Top Eleven: Top Eleven Of 2013

So yesterday I decided to revisit the source of most of the pain I felt doing this blog and look at the eleven worst things I had to deal with.  So let's turn it around for the eleven things I enjoyed reviewing, discussing, or simply prompting like an unpaid advertiser in the year 2013.




Number 11:  Discovering that My Little Pony wasn't terrible.

I seriously expected this cartoon to be so bad I'd want to give up the blog after less than a month went by.  I was forced to suffer through terrible "girl" cartoons growing up because my sister got to pick an equal amount of the shows we watched, so working off of things like Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, Pound Puppies, and the like, I was ready for my first review of a cartoon to end with the phrase "if anyone at the studio was merciful, they would've taken the hard drive containing this episode and a shotgun out back behind a building and done what needed to be done."

And yet, it wasn't terrible.  In fact, it was actually really good.  I still like to mention "a bear made of outer space" now and again, and considering how well they were able to pepper in things that anybody would find interesting I think speaks well of the creator, Lauren Faust.  I'm actually reminded of a quote of hers when she defended the show from someone who accused it of promoting racism and homophobia:

"There are lots of different ways to be a girl.  You can be sweet and shy, or bold and physical.  You can be silly and friendly, or reserved or studious.  You can be strong and hard working, or artistic and beautiful.  This show is wonderfully free of "token girl" syndrome, so there is no pressure to shove all the ideals of what we want our daughters to be into one package."

In a strange way, I'm reminded of a quote by Joss Whedon when he was asked, "Why do you keep writing these strong, female characters?"

"Because you keep asking."

It's a show where gender is almost irrelevant, and it manages to focus so much on the story and on growth that you care about the characters, not just whether they're being used to sell tea sets or dolls.

I may not be a full-on Brony, but I'd be more than happy to discuss its good parts and its bad parts with anybody who's interested.

Number 10:  Discovering the Thrilling Adventure Hour.

When I lived in Virginia, what I enjoyed doing on Halloween was tuning in to the public radio station and listening to them rebroadcast Orson Welles doing War of the Worlds.  Listening to radio dramas of the day, when they had to let your imagination handle all of the heavy lifting and used language meant to inspire thoughts instead of simply deaden them or be a brief joke that fluttered away quickly, has been one of my favorite things to do, and it's why I think that storytelling needs to come back in society in a way where we simply listen to people instead of expect them to spend months on a computer filling in every detail for us.

The two Bens who created the Thrilling Adventure Hour are clearly fans this as well, as the dialogue they write for their characters is both some of the funniest stuff I've heard in my life, but also amazingly poignant.  They have a remarkable cast who have taken characters that might be intentionally two dimensional and given them an amazing amount of depth.  Even characters who only ever make one appearance or are simply a means of giving a celebrity a chance to make a guest appearance are amazingly well thought out and have their own motivations and reasons for doing what they do.

Listening has also allowed me to discover comedians, actors, and other people who I've never heard of but have since found myself following avidly.  Paul F. Tompkins, the comedian, has become one of my favorites, and I keep both of his comedy albums on my mp3 player ready to be called up at any time.  I even bought his DVD simply because I realized it would have a few different jokes on it.

It's something I look forward to every week, and one of the few podcasts that I sometimes go back and listen to every episode just to remind myself of how the characters got from point A to point B.  It isn't required to enjoy episodes in the present, but you'll regret it if you don't.

Number 9:  Attending two Rifftrax shows and learning what I was missing.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 could easily be in my top ten eleven favorite television shows of all time.  ...I suppose at some point someone'll probably ask me that and I'll have to address it in a column.  But the show managed to be something that no other program ever was before or has been since, and was so ground breaking I haven't even seen any terrible imitations of it.  Homages, certainly, but not until people started doing their own Rifftrax and trying to claim they're just as good as the professionals have I had any indication that people were brave enough to try to claim any of what MST3K laid claim to.

So to get to go to a theater and have the same brilliant humor said by the same familiar voices was such an overwhelming experience, I kept glancing down towards the bottom of the screen to see if I could spot the three familiar silhouettes against the screen.  I wasn't mixed in with a crowd, I was in the theater with three friends who entertained me for years (and still do on DVD or in mp3 format) and was finally getting to spend time with them personally, even if they were hundreds of miles away in another theater.

I can't wait to experience it again.

Number 8:  Bioshock Infinite.  That's it, just Bioshock Infinite.

Very few games have me sitting after the credits roll and trying to break apart their story like Bioshock Infinite did.  It's one of the only games I found myself discussing at work with coworkers, dissecting theories found on the Internet and trying to find evidence laid through the game that would support one argument or another.  It's one of the only games that ever made me ponder everything from the virtues of a class-based world to quantum theory, and it's one of the only games where I ever felt miserable about the fate of a character who isn't real and (slight spoiler) never would be.

I'll admit, when I played the first Bioshock I expected there to be a twist on par with the first one, especially since they were trying to make up for the great big steaming pile of mediocrity that was the second game (except for that one scene where you played as the Little Sister, though, that was mind-blowing).  I kept waiting for a twist along the lines of "you were dead the whole time" or "Brad Pitt was never there" or "David Bowie built a cloning machine."

What I didn't expect, however, was for the twist that blew my mind to come almost immediately AFTER they introduced an idea that also blew my mind.  Congratulations, Bioshock Infinite, you're probably my Game Of The Year.

Number 7:  Screaming while playing The Walking Dead.

...anybody who read my play through knows what I'm talking about.

