I seriously can’t believe that we’re not only about to close up ‘09, but this entire decade. Time sure is flying by isn’t it? Well, at least it feels that way for me anyway. Getting more to the point, I’d like to once again thank everyone that has stuck by Shamoozal and the work we do around here. I know that as far as GFGames goes, 2009 wasn’t exactly a stellar year. Our last episode, launched in August, was a bit of a massive undertaking, plus, my brother and I are busy folks. It kind of blows that the only thing we were able to put out this year was “How to Hook Up the NES.” That said, I’m really happy with how that short turned out, and it is arguably our most popular short ever.

Last year I said my New Years resolution was “more” of everything for the site. Looking back, I think around halfway through the year I decided I didn’t so much want more shorts, but more mileage from the ones we already created. The fact is, there is a mass amount of people out there that has never heard of us before. Using “How to” as more of a bridge into previous shorts seems to have worked in our favor. Thanks to the success of the short, people have gone back and rewatched all of our work from ‘08 and GFGames has been getting more of a following. So in that regard, I’m happy that these shorts are still being watched by people, even if they are all pretty old by this point.

I’m not making any promises as to what you’ll see next year out of GFGames. As you might know, I took a bit of a break from the series after putting out “How to” and I’m finally going to jump back into it sometime this month. I have the basics of the next episode worked out, and it’s going to be another tough one on our part, but again, hopefully worth it. Let’s just say I’d be happy if I could do at least two GFGames episodes during ‘10.

Paranormal Activity – shot in the style of The Blair Witch Project, home video footage is shown of a couple documenting their experiences with a possible spirit in their house. Micah and Katie videotape themselves sleeping every night and notice strange occurrences happening in their bedroom.

9 – when a rag doll comes to life in a post-apocalyptic world, he finds that all humans are gone. He discovers a race of other dolls like himself who are doing what they can to survive against the machines that are looking to wipe out all signs of life. From producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. Voices by Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, and more.

Jennifer’s Body – the hot, popular cheerleader (Megan Fox) at a small Midwestern high school becomes possessed by a demon and sets out to kill off every guy in the town by seducing them… and eating them. The nerdy girl (Amanda Seyfried) is on to her though. Written by Diablo Cody (Juno).

Sherlock Holmes – Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels) brings us an action packed version of one of the world’s most famous detectives. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) and his ever faithful partner Watson (Jude Law) go up against a nemesis (Mark Strong) whose evil plot is a threat to all of England. Also starring Rachel McAdams.

It’s Complicated – Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin were divorced some time ago but re-ignite their flame when they meet up at their son’s college graduation. The only problem is Baldwin is re-married to a younger woman and Streep is being pursued by her smitten architect (Steve Martin).

District 9 – an extra-terrestrial race has been living in the slums of Johannesburg, South Africa almost as prisoners in order for the government to learn more about their weapons. A government operative is exposed to some of their biotechnology and then a battle ensues between the two races. Produced by Peter Jackson, Directed by Neil Blomkamp.

(500) Days of Summer – Joseph Gordon-Levitt meets Zooey Deschanel at work. He immediately falls in love but she doesn’t believe in falling in love. They start a relationship anyway with Levitt’s hope that he can change her mind.

All About Steve – Sandra Bullock goes on a blind date with Bradley Cooper, a CNN cameraman. While it was only a one time thing for him, Bullock thinks she found her true love so she follows him around the country as he covers big news stories and causes a ruckus in his life.

For anyone that listens to Shamoozal Radio Podcast, you’ll know that I plan on attending MAGFest this year next year. For those that don’t know, here’s a little bit of what’s going on.

MAGFest is the Music and Games Festival that has been held since 2002 in Virginia. I have never personally attended one of these before, but apparently it’s a great place to catch some cool geek groups live (like Metroid Metal), meet composers like Jake “Virt” Kaufam, play plenty of free arcade games, buy all sorts of cool gaming merch from vendors, and bump into the people that run websites like ScrewAttack, among other stuff. According to legend, apparently the party never stops either, as the event is held in the hotel where everyone stays, so people just keep on going all through the night.

