Siskoid Awards 2011 - Technical Achievement Ceremony

The Siskoid Awards are just like the Oscars, you know. Only with 100% less Billy Crystal. And as with the Academy Awards, the Technical Achievement Ceremony is a thinly veiled excuse to have a pretty girl host an awards show for the stuff that didn't fit in yesterday. At the Oscars, these would be for stuff like CG follicle simulations and things. At the SBG, anything goes, really.

So let's say hello to our hostess, the first American to get the job, Alison Brie from the popular* tv series Community! Aw, she's lovely.

Geek wedding of 2011 - David Tennant and Georgia Moffit. They tied the knot on the 31st, just in time, but I would have given them the prize regardless. Think about it. The 10th Doctor marries the Doctor's Daughter, who is the real life daughter of the Fifth Doctor. It's a wedding that actually makes two Doctors FAMILY. Their progeny was my one-time guess for River Song's identity.

Best movie look-alike for New Brunswick of 2011 - Daytime Drinking. Who knew that give or take a pine forest, South Korea could stand in for my home province? I now have plans to remake the film here with Colt .45 as a sponsor. Second place goes to Pressure Point, but since it was only made in Quebec, the similarities are kind of expected.

Best podcast of 2011 - How Did This Get Made? Paul Sheer and his crew of brave souls sit down to watch some of the worst films ever made and then do the only thing you can in that situation, point at them and laugh. Reminds me that I've got to catch up on the episodes I missed.

Best Kung Fu move of 2011 - Pai Mei's Deadly Crotch Grab. Has to be seen to be believed. That sound will haunt me forever.

Strangest movie meme of 2011 - The amputation biopic. With 127 Hours getting some Oscar nods in 2011, it seemed to spawn copycats (as Hollywood somehow always manages to), including the true stories of surfing/shark incident in Soul Surfer, and a dolphin amputee in Dolphin Tale. Strange fad.

***VAN DAMMATHON FALLOUT***
Character find of 2011 (male) - Uncle Douvee (Wilford Brimley) in Hard Target. An over-60 Cajun action hero who makes explosive moonshine was just what the doctor ordered to close out my year.
Character find of 2011 (female) - Taxiwoman in JCDV (Jenny De Chez - who I'm guessing is a non-actor). Hilarious performance on all levels. Her unforgiving nature when Van Damme wants some peace and quiet in the cab ride from the airport. Her screams that sound like a car alarm. It's wonderful stuff. If I had a car, I'd want it to sound just like that.

Ironic 1% victory of 2011 - The Guy Fawkes mask (Warner Bros.). Seems like the 99% movement's adoption of the Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta has netted one of the 1% billions of dollars. Yes, BILLIONS! According to this NY Times article anyway. It's getting really hard to protest capitalism, isn't it?

"Person" of the Year - The Mixed Message. (Hey, if Time Magazine can keep crowning concepts, so can I.) The Fawkes story above is only one example of a communications problem I came across all year, both personally and professionally. The 99% (or Occupy) movement came to my town, of course, fighting corporations armed with iPads and wearing Converse shoes. Then they wondered why they weren't being taken seriously. I made my point about DC's New 52 yesterday, but here's another nail in the coffin: Folks at DC are disappointed the fanboys are obsessing about continuity instead of talking about the stories. But see, by spouting all that hogwash about how continuity was the big evil and needed to be discarded (and yet only discarding it here and there), they MADE IT about continuity. And so it went all year in the media and where I work (can't really talk about that here), people saying things they shouldn't, launching campaigns designed to fail, never really knowing they were killing their own message through how they presented it.

And that wraps up this magical, pre-taped, night! Once again, my thanks to Alison Brie for her fine work here and elsewhere, and we'll see you next year for more Siskoid Awards!

*If I say it's popular often enough, it'll become true, right?

The Siskoid Awards 2011

Welcome to the new year! That's right, it's time for our annual Geek Gala! Come in from the cold and the smelly red carpet (that's not its original color, guys) and have a seat!

Once again, I'm rewarding excellence in stuff I've seen, heard or read this year (regardless of when it was originally released). As usual, only newly experienced material will be up for consideration (or else I'd just watch BSG once a year and be done with it - then cause myself grievous harm, probably). For television episodes, no more than one per show can be put up for nomination. Other limits may apply. No money or prizes will actually be awarded. Thanks for not trying to collect.

