2009 - The Year in Review
Considering today is just another ordinary Friday that holds no religious or cultural significance to me, and also considering that I leave for New Zealand tomorrow morning at an obscenely early hour, I thought I would get my end-of-year post out of the way :)
Included in this post is the "media" (books/tv/movies/music) that I've "consumed" (read/watched/heard/seen) this year. At the bottom of each section, I'll note the best/favourite items for me, with a few comments.
BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS READ
Midnight Nation - J. Michael Straczynski
Sandman: Dream Hunters - Neil Gaiman
Fell Volume 1: Feral City - Warren Ellis
Global Frequency: Planet Ablaze - Warren Ellis
Global Frequency: Detonation Radio - Warren Ellis
Serenity : Those Left Behind - Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad
Sluggy Freelance : Fire and Rain - Pete Abrams
Sluggy Freelance : Dangerous Days Ahead - Pete Abrams
Sluggy Freelance : Little Evils - Pete Abrams
Sluggy Freelance : A Very Big Bang - Pete Abrams
The Folklore of Discworld - Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson
The Illustrated Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett and Stephen Player
A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett
Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett
Geodesica Ascent - Sean Williams with Shane Dix
Geodesica Descent - Sean Williams with Shane Dix
Xombie Reanimated - James Farr
Thud! - Terry Pratchett
Crown of Shadows - Celia Friedman
15 in 1 Oz Novels - L Frank Baum (partway through - I've read 7/15 so far, then stopped to read other stuff)
Sam and Max : Surfing the Highway - Steve Purcell
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J K Rowling
Fray - Joss Whedon & Karl Moline
Girl Spy - John Allison
Looks, Brains and Everything - John Allison
Blame the Sky - John Allison
Skellington - John Allison
The Retribution Index - John Allison
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja - Chris Hastings & Kent Archer
Dr. McNinja Surgical Strike - Chris Hastings & Kent Archer
Operation Dracula! From Outer Space - Chris Hastings & Kent Archer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : The Long Way Home - Joss Whedon & Georges Jeanty
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : No Future For You - Brian K. Vaughn, Georges Jeanty and Joss Whedon
Goats: Infinite Typewriters - Jonathon Rosenberg
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : Wolves at the Gate - Drew Goddard, Georges Jeanty and Joss Whedon
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : Time of Your Life - Joss Whedon, Jose Molina
Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : Predators and Prey - Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty, et al.
Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde
The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
xkcd Volume 0 - Randall Munroe
Great Aches - John Allison
Ahoy Hoy! - John Allison
Peloton - John Allison
Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde
Tau Zero - Poul Anderson
The Big Over Easy - Jasper Fforde
The Fourth Bear - Jasper Fforde (partway through)
Last year I read Wicked and listened to the musical, and earlier this year I played an adventure game called Emerald City Confidential and this inspired me to go back and read all of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. I remember reading several of them as a child, but couldn't remember characters beyond those in the film version of The Wizard of Oz and only vaguely some things from the film Return to Oz. So I bought the 15-in-1 book from Amazon and got to reading it. The first few books are pretty good, although the language has dated quite a lot in the last 100 years. However, there is one section that was absolutely hilarious that was full of puns - Chapter 16 of The Emerald City of Oz "How Dorothy visited Utensia". After a while, I started getting sick of Oz books, so I've stopped. Still got quite a few of the 15 to go.
Terry Pratchett's newest Discworld novel, Unseen Academicals rates a mention, but I'm biased as a huge fan. I thought UA was pretty good, but I don't think it surpasses many of his previous books, but that could also be because I've never understood sports fandom.
Rereading Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books has made me like them far better, but it's obvious to me that The Well of Lost Plots (Book 3) is still the best of the lot. However, reading all four (haven't yet re-read First Among Sequels) did feel that I should go out and buy his other books, in the Nursery Crime series. I just finished The Big Over Easy last week and absolutely loved it. It's not as hilariously funny as the reviewer quotes on the cover make out, but it is a very well plotted murder mystery, with the added bonus of cleverly incorporating characters from many nursery rhymes and fairy tales. That is, it's a very good and entertaining book, but it's not laugh-out-loud funny. I've just started The Fourth Bear and hope it also stacks up.
