want?

5. Party Down

Ah, the best to last. The crew here at HMS Friday have been lucky enough to watch the entire first season of this hilarious series…through purely legitimate methods of course, (ahem!). Unfortunately only two seasons were made and to date neither have been shown on British TV.

Concept – A group of somewhat unfortunate aspiring actors and writers in Hollywood fill their days earning a crust working for an event catering company. Dreaming of one day making it big they drift from one party to the next meeting and sometimes clashing with guests and clients along the way. Seek this series out if you can.