Best of 2013

 Most of these are things I discovered in 2013.  They may have been created before.  I found them in 2013.  These are in no particular order.

Misfits

This is a British TV show about a group of juvenile delinquents who get superpowers while serving out community service.  It is a very adult show.  There is a strong mature audience warning for this.  It is warped, twisted and wonderful all at the same time.  This was the last Series (what they call a Season in the U.K.).  They take the idea of superpowers and tweak it hard.  They try to be very realistic.  There is also a sense of mad joy with the show as well. 

Watson and Holmes

This is a Comic book Series with African-American version of Sherlock Holes and Doctor Watson.  It is set in Harlem, NYC. It is the best of Blaxploitation, True Crime and Mystery genre mashed together.  It is by writer Karl Bollers and artist Rick Leonardi.

Elysium

This is the latest film by Neill Blomkamp.  It is his follow up to District 9.  Matt Damon puts in a great performance as the protagonist.  It is interesting look as a dystopian world.  The haves live in an orbital habitat and the have not are stuck on the Earth’s surface.  It is not perfect, but I loved it.

Steam Powered Giraffe

http://www.steampoweredgiraffe.com/

Here is where description gets tricky.  They are a musical act, I use that term on purpose.  They are part Band, part performance troupe.  They mix Theater, Mime, Improv with folk and Pop music.  Their back story is they are a group of performing robots built in the 1800’s.  The have a wonderfully unique sound.  Musically they are wonderful, but to get a true clue as to their talents one needs to see their video or live performances.  They have become a big hit in the Steampunk Community for obvious reasons. 

METAtropolis

This is a series of short story anthologies.  The first collection was edited by John Scalzi, the others were edited by Jay Lake.  This takes the concept of the city and turns it on its head.  It is a shared world set first in the mid 21^st Century then progressing to the 22^nd Century.  It looks at what is both possible and probable.  This is not a Utopian or Dystopian future.  It just is with good and bad.  The first one is the only one available as a standard book.  The sequels, METAtropolis: Cascadia and METAtropolis: Green Space, are currently only available as Audio Books through Audible and Amazon.com.

Stainless Steel Cordless Electric Kettle

These are by no means new, but I received one at the end of this year.  I am not a Coffee drinker I prefer tea.  I am a philistine, in that I use mostly tea bags and Chai tea powdered mixes.  It works for me.  This little appliance makes things so much more convenient.   I have had a wonderful time learning how to use it and doing so. 

Geek Trivia at the Kennedy School in Portland, Oregon

I can say that 2013, was a great year for me and this institution.  My Team and I, this time only three of us, won a Grand Prize.  Actually my team won a time or two more in my absence. This is held at the McMenamins’ Kennedy School, which is a historic public school that has been converted into a Hotel with a series of restaurants, bars and a film theater.  The Masters of Ceremony are Cort Webber and Bobby Roberts.  The event’s main sponsor is Things from Another World, chain of comic book and pop culture stores.  It is a fun time every time.  It is held every other Tuesday.  If you are in town check it out.

Monster Kid Radio

http://www.monsterkidradio.net/

 

This is a wonderful Podcast that covers the 30’s through 60’s of Monster movies.  It is hosted by Derek M. Koch with various guests.  The show covers the full gamut of Sci-Fi, Horror, and Fantasy film.  It is a great time.  Derek and his various guests know what they are talking about. 

Injustice: Gods Among Us.

I am a fan of fighting video games/ and I am a DC Comics fan.  For me, this was a perfect melding of the two.  The game was developed by the same studio that is working on the current Mortal Kombat games.  I loved this game and need to work on it some more.  There was also the obvious plus for me that Shazam and Black Adam are among the playable characters.

House of Cards (U.S. Version)

I was a fan of the Original British Production of this.  Kevin Spacey and Company did it serious justice.  It is not an exact copy, due to the differences in political system and time periods.  It also is one of the first big Netflix produced shows.  They made 13 episodes and released them in one day.  It is one of the best political thrillers out there.

GOOOOAAAALLLLL!!!!!