DVDS PURCHASED
Doctor Horrible's Sing-along Blog
Ratatouille
strongbad_email.exe Discs 1-6 (Emails 1-200)
Quite low on the DVDs this year... I think I realised my collection is big enough and there's no point buying stuff when I'll probably be moving to Bluray in the next few years...
CDS PURCHASED
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
The Cat Empire - Live on Earth
Sam and Max Season 1 Soundtrack
Regina Spektor - Far
Little Birdy - Confetti
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Sarah Blasko - As Day Follows Night (Special Edition incl. Cinema Blasko)
Tinpan Orange - The Bottom of the Lake
La Roux - La Roux
Kate Miller-Heidke - Live at the Hi-fi
Dew Process Spring Sampler
Children Collide - The Long Now
Bertie Blackman - Secrets and Lies
Best album of the year, without a doubt, is Sarah Blasko's As Day Follows Night. I'm not alone in this - she won best female artist at the ARIAs, and the album picked up Triple J's J Award for Album of the year as well. The musical saw is just magical, and her use of heavy piano providing the "beat" in "No Turning Back" is wonderful. Honourable mentions to La Roux's album, and Kate Miller-Heidke's live album which features a recording of "Are You Fucking Kidding Me?" aka the Facebook song. Go listen to it and piss yourself laughing.
GIGS AND THEATRE
End of Fashion (Escape Closing Ceremony)
Last Bucket of Water
Sound and Fury's Sherlock Holmes and the Saline Solution
Randy's Postcards from Purgatory
Tinpan Orange
Australian Soundscapes - Lumina Vocal Ensemble
Sammy J - 1999
Making Money
The Grates + Children Collide + The Shiny Brights
Tinpan Orange + Vorn Doolette
Lumina Choral Ensemble - Choice Morsels
Clare Bowditch
The Last Continent
Tinpan Orange + Loren Kate
I didn't get to go to too many shows at the Adelaide Fringe this year, but those that I did see were pretty good. Sound and Fury once again produced an amazingly funny show, and be sure to put next year's "Private Dick" on your Fringe list!
For music gigs - I had a fantastic time at Clare Bowditch's performance at the Adelaide Zoo, but that may be because I was so eager to see her perform again after last year's wonderful Winter Secrets tour.
I managed to catch Tinpan Orange three times this year, and their best performance was the last (in November). These guys are so enchanting live, as they just let their violinist/guitarist/mandolinist Alex go absolutely crazy with semi-improvised solos. Their albums are good, but a lot more controlled. Definitely worth seeing live.
TV
10 Things I Hate About You
Angel (DVD)
Ashes to Ashes
Battlestar Galactica
Being Human
Burn Notice
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (DVD)
Californication
Caprica
Castle
Chuck
Defying Gravity
Demons
Doctor Who
Dollhouse
Firefly (DVD)
Flashpoint
Flash Forward
Flight of the Conchords
Fringe
Glee
Heroes
Hung
John Safran's Race Relations
Kings
Kron Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire
Kyle XY
My Name is Earl
Numb3rs
Nurse Jackie
Paradox
Primeval
Reaper
Red Dwarf
Robot Chicken
Sanctuary
Starhyke
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Universe
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Chaser's War on Everything
The Daily Show
The Jesters
The Sarah Jane Adventures
Titan Maximum
True Blood
V
Virtuality
Warehouse 13
Yep, that's a lot of TV. I watch a lot of crappy shows in amongst the good stuff, but the most enjoyable shows this year were Dexter, Castle, Chuck, Burn Notice, Reaper, Flash Forward, Glee, Defying Gravity, The Daily Show, and True Blood.