Best Book of 2011 - The runners up are...
5. Chicks Dig Time Lords (Mad Norwegian)
4. Supergods (Grant Morrison)
3. Write More Good (Bureau Chiefs)
2. Manhood for Amateurs (Michael Chabon)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Arthur & George (Julian Barnes) - We're starting the new year with a Sherlock Holmes movie in theaters and a new series of Steven Moffat's Sherlock on tv, so it seems somehow appropriate to have Barnes' 2005 novel about Arthur Conan Doyle hit the top of the chart. Here's what I said about it last summer: "A wonderful novel, I think of interest to Sherlock Holmes fans. The novel is told from the points of view of both Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji, the half-Indian solicitor who was wrongfully convicted of the 'Great Wyrley Outrages', a series of animal mutilations in a rural area. The lives of both men are contrasted, Barnes using a different style for each (Doyle's is literary, while the simpler George is all present tense) and they in fact do not meet until late in the book. Awesomely researched, lightly comic and a real page turner when you get to the trial and Doyle's later investigations, Barnes produces here two superb character studies based on available sources. I haven't enjoyed one of his novels this much since, oh, my very first touch of Barnes (and I've nearly read them all), A History of the World in 10½ Chapters."

Best Comic of 2011 - The runners up are...
5. The Guild specials (Felicia Day and various artists and co-writers)
4. Infinite Vacation (Spencer and Ward)
3. Daredevil (Waid and Rivera)
2. Incredible Change-Bots Two (Jeffrey Brown)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Infinite Kung Fu (Kagan McLeod) - I was stoked to see it on other year's best lists on the Internet, and you should hear more about it from me and others in January if podcast plans work out like they should, but here's what I said in my capsule review: "Infinite Kung Fu is a 450-page trade collection of Kagan McLeod's incredibly entertaining martial arts comics series. McLeod re-imagines the "martial world" of his favorite kung fu movies as an amalgamated place where Shaolin monks are able to meet blaxploitation stars, a timeless place of action and zen Buddhism. It's also a magical world, where spirits return to dead bodies causing a zombie infestation of epic proportions, which the Eight Immortals have tasked the few students who haven't turned to the dark side (poison kung fu - an obvious wink to the Five Deadly Venoms) to stop. Wonderfully imaginative, McLeod's fluid, black&white, watercolor&ink art excels at showing the action both in large panoramas and in intimate play-by-play sequences between the good and evil masters. And throughout, winks and nods to great martial arts films from both sides of the world, there for those who can appreciate them. Get it direct from Top Shelf if you can't find it elsewhere!"

Best Film of 2011 - The runners up are...
5. The King's Speech (Tom Hooper)
4. The Social Network (David Fincher)
3. Hard Core Logo (Bruce McDonald)
2. JCVD (Mabrouk El Mechri)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski) - I (re)discovered Kieslowski's work this year and it's really wonderful. I knew one of his films was taking the prize, but it was difficult to choose which one. Ultimately, it's Red I was most impressed with, as it feels like a culmination of what he was doing in the early 90s, regrettably at the end of his life: "Rouge reunites Kieślowski with Irène Jacob, with whom he worked with on The Double Life of Veronique (the film that made her a star), and takes place in her native Geneva. She plays a storm-tossed, kind-hearted model who, through chance (and chance is a huge theme in Red), meets a bitter retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who spies on his neighbors and has a strange prescience. Through their stories we discover a thick web of coincidence and mirror images that makes this last part of the Three Colors trilogy the most mysterious and intriguing. If Blue was a subverted tragedy, and White a dark, dry comedy, Red is less easy to classify. To me, it is a fable, one of pure movie making, that uses images in a way that would, to most readers of this blog, be reminiscent of the way Moore and Gibbon do in Watchmen. The ironic intricacies of the film make it my favorite of the three. Irène Jacob simply breaks my heart in every frame."

Best TV Series of 2011 - The runners up are...
5. Doctor Who Series 6
4. How I Met Your Mother Season 1-6
3. Community Seasons 1-2
2. Coupling Series 1-4
...and the Siskoid goes to: Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4 - I'm as surprised as you are! It came in at the very end of the year and scooped a lot of excellent television (and I watched a LOT this year). Oh, I'll admit to still being a little weepy about it, but freshness aside, it did make me laugh, cry and miss Elisabeth Sladen terribly. Sarah was always the draw, but I think this is the season where the kids come into their own and become just as much a reason to keep watching. I don't think anything else I've seen this year deserves to be called a "perfect season".

Best TV Episode of 2011 - The runners up are...
5. Pilot (Alias Season 1)
4. Chuck vs. the Marriage Proposal (Chuck Season 4)
3. Split (Coupling Series 3)
2. The Girl Who Waited (Doctor Who Series 6)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (Community Season 2) - Another one that's very hard to call, but Siskoid's Blog of Geekery wouldn't be living up to its name if it didn't acknowledge the geekiest thing ever broadcast on network tv. It's a bottle show that doesn't attempt to represent the characters' imaginations in any way, but stays true to the spirit of tabletop role-playing (if not the letter of the rules... at least, I've never played it like that even if I consider myself a narrativist), pokes fun at it, but doesn't condescend to it, and at its heart, is about saving a person's life. Bonus points for using 1st edition AD&D books. It somehow makes people sitting around a table talking EPIC. And isn't that a true RPG experience? Bonus bonus points for taking Pierce down the darkest of paths. Anybody want to save this series from extinction yet?

