Best of 2010

What are your choices? Here are mine.

Best graphic novel:

Irredeemable Vol. 4 by Mark Waid and Diego Barretto. Astro City: Dark Age 2 was the runner-up, but Waid's tale of "Superman gone mad" just kept ramping up the awesome as it went along and the latest installment was crazy good. Emphasis on the "crazy."

Best superhero fiction:

Ex-heroes by Peter Clines. Superheroes and zombies go head-to-head in an excellently-written and superbly-plotted story. Hands down the best superhero book of the year.

Best memoir:

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern. Anyone who's read the bon mots dropped by Halpern's dad on Facebook or Twitter knows how cut-through-the-BS funny he is. But this memoir was not only humorous, it was actually quite touching and revelatory. But especially it's funny as ******* hell.

Best history/science book:

The Immortal Life of Henriette Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Also a superb year for books like this and this one narrowly edged out The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum, which I also heartily recommended. Although I disagree with his support of the IAU's retarded definition of "planet", Mike Brown's How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming was also quite good. But back to Immortal Life, this one has it all: an interesting detective story, a decent but terribly unlucky person who died never knowing how important she would be to the rest of humanity, conspiracies, people trammeled in the interest of greed and evil corporations.

Best movie:

The Social Network by David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin. 2010 was the best year for movies all decade, with great flicks like Easy A, Toy Story 3, Inception, How To Train Your Dragon, Shutter Island, Tron: Legacy, 127 Hours and The Town, but this one made self-absorbed, socially-retarded geeks seem interesting, which was a feat in and of itself.

Best soundtrack:

How To Train Your Dragon by John Powell. Not only was this my fave of the year, it's one of the best in many years. Just pure adventure fun, it got serious heavy rotation on my playlist. Several tracks made it onto my "Sturm & Drang" playlist that I often use for background music while playing CoH. Check out Dragon Training as an example. Let it play, because it builds slowly to the crescendo.

Best album:

The Sound of Sunshine by Michael Franti & Spearhead. Lots of contenders this year (Jamie Cullum, Joshua Radin, Bruno Mars, Cee Lo Green, etc.) but I keep coming back to this feel-good and positive album. It acknowledges that things aren't always great, but that they can get better. I mean, how can you listen to this and NOT be in a good mood?

Best TV show:

This is a tie: The Walking Dead and Supernatural. The latter brought the awesome again and again, culminating in an honest-to-God apocalyptic showdown with Satan that hinged on, of all things, a 1967 Chevy Impala. When Supernatural came back for season 6, I doubted they could equal the fifth season's amazing arc, but they've managed to bring it to a boil by maintaining both the scares and the humor. The Walking Dead is up there because it's probably one of the best serious zombie renditions ever, really underscoring how genre TV can tell us things about ourselves. Plus, you know, headshots. Runner-up: Human Target. Guerrero is easily one of the best characters on TV in recent memory, and if the show maintains its quality it will be one of the best ever.

Best graphic novel:

Neonomicon - Although it is not finished up yet this so far has been one of the best series I have read in a long time. Art is suprub and breaks many dimensions in the world. Also with Alan Moore writing it is sharp and dark. Runner-up : Kill Shakespeare.

Best superhero fiction:

X-Force/Uncanny X-Force - Out of most of the superhero stuff I get this was my favorite, mainly cause I love Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, and Mr Choi penciling. Also cause they brought in some more X-23 which is always nice in my books. Runner-up Deadpool Merc With a Mouth.

Best movie:

Inception - I love the idea on what this brought foward. With a stellar cast of some of Hollywood's who's who, it meshed great. The point that drove it home, that I kept coming back for more, wanting to break it down and see how it works.


Best album:

Dimmu Borgir - Abrahadabra : I was worried for a while with this album, once I leared that ICS Vortex & Mustis were out of the band. Dropping the concept albums they were planning made this gothic/black masterpiece. Hints of Lovecraftian, eerie choir, and a full fledge orchestra, this made an album of epic portpotions. Runner up: GWAR - Bloody Pit of Horror.

Best TV show:

The Walking Dead : Nothing better gave me more happiness than this TV series...the only problem I had was it was only six episodes. Runner up - Durham County.

Best Series Finale: Heroes...


...what, you thought I was going to say Lost?

More seriously:

Best Movie
It's a tie!
Inception: When is an action movie not an action movie? When Christopher Nolan directs. For a movie with lots of action, it is the dazzling effects and the story of going into another's mind but really going into your own that made this a standout movie.
Toy Story 3: Pit of Fire. One Last Playtime. 'Nuff said.

