Top Everything of 2015

With 2016 now upon us many news outlets, columnists, and bloggers are creating lists about different parts of 2015.  Topics like entertainment, politricks, science, and all sorts of other areas are each getting their own end of the year write-ups.

As anyone who knows me or has read this blog can probably guess, I have a lot of interests.  Writing an entire article about only one subject just isn't my style when looking back at the entirety of 2015.  Therefore, like with 2014, I've created a comprehensive end of the year list that encompasses picks for a variety of topics.  The list will cover everything from hip hop to politics to MMA to science to film, and more.  The categories will mostly be the same as those from last year, give or take a few changes.

My criteria for each pick is a combination of merit/quality, personal preference (anyone who tries to pretend their "top" lists are objective are lying to themselves), achievements in a given field, and cultural significance/impact.

Let's dive in!

Movie: Straight Outta Compton

This was a tough entry for me to select. There were a lot of movies that I loved this year, from very different genres, so much so that even narrowing my favorite films of the year list to just five presented quite a challenge.  But movies that stay with me the most are those that challenge me to both think and feel, and after reflecting about all the movies I've seen this year, one movie stayed with me more than the rest of my favorites by a slim margin.

Straight Outta Compton is the story of the NWA, covering their story from their inception to the death of Easy E.  The movie can be thought of in three stages: the group's rise, the group's fall, and the group's reconciliation.  Both the first and third stage are fantastic.  The beginning of the film introduces us to each member of the group and gives societal context to their ascent: the streets of Los Angeles.  A place of violence, racist cops, and little opportunity.  The group rises from the hood by harnessing the very anger that the hood gave them in their music to powerful effect.  The second phase is when the NWA falls apart, with Ice Cube and Dr Dre each going their own separate ways after tensions come to a head and the group disbands.  The final phase covers the group reuniting after Easy E is diagnosed with AIDS.  Overcoming ego and squashing beef is always easier when the specter of death is an imminent reality instead of an abstract idea.

While the movie loses some of its intrigue when covering the group's fall, my main problem with the film isn't that second phase.  It may be formulaic, but the first part of the movie (mixed with brilliant performances by the actors) got me invested enough to care when they started to fall apart.  The biggest problem with the film is its portrayal of women.  Women have two roles in this movie: mother or nameless sex object.  The only exception is Easy E's girlfriend, who is only around for less than half the movie.  It also goes out of its way to downplay the misogyny of the group, including completely erasing the history of domestic abuse by some of NWA's members.

Aside from this glaring flaw, Straight Outta Compton is top notch.  Had it handled women better, it probably would have become one of my favorite films of all time.  Still, the rest of the movie is so strong that it is my favorite movie of the year.  The performances are great, the characters are compelling, the social commentary about the hood (specifically the police) is important, and the emotional moments hit the mark every time.

Comedy Movie: Spy

I love comedy movies, but I never know how to rank them alongside "real" movies.  Comedy movies have such different goals from most other movies that it's hard to compare them.  So, I figured I might as well make a category specifically for comedy!  (For what it's worth, if I'd created this category last year, it would've gone to 22 Jump Street).

Spy is another Paul Feig directed comedy featuring Melissa McCarthy, continuing the hilarity train that started when the two worked together for Bridesmaids (I haven't seen The Heat, though I've heard good things about that one as well).  The movie stars Melissa McCarthy as Susan Cooper, a character who sits behind a computer monitor directing CIA Agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) through his missions.  To keep this summary short and spoiler-free, early on in the movie bad things happen and circumstances lead to McCarthy's character going out to the field as an agent.

Both the writing and performances are all on point; almost every single joke hits perfectly.  My only problem is that the movie sometimes leans a little too heavily on fat jokes about McCarthy.  At times these jokes are piled on so much they become cringe-worthy.  That aside, though, this movie is absolute comedy gold.  The funniest parts come with Jason Statham's character, an unhinged loose canon who recklessly stumbles through the film with no regard for anyone's safety, including (perhaps especially) his own.

But while Statham's character maybe the funniest, McCarthy's character still stands out as the most interesting.  Cooper has a distinct character arc, gradually coming out of her passive, self-effacing shell to believing in herself and taking action.  This character archetype has existed as long as human beings have been telling stories, but McCarthy and the writing team bring enough life to the role that her character's journey feels relatively fresh and engaging.  She isn't the only prominent female character, either; her boss, best friend, and main enemy are all women who play important roles and have agency in the plot.

With almost nonstop laughs, a well-done character journey, one of the best comedy performances I've ever seen thanks to Jason Statham, and more female character agency than you'll see in almost any other film this year (or any other year), Spy is an easy pick for comedy of the year.

Animated Movie: Inside Out

The competition for this year's best animated movie isn't as fierce as last year's (Big Hero 6, The LEGO Movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and The Book of Life all came out in 2014).  Yet even if the competition were equally as steep, Inside Out would still be my pick for movie of the year.  This is the best movie Pixar has put out since their amazing three consecutive years of instant classics with 2008's Wall-E, 2009's Up, and 2010's Toy Story 3.  Yes, this movie truly deserves to be mentioned in the same conversation as those three.

The premise of this movie is refreshingly creative.  It takes place inside the mind of an eleven year old girl named Riley, following the five anthropomorphized emotions that run her brain: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear.  The five emotions work together to take care of Riley, with Joy being the leader.  Of course, as with any movie, things go wrong and it is up to our heroes (in this case, Joy and Sadness) to set things right.

The creative premise of the film leads to some brilliant ways of representing the human mind, with tons of imaginative set pieces and clever jokes about how the mind works (or, sometimes, how it doesn't).  Throughout the movie I was excited for each new scene and location, eager to see what other imaginative things Pixar had cooked up for the human mind.

The movie is about more than the inside of Riley's head, however.  Much more.  The central conflict of this movie is Riley's trouble adjusting to San Francisco after moving from Minnesota.  The message of this movie is a simple one, but also one of the most important and emotionally healthy messages you'll ever see in a kid's movie: it's okay to feel sad.  Each emotion has its own uses in certain situations; the movie shows us we shouldn't try to suppress them to appear happy all the time.  That's an extremely important message to send to children so that they don't grow up hiding their vulnerability from people who care and suppressing their emotions.

This is a movie with a vivid imagination, great laughs, creative metaphors for the human mind, and an important message for kids.  Like with The Book of Life, my favorite animated movie from last year, this movie trusts kids enough to cover an important subject thoughtfully and is all the better for it.

Actor: Michael B Jordan

This was a difficult category to pick.  Oscar Isaac and Sylvester Stallone each occupied this spot at one point as I kept changing my mind on who to pick, and a few other names came close as well.  There were a lot of compelling performances this year.  But in the end, I had to go with Michael B Jordan.  I've been a fan since Chronicle and I thought his performance in 2013's Fruitvale Station was fantastic, so it was nice to see Michael B Jordan become an A list star in 2015.

Of course, that is entirely on the strength of his performance in Creed.  I didn't see The Fantastic Four reboot, and according to everyone from friends who had seen it to 90% of critics, it was better that way.  But in his role as Adonis Johnson, the son of Apollo Creed, I bought every minute of his performance.  I felt the pain of Adonis that came with him not knowing his father growing up, going from foster home to foster home.  I felt his enthusiasm when he tracked down Rocky Balboa to ask to become his student.  I felt his dedication in every training montage.

Michael B Jordan didn't just convince me of his dedication through his acting abilities, either- he also took to boxing quite well.  This movie has the best boxing choreography I've ever seen and, as someone who has actually trained at a boxing gym before, I can say that Michael B Jordan actually looks and moves more like a boxer than any other character I've seen in a boxing movie before.  This is no small statement.  I've seen Raging Bull, The Fighter, Million Dollar Baby, Ali, and many other good boxing movies.  Of all of those films, none of the actors involved showed the same level of dedication to learning how to box for their role as Jordan did in this film.