Best CD of 2011 - The runners up are...
5. Year of the Pig (Big Finish's Matthew Sweet)
4. Son of the Dragon (Big Finish's Steve Lyons)
3. The Girl Who Never Was (Big Finish's Alan Barnes)
2. Doctor Who Series 5 soundtrack (Murray Gold)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Roses are Red, Violets are Blue (Trocadero) - I never imagined an album of music inspired (and used) by a web series based on a video game would become my most listened-to album of the year, but there it is. Trocadero did all the music for Red vs. Blue, the comedy web series based in the Halo universe, and their Tex-Blues sound is perfect for the dusty isolated melancholy of Blood Gulch, but the music isn't a slave to the RvB story. Though Blood Gulch Blues and A Girl Named Tex have obvious links to it, all the songs stand on their own and aren't "jokey" despite having a certain wry humor. Great driving music too. Get into my Warthog and let's go!

Stupidest Move in the Geekaverse 2011 - The runners up are...
5. Dalek Car for toddlers! (Zappies)
4. Rob Liefeld slags off Stan Lee (Rob)
3. Bookstores yanking DC trades off the shelves because of a Kindle deal (Barnes & Nobles)
2. Wonder Woman is Ally McBeal (David E. Kelley)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Flushpoint! - Has there ever been a more ill-conceived and mismanaged move by a comic book company than the New52 "don't call it a reboot" reboot? Don't misunderstand me, there are some excellent books in the New 52, but almost all of them would have worked in the original universe. Last September, DC threw out the baby with the bathwater in the hopes of getting into an untapped reader pool that I doubt has materialized by using the same old writers and artists, and even regressing to some kind of 90s Image/Marvel mentality of splashy art, less story, antiheroes and terrible designs. (Putting Liefeld on a monthly book ALONE would rate a spot on this list.) Too early to tell if they got new readers out of it, but I know they lost some with their "jumping on/off point". Fan outrage over the loss of Oracle, overt sexism in Red Hood, Catwoman and Voodoo, and the renumbering of flagship titles like Action and Detective (when I got into comics, these were in the late 400s and didn't scare me away) have generated a lot of bad publicity, and DC's hope that readers could try so many titles in a single month (much less support them monthly) when they're offering fewer pages for the same money and same-price digital will likely cause an implosion like that of the 70s. That's sure to piss off fans of the books not pulling their weight, not because they're bad, but because they were thrown into too big a pond killer brand recognition sharks. The decision to reboot continues to be unjustifiable, seeing as DC's last event books (Brightest Day and Gen Lost) had made promises that could never be made good on, and the recent release of some Batman Inc. issues as a non-continuity special shows how little planning went into it. And then there's the whole communication snafu, which I've promised to write a proper article about (for once, commenting on something that is actually my field), but which includes creators/editors making censurable comments (like DiDio's public reaction to people criticizing the lack of female creators on the new books) and the appearance of corruption in the way Johns and Lee have profited from the change, as opposed to other creators. But I've gone on too long. No matter what good comes from the New 52 initiative - and there will always be some good comics at DC - it will always stand out as one of the worst handled moves in comic book history.

What would YOUR picks look like? Tomorrow: The Technical Achievement Awards as given in a ceremony prior to this one!

Siskoid Awards 2010 - Technical Achievement Ceremony

The tradition continues on from previous Siskoid Awards, and of course, from the Oscars themselves! The Technical Achievement Ceremony is a thinly veiled excuse to have a pretty girl host an awards show for the stuff I didn't fit in yesterday. At the Oscars, these would be for stuff like non-toxic film emulsions or something. At the SBG, the field's a bit wider.

For the last three years, our pretty hostesses have all heralded from the UK, but we change it up with an Australian this year. You guessed it, it's Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski. Take it away, Yvonne!

Character find of 2010 - The 11th Doctor. I had faith in Matt Smith, but at no time did I envisage just what he would do with the role. Kid's brilliant. (You know you're getting old when you refer to an actor playing the Doctor as a "kid"... then again, they ARE getting younger of late.)

Best geeky charity event of 2010 - Gamers for Haiti. DriveThruRPG, the RPG pdf publishers and gamers like you and me got a chance to help a disaster-struck country AND broaden the visibility of less popular role-playing games. It's now become a disaster relief tradition.

Best chase scene of 2010 -Sherlock heading off a taxi by seeing all the streets in his head in A Study in Pink. One of the more awesome things about the incredibly awesome new Sherlock series.

Coolest actor name of 2010 - Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock). We love just saying it. Because Benedict Cumberbatch is Benedict Cumberbatch. You know? Benedict Cumberbatch.

Worst thing about the movies in 2010 - The rise of 3D. James Cameron, I will hate you forever.

2010 mini-series I would have most liked to see continue - Taskmaster (Van Lente & Palo). It was just so much fun!

