Have a good weekend. I’ve got an appointment with the Dark side of the Force.

While my parents were in town, my dad generously offered to buy me an iPad. I politely declined, telling him I didn’t see the point in owning an iPad if I couldn’t use it myself. But if this eye-tracking software for smartphones and tablets becomes a reality, I may have to reconsider his offer. The video demonstration for the software looks promising, but promotional videos always present their products in the best light. Eye-tracking systems already are in use by people with disabilities, but they’re limited to desktop computers.

Like I keep saying, I’d love to be untethered from my circa-1990 assistive technology. I’m just waiting for the right product to appear.

My extended vacation is coming to an end, so I’m trying to cram in a little more loafing before returning to a bureaucrat’s life. I hope you all had a happy New Year and that 2012 treats you well. I’m not in the habit of making resolutions, but I’m looking forward to new challenges and perhaps a little serendipity. Whatever happens, you’ll likely read about it here (unless legal concerns demand otherwise).

We’ll look at TV and movies today while tomorrow will focus on music and books.

Best TV of 2011: Breaking Bad  In some alternate universe where Breaking Bad doesn’t exist, I might have chosen the superb Game of Thrones, which presented a fantastical story firmly rooted in human frailty. But this season of Breaking Bad stood above all contenders. It’s now obvious that Walter White’s story will end in tears, but this fourth season showed White finally embracing his destiny as a criminal–and perhaps even a villain. White knows he’s damned, but he refuses to enter the abyss without pushing a few others over the brink first. And if Giancarlo Esposito doesn’t win an Emmy for his masterful portrayal of the meticulous and quietly raging underworld mastermind Gus Fring, a terrible injustice will have been committed.

Best Films of 2011: Melancholia and Super 8  I couldn’t make up my mind between these two cinematic polar opposites, so I’m exercising blogger’s perogative and listing both. Melancholia is a cold, beautiful film about damaged and petty people behaving badly as a rogue planet bears down on Earth. Only the clinically depressed Justine (Kirsten Dunst) is able to confront the imminent catastrophe with anything approximating dignity. The images from this movie stayed with me long after I saw it.

Super 8 is a love letter to the films that captivated me as a kid–Close Encounters, E.T., and the like. It intertwines a sweet coming-of-age story and a raucous monster movie to create the best kind of popcorn entertainment. It’s even got the requisite Spielberg face moment. Super 8 probably won’t be remembered as a great film, but of all the movies I saw this year, it had the most heart.

If the trailers are any judge, 2012 should be a good year for movies aimed at the geek demographic. Next summer brings Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s kinda-sorta Alien prequel. The trailer is certainly reminiscent of Alien; everything from the slow reveal of the title to the glimpses of an alien ship’s interior seem to intentionally evoke the 1979 film. How this film fits into the previously established Alien mythology will probably be the subject of much fanboy speculation over the next several months.

Next December brings the first part of The Hobbit. The first moments of the trailer are a bit heavy on the slapstick, but then the tone seems to shift to something more foreboding. We don’t get to see Mirkwood spiders or the dragon Smaug, but Gollum and The One Ring make appearances. And check out Thorin Oakenshield as the first sexy dwarf in cinematic history.