Best Movies: Movies??? I am the father of a toddler, and haven’t gone to a movie theater in quite some time.
Best TV Shows: Haven’t watched that much TV, either.
Best Books (fiction): Steampunk! (Grant and Link), Zombies vs Unicorns (Black and Larbalestier), Young Miles (Bujold), … I could go on.
Best Books (non-fiction): Stiff (Roach), The Physics of Superheroes (Kakalios), Almost History (Burns), … I could go on.
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Curses, Foiled Again! (Yolen)
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: Taking part in “Redcoats and Rebels” at Old Sturbridge Village. Also, seeing the Pawtucket Red Sox win the Governor’s Cup.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Patriots lose to the Giants in the Super Bowl…AGAIN!!!!
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Watching my son develop and grow…. and spending more time honoring of the memory of those who fought for His Majesty, King George III.
Jonathan Ryder writes the occasional “Historigeek” column when he can. He is the father of a toddler.
DJ Crystal Clear
Best Movies: Paul Williams: I’m Still Here and Searching For Sugar Man
Best TV Shows: Watch What Happens Live, The Real Housewives Of Atlanta, Ru Paul’s Drag Race, All Star Drag Race, and Untucked. TOTAL GENIUS!
Best Books: No time to read any, I’m too busy writing one
Best Video Game: I don’t play games.
Best Songs: “Where The Buildings Hit The Sky” from the album of the same name by Paul Bertolino. Do yourself a favor and check him out on Band Camp.
Best Albums: See Above.
Best Comic Books: No time to read them
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: I don’t have a DVD player. I go to the theater to see movies.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The supposed end of the world.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Single men are still stupid.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Getting a new and better job, singing more, and getting a band together!
DJ Crystal Clear is an educator, musician, DJ and observer of the world. Her extremely funny and honest column, “DuRant” appears on Forces of Geek whenever an awards show rears it’s ugly head.
Emma-Jane Corsan
@EmmaJaneCorsan | https://www.youtube.com/user/cheesemint | https://excusemewhileigeekout.blogspot.com
Best Movies: The Cabin In The Woods, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Lawless, Dredd, Looper, Argo, Seven Psychopaths, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Silver Linings Playbook, Cosmopolis
Best TV Shows: Without a doubt the most amazing series I’ve seen this year has to be Boardwalk Empire Season 3 – every episode left me tense, excited and fearful for the future of every single character. That, and it’s beautifully shot.
Best Books (fiction): Something that wasn’t released this year, but I really enjoyed reading was All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman this year and I’m currently reading The Milkman in the Night by Andrey Kurkov who is one of my all-time favourite authors.
Best Books (non-fiction): Wow, this year has been a little light on the ground for me in terms of reading, which is a shameful thing for me to admit as an ex-bookseller!
Best Video Game: Halo 4. For me, there’s no contest because I am a huge Halo-fangirl but another notable mention has to be Assassin’s Creed 3.
Best Songs: Anything but Gangnam Style…
Best Albums: Theatre is Evil by Amanda Palmer and Soundgarden’s King Animal
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: The new Deadpool run (Posehn/Duggan/Moore), Wonder Woman – Blood Vol. 1, (Azzarello/Chiang) and Blacksad: A Silent Hell (Canales/Guarnido)
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Game of Thrones Collectors Edition Boxset
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: Filming and releasing series one of my web series, Unlocked. Oh, and the start of the apocalypse!
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: A distinct lack of apocalypse, Gail Simone’s dismissal from writing Batgirl and the hashtag #1ReasonWhy – it exposed just how prevalent sexism still is within the gaming industry.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Gail Simone being re-hired for Batgirl, The next series of Game of Thrones, Grand Theft Auto V, the upcoming Deadpool game, Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness and Jurassic Park in 3D IMAX!
Emma-Jane Corsan writes “Excuse Me While I Geek Out” for Forces of Geek. She’s also one of the masterminds behind “Cheesemint”, a web-series that deserves your attention
Mark Wensel
@profwagstaff-42 | www.profwagstaff.com
Apparently, I love deadlines. I love the “whooshing” sound they make as they go by.
Just movies again this year. I looked at a list of albums of the year and found out that I didn’t pay attention at all. My favorite album of the year was actually from 2011. Oh well.
Best Movies: Wreck-It Ralph, Lee’s Adventure, Holy Motors, Moonrise Kingdom, Beauty Is Embarrassing
What I was looking forward to most in 2012: Besides getting a new job, it would probably be The Hobbit. Peter Jackson can do no wrong, and The Lord Of The Rings is, debatably, the best trilogy ever put on film. (I’m still not sure if it beats the original Star Wars).
Thing I was most disappointed by in 2012: 48 frames per second. The way Peter Jackson talked it up, you would think that it was going to take the world by storm and make film a BRAND NEW MEDIUM! Instead, it took a $150,000,000 movie and made it look like it was filmed on Alec Baldwin’s models in Beetlejuice. I don’t know how this BRAND NEW MEDIUM! did it, but the effects looked really cheap. Oh, and note how The Hobbit is not on my Best of list for 2012. I really liked the movie but, sadly, it didn’t live up to the hype that I put on it. Hopefully, part two will be better.