Had Jordan not given his all for this performance, Creed would've fallen flat.  The story is formulaic and lacks any real surprises.  While the writing helps give some life to the roles, what truly gives them their heart are the performances of the actors and actresses involved, especially Jordan and Stallone.  Not only does Jordan do a great job with his own performance, but the dynamics he has with his love interest, his adopted mother, and Stallone are all interesting and full of chemistry.  Michael B Jordan proves with Creed that he is star material, even for a movie series that has as many high expectations for it as the Rocky series does.  I already can't wait to see the next time he is on screen.

Actress: Daisy Ridley

Yes, the original cast returns and Harrison Ford does a great job acting as the wise old mentor type for the group.  Yes, John Boyega is a likable, relatable actor who helps ground the movie while also providing a lot of its funniest moments.  Yes, Oscar Isaac plays an impossibly charming and good looking pilot who makes me question my heterosexuality.  But we all know who the real star of The Force Awakens is: Rey, as played by Daisy Ridley.

Rey is a scavenger on the desert planet Jakku, having been abandoned by her parents there at a young age.  Even before she gets mixed up in intergalactic political conflict, we are shown during the exposition that she is a tough and resourceful character, while also having a kind side and showing occasional moments of vulnerability.  Throughout the film Ridley has to convey every single emotion one can think of.  If a sequel to Inside Out were made starring Rey, she'd need over a dozen characters to represent all the emotional layers Daisey Ridley convincingly gives her.

Criticism against Ridley's Rey aren't common, but among those who do have complaints the biggest one by far is that Rey is too naturally talented at everything she needs to do in the film.  At first glance this doesn't seem to have a lot to do with Ridley's acting, but it actually does.  As I mentioned above, the film establishes early on that Rey is a scavenger who knows her way around a ship and how to use a weapon when attacked by other scavengers.  Rey's journey in The Force Awaken's isn't like Luke's in A New Hope.  Luke's conflict is external and his growth comes largely in his skills, which also results making him braver yet more grounded.  To keep this write up relatively spoiler-free, I'll just say that while Rey shares some of the same goals as Luke, her conflict is a lot more internal in this film.  She's already physically capable of a lot of what she needs to do- again, not because of bad writing, but because the film establishes early on that these are skills she has already learned living by herself on Jakku.  She's not some naive farmboy on Tatooine.

In a sea of fantastic performances (seriously, naming your least favorite performance in this movie is like asking a parent to name their least favorite child), Ridley's performance stands out.  She presents a rounded character who can be brave, scared, angry, happy, sad, regretful, determined, conflicted, horrified, and somber.  The depth she adds to Rey's character is astonishing for such a newcomer and definitely deserving of an Oscar nod.  I can't wait to see her in the rest of this trilogy, and I can't wait to see what else Daisy Ridley does in the future.

Hip Hop Album: Meow the Jewels

Run the Jewels has a lot going for it: two seasoned MCs, clever lyrics that are witty and often insightful without being self-important, top notch production thanks to El-P, and wonderful chemistry.  Their music is a lot like a Quentin Tarantino movie: fun and exciting at first glance, but also done with an impressive amount of attention to detail and craft upon further inspection.

Nothing epitomizes how fun this duo is than their album this year, Meow the Jewels.  The entire album is composed of songs of theirs remixed with cat noise centered beats.  Meows, hisses, purring, bells, kitten squeals, anything you can think of.  Whereas most rappers are concerned with projecting an image of gravity and grandeur, with Run the Jewels we have two seasoned rappers releasing an album with cat noises in the background.  And, aside from being both funny and fun, the cat-infused beats actually sound great.

With strong introduction track "Oh My Darling (Don't Meow)" and standout joints like "Close Your Eyes (And Meow to Fluff)" and "Paw Due Respect", these songs go hard, entertain relentlessly, and are just plain fun.  While Kendrick Lamar's album To Pimp a Butterfly is also excellent and is arguably much more important on a societal level, I've found myself bumping Meow the Jewels a lot more often.  As a result, it is my pick for album of the year.

Hip Hop Song: Black Friday

I mean, holy shit, right?  If hip hop is dead, someone forgot to tell Kendrick Lamar (and J Cole, and El-P, and Killer Mike, and Logic, and...)

MMA Prospect: Yair Rodríguez

Over the last few years we've seen an emergence of a lot of moves from Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and other martial arts that a decade ago were mostly ignored for "not working" in serious MMA competition.  I even wrote a post about it last year.  Side kicks, spinning back kicks, front kicks with the ball of the foot, and other such moves have been used by MMA fighters at all levels in increasingly large numbers.

The problem is that a lot of fighters have began to use these moves without properly gauging distance or setting them up.  Using some of the flashier kicks that have become popular, like the spinning back kick, leaves you out of position to defend yourself should your attack miss.  That is why it's important to throw it at the right time, when it is least likely your opponent will take advantage of the opening your attack leaves.  If not, it can cost you- Chris Weidman lost his title because of a poorly timed spinning back kick that left an opening for Luke Rockhold to take Weidman's back, get him to the ground, and lay on some of the nastiest ground 'n pound I've ever seen.

Yair Rodríguez is a featherweight who has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.  Because of his time invested in Tae Kwon Do, Rodríguez hasn't just learned how to throw fancy kicks but has spent years learning exactly when he should throw them and how he can build a game around them.  He throws punches as distractions from his kicks, his footwork does a good job at maintaining kicking range distance, and he changes stances to effectively change the angles of his attacks.  He is also quite capable in the clinch and has a slick ground game that is about as entertaining as any MMA fighter's.

Rodríguez is not without his weaknesses.  When pressured too much he retreats straight backward, rather than circling out; his punches are sharp enough in the opening round, but get progressively sloppier as the fight goes on; he leaves a lot of openings, like by leaving his hands too low or leaning forward when on the offense against an opponent.  But he is twenty three years old and has only had seven professional fights, three of which have been in the UFC.  It'd be weird if he weren't making mistakes, and he has years ahead of him to correct them.

The 145 pound division is already electric; it has easily become my favorite division in the UFC.  While much of the talent toward the top of the featherweight heap is relatively young and won't be going anywhere soon, it's nice to see a prospect with such potential coming up.  Seeing Rodríguez grow as a fighter and continue his ascent among the 145-ers in the UFC will be a real treat for years to come.

MMA Fighter I'd Like to See Bounce Back: Kyoji Horiguchi

I first noticed Kyoji Horiguchi in his match against Jon delos Reyes in September of 2014.  His impressive fight style immediately caught my attention: he combines the excellent range-conscious movement of someone like Machida with the head movement and combination-punching ability of someone like Ross Pearson.  His striking is, essentially, a mixture of some of the best parts of karate and boxing for MMA.

When I first saw him fight, I remember thinking to myself that he had it in him to someday beat flyweight champion Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, one of the most well-rounded and strategically intelligent fighters in the world regardless of weight class.  This confidence in Horiguchi only increased when he fought Louis Gaudinot.  Against Gaudinot, who is currently ranked #12 in the flyweight division, Horiguchi performed brilliantly and let his unique karate-boxing hybrid style shine.

His victory made me think he might be ready for a shot against Mighty Mouse if he got past someone in the top 10, then someone in the top 5 to earn a title fight.  Instead, Horiguchi received a title shot after his victory against Gaudinot because Mighty Mouse had cleared out the flyweight division of any other contenders.  Horiguchi fought Johnson in April and did well the first round, but as the fight went on Might Mouse's control of the fight became more and more pronounced.  The final round had Johnson dominating the match completely and submitting Horiguchi with an armbar at 4:59 of the 5 minute round, a record that can literally never be topped.