MOVIES
The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)
Slumdog Millionaire
Igor
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising
Changeling
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder
Watchmen
Monsters vs Aliens
The Boat that Rocked
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Star Trek
Inkheart
The Spirit
State of Play
Terminator: Salvation
Sunshine Cleaning
Angels and Demons
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Public Enemies
Coraline (3D)
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Ponyo
Up (3D)
$9.99
Surrogates
Moon
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Cold Souls
Zombieland
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Law Abiding Citizen
Alice (Syfy)
9
Avatar (3D)
Where The Wild Things Are
Standout must see movies are Watchmen, Coraline, District 9, Inglorious Basterds, Ponyo, Up, Moon, and Avatar. Zombieland is a hoot as well. I didn't review every movie I saw this year, but there's links to the ones I did get to.
COMPUTER GAMES
A Vampyre Story (unfinished)
Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures
Telltale Texas Holdem
Emerald City Confidential
Tales of Monkey Island
Secret of Monkey Island : Special Edition (unfinished)
Telltale Games delivered two wonderful episodic adventure games this year - Wallace and Gromit plus the triumphant return of Monkey Island. I had no idea that Monkey Island was so popular (judging by the influx of people on Telltale's forums) nor that it was so seminal in the adventure games genre - I'd played the first 3 games several years ago, but always enjoyed Sam and Max Hit the Road more. I guess I can be glad that Telltale did such a wonderful job with Sam and Max Seasons 1 & 2 and that Season 3 is coming next year...
Emerald City Confidential was interesting and fun, and as I said above, encouraged me to delve back into the world of Oz, but the game is a little too linear, and the puzzle objectives very clear cut and easy to solve. Still, it was quite a good setting, and I hope the company can make more games like it.
So that's it! I don't really define my life by the media I consume, but I figure keeping a list of it during the year isn't a hard thing to do and I hope you don't mind me sharing it with you. Maybe you'll find something you like and want to try :)
Happy New Year, and I'll try and tweet from New Zealand which should be exported to this LJ daily, or you could just follow me.
Included in this post is the "media" (books/tv/movies/music) that I've "consumed" (read/watched/heard/seen) this year. At the bottom of each section, I'll note the best/favourite items for me, with a few comments.
BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS READ
Midnight Nation - J. Michael Straczynski
Sandman: Dream Hunters - Neil Gaiman
Fell Volume 1: Feral City - Warren Ellis
Global Frequency: Planet Ablaze - Warren Ellis
Global Frequency: Detonation Radio - Warren Ellis
Serenity : Those Left Behind - Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad
Sluggy Freelance : Fire and Rain - Pete Abrams
Sluggy Freelance : Dangerous Days Ahead - Pete Abrams
Sluggy Freelance : Little Evils - Pete Abrams
Sluggy Freelance : A Very Big Bang - Pete Abrams
The Folklore of Discworld - Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson
The Illustrated Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett and Stephen Player
A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett
Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett
Geodesica Ascent - Sean Williams with Shane Dix
Geodesica Descent - Sean Williams with Shane Dix
Xombie Reanimated - James Farr
Thud! - Terry Pratchett
Crown of Shadows - Celia Friedman
15 in 1 Oz Novels - L Frank Baum (partway through - I've read 7/15 so far, then stopped to read other stuff)
Sam and Max : Surfing the Highway - Steve Purcell
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J K Rowling
Fray - Joss Whedon & Karl Moline
Girl Spy - John Allison
Looks, Brains and Everything - John Allison
Blame the Sky - John Allison
Skellington - John Allison
The Retribution Index - John Allison
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja - Chris Hastings & Kent Archer
Dr. McNinja Surgical Strike - Chris Hastings & Kent Archer
Operation Dracula! From Outer Space - Chris Hastings & Kent Archer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : The Long Way Home - Joss Whedon & Georges Jeanty
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : No Future For You - Brian K. Vaughn, Georges Jeanty and Joss Whedon
Goats: Infinite Typewriters - Jonathon Rosenberg
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : Wolves at the Gate - Drew Goddard, Georges Jeanty and Joss Whedon
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : Time of Your Life - Joss Whedon, Jose Molina
Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 : Predators and Prey - Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty, et al.
Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde
The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
xkcd Volume 0 - Randall Munroe
Great Aches - John Allison
Ahoy Hoy! - John Allison
Peloton - John Allison
Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde
Tau Zero - Poul Anderson
The Big Over Easy - Jasper Fforde
The Fourth Bear - Jasper Fforde (partway through)
Last year I read Wicked and listened to the musical, and earlier this year I played an adventure game called Emerald City Confidential and this inspired me to go back and read all of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. I remember reading several of them as a child, but couldn't remember characters beyond those in the film version of The Wizard of Oz and only vaguely some things from the film Return to Oz. So I bought the 15-in-1 book from Amazon and got to reading it. The first few books are pretty good, although the language has dated quite a lot in the last 100 years. However, there is one section that was absolutely hilarious that was full of puns - Chapter 16 of The Emerald City of Oz "How Dorothy visited Utensia". After a while, I started getting sick of Oz books, so I've stopped. Still got quite a few of the 15 to go.
Terry Pratchett's newest Discworld novel, Unseen Academicals rates a mention, but I'm biased as a huge fan. I thought UA was pretty good, but I don't think it surpasses many of his previous books, but that could also be because I've never understood sports fandom.
Rereading Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books has made me like them far better, but it's obvious to me that The Well of Lost Plots (Book 3) is still the best of the lot. However, reading all four (haven't yet re-read First Among Sequels) did feel that I should go out and buy his other books, in the Nursery Crime series. I just finished The Big Over Easy last week and absolutely loved it. It's not as hilariously funny as the reviewer quotes on the cover make out, but it is a very well plotted murder mystery, with the added bonus of cleverly incorporating characters from many nursery rhymes and fairy tales. That is, it's a very good and entertaining book, but it's not laugh-out-loud funny. I've just started The Fourth Bear and hope it also stacks up.
DVDS PURCHASED
Doctor Horrible's Sing-along Blog
Ratatouille
strongbad_email.exe Discs 1-6 (Emails 1-200)
Quite low on the DVDs this year... I think I realised my collection is big enough and there's no point buying stuff when I'll probably be moving to Bluray in the next few years...
CDS PURCHASED
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
The Cat Empire - Live on Earth
Sam and Max Season 1 Soundtrack
Regina Spektor - Far
Little Birdy - Confetti
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Sarah Blasko - As Day Follows Night (Special Edition incl. Cinema Blasko)
Tinpan Orange - The Bottom of the Lake
La Roux - La Roux
Kate Miller-Heidke - Live at the Hi-fi
Dew Process Spring Sampler
Children Collide - The Long Now
Bertie Blackman - Secrets and Lies
Best album of the year, without a doubt, is Sarah Blasko's As Day Follows Night. I'm not alone in this - she won best female artist at the ARIAs, and the album picked up Triple J's J Award for Album of the year as well. The musical saw is just magical, and her use of heavy piano providing the "beat" in "No Turning Back" is wonderful. Honourable mentions to La Roux's album, and Kate Miller-Heidke's live album which features a recording of "Are You Fucking Kidding Me?" aka the Facebook song. Go listen to it and piss yourself laughing.
GIGS AND THEATRE
End of Fashion (Escape Closing Ceremony)
Last Bucket of Water
Sound and Fury's Sherlock Holmes and the Saline Solution
Randy's Postcards from Purgatory
Tinpan Orange
Australian Soundscapes - Lumina Vocal Ensemble
Sammy J - 1999
Making Money
The Grates + Children Collide + The Shiny Brights
Tinpan Orange + Vorn Doolette
Lumina Choral Ensemble - Choice Morsels
Clare Bowditch
The Last Continent
Tinpan Orange + Loren Kate
I didn't get to go to too many shows at the Adelaide Fringe this year, but those that I did see were pretty good. Sound and Fury once again produced an amazingly funny show, and be sure to put next year's "Private Dick" on your Fringe list!