I’ll have a table in the vendor area pimping Shamoozal.com, though GFGames in particular. It’ll be just me and my lovely wife Demi and we’ll be handing out some cool promo stuff and we welcome anyone to stop by and say “hi”. It all goes down starting January 1st of 2010 through the 4th, but I won’t be arriving until January 2nd and I’ll be departing early on the 4th. In other words I’ll be there all Saturday and Sunday. Fore more information check out MAGFest.org. Hope to see some of you there!

I caught a showing of Avatar earlier this afternoon and having some time to think about it a bit, I think I’m willing to say it was kind of great. Awesome even. Seriously, as my wife and I were talking about it during the car ride to dinner and then during dinner, it kind of dawned on me that I think I loved it. My wife also found herself beginning to appreciate it the more we spoke about it.

It is strange to finally see a movie of almost mythical proportions. James Cameron has reportedly been crafting this film for close to a decade, and to be honest, I think it shows. The world, characters, and tribes are all so well thought out that it’s obvious Cameron has spent years thinking this thing through and writing tomes about the history of the planet Pandora. Cameron is known for the details, and Avatar is full of them.

Does the film live up to the hype? I guess that is up to the masses to decide. Personally, when I saw the first trailer I thought maybe Cameron had flipped his lid and was out of his mind. As the movie approached I found myself becoming increasingly more interested in seeing it, but that was based mostly on Cameron’s nearly flawless track record. I went into the film with an open mind without many expectations at all, so I suppose for me it lived up to the hype.

I know this is about a week late, but I just wanted to take a moment to everyone that came out and supported our NES Holiday Marathon from last Saturday. I’ve been so busy ever since Saturday ended that I never even had a chance to properly send the Marathon off!

So anyway, I thought we did a pretty kick ass job if I do say so myself. While we may have only finished about 5 games, we sampled a ton of classic and not so classic karts. All of the games went well, and to anyone that won a prize that day let it be known that I shipped off your prize earlier today so you should have it shortly. Outside of that, we reached our $500 goal just moments before the marathon ended which will do well in providing plenty of goodies for children that are in need of them.

Just wanted to give a huge heart warmed thank you to everyone that was able to attend this event and support us. Everyone from the viewers in the chat room, the kind people that made generous donations, my friends that were able to stop by my house, to even my brother baking everyone at the house… pancakes. Yeah, that was kind of weird, but people enjoyed them regardless. Thanks again folks.

Avatar – A paraplegic former marine (Sam Worthington) accepts a mission to transform into the body of a Na’vi, the indigenous race of creatures that inhabit Pandora. The mission is to secretly infiltrate their planet and gain access to the precious ore that the military seeks but he becomes attached to the people. Written and Directed by James Cameron (Titanic).

Did You Hear About The Morgans – In New York City, a bickering couple (Hugh Grant & Sarah Jessica Parker) who are on the verge of splitting up, witness a murder. They are entered into the witness protection program and relocated to a small Wyoming town where they must remain together against their will.

The Hangover – Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis take the groom, Justin Bartha, out to Vegas for his bachelor party a few days before his wedding. They start the night off with some drinks and then wake up the next morning with no memory and a missing groom. So they have to retrace their steps to find him. Directed by Todd Phillips (Old School).

Inglourious Basterds – Its German-occupied France during World War II. Adolf Hitler is at large. An American-led killing squad known as The Basterds are terrorizing the Nazis. They aren’t taking them prisoner, instead they’re taking their scalps. They get in on a plan to take down the Fuhrer. Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, and more.

G-Force – part animated and part live action, this is the story of a specially trained squad of guinea pigs who are dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire from taking over the world. Includes voices by Nicolas Cage, Tracy Morgan, Steve Buscemi, and others.

Last week I uploaded nearly the entire GFGames series on ScrewAttack (having problems rendered a new video of Tactical Espionage) and we’ve had a really good response so far. On the above video, la Tragedie is the first highlight on the g1 Spotlight. It’s good to see la Tragedie get a little respect as it’s our least watched episode of the series. A few days before that, Rated M for Molester was featured on their front page. It has been great getting introducing GFGames to a new crowd, and it’s encouraging to see that some people over there already know of it from Newgrounds. One commenter even went as far to say that the episode featured on ScrewAttack were stolen. I let him know that they came straight from the source.