iPad: Once again, I’ll be honest and say that if it has the Steve Jobs stamp of approval on it, chances are damn good that I’ll own it. This device, however, was even a bit of a stretch for me in terms of justifying a purchase. My initial reaction to it, like so many others, was one of “I have this already. It’s my iPhone”. However, over the months since it’s April 2010 launch, I’ve found it vying for the spot as the single most used piece of tech in my household, second only to the television. For being something that I don’t “really” need, the iPad has managed to ingrain itself into the very fabric of my daily routine. It’s first thing I take out when I get to work, it’s the first thing my daughter asks for when I get home and it’s very often the last thing I see while reading a book in bed or watching a late-night television show with my wife. Say what you will about it, the iPad has managed to exceed my expectations by doing the impossible: carving out a niche in my already over-filled tech life.

Twitter: I was a fan of Twitter in 2009 (and put it on my best-of list then too, I believe) but this simple program has continued to show it’s usefulness in 2010. Part of what makes it so fantastic is it’s simple core structure; 140 character messages, nothing more. With this simple premise, however, Twitter has become my major news source, a vehicle for communicating with podcast listeners and keeping tabs on people I find interesting or inspirational. Hell, it’s even becoming a great vehicle for promoting your movie in the hands of Kevin Smith. Twitter shows that a simple, cleanly executed idea can become so much more when in hands of a creative and active user base. Let’s also mention that the fantastic mobile twitter app, Tweetie, was acquired by Twitter and their subsequent iPad and Mac offerings have become my favorite way to access the service.

Dropbox: This may go down as the most important program I installed on my devices this year. Simply put, Dropbox is a spot on the cloud where I can put my shit, to be accessed by all my devices that need said shit. While other programs and services do something similar, it’s the way in which Dropbox does it that sets it apart. It’s clean and simple with an interface that requires little thought. It’s automated, so it never feels like an FTP program and it’s fast so that uploading things isn’t a pain in the ass waiting game. The simplicity and ease of use make it a program that entered my workflow right away and stayed as an integral part of accessing things from anywhere. It’s a service I simply can’t live without now and it’s saved my ass a number of times. It’s my favorite new discovery of 2010.

The Social Network: I’m not sure, exactly, why I found this movie so inspirational. By all accounts, Mark Zuckerberg is I guy I just couldn’t stand to be around for more than 5 minutes. However, the story of how a college kid and his buddies managed to create a computer program that would embed itself into the very culture of America is a fascinating one for me. There is something about the story of an idealistic young man that takes a risk and becomes a success with that vision that really appeals to me. Sadly, it’s probably just me wishing I had the balls to do something similar but David Fincher’s film really spoke to me. It was also shot in such a warm and beautiful way, using the old Harvard campus to great effect, that it really sucked me into the world. Add the fantastic performances by the principle actors and the eerily quiet score by Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross and it was film that set the bar for me in 2010.

Cooking/Mexican Cuisine/Rick Bayless: In November of 2009, I had a rather life changing moment when I ate at Topolobompo, a gourmet Mexican restaurant owned by chef Rick Bayless. After eating what still stands as one of the most interesting and delicious meals of my life, I walked over to a counter that held a series of cookbooks by the chef. Standing there was a member of the cooking staff on break, reading one of the cookbooks. He spotted me browsing, turned to me and pointed at the book “Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen” and simply said “That one’s the best”. I took his advice and proceeded down a year that was dedicated to not only cooking traditional Mexican food but one where food was finally put into perspective in my own life.

I had cooked off and on over the years but never in a purposeful way. 2010 became the year where I dedicated myself to the idea of good food, prepared simply and in my own kitchen for my family. I wanted to capture the feelings that had been awakened during my meal at Topolobompo and by February, I had hosted my very first dinner party featuring Mexican cuisine. 2010 was the year of cooking meals for my family almost every day and with each new dish, my confidence as a cook grew stronger and stronger. I began consulting my mother on recipes she used to regularly make for us as kids, adding them back into the fabric of my life and passing those flavors onto my own children. In addition to meals for my family, I had the joy of cooking Paella with Moe on an outdoor brick oven for 30 friends, and serving Red Mole to a couple who understood it’s significance and history. Be it meals for everyday or celebratory moments of my life, 2010 was the year where I began to dedicate life to food and it’s proper place in my world. It has been one of the most joyful and satisfying endeavors I have ever undertaken.

Arcade Fire-The Suburbs: This disc captivated me during the summer of 2010 in a way that no other album did. It spun in my car, streamed off my iPod, iPad and Mac at every given opportunity. These songs had hooks and chord progressions that kept me engaged and they even managed to make the whole “concept album” idea palatable. Add to that the fact that they represent an Indie band that managed to reach the pinnacle of the venerated Top 10 list and you have something special. Now, if only everything hadn’t been ruined by their Saturday Night Live appearance which revealed just how goonie that lead singer guy is. Seriously, it’s like Lurch meets Kraftwerk.

I realize there are no videogames on this particular list and it’s not because I didn’t play them. I just feel like I’ve said all that on the podcast, so you can check that out if you’re curious as to my top 2010 games. With that, I’ll close by simply saying a big thank you to all the folks who have listened to us this year, helped celebrate our 5th year of podcasting and continued to make the show a fun thing by writing in and leaving us fantastic voice mails. 2011 represents the third year of Robot Panic’s existence and as such (if we stay true to form) it’s about time for us to start blowing shit up. I just want to thank you for being the kind of people who are mostly cool with that kind of thing and it’s nice to know we have such fun people along for the ride.

2010 was packed. So much that looking back I can hardly believe it all happened in just one single year. It was also a different sort of year for me as I did my best to focus on living, rather than simply consuming. This was as much a conscious decision as it was one born out of necessity. Now the father of two young boys, I find myself with less and less time to enjoy the frivolities that we generally celebrate here at Robot Panic, and more obliged to savor every moment I have that isn’t spent changing diapers, assembling toys, or pretending to chase invisible monsters in my house. As such, I purchased far fewer games, watched less than half the number of films I saw in 2009, and pulled the plug on a number of TV shows that I just didn’t have time for.

But don’t mistake my tone to be one of regret. 2010 was one of the most personally fulfilling years of my life. It was the year I was able to actually return to creating things, rather than just talking about them. The Shmopera was the first time in years that I sat behind a real drumset and felt competent. It was the year I really embraced fatherhood to the fullest and discovered that despite all my cynicism and reluctance, I really enjoy being a family man. I bought a cabin on the lake where I spent nearly every summer of my childhood, investing in a place where my young family can grow together and create great memories over the next several decades.

My Fortress of Solitude

Fret not, gentle readers. I won’t spend this entire post rambling about how I love my wife and kids and gushing over baby pictures. Without further ado, let’s get to the important shit, shall we?