Best fanzine of 2010 - Enlightenment. Here's hoping that Time Unincorporated makes more people discover Canada's best Doctor Who fanzine.

Most awaited comic of 2010 - Who's Who. We were promised a new Who's Who for May 2010. Where the hell is it? What happened? Bumped for a year? Altogether? And I was so excited too.

And that wraps up this magical, pre-taped, night! Once again, my thanks to Yvonne Strahovski for gracing us with her presence, and we'll see you next year for more Siskoid Awards!*

*Benedict Cumberbatch. Benedict Cumberbatch. Benedict Cumberbatch!!!

The Siskoid Awards 2010

Another year, another fake Geek Gala! Put on your virtual gowns and tuxes and take a seat!

Rewarding excellence in stuff I've seen, heard or read this year (regardless of its original inception date - no that's not a pun). As usual, only new material will be up for consideration (or else I'd just listen to the Pixies' Doolittle once a year and be done with it). For television episodes, no more than one per show can be put up for nomination. Other limits may apply. No money or prizes will actually be awarded. Don't try to collect, thanks.

Best Book of 2010 - The runners up are...
5. Theatre of War (Justin Richards)
4. Shampoo Planet (Douglas Coupland)
3. Time Unincorporated vol. 1 (Lance Parkin)
2. All-Consuming Fire (Andy Lane)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Time Unincorporated vol. 2 (Mad Norwegian Press) - For the second year in a row, I'm ashamed to say I didn't read nearly as much as I would have liked, especially non-genre books. I mean, look at that collection of Doctor Who stuff (all but one). Still, it was hard for an old Whovian like me not to get enthusiastic about "Time Unincomporated - The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives Vol.2: Writings on the Classic Series" (full title). Here's what I had to say earlier this year: "There are inspirational pieces again, but a lot more criticism, both literary and otherwise, as well as humor, re-evaluations, theories and personal testimonies from across many decades and fanzines, and even new essays commissioned for this book. Pretty awesome on the whole, and sure to inspire Whovian articles on this very blog in the coming weeks. The next volume should be about the new series, and I can't wait." Look for volume 3 in this list next year!

Best Comic of 2010 - The runners up are...
5. The Guild (Day & Rugg)
4. Fantastic Four (Hickman, Epting & Edwards)
3. I, Zombie (Roberson & Allred)
2. Scott Pilgrim (Bryan Lee O'Malley)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Strange Science Fantasy (Scott Morse) - When I participated in the "Read This Too" meme, this was my "undiscovered gem" entry and after the final 6th issue that somehow manages to connect each poetic short story to a loose but cohesive whole. I hope Scott Morse has more such stories in him because I loved the format, the concepts, the art, everything! My 5 Things to Like About Strange Science Fantasy article should tell you more.

Best Film of 2010 - The runners up are...
5. The Road (John Hillcoat)
4. Red Cliff (John Woo)
3. Hamlet (Gregory Doran)
2. Ip Man (Wilson Yip)
...and the Siskoid goes to: A Serious Man (Cohen Bros.) - A Serious Man was my very favorite film of the ten nominated in last year's Oscars. Quoth I at the time: "...an exploration of the incomprehensibility of the universe filled with missed messages from God, whether that God is the Jewish Hashem or the secular power of mathematics. Both are one and the same in this film, and Their presence can be felt in what could easily become my favorite tragicomedy of the year. I'm a sucker for Schrodinger's Cat references anyway."

Best TV Series of 2010 - The runners up are...
5. Doctor Who Series 5
4. The Pacific
3. Chuck Series 1-3
2. Sherlock Series 1
...and the Siskoid goes to: Battlestar Galactica Seasons 1-4 - Despite everything in the top 5 there being very strong, the fact that I finally saw the whole of BSG this year meant they didn't have a chance. The show has two more nominations below, and hit high marks on every level. A powerful, intricate and satisfying story, excellent acting, stylish grittiness, awesome music and effects... It took no prisoners and pulled no punches. Oh, it wasn't a laugh fest, but it sure grabbed me by the throat and hasn't yet released its hold on me.

Best TV Episode of 2010 - The runners up are...
5. Chuck vs. Santa Claus (Chuck S2)
4. Vincent and the Doctor (Doctor Who S5)
3. A Study in Pink (Sherlock S1)
2. Unfinished Business (Battlestar Galactica S3)
...and the Siskoid goes to: The Body (Buffy the Vampire Slayer S5) - A couple of BSG episodes vied for this award, and indeed, a couple of Buffy eps did too, but if anything is going to make me a fan of Joss Whedon, it's got to be The Body. This harrowing, decidedly non-fantastical, episode concerns the death of Buffy's mom and is really about how dull the death of a loved one can be. Whedon plays it without music, extending shots beyond the point of comfort, and directs with Buffy's point of view in mind. It is nothing less than a shocking piece of television, especially for a network genre show. Something gets caught in my throat just writing about it.

