It seems like, from looking around online, most people had either an apocalyptically bad 2008 or one that was extremely up and down. By contrast, 2008 was a pretty good year to me, with some extremely nerve-wracking developments in the last couple months. Most of which sorted themselves out before 2009 actually arrived, so hopefully that's not an indication of the year to come.
It was a pretty shitty year for deaths. We lost Gary Gygax, Rory Root and George Carlin, among others. There were also a couple deaths in the family, folks who I had met only once or twice and didn't know well, but I liked them, and they had kids, so that was a bit of sadness. On the upside, we also lost Jesse Helms. Next year, I would like a better shitheel to decent person death ratio, but experience has shown that such a thing never really works out.
Much of my year was given over to following the political race, first Obama/Clinton and then Obama/McCain. It was a frustrating series of months, but the end result was that we got the President I wanted for the first time in 8 years.
I also fell completely in love with XBox 360 in general and Rock Band in particular in 2008. I got both as Christmas presents in late 2007, and now I just can't imagine not having them. Rock Band 2 came out and improved on Rock Band, which I already thought was a pretty perfect game, and with several of my friends picking up Rock Band 2 and XBox 360s, suddenly I'm able to do a lot of gaming with friends without a lot of arranging of schedules and such. I'm also loving the ability to play electronic versions of some boardgames, like Carcassonne, Catan and Ticket to Ride, and I'm looking forward to diving into Left 4 Dead, which I got for Christmas this year. Oh, and the XBox Experience update that allows you to view Netflix on-demand is way cool as well.
I was pretty happy with summer movies this year. Back in April, I was anticipating 13 summer movies, and of those, four were great, two were decent, two were disappointing and five I avoided seeing, and that generally seems to have been the right decision. Speed Racer was great (I have no idea what movie the critics saw), The Dark Knight was fantastic (and I was a doubter on Batman Begins), Iron Man was the best comic book movie there has ever been and Wall*E was as great as Pixar always is. I found Hulk to be pretty watchable, if not great, and I even liked the first half of Wanted, when I finally saw it on DVD. Sure, Hellboy II was underwhelming, and Indiana Jones blew chunks, but I mostly expected that. I haven't seen Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Get Smart, X-Files or The Happening, but except for the first two, I don't have any plans to see them, as I've heard generally awful things from friends who have.
Year two of Rogues Gallery went pretty well. We had our anniversary party in January, and that was a lot of fun. Around Christmas, we had a new image designed by Chad Thomas of Santa and our mascot, Maximillian Larch, which we loved, and it was a huge hit with our customers as well. We gave out about 500 magnets with the image over the course of the holiday shopping season, as well as buttons, and used it on our holiday gift certificates. We had several other big events this year as well. Free Comic Book Day was a lot of fun, with Scott Kolins in to do some signing and sketching. We had Matt Sturges in to sign on the release day of House of Mystery #1. And we ran two Comic Book Trivia events this year, one in April and one in October. Plans are to do the same thing next year, if interest merits it, as they're always a lot of fun.
We participated in Free RPG Day for the first time this year, and that was a little more low-key than Free Comic Book Day, but still a pretty good day and a good chance to show our gaming customers a little love. We also had a midnight release party for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, which was a huge success in our store, and became a favorite of many of us at the store as well. I started running a new 4th Edition D&D game, and I'm loving it so far.
Went to the San Diego Con this year, as always, and got to meet cartoonists Jason Horn and Dean Trippe, who crashed with me at the hotel for a couple nights. I was already a fan of Dean's work, and I became a fan of Jason's. I had a lot of fun at San Diego, but given the expense and hassle of arranging the whole thing, I'm giving serious thoughts to skipping it this year. Although if Don MacPherson does finally manage to make plans and go, I have to go, as that's a "solar eclipse" type thing that I'd hate to miss. So Don, keep me informed on travel plans.
Looking back over what I've blog-posted this year, it seems to me like I had a better 2008 than most, despite the economy tanking in the tail end of it. There were illnesses for me, Suzanne and the kids, there were definitely worrisome days and nights, but overall, everybody was healthy and happy, and remains so going into 2009.