I sincerely hope Horiguchi can bounce back and work his way to another title shot, this time fighting top 10 fighters on the way up.  His fighting style is the rare combination of entertaining yet strategically sound.  If he takes the loss against Johnson as a learning experience and keeps getting better, I think he has a very real shot at winning his next title fight, provided that he is given a more gradual path instead of being thrown in head first again.  He is already off to a good start, having beat Chico Camus in September.  I hope this trend continues, if for no other reason than to keep the flyweight division interesting (seriously, Might Mouse has totally cleared out that division).

Male MMA Fighter: Conor McGregor

I'm going to get this out of the way: I don't like Conor McGregor's schoolyard trash-talk antics.  I don't personally dislike McGregor (or any other fighter) for doing it because it's a proven model for success, but I hate that the fastest way for a fighter to gain attention is to talk shit like a high schooler desperate for attention and what they think is respect.  There are plenty of ways to market fighters for their personality beyond the shit talking, but media outlets love drama and interpersonal conflict.  It's the same reason Donald Trump gets so much attention from the press.

But let's forget about McGregor the personality and talk about McGregor the fighter.  His ability to gauge/control distance, throw flashy kicks in strategically well thought-out ways, and counter with that excellent left hand are all top notch in MMA.  McGregor is excellent at using his kicks and footwork to control the range of his opponents and bait them into attacks that he then counters with his left hand.

McGregor's first opponent of the year was Dennis Siver, an elite striker who up until that point had only lost to Cub Swanson since dropping down to the featherweight division.  McGregor ran through him.  McGregor then beat Chad Mendes, who up until that point had only lost to featherweight champion Jose Aldo.  Finally, McGregor beat Aldo himself in an astonishing 13 seconds.  That's impressive for any professional fight, but especially so when you're fighting the UFC's then-longest reigning active champion.

It should be noted those last two victories might come with an asterisk of sorts.  Chad Mendes took the fight on a week's notice after Aldo had to pull out due to injury and Jose Aldo had been out of commission for over a year when the two finally fought.  But neither of those were McGregor's fault, and he did everything he had to in order to beat the champion of arguably the deepest division in MMA today (or perhaps the second deepest after the lightweight division).

2016 will be a big year for McGregor.  Will he defeat Aldo in a rematch?  Will he defend the title against other contenders like Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway?  Will he move up to lightweight to fight for the lightweight crown?  I don't know what path he'll take or how well he'll do.  But I do know that I look forward to seeing those fights (while ignoring all the silly pre-fight man drama).

Female MMA Fighter: Holly Holm

Joanna Jędrzejczyk, the champion of the new women's straw weight (115 pound) division, is an excellent fighter.  After capturing the title from Carla Esparza in the beginning of the year, she has since defended her title twice.  She deserves a lot of praise for her performances and accomplishments this year.

But the clear winner of female fighter of the year goes to the woman who dethroned Ronda Rousey, who was the UFC's biggest star at the time of this fight.  Holly Holm, who is also a former boxing champion and kickboxing competitor, beat two middle of the pack bantamweights to earn the title shot against Rousey.  Many wrote her off as not having a chance, while others "predicted" she would win simply because they wanted Rousey to lose.  Most fans wrote this off as yet another bout where Rousey would clinch up, hip toss her opponent, and eventually sink in that killer arm bar of hers.

As we all know, that's not what happened this time around.  Holly Holm used the footwork she gained as a high level striker to continuously slip away from Rousey and pick her apart with piston-like straights.  Rousey is excellent at operating once she has the clinch in a fight, but she doesn't have as much skill in setting it up.  Usually she rushes her opponents, who often try to stand their ground and strike with her in the hopes of getting a knockout before Rousey can sink in her clinch.  With her opponent standing right in front of her, Rousey would throw a bunch of wild punches until she saw an opening for the clinch.  When Holm decided to circle out and not let Rousey rush her, Rousey didn't have an answer.

Holly did a fantastic job picking Rousey apart and defending on the few occasions she did get caught in the clinch, eventually seeing an opening for a beautiful headkick that killed all wildlife in a five mile radius.  Many people afterward blamed Rousey for "trying to strike with Holm instead of using with her Judo", but make no mistake, this was Holm's doing.  In professional MMA, you simply can't walk into the clinch.  You need to set it up with strikes to create an opening.  Holm did everything she needed to in order to make sure Rousey couldn't do that.

Holm defeated one of the biggest stars the UFC has ever known thanks to sound striking strategy.  She also became the first fighter to hold championships in both MMA and boxing.  Heading into 2016, she will inevitably have a rematch with Ronda Rousey.  This winner of this rematch will be determined by who has the better footwork.  If Rousey improves her ability to cut off the cage instead of just chasing opponents, she will win.  If Holm is able to continue escaping Rousey, she will win.  Either way, it will be a hell of a match.  Until then, though, Holm has rightfully earned her place at the top of the women bantamweight division.

MMA Fight: Cormier vs Gustafsson

This category came down to a very, very close decision.  After whittling down an extensive list of fantastic fights this year, I was left with two: this one and Robbie Lawler vs Rory MacDonald.  Both fights were incredible championship fights that demonstrated the heart, technique, and versatility of each fighter.  In the end, I went with Cormier vs Gustafsson because (1)the fight felt slightly closer and (2)there were some specific aspects from this amazing bout that I wanted to talk about (though shout out to Lawler's excellent MMA boxing, which might just be the best in MMA right now).

Before we get into the details of this fight, the outcome is a perfect example of the fact that styles makes fights.  Tallying who has beat who in MMA doesn't always work because every fighter's style contains its own strengths and weaknesses.  Alexander Gustafsson got destroyed by Anthony Johnson, who was meticulously picked apart by Daniel Cormier in their fight.  If Cormier so effortlessly beat the guy who demolished Gustafsson, clearly Cormier should've smoked Gustafsson himself.  As we saw, though, that's not how things went down.

This was a phenomenal fight.  The first round made it look like Cormier would neutralize Gustafsson's striking with his wrestling and grind out a decision on the ground.  Clearly that didn't end up being the case.  Gustafsson did an impressive job using his polished footwork, strong combination punching, attacks to the body, and excellent gauging of distance.  Cormier, on the other hand, did a fantastic job of cutting off the cage with his footwork (that is, intercepting Gustafsson instead of just following him), striking from the clinch, and setting up his right hands with lighter kicks and punches, rather than just winging crazy right hands like most wrestler-turned-strikers do.

One thing that I appreciate about Gustafsson is that he isn't afraid to go for takedowns against wrestlers.  Conventional MMA wisdom says that lanky strikers should never try to grapple against stocky wrestlers.  Gustafsson reminded us here that conventional wisdom is something that should always be challenged.  Like against Jon Jones, he only scored a couple complete takedowns, but that was all he needed.  As I've talked about on this blog before, shooting for the hips against an opponent in MMA gets them thinking about your wrestling and takes away from their ability to focus on striking defense.  Grappling-based MMA fighters use this strategy all the time to out-strike opponents that have stronger striking credentials than them.  When you're a striker who can employ this strategy, all the better.

Another noteworthy part about this fight was how each fighter battled it out in the later rounds.  In MMA it is common for tired fighters to stand still in the later rounds and wing powerful, sloppy strikes at each other.  Not in this fight, though.  Cormier still used good intercepting footwork, Gustafsson still did a good job of being elusive, and both fighters (for the most part) kept their strikes diverse instead of only trying to throw wild right hands.  Even in the last round there were jabs, body kicks, lead uppercuts, lead hooks, feints, and combinations.  That is a large part of what makes a champion level fighter: not just physical attributes and their "heart", but also the ability to keep fighting sensibly even towards the end of an exhausting, exhilarating, incredibly close fight against the best in the world.

Cormier said in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that this bout made him a better man.  For those of us who payed close enough attention, it also made us better fans.  This fight didn't just prove a lot about Cormier and Gustfasson, but also about certain aspects of MMA itself.  For the first time in a few years, I am truly excited to see where the light heavyweight division is going, especially with the return of Jon Jones.  It's gonna be a hell of a 2016 for the 205-pounders.