Best TV Show (Comedy)
Another tie!
Community: Like your comedy silly and meta? This show has them in spades. Always winking, it can shift gears from out-and-out spoof ("Modern Warfare") to pathos ("Mixology" and "Abed's Christmas Special")
Modern Family: While Community subverts cliches and tropes, MF embraces them. From goofy dad Phil to often-exasperated patriarch Jay, the story of three diverse, yet related, families brings the chuckles and the laugh out louds

Best TV Show (Drama)
Castle: Okay, so it's the only drama-like show I watch anymore (Glee doesn't count). Still, Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion have great chemistry and the show doesn't take itself too seriously. It's not "Must Watch," but it's definitely a "Will Watch"

Best Send-off
Lost: Okay, for reals this time. You all know how much I dug the show. You may also know the drama I personally faced this year. It is no coincidence, I believe, that my three favorite Hollywood things this year (Lost,Inception, and Toy Story 3) all dealt with letting go. In the end, the debate over whether or not Lost was meant to be a mystery-driven or a character-driven show was resolved: it was all about Jack, Locke, and the rest of the Oceanic 815. And it wouldn't be Lost if we watched the finale and had nothing left to say about it, even nearly 7 months later. I don't think a show will ever affect me that way again. Which may be a good thing!

Honorable Mentions: Scott Pilgrim, [i]The Social Network[i], Glee, The Simpsons

I'll bite.

Best movie: Another vote for Inception. While the premise is nothing all that new, he took it to new heights with modern technology and solid storytelling.

Best tv (comedy): BBM got it right. Tie:

Modern Family- One of the first comedies in memory that actually nails "real families". The characters are likable, delightful, quirky and all funny. It's nice to see a show about families that isn't just another plug and play show featuring the "stand up comic du jour" as the fat blue collar husband with the overly hot wife, the sassy family member and the wacky single best friend. [Extra helping- the NBC show Parenthood does a similar job on the drama side of the family discussion. It's a show I've really gotten to enjoy.]

Community- pure, unadulterated silliness with meta smeared in every frame. It's absurd, and I love it. Just a fun show that looks like the cast is having as much fun as the viewer.

Honorable mention- Californication- Duchovny chews the character and the show up and plays spiralling self destruction better than I think I've seen. His witty delivery and lines are some very funny (and very dark) stuff.

Best tv (drama)

Dexter. In my opinion hands down the best drama on TV. Sure this last season couldn't come close to the perfection that was, John Lithgow's Trinity season of last year. But it still delivers great acting and smart writing each episode.

Special award- to Lost of course delivering a finale that tied up all the right loose ends for this viewer. It will be missed.


Music- I'll admit my music consumption this year was down a bit, but there has been great stuff put out by Spoon, Vampire Weekend, Blitzen Trapper and the Black Keys to name a few. Best concert- the Black Crowes "farewell" tour featuring an hour and a half acoustic set and an hour and a half electric set.

well, best movie: scott pilgrim vs the world. a touching love story obscured and magnified by familiar cultural references. not bad fight scenes either.

music: it was a fight between abney park's "end of days" and blind guardian's "at the edge of time". I give blind guardian the nudge, but it was close.

comic: empowered keeps impressing me, for something that has it roots in full on fanservice, they keep forcing me to care about the characters, still catching up, but loved the endng between spooky and mind@#$%. and spooky's rageout in the newest one was the perfect build up and explosion moment.

tv: i have been enjoying how i met your mother and big bang theory. think mayim byalik really has added to the big bang cast very well.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Picks for 2010? Let's see...

Movie: Inception, by far. Honorable mention: Tron, Toy Story 3, Predators.

TV: Tie between the Walking Dead and SG:U, which really found its stride this season after a so-so first year. Honorable mention: Mythbusters and Survivor, which are perennial favs for me.

Comics: Blackest Night (main series). Honorable mention: Astro City, Irredeemable/Incorruptible, and Lady Mechanica (first issue just came out, but it's about time we had a decent steampunk book!).

I have Lady Mechanika but haven't read it yet.

Survivor had an awesome season. (Man, Jeff *really* hates quitters, doesn't he?) Amazing Race was also excellent, so that'd be my runner-up in Reality TV. Although I have a strange fascination with Cake Boss. It's like if my family baked.

Looks like none of the many excellent documentaries I watched were from 2010, so I can't make a judgment on that category this year.

Movie: Yeah, must give it to Inception. Great movie making all around. I suspect that once I get a chance to see them that The King's Speech and The American will be impressive.

