2014 in Review Final Post--Fiancée of the Year

Love is a Many Splendored Thing
I wasn't sure what to make my final post reviewing 2014 discuss. Then I realized it made sense talk about my favorite person in the world whom this year became my finacée and in my opinion is the best fiancée currently in existence. Should you have your own fiancée feel free to disagree, but if you lack one go ahead and tell all your friends I've got the best one. Now, for those of you who don't read the blog enough to already know, here is the Fiancée of the year!


Fiancée of the Year--Samii

There are many people who have finacées, but none beat Samii! I met her in October of 2011 and as of March 2014 we are officially engaged to be married. We have not yet set a precise date but are thinking probably sometime in 2015 or 2016. Samii is someone that is extremely friendly, caring, smart, and also pretty! Oh, and she's an awesome singer, which makes going to karaoke fun because I can turn to people and go, "Yeah, that's my lady," when she impresses others with her voice.

Despite being so incredible she is quite humble and never brags about herself, hence my choosing to do so. Should you not be in love with someone I would recommend it, because love is a great feeling, and my love for Samii is why I thought it made sense to have my concluding post of 2014 be about her and how amazing she is.Having spent these last few years with Samii I know I want to spend all future ones with her, and with her by my side 2015 will surely rock! I hope you had a superb year too and enjoy our entry into the new one!

2014 In Review--Best Writer-Arist

Jack of All Trades, and Master of All!
Earlier on in these posts I talked about my favorite comic-book writers, artists, and colorists. What about those creators who do it all though? The ones who are the writer of their comic, do the art, and if it is in color cover that aspect too? Such a person is indeed quite talented and a rarer entity. This year there was one writer-artist I found myself especially impressed by...

Writer-Artist of the Year--Michel Fiffe

Michel Fiffe is an incredible creator. Starting out a smaller-name and relatively less-known except among some independent comic-readers, Fiffe has been increasing in stature lately thanks to his contributions to various titles (writing for Marvel, a segment in "Captain Victory", and more), but he is especially drawing eyes for his stellar title, "Copra" which I gave a beaming review to for the release of its first trade-paperback, and it continues to be a stellar title as we head into the next year.

Fiffe has continuously put-out great work, be it with him as just the writer, artist, or doing what I feel he especially excels at--being both. I encourage you to seek out his work in the new year as you will definitely be impressed. I am quite sure Fiffe is a name that we will be seeing a lot of in the future!

2014 In Review--The Best Video-Game

Gaming the day away
I don't play video-games as much as I did when I was younger, but I still get some quality game-time in on occasion. I tried out a number of titles this year on my consoles, but found there was only one addicting enough that I would play it a bunch, stop, and then feel a strong urge to play it again--and this one wasn't even on a PlayStation or Xbox!

Best Video-Game of 2014--Hearthstone

Before you argue with me, I am fully aware that Hearthstone was playable back in 2013 during a beta stage, that said, it officially was released in March of this year, so hush-up if you have any protests! Also, I played Hearthstone mostly on the iPad which was available a tad later, so for me my Hearthstone enjoyment didn't really go into full-swing until late-April and early-May or so. I've written about Hearthstone before, be it the "base" game or the first expansion/adventure, and find that whenever I start to get tired of playing with the virtual cards, something happens to draw me back in.

For example, I hadn't been playing it as much lately, thinking that due to the current number of cards everyone appeared to be using the same decks, with little variation in strategy. Thankfully this issue was recently remedied by the release of a whole bunch of new cards that can dramatically shake-up games and has Hearthstone feeling fresh again. Just when I thought I was mostly done with the title, they came out with these"Goblins vs Gnomes" cards and went and drew me back in!

The changes the new cards bring aren't so dramatic as to utterly change "Hearthstone", they just help it keep feeling new and exciting--with that same sense of discovery I had when I first started playing and gaining new cards. I've put a lot of time into Hearthstone, and consistently enjoyed it throughout the year. For that reason, it is in my opinion the best game of 2014.