Comics: I’m starting with comics because buying comics was the most consistent thing I did all year. Without fail, I made my weekly trip to the comic book shop to pick up books that provided me with much-needed escape from my hectic life. I found that I’ve all but left the Marvel universe this year, due to their over-emphasis on the multitude of Avengers franchises and lack of anything really interesting going on in their regular books. In fact, unless I’m mistaken, the only Marvel books I currently pick up on a regular basis are Iron Man, Captain America, and Secret Avengers. The first purely out of habit (Tony Stark’s journey to win back his fortune hasn’t been all that fascinating), and the last two simply because I’ll buy anything the Ed Brubaker writes.

In the superhero world, DC has been getting the bulk of my cash this year, and most of that is spent on the Batman franchise. Bruce Wayne finally returned, and as a result I now pull about a half-dozen bat-books per month. Detective Comics, Batman, Batman and Robin, Red Robin, Batman, Inc., and probably one or two others I’m forgetting. I’m glad they found a way to keep Dick Grayson in a Batman suit for the time being, but I can’t say I’m too fond of the whole “Bruce Wayne publicly admits to funding Batman all these years” story line. In fact, it makes the whole “secret identity” gimmick far less believable than ever; especially since Vicki Vale just about blew the lid on it last year anyway.

But the best comic books I’ve read this year have had nothing – or close to nothing – to do with men in tights and capes. The best book on the stands, bar none, continues to be Scalped. A pulp/crime drama set on an Indian reservation with all sorts of side stories, multiple story threads, and amazing action, Scalped finally beat out The Walking Dead this year as my favorite series.

The other book that has been blowing my mind is Chew, a story about FDA agent Tony Chu, a cibopath who can learn the backstory of any plant or animal simply by eating it. He uses his powers to solve murders (just take a bite out of the victim), and track down criminals. It’s an amazingly entertaining series full of brilliant writing and great hidden jokes on every page.

Scarlett by Brian Michael Bendis is also near the top of my list of must-read books this year. I know I gave Bendis a written lashing last year for the whole resolution to the big Marvel event that he orchestrated, but he sure came bouncing back with Scarlett, the story of a girl who’s been wronged and is out to whip some serious ass.

And then there was Casanova. It’s hard to describe Casanova. Spy book tripped out on acid? Sure, I guess. But that doesn’t do it justice. It’s complex, funny, and challenging. But it’s worth your time.

And finally, I can’t end a comic book rant without getting a plug in for my beloved Ed Brubaker. Whether it’s another great run on Criminal or his new installation of Incognito, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I will buy anything this guy puts out. He’s never, ever let me down.

Music: My aforementioned process of stripping away the excess in my life has had a huge effect on my music buying and listening. I’ve spent much of the year rediscovering albums in my collection, and that included about a month or two where I listened to nothing but “Pet Sounds” by The Beach Boys. I’m also just about finished re-purchasing the entire John Lennon solo catalog now that they’ve been remastered and reminding myself just how fucking brilliant the man was.

But in the way of “new” music this year, for me, nothing topped LCD Soundsystem’s “This is Happening”. It’s music in a genre I rarely get into, but every damn song on that album had me shaking my aged, fat ass. I’m ashamed that it took me so long to take SimpleNate’s advice to buy it, but I made up for my sins by listening to it over and over for nearly the entire month of August.

A close runner-up was “Brother” by The Black Keys. Two white dudes from Ohio doing a killer take on Delta blues. Gotta love it. I listened to this one almost as much as “This is Happening” and enjoyed every last track, especially “Ten Cent Pistol”. “Brother” was the perfect album for late nights sitting out under the stars while sipping on some Surly beer.

After that, the list starts to dwindle fast. I loved “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire, but can’t decide if I like it better than “Neon Bible.” Either way, it’s a great album and a remarkable achievement in the whole “concept album” endeavor they’ve been chipping away at for seemingly their entire career. And I can’t decide if I love MGMT’s “Congratulations” or find it silly and pretentious.

Aside from that, what really struck me about my music habits in 2010 is that while I’m always actively seeking out something new and interesting to listen to, the wonder of modern technology and programs like iTunes, Grooveshark, and my friends’ recommendations via word-of-mouth or Twitter mean that at long last I’m no longer slave to popular culture. To this day, I have never heard a song by Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, or any of the other current “big things”. And I say this not as a badge of honor, but simply a recognition that I no longer have to participate in a musical culture in which I have no interest. I’ve been told that a few of those artists have put out interesting material, and I’m sure that’s true. But I’ve just reached the age where I simply don’t give a damn to turn the dial of my radio to the local “modern hits” station or watch whichever industry awards show where these types of people are paraded about. I’ll let the party-goers gossip about Kanye and Taylor as they dance to the latest auto-tuned bubblegum hit while I grow old clutching onto my Rolling Stones and Hendrix vinyl albums, not yearning for days gone by, but glad in the fact that my world no longer needs to overlap with that one.

Movies: This one’s gonna be short.

Am I crazy or did the majority of 2010 just seem as though it was about nothing but Inception and Toy Story 3? Granted, How to Train Your Dragon was pretty bad ass, but until December, those were the only two big-buzz films of the year that I can recall. To be fair, they were both phenomenal films and ones that I could watch repeatedly. But it certainly seemed like a slow year at the box office.

I did mention December, though, and that month brought True Grit, which further cements the Coen Brothers as two of the greatest filmmakers of our time. It’s great that they can go from producing little niche films like A Simple Man to massive hits like True Grit in the span of a year, and both films are so different yet fit perfectly within their catalog. I wanna see them take on sci-fi next. Deep space science fiction by the Coen Brothers. That shit’d be awesome.

And then there was Tron: Legacy. I’m sure Hilden will wax philosophic about this in much greater detail than I’m capable of, but I’m still of two minds about the movie. On one hand, I was just as apathetic about it as I was the original Tron. That movie was nerdy and 80s, which was a good thing, but it also was boring as absolute hell. This one upped the neat-o factor by a billion, gave Jeff Bridges’ character a Dude-like makeover, and oozed with style. Yet, it still felt a bit dumb and clumsy to me. If nothing else, it created an interesting world that I’d like to see more of. I just hope they remember to include an interesting story next time.

My favorite movie of the year, though? None of the above. My favorite flick was Machete. My wife and I went to see this on opening night and we both had a blast, quoting the movie for the rest of the week. What can I say? I like to have a good time at the movies.

Tech: The iPhone 4 is now more valuable to me than my dick. And that’s not just because I had a vasectomy this year. This thing does everything and it goes everywhere. I just need it to function as an automobile, provide shelter, and dispense food and I’ll never need anything else as long as I live. And you know what? iPhone games can be good. Damn good. Cave dropped a few wonderful titles for iPhone, and I now have an admittedly clunky, yet legitimate TurboGrafx-16 emulator on my phone! I can also listen to radio stations from all across the globe, watch Netflix, organize my comic book pull list, and write music…on my phone! We live in the future…

And then there was the iPad, a device I was certain I didn’t need until Hilden – that rat-bastard – bought one and brought it to the podcast. It wasn’t love at first sight, but it planted a seed. And that seed would grow over the next several weeks as I found out about all the new and awesome shit I could use it for. Next thing I knew – BAM! 64GB iPad in my possession. That thing is now loaded with movies, games, books, magazines, and tons of activities that keep my kids entertained and help them learn. And reading Wired magazine on iPad? One of the coolest things I’ve done all year.