Best CD of 2010 - The runners up are...
5. The Gathering (Big Finish's Joseph Lidster)
4. Other Lives (Big Finish's Gary Hopkins)
3. My Hands Are On Fire And Other Love Songs (Old Man Leudeke)
2. Torchwood: Children of Earth Soundtrack (Ben Foster)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Soundtrack (Bear McCreary) - BSG picks up a second Siskoid! I quickly fell in love with Bear McCreary's music for the show - its strange instrumentation that evoked both ancient and modern tones, and the eventual laying in of Dylan's All Along the Watchtower - which finds its best expression, to my ears, in the Season 4 soundtrack. I could listen to those tracks all day every day, and for a while there, I was.

Stupidest Move in the Geekaverse 2010 - The runners up are...
5. The Daleks' new candy-coated look (BBC)
4. Vote Dalek (UK Green Party)
3. The whitewashing of DC Universe (DC Comics)
2. Female heroes are not commercially viable, so shelve them all (Warner Bros.)
...and the Siskoid goes to: JMS FTW! (J. Michael Straczynski and DC Comics) - Oof, not a good year for DC/Warner, is it? But it's by partnering with superstar JMS that they finally won the award. It all seems too fresh to rehash it all here, but for posterity's sake, here's a quick rundown. DC signed JMS and gave him some high profile characters to play with. With both Superman and Wonder Woman, he basically jettisoned everything iconic about the characters (most importantly, more than 70 years of characterization) and took them out of the equation as far as other books were concerned. Not only were their own books made less viable, but other writers were to keep their hands off them so their appearances became much more limited. In both cases, the story lines were met with apathy and criticism. "Grounded" is especially flawed (follow the link for lots more). Then, in a matter of very few months, DC announced JMS would retire from his books, forcing other writers to work from his notes to finish his one-year stories. A big mess and yet another warning about using star writers recruited from outside the medium (yes, after all this time, I still consider him from outside the medium).

What would YOUR picks look like? Tomorrow: The Technical Awards as given in a ceremony prior to this one!

Siskoid Awards 2009 - Technical Achievement Ceremony

The tradition continues on from previous Siskoid Awards, and of course, from the Oscars themselves! The Technical Achievement Ceremony is a thinly veiled excuse to have a pretty girl hosted an awards show for the stuff I didn't fit in last Friday. At the Oscars, these would be for, you know, creating plane-through-earthquake software. Here, anything goes.

Your host, straight from the set of the canceled and then revived Primeval, is the luscious Lucy Brown. Take it away, Lucy! (Along with my heart.)

Character find of 2009 - Hans Landa. If Inglourious Basterds did anything right (and it did a lot of things right), it's birthing this character. Steals the show!

Best revamp of 2009 - Hank Pym. From discredited wife beater parading in the worst possible costumes to the Universe's Scientist Supreme. His book is the only Avengers book I read. I still refuse to call him the new Wasp however.

Best direct-to-internet musical superhero movie with a musical commentary track possibly better than the film itself - Dr. Horrible

Best Toy to land on my shelf this year - Any monster from the Classic Doctor Who lines of toys, but if I choose only one, it has to be the Sea Devil.

Most awaited RPG product - Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG. Most awaited in the sense that I'm still waiting for it (but at least it has SHIPPED!!!).

Smoothest come-back of 2009 - Outpost Gallifrey. Though the biggest Doctor Who forum in history shut down this summer, it was quickly replaced by a variety of communities, the most Outpost-esque being Gallifrey Base (and a shout-out to the art-only community over at Braxiatel.com).

Most absurd thing I got into this year - Cake Boss

Best move in martial arts - The Axe of Thor. Of all the Kung Fu movies I watched this year, this non-sequitur from Born to Fight as called by the little girl filled with blood lust has got to be my favorite. All I can find on You-Tube is the French version, but start watching a 2:30 for about a minute. AXE OF THOR!!!

The Siskoid Awards 2009

It's that time of year again! Movie Marquee Friday has been preempted by the fine awards gala that is the Siskoid Awards. Aren't you excited?

Rewarding excellence in stuff I've seen, heard or read this year (regardless of its original inception date - that's what happens when you're a time traveler). As usual, only new material will be up for consideration (or else I'd just read Morrison's Animal Man once a year and be done with it). No money or prizes will actually be awarded. Don't try to collect, thanks.

