Looks like this really is one of the only blog posts I’ll write this year!
====BOOKS====
Favourite: Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
The pleasure of seeing Tolstoy’s words on the printed page was almost tactile. I very often read for plot and distraction. With this novel, I stopped by to visit the worlds created by the characters’ voices. Yes, even the dog.
Disappointment: too few candidates!
Surprise: too few candidates!
Observations: The saddest year of reading since I bothered keeping track. I think I know what one of my 2016 Resolutions will be
====COMICS (Print)====
Favourite: THE PITIFUL HUMAN-LIZARD
Pure comic-book fun: an office-drone takes his dad’s promotional lizard costume out for nightly patrols of Toronto’s streets as a “real superhero”… and is terrible at it. Even his dojo won’t take his money for martial arts lessons that don’t stick. But a funny thing happened when he tested an off-the-books experimental drug: he can’t powers of regeneration, just like a lizard! Now he’s ready to stand alongside the real superheroes of Toronto. It’s so darn cute and sweet and earnest and funny that I hope it lasts for years.
Disappointment: I HATE FAIRYLAND
Naomi loves Skottie Young’s art, and I loved his adaptations of the Wizard of Oz, so this crazed Mad-magazine style adventure of a human girl growing old and cranky while lost in Fairyland should have been a home run…but it’s just too gross for my tastes. Nobody tell Naomi about it.
Surprise: WE STAND ON GUARD/ PREZ
WE STAND ON GUARD is a war comic about occupation, rebellion and torture…set in a future war between the USA and Canada. The Yankees have invaded us ‘Nucks with their giant war robots because we have the water they need…or, at least, the water the elites tell their people they need. Contains the single most disturbing panel in a sequence about virtual-reality interrogation that I’ll ever read (there was nothing horrible to see, but the mental imagery lingers, which is the point).
PREZ is the latest timely reboot of the crazy Joe Simon character from the 70s: a teenaged President of the USA. Beth Ross stars in an unfortunate viral video, and is elected as a write-in candidate on the official Twitter ballot – actually, it’s way funnier than that, from a policy-wonk perspective, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Her avowed enemies are Boss Smiley and the megacorps, but she has unusual allies among the disenfranchised. Like Batman, we get the Prez we deserve.
Observations: Canada is the theme of my reserve list this year: We Stand on Guard, Pitiful Human-Lizard, a returned Captain Canuck, and two volumes of the True Patriot anthology kept me up late reading.
=====COMICS(Electronic)====
Favourite: THE MASSIVE
An engrossing environmental catastrophe series about the years after the oceans rose and upended the world. The crew of the pacifist environmental activist vessel Kapital try to find out what happened to their sister ship, the Massive. It all goes a bit predictably sideways in the final volume, but I was engrossed with the story of every ex-mercenary and wide-eyed college tourist on that ship.
Disappointment: EDGE OF THE SPIDER-VERSE
I bought these alternate-reality tales of Spider-Man for a single reason: Spider-Gwen. That issue was fantastic. The rest are dreck…senselessly gross and ridiculous.
Surprise: SHE-HULK
Charles Soule only had 12 issues with Jennifer Walters and Patsy Walker, but they were extraordinary. She-Hulk tries to help Doctor Doom’s son defect to America, and defends Captain America against charges of treason…all while uncovering a larger mystery. Terrific stuff. And those Kevin Wada covers were simply gorgeous.
Observations: Valiant really does a full-court press on Comixology sales, and I’ve been able to catch up with almost every book in their catalogue for just 99 cents an issue.
=====GAMES(Mobile)====
Favourite: TAP TITANS
I don’t know why this clicker game appealed to me: the art style? The adorable character names and abilities? The nested progression ladders? In any event, it keeps me busy on mass transit, and literally requires no attention and I can quit anytime I want. No really, I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough.
Disappointment: DUNGEON RAID for Android
I love the game on Apple devices, but the animations simply won’t run on my Nexus. The lag interferes with the fun.
Surprise: LITTLE ALCHEMY
Start with four elements (earth, wind, fire, air) and then mix them. Create mud, pottery, humans, knights, dragons, nuclear missiles and, eventually, the One Ring. Or earlier if you get lucky, or are just ridiculously single-minded about making combinations. I didn’t find everything, but I found items that my officemates didn’t, and that’s good enough for me.
Observations: I will love a game eternally if I can play it on the metro without needing a cell or wifi connection.
=====GAMES(Tablet)====
I downloaded a batch of tablet games, but barely played any. The kids have pretty much taken over the iPad for gaming. I use it to watch TV shows and read comics, nowadays.
====MOVIES (First-Run)====
Favourite: TURBO KID
The most fun I’ve had since stumbling into the theatre to see WOLF COP. I couldn’t imagine a more entertaining retro-cool apocalypse without Apple.