And really, that’ll about do it for me. 2010 was pretty fucked up as far as world events went. Floods, earthquakes, oil spills, celebrity nonsense, crazy deaths. But for me? 2010 was pretty bad ass and I hope I’m able to build on it in 2011 and beyond. As always, thanks for sticking with us for another year and thanks for
hanging out. We enjoy having you around, talking about games, movies, and other random nonsense.

Well hello thar! I’ve been hanging out in the back, from afar, on the porch, rocking my easy chair back and forth, listenin’ in with my listening stick passed down from ma pappy. I’ve been without a computer for most of the year so I spend my time growing a beard and contributing to @shmups when I learn about another Japanese videogame I’m forbidden to purchase. I don’t reckon I have anything in common with all’y'all whippersnappers anymore with the “disc videogames” I rarely purchase and the “television shows” I no longer watch. Either way if you fancy a strange and conflicting viewpoint, here is what I was up to at one time or another.

Scott Pilgrim

This isn’t at the top of my list because of any superfan complex. Scott Pilgrim is one of the extremely few multi-medium tie-ins that worked out great in terms of quality. Of course that means all of them sold almost fuckall compared to the big players of other licenses on any of those mediums. None of the Scott Pilgrim products were “the greatest things ever made” by a long shot, but all of them to me were better than good, made me happy, and are worth owning. Because of Scott Pilgrim, I also learned there are far less unique Facebook and Twitter users than site stats say.

Android OS / Federico Carnales

I used to roll one of those Palm PDAs in the early ’00s. They died rather quickly, so I became disorganized. This smart phone shit made pocket organizing a thing I can do again. This changed my life, sorta. It is important to me. The touch-everything hullabaloo instead of using a stylus is also a nifty thing, as is internet radio and on-demand web shows. Federico Carnales is the other reason I haven’t thrown my Droid out the window because he made LauncherPro Plus. There’s a nasty problem with Android 2.2 where after you max your memory, every time I go to the home screen I have to wait 15 seconds. LauncherPro Plus lets me add a bunch of shortcuts to bypass the need to go to the home screen. As long as I can multitask from app to app, I should remain good.

Super Meat Boy

There was a time SMB always meant “Super Mario Brothers”. SMB now stands for “Super Meat Boy” now stands for because it is a better game than Super Mario Brothers. I like the quick-play aspects of the stages, I like that they’re hard, I like that they’re fair, I like they can be made harder, I like the cut-scenes, I like the plentiful thoughtful level designs, and I like the smartass-er-y of the Team Meat developers.  Even the bugs and glitches are in the player’s favor. Everyone should own SMB for no particular reason.

Solid Steel

This is a podcast radio show apparently twenty years old. It is a mix from artists of the Ninja Tune record label like Mr. Scruff, Kentaro, DK, and DJ Food. The music goes in all kinds of directions from techno, grind, house, DnB, dubstep, trance, what-have-you. I can drop this in the car with the young folk and they will say to me “Who! Who is this playing?!” and I will say “Solid Steel, Waaaaaaat!” Then the young people, they will tell me, “I must have this. Get this to me.” To which I reply, “I am kinda tired. Pass me the flask.”

Radio Clash / Mashuptown / KEXP / NPR: All Songs Considered / Last.fm / Shoutcast / Podrunner

Yes, a seven-way tie. Only last year, I had problems with going somewhere to discover music conveniently. After smart-phoning my shit up, I setup shop so all these stations and services could function when I have a spare second. Now I rarely hear my music collection because I always have a steady stream of new music on the queue with no time to capture and search. Radio Clash mixes many oddities and mashups, Mashuptown and KEXP: Song of the Day rapid-fire me single downloadable tracks, KEXP: Music That Matters and NPR: All Songs Considered narrates in-between undiscovered tracks, Podrunner keeps me not dying during a workout, and Last.FM or Shoutcast internet radios are thrown on when my 3G is going to be stable for awhile. I am on headphones 700% more than I ever have before thanks to this combination of sound.

Podcast 198x

This is a strange and wonderful podcast. Sean and Ray talk about games as people who are able to notice and reflect upon details of full experiences well beyond just the art and sales. You will hear about scoring systems, endgame insights, and just how fresh or wonderfully different something can be on hard mode. This isn’t one of my favorite podcasts because I agree with everything they say. I disagree with them often. 198x is a gentleman’s podcast because they bring an intelligent new perspective to the table far different from Giant Bomb, DGR, Fast Karate, or Gamers With Jobs. 198x reminds me there are actually people still enjoying a game to completion in a challenging environment instead of rushing through everything the fastest on Easy Mode with cheat codes. For that, we thank you and please stick around. Oh and it doesn’t hurt their website is fucking rad. www.podcast198x.com/

Blur

This racing game is fucking sick! Mario Kart madness matched with an awesome soundtrack from the Ninja Tune label kept me in the happy place until my home theater had to be disassembled, along with Bizarre Creations itself.

Mommy’s Best Games

Nathan Fouts is a smalltime hero of mine. His two games this year Shoot 1up and Explosionade add innovative flavors to genres I enjoy. He got leaderboards working, he listens to community feedback, and he’s awesome to listen to on interviews. One of the things I respect most is his short style of hype-train promotion. The year(s) of screenshot bullshit reduced to 1-2 weeks is a welcomed method to game promotion from my viewpoint. It probably doesn’t work out for revenue in the end, but I tip the hat nonetheless.

Xona Games

Jason and Matthew Doucette are aligning themselves nicely to becoming the best western shmup developers I know about. With a questionable knack in marketing tactics, backing up the years of hype-train with Decimation X and Score Rush earns this company some legendary respect in the indie scene. Being able to say “I’m big in Japan” is a lifestyle I’d like to live. Decimation X3 was the #1 360 Indie game in Japan after all.  The other reason I love this group is Jason and Matthew compete and scorechase on their own games right along with everybody else while openly discussing how the innards of their titles work.  Best of all, they’re actually more skilled than I at playing videogames.

Cave

The leaders of the 2D shooting game and awkward quasi-perverse suggestive promotional art are expanding their empire beyond Japan. It is confuggling to know more players see Cave as a skilled iPhone developer rather than a leading creator of competitive scorechasing videogames.  2010 saw their first western publisher as Aksys released DeathSmiles NA. Cave’s Guwange became their first XBLA game. MAME finally got to see Ketsui, Espgaluda, and DoDonPachi DOJ. Everybody else with the tech got to see DoDonPachi Resurrection on iOS or J-360.  It is good to know people no longer have to dig very far to grab a taste of the hardest (fairest) videogames known to man.

Radiangames

Luke Schneider gets his green by making a single beautiful glowy engine, then finding as many uses for it as he can for $1 each. JoyJoy, Crossfire 1&2, Fluid, Fireball, and Inferno are available for $6 total. What you will receive are entry level arena STGs, exercises in analog movement, and an original slider shmup series.