In 2013 there were quite a few goals I set for myself.  A few did not happen, new job, the Epic WINTer Formal, the Swashbuckler’s Ball, Don’t Stop the Serenity, seeing Muse live and few films in the theater.  I did accomplish a lot more that was chronicled in A Bit of Reflection.  I had a few goals regarding this blog.  I decided to dedicate this blog to recovering who I am and some of what I lost.  It was not to be too obvious about it for the most part.  I did a few articles where I came out and said what was going on and had been.  I have created friendships and connections. 

In January I wanted 24 articles for 2013 I accomplished 25 at the beginning of November.  I had not posted them I had them completed.  In July when my blog hit 1,000 hits I hoped it could get to 2,000 by the end of the year.  This article is a celebration of the 2,000 hits goal.  Including this article I have over half of the year 2014 articles finished.  2014 will have only one new article a month.  The reason for this is I am going to get back into fiction writing again.  To do that, I am going to half my blog output.  Once I get work I am going to work into getting a place closer to Portland, Oregon.  Then upgrade computers and ten there is a project I am thinking about doing.  If that happens, things may change here radically.  Change in not bad, for me it has been extremely good.

I would like thank some folks for their support, encouragement, and inspiration.  Some of you I have only interacted with through the internet, I do my best to meet any local folks in person.  Most I know, a few I do not; but they inspired me all the same:  Kaebel Hashitani, Atomic Arts, Aaron Duran, Scott Dally, Andrew McIntire, Elisabeth Allie, Chooch and Viv Schubert, Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine, Scott Sigler, Nathan Lowell, Chris Lester, Charles de Lint and MaryAnn Harris, Dan Clark, Kielen King, Vicki Dunn and Wilton Merritt, Riley Crowder, Andy Yerman and Laura Evankovich, Dawn Taylor and Patrick Hurley, Royal and Jessica Hebert, Jaime Kirk, PDXYar, Greg Nibler, Sarah X Dylan, Funemployment Radio Network, Chronicles of the Nerds, Mikey Neilson, Ibrahim Moustafa, Allen Bethel, Jeff “DJ Switch” Sorensen, Ken Texley, Bobby Roberts, Cort Webber, Byron Beck, Mike Russell, Melissa Booker, Sean Stutzman, Jenny and Adam Hieronymus, Cheryl Kanekoa, Derek M. Koch, Eric Busby, David Walker, Tha Mike Pilot, Eric and Hope Tomorrow, Steam Powered Giraffe, Bunny Bennett, Lana Wachowski, Riona Eire, Nance Cedar and her family, Charles Radley and Sirene Darrell, Kevin and Dina Bryson, Jesse Graff and Rebecca Rummel-Graff, Nathan Ayling, Michael Ring, Podiobooks, Things from Another World, Julian Moraga, Alton Brown, Quentin Riggs, Stanley Perez, William Wylde, April and Damon Gallaty, In One Day Radio, Kevin Palm, Guardian Games, Tim Richey, Steven Moon, Lorna Donegan, Paul E. Cooley, Gail Carriger, Mur Lafferty, P.G. Holyfiled, Bridge City Comics, Christiana Ellis, Neil Gaiman, Steve H. Wilson, Andrew Walker, Kristen Bowie, Robert Wagner formerly of PDX.fm, Todd Werkhoven, Jeff Futzer, Jim Willig, Abigail Hilton, Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, Michael and Emily Myers, Aaron and Beverly Myers, Scott Backinger, Peter Albini, Dallas Christopher, Charles McFall, Matthew Wayne Selznick, Alica Orme, Dante Ross, Ted Naifeh, Kip Manley, Andrew Hill, Chris Todd, Bob Weyer, Courtnry and Katie Case, Kari Fredheim Goglin, Tristan Mayer, Matt Grigsby, Karen Edwards, James Sinclair, Geek in the City Radio and Comics, Scott Douglas, Ann Nystrom, Dan Bozyk, Lisa and Brian Wood, Rian Jeong, Seth Harwood, and many more.  Sorry if I did not mention you specifically.  Those I forgot to mention are still in my heart.

