Devin’s Top 12 For 2012

2012 was awesome. I don’t care what anyone else says because 2012 was just awesome. There were disappointments, and more than a few horrible things that happened this year but they don’t belong on this list and they don’t dampen a great year.

I’d like to say that this list is my list. That is I don’t pretend to be an all knowing source. I did not see every movie, or video game, or book that came out this year. This list is not meant to be comprehensive in that sense. Instead it is meant to reflect my experiences this year. What follows are the things that were the most important to me in 2012.

Then I’d like to say that I worked on a ton of shit this year. All the video content. All the podcasts, and reviews were fun. And I wrote a damn book. I mean wow. Now that stuff doesn’t belong on this list. This list is about what I enjoyed about what others have done.

Before we begin – honorable mentions to Fringe, The Hunger Games(maybe my soundtrack of the year), Being Human, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Hyperion.

Favorite Movie of the Year:

The Avengers

It’s hard to believe I was worried during the pre-release of the Avengers. The trailers just weren’t really doing it for me. But like I said I shouldn’t have been worried. I’d thoroughly enjoyed every Marvel produced movie yet and this one was being written and directed by Joss Whedon.

I think I was worried because of what this film would mean to me. In 2008 Iron Man came out in theaters. I saw the trailer and knew I had to see it. So I did and I loved it. Later that year I saw The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton which is a great movie as well. When I saw Tony Stark show up at the end of The Hulk I knew something special was happening. I ran to the library and asked where I could find the Avengers books. I came out of the library with a smattering of volumes including a retelling of the Avengers origin story. Shortly after that I began my descent into full geekery. There’s more to the story but this is not the place for it.

Needless to say Marvel’s plan to create a series of films culminating in The Avengers is inadvertently what lead me to asking Tim if he wanted to make a website with me. Which is crazy for me to think because I can’t imagine my life going any other way. OK so all that aside: I don’t think I need to say that I loved the film. But I did. It was more than I could have hoped for. I also love it for just the ballsiness of it. I mean nothing like The Avengers has ever happened in cinema before. And I love that Joss Whedon is finally getting the widespread renown that he deserves. And I love that his success is not changing his projects, well it sorta is cause there’s that whole Avengers 2 thing, but he’s still writing comics, and webseries, and making independent stuff like Much Ado. Anyway even without all of the Avengers significance to me it would still be one of my favorite films of the year.

Why S.H.E.I.L.D. will either make or break the Avengers franchise

You’ve probably heard that Agent Coulson will be starring in the S.H.E.I.L.D TV show helmed by Joss Whedon and Jed Whedon. This was troubling news to me. Don’t get me wrong I love Phil as much as the next guy – his death was among the most emotional moments in Avengers.

Upon hearing the news I immediately asked the question any rational person would ask, why is Coulson alive?

The way in which they decide to treat Agent Coulson’s return will ultimate decide for better or worse the fate of the entire franchise Marvel has tried and succeeded at building over the past 6 years.

A Little Something For the Ladies – Get Geek Edition

Carrying on from the Good Girls Gone Geek tradition of posting lists of hot people here I am. Recently the girls asked for suggestions for their British Invasion edition. Foolishly I replied. Here is the conversation that followed:

Me: like anyone from the batman movies right?

Them: with the possible exception of Michael Caine

Me: what? Why wouldn’t you include him. He is one of the most attractive men in the series! #notevenjoking

Them: Ummmmmm….no.

Me: Guess I’ll just have to make my own list then.

So here we are. Get Geek’s list of the hottest men around. There is a theme here, see if you can catch it! I will do my best to explain why these men are so attractive, but forgive me if I’m not super descriptive as I do not spend time studying the male figure for it’s intricacies.

I was in Titanic, bitches!

Martin Jarvis. Yep, he was in the Titanic, and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But just look at that silver hair. That jaw line. The way he wears his shirt all the way buttoned up. Definition of smokin’.

Timothy’s Thoughts on Angel Season 5 (and the entire series)

Over the past while I have been watching and giving my thoughts on the show Angel, which is a spinoff of the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I just finished the 5th and final season, so I’ll be giving my thoughts on that, and the entire show in the text below.