Doggcatcher / Revision3

Armed with a proper podcasing app called Doggcatcher, I’ve gone on to turn my phone into an on-demand television.  Most of that television is from a network called Revision3. Web shows like Bytejacker, Ben Heck, Penn Point, Tom’s Top 5, ROFL, Digg Reel, and Destructoid make lunch breaks a magical place.

Inception

BWOOONG!! Besides being the bizarro-vuvuzela and the best notification ringtone ever, Inception proves either smart movies can still make money as long as there are guns, or anything Chris Nolan does will make money. I’m not really sure, but I want to watch this movie four more times.  BWOOOONG!!

DJ Hero 2 OST

I haven’t gotten the game because I haven’t hooked up my home theater. I did get a hold of the soundtrack. It is a solid collection of mashups. DJ Hero 1 was pretty much my game of the year, so I’m pretty comfortable with what’s here.

True Grit (2010)

The Coen Brothers can always put on a show. I didn’t mind The Dude replacing The Duke. The changes and additions were acceptable. Hell I just may see it again ’cause I couldn’t make out what Jeff Bridges was griddy-slurring 80% of the time.

Girl Talk

One of the mashup leaders, our hero boy-king released new album All Day. He’s giving it away at www.illegal-art.net/allday/ The main difference of this new Girl Talk from other new mixes is the samples get some longer time to hang out as opposed to the A.D.D. trip experienced in other mixes.

Yongzh & Ryan Frawley

This tag team is the only reason gaming on an Android phone doesn’t leave me sad and empty inside.  Yongzh creates the best handheld emulators I know about; responsible for Nesoid, Snesoid, Gensoid, and other Game Boy emulators. Ryan Frawley is responsible for the Wii Controller IME which lets me (seamlessly) use a wiimote and classic controller to play said emulated games. These two developers are international heroes and if you have an Android phone, you are immorally responsible for making this combination happen.

The Karate Kid (2010)

Somehow getting away with subbing this as a chick flick, I was unexpectedly very entertained by the fighting and the empowering kids with the seriousness. For a short while, I will respect Jayden Smith until I can’t get away from his next attempt to rap and he becomes a solid thorn in my side for the next 40 years.  I will continue to mourn the absence of an obligatory Joe Esposito cover, but this was a small price to pay for such a pleasant film.

Angry Birds

PS3’s Pain on a 2D plane with added round cuteness animals. Sadly, this is the best game Android can offer.

Toshiba Laptops

Expensive consumer electronics are a bitch.  One day Forbes says one company is the leader, next week that company switched to cheap parts and won’t answer your tech support calls. Everything can do basic computing needs nowadays. But what is out there that isn’t designed to fall apart in less than two years?  I’ve decided that company is Toshiba. Besides encountering a few laptops that people say they’re gonna upgrade simply because they’re five years old, my mom bought one, dumped a full can of diet soda in the keyboard, closed the laptop thinking that would make it dry better, and turned it upside down so all the pop went behind the screen. Oddly, in a gesture of total witchcraft, leaving the laptop running for a few weeks magically clensed itself of all pop stains. The screen now works perfectly and there are zero sticky keys.  All that bullshit is more than enough for me to recommend Toshiba computer gear no questions asked for a long time.

You know, I think I talked about most of this stuff already, but it’s too damn awesome not to be remembered for this year.  Let’s begin! 

Back Dynamite:  Okay, so technically the movie was released in 2009, but how many of us saw it in the theater? The awesomeness of this film became truly widespread when it was released onto DVD back in February. The internet was abuzz at the uniqueness of this film, and after at least six different viewings this year I can see why. The brilliance of this film isn’t in it’s clever writing, quotable one-liners, or how it never really takes itself seriously; no the magic comes in how every time you watch it you pick up on something new and funny. It has become my “go to” movie whenever I have company over, and I’m always thanked when the film is done. As of last week, this film was one of the few Netflix streaming videos that won’t allow you to have a Netflix party with. The reason? Everybody would be doing it as this movie is even more awesome in a  shared viewing. I don’t believe Netflix has the bandwidth available for the nightly Black Dynamite parties that would no doubt be going on.  Until then, I say you go just go and buy this film.  It will sit nicely next to The Blues Brothers, Animal House, and Caddyshack.

The Walking Dead: You know, the sad thing about a zombie movie is after two hours the feature ends and we are left wondering what happens next. But what if we could watch what happens to our survivors for a long period of time? At least that was the concept behind the popular comic series developed by Robert Kirkman. For a comic, The Walking Dead is unique as it focuses far more on character development and less on the zombie hoard.  The zombies, in fact, act much like a dangerous natural element that the characters have to deal with and less of a plot element. The other cool thing about The Walking Dead is how real it is. People resort doing doing some pretty nasty things to one another in their quest to stay alive just one more day. Main characters come and go and we should expect that in a world where the dead rule the Earth. This past Fall, AMC released a six-part mini-season based on the comic. I was both excited and a bit anxious as to what we might see onscreen as Hollywood has a tendency to mess things up or dumb things down for their audience. But this was AMC, and the first episode stuck true to the comic storyline. And with over five million viewers, it was the highest-rated premier on AMC and became the most watched cable series for its demographic. The storyline would eventually split from the comic, but the overall tone and emphasis of character development over action stayed the same. AMC has picked up this classic for another 13 episodes, and I personally can’t wait to see what happens next. 

No Ordinary Family:  2010 had some great TV shows: Madmen, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, but this little show on ABC has become a guilty pleasure for me. The show is essentially a live-action version of one of my favoriute films, The Incredibles. The Powells are an ordinary, dysfunctional family who gain super powers after their plane crashes in Brazil. The father (Micheal Chiklis) has super strength, can leap several blocks, and is seemingly invulnerable. The mom (Julie Benz aka Rita from Dexter) is super fast, and as a scientist by trade she is more than curious about how they got their powers. Their kids (Kay Panabaker and Jimmy Bennett) have lesser powers as the girl can read minds while the son has become a Reed Richards super genius. There is a bit of Heroes-like mythology going on in the back-story, but the real strength of the show is the characters and how they interact with one another and grow from their new found abilities.  Whomever is writing the reboot of the Fantastic Four should pay attention to this show, as Disney and ABC “get it.” It’s campy and fun, and even the bit characters play their roles to the tee. Even the unlikely pair of Chiklis and Benz seem to pull off a believable couple together. Bottom line, the show is just plain fun, and I hope I get to see more of it in 2011.

Kinect: I’m one of those people Microsoft was targeting when they thought up Kinect. I don’t own a Wii, but I am interested in what it can do. But with all the shovel-ware and stories about it collecting dust, I could never get myself to drop the cash to jump into the experience. Kinect seemed like a more logical transition for me, and upon purchasing one last Fall I can finally understand what motion gaming is really all about. Folks can argue that there really isn’t a lot out there right now, especially for the hardcore gamers. I can admit that may be true, but I am also convinced that Kinect is here to stay and that the future looks bright for the peripheral. I say this for many reasons, but mainly because the tech just seems to work and there is something magical about gaming with no controllers. It has revitalized the gaming experience for my entire family, and for me that is well worth the money I paid for it. Here’s hoping that the new titles that come out for the system are as tantalizing and cool as Dance Central and Kinect Sports.