Showing posts with label Best of 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best of 2008. Show all posts
Friday, January 02, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Best of 2008: Television
Favorite New Show: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
Really, it's not even fair to have this category this year, what with the writer's strike and the supremely awful crop of new shows that premiered this year. Last year was disappointing as well, but it gave us Chuck, Burn Notice and Pushing Daisies. This year? The only other new shows that are even on my list are two cartoons, Spectacular Spider-Man and Batman Brave and the Bold. Both great in their category, but not really competing with Sarah Connor, which started off as a mildly forgetabble but entertaining hour of sci-fi/action TV and slowly developed a reasonably complex set of time-traveling protagonists and antagonists, each with their own agenda, all the while deepening the main characters, especially Sarah Connor herself, the surprisingly good Brian Austin Greene as Derek Reese and Summer Glau's female terminator Cameron.
Favorite Spy Action Show: Chuck (NBC)
OK, I might be cheating by putting this category in, but really... neither Burn Notice nor Chuck belong fully in comedy or drama. Burn Notice came on strong in its second season, and I definitely think that anyone enjoying one should be enjoying the other. But Chuck was such a huge jump-up from, again, mildly diverting entertainment to really engaging characters and the perfect mix of pop-culture references, spy action and goofy self-awareness. It might not hurt that the pop-culture timing of Chuck seems to be exactly keyed in to my '80s era, with heavy references to Die Hard, Back to the Future and other geek staples. Leverage, the new show from John Rogers and company, would probably fit in this category as well, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. The reviews I've read seem to indicate it'll be a distant third to Chuck and Burn Notice anyway, at least for now.
Best Comedy: The Office (NBC)
In my heart, I really want to give this to 30 Rock, but as far as being consistently funny, The Office wins. It also has managed to do the drama/comedy blend that shows like Cheers, Friends and others tried for and often missed, winding up maudlin and not funny as a result. The Michael/Holly relationship was hilarious, fun, uplifting and ultimately heart-breaking, and the Jim/Pam stuff is probably my favorite relationship ever in a comedy, including such gems as the Sam/Diane romance from Cheers and the Dave/Lisa relationship on Newsradio. OK, maybe Tobias and Lindsay Funke from Arrested Development were more fun, but that's a totally different kind of relationship. Which is not to say that 30 Rock hasn't been terrific in its second and third seasons. How I Met Your Mother on CBS has been more spotty, but it still has episodes of great humor, and really, it's hard to go wrong with a comedy ensemble that includes Alyson Hanigan, Jason Segel and especially Neil Patrick Harris. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia started out its season really strong, but it kind of fell apart midseason and never really regained the funny. There were funny moments, but after the first couple hilarious episodes, it was merely OK this season. Finally, it's weird to put it in the comedy category but it doesn't really belong in the drama, but Pushing Daisies was a really good show, heartwarming and funny and clever. Unfortunately, it's quirkiness also meant its inevitable doom, and I confess that being robbed of any resolution of the various relationships on the show, including whether or not Emerson Codd will ever find his daughter, has left me lukewarm on the whole thing. I still have three episodes left on my DVR to watch, and I haven't been pulled back yet because I know there's no resolution there.
Favorite Drama: Lost (ABC)
There was a fair amount of competition for me in this category. Not in terms of numbers, because I don't watch the overwhelming majority of drama on TV, which usually breaks down to cop shows, lawyer shows and doctor shows (and I've had my fill of all three), but in terms of quality. Battlestar Galactica is, to my mind, still stumbling to the finish line. For every brilliant episode they had, there were two or three that I found almost unwatchable. And I'm not entirely convinced by the over-arcing story they're telling. Unlike Lost, it's a lot easier to tell the creators are making up the big story as they go along. Lost, however, definitely *is* being made up as it goes along, but it's being told better, and so it doesn't feel quite as forced, even if it is at times more convoluted. And the moment-to-moment action and suspense on Lost is terrific, perhaps because the stakes are smaller than on Galactica. On Lost, the worst things are happening to a relatively small group of castaways. On Battlestar Galactica, the fate of the entire human (and Cylon) races are at stake. Weirdly, the events on Lost feel more important despite the smaller stakes, while Galactica, being viewed through a prism of just a few people, feels smaller, like it only impacts the dozen characters we see.