It’s All Over

Right after I finished this season, I went back and watched the first episode of Buffy, just to see the characters at the beginning. It’s amazing to see how Cordelia was a whiny popular girl, Angel was a complete stranger, Fred was a helpless captive, Gunn was a gangster, and just how different all the characters have become. I think the characters in Buffy/Angel are some of the best examples of dynamic characters in any media.

He literally has one facial expression

The reason I have a section called It’s All Over is because for me, Buffy is actually over. Timeline wise, this is the last thing that is put out in the form of television. I probably won’t read the comic continuations of the story so it’s the last I’ll see of these characters.

Fred/Illiria

I think that easily the best part of the season was Illyria. I thought that Fred’s death was done perfectly, and I wanted Fred and Westley to ship from the beginning so it really hit me emotionally. Then Illyia jumps in, and the thing with Holtz, and maaaaaannn that was a HEEELLLLAAA tight story arc.

Ah man look at those burning blue eyes

Another thing to bring up is Amy Acker’s god damn acting. I completely believed the changing between the two characters, and everything from her voice to her eye movement is just perfect. One more thing about Fred, why does her Texas accent just go away? Devin said this isn’t true but I AM RIGHT.

I said before that I wouldn’t read any Angel comic probably, but if there’s a series centered on her I will probably check it out.

Note: I also read that there was one centered on Spike being a puppet like in the episode “Smile Time” and JESUS I would read that so hard. 

The Finale

Overall I think that this was a GOOD season, but it was not GREAT (probably good.4). I remember I was on the penultimate episode, and I was thinking “How the BALLS are they going to close this all up in a single episode????” and boy DID THEY. It was just really COOL to start with, just with them all going after single members of the club, and them teaming up with Lindsey (and killing him) was very interesting. But beyond all the strong points it has, nothing sticks out to me as much as the Westley/Illyria scene. I loved how she became Fred just to comfort him, and on that note it was just nice to see her gradually start to care for him. Then there’s the part where she simultaneously turns back into Illyria and CRUSHES HIS ENTIRE HEAD WITH A SINGLE PUNCH. All though the head animation was somewhat laughable, it was the perfect way to show what she was feeling.

So overall I think that Angel is a terrific show that I would recommend to any Buffy fan, and I rate the five seasons as follows.

10 Points a Post-Avengers Whedon made at SDCC’12

Joss Whedon exploded from being a cult icon to being the writer/director of the third largest movie of all time. Chances are if you’re reading this blog you already were in love with Mr. Whedon, but now he’s know by a much wider audience. We now know that Joss will be working on Avengers 2, and the Avengers universe TV show for marvel, and that is all very exiting, but he didn’t talk about that at SDCC. What he did talk about are his comics, and smaller projects as well as some of his wisdom.

Buffy comics will continue to spread

As far as the main Buffy and Angel comics go Joss will continue to oversee them and do the high level writing. This means he’s not actually writing the scripts.

Joss also said that Willow and Spike mini-series will be coming soon. He would also like to make more Fray comics. Now that’s news I can get behind. I loved Fray and after season 8 we see that she is very tied in with the Buffy verse.

7 Key Moments You Missed from the Firefly 10th Anniversary Panel

I’m not the biggest firefly fan out there certainly however I have seen it all, and read all of the comics(I think). With that said I do love firefly and I was very exited to see what the 10th anniversary panel at SDCC was going to be. It did not disappoint, but your lives our busy, I know that. That’s why I’ve compiled this list of the best moments funny or insightful. Without further ado:

The entire cast was there, excluding Gina Tores, Ron Glass, Jewel Staite, and Morena Baccarin unfortunately. Joss Whedon, Tim Minear, and Jose Molina were there representing the creators and writers.

How did the idea form?

Firefly began in Joss’ mind as a piece of sci-fi that would feel real, like a piece of history. He wanted to tell a immigration story, but couldn’t do it without spaceships.

6 Things you missed from the SDCC Fringe Panel

Comic con maybe long over, but I’m just now getting around to watching some of the panels that I wanted to see(I was out of town during, and I’m really behind on everything). Add to that, that I’ve now seen seasons 1-4 of Fringe and I’m pretty exited about their last season.

