The Best & Worst of 2008 - Live Music Edition

Over the past couple of years there has been a resurgence in the amount of live music I have witnessed. This has been mainly caused by my wife dragging me out of the house, but I have actually enjoyed many of the shows I have seen. I have even started dragging her out of the house occasionally. So here are my favorite live music experiences from 2008.

1. Fall Out Boy - December 20, 2008 at the Epicentre. I am not a huge fan of going to see bands in large venues. So, when I get the chance to see a huge band like Fall Out Boy in a tiny venue, I am quite pleased. The Epicentre is a youth recreation center that is about a five-minute walk from my house. Fall Out Boy is my son's favorite band. So, this was an amazing stroke of luck that they were playing there. I did have to wait in line for thirteen hours to ensure that we could get in, but it was worth it. It was a great show.

2. Ghostland Observatory - September 20, 2008 at Street Scene. My love for festivals has been diminishing lately. I do like the variety of music they provide, but the ambiance is usually lacking. I went to the second night of Street Scene only because I wanted to see Ghostland Observatory and they were amazing. I typically hang back and watch shows, but for this one I had to be as close as possible. So I was right in the midst of the crazy crowd right down in front. The amount of energy these two guys generate is unbelievable.

3. Maceo Parker - February 16, 2008 at the Belly Up. Over two hours of non-stop blistering soul and funk. Maceo is a legend. I can't remember the last time I actually danced at a show. I don't think it is possible to not dance at a Maceo show.

4. Vampire Weekend - September 19, 2008 at Street Scene. These guys are the reason I went to the first night of Street Scene and they did not disappoint.

5. Tilly and the Wall - July 11, 2008 at the Epicentre. A great band with a super-cool gimic. Their percussion is supplied by a tap dancer instead of a drummer. Great songs and a very fun live show.

The worst show of the year? New Kids On The Block - November 25, 2008 at Cox Arena. I won't go into how crazy my wife is for these guys, but she dragged me along to their show. I knew they would be bad, but they were way beyond bad. I spent the first hour laughing out loud constantly as things just got more horrendous with each song. Eventually it reached  a point where things couldn't get worse and I got bored, but before that I did enjoy the shear ridiculousness of the spectacle. It was definitely a horrible show, but I did have some fun.

Adopt a Character for 2009

My favorite comic book-related podcast/blog is Collected Comics Library by Chris Marshall. If you are looking for a blog to read then head on over there. Each year Chris adopts a comic book character to learn more about. This year Chris picked Will Eisner's The Spirit. Someday I will get around to reading that, but I am not prepared to buy twenty-seven volumes of it this year.

For 2009 I'm going to adopt Red Sonja. I've already got a few books unread in the stack and I have ordered up some more. I'll be starting with the Marvel books from the 1970s and working my way up to the current series from Dynamite. Eventually, I will have to go back and find all the Conan books she appears in. Maybe I'll even find some of the novels. It should be a good year of swords and sorcery with Red Sonja. If you decide to adopt a character this year, I hope you will send me a note.

Mark's Box - February 2009

This month's box was a bit heavier than January's. Heavy is good, although my shelves may not agree. A few of the books will be mentioned in my next blog post, so I will skip them for now So, these are the new books at the top of my stack.

Miss Don't Touch Me is a murder mystery that looks to be right up my alley. A serial killer on the prowl. Much of it takes place in a 'luxury house of call-girls.' Looks like an excellent French import. Check out the link to read a very good review.

This makes two 'chicks holding blades' books in a row. The Sword by the Luna Brothers looks to be more awesomeness from the creators of Girls. I don't know anything about it, but Girls was one of my favorite recent reads. I like the cover.

Last but not least, I got three duck comics. The Barks/Rosa Collection, Volume 1: Uncle Scrooge Adventures features one of the best characters in comics ever. Uncle Scrooge is amazing and you really should go out and read some Scrooge right now. I also got some Donald Duck comics, but Uncle Scrooge is the real star of the box.

Fives & Dimes 2008

There is a tradition in the board gaming community. Each year, those of us who track our played games compile a list of the games we played at least five times (fives) or ten times (dimes) in the year. I'm not sure how useful the information, but I suppose it is fun to see if older games are still getting played regularly. I am also curious why it isn't called a Nickel & Dime list. Oh well. Here is my Five & Dime list from 2008 (with one half dollar thrown in).

Half Dollar:

60 plays - Pandemic

Dimes:

21 plays - Agricola

19 plays - Ticket To Ride

19 plays - Uno

18 plays - Schotten Totten

14 plays - Ballon Cup

14 plays - Battle Line

11 plays - Wizard

10 plays - Mr. Jack

10 plays - The Settler of Catan

Fives:

9 plays - Rosenkönig

6 plays - Carcassonne

6 plays - Lost Cities

6 plays - Ra

6 plays - Twilight Struggle

5 plays - Hey! That's My Fish!

5 plays - Magic: The Gathering CCG

Some more stats from 2008:

I logged 377 plays of 100 different games.

I played 49 games only once.

I didn't play any games in January, October or November.

I played 110 games in June.

If I Had $40 million?

If I had $40 million, I would fund myself another X-Files movie. I was a pretty significant X-Files fan back in the day. I didn't just watch the television show. I played the video games. I read the books. I watched the shows that were tangentially related to the X-Files universe. I read the comics. I named my dog Scully. I was a pretty big fan.

As the second movie approached, I was excited. I avoided all spoilers and vowed to see it as soon as possible. It opened the same weekend I was at Comic-Con, so I figured I would go see it during the following week sometime. Then I started to hear that it was bad. I don't really remember where these rumblings came from, but I decided I didn't want to be disappointed. So, I skipped it.

