Charles J. Baserap
www.NerdtopiaCast.com/author/charles-j-baserap | www.Facebook.com/NerdtopiaCast
Best Movies: The Avengers–it wasn’t perfect, but I’d been waiting my whole life to see these characters on the big screen and was not disappointed as I invariably expect to be should DC/WB continue its current plans for the Justice League, if Superman Returns, Jonah Hex, and Green Lantern are any indication…; The Amazing Spider-Man–cheesiness of the crane scene aside, the acting was well beyond the original trilogy and as much as I loved Raimi, I was glad much of the campiness was gone; Les Miserables–it’s not out just yet, but I’m absolutely looking forward to it, especially since it was shot in a way no other Hollywood musical has been and has such a stellar cast
Best TV Shows: American Horror Story: Asylum–I expected a let down after how solid season one was, but, damn is this season fantastic; Suburgatory–after the first episode, I thought the show would be canned, but have really come to love it each week; Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Ultimate Spider-Man–my daughter and I watch the hell out of these endlessly.
Best Books (fiction): War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy–after years, I finally decided to read it and over eight days, I was in Russia where books usually read you and it was well worth the weight given the mix of politics, plot, and philosophy on the nature of man and war
Best Books (non-fiction): An American at the Crossroads by Charles J. Baserap–it may be two years old and it may not sell at all (spoiler: it won’t, trust me), but it’s one of the few books I’ve seen on terrorism and politics that bothered to do research instead of the FOX News and Huffington Post sponsored talking point drivel out there. It sounds cocky, it sounds arrogant, but hey, it is what it is, Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Beck…
Best Video Game: I haven’t played a video game in forever. That is sad.
Best Songs: This is the Life by Dream Theater
Best Albums: A Dramatic Turn of Events by Dream Theater and the live concert in DC back in July was epic
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: When you get as many titles a month as I do, it’s hard to narrow it down, but right now Marvel’s Hawkeye and DC’s Swamp Thing, along with Valiant’s Harbinger are just absolute delights each month
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Hell, let’s go with The Avengers once more, although movie companies need to stop advertising “3+ hours” of bonus features when the majority of that time is a commentary talking over the movie…
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: I got to help start up a new website, at which I contribute one monthly and three weekly columns among other materials; an end at last to hearing about the frikkin’ election, and an end at last to hearing about the bloody Mayans; getting the 9,000 comic for my collection; going another year without ever missing a deadline
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: People. Whether it was the elections, or school tragedies, emotions and half truths trumped research and logic, and people used the tragedies of others to serve as talking point fodder for their own causes, thus strengthening my stance as a misanthrope more and more each year.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Spending more time playing with my daughter, Ana; more comics each and every month; the beginning of a new monthly feature I’m writing called American History X(-Men); the possibility of writing a new book, this time on comics and culture
Charles J. Baserap writes the rotating columns “Danger Rooms” and “Theater of The Absurd” as well as wraps up his ten season wrap up of the series “Smallville”, “I Was a Teenage Meteor Freak” in early February.
Rich Redman
Best Movies: Joss Whedon hit two out of the park this year, and I’d put both The Avengers and The Cabin in the Woods ahead of Prometheus
Best TV Shows: Person of Interest just keeps getting better and better.
Best Books (fiction): This year I read Harry Connolly’s Twenty Palaces novels, The Gone-Away World and Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway, and Patrick Lee’s Anomaly series (still haven’t read Deep Sky, from my summer reading list). Angelmaker is by far my favorite.
Best Books (non-fiction): This year I read Desert War: The North African Campaign 1940-1943, by Alan Moorehead. I’ve been reading about that theater of WWII for 30 years, and this first-person account made me re-think everything that I thought I knew.
Best Video Game: Does Guild Wars 2 count? Because I’m loving that.
Best Songs: There was music after 1995?
Best Albums: They still make those?
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Sometimes I wish that I could still afford comic books.
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: I haven’t seen a really clever exploration of the format in a long time.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: Prometheus
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Prometheus
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Better times for all of us.
Rich Redman writes “Damning With Faint Praise” for Forces of Geek
Atlee Greene
@midnightlogicgo | www.midnightlogic.wordpress.com
Best Movies: The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Men in Black 3, The Five Year Engagement, Brave, The Hunger Games
Best TV Shows: The Walking Dead, Dexter, How I Met Your Mother, Boardwalk Empire, Revenge, Revolution
Best Video Game: I’m still trying to beat Super Mario Bros 3 without the warp whistles
Best Songs: We Are Young, Call Me Maybe (It the only song my two old nephew knows and he sings it all the time
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Batman, Daredevil, Hawkeye, Saga, Superman Earth One Volume 2
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: The Avengers, WWE Attitude Era
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The Avengers and the announcement of Star Wars Episode VII in 2015
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: The Amazing Spider-Man
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Man of Steel, The Rock vs. CM Punk @ Royal Rumble, WrestleMania 29, Geoff Johns’ Justice League of America, Marvel’s Age of Ultron and Brian Wood’s Star Wars published by Dark Horse
Atlee Greene writes “The Pull List” for Forces of Geek
Brian Saner Lamken
@brianlamken | blamken.blogspot.com | blamken.tumblr.com
Best Movies: Drew Goddard & Joss Whedon’s insane The Cabin in the Woods
Best TV Shows: Breaking Bad (drama); Parks and Recreation (sitcom); The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report (talk/variety/satire).