...that scene still haunts me, and there's still that tiny voice in the back of my head that whispers "you could have saved her."

...as well as one that whispers "you should have killed her."

...not the same "her," of course.

Number 6:  Frozen

I had pretty much given up on Disney movies before this one.  I didn't see Tangled, I never got around to Brave, but I did see The Princess and the Frog, and while I thought the villain was great, it was still rather, I don't know, "flat."

I was completely unprepared, then, to have Frozen probably be in the top three movies I saw this year.

Considering Argo is one of the other ones, that tells the the company it's keeping.

Brilliant writing and pacing combined with a mind-blowingly talented cast, songs that I think rival the best they've ever done, a complete subversion of almost every single trope you could ever connect to Disney movies (except for the whole "dead parents" thing), Frozen was more than I could have expected from a film whose trailers and commercials seemed centered around a character I was determined would be so annoying I'd pan the film simply on the basis of his existence.

Yet even the COMEDY SIDEKICK was great, and had one of the best lines I can remember a sidekick having.

"Because I love you, Anna, I insist you run."

Speaking of Idina Menzel...

Number 5:  Finally getting to see Wicked.

A reviewer I follow and respect wasn't a big fan of Frozen, and every thing he said he didn't like was something that most movies don't do...but Broadway productions do.

That might be why I enjoyed it so much, because I'm a sucker for theater and enjoy it on a level more than I do most movies I see in large dark auditoriums.  So to finally see one of the most raved about shows in the world with a cast that was great was one of the best experiences I had this year.  I didn't know the story going in except that it was the "secret origin" of the Wicked Witch, but I didn't expect nearly as much heart, depth, and charm from both her character as well as "Galinda."

Plus, I didn't see the big twist towards the end coming from anywhere, and considering all of the clues were laid out ahead of time, I can only blame myself for that one.

Number 4: Saints Row IV

I don't think I have any reason to play a modern Call of Duty or Battlefield or other modern military first person shooter.  Aside from a few briefly introduced gimmicks that are then thrown away (see: the dog in Ghosts), I think I could safely predict the storyline of every game.  "Americans fight foreigners with technology that's better than the bad guys have."

Also, I remember when games were fun.  It's something that Nintendo still holds on to, but everything has a dark, dramatic storyline with character angst and very little time to actually smile while you play before it throws you back into the drama of the world the creators developed.

And then you have Saints Row, a series that isn't afraid to simply put a lampshade on its head, jump on a table, tell wickedly sharp jokes while pelvic thrusting at everybody before jumping onto a dance floor and busting out moves that leave you laughing and clapping, wanting more.

It has a ridiculous plot that I somehow cared more about than I did many modern games I've played, it wasn't afraid to point out how ridiculous its own game logic was, and felt free to simply take things that most games would consider "required" about a huge dramatic moment and defenestrate them in favor of a giant soda can mascot rampaging across a city like Godzilla.

That isn't to say there isn't some great character development (see: every moment with Shaundi), but it makes the growth fun to be around, not cloyingly dramatic or trying so hard to be heart-wrenching that it leaves you rolling your eyes.

Number 3:  Downton Abbey

The exact polar opposite of Saints Row IV would have to be Downton Abbey, a series that is nothing but story and so heart-wrenching dramatic that you feel equally strong desires to find out what happens to the characters next as well as never watch the series again so that your last memories of them will be before something worse happens to the family.

And yet, it's so deeply engaging and brilliantly written that any desire to leave the poor family alone lest your viewing be having some twisted Observer Effect on their world and you're actually causing all of these things to happen to them is crushed because you just really, really want to know.

Plus, Anna and Mr. Bates are simply the best couple to ever exist on television.  They are, to quote the modern parlance, "totes adorbs."

Number 2:  Being able to do a post about Roger Ebert.

I'm sure it's all probably been said before and better by other people, but I'm really happy I was able to post how big an influence Roger Ebert was to me.  His not being around still lingers in my daily life, as I find myself trying to judge new movie critics to the same standards that I held Roger to Roger Ebert seemed to hold himself to.  Certainly, the man wasn't perfect and you could see when he was letting his own personal experiences influence his opinion of a movie sometimes, but when it came to him breaking down a film and presenting whether it was worth seeing in simple, concise terms, I really don't think there was anyone better, nor will there be again.

Since he died, I haven't really ever been sure what movies are in theaters because I don't have him to turn to on a weekly basis.  I'm pretty sure I missed out on a few big releases.

So, what's my number one experience of the past year that I enjoyed blogging about?

Number 1:  Broadchurch

This show.  Man, this show.  THIS SHOW.

This show haunts me still.

I still occasionally go back in my mind and think about how all of the intricately laid puzzle pieces fit together, and how even the smallest comment from a secondary character could have huge, impacting consequences later on.  I think it might be one of the best murder mysteries I've ever seen on television, and-

No, scratch that, it IS the best murder mystery I've ever seen on television, and I think that's because it knew the story it had to tell, it worked out how to tell it without a lot of unnecessary padding, it treated the trauma of losing a family member and loved one without the same uncaring methodology of American television, and it had a cast that kept me drawn in, even when I was constantly looking at them as suspects.

The fact that FOX is going to remake it as an American program leaves me depressed beyond words, because I just don't think any American show developer could possibly hope to present such a story in such a similar way if only because things are so culturally different here that it wouldn't be able to have the same pacing.

This show will be on my top eleven favorite television programs of all time, and don't be surprised if it's near the top.