Scientific Discovery: Liquid Water on Mars

For centuries humans have written about Mars, before the name "Mars" was ever given to it.  As astronomy advanced and people learned more about our red neighbor in the solar system, the possibility of life over there captured our popular imagination.  Could there be sentient lifeforms over there?  Could we find a way to reach out to them someday, or them to us?  If they looked like us, what are the intergalactic protocols about getting freaky with aliens?  Creative minds of all sorts told compelling stories to answer all of these questions, and more.

Toward the end of the 20th Century we began to realize that our Mars fan fiction wouldn't become true.  There weren't any civilizations on Mars.  But even with the idea of intelligent Martians being put aside, there are still a lot of interesting questions to be asked.  First and foremost: does any form of life exist?  Well, if life as we understand it does, it needs liquid water to function.  The question of water on Mars, therefore, became a big one.

In 2015, we found proof of liquid water on Mars.

Now, a problem with popular science journalism is how sensationalist it is.  It's a bit of a necessary evil, considering how few people would pay attention otherwise.  Headlines about water on Mars and speculation about the possibility of life on Mars went wild.  Often this went beyond the scope of the actual findings.  What we figured out with this discovery was that water seasonally trickles on Mars and leaves salty residue behind; there were no actual bodies of water discovered.  Scientists have a few different hypotheses about where this water is coming from.  Two of the leading ones right now are (1)that it comes from the atmosphere or (2)that it comes from the ice beneath Mars' surface.

We still don't know everything about the water on Mars yet, so we can't jump to any conclusions.  But that being said, we still made an incredible discovery about our rusty red neighbor that could hold the key to figuring out whether or not life exists.  Yay science!

Scientific Achievement: Teixobactin

I personally think science is at its best when it's being used to save lives.  Medicine is one of the best things we have done as a species, figuring out ways to cure ourselves (as well as animals) so that we don't have to contemplate our own mortality each time we get sick.  While the industry behind it is incredibly greedy and often shady, modern medicine itself is a wonderful testament to what the human scientific mind can do.

One of the challenges faced in modern medicine is the arms race between antibiotics and antibiotic-resistance bacteria.  Whenever we use anything anti-bacterial, the overwhelming majority of bacteria won't survive.  There will always be a tiny percentage, however, who are immune to whatever anti-bacterial item you're using.  These immune bacteria, being the only ones left alive, go on to reproduce and suddenly you have a whole generation of bacteria inheriting resistance to the anti-bacterial products that killed most of the previous generation.  This is why antibiotics are always becoming stronger and stronger.  We need stronger medicine as newer generations of bacteria are born from bacteria that is resistant to the previous generation of antibiotics.

Thanks to researchers at Northeastern University, we now have a new type of antibiotic joining the fray.  Teixobactin is the first new antibiotics developed in decades.  Ignore all the pop science articles that claim in the headlines there are no bacteria resistant to it, that's just because the antibiotic is so new.  Once teixobactin becomes widely used, bacteria with genes that make it immune to teixobactin will start reproducing and we will eventually have the same problems with immunity to teixobactin that we do with other antibiotics.

That said, this is still incredible news.  For now, we have an antibiotic that bacteria are not at all used to.  This means that current infectious diseases that are difficult to fight because of antibiotic immunity can be treated.  Teixobactin has the potential to save millions of lives the world over once it becomes readily accessible to medical professionals.  This is what we as human beings are capable of when we decide to find new ways to help save each other instead of new ways to kill each other.

Bullshit News Story: Muslim Brit Support for 'Jihadis'

According to an article from The Sun, one of the biggest news organizations from the United Kingdom, almost one fifth of British Muslim support "jihadis" who left the UK to fight in Syria.  The numbers are even higher in the 18-34 age bracket at about one in four.  Clearly something must be done!

Except for the fact that this article is complete bullshit.  The survey itself did happen and the report is based on an actual question, so it wasn't a complete fabrication.  Rather, it was a manipulation of information that would have even the most repressive of dictators nodding in approval.  The question The Sun points to asked British Muslims how much sympathy they had for "young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters in Syria"; the answers were a lot of sympathy, some sympathy, no sympathy, or don't know.  You'll notice that literally nowhere did the term "jihadi" come up.

See, there are a metric fuckton of groups fighting in the Syrian Civil War right now.  To even begin to try to make sense of all the factions, their ideologies, and their allies would take days, but suffice to say that ISIL isn't the only group over there.  There are many groups representing many different ideologies, including some that are fighting for democracy and human rights.  So when asked about "young Muslims" who go to "join fighters in Syria", that can mean a number of things.  It certainly doesn't automatically mean support for "jihadi" groups- which, can't be stated enough, is a word that doesn't come up at all in this question.

It'd be easy to roll our eyes and make an offhanded comment about bullshit in the media before forgetting about this story, but it's not that simple.  Hate crimes against Muslims in the UK are on the rise.  We're seeing the same thing in the US.  Whether it's The Sun or Donald Trump, whenever bullshit is spread that vilifies a group of people, we're not just dealing with intellectual dishonesty.  We're dealing with physical threats to the livelihood of living human beings, their families, their communities.  And that's complete bullshit.

Actual News Story: The Paris Attacks

If you didn't spend 2015 living under a rock, you know about the attacks that happened in Paris.  It was by far the biggest media story of the year.  On the night of November 13th, coordinated attacks happened all over Paris that left 130 dead and many hundreds more injured.  There are no amount of adjectives that can encompass all the horror and tragedy about the situation.

These attacks also reveal some troubling aspects of US and European media that require some examination.  The issue, though, is that an attack that killed 40 people and injured many more in Beirut, Lebanon happened the day before.  The attack received only a fraction of the media attention the Paris attacks did, and never became a Facebook profile picture.  As a result, few people knew it happened, and the beautiful outpour of support that Paris received wasn't extended to Beirut.

On top of that, hundreds of innocent people have been killed by coalition airstrikes led by the US that include France.  The attacks on Paris weren't a random attack, but another drop in the bucket of the horrible cycle of violence that has been going on between Western Europe/the US and the Middle East since the early 20th Century.  A cycle of intervention by what is traditionally referred to as "the West" and desperate counterattacks by those from the Middle East have gone on since before World War 1 and continued throughout the century.

The problem is that our media, thanks to an intersection of private and government interests, doesn't acknowledge this history.  A "tension between cultures" narrative is often used to describe the current conflict between the US/Western Europe and the Middle East, without acknowledging the historical legacy of Western intervention that contextualizes it.  As a result, we're given a narrative that doesn't properly acknowledge the historical background of everything going on.  Imagine walking in on someone punching another person in the mouth and having someone tell you that these two have been fighting for the last ten minutes, without clarifying that it started after one person killed the other's family.

This story and the way it was covered shows how media creates narratives without acknowledging historical context.  Media not giving us the full background is a serious issue.  By doing so, we are denied the ability to create a fully-informed opinion about one of the most important issues of our time.

Meme of the Year: Hotline Bling

All of these Hotline Bling memes were comedy gold.  Or at least comedy silver.

Video of the Year:

I first stumbled across this video on Facebook, shared by one of my coaches at 10th Plant San Diego.  The video features the coach of 10th Planet Decatur, Brandon Mccaghren, revealing the "dirty little secret" of Jiujitsu.  No, it's not some secret forbidden technique to beat your opponent effortlessly or gossip about the seedy underbelly of the Jiujitsu scene.  In fact, it's not about anything unique to Jiujitsu at all.

