I saw Secret Warriors, Volume 1
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
I had heard about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Splice Movie Review
I watched Splice
Other People’s Top 10 Comics of 2010
First, from the lovely Johanna Draper Carlson, her Best Graphic Novels of 2010. Her list is more independent focused, so if you’re into superheroes this isn’t the list for you.
Then we have CBR (Comic Book Resources) Ten Best Comics of 2010. They actually list some mainstream and superhero comics.
This post is part of the thread: BestOf – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.
Top Viewed Posts for 2010
Here are the top posts that you the readers were interested in for 2010:
- Dr. Who Season Finale
- The Windup Girl
- True Names by Vernor Vinge
- Neal Stephenson Week: The Baroque Cycle
- Rubicon review
- Bloom County Complete Library Volume 3
- Black Hole by Charles Burns
- Comic Book Confidential movie review
- No Ordinary Family review
- Miracle(Marvel)man by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and a cast of thousands
Best TV/Movies/Games of 2010
Ground Rules first. This is a list of the best TV shows, movies and video games that I saw (played) for the first time in 2010. The TV/movies/games didn’t have to be distributed in 2010. And this is the best TV/movies/video games I saw(played) this year in no particular order.
- Dr. Who – Prior to this series, I was not a Dr. Who fan. I hadn’t seen any episodes before (although I had heard about it). So when the new Doctor (played by Matt Smith) came on boards, this seemed like as good a time as any to jump on. And I’m glad I did. With Karen Gillan as the companion, Matt Smith’s Doctor was quirky, funny, exciting and just plain good. Steven Moffat was the new showrunner and he made the show great for a new viewer (and I hope existing viewers as well)
- Sherlock Holmes
– Not the movie
, but the TV series from BBC and Dr. Who showrunner Steven Moffat. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are brought into the 21st century while keeping it quintessentially Sherlock Holmes. The three 90 minute episodes were exciting and fun. The first and last were much better than the middle one though.
- Avatar
– I can’t say how well it translated to DVD (or Blu-ray), but it was the movie spectacular of the year, possibly the decade. It was a technological marvel with a story existing only to bring us from exciting 3-D vision to exciting 3-D vision. Don’t watch this for the story or the characters, the landscape and the technology is the movie.
- Toy Story 3
– Pixar did something that most people would consider impossible, they improved on two great movies and made a fitting bookend to the characters we’ve known and loved for 15+ years. A wonderful story and characters with Pixar’s distinctive style.
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
– A wonderful game that showcases Batman and his cast of characters and rogue’s gallery. Great gameplay with a good storyline. We’ll see if the sequel lives up to the original next year.
This post is part of the thread: BestOf – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.
Top Books/Comics of 2010
Ground Rules first. This is a list of the best books that I read for the first time in 2010. The book/comics didn’t have to be published in 2010. And this is the best books/comics I read this year in no particular order.
- Bloom County Complete Library (Volumes 1
, 2
& 3
) by Berke Breathed- Yes, I’m cheating since it’s 3 books, but it’s one collection. Bloom County is probably the defining comic of the 1980s and this is the first time that all the strips have been collected. Highly recommended and enjoyable. (My reviews – 1, 2, 3)
- The Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi – This is the science fiction book of the year. A dystopian future in a world with no oil, global warming and bioengineered seeds. Yet a wonderful story with great characters. (My review)
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot – A true story about a poor black woman who died of cancer and her cells outlived her and ushered in a medical revolution. Her family not only didn’t get any money or recognitino, but didn’t even know what happened with her cells. (My review)
- The Half-Made World
by Felix Gilman – Part fantasy, part steampunk, part western and all original. The saga of competing demons and a mad general who might have knowledge of a weapon that can end it all. (My review)
- The Lost Books of the Odyssey
by Zachary Mason – A crash course in myth and storytelling with Mason retelling the story of the Odyssey over and over again. Each time the myth is slightly changed and different. Wonderful for mythology lovers. (My review)
This post is part of the thread: BestOf – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
There’s a tendency in recent years for highly regarded mainstream writers to dabble in genre fiction. Writers such as Ian McEwan with Solar (my review) are writing science fiction books, but I have trouble enjoying them because it’s not clear that they enjoy the genre. Michael Chabon, on the other hand, started out as a mainstream writer (Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
Who Fears Death
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith
After Jeff Smith completed his master work Bone