Lego, Growing Up, and a lot of RPGs: A Review of 2014

If you spent a lot of time watching the news this year, then you might be like me in thinking that 2014 was a pretty awful year. With Ebola rife in western Africa, rebels in eastern Ukraine, the rise of Islamic State, and some incredibly tragic incidents involving planes and ferries, 2014 will probably go down in the history books as quite frankly one of the worst years in the history of everything. Everything, except pop culture. Despite the world being a terribly bleak place to live right now going into 2015, the ways to escape our dreary reality this year were quite spectacular. Some of the most refreshing video games to come out in a long time came out this year. And if you were a film buff, you were treated to some truly awesome movies. To make it more fun, I managed to capture some of it along the way with this blog which is now a year old... for those you who care about that sort of thing. In the same vein as the first post on this blog; which was also a year in review post, I will be highlighting what I believe to be the best of this year in some slightly unconventional categories. If you have no idea what that might entail, you can read the previously mentioned post here.

Best Picture

Winner: Boyhood

Ok, so maybe we're starting with something a little more conventional this year. But as I said in my review of this masterpiece, it's a fantastic film and I cannot sing its praises enough. Watching Boyhood was an amazing experience (getting to participate in a QA with Ellar Coltrane after watching was the cherry on top :) ), and like I alluded to in my review, I imagine that this is what it's like to understand that you're watching history being made. A film that has a perfect score on Metacritic (which is rare), I truly hope that in the upcoming award season it gets the accolades it deserves. I have to also point out that this film has been placed first on several high profile (read: far more legit) film critics lists for top films of the year.

Runner Up: Imitation Game

A well done and witty film about a personal hero of mine, this was another great film. Not to mention that the cast is perfect. It's in theatres now if you haven't seen it.

Most Awesome Movie

Winner: Lego Movie

Pardon the pun, but everything (about this film) is awesome. Also apologies for using the word awesome too much in this blurb. This category was tough, what with Guardians of The Galaxy being so great, How Train Your Dragon 2 being as good as the original, and even the ending of the flawed Hobbit Trilogy being a film that I could watch again and again. But the attention to detail is awesome, the dialogue is awesome, and the plot is (wait for it) awesome. With all the throw away lines and another perfect cast of both good guys and villains, the Lego Movie is movie that was both hilarious and inspiring. A rare film that feels actually original, something that seems harder and harder to come by these days. Truly awesome.

Awesome count: 6

Runner Up: Guardians of The Galaxy

(sorry The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)

Showing that Marvel doesn't need the Avengers to be successful, this great summer blockbuster shares a lot in common with the Lego Movie in it's combination of humour and heart. Also as I said in my review, it's great soundtrack was one that I played for weeks after.

Best RPG

Winner: Transistor

Picking a winner for category is practically impossible, simply due to the fact that the number of great "RPGs" this year is crazy. If you're wondering why I put RPG in quotes, it's because you can throw Pokemon and Borderlands into this category, despite not following normal genre conventions. Also there are a number of RPGs that aren't being considered because I haven't played them yet, such as Child of Light and Dragon Age: Inquistion. But as I explained in my review of Transistor, its world, atmosphere, characters, story, and of course soundtrack are all so fresh and fun that I wish it wasn't over all too soon. Another great game by Supergiant Games, they really out did themselves.

Runner Up: South Park: The Stick of Truth

I was tempted to give the runner up spot to Bravely Default despite the mediocre second half, but no other game had me laughing more and wanting more. It's a shame that we probably won't see another game like this one, but it's ok. Because South Park: The Stick of Truth combines some simple and fun gameplay mechanics with an amazingly fun world.

Best Non-RPG

Winner: Super Smash Bros for 3DS/Wii U

I don't think I need to explain myself here... it's Super Smash Bros.

Runner up: None

Biggest Disappointment

Winner: Sherlock series 3, episode 3

Compared to how much I loved the first two episodes in the third series, the third episode while not terrible was fairly disappointing. Sherlock's equivalent of flipping the table didn't feel like a satisfying conclusion. And while I'm excited for the mystery of Moriarty's "return", the fact that they have to use him again makes it feel like they can't enter new territory. Of course we're being told that future Sherlock will be "heart-breaking", so like the masochist that I am I more than ready (and super excited) for what is coming.

Runner Up: Newsroom season 3

The entire thing is a disappointment, except any part with Sloan or Don because they are the best characters on the whole bloody show.