Red Dead Redemption:  I might piss off some Grand Theft Auto fans out there, but Red Dead Redemption is a better game.  In fact I do believe that it is RockStar’s BEST game yet and one that I can’t seem to stop playing. Maybe it’s the newness of the Old West that got me hooked. Or perhaps it was the amazing storyline and characters. Or maybe it was the surprise ending that got the internet abuzz with discussions. Whatever the reason, Red Dead Redemption is in my top ten list of favorite games ever played and the new DLC keeps me coming back to the environment for more fun partners.  Not to mention that the DGR night we had in the game, holding the fort from sleazebags on our server was quite frankly one of the best times I have had on Xbox Live ever.  Thanks guys (and Token). 

Inception: Christopher Nolan has proven that he’s the King of the Mountain when it comes to directing movies. Not only did he make us rethink how we view one of the most iconic super heroes of all time, but he can take us to places we never dreamed of before. Such is the case of Inception, a movie that is as close to perfect storytelling as I can remember. We follow Leonardo DiCaprio and his team into the world of the dream and are left wondering if what we experienced was ever real at all. When asked if he could explain what he actually meant by the end of his film he stoically explained, “If I did that it would ruin the entire reason why I filmed Inception. The movie is supposed to leave you questioning. If you feel that way, it did its job. The man is a stud, and I can’t wait for how he ends his Dark Knight trilogy and the upcoming Superman project.

Lost Finale: Never has a show left me feeling so satisfied and with so many unanswered questions at the same time. For six seasons we watched the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 unravel the mysteries of the strange island they were stranded on. The storytelling and acting were top notch, and the show spawned several podcasts as viewers tried to decipher the clues left behind in each episode. Whether you enjoyed the final episode or not, Lost and its canon have secured their place in our society and lore. Just the other day my colleagues warned us not to open the hatch when dealing with a sticky project. It is a show that I will miss, and one that I will also enjoy revisiting on BluRay. 

Mass Effect 2: This is my pick for the Daryl Awards this year. Why, you ask? No, not just because I can bone alien creatures (ohhh yeah) but because the character development in this game is so strong, I actually miss them when I am not playing. Bioware has simply mastered the dialogue tree and you can’t help but feel a connection to the characters in the game. That, and it’s the only game I can remember that built on my decisions from the previous game. Countless references to seemingly unimportant characters and my encounters with them solidify that the world of Mass Effect is uniquely mine; there are no two universes that are exactly alike. They fixed the combat system so things flow much smoother and no more tedious armor and weapon upgrade guessing games, just lock, load, and kick ass. Downloadable content for the title has been nothing less than stellar and the last installment (Lair of the Shadow Broker) dramatically changed the universe I play in. I have to wonder how the addition of that single piece of content will affect Mass Effect 3. That, my friends, is sheer brilliance in game design. 

Good BAD Movies:  As Hollywood searches for some creative ways to express itself without rehashing old ideas (thanks but no thanks Yogi Bear) certain directors have seemingly created their own genre by making really bad movies that are just plain FUN to watch. The story-lines (if any) are paper thin, the acting is laughable, and the effects are ridiculous, but for some strange reason they work. Maybe because these movies know they are bad and never try to be anything other than what they are. This summer, we saw what may be the goriest and most awesome killer fish movie of all time, Pirhana 3D.  A movie that took the 3D realm to new heights with 3D boobage (and mind you there was not one boob onscreen that I didn’t care to see, they were all excellent). It was campy and fun and one of the best times I have had at the movies this year. Later in the fall, I gathered my fellow DGR faithful for a Netflix showing of Bitch Slap, a movie that truly must be experienced in a group setting. The movie was awesomely terrible and one that I plan to enjoy with a group of friends over and and over again. Let’s hope that we see this trend continue as directors take their craft just a bit less serious. It may not make a good movie, but if we are entertained I certainly don’t care.     

Robot Panic:  I remember when I got the email from Hilden, “Hey Ryker thanks for submitting all this cool shit. Here’s access to the blog and keep up the good work.” Those that read my stuff know that I haven’t always been a good writer, in fact we might be able to make a pretty good argument that I’m the opposite. But at least I have the opportunity to contribute to a community that shares my interests and is pretty bad ass. I’ve also been blessed to help the guys do their live shows and that is a real treat.  I am always impressed with their passion in delivering a great show every week, and just how genuine they all are.  Last Summer we all got together at Moe’s for the 5th anniversary show and bonfire (sorry about your neighbor’s house Moe). It was one of the best times I have had all year; hanging with the good friends I have made here and enjoying a night together.  For the real magic in all of this isn’t in the articles I write, or the awesome shows the guys do, but it’s in the community that we all share. So thanks to all my friends here, your are truly amazing.  Here’s hoping for a great 2011!

ESPN 30:30 Box Set - ESPN has been running this incredibly awesome series of thirty sports documentaries this year to celebrate 30 years on the air. ESPN reached out to some of Hollywood’s top directors to create these films that celebrate some of the most talked about and under-appreciated moments in sports. The first box set just went on sale last week, and it collects the first fifteen films of the series. This collection covers such memorable spectacles as the OJ Simpson car chase on June 17, 1994, the rise and fall of the USFL, the Wayne Gretzky trade to LA and the tragic death of Len Bias.

No more Lost - I had a very strong love/hate relationship with Lost. For every good episode that saw a major plot development or great moments, it was usually followed with an episode that killed off one of your favorite characters or added yet another unneeded question to keep the WTF balance in check for the series. With Lost finally ending after six seasons in 2010, I am grateful that I will no longer have to anticipate any more episodes of this bizarre program that sent me on a whirlwind of emotions like no other show before it. I promise to never waste another moment on this show again…unless ABC will somehow manage to re-release the entire series in chronological order.

The Book of Basketball - This was actually released in 2009, but the paperback edition just hit shelves a couple weeks ago and it includes all kinds of bonus content! I finally finished the hardcover edition of this book a few months ago, and even only being a casual hoops fan I found it to be an extremely informative and entertaining read. Bill Simmons knows his hoops, and his humorous writing style features all sorts of imperative footnotes that makes catching up on basketball history fun for everyone!

Season Two of The Tester & WCG Ultimate Gamer - As much as it pains me to lay this out there, I love both of these shows. Say what you will about reality television and the usual hi jinx that it contains, but I was entertained by second seasons of The Tester and WCG Ultimate Gamer this year. Both shows are eight episodes and features video game themed challenges where the goal is to win to become either the next PlayStation game tester (yes, really), or for a one year roster spot on WCG USA. There are a few characters and moments on each show that are pretty groan inducing I will admit, but that is par for the course with almost any reality show. If you can manage to stomach that, than you will be in for a fun ride that brought back memories of old video game contest shows like Video Power and Nick Arcade.

