God Hand: I will eventually shut up about this game, but seriously, it rocked my world. I could just start playing it right now, I enjoyed the experience so much. Of course, given how many times I've brought it up, that probably isn't surprising. It was the game I enjoyed the most this year.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World: I love, love, love this movie. I can't say that enough. And I am glad that as others get to see it, they love it too. And I've read some grumbling from the people who started with the graphic novels from day one getting miffed that the movie is developing a cult following, like somehow those that love the movie are taking away from their love of the books, and it doesn't have to be like that. We can all get along.
Anamanaguchi: The band that did the soundtrack for the Scott Pilgrim vs The World game. Now I am a huge fan of chiptunes, but this band, they got it right... pitch perfect, especially on tunes like Cheap Store and Rock Club. I mean, the music was half the selling point of the game in the trailers for me (sadly, I still haven't gotten to play the game as of yet since I only have the Wii).
Charlie Brooker: Anyone who is adding to the pop culture and news discourse in a funny and relevant way is good people in my book. The fact that Charlie Brooker is so awesome at doing so is just the icing on the cake. His take on My Sweet 16 is legendary. And not only have I watched a lot of his work, I've also found myself fascinated by his writing as well.
Freddie Wong's Youtube Channel: Freddiew's channel was a revelation. It showed me and a lot of other people that doing awesome action effects doesn't have to be a costly affair, and I am sure there is going to be a new generation of independent directors who are taking a lot of cues from their work, especially since every short they release comes with behind the scenes films as well, letting those who are interested in learning gain some insight into the process. That alone is valuable. The fact that the short films they are producing are awesome is almost a bonus at that point. Time Crisis was the clip that got a lot of views this year.
Ugly Americans: I've always been taken with shows which marry the mundane and the absurd, and Ugly Americans takes the idea of New York and adds all kinds of supernatural creatures to the mix... vampires, zombies, birdmen, demons and the like, all trying to live the American dream together. It is exactly my kind of animated series, as it is a little morbid and a whole lot of funny.
Dragonball Z: I hadn't watched any purely anime shows outside of seeing Macross Plus on Teletoon a few years ago, so I had some preconceptions. Mainly I thought that on some level these series were much like the cartoons I watched as a child... you know, big casts of characters and battles between good and evil, but no one would die and things wouldn't really change from the beginning of the series to the end. Oh, how I was wrong. While there was a lot of filler material in Dragonball Z, there is a huge serial narrative that goes along with it. The original Dragonball was full of humor and gentleness... Z was a lot darker and full of consequences and sacrifices. In the end, I laughed, I cried and I ultimately conquered almost 300 episodes of fine Japanese drama and I was introduced to a whole new world of animated entertainment.
Anyway, I am sure if I thought about it some more, there would be more items on this list, but I think it is decent as is. Happy New Year everybody.