This video, at 1 minute and 45 seconds, is the most important video you will watch today, whether you practice Jiujitsu or not.  The "dirty little secret" that Mccaghren reveals: everybody had thought about quitting Jiujitsu.  Everybody.  Because mastering a skill, whether it's Jiujitsu or anything else, requires tons of hard work and hours invested.  On this journey, you will face setbacks; progress isn't a linear path.  There will be times where you feel you have stagnated, or even taken steps backward.  There will be times where you feel it is all pointless.  There will be times where you want to stop what you're doing and never pick it back up again.

As Mccaghren puts it: "that's precisely why you can't quit, no matter what.  You gotta keep going.  Because it's hard, because it makes you wanna quit.  The discipline and the perseverance that you learn from going through something incredibly difficult and then to keep going, that's gonna carry over into every other part of your life.  It's gonna become the most important part of your training.  Not the fact that you can choke somebody unconscious or that you can break their foot, but the fact that you know that when your back gets put against the wall, and when everything is going wrong and all you wanna do is just stop, you know you got what it takes to keep going."

Again, this goes well beyond Jiujitsu.  Anytime we stick with something that challenges us, whether it's a martial art or anything else that requires discipline and perseverance, we're building ourselves into people who can keep our cool and get shit done under pressure.

For me, being able to maintain my composure when someone is on top of me or trying to yanks my limbs in directions they weren't built to go is what I value most in my Jiujitsu training.  Same with my training in other martial arts.  Keeping my cool, making sure I don't leave any openings out of panic or carelessness, and thinking about how I can work my way out of that bad spot has translated directly over to other parts of my life.  I just finished my first semester of graduate school, and to call it stressful would be an understatement.  There were times where I felt I couldn't possibly handle the workload and wanted to quit.  I honestly considered dropping out at a couple points.  But thanks to my years of martial arts training (among other challenges I have worked through) I was able to take a deep breath, find my center, and focus on what needed to get done.  I ended the semester with a 3.9 GPA.

I may not be the biggest badass in Jiujitsu (I only competed for the first time in November), and those of you reading this might not be the best boxer or soccer player or sex architect around.  That doesn't matter.  What matters is that we stick with something we have a passion for, cultivate a skill that we can take pride in, and forge an iron will that will get us through whatever challenges we face in life.

Photo of the Year: Alan Kurdi

Sometimes we think of geopolitics as an abstract idea.  This picture is a heart-breaking reminder they aren't.

The only difference between refugee kids like Alan, the elementary school students I mentor for my job at an after-school program, and any kids any of us happen to know, whether our siblings, children, nieces, nephews, or whoever else, is where they were born. But many of these refugee children are dead now because of awful geopolitical machinations that they had nothing to do with.

Too many children have been buried, and will continue to be buried, by their parents, their siblings, their grandparents.  Not just those fleeing Syria, either.  While Syrian refugees are currently the ones most prominently in the headlines, it is worth noting the Central American refugee crisis is still happening despite no longer being in the headlines.  There are refugees being created every day in other parts of the world as well.

These tragedies are why understanding international affairs matter.  Politics aren't abstract ideas.  They're very real policies and institutions that affect lives all over the globe.  Sometimes they also end them.

Badass of the Year: Aura Elena Farfán

Some of the entries on this list have touched on the grim side of humanity, the horrors we commit against one another, the tragedies that result from the often ugly world we have created.  Especially the entry before this one.  To call these injustices discouraging is an understatement.

But the power to fight back and work for a better world is possible.  It's not just possible, in fact, but it's something that many people around the world are doing right now as I type this and as you read it.  This entry is partially for them, but also for us: a reminder that action, not cynical resignation, is what we can and should strive for.

The Guatemalan Civil War began in 1960 and lasted all the way until 1996, when peace accords were signed and democracy restored.  Yes, 1996; me and many of you reading this are older than Guatemala's current democratic regime. Democracy had existed once before, from 1944 to 1954.  But in 1954 the US overthrew the democratically elected Jacobo Arbenz and installed military dictator Castillo Armas, who was assassinated by Guatemalans in 1957.  The United States tried to impose order by backing more military dictators after Armas was killed, but stability didn't come.  In 1960 Guatemala's Civil War erupted between a repressive military government and left wing guerrillas.  Gross human rights violations occurred, 93% of which were perpetrated by the military government, with 83% of its victims being indigenous Mayan people.

In 1984, Aura Elena Farfán's brother was kidnapped and killed by the military regime.  She opposed the military regime when it was in power, and in 1992 she founded FAMDEGUA, an NGO that supports families in their search for missing loved ones who were kidnapped (and usually killed) by the military regime.  She gets results, too, which would probably explain all the death threats she gets from people still connected to the military regimes of the Civil War.

But does that stop her?  No.  Aura Elena Farfán still presses forward, continuing to support the families of people who lost loved ones during the Civil War, and fighting to get those who committed atrocities behind bars.  That takes a ridiculous amount of courage to do in a nation still plagued by corruption and violence.  For that reason, Aura Elena Farfán is my pick for badass of the year.  A reminder that a better world is possible, but only if we take up the effort to make it so.

Top Everything of 2014

 As we kick off 2015, many news outlets, columnists, and bloggers are creating lists looking back upon everything from 2014.  From popular culture to politics to the arts, people are making tons of lists about a year that was, for better or worse, quite eventful.

Instead of making a list about my 10 favorite movies or the 10 most important photos from the year, I've decided to whip up a list that has a little bit of everything on it.  A lot happens in a year, and I wanted to capture as much as I could in summing up the last twelve months.  I chose topics ranging from MMA to politics to science, trying to choose who or what I considered to be most noteworthy in each category.  As for criteria, I used a combination of merit, personal preference (anyone who tries to pretend their "top" lists are objective is lying), achievements in their field, and cultural significance/impact.


Movie: Birdman

After having planned to see this multiple times throughout the last quarter of 2014, I finally got around to seeing it shortly before the new year.  During the time between hoping to see it and actually seeing it, my expectations had built up so much that part of me was afraid I would be let down.  Everyone was raving about the movie, from critics to friends whose opinions on film I hold in high regard.  Could it really live up to what everyone was saying?

Holy shit, yes.  This movie has everything you could wanted: wit, dark humor, well rounded characters, great cinematography, and a lot of very human moments that you don't often see in a dark comedy.  The cast does a great job in their roles, to the point where it's almost hard for me to choose a standout performance.  Michael Keaton as the lead role does a great job as a middle aged actor trying to regain his thunder, which is important considering how closely this movie focuses on him.  Among the rest of the excellent cast, Edward Norton and Emma Stone do especially well in their roles.  Norton plays a man who takes acting very seriously, to the point where he is hardly his own person off the stage; Stone play's Keaton's daughter, a recovering addict who helps him with the production of his play.  Both make their characters interesting and human, and throughout the film you'll feel like you are watching a film about actual people.

This also marks a dramatic change in style for Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, whom I have talked about before.  Though existential undertones still permeate the movie, the comedic tone replaces the somber one we usually see in his films.  Birdman represents not only another great work under Gonzalez Iñárritu's belt, but an expansion of his horizons as a film maker.  I have a feeling that in a couple decades and with a handful more movies to his name, Gonzalez Iñárritu will be a director we consider an all-time great.

Now if he can just make a sequel where Keaton's Birdman, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and the rapper Birdman from Cash Money Records team up to save the world.


Animated Movie: Book of Life

Even without a Pixar movie gracing our screens, 2014 was a great year for animated films.  The LEGO Movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and Big Hero 6 were all outstanding.  At the end of the day, though, I had to go with The Book of Life.

Jorge Gutierrez's Dia de los Muertos themed movie is a beautifully animated film that, like many of his other films, is never lacking in the imagination department.  Gorgeous visuals, an imaginative world, and well-voiced performances are all part of the package.  That being said, the other animated movies I mentioned have those qualities, too.  What made me go with The Book of Life is the fact that, more than any other family movie I've ever seen (except perhaps Up), it's a family movie unafraid to tackle the subject of death.