Best Book of 2009 - The runners up are...
5. Tragedy Day (Gareth Roberts)
4. Blood Heat (Jim Mortimore)
3. Generation A (Douglas Coupland)
2. The Family of Pascual Duarte (Camilo José Cela)
...and the Siskoid goes to: No Future (Paul Cornell) - I read a lot of Doctor Who novels this summer and not a whole lot else (my bad). Still, it's one of the New Adventures that got to the very top. What I said back then stands: "Granted, it has the worst cover of any Doctor Who book ever, but the insides are pretty great, especially for a Who nerd like me. It's 1976, an era which combines punk rock with UNIT, with old foes coming out of the woodwork, and Cornell bringing closure not only to the Alternate History cycle, but to the enmity between Ace and his beloved creation, Bernice Summerfield. What I found most remarkable is that a few pages before any kind of revelation, I was thinking 'oh my God, THIS is what's happening, isn't it?' and then it was. A superbly executed high wire act between surprise and predictability."

Best Comic of 2009 - The runners up are...
5. Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter (Gillen and Kano)
4. Jersey Gods (Brunswick and McDaid)
3. The Unknown (Waid and Oosterveer)
2. The Mighty (Tomasi and Champagne)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Adventure Comics (Johns and Manapul) - I'm as surprised as you are. Somehow, the otherwise over-stretched Geoff Johns has managed to revitalize the Superboy character by injecting him with all the right parts of his 1950s forebear. Touching and thoughtful, with beautiful artwork by Francis Manapul, and Krypto steals every scene he's in. Plus, Legion back-ups, and I love me the Legion, especially the one I grew up with, which is Johns'. And for all that, Adventure might not have come up on the very top if it wasn't for the wonderful and postmodern farewell it gave to Superboy-Prime in issues 4 and 5.

Best Film of 2009 - The runners up are...
5. Star Trek (J.J. Abrams)
4. Born to Fight (Panna Rittikrai)
3. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
2. Infernal Affairs (Andy Lau and Alan Mak)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Synecdoche New York (Charlie Kaufman), edging out some high quality Asian films and even Tarantino's highly entertaining latest. I had this to say in my original review: "So that's what undiluted Kaufman is like, huh? It is a tour de force. I was completely bowled over by it. After I was done, I walked around the apartment stunned, and I wasn't sure I wanted to watch the DVD extras in case it answered questions I wanted to think answer myself (not that they can). My one word review is: Profound. This isn't an easy film to watch - it involves a lot of work - but I heartily recommend it."

Best TV Series of 2009 - The runners up are...
5. Torchwood Series 3
4. 30 Rock Seasons 1-3
3. John Adams
2. Spooks Series 1-3
...and the Siskoid goes to: Firefly. After years of calling it the MacIntosh of canceled television shows, I finally gave it a try and found myself converted. And despite it lasting only half a season, I still think it's a satisfying little gem, of which the movie (Serenity), for me, was enough of a resolution. It was enough to turn me onto other Whedon stuff, and spouting the "Mac user"-type stuff I once remain steadfast against.

Best TV Episode of 2009 - Limited to one per Season of any series. The runners up are...
5. Six Feet Under - Everyone's Waiting
4. Sports Night - Eli's Coming
3. Firefly - Objects in Space
2. 30 Rock - UCB live performance of Secrets and Lies (Season 2 DVD)
...and the Siskoid goes to: Spooks - I Spy Apocalypse - Though I'm a late comer to the series, I love Spooks, especially those episodes written by playwright Howard Brenton, and in the middle of series 2 comes this worst case scenario story, a real gem overloaded with tension despite the fact you know the world can't possibly have come to an end. There are a number of episodes of Spooks I could have thrown into this list, but examining them all, I think this was the most intense.

Best CD of 2009 - The runners up are...
5. The Natural History of Fear (Big Finish audio by Jim Mortimore)
4. Doctor Who Original Television Soundtrack Series 4 (Murray Gold)
3. Davros (Big Finish audio Lance Parkin)
2. Day One (Sarah Slean)
...and the Siskoid goes to: I'm going to cheat a little bit and say the soundtracks for two movies that haven't yet been made. Me and my friend Carolynn have been working on scripts for a number of films, starting with their soundtracks and working ourselves back. Our speed dating romantic comedy The Fast and the Curious, and our time travel robot-fighting vote-getting epic Suffer-agettes! have both benefited from Carolynn's talent for music casting. The first one is available as an iTunes mix. The second to come in a day or two, watch this space.

Stupidest Move in the Geekaverse 2009 - The runners up are...
5. Reading the Spaceknights mini-series to extend Spaceknight Saturdays (Siskoid) - Ow, my head!
4. Alan Moore takes his name off Watchmen - Certainly wins Most Pointless Move in the Geekaverse this year.
3. Big Brother doesn't get the irony (Amazon.com) - Remotely deleting Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from customers' Kindles has me asking... Kindles, really? (The other side from the Ministry of the Truth itself)
2. Science-Fiction Network becomes SyFy (Froghammer) - Stated reason for rebranding: Sci-Fi Network was too "nerdy". Uh-huh.
...and the Siskoid goes to: The gratuitous 4$ price point (Marvel Comics) - Though DC at least upped the page count with back-up stories (which were half the time better than the main feature) before putting the dreaded 3.99$ price on their comics, Marvel confused fans by adding it willy-nilly to any issue that seemed like it would sell well. #1s, crossover events, alternate covers... If it looked like it could earn Marvel an extra buck, it usually did. Even if it had only 22 pages. Even if it had the same paper stock as 2.99$ issues. Even later page additions weren't story content, but the equivalent of text pages, often available elsewhere. Suddenly, readers were talking about dropping titles, waiting for trades and - eep! - getting pirate copies on the Internet.