But... two other dramas ended this year. The Wire and The Shield. The Wire might be better than Lost, except that I watched all of it, seasons one through five, for the first time, and it just doesn't seem fair to stack five seasons of a show up against one season of any others. The Shield ended well, but had a bit of rough going in the early part of the final season. But both are must-watches, and have probably spoiled me for ever watching any more cop shows. I hear good things about Life, but honestly... after The Shield and The Wire, plus a few years of NYPD Blue and Law & Order, I can't imagine it will offer up anything so new and different as to add something new to the genre for me.
Favorite Cartoon: Spectacular Spider-Man (FOX)
This one was easy. I love the new Batman Brave and the Bold, it's fun and full of guest stars and looks great, but Spectacular Spider-Man is to Spider-Man what the Dini/Timm animated series was to Batman. It's absolutely definitive, and gets the character better than 90% of the folks who have ever written the comic. Which is fairly impressive. Like the Batman Animated series, it incorporates elements from various different visions to create a perfect fusion of what the character should be. It's taking way too long to get a season one DVD set, and I'm really anxious for a second season, although I have no idea when that's coming.
Really, it's not even fair to have this category this year, what with the writer's strike and the supremely awful crop of new shows that premiered this year. Last year was disappointing as well, but it gave us Chuck, Burn Notice and Pushing Daisies. This year? The only other new shows that are even on my list are two cartoons, Spectacular Spider-Man and Batman Brave and the Bold. Both great in their category, but not really competing with Sarah Connor, which started off as a mildly forgetabble but entertaining hour of sci-fi/action TV and slowly developed a reasonably complex set of time-traveling protagonists and antagonists, each with their own agenda, all the while deepening the main characters, especially Sarah Connor herself, the surprisingly good Brian Austin Greene as Derek Reese and Summer Glau's female terminator Cameron.
Favorite Spy Action Show: Chuck (NBC)
OK, I might be cheating by putting this category in, but really... neither Burn Notice nor Chuck belong fully in comedy or drama. Burn Notice came on strong in its second season, and I definitely think that anyone enjoying one should be enjoying the other. But Chuck was such a huge jump-up from, again, mildly diverting entertainment to really engaging characters and the perfect mix of pop-culture references, spy action and goofy self-awareness. It might not hurt that the pop-culture timing of Chuck seems to be exactly keyed in to my '80s era, with heavy references to Die Hard, Back to the Future and other geek staples. Leverage, the new show from John Rogers and company, would probably fit in this category as well, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. The reviews I've read seem to indicate it'll be a distant third to Chuck and Burn Notice anyway, at least for now.
Best Comedy: The Office (NBC)
In my heart, I really want to give this to 30 Rock, but as far as being consistently funny, The Office wins. It also has managed to do the drama/comedy blend that shows like Cheers, Friends and others tried for and often missed, winding up maudlin and not funny as a result. The Michael/Holly relationship was hilarious, fun, uplifting and ultimately heart-breaking, and the Jim/Pam stuff is probably my favorite relationship ever in a comedy, including such gems as the Sam/Diane romance from Cheers and the Dave/Lisa relationship on Newsradio. OK, maybe Tobias and Lindsay Funke from Arrested Development were more fun, but that's a totally different kind of relationship. Which is not to say that 30 Rock hasn't been terrific in its second and third seasons. How I Met Your Mother on CBS has been more spotty, but it still has episodes of great humor, and really, it's hard to go wrong with a comedy ensemble that includes Alyson Hanigan, Jason Segel and especially Neil Patrick Harris. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia started out its season really strong, but it kind of fell apart midseason and never really regained the funny. There were funny moments, but after the first couple hilarious episodes, it was merely OK this season. Finally, it's weird to put it in the comedy category but it doesn't really belong in the drama, but Pushing Daisies was a really good show, heartwarming and funny and clever. Unfortunately, it's quirkiness also meant its inevitable doom, and I confess that being robbed of any resolution of the various relationships on the show, including whether or not Emerson Codd will ever find his daughter, has left me lukewarm on the whole thing. I still have three episodes left on my DVR to watch, and I haven't been pulled back yet because I know there's no resolution there.