In most family-oriented movies, a character might die and everyone will be sad, but then they move on.  The deceased character will continue to stay in the characters' thoughts throughout the movie, but the idea of death itself doesn't.  For instance, in the Lion King, after Scar kills Mufasa, Simba grieves and then presses on.  Obviously, his life is hugely affected by the absence of his father, and later on he encounters the spirit of his father, but death itself as a subject matter is still left untouched.

This film, however, confronts death head on.  It does so by imagining an afterlife that is kind and inviting, as long as the deceased are still remembered by those left behind.  This metaphor about the meaning of life being to create meaningful memories and bonds with others is cheesy, but is nonetheless a good one, especially for a children's movie.  I appreciate that this movie is willing to tackle such a serious subject, and do so in a way that is fun and imaginative.


Actor: Chris Pratt

Not only was Christopher Pratt the second highest grossing actor of 2014, but he did so starring in two of the year's most entertaining movies, The LEGO Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy.  Though two very different movies, they share one thing in common: no one expected them to be good.  Everyone, myself included, thought The LEGO Movie was a shameless cash-grab in the same mold as Battleship, and we all collectively raised our eyebrows when Marvel Studios announced Guardians of the Galaxy would be their next film property.  Luckily, our predictions were wrong, and both movies ended up being a lot of fun while creating a new Hollywood star: Chris Pratt.

What's impressive about Chris Pratt is he has built his image on being an affable, lovable dork that people can relate to.  Almost like Seth Rogan, except with abs and a more well-rounded filmography.  Leading up to the release of Guardians of the Galaxy, my Facebook news feed was covered with links talking about how awesome of a guy he is.  While there are plenty of cases of celebrities being decent people, Pratt is one of the few people whose actual image is built on that.  Not only is it great to see a guy like him become so famous, but it's nice to see him get popular [partially] because of it.


Actress: Emma Stone

Emma Stone showed a lot of greatness this year.  She did a fantastic job in Birdman and said a lot of on-point things, from not being afraid to call out sexism to having great things to say about topics like body positive, when not on the silver screen.  Not to mention her appreciation of puns.

Like with Christ Pratt, I appreciate her image.  She manages to combine being down to earth, funny, and willing to talk about important issues women face.  Not only that, but with roles in both the critically acclaimed Birdman and the box office hit The Amazing Spiderman 2, she's shown a wide range of acting ability.  These are all admirable traits, and her ability to balance everything while being likable is phenomenal.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: "sure, Chris Pratt and Emma Stone have their images built on being nice, but what about who they really are?"  Well, here's the thing: most of the young folks across the world looking to famous people as role models aren't going to meticulously research how these famous people act in their most private, genuine moments.  They are, however, going to see the image created by the celebrity and their PR team.  Yes, we can cry "but celebrities shouldn't be considered role models!" all we want.  I agree.  But it won't change the fact that they are looked to as role models, whether we like it or not, especially for young folks who don't have good role models in their own lives.  With this reality in mind, having positive images out there for younger people to see is most certainly a good thing.


TV Show: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

There is no shortage of people on the internet complaining about how intellectuals aren't valued as much as they used to be.  About how the United States is in a fervent place of anti-intellectualism compared to, say, half a century ago.  And, unlike most forms of nostalgia, there is actually some truth to this sentiment.  During the time our parents were coming of age, being book smart was valued a lot more then than today.  In fact, this is true not just socially, but systematically.  A lot of institutions of higher learning used to be free, such as the UC and CSU systems of California, for instance, and a lot of important legislation related to education was passed.

Of course, what is often left out of this idealization of the past is that the flourish in, and encouragement of, public education was fueled by the Cold War.  This was less a time of enlightenment and more a time of an educational arms race between the United States and Soviet Union.  People were terrified at the thought of all-out nuclear war, and wanted to make sure they had the upper hand.  Especially in science and technology.  Education was encouraged, and specifically made more fiscally accessible to people, because of the space and nuclear arms races that were going on at the time.

Costs of education have risen steeply over the last few decades.  Higher education is much harder to obtain today, and being book smart doesn't have the same cultural pride it used to.  Or it least it didn't, until about two years ago.  Enter: astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Neil deGrasse Tyson has done what Carl Sagan did a generation before him: he's made learning, particularly science, cool.  He's charismatic, funny, and laid back.  He was a wrestler in high school and college, and a damn good one at that; in high school he became the captain of the wrestling team and in college he became a letterman.  Yet ever since he was little, he wanted more than anything to become a scientist.  And, after pushing forward despite every obstacle he found, he succeeded.

Fast forward to today, and he's become a huge cultural icon.  And an important one.  In addition to being someone to make science cool, he's also worked to make it accessible.  In a country where about 40% of the population believe in creationism and don't understand the word "theory", someone like him is important. And, unlike people like Richard Dawkins, who ooze elitism and condescension, Neil deGrasse Tyson's approach is much more welcoming and interesting.  Nothing put that on display more in 2014 than Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, the reboot of the previous Carl Sagan show.

Throughout the course of the show, Neil deGrasse Tyson waxes poetic about the earth and stars while teaching science to a new generation.  The excellent series touched on all sorts of topics, from non-controversial topics like the speed of light and supernovae, to topics that shouldn't be controversial but are, such as evolution and climate change.  He does so with an excellent production team, including Carl Sagan's widow Ann Druyan (who is a badass herself, but doesn't get enough credit), and the audiovisual components of the show are extremely well done.  The whole package comes together to make science- and critical scientific thinking in general- fun, engaging, and cool.


Scientific Discovery of the Year: Scribbles on Shells!

This has been quiet a year in science.  From unearthing a shitload of new dinosaurs to evidence suggesting plate tectonics on Europa, one of Jupiter's largest moons, there was no shortage of fascinating new discoveries in multiple fields.  This category, in fact, may have actually been the most difficult one for me to narrow down to a single choice.

In the end, I had to go with a choice in the field of paleoanthropology: that of possibly the oldest art ever made.  What's remarkable about this discovery is that it's not older than previously known artwork by only a few thousand years- which, in the eyes of most fields of science, isn't much- or even tens of thousands of years, but hundreds of thousands of years.  Modern humans, or homo sapiens, have only existed for about 200,000 years; these shells are about 500,000 years old.  In Indonesia, where the shells were discovered, this was during the reign of the homo erectus, one of our hominid ancestors (though many paleoanthropologists argue homo erectus was actually the same as its contemporary, homo ergaster, but just given a different name because of its location being different than that of homo ergaster).

Either way, homo erectus used tools and fire, but were never thought to have made any art.  That all changed with this discovery of sea shells with these basic but distinct engravings.

This may sound small, but in the context of human history, this is the beginning of every creative endeavor we've ever embarked on.  Paintings, sculptuing, film, poetry, literature, music- all products of our creative imagination as human beings.  As with everything else in human history, it's been a gradual process.  This discovery shows that this process has been going on longer than we imagined, longer than we have even existed as humans beings.  What does that mean for who we are?  What does that mean about our relation to our ancestors?  What does that mean about the creative capacity of other non-homo sapien creatures?  I don't know, but with this discovery, you can bet paleoanthropology will have plenty of fascinating things to say about the subject in 2015.


Scientific Achievement of the Year: Philae Lander

Sure, science has figured out some pretty cool stuff this year, but what has it actually done?  Turns out, like most years, it's done quite a lot.  From impressive milestone achievements to innovations in how we tackle global issues like disease and hunger, science has a damn good list of reasons to pat itself on the back.

To me, though, nothing beats the idea that we, as humanity, actually landed on a comet last year.  Let me repeat that: we landed a motherfuckin' spacecraft on a motherfuckin' comet.  That is seriously some scifi shit deserving of its own movie adaptation.  The European Space Agency has accomplished one of the most impressive feats in the history of science.

This event was a long time coming.  The Rosetta spacecraft was launched back in early 2004.  Now it is in orbit around comet 67P-CG, which is the comet it sent the Philae lander on, and will be for quite some time so that it can study it.

