Friday, December 29, 2023

The Geeky Nerfherder 12th Anniversary & My 2023 Favourites

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.


***

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).

by Matt Ferguson
by Jake Kontou
by Morgan Girvin
by Alex Hovey
by Amien Juugo
by Alex Hovey
by Ise Ananphada
by Krzysztof Domaradzki
by Tom Roberts
by Tom Roberts
by Galen Dara
by Micaela Alcaino
by Ivan Belikov
by Micaela Alcaino
by Jae Lee & June Chung
by Tom Bagshaw
by Alexandra Verhoven
by Nikolas Tower
by Luke Martin
by Chie Yoshii
by Tran Nguyen
by Leilani Bustamante
by Audrey Kawasaki
by Casey Weldon
by Mahdieh Farhadkiaei
by Chiaki Akada

***

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!

No comments:

Post a Comment