Disappointment: THE EQUALIZER
Angry Old Guy Denzel is just as fascinating to watch as any other Denzel, but this film is like the worse of the Bronson DEATH WISH sequels: no heart, just a series of coordinated death traps. Killing is easy…it’s the living that’s hard, and this movie doesn’t know how to live.
Surprise: FANTASTIC FOUR
It’s a much more interesting film as metatext: Josh Trank as Reed Richards, trying to follow his childhood inspirations despite interference from the funding classes, is fearful of losing credit for his work, and doesn’t see the damage cause by his single-mindedness until it’s too late.
But it’s not a superhero film, whatever else it is.
Observations: The hours were tighter this year, so I didn’t see as many films as I would have liked
====MOVIES (DVD/Stream)====
Favourite: TRACKS / Wild
Take your pick: Walking from the middle of the Australian Outback to the sea, with three camels, an Aboriginal escort, and the occasional National Geography photographer for company…OR…walking the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail, from California to Oregon. Either way, I got teary at the sight of that struggle and beauty, and wanted to travel more.
Disappointment: COPENHAGEN
If I realize the movie stars yet another callow 20-something American boy on a Grand Tour, I’ll turn off the movie even faster.
Surprise: BOOK OF LIFE
Ben and Naomi told me I’d love this movie, and they were right. They have strong film recommendations now, and I want to see what they see. But they still can’t see Deadpool.
Observations: Funny story: I wouldn’t have bought a single DVD this year if it wasn’t for the kids.
====MUSIC====
Favourite: CALIFORNIA NIGHTS by Best Coast
When the guitar riffs jangle just right, you can see the moonlight on the surf. True story.
Disappointment: LEAVE NO BRIDGE UNBURNED by Whitehorse
This pains me…because they Whitehorse are a favourite. Only one surefire sizzler (“Fake Your Death and I’ll Fake Mine”), but, for the rest of the tracks, the production gets in the way of the songs. Also, I think I only really like Whitehorse songs where Melissa McClelland sings the lead.
Surprise: E*MO*TION by Carly Rae Jepsen
“History doesn’t repeat itself/It rhymes” and I am digging reinvented, reinvested vision of the 80s love and heartbreak tracks from Carly Rae Jepsen. Brings me right back to the high-school dancefloor. Amazing.
Observations: I’ve got to give credit to Twitter for helping me discover new music this year: following the various trade magazines led me down a couple of interesting rabbit holes.
====TV SHOWS (First-Watch)====
Favourite: JESSICA JONES
This is the only show that could knock ORPHAN BLACK out of the top spot – a self-contained survival story, and the best VERONICA MARS riff in existence. I never read the comics, so I could just sit back, relax, and be horrified/enthralled in equal measure. Everyone has a figure of abuse to overcome. Everyone has someone to protect. I have no idea what they could do for an encore.
Disappointment: DCCTOR WHO S9
Sonic sunglasses. A guitar. Just…no. I watch this show for the kids, and we’re six episodes behind. This needs a good boot to get in gear.
Surprise: SUPERGIRL / THIS LIFE
With SUPERGIRL, You will believe that superheroes can be fun. You will believe in sisterhood, women in the workplace, and feminism. Naomi is completely hooked. She identifies strongly with Supergirl, and I can’t say anything about the show because that’s her hero. It’s wonderful to see.
Carol and I were struck by THIS LIFE, a CBC drama filmed in NDG, about a single mother who is dying of cancer, and the way both she and her family face the remaining days. It’s not maudlin, but rather hopeful and hilarious as everyone’s private and secret lives are given a chance to shine, from the grandparents through to the teenaged children. And I can’t say enough good things about the sun-drenched opening title sequence.
====TV SHOWS (Catch-Up)====
Favourite: MISFITS S1
Good gravy, this was unexpectedly great, like the first season of HEROES. Simple powers, displayed with complexity, a time travel prophecy that surprises, and the finest comedic scenery chewing from Nathan. Really, the show lives and dies with him…
Disappointment: MISFITS S3-5
…without Nathan, there’s not much left to go on. The third season involved swapping powers, a plot to kill Hitler, and wraps up the last lingering bit of time travel paradox. Season 4 opens with new Misfits, and somebody sawing a handcuffed briefcase off somebody’s hand. I stopped halfway through that episode.
Surprise: BLACK MIRROR
Perfect horror films about how the paradigms of social media and ubiquitous recording devices perfect the worst in human nature. Instant opinion polls, microtransactions and gamification, perfect recordings, the political-entertainment complex, ghosts in social media, mob justice…it’s our recognizable world.
Observations: It’s possible to have access to too much TV. I cancelled a Shomi subscription within the 30-day trial period because I couldn’t stand the idea of increasing my backlog.