A Year to Remember
Greetings! Regardless of the memes, I thought 2016 was a pretty kick ass year. Naturally, no year is free of struggle, but struggle isn't the only factor that makes a year good or bad. What makes a year good or bad is our ability to express ourselves and to connect to other people, along with what we lost. This year I grew (due to struggle), reflected on my decisions, and planned for the future. I believe the world and our culture did too, in many ways.Artistic expression in 2016 as an example of something that keeps evolving and surprising us. Game of Thrones, Captain America Civil War, Hyper Light Drifter, and Tokyo Ghost are all examples of how human expression keep pushing the limits. Video game innovation reached a high point IMHO, with games like OverWatch, which keeps expanding the boundaries of how we relate to the world and to others.
I'm happy to present the "Ben of the Year" awards for 2016, a celebration of art. The only metric used is how warm and fuzzy it made me feel.
Ben's Favorite Video Game: Overwatch
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| Heros Never Die |
This was an amazing year for games. I've played a ton of games this year, but it's Overwatch I keep coming back to. It's a rare day I don't log and play a few games. This game is special because of the character balance, the unique play styles, the aesthetics, art direction, and also the competitive scene. My 3 year old daughter knows all the characters, which illustrates how memorable this game is, and I believe we will be playing it 5 years from now.
Beyond that, The Witcher 3 has continued to blow me away. The Iron and Wine DLC is amazing, possibly even better than the core game. This DLC is the tech demo I show off when I have company. Toussaint is an amazing region, bright and full of color, that contrasts well to the darker tone of the core game.
My blind spots include Firewatch, OXENFREE, and The Witness. Some of these games may get moved up once I have the chance to play them. There were so many games to come out this year, it was basically impossible to keep up with them all.
Ben's Favorite Video Game Soundtrack: DOOM
Runner Ups: Axiom Verge, Hyper Light Drifter, Star Wars Battlefront DLC, Witcher 3 Iron and Wine.
This is the hardest category, because each soundtrack goes a long way to defining the tone of its game, and each one is completely different from the next. DOOM took the prize though, because its soundtrack is on another level. Mick Gordon is currently the "it" man in gaming, and he contributed significantly to making the DOOM remake not a great game, but an exceptional one.
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| Hyper Light Drifter |
The Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack is another score that is integral to the game's tone and aesthetic direction. Disasterpeace created a unique tone that hasn't been seen in gaming until now.
The Star Wars Battlefront DLC sound design and music score is as good as the original movie. This game is basically a warm blanket straight from the dryer.
Finally, the Witcher 3 soundtrack and sound design perfectly emphasize the action on screen. It fits in perfectly, helping to create a world that feels intimate and intriguing. The Blood and Wine DLC add more classic tracks, each that I love.
Ben's Favorite Album: Big Gigantic - Brighter Future
It came as a surprise to me that the new Big Gigantic is my album of the year, but I keep coming back to it. The band doesn't just produce in your face electronic anymore, but also has some more downtempo tracks as well. Each of the collaborating artists helped make a track that has a sonic tone completely different to the song previous. I'd recommend this to people who didn't like BG's previous music.
Decent year for music, but it couldn't live up to the exceptional 2015. I'm pretty disappointed the new Gorillaz didn't make a 2016 release. Also, it's good to see Young the Giant becoming a great band, and to see their songwriting maturing.
Haken's 1985 is my favorite single from the year.
Ben's Favorite Comic Book: International Iron Man
Runner Ups: Paper Girls Vol 1 and 2, Saga Vol 6, Klaus, Tokyo Ghost Vol 2
I'm about 4 months behind in comics because I like to trade wait. This is important especially when it comes to Marvel, because they have their big event, Civil War II, happening right now. However, the buzz has been that it's not the best event, so I feel pretty comfortable naming my comics of the year, which International Iron Man takes the top prize.Bendis is hit or miss for me, and he has been missing much more lately. That's why I was so surprised that I loved IIM so much. I was totally captivated by the mystery, the story, and characterization. If you're an Iron Man fan, you owe your inner nerd to pick this up.
Paper Girls is another fantastic story by Brian K. Vaughan. Between this and Saga, he's the best writer in comics today. He makes writing intriguing stories look easy.
Grant Morrison's Klaus is the newest Christmas classic in our home. This is a gritty Santa with a sword, who has to fight for the right to give gifts. He has wolves instead of reindeer, people!
The final to Tokyo Ghost had a deep, philosophical climax and was beautifully drawn. It reminds me of the Matrix in some ways, except the ending was much better. I bet this will get made into a movie one day. I hope Remender becomes inspired to write Volume 3.
Ben's Favorite Movie: Captain America: Civil War
Runner Ups: Rogue One, Warcraft, Doctor Strange, Kung Fu Panda 3
Movies is probably the area I'm weakest in. Unless it's Star Wars or Marvel, I don't get out to see many movies in theaters. I have the feeling I may really love The Arrival, but I haven't seen it yet, so it wouldn't be fair to put it on my list.
With that said, Civil War is an exceptional movie. I consider it the first true comic book movie. Of course we've had comic book movies before, but this was the first one that included characters from other movies the same way the comics take from other comics. It's like "You know Antman? Good. He's in this movie now. Screw it, let's have The Vision too." Some shots were essentially comic book splash pages, which I thought were visionary and hope to see more of. It truly felt like a comic book event, much like Civil War in comics did.The Warcraft movie was better than most people gave it credit for. It wasn't perfect, but the core story was well executed. Also, I really liked the world and how liberal the use of magic was. For instance, in LotR magic isn't used all that often, and is usually fire magic. In this movie though, the magic has a great visual presence, and was used all the time. Good stuff.
Kung Fu Panda 3 came has a big surprise. It's visual style is perhaps the best I've seen in an animated movie. The script was strong, humor spot on, and it felt like the entire cast was having a great time.
Ben's Favorite TV Show: Game of Thrones, Season 6
Runner Ups: Luke Cage, Silicon Valley Season 3, Daredevil Season 2, Stranger Things, Voltron
Another fantastic year for TV. I almost gave the nod to Daredevil Season 2 because it is the best Marvel Netflix show so far, but the last two episodes of Game of Thrones is some of the best TV ever produced. The Battle of the Bastards was one of the most realistic war scenes ever produced for TV. The final episode, where Cersei finally gets her revenge, and takes out half the cast in the process, is one of the most memorable moments in TV or movie history.
Luke Cage had an exceptional score, and deeply developed characters. Stranger Things also had a standout soundtrack, and a gripping story, although I felt the climax didn't live up to its own hype.
Finally, my list would be amiss without mentioning the fantastic Voltron, which blew me away. I didn't expect the show to be so charming, or hilarious, as it was. I'd recommend this to anyone who is tired of traditional anime, as it destroyed all the old cliche.
See you in 2017! Let's remember those we lost, and live in ways that make them proud.
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