Best Indie Album

Winner: The Bleachers- Strange Desires

The debut album of The Bleachers, Strange Desires was a wonderful album. At first I worried that the only song that would be worth listening to would be I Wanna Get Better. But Rollercoaster and Wake Me are equally great tracks, if not better than the first single of the album. The entire album is a treat and yet another great start for a relatively new indie band.

Runner Up: Arcade Fire- Reflektor

I'm aware that the album came out last year, but I saw them on tour in Toronto this year... one of the best shows I've ever been to. Joan of Arc is my personal favourite of this album.

Best Video Game Soundtrack

Winner: Bravely Default 

While I sing and hum the fantastic soundtrack of Transistor, Bravely Default's beautiful ballads and scores are exquisite. That and I'm a sucker for symphonic rock/metal. Seriously the battle theme and character themes are a pure pleasure to listen to

Runner Up: Transistor

Came in at very close second, it's the only game where there's a button so you can hum the soundtrack in-game. That's just how good it is.

Worst Blogger Ever

Winner: Yours Truly

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to try and update this blog more regularly. It's hard to do when you have several other things going on in your life. But this project is one that; despite it's lack of regular updates, I've enjoyed doing over the last year. I hope that 2015 will be an even better year in more ways than one, and I plan on being the best blogger... I can be. After all let's not get too ahead of ourselves here.

Happy New Year Everyone! Let's make 2015 a great one.


Bonus: Best TV Show that I still need to finish

Winner: Fargo

I know how it ends, I just need to watch it. But I keep getting distracted.

Poor Judgement Call #1: Buying Songs on Impluse

Imagine this scenario. You're listening to music at a party, maybe you've had a couple too many drinks and you think to yourself "Hey, whatever song is playing right now is THE BEST SONG EVER!" So then you proceed to Shazam the song, fail, and then either find the source of the music to try again or ask blindly to your fellow party goers "Hey, you have any idea what song this is? Because it's brilliant" (How sloppy you sound is up to your imagination.) If you're lucky you find out what this tune of the gods is, you decide to download it or buy it when you get home.

But once you've gotten the song and you've played it ad nauseam, you begin to realize that this song that you've bought/stolen is absolutely terrible. And it's not always a song that you're tired of and will like again a couple months from now, it's absolute crap. Now if you've been a pirate and managed to get this song for free then no harm done, but if you're like me and have shelled out the 99 cents or $1.29 on iTunes for the track, then you've realized you've made a pretty poor investment. Sure it seems trivial and cheap at the time, but it can really add up.

Now this just doesn't apply to drunk iTunes purchases (never thought you'd read that in the same sentence, did ya?). If you listen to Songza at work or the gym and decide a track is worth having in your library, but then you play it too much to really enjoy it, you can end feeling the same nagging regret. It's not the guilty pleasure that you sometimes have with certain songs, it's just guilt. If you don't do this then congratulations, you're not making terrible life decisions like I am. But it's something that despite telling "Future James" not to do, he manages to download an entire album of heavy metal or synthpop that really was good that one time. Stupid Future James.

Will I ever stop buying songs on impulse? Probably not.

Now have some of The National, because that's a band that's always good. 

Dwarves, Fungus Zombies, and Chiptune Music: A Review of 2013

In 2012 we had Gangham style, The Avengers, and threats of the apocalypse because some Mayans said so. So as 2013 comes to a close, it's hard to say what made this year so special, for better or worse. As every publication, podcast, blog, critic, and self-proclaimed expert in something is giving their review of the year in a "best of" or "most disappointing" format that would make cracked.com and buzzfeed smile with pride, I feel that I should do the same. As this blog is written by someone who judges everything and is a self-proclaimed expert in nothing, I couldn't pick one particular area to focus on. I could narrow it down to popular culture, but the only thing I've made easier to avoid is politics, which doesn’t exactly streamline my subject. So taking another page from the internet (with apologies again to Cracked), my review of 2013 is going to be a best of the year in a variety of categories, some you may not have considered before. Some may call this unorganized and lazy. I would agree with you and add sporadic, chaotic, and overall a borderline clusterfuck of topics.

Best movie trend:

Winner: Sequels that didn’t totally suck

If there’s one thing that I really enjoyed about movies this year is that despite the abundance of sequels that could have been absolute garbage they turned out to be great films. Now that’s not to say that they were all amazing or significantly better than their predecessors, but when its become typical for a sequel not to live up to the hype or success of its big brother(s), it was definitely a nice trend to have Iron Man 3 be better than Iron Man 2, Star Trek: Into Darkness not be a train wreck and Thor: Dark World be far more entertaining than the first chapter. Hell, Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug was even able to throw in characters that don’t exist in the book and was still better than Part One. (fact: I’m someone who likes the first movie more than I should).