For music gigs - I had a fantastic time at Clare Bowditch's performance at the Adelaide Zoo, but that may be because I was so eager to see her perform again after last year's wonderful Winter Secrets tour.
I managed to catch Tinpan Orange three times this year, and their best performance was the last (in November). These guys are so enchanting live, as they just let their violinist/guitarist/mandolinist Alex go absolutely crazy with semi-improvised solos. Their albums are good, but a lot more controlled. Definitely worth seeing live.
TV
10 Things I Hate About You
Angel (DVD)
Ashes to Ashes
Battlestar Galactica
Being Human
Burn Notice
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (DVD)
Californication
Caprica
Castle
Chuck
Defying Gravity
Demons
Doctor Who
Dollhouse
Firefly (DVD)
Flashpoint
Flash Forward
Flight of the Conchords
Fringe
Glee
Heroes
Hung
John Safran's Race Relations
Kings
Kron Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire
Kyle XY
My Name is Earl
Numb3rs
Nurse Jackie
Paradox
Primeval
Reaper
Red Dwarf
Robot Chicken
Sanctuary
Starhyke
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Universe
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Chaser's War on Everything
The Daily Show
The Jesters
The Sarah Jane Adventures
Titan Maximum
True Blood
V
Virtuality
Warehouse 13
Yep, that's a lot of TV. I watch a lot of crappy shows in amongst the good stuff, but the most enjoyable shows this year were Dexter, Castle, Chuck, Burn Notice, Reaper, Flash Forward, Glee, Defying Gravity, The Daily Show, and True Blood.
MOVIES
The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)
Slumdog Millionaire
Igor
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising
Changeling
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder
Watchmen
Monsters vs Aliens
The Boat that Rocked
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Star Trek
Inkheart
The Spirit
State of Play
Terminator: Salvation
Sunshine Cleaning
Angels and Demons
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Public Enemies
Coraline (3D)
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Ponyo
Up (3D)
$9.99
Surrogates
Moon
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Cold Souls
Zombieland
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Law Abiding Citizen
Alice (Syfy)
9
Avatar (3D)
Where The Wild Things Are
Standout must see movies are Watchmen, Coraline, District 9, Inglorious Basterds, Ponyo, Up, Moon, and Avatar. Zombieland is a hoot as well. I didn't review every movie I saw this year, but there's links to the ones I did get to.
COMPUTER GAMES
A Vampyre Story (unfinished)
Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures
Telltale Texas Holdem
Emerald City Confidential
Tales of Monkey Island
Secret of Monkey Island : Special Edition (unfinished)
Telltale Games delivered two wonderful episodic adventure games this year - Wallace and Gromit plus the triumphant return of Monkey Island. I had no idea that Monkey Island was so popular (judging by the influx of people on Telltale's forums) nor that it was so seminal in the adventure games genre - I'd played the first 3 games several years ago, but always enjoyed Sam and Max Hit the Road more. I guess I can be glad that Telltale did such a wonderful job with Sam and Max Seasons 1 & 2 and that Season 3 is coming next year...
Emerald City Confidential was interesting and fun, and as I said above, encouraged me to delve back into the world of Oz, but the game is a little too linear, and the puzzle objectives very clear cut and easy to solve. Still, it was quite a good setting, and I hope the company can make more games like it.
So that's it! I don't really define my life by the media I consume, but I figure keeping a list of it during the year isn't a hard thing to do and I hope you don't mind me sharing it with you. Maybe you'll find something you like and want to try :)
Happy New Year, and I'll try and tweet from New Zealand which should be exported to this LJ daily, or you could just follow me.