It's also one year since I started this blog! Yes, The Geeky Nerfherder is 1 year old! Thanks to everyone that visits here and I hope that you enjoy my posts of pop culture geekery. Hit the jump to see a few of my favourite things from 2012.
Movies:
I can honestly say that I've enjoyed the films I've seen this year, which makes it difficult to pick an overall favourite, but for me, I would have to say my favourite film of 2012, is 'John Carter'.Why is a film that was unfairly vilified and torn to shreds in a severe bout of schadenfreude by the Hollywood media and even by Disney, it's own studio, before it was even released in cinemas, my favourite? Yes it's not a perfect piece of cinema and certainly has its flaws, but although the film wasn't a hit in the US, it did very well internationally (despite a very poor marketing campaign) and it just hit the spot for me. It recaptured the spirit of the old swashbuckling adventure films of Sinbad and the pulp sci-fi of Flash Gordon that I used to love, and I was very happy to go along for the adventure. Michael Giacchino's sweeping soundtrack score for the movie was great too and harked back to those pulp action adventure films, and is something I still listen to now. As soon as the end credits rolled, I wanted to see it again, and that's something I rarely feel after watching a movie these days - I ended up going to see it another couple of times on the big screen too, and of course I have the film on bluray now and can watch it to my heart's content!
It also got me reading the entire John Carter / Barsoom series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, that inspired a whole slew of sci-fi books and film (including Flash Gordon, Star Wars and Avatar), mostly to find out the origins of the film, and I started reading The Warlord Of Mars comic book series from Dynamite as well, all which in turn got me into the pulp action science fiction and fantasy books like that of Burroughs, Otis A Kline and Robert E Howard and inspired me enough to make me want to have a go at writing my own pulp SF&F style novel for NaNoWriMo in November. I didn't make the 50,000 word target, but I'm still tinkering away at it and will be a little project of mine in 2013.
Gaming:
Not much of a year for gaming for me this year. Not played many new games at all. Not a fan of the usual FPS or sports games that are released year after year and seem to feature in everyone's lists, I prefer my RPG / action adventure games and to get caught up and lost in the story (or mostly just get lost in my case!). The new games from this year that caught my attention were 'Journey', 'Dragon's Dogma' and 'Mass Effect 3' (and I suppose you could count the first 'Mass Effect' as part of the trilogy boxset seeing as that's new on the Playstation 3).I've enjoyed them all, which makes it difficult to choose just one, but I would have to go with 'Journey'. Despite being short, around a couple of hours or so, I've played through multiple times and each time is a complete joy, a real pleasure to playthrough. A simple but stunning looking game with an awesome soundtrack by Austin Wintory (which has been nominated for a Grammy too). If you have a Playstation 3, as it's still a PS3 exclusive, I would definitely recommend it.
Journey has been called 'an interactive parable, an anonymous online adventure to experience a person's life passage and their intersections with others'. Check out the walkthrough video below (Spoilers).
Comics:
But the title/series that I look forward to reading the most is Bryan K Vaughan and Fiona Staples' 'Saga'. A sci-fi space opera / fantasy series often billed as 'Star Wars meets A Game Of Thrones', that tells the story of two lovers from long-warring extraterrestrial races, Alana and Marko, fleeing authorities from both sides of a galactic war as they struggle to care for their newborn daughter, Hazel, who occasionally narrates the series. Something different and totally recommended!
I would also recommend both 'Wolves' and 'The Mire', short story comics written and superbly illustrated by Becky Cloonan.
Art / Illustration:
Throughout the year I've discovered so many awesome artists, mostly though Mondo, Gallery1988, Spoke Art, Bottleneck Gallery, Acidfree Gallery and many more gallery websites and through Twitter and various art blogs, that I won't even attempt to make a judgment on what my favourite print is or who my favourite artist is either!This year, I've also managed to get my hands on three Mondo prints, ('The Empire Strikes Back' and 'The Dark Knight Rises' by Olly Moss, plus JC Richard's midnight IMAX print for 'John Carter'). Considering Mondo prints sellout in mere minutes, I consider myself lucky! Overall it's been a very good year for pop culture art, and I hope it continues, so I can showcase more of the fine art and illustrations on this blog.
Soundtracks:
Been a good year for soundtracks too. Not just for movies but for video games too. As with art, I have quite a few favourites too, mostly from the movies and games I've enjoyed plus some I haven't played.Soundtrack highlights for me have been, in no particular order:
'John Carter' by Michael Giacchino
'The Dark Knight Rises' by Hans Zimmer
'The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey' by Howard Shore
'Snow White And The Huntsman' by James Newton Howard
'Prometheus' by Marc Streitenfeld & Harry Gregson-Williams
'Brave' by Patrick Doyle
'Skyfall' by Thomas Newman
'Assassin's Creed III' by Lorne Balfe
'Far Cry 3' by Brian Tyler
'Halo 4' by Neil Davidge
'Journey' by Austin Wintory
'Mass Effect 3' by Sam Hulick, Clint Mansell, Christopher Lennertz, Cris Velasco & Sascha Dikiciyan
So that's about it for 2012. Thanks once again to everyone who frequent the blog, making the first year of Geeky Nerfherder a lot of fun to do! Here's to year two, 2013 and more of the same!
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