Favorite Drama: Lost (ABC)
There was a fair amount of competition for me in this category. Not in terms of numbers, because I don't watch the overwhelming majority of drama on TV, which usually breaks down to cop shows, lawyer shows and doctor shows (and I've had my fill of all three), but in terms of quality. Battlestar Galactica is, to my mind, still stumbling to the finish line. For every brilliant episode they had, there were two or three that I found almost unwatchable. And I'm not entirely convinced by the over-arcing story they're telling. Unlike Lost, it's a lot easier to tell the creators are making up the big story as they go along. Lost, however, definitely *is* being made up as it goes along, but it's being told better, and so it doesn't feel quite as forced, even if it is at times more convoluted. And the moment-to-moment action and suspense on Lost is terrific, perhaps because the stakes are smaller than on Galactica. On Lost, the worst things are happening to a relatively small group of castaways. On Battlestar Galactica, the fate of the entire human (and Cylon) races are at stake. Weirdly, the events on Lost feel more important despite the smaller stakes, while Galactica, being viewed through a prism of just a few people, feels smaller, like it only impacts the dozen characters we see.
But... two other dramas ended this year. The Wire and The Shield. The Wire might be better than Lost, except that I watched all of it, seasons one through five, for the first time, and it just doesn't seem fair to stack five seasons of a show up against one season of any others. The Shield ended well, but had a bit of rough going in the early part of the final season. But both are must-watches, and have probably spoiled me for ever watching any more cop shows. I hear good things about Life, but honestly... after The Shield and The Wire, plus a few years of NYPD Blue and Law & Order, I can't imagine it will offer up anything so new and different as to add something new to the genre for me.
Favorite Cartoon: Spectacular Spider-Man (FOX)
This one was easy. I love the new Batman Brave and the Bold, it's fun and full of guest stars and looks great, but Spectacular Spider-Man is to Spider-Man what the Dini/Timm animated series was to Batman. It's absolutely definitive, and gets the character better than 90% of the folks who have ever written the comic. Which is fairly impressive. Like the Batman Animated series, it incorporates elements from various different visions to create a perfect fusion of what the character should be. It's taking way too long to get a season one DVD set, and I'm really anxious for a second season, although I have no idea when that's coming.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Best Of 2008 - Music
It's time for Best Of lists, and while I'm not quite as on top of these kinds of things as I usually am, I was reading the picks by Alex Robinson and I was surprised to see that he had a few of my picks on there, and it reminded me that I've gotten a fair amount of music that I liked this year.
I don't listen to the radio ever, I don't watch MTV, so most of my music comes from a sort of weird osmosis of stuff I see on TV shows, picks by friends, folks I read online, freebies from iTunes or Amazon or occasionally Rock Band or similar games. I don't tend to pick up full albums, and I've always been more of a singles guy than an album guy, so I'm picking by song rather than by album or band. So here are my favorite new songs of the year, in no particular order:
Borneo - Firewater (I believe this was an Amazon free download. Nice little poppy, big band-ish song with a bit of political commentary on the Iraq War thrown in)
Loose Lips - Kimya Dawson (and the entire Juno soundtrack, actually. I'm not sure if this actually came out in 2008 or 2007, but I was really pleased with this music. Recommendation courtesy of my friend Jamie... thanks, Jamie!)
Handlebars - Flobots (Loved this whole album as well. I know Handlebars is the single that most will know, and it's probably cooler to pick a more obscure track, but this one is still my favorite track off the whole album. Anne Braiden is a close second. Recommendation from my friend and customer at the store Ray Brister. Thanks, Ray!)