2014 In Review--Weirdest Comic

Getting Strange
There are good comic, there are bad comics, and then are weird comics. Weird comics can be good or bad, although that tends to be ancillary to the point--the point in this case being the creation of something incredibly bizarre. My weirdest comic of 2014 is a title that started out strangely and has continued to be a surreal ride. Then again, with as provocative a name as it has, would you expect anything less?

Weirdest Comic of 2014--Sex

Writer Joe Casey tiled his comic an act, "Sex". With that simple action he already sets us up with many questions. After all, most of us often think about sex, enjoy sex, talk about sex, and so forth, so what is "Sex" about? That's a good question, as I and other people still aren't really sure.

"Sex" is a comic about a man named Simon who is a billionaire that prowled the streets of Saturn City as the "Armored Saint", spending years fighting crime. Then, his assistant died and he promised to stop, with this comic portraying all that happened after. Clearly full of pent-up rage and sexual energy, Simon has been shown to us struggling to adjust to a "normal" personal and professional life. Meanwhile, we see various crime-elements of the city that had once struggled to survive the Iron Saint now flourishing and unsure what to do with their newfound freedom to operate. Oh, and a lot of characters have quite graphic (at least for a non-adult title) sex. That's basically the plot, but an assortment of other odd things occur too as this book is loaded with subplots--then again, maybe the subplots are the actual true plot?

I say that the sub-plots could be the main story as I still am not sure just what the specific tale is which Casey is trying to tell. Is this a post-modern super-hero yarn that happens to lack any dressed-up heroes? Is it just a weird statement-comic about how people who dress-up (or did dress-up) in exotic personas probably have some unique sexual kinks? Is it just an excuse for Joe Casey to give artist Piotr Kowlalski cool stuff to draw? I don't know, but it does make for a comic that is quite weird.

As I said, a title being good doesn't really matter for this award, but I wanted to point out that "Sex" is actually quite fun, so it does have that going for it also. Any enjoyment aside this is still quite the strange title, and that's why it is my weirdest comic of 2014.

2014 In Review/Television Tuesday--My Guilty Pleasure of the Year

I've Got a Confession To Make...

We all have guilty pleasures. Those things we are embarrassed to admit--even to friends and loved ones--that we enjoy. I like anyone else have guilty pleasures too. My guiltiest pleasure in 2014 however was something that isn't necessarily bad for my health, but could be considered bad in terms of lacking almost any educational or useful-for-my-time value. Yes, I'm talking about reality television, specifically on TLC and Food Network.

Junk Television at It's Finest

You can judge me for watching trashy reality television, I don't care. Okay, I do, but I'm still not going to stop. I just love watching restaurants see how their employees are behaving awfully on "Mystery Diners," or viewing Americans with a foreign love struggling with the decision to get married or not on "90 Day Fiance". I know often the shows stage scenes, stretch the truth, or otherwise engage in activities that make for, "Good T.V." but as I said, I just don't care. I just love watching people struggle to make a dish where all the ingredients start with the letter, "G," on, "Guy's Grocery Games," or viewing a man and his five wives figure out what to do about their house on, "My Five Wives."

It is something that I should perhaps be ashamed of, that with all the good, smart television out there I often still love to watch the most junky absurd fare. I find two short folk raising their kids on, "The Little Couple" sweet and fun to watch though. I work hard to stay edumacated an' smurt by looking at world events online, reading a newspaper now-and-then, or catching up on various broadcasts. I just also really like to watch people on a cooking show where you are encouraged to sabotage your opponents (It's called, "Cutthroat Kitchen," for those of you who are curious).

At the end of the day we should do what makes us happy as long as it doesn't hurt ourselves or anyone else. Therefore, watching trashy reality television on TLC and The Food Network may not be the smartest of most life-improving thing I can do, but we all need a little bit of our guilty pleasures now and then.