Thing I’m most looking forward to in 2013: Somehow, Smaug. Yes, the first movie was a bit of a letdown, but there was one scene that absolutely was NOT a letdown: Gollum. Peter knew that everyone was waiting for it, so he put everything into it and it was amazing. I’m hoping that the Smaug scenes are the same in the next installment.
Mark Wensel writes “My Top 5” for Forces of Geek
Allison Krumwiede
@allison_k | www.allisonkrumwiede.com
Best Movies: Cabin In The Woods, The Dark Knight Rises, ParaNorman
Best TV Shows: Once Upon A Time. So many Lost Easter eggs…guhh…
Blue Ray/DVD: The Avengers
Best Songs: fun. – “Some Nights” and Phillip Phillips – “Home” (I blame the London Olympics for that…)
Best Albums: Blur’s Parklive and Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Peter Jackson did what George Lucas should have done: released the prequels when all the actors from the previous trilogy were still alive and able to pull of looking “younger” (how you doin’ Elijah Wood…) and also the special effects weren’t a complete drastic change from puppets and stop motion to just using 99% green screen. Also, Wreck-It Ralph. Along with 2010’s Tangled, Disney is releasing amazing films again. Here’s to hoping for another Disney Renaissance!
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Pixar’s Brave. The animation was gorgeous, (Merida’s hair was tear-worthy), the music was great, but the story just seemed so-so. It’s hard to say that though because Pixar takes years to make films and I would die to work there (um, hello, they have a cereal bar?), but it wasn’t bringing me to the edge of my seat.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Monsters University
Allison Krumwiede is an accomplished illustrator and sometime contributor of Forces of Geek. She loves all things all things River Phoenix and Daniel Faraday related.
Robert Jaz
@RobertJaz | www.RobertJaz.com | https://www.facebook.com/RobertJazMysteryBox
Best Movies: Casa de Mi Padre, The Avengers, Hotel Transylvania, Dark Shadows
Best TV Shows: Community, Modern Family, Sherlock (BBC), The Neighbors
Best Books (fiction): Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy (ongoing series), Nancy Is Happy: Complete Dailies 1943-1945
Best Books (non-fiction): Black Cracker by Josh Alan Friedman
Best Video Game: Skyrim, Halo Anniversary
Best Albums: CAN: Lost Tapes, Across 110th Street (2CD 40th Anniversary Edition) by Bobby Womack, Locked Down by Dr. John, Rebirth by Jimmy Cliff, Bollywood Steel Guitar by various artists (Sublime Frequencies label), Here Comes the Meter Man (box set) by The Meters, Welcome 2 My Nightmare by Alice Cooper, Story of Blue Beat 1960 / Story of Blue Beat 1961: Best in Ska (volumes 1&2), Observator by The Raveonettes
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Godzilla Legends, Godzilla: The Half-Century War
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Eclipse Series 37: When Horror Came to Shochiku (The X from Outer Space; Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell; The Living Skeleton; Genocide) (Criterion Collection)
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: El Vez Christmas Tour, Obama re-elected
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Lost too many talented celebrity greats
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Increased creative projects
Robert Jaz writes “The Mystery Box” for Forces of Geek
Ryan Jackson
Best Movies: The Dark Knight Rises
Best TV Shows: The Walking Dead
Best Books (fiction): The Gentleman’s Hour by Don Winslow
Best Video Game: Assassin’s Creed III
Best Albums: Silver Age by Bob Mould
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Prometheus Blu-ray
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Pacific Rim, NOS4A2: A Novel by Joe Hill, Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Ryan Jackson is a former columnist for Forces of Geek
Alex C. Telander
@Bookbanter | www.alexctelander.com | bookbanter.wordpress.com
Best Movies: Moonrise Kingdom
Best TV Shows: BBC’s The Hour
Best Books (fiction): 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
Best Books (non-fiction): Prague Winter by Madeline Albright
Best Video Game: The Walking Dead
Best Albums: The Hobbit Soundtrack
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: A Game of Thrones Graphic Novel
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: San Francisco Giants World Series
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012: The big book releases from some authors who haven’t released in a while.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012: Amazon
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013: Stores and companies holding their own against Amazon.
Alex C. Telander is a contributor and Book News Editor for Forces of Geek
Ellen Waddell
@ellenstarbuck | https://youngwombs.wordpress.com | https://ellenwaddell.tumblr.com
Best Movies: Killer Joe, Looper, Safety Not Guaranteed, Hysteria, Cabin in the Woods, Lawless, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Raid: Redemption, The Hunger Games, Damsels in DistressBest TV Shows: Community, Girls, Network
Best Video Game: Skyrim
Best Songs: Libraries by Yellow Ostrich, Oceans by Puscifer, Love is Blindness by Jack White, Too Close by Alex Clare, Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine
Best Albums: Idler Wheel (Fiona Apple), Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra (Amanda Palmer), Tramp (Sharon Van Etten)
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Batwoman Elegy
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The Avengers, running a half marathon,
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: The Avengers, the pie I had after running a 6 mile cross country
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Star Trek Into Darkness, going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival again, Les Misérables, The Great Gatsby, writing a screenplay
Ellen Waddell writes both “Letters To Hollywood” and an upcoming Comic Book review column for Forces of Geek