Heavy Rain, Alan Wake & Red Dead Redemption - If you happen to remember my article half a year ago here ranking the top 10 games for the first half of the year, you may recall that it was a particularly strong first half of the year for games. Rest assured, now with 2010 nearly in the bag, I can say without a doubt that 2010 is the first year where the first half year of releases easily outclassed the second half. It outweighed it so much so that my top three from the first half of the year are my top three for my overall game of the year. And I hold all three of these games on a high pedestal with not much ground separating them in my rankings. Pardon the cheap plug, but to hear my final top 10 rankings, please subscribe to my podcast where we will be having our game of the year episode within a few weeks.

Pinball FX2/Marvel Pinball - Hats off to Zen Studios for their consistency at pumping out nonstop awesome video game pinball tables! Almost every time I sit down to play games, I tend to warm up with a couple of runs on a pinball game made by Zen Studios. Whether it was them supporting Pinball FX and Zen Pinball with frequent DLC tables throughout most of 2010, and then proceeding to blow us away with Pinball FX 2 and its amazing evolution of table design and leaderboard upgrades. They did not stop at Pinball FX 2, because just a couple months after that fine release, they pump out Marvel Pinball, with four more addicting tables themed after some of the best superheroes in the Marvel Universe…and Blade. I dare you to download a table or two and not get hooked to the amount of sheer fun each table provides and the addictive nature of score chasing everyone on your friends list.

Miz as WWE Champ - This just would not be a “stuff of the year” list from me without a couple wrestling mentions. Mike “The Miz” Mizannin had quite an interesting journey to becoming the current WWE champion. From debuting in the entertainment world ten years ago on The Real World, to riding the MTV reality circuit for a few years until finally debuting in WWE in 2004 on its Tough Enough competition. Being one of the few Miz fans from his early beginnings in WWE when no one thought he would last a year in the company, I nearly lost it when he finally proved all the doubters wrong and  won the WWE championship.

The Nexus John Cena Beatdown - Just one more wrestling moment to add to this list. If you used to be a wrestling fan, odds are you watched during the WCW/WWF Monday Night Wars when each company was raising the bar each and every Monday to get you to flip the channel. With no real competition, WWE has become complacent with its storytelling and features less and less must see moments each year. In 2010 they managed to capture some of that old fire with the debut of the Nexus stable. Here they made an impact with an 8-on-1 beatdown on John Cena and literally tore apart the ring and beat up the entire ringside staff in a moment completely unprecedented. The Nexus has since become one of the most interesting stables of wrestlers in quite a few years.

You know, I think it is safe to say that 2010 will be the first year in the history of gaming where the first half year of releases will eclipse the second half. For the past several years we have been seeing a growing trend of publishers fearing traditional holiday season juggernauts like Halo and Call of Duty and pushing their titles back into spring. This strategy has paid off so well now that publishers are planning their releases with a Q1 release date in mind. What resulted in 2010 was a first half so jam packed with superb new releases that nearly every month felt like a star studded October or November where we are used to seeing this influx of high-quality titles.

With that said, I can see by the end of the year that at least a few of these titles from the first half will be slipping under the radar when it comes to the game of the year awards coming out. So I went out of the way to make my Top 10 Games for the First Half of 2010 list. That is right, not only was there plenty of games I enjoyed this year to make a top 10, I also have several more honorable mentions!

I was initially really into Darksiders, but as I progressed I realized my Zelda-esque dungeon puzzle skills have some serious rust. I kept getting stumped to the point I could not take it anymore at only several hours into the game. Dante’s Inferno is an enjoyable God of War clone, and I had quite a bit of fun with it, probably more so than most because I have yet to have some serious playtime with any of the God of War games.

Green Day Rock Band was more of the same, and I was having a good time with it playing at a friend’s place until their material from 21st Century Breakdown nearly put me to sleep. Army of Two: The 40th Day was a sequel that alleviated a lot of my core gameplay gripes with the original and was a blast to play through with a friend in coop. However, in the process of doing that EA forgot to attach a meaningful story, and blew it big time on no inclusion of a persistent unlock system for online multiplayer, which seemed like a gimme with how much the single player focuses on gun and armor customization.

UFC 2010 has a fully stacked single player arrangement of modes and features some of the best multiplayer out there. At least in local couch based multiplayer that is, where I spent many hours button mashing my controller to hell. It is too bad the online (from my experience on the 360 anyways) is insanely busted, where on the three separate occasions I was only able to complete three online fights of approximately 20 attempts that was filled with countless glitches and hiccups setting up fights. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing just missed the top 10. It is easily the best Mario Kart clone yet, which is a great thing since I do not own the Wii. Any game that features Shenmue’s Ryo Hazuki and his forklift racer gets a stamp of approval from me!

So now, without further ado is my “Top 10 Games For The First Half of 2010”

10) Split/Second

This is unlike any arcade racer before it. I applaud Black Rock Studios for instead of sticking with the safe route and releasing the sequel to the awesome quad racer, Pure, they went the high road and created an all new IP that I could best relate to as a videogame version of the recent film remake, Death Race, albeit a more family friendly version with all kinds of game changing obstacle “powerplays” that could be triggered to take out your opponents and even yourself if you got careless. It laid a solid foundation that I highly hope this time Black Rock capitalizes on with a sequel.

9) Yakuza 3

Initially, I was having trouble taking the plot seriously for the third Yakuza. Was I really running an orphanage? Then as the hours and chapters went by, I found myself caring for those kids and attached to their personalities. Before I knew it, Yakuza’s trademark fighting system grabbed me again, and I was reeled in and convinced that I must defend that orphanage against all its opposition by any means necessary!

8 – Super Street Fighter IV

This game convinced me to finally pick up my first console fight stick since the NES Advantage! As much as a fighting newb as I am, Street Fighter is so easy to pick up (but insane to master!) that I still found myself rolling out Hadokens and Sonic Booms like I was in the arcade nearly 20 years ago. I never had any problems playing online with friends, and the lobby/quarter matches brings back the incredible feeling of “Winner stays” in the arcades last set of glory years.

7) Splinter Cell Conviction

I usually despise stealth games. I played through Metal Gear Solid 4 on very easy and practically run and gunned through the entire game. Not so much in Conviction. Even though UbiSoft made the game feel like more of a shooter, and quite a good one at that, I was rewarded with sneaking and stealth kills so much that it motivated me to play through roughly 30% of the game with stealth tactics, and for me that is saying something! Throw in another separate campaign designed specifically for online coop and DLC missions currently out, and you have a Splinter Cell game with some serious legs.

6) Blur

Big ups to Bizzare Creations, the former developers of Project Gotham Racing for proving that kart racer style power-ups can be successfully mixed with racing modern day muscle and exotic cars. Blur’s incredibly deep single player features some of the best use of friends leaderboards I have seen on a disc based game that kept swaying me to play just one more race. Its multiplayer component is loaded with persistent unlocks and far superior matchmaking that gives Blur the longevity edge over its rival Split/Second.
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Alright pardners (and Moe), I do believe that it is time for us to saddle up and hit the plains together in a DGR community playdate!  Let’s posse up as many of us as we can in a private server for some Red Dead Redemption Free Roam and Gang War action. The time I would like to propose for such a get together would be this coming Sunday eveing, June 13th, from 8:00 -10:00 CST. 

