I'll answer myself. I was basically where I am now, mostly nowhere, but I did enjoy the odd piece of media entertainment. So let's take a look at that.
Music
I think my favorite piece of music that year had to have been the Halo Original Soundtrack. I was quickly a fan of Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori for that. I've been following Marty right up until his ugly split with Bungie after doing the music for Destiny. One of the biggest reasons I want to play Destiny is to hear his music. It's going to be interesting to see what he does next. I'll be listening.
What i'd like to hear now is Watchtower's Demonstrations in Chaos. I really liked their cover of Accept's Run if You Can song on A Tribute to Accept Vol. 1. They make some fine metal music.
Video Games
It's a tough call between the second Serious Sam game on PC and Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance on Xbox. The first Serious Sam came to consoles that year too and I played it again on Xbox. I played Baldur's Gate DA co-op with my friend Mark. There were some other games like it we also played like Hunter: The Reckoning and Gauntlet Dark Legacy. One game my friend Mark played endlessly was State of Emergency. It's a Rockstar game where you basically run around shooting it up in a mall. I still say what the announcer says in that game from time to time, "penalty on civilians killed". Yea, you're not supposed to shoot up the shop goers but part of the fun of the game was to just go gonzo. Ah the messed up things we do in video games.
What I'd most want to play now is either Eternal Darkness on GameCube, which I have but haven't played, and to get all the way through the first Ratchet & Clank game on PS2. I think I still have that one, but if not, I can play it on the Ratchet & Clank Collection on PS3, which I should pick up anyway.
Books
What I read then was basically nothing unless you count sheet music. I was really into early R&B, Soul and Funk for bass and was checking out the two biggest players of the 60s and early 70s, James Jamerson and Donald "Duck" Dunn. That and my Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual Billboard chart book.
What I'd most like to read now is Rush drummer Neal Peart's travelogue Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road. After several tragic events which robbed him of his family, he got on a motorcycle and rode all over the U.S. and South America. I was just telling someone the other day that I wished he'd done a book about his travels, and then I see it listed under 2002 books on wiki. Chance? Maybe. . .
Film/TV
Tough one this year with all the blockbusters like Lord of the Rings Two Towers, Star Wars Attack of the Clones, Harry Potter 2, Sam Rami's Spider-Man, Austin Powers Goldmember, Star Trek Nemesis and Die Another Day (Bond film). So I'll mention two others. Undercover Brother was a Eddie Griffin comedy where he makes fun of blaxsplitation and James Bond films. My friend and I still joke about the mayo/hot sauce stuff in the movie - possible wrong, but funny. Also I'd like to mention Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, a documentary about the Colombine High School shootings. Very interesting suggestions he makes about guns and violence in America.
Now I most want to see this comedy Kung Pow! Enter the Fist. It's a spoof on martial arts films. It's written by and stars Steve Oedekerk who directed Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (one of my favorites).
And that be 2002. There's much more I could say. So many games and films and music I could bring up. Not so many books though. There's one Stephen J Gould book I Have Landed I'd like to read. He's a paleantologist and this collects his many articles written for Natural History magazine. I love natural history, that's for sure.
I liked the Destiny theme music. Demo is on PS4, imagine it'll be on Xbox One if you get one any time soon. Why'd he split with Bungie?
State of Emergency was such a big deal around that time cause the gaming publications, or at least EGM, were all talking about if the GTA craze went too far with it. I recommend Eternal Darkness highly.
I haven't been robbed of my family thankfully, but I still want to travel all over on a road trip.
I guess Moore staged a couple things in that doc, most notably the idea he could buy a gun in a bank right then and there after a different transaction. Or whatever establishment it was. I remember joking the movie didn't change my opinion on guns, but it made Canada sound like the land of milk and honey where everyone felt safe and had their doors unlocked.
Saw pretty much all those Blockbusters at the time except Star Trek.
Not sure but it's said he was fired.