With some of the early data, there have already been some interesting discoveries.  For instance, earth's water.  Where did it come from?  Scientists often say a combination of asteroids and comets.  With the findings from this mission, we have learned that- based on measuring the proportions of a hydrogen isotope called deuterium to normal hydrogen- the hydrogen ratio is not only different from earth's, but different from the ratios found in many other comets near Jupiter, as well.  This means that the comets around Jupiter may have come from more diverse sources than we originally thought, and it also gives weight to the idea that more of earth's water comes from asteroids than comets.

As the comet gets closer to the sun, the solar-powered Philae lander will reboot and get down to business.  Let's see what amazing things we discover thanks to ESA's monumental cosmic achievement.  Let's also take a moment to appreciate what fantastic things we can achieve when we aren't busy oppressing and murdering each other.  This is the sort of magnificent accomplishment we are capable of as a species, if we can just pull it together.


MMA Fighter of the Year: Robbie Lawler

To put it lightly, Robbie Lawler had one hell of a year.  After beating Josh Koscheck, Bobby Voelker, and Rory MacDonald in 2013, Robbie Lawler fought Hendricks for the vacant welterweight title in easily one of the best MMA matches of 2014.  He ended up losing by way of a controversial decision after five rounds of technical but brutal war.

Losing a title shot can make or break a fighter.  Usually, it's the latter.  Robbie Lawler bounced back after his "loss", however, knocking out Jake Ellenberger and soundly beating Matt Brown, the latter fight I wrote a breakdown about and consider one of my favorite fights of the year.

These impressive victories earned him a rematch with Hendricks for the welterweight title.  While the match wasn't as electric as the first, it was still a good one.  What it did have in common with the first match, though, was a close decision- this time, in Lawler's favor.

From my point of view, I would say that Lawler inched out Hendricks in the first fight, and lost the more recent fight on a similarly slim margin.  However, in terms of the unfortunately over-wrestling friendly scoring often used in the UFC, Hendricks probably should've won their rematch.  On the other hand, he coasted the last two rounds by trying to hold Lawler to the ground with his wrestling ability and did nothing but try to keep his position.  So, in the end, I imagine the judges voted against him to discourage that sort of dry hump-tastic stalling, a decision I am more than okay with.

Either way, this was a year of phenomenal performances by Lawler, no matter what criteria you use.  He beat big names, used great technique, and was entertaining as hell while doing it.  He is, in my opinion, the clear winner for fighter of the year.


MMA Fight of the Year: Cerrone vs Alvarez

This entry is probably next to scientific discovery of the year in terms of the difficulty I had choosing.  There were some amazing fights throughout the year, including the aforementioned Hendricks vs Lawler I and Lawler vs Brown.  However, in the same way the Oscars often give a different prize to picture of the year and director of the year as a sort of compromise, I decided against selecting any fights with Lawler in them to make way for other equally deserving bouts.

Even with that decision, though, there was difficulty involved.  There were some truly great fights this year, such as Junior Dos Santos vs Stipe Miocic, Lyoto Machida vs Chris Weidman, TJ Dillashaw vs Renan Barão, and Jose Aldo vs Chad Mendes II, just to name some that come to mind.  This was a damn tough one to narrow down.

In the end, I had to go with Donald Cerrone vs Eddie Alvarez.  I chose this bout for two reasons: (1)to talk about how much I love knee strikes and (2)give some recognition to Cerrone.

Eddie Alvarez has always been one of the best MMA fighters of any weight division outside of the UFC.  We as fans were very lucky to finally see him switch over, and he showed in the beginning of the match against an elite level opponent in Donald Cerrone that he belonged there.  His boxing is fantastic by MMA standards, especially his footwork and head movement.  In the beginning of the fight he was giving Cerrone serious trouble, especially during a clinch exchange where he fired a strong burst of uppercuts and rocked Cerrone.

Cerrone came back, though, and he did it with my personal favorite strike in martial arts: the knee.  Cerrone is a tall, lanky fighter for his division, yet in the past he always got sucked into brawls where his reach would actually work against him.  Here, though, he started timing and firing superb knee strikes to the midsection of Alvarez every time Alvarez tried to crowd him.  The damage from these knee strikes started adding up and, as the fight went on, Cerrone's lead became more and more pronounced despite valiant efforts from Alvarez.

Donald Cerrone ended his year with 4 victories, with three of these bouts winning some sort of award.  He's doing extremely well against elite competition, and should he beat Myles Jury (who he faces later today as of this writing), he will prove he is ready for another cracked at Anthony Pettis.


Bullshit News Story of the Year: Microwaved Phones

There has been no shortage of bullshit news stories this year.  Luckily, none of the bullshit stories got as big as the knockout game did the year before, but not for a lack of trying on the part of traffic hungry news and clickbait sites.

I don't know if this existed before the internet, but one thing I see constantly on social media is the need people have to think everyone is stupider than them.  While I'm certainly no psychologist, I can't imagine thinking of everyone who isn't you as unrelentingly stupid is a healthy foundation for your intellectual self-esteem.  Otherwise, when you start to figure out that everyone makes mistakes, and a lot of the world's problems are caused by well-intentioned goof ups, misfortune, laziness, apathy, greed, and other factors not at all associated with intelligence, and that most people are in fact capable of forming basic sentences and putting on their pants in the morning without setting themselves on fire, how can you tell yourself you're better than everyone else?

This is where the viral news story about stupid people comes in.  Haha, look at these idiots!  In this case, it was apparently a wacky amount of people putting their smartphones into the microwave.  Haha, dumb people sure are stupid, am I right?  People are so dumb, it sure is nice to be smarter than everyone else!

Except, y'know, the part where the story turned out to be fake.


Actual New Story of the Year: US-Cuba Relations

This completes the trifecta of "holy shit, how do I choose?!" entries on this list.  So, so many things happened in 2014.  At first I really, really wanted to go with all the protests that have been happening the world over, but I decided that it would be too easy a choice.  And, if I were to make this list a consistent thing (and I'd like to), choosing protestors every single year would get a little stale.  Plus, there were protests about such a diverse range of issues, and in so many places around the world, I couldn't possibly do all of those stories justice in a single entry.  So I decided to opt out of going that route- though, that said, I will still be talking about social movements and current events related to them in a few of the items later down on this list.

Even after making that decision, though, I still had trouble narrowing it down.  But I ended up going with the bid to restore US-Cuban relations because this is actually a topic I am well-educated on.  If I were to talk about, say, the Crimea, I'd be doing little else than rehashing the generic summaries everyone else has given.

The trade embargo with Cuba was strictly a geopolitical event of the Cold War and had nothing to do with human rights.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Fidel Castro is a great guy, but his predecessor- the US supported Fulgencio Batista who Castro overthrew in 1959- was a monster.  While both Castro and Fulgencio were both repressive dicks, at least Castro launched education and healthcare campaigns (including in the oft-neglected countryside), labor reforms, humanitarian aid, and a slew of other changes that benefited a lot of people, especially those lower on the socio-economic chain.

Ever since the end of of the Cold War, the embargo with Cuba has remained in place, and we have stubbornly claimed it is maintained for human rights purposes.  The real, reason, of course, is the powerful Cuban American lobby in this country.  The first wave of immigrants from Cuba were many members of the wealthy elite, who felt afraid of Castro's particular brand of communism.  Since then, they have used their power to make sure that ties with Cuba have remained severed.  On the other end of the spectrum, there really wasn't a lobby to counter them.  Plenty of people have been of the personal opinion that the embargo should stop, but no one actually had enough of a vested interest to organize and lobby around the position.