Why Posse up?  Well after another great night of roaming the plains with Mitchi’s Outlaws, I was reminded about just how GREAT gaming has become since I virtually eliminated the D-bag factor.  Before joining the DGR and surrounding communities I would frequently find myself pulling my hair out (and trust me there isn’t much left these days) putting up with loud-mouthed kids or grievers who found great pleasure in ruining the online experience for us.  Those days are mostly gone, and while I do find myself getting into a public game every now and then, I vastly perfer gaming with the awesome people we have here, many of whom have become dear and good friends in real life.

We have a section with gamertags on the site, but with the influx of folks that have contributed lately, so it may not be a bad time to send the call out for folks to post their gamertags here and join in on the fun.  Hopefully PanicBot can then turn this information into a new up-to-date list of bad ass, drunk gamers! 

I’ll start:

Xbox Live = Ryker XL

PSN = Ryker_XL

Steam = Ryker XL (Hey I see a pattern)

See you Sunday pardner!  Unless yer yella…

Back in 2008, when John asked me to submit the occasional article to Robot Panic, he did so because they were looking for the voice of the new, young generation. A cool, hip guy who can speak to the demographic with the most purchasing power: Late teens and twentysomethings.

“Mitch, I’ll be frank: We’re old fogies. We want someone who can really get a lot of clicks from America’s youth. Sure, we have a pretty dedicated following, but advertisers don’t care about them, and frankly, we only like the people the advertisers like. Get us some college kids! Bring us late teens! The more emotional and vulnerable, the better!”

At least, that’s how I remember it. Honestly, I’m too busy shredding electric guitar and doing sweet skateboard tricks to remember the details of that conversation. Either way, I’m about to inject some lightning bolts and cartoon cheetahs into the bran cereal commercial that is RobotPanic.com. So with that said, here are a few albums from the past ten years that you may have missed because you were too busy listening to Miles Davis and soaking your feet. Wake up, gramps!

Say Anything – “…Is a Real Boy” – In 2004, Say Anything released one of the most intriguing records of the decade. To some, it was a shameless, impeccably produced pop record. To others, it was a twisted look into the diary of a man losing his grip on reality. In a sense, it is both. During the process of writing and recording the album, frontman Max Bemis struggled with severe bipolar disorder and delusions brought on by extreme anxiety that eventually led him to be admitted to a mental institution. The result was …Is a Real Boy, a revealing look into the psyche of a man struggling to create in the face of a loosening grip on his own mental state. The music sounds like a Foo Fighters album after a long heroin bender; Its cheery, up-tempo beats are offset by random bouts of feedback and abrupt shifts in key or time signature, many songs mutating completely halfway through. Even the album’s most danceable track, “Alive With the Glory of Love” is a rumination on love in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. One of the high points of the record is “Yellow Cat (slash) Red Cat,” which deals frankly with Bemis’ attempts to hold onto a sense of self in the face of past failures, while at the same time being consumed by fear, anxiety, cynicism and sexual frustration.  It’s an album seething with insecurity, rage and desperation. It chronicles a musician driven to the brink not only creatively, but also emotionally and mentally.

Motion City Soundtrack – “Commit This to Memory” – To most people, it seems, the phrase “pop punk” is associated with poor, sloppy musicianship. In actuality, the common pitfalls of the genre seem to be that of a lack of restraint. A large majority of pop punk bands are talented technically, but they are often unwilling to sacrifice fast, punchy instrumentals for the common good. This was the case with I Am the Movie, the debut album by Minneapolis natives Motion City Soundtrack. Although it is widely beloved, (even by myself) it is clear that many of the songs on the album were written around melodic keyboard parts and over-complex drumming. Despite its rough sound, it still showed immense promise: promise that payed off on the band’s sophomore album Commit This to Memory. Under the guidance of Blink-182′s Mark Hoppus in his first outing as producer, the band made several modifications: First, they reigned in their songwriting. This time around, it felt as though the band actually wrote the songs collaboratively rather than combining lead parts on each instrument. Their debut was also, as many first albums are, a collection of songs in the band’s repertoire released in album format. But with Commit This to Memory, it was clear that great care went into developing the actual track listing. The album has a discernible arc, opening with the punchy “Attractive Today” and culminating with the gorgeous “Hold Me Down,”–a track that transforms from a fairly simplistic tune to a loud, booming anthem that brings the album to a poignant close–and many valleys in between. It’s this kind of care and respect for the experience of listening to a full album that is becoming far too rare in today’s age of a-la-carte music sales, and stands as a testament to the “old” way of recording an album. Commit This to Memory is a joyous testament to the absolute highs of a genre that many people deem to be strictly for adolescents. It is proof that pop punk music isn’t merely a genre dominated by untalented musicians, but a genre mastered by those with respect for it.
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The star of the show was hardware and firmware advancements. Software and content, while increasing in quantity, took a dump in quality. I can’t think of much culturally that would actually define this decade. Much of it was trying to rehash everything previous to it because…I dunno…people gave up…people gave up. But fuck it, the past is salvageable. Thanks internet!

Mashups
At the turn of the century, commercial music creatively lit itself on fire and pranced around until it collapsed on the ground and rolled around a lot. Sure good music has come out this decade and sure most of it is difficult to discover, but what else happened? What band took the world by storm? The answer is none. As much fun as it is watching Radiohead, Tool, Killers, and Arctic Monkeys fans try to stab each other to death, the winner of the decade was the culture movement to shatter the copyright hold on music culture. Bloc Party mixed with Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West thrown against Oasis, Eminem vs Miles Davis, Metallica vs Dolly Parton. Stealing music in waves meant little up against smashing it all together into seventy minute balls worth hundreds of infringement lawsuits. Everything from creation, possession, to listening to most of the products of this subgenre is all kinds of illegal, but the product done well is so worth it. Thank you to TimG, Girl Talk, PartyBen, McSleazy, 2 Many DJs, DJ Food, Soulwax, and countless others for making the spectrum of music suck far, far less than it otherwise would.
(honorable mention: P2P services)

MP3 players.
Remember when music skipped? That sucked. Remember when portable music was limited to fifteen disc tracks or a hundred on a MP3 cd? That sucked. Remember carrying some large disc piece of shit that couldn’t fit in a pocket to save your life? That sucked. If you still carried around a cassette player? Sweet jesus god help your soul. MP3 players came along and made the world a better place. Now you can play music from your pocket, your phone, your watch, your shoe, your hat, anywhere you damn well please. If it exists, there’s probably a version with a MP3 player stuck in it.
(honorable mention: Podcasting)

Custom Soundtracks
Sorry friends, most videogame music sucks. Gaming should be the combined art of visuals, interactivity, and sound. In practice, most works just meh their way through two thirds of those qualities. Thankfully, being able to replace most Xbox 360 soundtracks with your own saves you from 1/3rd of the mediocre qualities in a videogame. Bless their hearts for forcing that. Now if Sony could force this on all developers, we’d be in good business.
(honorable mention: Custom Ringtones/Ringback)