Disney & Me

I do not remember the first Disney film I saw or where. As a kid in the Seventies, Disney was everywhere.  They had a few TV shows Wonderful World of Disney, Mouse Factory, and The New Mickey Mouse Club.  The thing that kids today would not get is, in pre-Video Tape or DVD Disney would re-release their films every few years into the Theaters.  I saw films released in the 1930’s in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  That changed with the advent of the video store and the ability to buy personal copies of the films.  During the Seventies, the video store was not quite an entity.  Video tape machines were expensive and rare.  If you wanted to see a Disney Film you either watched it heavily edited on Television or went to the Theater.  The quality of film prints was variable depending on the source.  In the early Eighties the Disney Channel was a premium cable channel like HBO.  They were where you could see various Disney films unedited on Television.  Unlike now, there were no commercials on it.  Enough of the history lesson, let’s get to my relationship with Disney.

There are two films that are inexorably linked to my childhood.  They were the ones I wanted to watch over and over again.  They may not have been my first Disney films.  They were the most influential.  The first was Jungle Book.  The story of a boy raised by wolves and his attempt to reconnect with humanity was something that spoke to me.  At the time I had no clue as to why.  In retrospect it seems to be, because I felt isolated from humanity.  The reason for that was I felt that I was so different that I was all alone.  That was not necessarily the reality, I had family who cared and loved me.  The songs also stuck with me.  I Wan’na Be Like You and The Bare Necessities are songs that still speak to me.

The next film was 1973’s Robin Hood, the animated film.  It did not hurt that Roger Miller was Alan-A-Dale.  Roger Miller was one of my Dad’s favorite Country musicians and we loved Oo De Lally, the main song of the film.  The Anthropomorphic story of Robin Hood I found interesting.  The use of certain animals to represent these characters had lasting affect on me.  To this day I am fascinated with animal symbolism in various cultures.  This is where it all started.  I have always had a soft spot for the Robin Hood story.  The Theme of breaking the rules to do the right thing made sense to a 5 year old me.

I watched other Disney films over the next few years. Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the Aristocats, the Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and The Rescuers.  Now I had a contentious relationship with Dumbo.  As a child my ears protruded and the kids in my neighborhood referred to me as Big Ears or Dumbo due to this.  It is a wonderful story, I just had some problems with the image as it was as to respect of my personal history.  Pinocchio freaked me out.  The whole scene where the bad boys became donkeys, messed with my young head.  I was a good kid, but the idea of things like that happening to me if I stepped out of line scared me straight.  I liked the shorts as a kid, but even then I preferred the Looney Toons shorts.

I watched the Wonderful World of Disney till I was in High School.  I had seen quite a few of the live action films as well.  My mom grew up on the original Mickey Mouse Club so we watched all the Disney and non-Disney Annette Funicello films.  I liked the Kurt Russell teen films growing up.  The Live Action films were fun and my parents saw them as safe. Some of the stuff I enjoyed from the Wonderful World of Disney were Swamp Fox, the Tall Tales shorts, Davy Crockett, Doctor Syn, Zorro, Kidnapped, Treasure Island and the other adventure films and shows from the 50's and 60's.  Those works led to my love of Zorro and all things from the golden age of Piracy.  Growing up in Southern California I saw all the real life settings for the Zorro show.

In my teen years I was not that much into Disney, they were for kids.  Although I thought Tron and Something Wicked This way Comes were cool.  I even went a saw Fantasia as a teen.  I loved it, but I always loved art.  I did not get back into the Disney Animated films until college.  It restarted with the Great Mouse Detective.  They had me at Vincent Price as the villain.  I never saw Oliver and Company, but I was there for the Disney Renaissance for the late 80’s and early 90’s.    I have followed most of the movies since.  I still have a handful I have not seen but I enjoy them.  Barbara, my ex, used to admonish me for watching something intended for children.  Honestly they are intended for the whole family.

In the 1980’s Disney got into Television animation with a splash.  They started with Duck Tales and Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers then later with Tale Spin, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop. Aladdin and Gargoyles.  They had more, but the ones I listed were the ones I watched.  Duck Tales was the animated adventures of Scrooge McDuck which before then were limited to Carl Bark’s comic books.  Theses shows did not have the same level of Animation the theatrical animation had however were still quality shows.  I enjoyed Gargoyles because of the writing and the wonderful cast that came from Star Trek: The Next Generation and other Sci-Fi Shows.  After Gargoyles ended I stopped watching their Television shows till Tron: Uprising.  Tron: Uprising’s animation was reminiscent of Aeon Flux. 