Star Trek Nemesis was roundly hated by trekkies at the time from what I remember. And speaking of trekkies, get ready for the Trekkies 2 film in 2003 next week. I got some stuff to say about that and the soundtrack. First one was in '97. I forgot to add that to my list.
I had no interest in Star Trek until the Abrams reboot.
Rangergirl, if you're reading this, it is illegal to kill me.
Trek seems so old to me now. It needs a serious overhaul. It needs better tech. It's not future enough for me anymore.
"Why'd he split with Bungie?"
Not the complete answer, but it does adress some of the issues.
Wow! Cool. Looks like he wanted to be a bigger part of the process than just the music guy. He's involved in game design at his new studio. I can't wait to see what comes out of that.
Thanks. Now I'll be looking for a HighWire title.
2002 was stil a rough time for me (things got better in 2003 though). But one of my top five favorite games of all time was released in 2002: Animal Crossing for the GameCube!
Yea, I saw that one. May have to try it sometime.
Your mom's house.
I don't remember anything about that year besides some things you just reminded me of. Was counting the days until The Two Towers. Saw all those other movies too, except for Goldmember and Nemesis. played Dark Alliance, played Eternal Darkness, played SoE (a thin game that never reached its potential). Probably attended a lot of life drawing sessions. Probably played Deus Ex again. Did a Tony Hawk game come out that year?
No your mom. I say: Obiwan never told you what happened to your father.. You say: you killed my father. I say: No Machocruz, I am your father. You say: Noooooooo.
SoE was very thin. Barely a story, barely a main character, just hoards of baddies to shoot. Almost like a unfinished game really. Or a test for a full game. Still fun though.
"Did a Tony Hawk game come out that year?"
The fourth game.
Yea, it was Pro Skater 4.
The first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie is my favorite movie ever. Mainly because they captured the origin story so perfectly and the Green Goblin was done so well. That alone makes 2002 a really great year for me.
I was a Sam Raimi fan before the movie, and was very exceited to see it. It did not disapoint.
I was back in Maryland from San Francisco in 2002, and I was working as a movie theater projectionist and (obviously) smoking a lot of pot. I was playing GTA: Vice City, and Final Fantasy X and Ninja Gaiden. I was listening to a lot of Amon Tobin and Stereolab.
I also remember playing Halo with my brother. Those were great times. A Co-op campaign was a revelation. We played that game over and over. Our parents had surprised us with an xbox that year, and it was really freaking cool.
My friend Mark and I played Halo co-op every weekend until Halo 2 came out. That was like three years. Incredible. It never got old and we even played the same two levels over and over again: Silent Cartographer (where you land on the beach) through Assault on the Control Room.
we played the snow level a lot, where you have to fight the tank and stuff. I don't very much like Halo now, but that game was a freaking masterpiece.
I so want The Masterchief Collection to mix and match different levels from the first four games in a crazy playlist.
I basically started school when I was 5 years old in 2002. Not primary, but something of the pre-school grade/kindergarten.
I still hold the Halo soundtrack (with the sequel) among my favorites of all-time and some of the best in gaming. From this year, Era Vulgaris by Queens of the Stone Age was released and I loved it when I heard it a couple of years back.
Back in those years, I only had a Nintendo 64, so I didn't jump into the next gen until I got a GBA SP the next year and then an Xbox on 2004. I do remember playing with the PS2 of my cousins (mostly Gran Turismo 3).
I did watch at that time Raimi's Spider-Man. Loved it as a kid and I still liked it to this day. Harry Potter of course I watched, but oddly enough, I think on Colombia the first movie didn't come in 2001 but on this year. I'm really not sure since my memory is hazy on that. My other chilhood standout would be Treasure Planet (very underrated). I often rewatched it almost whenever it was on over Disney Channel. I'd say my favorite so far of this year is The Two Towers.
I finally listened to a bunch of Queens of the Stone Age and really liked them. They are going to stay in the rotation for sure.
I noticed that Treasure Planet movie. It was based on Treasure Island, the book, but in space. I'll have to check it out sometime.