HD Projectors
You’re stuck in a classroom watching a powerpoint of some halfhearted lecture, you look in the back of the machine and see all the A/V inputs that you use for your awesome things, then you think to yourself, “holy shit wouldn’t it be sweet to have this in my house?!” Well friend, for $500 you can. The results are the best any priest could hope for. You can have the biggest personal TV screen in your city if you play your alignment right. The other shocker is I have nothing but contempt for HDTVs when I’m not watching the game. The input lag on almost all of them makes twitch video gaming almost impossible. HD Projectors don’t have these problems. Fuck you HDTV, bless you HD projector.
(honorable mention: free streamed porn)

Touch Smartphones/Personal Digital Assistants
Nothing made me look like I knew what I was doing more than having a personal organizer in my pocket. I had a Palm PDA for the longest time with a 4GB MP3 player in it. This was years before the iTouch. Nowadays, phones with touch capability often have competent organizers built into it. In addition, hundreds of random applications can be hosted by your phone to do any electronic task you can think of. Smartphones are a work of wonder, even if the cell phone service powering them is overpriced junk.
(honorable mention: Nintendo DS)
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iPhone 3GS: I know, I know. The obvious choice for the Apple Fanboy in the audience but bear with me. I never bought a 3G back when Steve and Co. debuted the new “faster internet” version of the iPhone. My old 2G hooked into the web just fine, ran Apps decently and did everything I wanted it too. Or so I thought. With this little beauty, not only do I have a much needed compass to help me find my own house when I’m lost, it allows me to stream podcasts and music on the fly and take videos of my kids before they turn into teenagers tomorrow. Hell, I can even mistakenly send that picture of me with no pants to my loan officer instead of just texting him insults to his mother. Technology is, truly, grand. What was already a device that had my very life housed inside it has somehow become an even more important and valuable piece of equipment. I’m never without it.

Vintage 1952 Telecaster Reissue: Like every red-blooded American boy, I’ve always wanted to be a guitar player. Aided by the impending Classic Rock inspired Shmopera 3.0, I decided it was time to stop fucking around and do it. I’ve had my eye on this guitar since I first saw Springsteen playing on an actual 1952 Telecaster as a kid and when it came time to buy my first serious guitar, there could be no other. It may be a reissue but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t rock the shit out of everything you play. It’s a dream and plays like a classic American guitar should: loud and sexy. Add in a new VOX tube amp and I’m in rock and roll heaven. Tom Petty cover band, here I come. If I wasn’t married, I would sleep with this thing. I’m in love.

Up!: I’ve heard tell of animated movies that made crowds weep with emotion. I’ve never had an animated movie move me that way, until Pete Doctor’s Up!, that is. In the course of about three minutes, the story of a man and his wife goes by and ends with the main character sitting alone and holding a balloon after the funeral of his wife. An animated movie had me crying in the theater. Call me a baby, call me a wimp. I call Pete Doctor and the artists at Pixar some of the best storytellers and craftsmen that have ever lived. Thank God they exist.

Twitter: Hilden from 2008 wants to punch the Hilden of 2009 right in his pussy fucking face with this pick. It’s true, however, that Twitter has become one of the most important communication tools for Drunken Gamers Radio and it’s community of kick ass listeners. Not to mention, it’s a great way to keep in touch with what’s going on in world of entertainment, politics, comedy, music, comics and anything else I have an interest in. It’s everything I love about forums but without all the shit I hate. It’s what I wanted Facebook to be before a shit ton of people I didn’t even talk to in High School made the social network the equivalent of a yearbook popularity contest. Twitter is how I like to keep in touch with people. Short and to the point communications with a link to more shit if you want it. Twitter, I hate to say it, is the missing piece to the DGR/Robot Panic puzzle that started with a forum burned to the ground by a merciless robot. I love to Tweet. There. I said it. Fuck you.

LOST: For a show that really started to flounder around Season 3, this show really found it’s stride and once again sits as one of the best shows on television. In it’s 2009 Season, the element of time travel was used, not as a groan-inducing “we don’t know where to go from here” cop-out but as a brilliantly executed tool that was integral to a compelling and pivotal story arc. With only one season to go, LOST has taken it’s place as one of the most engaging stories I have witnessed on television and in 2009, it consistently delivered on it’s promise. My only regret is that it’s only got one more season before it’s over.

The Beatles Re-Masters: I’ve always been a Beatles fan but I’ve never seriously delved into their music. I’m not sure if it just wasn’t the right time in my life or what, but I’ve always had a passing fancy with the group. When the Re-Masters hit this year, the aspiring audio engineer in me decided to pick them up just to learn something about the mastering process. What ended up happening is a multiple month long voyage of musical discovery regarding song writing and construction. Those lessons ended up infusing most of my contributions to the ZomBOOsical! and gave me a whole new insight into what makes a great band great. My only regret is that it took me this long to really understand what the Beatles were all about. The new versions of these classic albums not only sound fantastic but they also restored my love of the physical medium of the CD for my music purchases. While I still download many songs digitally, if it’s anything of worth, I’m back to buying it on CD thanks to these albums.

The Protomen: Act II-The Father of Death: We’re obviously big fans of the rock “opera” thing here at Robot Panic. As such, The Protomen’s latest offering is one of my favorite albums of the year. Yes, it tells a great little story that is set in the world of one of my favorite videogames. However, it’s the songs themselves that set this album apart. They all have great hooks, some fantastic 80′s synth action and they’re catchy as hell. It’s a really well produced album and from a musical perspective, it sets the bar high for other folks hoping to do much the same. Um..yeah…that would be us.

Dexter: I’m a bit late to the party on this one, but I have to mention that Dexter goes down as one of the most cleverly crafted shows to appear on television. It got my wife and I to plunk down another $10.00 a month we don’t have just to see them all in time. I was in love with Season 3, even though many didn’t like it as much. I, however, thought it would be pretty hard to top. With Season 4′s scary, disturbing, brilliant and completely shocking story now over, I have NO idea where things go from here but I’ve never been more anxious to see a season of television start.

And that season finale ending scene will haunt me for months. I’m fucking serious.

All of You: Excuse the bit of cheese that’s about to be written here. I have to say that one of my favorite things of 2009 was all of you who read, listen and contribute to our little home on the web. I’m not gonna lie. A little over a year ago, I was done with websites, forums and podcasts. For reasons of my own addled brain, I was fighting hard to kill everything and shut it all down. Thanks to my good friends talking me down off the ledge, we managed to find what was missing and move things in a more positive direction for the three of us.

In turn, all of you who have been with us since the beginning of Team Fremont (or even GWX) and those of you only a week old have written in, called, submitted articles, left iTunes reviews and (most shockingly) donated your hard earned money to our show. There are simply no words to express how grateful I am for all of you and your contributions. I only hope that our show and site continue to entertain you or at least make you laugh once before you unsubscribe in disgust.

Thank you for making 2009 the best year we’ve ever had.