What would YOUR picks look like? Monday: The Technical Awards as given in a ceremony prior to this one!

Siskoid Awards 2008 - Technical Achievement Ceremony

Unlike the Oscars, where they give out statues to audio board designers and software programmers in an underground ceremony far from the red carpet, we here at the SBG like to give the technical achievement awards right in the open. No starting another blog on MySpace just for them. One thing we do the same however is getting a pretty actress to host the evening.

Last year, we had the amazing luck of having Carey Mulligan wit us, but Sally Sparrow wasn't available this year. No problem, Naoko Mori agreed to fill in. It's her year. Torchwood fans know why.

Character find of 2008 - Donna Noble. I am astonished at how quickly I forgot all about Martha Jones.

Worst character find of 2008 - Susie on Survivor Gabon. Dullest, most boring and insipid Survivor to get so near the big prize since Vicepia. If she'd won, I'd have self-destructed on the spot.

Best movie trailer moment of 2008 - Iron Man, for the second year in a row! How is that possible? Thanks to the good people at the Onion.


Also available on the Iron Man DVD!

Best use of a Top Gun song in a movie I saw in 2008 - As Tears Go By (Wong Kar-Wai)


Oh those crazy kissing cousins!

Best comeback of 2008 - The wooden stick. I was really happy for it when it was inducted into the Toy Museum Hall of Fame. Perhaps unnaturally so.

Continent on the rise in 2008 - Africa. It's about time the "Dark Continent" got some love in entertainment media. DC Comics visited it in both Vixen and Unknown Soldier, and 24 kicked off its newest season with an African story. In all three cases, even when the specific country was fictitious, it felt like a legitimate representation of that long-ignored part of the world.

Biggest disappointment in gaming - The end of Pyramid Online. We'll see how well the pdf monthly version will do, but the loss of Pyramid's searchable database of articles alone is a great loss to the role-playing community.

Greatest and worst thing about Grand Theft Auto IV all rolled into one - Little Jacob's dialect

Favorite to replace David Tennant as the Doctor - Arabella Weir. Yes, I'd like a woman in the role and thought she did a great job in the Big Finish audio Exile. Or perhaps someone her type, but a little younger (like early 40s). Controversial choice? Bite me.

Well, my thanks to Naoko for a wonderful night. We miss you already!

The Siskoid Awards 2008

When I called them the "First Annual Siskoid Awards" last year, I kinda set myself up for doing them again, didn't I?

So here they are, rewarding excellence in stuff I've seen, heard or read this year (regardless of its original inception date). As usual, only new material will be up for consideration (or else I'd just read Hamlet once a year and be done with it). No money or prizes will actually be awarded.

[Insert "funny" or "inspirational" year-in-review montage here]

Best Book of 2008 - The runners up are...
5. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
4. The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes
3. The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland
2. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
...and the Siskoid goes to:
The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel - "This 'history' of libraries and book collections is actually more of a meditation on the concept of libraries, both public and personal. What does our choice of books say about us? What does the way we classify those books? How do they live in our minds? Attention is even given to imaginary libraries, electronic media and the act of book burning. The library as everything. There isn't a page in this book that doesn't contain a fascinating fact, a lucid observation or a well-chosen quote." That's me back in May. The book was responsible for my ongoing re-shelving project and my constantly calling the Doctor Who episode "Silence in the Library" by the wrong title.

Best Comic of 2008 - The runners up are...
5. Tiny Titans by Baltazar
4. Teen Titans Year One by Wolfram and Kerschl
3. Jack of Fables by Willingham and Sturges
2. OMAC Omnibus by Jack Kirby
...and the Siskoid goes to:
The Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown - "From the roll call of featured robots to the very end, every page has something to recommend it. Sometimes, it's a joke, and sometimes a bit of nostalgia, or often just the charming artwork. Brown's naive style is surprisingly up to the challenge of drawing vehicular transformations, and who'd have thought coloring a book with markers would actually be appealing? My favorite Incredible Change-Bot? Balls." Says it all. I'm hoping to see more of Brown's stuff in this style. (And let me just say I can't BELIEVE there are two Titans books on my list either.)

Best Film of 2008 - The runners up are...
5. Iron Man by Jon Favreau
4. Junebug by Phil Morrison
3. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid by Sam Peckinpah
2. There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson
...and the Siskoid goes to:
The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan - Damn it, I hate to do the obvious, but no film generated more commentary on the Internets than did TDK, and each time you read one, you'd uncover something new. My main contribution was The Dark Knight: A Morality Play, which is more complete than anything I'd say here now.