Lake Pontchartrain - Ludo (Great little horror story in song form, has a Cthulhu type vibe to it. Got this one from a mix CD by my friend Jason Murphy. Thanks, Jason! This album also has Go Getter Greg, a funny little stalker song. These guys do great lyrics.)
Your California - Parker Brothers (Another Amazon free download, this is an upbeat song that reminds me a bit of the Presidents of the United States)
More Bad Times - Presidents of the United States (Speaking of... I've always liked these guys, but aside from "Cleveland Rocks" from Drew Carey, never had any of their stuff. Rock Band 2 spurred an interest in them, so I picked up a few singles and the new album, and this was my favorite song off the new album, which I generally liked)
Shut Up And Let Me Go - Ting Tings (This one was a recommendation by Cameron Stewart on his blog... thanks, Cameron! I like the whole album, but this one is a favorite, and my daughter loves it too... she sings along, which is adorable)
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived - Weezer (I know a lot of folks were down on this album, just like they were on the last one, but I liked about half of it quite a bit, and find most of the rest listenable, at least. This is my favorite of the bunch. This was also the only album I found with no help from anyone. New Weezer or Foo Fighters will always be on my radar.)
I also bought the new Fratellis album, and while it was OK, it was a disappointment compared to the consistent greatness of their debut. And I bought a bunch of stuff spurred on by Rock Band 2 that has been out forever, including Joan Jett, Journey, Rage Against the Machine and The Clash.
I don't listen to the radio ever, I don't watch MTV, so most of my music comes from a sort of weird osmosis of stuff I see on TV shows, picks by friends, folks I read online, freebies from iTunes or Amazon or occasionally Rock Band or similar games. I don't tend to pick up full albums, and I've always been more of a singles guy than an album guy, so I'm picking by song rather than by album or band. So here are my favorite new songs of the year, in no particular order:
Borneo - Firewater (I believe this was an Amazon free download. Nice little poppy, big band-ish song with a bit of political commentary on the Iraq War thrown in)
Loose Lips - Kimya Dawson (and the entire Juno soundtrack, actually. I'm not sure if this actually came out in 2008 or 2007, but I was really pleased with this music. Recommendation courtesy of my friend Jamie... thanks, Jamie!)
Handlebars - Flobots (Loved this whole album as well. I know Handlebars is the single that most will know, and it's probably cooler to pick a more obscure track, but this one is still my favorite track off the whole album. Anne Braiden is a close second. Recommendation from my friend and customer at the store Ray Brister. Thanks, Ray!)
Lake Pontchartrain - Ludo (Great little horror story in song form, has a Cthulhu type vibe to it. Got this one from a mix CD by my friend Jason Murphy. Thanks, Jason! This album also has Go Getter Greg, a funny little stalker song. These guys do great lyrics.)
Your California - Parker Brothers (Another Amazon free download, this is an upbeat song that reminds me a bit of the Presidents of the United States)
More Bad Times - Presidents of the United States (Speaking of... I've always liked these guys, but aside from "Cleveland Rocks" from Drew Carey, never had any of their stuff. Rock Band 2 spurred an interest in them, so I picked up a few singles and the new album, and this was my favorite song off the new album, which I generally liked)
Shut Up And Let Me Go - Ting Tings (This one was a recommendation by Cameron Stewart on his blog... thanks, Cameron! I like the whole album, but this one is a favorite, and my daughter loves it too... she sings along, which is adorable)
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived - Weezer (I know a lot of folks were down on this album, just like they were on the last one, but I liked about half of it quite a bit, and find most of the rest listenable, at least. This is my favorite of the bunch. This was also the only album I found with no help from anyone. New Weezer or Foo Fighters will always be on my radar.)
I also bought the new Fratellis album, and while it was OK, it was a disappointment compared to the consistent greatness of their debut. And I bought a bunch of stuff spurred on by Rock Band 2 that has been out forever, including Joan Jett, Journey, Rage Against the Machine and The Clash.
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