TV: I gotta say the BBC was very good to me this last year. Sherlock is the winner, its brilliant and made it to the states on Masterpiece on many PBS stations if you couldn't get it from the source. This last season of Doctor Who was probably the best written ever (even though it took me 'til almost mid-season to get how good Matt Smith really is) and deserves a mention.

Comics: I like Bendis' work and his new 'Avengers' series is very good, 'Secret Avengers' too. Simone has been brilliant as well, 'Secret Six' and 'Birds of Prey' are not to be missed. Though started in '09, Carrey's 'Unwritten' and Wilson's 'Air' are both exceptionally good and fascinating in conception. Finally, even though it's just getting started, I'm enjoying Spencer's 'Morning Glories'.

TV:
Terriers -- I loved this smartly written and well-acted private investigator dramedy. Unfortunately, I must have been one of the very few who watched it because it was cancelled after only one season, ending on one hell of a cliff-hanger no less. It now joins the ranks of great shows that met their untimely demise such as Twin Peaks, Deadwood, Firefly, Canivale, and Rome.

Rest in peace, Terriers. I will miss you.

Ok so ill take storm chasers as the fav of the year for t.v...if you don't think jumping into tornados isnt must see t.v. then your crazy.

Another vote for the walking dead.but ill also throw nikita in there as well.such a good show and of course supernatural is always there

I'm just going to add one. My favorite movie has got to be Toy Story 3. Why? Because when a movie makes unattached movie-goers like me cry like I'm a little kid again, you know they've accomplished something.

Normally, I don't get attached to what I see in movies, because I know it's just a movie. But Toy Story 3 man... made me do this.

I'll just add my favorite TV show in there: Chuck. Close runner-up is The Walking Dead.

Bestest Film: The Warrior's Way...C'mon it has cowboys AND Ninjas...
Bestest TV: Fringe and Justified
Bestest Comic: Any Grant Morrison Bat title
Bestest Book: Kraken by China Mieville
Bestest Dev:...uhhh can I get back to you on that?

I fear my tastes might be a bit out of sync with most forumites. But here goes:

Best TV: Treme, especially the two long shots of the funeral procession in the last half hour of the season. Some of the best cinematic acting I've seen in years. Period.
Best Comic: Night Business
Best Play: Buddy Cop 2 by TDS
Best Album: Out of the Crypt and Into your Heart, Zombina and the Skeletones (wins almost by default because the older I get the rarer it becomes that I will actually buy an album the year it is released)
Best Album I BOUGHT This Year: tie between Mclusky Do Dallas Mclusky, 2002 (hey, I did buy the EP back in 2002 dammit!) and Hearts and Unicorns Giant Drag, 2004

Edit:
Best Indie Game: ********* (can't say it here due to forum rules, but based on awards and nominations already announced, for once I'm not the only one calling something I like "best")

Best Movie: Inception. I actually watched this for the first time TODAY. Not able to get to the theatres much anymore. Slow start, actually got bored and played some CoH for a while. The second time I sat down to watch it I was definitely rewarded. Once they start their "mission" it is like an hour long climax (not that kind. Well maybe a little bit.) And I was worried about the ending after all the fuss over it, but was pleasantly surprised that once again the internet was at war over nothing. Toy Story 3 is my runner up. And that might be because Inception is fresh on my mind.

Best TV: Sons of Anarchy. Tough choice for me, but this is the show that I would always watch as soon as I got home. Some silly plot twists, but they amped everything up this season and made the clubs actions have more real impact. The finale especially raised the bar for this series. Justified and Walking Dead were fantastic. But new shows, not nearly as invested in those characters.

Best Video Game: Red Dead Redemption. I won't start talking about it because then I won't stop.


My list of shame: (Have not seen that I think I will love) True Grit, Black Swan, Boardwalk Empire, The Social Network.

Sorry to threadjack like this, but with Ocho's announcement, I wanted to throw this in real quick:

Thank you, Noble Savage, for continuing to post with us here in uber-geek-land. You seem to have stepped up as the dev willing to hang out with us, and I really appreciate it.

I use the Dev/Rep channels as a quick summary of what to check out when I don't have time to thoroughly scan the forums. (An all-too-common event) The more you guys post, the more hooks I have into what's going on. Thanks for helping keep the casual folk like me in touch.

On Topic!
For me, the following stand out:
- Best geek TV this year: Doctor Who
- Best geek movie: Inception
- Best geek comic: The Return of Bruce Wayne
- Best geek webcomic: Order of the Stick

Huzzah! A good year for geekiness!

Best Movie: Inception

Best TV Show: True Blood and Broadwalk Empire