December 29
is the 12th anniversary of this nerdy blog, beginning all the way back
on this day in 2011
with the obligatory introductory blog post. So, Happy Birthday Geeky
Nerfherder!
The aim of the blog has always been to showcase inspiring, cool art and pop
culture geekery, from poster art, comic art, book and magazine cover art to
the artworks on view from the latest new contemporary exhibitions, and the
artists that create them.
After all the years I've been doing this blog, it's still a lot of fun to
curate; discovering the latest cool art, cover art, print releases and gallery
shows, showcasing art from some of my favourite artists in my long running '
Artist Spotlight' series, and starting each day with an
#ArtOfTheDay post - something random from the Geeky Nerfherder image archives.
I'm active on the socials and also sometimes post bonus content there, such
as quicky reviews of the latest movies I have seen, and any
nerdy #NewSwag that I add to my collection as well. The
socials continue to gain new followers, especially Pinterest, Tumblr and
Instagram, even with the algorithms doing their damndest to limit any
visibility, with the number of followers in the thousands! WOW! Thank you so
much!! It's always humbling and amazing to know that other people are also
enjoying the artworks I'm posting and hopefully discovering new favourite
artists along the way as well. But if you’re not already following, here are
the links to my social profiles where I post to:
You can also help support the blog by using these Affiliate Links when
shopping online:
So that's another year almost done and dusted! There's still been enough
good stuff to escape into a geeky and nerdy bubble with, despite everything
2023 has conjured up, and here are a few of my favourites from the past year
below.
***
GeekCons:
Days out to the various UK Geek Cons and events this year have been a lot of
fun; from attending every day of 'Star Wars Celebration' in London in April, to my regular
jaunts to the MCM London Comic Cons and more, meeting guests from my favourite
shows, games and movies as well as some of my favourite authors too, plus
sitting on some cool Q&A panels and catching up with familiar faces once
again.
I love away days to these events, whether it's been down on my own or with
friends, they've been a blast and hope to continue these nerdy days out in
2024!
***
TV & Movies:
I don't go to the cinema as much as I did pre-Covid, but I still managed to
get out to the big screen for the likes of 'The Creator', 'John Wick: Chapter 4', 'Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning- Part One' and 'A Haunting In Venice', as well as catching a few movies that I wanted to see but missed at the
cinema but either bought the bluray (on steelbook of course!) or caught on
streaming like 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' and 'Nimona'.
There have also been some awesome shows this year as well. From the live action
adaptation of 'The Last Of Us'; to top quality animated shows like
'Blue Eye Samurai' and 'Scavengers Reign'; to the return of
'Doctor Who' with the four specials as well as the regeneration of a
brand new Doctor; to the new 'Star Wars' series 'Ahsoka' and the
second season of animated shorts anthology, 'Star Wars: Visions'.
Here is a list of movies and shows that I enjoyed this year.
Click
images for trailers.
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***
Books:
Once again I managed to hit the number of books / audiobooks in my
GoodReads Reading Challenge this year, getting through over 50, with still having a couple of
reads/listens ongoing!
I love my stories, and read deep rather
than wide, usually within the realms of fantasy and science fiction, and also enjoy dipping into historical and mythical retellings and reimaginings
inspired by myths, legends and folklore. Some of my favourite reads
these days have been stories that break away from the traditional SFF tropes
and trends; tales inspired by cultures, mythologies and perspectives other
than my own (I am a white European cis male), that often delves deep into
the world building and lore of these fantastical worlds, filled with
interesting and engaging characters. In recent years I've discovered quite a
few new authors and series as a result, some of which have become future
instant reads. You can see my star ratings and some of my reviews for the
books I've read at my
GoodReads profile.
Once again I've really enjoyed what I've read / listened to this year. No
DNF's (Did Not Finish) this year, just some outstanding reads like; 'Lies We Sing To The Sea' by Sarah Underwood (who I met at not one, but two Geek Cons this year!!),
'The Book That Wouldn't Burn' by Mark Lawrence (who I also got to
meet at a Geek Con this year!), 'Ink Blood Sister Scribe' by Emma
Törzs, 'Impossible Creatures' by Katherine Rundell and 'Light Bringer' by Pierce Brown (some of my favourite reads of the year), plus
discovering brand new authors that I'll definitely be watching out for in
the future. All have made it a joy to get lost within the pages of this
year's reading list.
Here's a list of the books, graphic novels and audiobooks that I've
read / listened to throughout the year.
***
Art / Illustration:
Another year full of gorgeous art goes by, and sifting out art created
through prompts in generative AI software that has unfortunately flooded the internet
and the socials, there are way too many fantastic pieces created by
talented artists to even consider singling out just one or two.
Here
are just a few of my favourites (in no particular order and only really
represents the tip of a very large iceberg of awesome art) from the many
print releases, cover artwork and gallery exhibitions throughout 2023
(no AI art or NFTs).
***
Gaming:
I love RPG (Role Playing Games) video games, immersing myself in a
single player, story driven, action adventure game, with a vast and
deep world to explore, puzzles to solve, some good NPCs (Non Playable
Characters) to interact with, good gameplay, and a compelling
protagonist that develops over the course of the game.
I've been slowly transitioning from playing on consoles to PC gaming,
as I'd rather not be restricted to just a specific choice of of
hardware when there are so many games to pick from and sometimes at
some great deals at stores like
GOG,
Steam,
CD Keys etc. But
as I adore RPG gaming - a genre known for being not having exactly the
shortest of games, along with life sometimes getting in the way, I
haven't played many games this year. But it's definitely a case of
quality over quantity, and I've really enjoyed both games I've played
this year; '
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty' and '
Baldur's Gate III'. Two top level RPG's with different gameplay styles, but both having fantastic storytelling and characters to
interact with and a large and in depth environment to explore, things that I adore in a game!
Click image for trailers.
***
So there you have it, a list of some of my favourite nerdy things from
2023. As always, thanks again to everyone who drops by the blog, and
follows me on the socials, making 'The Geeky Nerfherder' a lot of fun
to curate! Here's to another year of nerdiness!
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