Best Books (fiction): Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Paul Grist’s Mudman
Best Songs: Norah Jones’ haunting “Miriam”
Best Albums: The Heavy’s The Glorious Dead
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (new); Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s Cut (archival)
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The Avengers, on the whole; Stephen Colbert’s extended skewering of the political system; the long-in-coming nostalgia blast that is Shazam! The Complete Live-Action Series; an overwhelming amount of quality historical comics material, including although by no means limited to the DC library
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: how DC managed to almost completely alienate me as a reader with its New 52 reboot and editorial directions; the Phillies’ dismal summer; Amanda Brown getting voted off The Voice; most of SHIELD in The Avengers; just about everything but Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: I’m conflicted but ultimately by nature optimistic over Man of Steel; based on the track records of Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan, and David Goyer, it could not only go either way — it could go several ways at once. The Walking Dead has been enjoying its best season to date, so the back half of that as well as the final batch of Breaking Bad are bright (well, actually dark) spots on the horizon. My fingers are crossed that the end of Fringe lives up to the few great moments in this season by circling around to form more of a satisfying whole with seasons past. I’ll round out the list with Mike Mignola’s return as both writer and artist of the main Hellboy storyline, a hardcover color collection of Faith Erin Hicks’ The Adventures of Superhero Girl, and, back on the big screen, the release of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness. There’s more to geek out about than I’d have ever thought possible.
Brian Saner Lamken is a former comic book journalist and friend of Forces of Geek
Micki Balaban
Best Movies: Wrath of The Titans, Lincoln, Life of Pi, The Hobbit
Best TV Shows: Doctor Who, Psych, The Clone Wars, The Walking Dead
Best Books (fiction): Sadly, I didn’t find any good reads in the realm of fiction. I failed to enjoy anything I picked up this year.
Best Books (non-fiction): No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen, Lincoln’s Last Days: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O’Reilly
Best Video Game: Dishonored
Best Songs: “Runaways” by The Killers, “Thrift Shop”( featuring Wanz) by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Best Albums: Battle Born by The Killers, King Animal by Soundgarden, The Dark Knight Rises Original Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer,
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Batman: Death by Design by Chip Kidd and Dave Taylor
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release:
Brazil, The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012), Monty Python & The Holy Grail, Plan 9 From Outer Space
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan’s final installment in his Batman franchise.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: The Dark Knight Rises. Executed poorly and didn’t live up to it’s potential.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: To learn more of the Disney/Lucasfilm business plan.
Micki Balaban is an upcoming editor for Forces of Geek
Walter Greatshell
@WGreatshell | www.waltergreatshell.com
Best Movies: Argo, The Avengers
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The Hobbit
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: The Hobbit
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Man of Steel, Star Trek Into Darkness, Pacific Rim, Hobbit 2.
Walter Greatshell is an author and contributor to Forces of Geek. His latest novels, “Enormity” (as WG Marshall) and “Terminal Island” are available now.
Molly B. Denham
Best Film: Searching for Sugar Man
Best TV Shows: I don’t own a TV. But when I’m visiting my mom, who does, we watch Castle. We both have crushes on Castle. I also wish he was my dad… which, admittedly, is psychology-textbook-weird.
Best Books (fiction): Double-Billing – A Young Lawyer’s Tale of Greed, Sex, Lies and the Pursuit of a Swivel Chair by Cameron Stracher (Only in the strictest technical sense is this book fiction).
Best Books (non-fiction): Listen Whitey by Pat Thomas, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, Le Freak by Nile Rogers (Although this was released in October 2011, I didn’t do a list last year and it is the absolute best rock-n-roll memoir I have ever read… for his drug freak out in the closet alone), The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson (Learn the signs… and then RUN), I Want My MTV – The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by Rob Tannenbaum & Craig Marks (An incredibly fun, behind-the-scenes look at the childhood of a generation), In the Pleasure Groove by Duran Duran’s John Taylor (See above), Fringe-ology by Steve Volk (Malcolm Gladwell meets the X-Files).
Best Video Game: Tron. Oh, wait… you mean, like, from this year? [Blank stare]
Best Songs: “Handwritten,” “Here Comes My Man,” “Mulholland Drive” and “Howl” by The Gaslight Anthem, “The Fall” (Rhye), “Elephant” by Tame Impala (It’s freaky how much this sounds like John Lennon) Plus lots of others that I have inevitably forgotten to list.
Best Albums: Charmer (Aimee Mann), Boys and Girls (The Alabama Shakes), Allah-Las (The Allah-Las), Mad Love (Cheval Sombre), Handwritten (The Gaslight Anthem), The LHI Years – Singles, Nudes, and Backsides (Lee Hazlewood), Searching for Sugar Man (Rodriguez), Tame Impala: Lonerism (Tame Impala), Listen Whitey (Pat Thomas)
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: Changing jobs.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Happiness, rock and roll, and, hopefully, learning to play my guitar better than I presently can. Also, my friend Elizabeth Silver is going to be releasing her debut novel, entitled The Execution of Noa P. Singleton in July 2013, and I’m looking forward to being able to read her words!
Molly B. Denham is a former columnist for Forces of Geek
Julie Browning
@cheekydiva1 | thecheekydiva.com
Best Movies: The Hobbit, The Hunger Games
Best TV Shows: Go On, Project Runway
Best Video Game: Assassin’s Creed III
Best Songs: Titanium (David Guetta ft. Sia)
Best Albums: The 2 Cent Show (Steam Powered Giraffe)
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: The Avengers
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012? The promise of 4G phone service
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: The reality of 4G phone service
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: 4G phone service, when there are 4G towers in my area
Julie Bowning is an upcoming columnist for Forces of Geek
Mike Callahan
mikecalahan.wordpress.com
Best Movies: Safety Not Guaranteed, Cabin In The Woods, Dark Knight Rises, Moonrise Kingdom
Best TV Shows: Mad Men, Childrens Hospital, Modern Family, The Daily Show, Downton Abbey
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Mad Men Season 5, Alfred Hitchcock Essential Collection
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: Presidential Election
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Newtown Massacre
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Iron Man 3