This panel was fun to watch, though if you’re pressed for time I’ll tell you the highlights so that you aren’t missing out. I’ll try too keep spoilers to a minimum so if you haven’t seen season 4 yet don’t worry. But you should watch it.

1. The biggest lesson is “to come”

This is not only a hilarious moment, but is also a tease for this season. Watch how Lance Reddick is shaking his head no at the audience.

This is a good a time as any to mention that everyone in the cast(besides Blair Brown who couldn’t make it) clearly wanted to be there, and were having fun with it. Also Anna Torv’s real accent is really hot.

The Ultimate Crazy Anime Descriptions?! Japan Power at the MAX

Last time we looked at some pretty crazy anime. But I think this list holds the craziest of the crazies. Make sure you stay till the end.

Gungrave

Brandon Heat returns from the grave to defeat Millennion, a mafia organization with hordes of undead enforcers. Packing his handguns and a coffin full of heavy weapons, Heat won’t stop until Millennion’s leader, his former best friend, is destroyed.

I chose this one because it sounds kind of awesome. It sounds SUPER cliched(I mean of course the bad guy used to be his best friend) but it sounds like it could be dumb fun too. I mean come on the dude’s name is Brandon Heat. That’s just bad ass.

It was disturbingly hard to find a safe for work picture with safe search ON

Queen’s Blade: The Exiled Virgin

Based on the Queen’s Blade series of visual combat books, this action-packed anime series centers on the ferocious — and often bloody — tournament of women warriors held once every four years to determine who will become queen of the land. High-born Reina enters the contest despite her inexperience and is aided by veteran fighter Listy. They fend off dangerous beasts and treacherous opponents to reach their goal.

I love that these are based on “visual combat books”. What does that even mean? I imagine they teach people how to fight in revealing armor that hugs your…curves very tightly. The reviews assure me that pretty much the only reason to watch this is to see busty anime women fight, and occasionally lose their armor(if it can be called that) in the process. Apparently good animation too, they payed attention.

Timothy’s Thoughts on Angel Season 4

In case you somehow hadn’t realized, we here at Get Geek loooooooooooooooove Buffy The Vampire Slayer and all associated media. Devin, being a Geek 2 or so levels higher than me, has seen all of Buffy and Angel, and while convincing me quite a while ago to watch Buffy, I only recently got around to starting to watch Angel. My report for the fart(h) season is: Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh pretty good…. I will elaborate below in three main parts.

Connor (Reprise)

In my season 3 thoughts I talked about how much I hated Connor, and how I feared that he would only get worse. I am hear to say that he gets mostly better! I think after he realizes how much he ballsed up with Angel, he kinda matures a little bit. He kind of gets better through the first half of the season, then has a gradual decline for the second half (along with the show itself). Most of it revolves around Cordelia and his obsession with her, and I think that if she hadn’t banged him then he would have been great.

Crazy Anime Descriptions?! Go!!!!

A couple weeks ago near midnight me and Tim were browsing Netflix. The anime section caught my eye, and I started reading all of the crazy titles and descriptions. There’s a certain magic to anime descriptions that you won’t find any where else. Without further ado, the craziest anime descriptions on Netflix, GO!

FLCL

A rock ‘n’ roll psychedelic romp often compared to Yellow Submarine, Fooly Cooly (or FLCL) is a mind-bending visual rocket ride using anime aliens as allegory for teen angst. The protagonist, 12-year-old Naota, has his life changed forever when he’s run over by a guitar-wielding woman on a Vespa. The woman, Haruko, causes a horn to grow from Naota’s forehead, but that’s just the beginning of adventures for this slightly cynical, lovesick hero.

I may have to check this one out. There are only 6 episodes and according to a netflix review it, “references Led Zeppelin, Lupin the III, The Ramones and Richenbacher guitars. The characters break the fourth wall.” I like Led Zeppenin, and Lupin the III, those other 2 not so much but even if it ends up not being my cup of tea, I’ll only have watched 6, 20 minute episodes.