2014 In Review--My Favorite Album, Or Lack Thereof

Pleasing Sounds
Last year there were a number of albums I greatly enjoyed listening to. I liked Kanye West's strange minimalist-packaged "Yeezus" and Camera Obscura had a solid title too with "Desire Lines". This year what was my favorite album though? I guess there really wasn't one--at least not one that came in 2014.

Award Not Applicable

What does this mean that I can't immediately conjure up an image of my favorite album of 2014? Am I getting old and cranky, thinking all of today's music is subpar? I wouldn't say that, as there were plenty of songs I at least somewhat enjoyed this year, but to declare something the best? No, nothing actually was awesome enough for me to think of it as topping 2014.

Now, there were plenty of wonderful albums I discovered within 2014, but they didn't actually come out in this year. For that reason, I can't say something snazzy such as Girl Talk's "All Day" deserves the award as that is older at this point. Due to the constraints of only wanting to award a, "Best of 2014," to an actual album released in 2014, I guess this year we lack an actual winner. Perhaps in the future I'll discover something which came out in 2014 that is absolutely incredible, but that isn't the case today. Ain't that a shame?

2014 In Review--My Favorite Comic-Book Colorist

Important but Often Overlooked

The colorist for a comic is quite often extremely important, and even more often overlooked. I've seen it said many times that when a colorist is doing their job right you don't even know they are there. I suppose there is some truth to that, but I would argue that when a colorist goes beyond doing their job right, and in fact excels, you really notice. The person I have chosen as my colorist of the year is someone whose coloring-work has gone far and beyond what one would expect, hence being my favorite.

Colorist of the Year--Jordie Bellaire

Should you have been following my blog much lately there is one colorist you've undoubtedly seen me often reference as creating stellar work. That colorist is Jordie Bellaire. Bellaire has worked on other comics I've enjoyed such as "Deadpool" and "Venom" but this year she performed some astounding feats of coloring on a variety of titles, with two in particular standing out. The two titles were in fact also among my favorite ongoing titles of this year--"Zero" and "Moon Knight" and some of the credit for that surely goes to Bellaire. 

Whether giving us beautifully muted colors in "Moon Knight" except for our titular hero whom Bellaire left a stark white, or helping create a somewhat-unified feel to "Zero" despite it having a different artist every issue, Bellaire did some amazing stuff. I usually don't notice a great colorist on a comic unless it really is crazy-good, so clearly Bellaire was mind-blowing in her work, and that is why she is my colorist of the year.

2014 In Review--My Favorite Comic-Book Artist

This One is Always Tough

It is always tough to say an absolute favorite when it comes to comic-book art. It is tricky because so many people create such a variety of incredible works in different styles. Who is to say that Declan Shalvey's work on Moon Knight is any better or worse than Frank Quitely's incredible contribution to "Pax Americana"? Seriously, all art is subjective, but then again, so are my lists that declare what I thought was the "best" of anything in 2014. With that in mind, and having chose to limit myself to just picking one artist I now will declare my thoughts.

Comic-Artist of the Year: Fiona Staples.

Fiona Staples is a beast. I did not really know of her work at all until I started reading "Saga", and once you enjoy that title it makes you go, "How did I not hear about this person before?" I mean yes, plenty of the joy of "Saga" comes from the masterful writing of Brian K. Vaughn, but if it weren't for Staples the book would not be nearly as awesome as it is. "Saga" is a strange space-based comic, and Staples has never met a surreal-looking alien she couldn't draw the Hell out of. Whether showing our main characters with their horns or wings, a spaceship made out of a tree, designing the strange costumes for actors on a virtual space-opera, or otherwise being incredible, Staples has made it so that anytime a new issue of Saga comes out I know it will be as much a feast for the eyes as it is good brain-food too. This is why Staples is my comic-artist of the year. I look forward to seeing more of her work on "Saga" and enjoying the premiere arc of the reboot of "Archie" comics that she will be illustrating!