Best TV Series of 2008 - The runners up are...
5. Doctor Who Series 4
4. Torchwood Series 2
3. The UNIT Seasons 2-3
2. Spaced Series 1-2
...and the Siskoid goes to:
The Wire Seasons 1-5 - I watched a lot of very good television this year, so some omissions really do break my heart, but there's no doubt in my mind that The Wire belongs at the very top. I might have only given the award to the very best seasons (1, 3 and 4), but "all the pieces [do] matter", so the whole thing gets my best possible recommendation.

Best TV Episode of 2008 - Limited to one per Season of any series. The runners up are...
5. Spaced Series 1 - Epiphanies
4. Veronica Mars Season 1 - Pilot
3. Extras - The Extra Special Series Finale
2. The Wire Season 5 - -30-
...and the Siskoid goes to:
The UNIT Season 3 - Pandemonium - Nothing excited me more this year than The Unit going all Jason Bourne on my ass following Season 2's apocalyptic finale. With the Unit dismantled and disavowed, Jonas and his team go rogue and have to fend for themselves as well as clean up their reputation by uncovering a massive CIA plot. Purists might feel like the show went from realism to superheroic, but I think they keep that balance. Though Season 3 was aborted because of the writer's strike, it's still the best.

Best CD of 2008 - The runners up are...
5. Cliché Hot de Radio Radio
4. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid soundtrack by Bob Dylan
3. Veronica Mars Unofficial Soundtrack (cheating here a bit, but there are a LOT of tunes on that list that I've fallen in love with)
2. Doctor Who Original Television Soundtrack Series 3 by Murray Gold
...and the Siskoid goes to:
'64-'95 by Lemon Jelly - I discovered this DJ duo thanks to Spaced Series 2, which used one of their tracks on its very last moment, and from there got interested in all their music. My favorite overall, right now, is '64-'95, each track sampling a song published somewhere during those three decades. It ends with William Shatner's Go, and if that doesn't sell you...

And now for the category you've been waiting for:

Stupidest Move in the Geekaverse 2008 - The runners up are...
5. Batman's artists (DC Comics) - For some insane reason, DC has their maverick writer/cash cow, Grant Morrison, on their best-selling superhero (the same year his biggest ever movie comes out) doing a majorly hyped story arc, but they can't be bothered to give him a good artist. And I don't mean that Tony Daniel is not a good artist, I mean that he's a TERRIBLE one. Most of the time, you can't tell what's happening or who it's happening to, truly impairing the story Morrison is trying to tell. And when we get relief from Daniel, it's the likes of Ryan Benjamin who is ever worse. Over on JLA, Ed Benes takes all the attention from the Caped Crusader in favor of Black Canary's crotch. I mean, aren't these supposed to be DC's flagship books? Does no one decent want to draw them? Thank God for Trinity.
4. Heroes: Villains (largely placed at the feet of Jeff Loeb) - We blamed last year on the writers' strike, but turns out it was human error all along. Suffering from its loss of momentum, Heroes went from surprise hit to terrible failure this year as characters acted out of whatever motivation the plot required of them, twists and turns happened to be the same twists and turns offered in the first two seasons, logic and continuity went out the window and to make matters worse, Jeff Loeb inserted a number of unhealthy Rulk references into the scripts. Result: Loeb and another producer out on their asses... but is the damage irreversible?
3. Secret Invasion/Final Crisis (tie; DC and Marvel Comics) - I really can't choose between Marvel's slow-paced, mistitled, ultimately irrelevant, internally inconsistent event based on DC's 20-year-old Millenium where nothing at all happens in the main book at all except pointing at what other series you should be buying, and DC's opaque, chronically late event with its apparently limitless number of tie-ins and totally contradictory lead-in mini-series. I think Secret Invasion was the lamer of the two, but it's looking like Final Crisis will be another case of Editorial shafting Morrison.
2. Frank Miller, Superstar - The Goddamn Batman may or may not be to your tastes, but I think it makes a paltry ambassador for the character. And yet, the Dark Knight/300 connection will probably have snared a few souls from the non-comics set. And now, we have The Spirit, touted as the worst comic book adaptation since League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (hey, this is also the guy who wrote Robocop 2, don't act all surprised). Here's hoping his shining star has finally crashed to earth.
...and the Siskoid goes to:
My gamer buddy Fred stopped by the cops while wearing his Ash costume to a midnight showing of Army of Darkness - Yes, I have to go local once again for my top pick, but when you consider Fred was captured chainsaw-handed at 4 P.M. standing in line ALONE at the movie house, it blows everything else out of the water. All the details HERE.

What would have been YOUR picks? Tomorrow: The Technical Awards as given in a ceremony prior to this one!