What has happened, though, is that a lower percentage of Cuban Americans than ever oppose the ban.  This isn't just because the children and grandchildren of Cuban immigrants are now outliving their parents and grandparents, but also because a lot of the Cuban immigrants who came here after the initial fifteen or so years following the Cuban Revolution didn't immigrate because of anti-communist sentiments the way their predecessor did.  They migrated during rough economic times in Cuba, and considered Castro neither a paragon of virtue nor an evil communist dictator.  They were hungry and going to where they thought they had the most opportunity.

Now, with diplomatic relations being restored and prisoners being exchanged, there is more promise than ever for this senseless embargo to end.  What I do find unfortunate about the whole situation, though, is that the talks have centered around talk of US business interests setting up shop there.  I hope that, if this revamp in US-Cuba relations do end up going through, there will still be mechanisms in place to prevent too much US corporate meddling.  I also hope Cuba keeps up their insistence on not handing over Assata Shakur.

Despite being a bit jaded about the hows and whys of this deal, I do think it is ultimately a good thing.  Hopefully this results in family reunification and healing between two countries.


Badass of the Year: Malala Yousafzai

In 2014, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Prize laureate of all time.  Like many of the people I've mentioned on this list, and with other people further down on this list, her 2014 continued the momentum she built during previous years.  Hey, would you look at that?  It's almost as if achieving greatness (and shout outs on blogs, perhaps the most important prize of all) comes with putting in years of excellence beforehand.

Anywho, Yousafzai, ever since she was young, has been an advocate for education for all people, especially girls.  This lead to her getting shot on October 9th, 2012 by the Taliban.  Even though one of the bullets hit her in the head she pulled through, and since then her advocacy has only increased.

While she has been paraded around in the West as a paragon of virtue, it's important to also know that she has still been unafraid to be critical of the West, too.  Back in late 2013, she met with Barack Obama and urged him to stop using drones to kill innocent people, arguing that the death of innocent lives creates more terrorists (also, y'know, that killing innocent people is a horrible crime in and of itself).  The Obama administration brushed the comments off and praised her, and unfortunately a lot of the West continues to amplify her criticisms of the Taliban (who, of course, deserve every word of that criticism), but downplay her criticism of their own human rights violations.  The fact that Malala is willing to speak to both, however, is a remarkable sign of courage for anyone, especially a teenager who has survived an assassination attempt.

In 2014, she continued her advocacy worldwide for educational access for girls around the world.  She has also stated that she wants to return to Pakistan and become prime minister someday, in the same mold as Benazir Bhutto, the first female prime minister of Pakistan, whom she lists as one of her heroes.  Considering Bhutto was assassinated back in 2007, that takes guts to say.  And Yousafzai has shown no shortage of guts.  With her courage and advocacy for such important causes, from education to anti-violence, I certainly hope she accomplishes her goal.


Politician of the Year: Elizabeth Warren

In terms of policy stances, Elizabeth Warren isn't my favorite politician.  I'm much more a fan of someone like Kshama Sawant, and on the national stage I prefer Bernie Sanders.  Warren has, in my opinion, been silent or noncommittal on a lot of important issues.

That said, Warren has absolutely electrified the progressive wing of the Democratic party.  Continuing the momentum she built over the last few years, she has been unrelenting in her mission to call out big banks, corporate control of politics, the student loan industry, and Wallstreet regulations (or lack thereof).  Basically, calling out the fiscal mechanisms behind the worst income inequality in the United States since the Great Depression.

What is important about Elizabeth Warren is how (along with grassroots movements around the country) she has helped bring these conversations about this alarming wealth inequality and corporate control of politics into the mainstream.  Plenty of Democrats have touched on this topic- President Obama's campaign promise of hope for change was the central premise of his campaign, after all- but they've always been vague in terms of actually pointing to the mechanisms for said inequality (probably because there are a lot of corporate Democrats out there who are only slightly less fiscally conservative than Republicans, and the Democratic Party as an institution also has plenty of special interests it is tied to).  Elizabeth Warren is actually willing to call out the who, what, when, and where of everything, and has specific, tangible goals for fixing everything.

Whether or not she ends up running for election in 2016, and whether or not she has the chance to beat others like Hilary Clinton, what Elizabeth Warren has done is bring important dialogue to the center of attention in mainstream politics.  Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean there will be a lot of tangible policy differences by Democrats who decide to play progressive to get votes- the Obama administration has been pretty friendly to corporate special interests when selecting people for government positions.  But, by bringing these economic issues to the forefront, which a lot of grassroots movements the country over are currently working around, the possibility for people to become informed, think critically about them, and possibly take action is ripe.  And meaningful change always comes from people who struggle for it, not the people in office.

Hopefully, we are on the precipice of some systematic reforms to address our alarming income inequality and the corporate control of politics.  If so, there is no doubt Elizabeth Warren will continue to play a big part, whether it be continuing her tenure as a senator or as the president of the United States.


Word of the Year: YASSS!!!

Perhaps the most important part of any cynical-asshole-disguised-as-an-intellectual starter pack is the hatred of slang.  In recent years, words like swag and twerk have sparked countless fits of rage from people who think speaking "properly" during situations that don't require it is of the utmost importance if you are to retain your 'smart' person cred, and that using slang somehow makes someone less intelligent.  This year, one of the words getting these folks riled up the most is "yasss!", a term for when you're so enthusiastic about something "yes!" just doesn't cut it.

Beyond poking fun at pseudo-intellectual elitists, part of the charm of this word is how positive it actually is.  The term is, very often, used as one of endearment and encouragement.  When talking about the word in an interview, Nicki Minaj had a perfectly concise way of putting it: "I'm confirming that you're the shit!  [...]  It means eat this up!  Eat it up, girl, it's your world.  Take it all in!"  Basically, its whole purpose is to support someone else in a spirited way.  And when one of the year's most popular slang words is as positive as this one, count me in as a fan.  Swag.


Photo of the Year: Michael Brown?

If you lived on the planet earth during the year 2014, I don't need to tell you about the Michael Brown incident.  In a country where unarmed black men are more likely to be shot than unarmed white men, black people are overwhelming arrested for drug use despite similar rates of use between black and white folks, policies like Stop and Frisk overwhelming target black and Latino people, and, ultimately, black and Latino folks are more like to be shot at by police than white (and Asian) folks, the shooting of unarmed black teenagers like Michael Brown is nothing new.

In the aftermath, many Americans scrambled to find a reason to justify Michael Brown's shooting.  Soon, the above photo was circulating on social media and new sites nonstop.  Look at him, pointing a gun at the camera like that!  And people say Michael Brown was a giant teddy bear?  Ridiculous, Lucky Captain Rabbit King.  Not if this photo is anything to go by!

Well, as it turns out, it isn't, because that isn't Michael Brown in the picture.  It's a guy from Oregon, completely unrelated to Michael Brown.  But that didn't stop the image from spreading like wildfire anyway.  It demonstrates, perhaps more than anything else in this case, the extent to which so many people will fervently go out of their way to defend the murder of unarmed black people.  And to be fair, perhaps in this particular case, maybe Michael Brown really was the assaulter, though considering the fact that cops are almost never indicted and there has been a lot of debate by legal experts about the whole trial, it's hard to take this verdict in good faith.

Since then, there have been more deaths.  This includes a Samurai Champloo Mugen cosplayer shot six times in the back, an unarmed woman with biploar disorder and schizophrenia,  and a 12 year old armed with... a bb gun.  Shortly after the Michael Brown decision, another case failed to get indicted: that of Eric Garner.  The video showed absolutely, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the middle aged asthmatic man was unarmed, unaggressive, and wasn't fighting back, and yet there was still no indictment.

The only silver living from all these tragedies is they have prompted a large social movement under the banner "Black Lives Matter" to raise hell about these horrifying injustices.  Hopefully this movement stays strong, because this state sanctioned murder of black people needs to stop.

Black lives matter.


Video of the Year: Let It Slam

 Space Jam and Frozen?!  Sign me up!