While sequels aren’t always bad, there is often a stigma with them that sometimes is hard to shake. But it’s pleasant to see that studios aren’t simply coasting on what for the most part are guaranteed cash cows, they’re actually bringing them back

Honorable Mention: The Revival of the Kaiju Genre

Pacific Rim was sweet and Godzilla in 2014 is looking like a reboot in the right direction

Game of the Year

Winner: Read to find out (that’s right, I’m making you read)

To say I had a tough time picking the winner of this particular category is an understatement. I liken it to asking me to pick between my non-existent children (ok so not a good simile, but you get the idea). 2013 proved to be a great year in the gaming industry for both AAA titles and indie games alike. Bioshock Infinite was stellar, Borderlands 2 DLC was a riot, and countless other games made 2013 a great year to be a gamer. But there was one game that not only has shown that games can always push the boundaries between gameplay and ground-breaking storytelling, but truly redefined what we can get out of games. If you haven’t figured out that I’m talking about The Last of Us, then you probably don’t play games.

If you’ve played it, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t played it… what are you doing reading this? Seriously, stop right now and go get it. No I don’t care that you don’t want to spend the money, just go watch a commentary free Let’s Play (if it hasn’t already been pulled by Youtube).

P.S. it’s made me fear all forms of fungus, as if I didn’t hate mushrooms enough as it is.

Honourable Mention: Papers, Please

Glory to Arstotzka!

Game console of the Year (can't go to the PC, because it would always win)

Winner: Nintendo 3DS

Sony and Microsoft have continued to make great home console experiences, the PC continuing to be simply the best, and Nintendo’s Wii U finally having some games worth playing on it. So while some of you may think that my singing of Last of Us praises in the last topic may put toward me being somewhat of a Sony fanboy… you’d be right. But the best console hands down was surprisingly the 3DS. The sheer number of fantastic games on the system made it a great platform this year. Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem, Luigi’s Mansion, Pokemon X & Y and the new street pass games made this a fantastic gaming device and time sink. The amount of hours that I have put in on this console this year alone was well worth the price of admission.

I have friends who scoff at the idea of getting a 3DS for a variety of reasons, and all I do is nod while silently judging them and feeling sorry for them.

Honourable Mention: PC

I personally blame Steam and their sales

Best Indie Album

Winner: Absolute Zero by Little Green Cars

So I’m a fan of indie music, specifically of the folk rock variety. And while I lament the popularity of Mumford and Sons (still one of my favourite bands, but it’s not as fun when everyone else likes them too), I have found a band that I had the privilege hearing live last year and found an absolute pleasure to listen to. Little Green Cars (since there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of them) are a great Irish folk rock band and their entire album is wonderful to listen to. If you’re a fan of Indie folk rock, you have to give these guys a listen, they’re fantastic. Especially the songs Angel Owl and The John Wayne

Honourable Mention: Trouble Will Find Me by The National

One of my favourite bands and their latest album is another great release from them. The song Pink Rabbits is probably my favourite.

Best Indie Electronic Album

Winner: Endless Fantasy by Anamanguchi

I’m going to saying this is the best with a disclaimer in that you really have to like chiptune music. Also, I’m not even really sure if Anamanaguchi even counts as indie despite the lack of mainstream recognition and wikipedia saying that one of their genres is indie rock (because we can totally trust wikipedia right?). But never mind that, what matters is the entire album is amazing and I can not stop listening to it. In fact my only regret is that I didn’t know there was a Kickstarter for the album until it was released because I would have been all over it. Seriously give this one a listen, it’s amazing.

Honourable Mention: Couldn’t think of one… but it’s probably because I’ve forgotten it

With 2014 shaping up to be an interesting year with Captain America continuing Phase 2's success and Sherlock finally back on television in the first month, who knows what other amazing surprises or purely terrifying horrors await us. In fact if I were to list all the things that we have to look forward to in the upcoming year, then I’d just be saying what other people already have, and that’s no fun for anyone (especially you). All we can do is listen to those ancient words of wisdom given by an incredibly useful guide book: DON'T PANIC (I probably still won’t follow this advice anyway)

Here’s looking at you 2013, full of Dwarves, Fungus Zombies and my bankruptcy due to Steam sales. Thanks for all the fish.