Honorable Mention: Jamie McKelvie

I know I said I would only have one artist, but come'on people, we're talking about Jamie-freaking-McKelvie here! The man turns in art like nobody's business, be it through his collaborations with Kieron Gillen or when doing his own thing such as with the strangely under-read "Suburban Glamour". Therefore, having seen McKelvie's art in "The Wicked and the Divine" this year I just had to give him a shout-out and credit for being as superb an artist as he is. Anyways, I just wanted to put that out there.

2014 In Review--My Favorite Comic-Book Writer

The Joy of Text

When reading a comic book the writer's job is obviously important. Not only do they supply the speech and narration, but if they aren't illustrating the comic they write the directions to the artist about how the comic should look too. There is a writer who this year had a number of quality titles which I consistently enjoyed enough to think of him as my best writer of 2014.

Writer of the Year--Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen is a writer who started out in video-games journalism and then later moved into writing comic books. His absolutely stellar "Young Avengers" came to a wonderful close early this year, and his writing on the title "Uber" has been superb in its portrayal of a world where super-powered beings altered the course of World War II. He also has of course been doing an incredible job on "The Wicked and the Divine" where with Jamie McKelvie illustrating the book (McKelvie also drew "Young Avengers", interestingly) we have been getting a super-enjoyable title, one which I considered to be among my favorite ongoing comics of 2014.

One thing about Gillen  that makes his writing so delightful is that unlike some other writers who have certain methods or tics which they always seem to fall victim to, Gillen can write anything, in any fashion. You wouldn't realize the man behind the pop-culture influenced "The Wicked and the Divine" was the same person writing the grim-and-gritty "Uber" because even though they are both great titles, their styles are so incredibly different it is shocking to think one mind is behind both. I love Warren Ellis, but you usually know when you're reading an Ellis comic, but with Gillen you don't automatically know it is him besides "knowing" you are reading an excellent title. For that reason of such high quality, I declare that Kieron Gillen was my favorite writer of 2014.

2014 In Review--The Food Item I Enjoyed The Most in 2014

Appetizer
Last year I found myself highly attracted to and often enjoying turkey burgers. As I have a beef allergy regular burgers were a no-go, and the food I found myself gravitating to especially heavily this year is also poultry-related. The food I am going to talk about is one I feel sometimes gets a bad rap, making it deserving of my defense. I am referring to that delightful dish known as chicken fingers.

Entree

Some people say chicken fingers are kids' food. Those people are horrible morons and if you are friends with any of them you have my full permission to slap them across the face (Note: Please do not actually assault your friends). Chicken fingers are the kind of food you bite into and say,"Damn that's delicious," about. Plus, they go great with basically any kind of sauce. You want ketchup with your chicken? Go for it! Buffalo sauce, ranch sauce, or something more exotic such as plum sauce, you may ask? That's great too, with each one giving the fingers their own unique flavor that makes each dipping option give off the impression you could be eating a completely different meal, but no, you're just eating some god-damn delicious chicken. Plus, you can get fries with chicken fingers often, which are also tasty but not the focus of my post so I will digress from that.

I think the folk who claim chicken fingers belong on the kiddie-menu mistake certain things for being childish. Just because you can eat chicken fingers without utensils that doesn't mean they are meant for babies, they are just perfect for people who want to forget about cleaning a bunch of silverware or are perhaps juggling multiple items at a sporting event, restaurant, or wherever the chicken fingers are had. The ease of eating chicken fingers is so superb it deserves a public service announcement--something along the lines of a guy sitting down and going, "Oh no, all my silverware is dirty," followed by me bursting into the room as if I were a less-obese Kool-Aid man and yelling, "It's all good muthafucka, I brought chicken fingers!" Then one of those, "The more you know" stars fly by on the screen.

Aw yeah, that's the stuff.

Chicken fingers taste good, are easy to handle, and often come with tasty fries on the side. What more could you want? Hell, they are easy to cook at home too if you desire! All of these reasons and more are why chicken fingers are the food I enjoyed most in 2014.