I finally got around to renting it from Netflix this week and it was awesome! Okay, maybe not awesome, but I really loved it. I had no idea what the plot was and I was so happy to find out it was it wasn't an alien invasion movie. I do love the alien mythos stuff, but I really love the X-Files' monster-of-the-week episodes. I don't want to spoil anything. Just know it is super creepy in all the right ways. If you gave it a pass like i did, do yourself a favor and rent it.

Thank you to Chris Carter, Gillian Anderson, and David Duchovny for making a great X-Files movie for me and the rest of your fans. I really hope you guys can find a way to get another film made. You could have it set in 2012, maybe? Bring on the aliens! Just make sure you add some Slim Whitman to the soundtrack.

The Best & Worst of 2008 - Comics Edition

The time has come to reveal the comics that I liked best in 2008. Once again, I am only concerned with the titles that I read for the first time in 2008. Actual release dates are not relevant to me here.

1. Buddha by Osamu Tezuka is available in an eight-volume set from Vertical. I think I read six of the volumes in 2008. I finished the series just a few weeks ago in the early days of 2009. Tezuka's epic tale of the life of Buddha was originally written between 1974 and 1984. You would expect the epicness, but there is also tons of hilarity. A truly amazing comic that should be read by everyone.

2. Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Petersen. I finally picked up the trade paperback of the first series and it is wonderful. I had read issue one back in 2006 and I looked forward to finishing it ever since. I can't wait till the second series is collected.

3. Is Brian Wood the best writer working in comics today? Maybe. Northlanders: Sven The Returned is my third favorite read of 2008. These Vikings are vital and contemporary. The reader is not hidden behind a cloak of history. Local and DMZ are two other fine examples of Brian Wood's writing you should check out. The art by Davide Gianfelice is perfect.

4. Sshhhh! by Jason is a wonderful wordless comic. I have been wanting to get into Jason's work for a couple years now and I am glad this was my first. Originally released in 2002, it really is amazing the amount of emotion that Jason gets out of these drawings. Much better than the second book from Jason that I read. I look forward to experiencing more from Jason.

5. Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma comes in at number five. There are three stories in the book and I love two of them. If the third was as good as the other two, then this would be higher on the list. Azuma was a popular manga artist who developed a drinking problem, disappeared twice, and was finally forcibly committed to an alcohol rehabilitation program. Disappearance Diary is a humorous chronicle of that journey.

Honorable mentions: The Complete Peanuts Volumes 1-3 by Charles M. Schulz, The Quest For The Missing Girl by Jiro Taniguchi, Polly & The Pirates by Ted Naifeh, Crying Freeman Volume 1 by Kazuo Koike & Ryoichi Ikegami, and Apollo's Song by Osamu Tezuka.

The worst comic I read in 2008 was Scooter Girl by Chynna Clugston-Major. I really didn't like this comic. Was I supposed to root for Margaret as she tried to destroy Ashton's life? Was I supposed to hope Ashton destroyed her first? Whatever. I thought they were both idiots and I didn't care who won.

The Best & Worst of 2008 - Board Game Edition

January is the time of the year to make lists, so here is the first of mine. I present to you the best and worst board games that I played for the first time in 2008. I am not bothered when a game actually comes out, all that matters is when I first play it. So, you may find some older games in my list. There may be some games that were officially released in 2008 that I actually played in 2007. Those would be on my 2007 list. I played fifty-four games for the first time in 2008. Not too bad considering the fact that I missed BGG.Con 2008. I played twenty-seven new-to-me games at BGG.Con 2007 and I am sure I would have done the something similar at the 2008 convention. Here is my top 5 best games of 2008:

1. Agicola (2007) by Uwe Rosenberg was my favorite new-to-me game of the year. It was also my second most played game of the year. I have barely scratched the surface of Agricola. There are so many cards in the game that I am sure I will be playing it often for several years to come. It is currently 5th in my all-time Top Ten games. Any rumors that it made it into my top ten just because of the animeeples are misleading.

2. The second game on my list is Tinners' Trail (2008) by Martin Wallace. Mr. Wallace is probably my favorite game designer (and I have the microbadge to prove it). Tinners' Trail is a wonderful game that I need to play more often. Only two plays so far, but I can see it moving into my Top Ten someday. Next time I play, I think I will cook up some pasties.

3. Palastegeflüster (2007) by Michael Rieneck sh

ows up as my third favorite new-to-me game of the year. It is unlike the others on this list because it is a small card game, but it packs tons of fun into a little package. 

4. Michael Schacht's Web of Power (2000) comes in at number four. Currently out of print, there are dark whisperings of a new version to be released in Europe this year. I will be picking that up when it is released. Mr. Schacht has made some games I really love and some I love not so much. For example, Coloretto sucks. All the other 'etto' games suck too. I can't wait to get some more plays of this fine game.

5. There were a few games that could have made it to number five on my list, so I went with the one that I am most anxious to get played again. Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage (1996) by Mark Simonitch came out recently in a beautiful new edition and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I have only gotten to play it once, but I really, really want to play it more. This was the first card-driven war game I purchased and it led me to buy a few more. I haven't really played any of them, but I keep buying them.

Honorable Mentions: Balloon Cup, Flascheteufel, Arkham Horror, Lord of the Rings, The Princes of Florence, Cold War: CIA vs. KGB, The Downfall of Pompeii, Louis XIV, Manoeuvre, and the 7th Sea collectible-card-game.

Worst New-To-Me Game Of The Year: Titan (1980) gets the prize and it wasn't really close. This game is just awful. I wanted to like it, really I did. I played it three times and had very little fun. I don't see why so many people love it. I don't need to play it again.