I fell in love with Pixar’s work back in the late 80’s I followed the progress of Computer animation with films like Tron and the Last Starfighter.  I watched various shorts including the classic Grinning Evil Death.  I saw the various short from Pixar, which I had know as part of ILM and Lucasfilm.  They proved that computer animation could have character.  As of now I have seen all but Monster University.  Incredibles blew my mind.  I agree with Bobby Roberts, of Cort & Fatboy and Welcome to that Whole Thing, that Superhero Films should be animated.  With animation the possibilities are endless; you think it, you can create it.  Even with CGI Superhero films seem limited by realism.   Up! And Wall-E were wonderfully poignant.  Ratatouille was lovingly uplifting.

I may no longer be what many consider the target demographic being over forty without kids.  Good is good and one’s situation does not keep you from appreciating it.  Some of the Disney films over the years have fallen flat for me.  That is OK.  You cannot like everything.  That Is My Not So Humble Opinion.

A Bit of Reflection

December 12^th, 2013, is the second anniversary of me ending the long term relationship with Barbara.  I may not have accomplished as much as I had hoped this year.  I have still done quite a bit.  I have changed the way I react to stress.  This last summer there was a lot of turmoil going on.  Most of it had to do with something that was beyond my control.  Instead of freaking out about it, I learned to be Zen about things.  I have been working with my family and counseling to get back on my feet.  As I am writing this I am unemployed.  I left, there were things at play that made me believe that I may not have been there long anyway.  I struggled with the fact that I was physically not cut out for that job. When I left my boss offered to be a reference.  I did things on my on terms. That has been the theme since I regained the reins of my life 

This last year has cemented the fact is I am making very solid connections in the Nerd/ Geek Community in Portland, Oregon.  There are things about the scene that frustrate me; regardless there are people who call me their friend.  That makes me feel real good. I have a little boy, my nephew Zeke, who lights up every time I enter the room.  I have done a lot of the things I wanted to this year: the final year of Trek in the Park, Wonder NW, Stumptown Comics Fest, Rose City ComicCon, FrightTown, Pirate Night at the Space Room, Monster Kid Radio Crash, Guardian Games Anniversary, Grand Re-Opening, Went to more signing at Things from another World and Bridge City Comics, First Rush Concert, First Podcast Guesting spot with In One Day Radio, sat in on a taping of Funemployment Radio, a few more shows at Sequential Art Gallery + Studio, Trek in the Dark, and Cort and Fatboy is Dead.  I am hoping within a year I will find work and a place in the Portland Metro area. I set a goal in February for Blog articles and completed it with a month to spare.   In a year my blog has almost 1700 hits from it inception, most 1600 of it was this year alone. 

In 2012, I wondered if anything I did created good in the world. I was still struggling with changes in my life. This year I was told repeatedly I mattered and was respected. Members of the Portland Geek/ Nerd community let me know I was one of them and always welcome. New friendships were made that I believe will last. A young man I mentored during the beginning of the darker days with Barbara returned in my life to inform me I had positive influence on him.  On the last day of Counseling, I was told by the person I was getting counseling from that they were proud of my achievements. They even gave me a list of what they were proud of. Recently a Facebook friend, whom I met at a geek event which was impetus for me to take back my life, told me she admired me. This is by no means all the positive feedback I have received this year. It has made me feel so ready to take on the world and my future. 3 years ago, if you told me that this would happen I would have thought you were pulling my leg.

I am by no means saying that I do not need any more work done growth wise.  I am still mending spiritually, mentally, and psychologically.  I am still a work in progress and I have learned so much about myself.  I know I am still not ready for a relationship beyond friendship.  Will I ever be ready?  I honestly do not know.  Does it matter? At this point, it does not.  I need to still find out who I am and who I want to be.  That may sound a bit clichéd, but it holds true for me at this moment.  I gave up a lot of myself over 14 years and it will be a time before I have completely healed.  I am healing and it is an on going process.  My friends and family have made this journey easier for me.  Many of these friends were made in the last year and a half.  The funny thing is I am glad things are not going where I thought they would.  The unpredictability of life is great.  I am still learning to let it happened and how to make it happen, but never force it to happen.  I am so glad of where I am, I cannot wait to see what is next. I give thanks to everyone and everything that has blessed me so.  That Is My Not So Humble Opinion.