One year ago and five years ago look exactly the same in my head, so trying to pick out highlights specific to this past year is just a little daunting. Nevertheless, it's been a heck of a year, and I've come up with a pretty solid list of my personal favorite things of 2011.

Album: Awolnation's "Megalithic Symphony" is a genre-blurring dream. Their most famous single, "Sail," led me to believe Awolnation specialized in soul/funk, and this is largely true. However, the individual tracks mix it up with alternative pop tones and hip-hop, too, along with little musical blips sprinkled in alluding to (at least in my brain) the Bee Gees, Little Richard, Robert Palmer and others. The constant, though, is the beats, which are what make this album so engaging.

Commercial: Generally, commercials are gimmicky and any attempt at humor is forced and over the top. Car and insurance ads have been big on my sh*t list, but this year they won me over – twice.

First up, the Volkswagen little Darth Vader commercial. This spot premiered during the Super Bowl and won over what I'm pretty sure is 100 percent of its viewers. It's pure genius, really. That kid captivated everyone without uttering a single word, and the staggered "Did you SEE that?!" look the kid gives after the car starts up gets me every time.

If you live under a rock and somehow missed out on this one, here it is:

My second favorite, Geico's rowing guinea pigs, is more of a "love it or hate it." Frankly, I was surprised they were behind this one, since their commercials are usually prime offenders when stupid humor is concerned. Not everyone shares my praise, though, so I've had to work a little harder at analyzing why this quirky little anomaly is different and I've come up with two things. One, the guy talking is just so matter-of-fact about it all – he's not some kook with a hair-brained scheme. As for reason number two, well, the little buggers just look and sound so cute.

Sporting event: The Brewers are really the only sports team I care about, with a minor exception made for the Admirals. To an extent, I don't even care that much about baseball in general, in that I don't watch baseball if it's on "just because." I love the Brewers, and even if they went a whole year without a single win, I'd still love 'em.

Naturally, the Brewers postseason run was a momentous occasion, but my personal high point was the NLDS Game 2 against the Diamondbacks. First and foremost, that's because I actually got to see it at Miller Park with my best friend and fellow diehard Brewers lover. We got some people together and literally made a day of it, getting to the parking lots bright and early and setting up a well-stocked pre- and post-game tailgate.

The Brewers won 9-4, which was great, but how they got there was even better. Watching them score the five runs they earned in the sixth – and getting to watch it all go down live, surrounded by a packed stadium of screaming fans – was unforgettable.

Concert: I love Finger Eleven. They're a great band and put on a solid live show. I saw them despite rain and cold a few Summerfests back and it's still the best live show I've ever seen. This year didn't bring quite the experience of my first Finger Eleven show (which featured a crazy cool blend of their single, "Paralyzer," with a cover of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" complete with crowd participation), but it was hands down the best show I saw all year. Better still, my friend and I had snaked our way to front and center over the course of the two opening bands, and I even got a guitar pick. I could go on and on, but instead you should read my blog review of the show here. 

Movie: 2011 wasn't an awful year for movies. I didn't really find any of them theater-worthy, though. What I'm really excited for are the "Sherlock Holmes" sequel and David Fincher's take on "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." I'm definitely pumped to see both in theaters, and almost equally as excited to make my judgmental comparisons to the first films in both cases.

Bar: I love all of them. Picking only one is like "Sophie's Choice" for me.

New Television: Picking something for this category was a bit of a stretch in that I don't really have TV time. What time I do have to watch TV usually falls between the hours of 9 p.m. and midnight, and usually I'm not even paying full attention because I'm having an intense inner struggle between choosing to watch reruns of "The Simpsons" or reruns of "The Office."

Of the times I've been able to catch it, "Happy Endings" – aside from having a title that makes me giggle like a middle schooler – turned out to be a surprising and consistently funny hit. The humor's a nice cross between witty and quirky, and it's nice to get back to the classic sitcom – you know, before everyone started copying "The Office"'s documentary-style format.

New-to-me Television: Fast-paced, sharp as a tack and inappropriate enough to make Jim Jefferies blush, "Archer" was a fantastically random find suggested to me by the usually god-awful Netflix recommendation system. Think James Bond with mommy issues and a tendency to use the world's worst HR complaint file as a guidebook on life and you've got Archer in a nutshell. Add his crazy work associates and it's a genuine recipe for turning your "Things I'm Going To Hell For Laughing At" list into your very own "War and Peace."

Book: Like TV time, book-reading time often escapes me, but since it's a more rewarding and academic leisure pursuit I feel guiltier for not making the time to read more than I do. I have, however, been delightfully devouring comedienne Mindy Kaling's "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)," which I got as an early Christmas gift just this past Friday. Smart, genuine and good-naturedly self-deprecating, it's a wry look into Kaling's life as a comedy writer and it's a perfect light read for, say, procrastinating writing your year-end picks. Hypothetically speaking.