2013 Best of the Year Picks

[beastovjudgement]

You knew someone was going to start this...

This topic is in place to discuss your picks for the best of everything for 2013. Feel free to add, ignore, or replace categories as you wish. My picks are as follows:

Album of the year: In Solitude, Sister. The third full-length by this Uppsala, Sweden metal band is nothing short of incredible. After two very good, but somewhat unoriginal Iron Maiden/Mercyful Fate-inspired albums, the band has come into their own fully. Sister is like nothing else out there. It is a seamless blend of traditional heavy metal, post-punk, rock and roll, and unquantifiable otherness. The songwriting and performance are flawless. The production complements the music perfectly. Sister is not only the best music of 2013, it is one of the greatest albums in recent memory. This has my highest possible recommendation.

Book of the year: Joe Hill, NOS4A2. Stephen King's son has once again outshone his father's (also excellent) latest novel. NOS4A2 is a fast-paced, fantastic read. Hill's writing is both descriptive and evocative. The novel features a tragic, self-destructive lead and a pair of exceedingly heinous villains. Also included is the first post-credits sequence I have ever seen in a novel.

Toy of the Year: Transformers Masterpiece Soundwave. Nothing else in 2013 comes even remotely close to this aptly-named Masterpiece. Soundwave is a perfect modern sculpt update to the vintage toy. The articulation allows for an incredible range of positioning. The inclusion of five cassettes (all fully articulated) adds a huge bonus to the figure's value. One of the coolest original Transformers (with one of the more outdated alternate modes) is recreated in awesome detail.

Movie of the Year: Pacific Rim. This is a default pick, as it is the only new movie I have seen in 2013. It is a great one, though. Despite questionable science and a bare-bones plot, Pacific Rim delivers the goods with incredible effects and action, and a feel of throwback to the giant monster movies of my youth. Idris Elba's presence enhances just about any movie, as well. This is what Transformers should have been like, and hopefully the new Godzilla has a similar style.

Television Show of the Year: Game of Thrones (season 3). This one is an easy pick. Being an enthusiast of George R. R. Martin's series, it was guaranteed i would love this show. The execution (pun intended) of the Red Wedding, while deviating significantly from A Storm of Swords, was devastating. The characters continue to grow, and my favorite, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane, is finally being given depth. The casting for Brienne of Tarth was genius. This show is so awesome.

Video Game of the Year: Diablo III. This is another default pick. The only other 2013 game I played is Grand Theft Auto V, and it did not impress me. Diablo III is mindless hack-and-slash, but I had a lot of fun with it. I played through several times with multiple characters, and have not yet gotten sick of it - a monumental achievement for a video game not part of The Elder Scrolls series.

[Bo-rilla Grodd]

Bo-rilla's Favorites of 2013

Movie of the year- Pacific Rim

Comic of the year(ongoing)- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Comic of the year (individual)- Batman #24

Comic of the year (limited)- Thanos Rising

Comic cover of the year- Crossed Badlands #38

Action figure of the year- Generations Springer

Dvd/bluray of the year- Justice League:the Flashpoint Paradox

TV series of the year- Breaking Bad final season

Video Game of the year- the Last of Us

[secondwhiteline]

Top Five Albums of 2013
1. Mark Mulcahy - Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You
2. Jimmy Eat World - Damage
3. Camera Obscura - Desire Lines
4. Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob
5. Summer Camp - Summer Camp

Special mentions to Annie's The A&R EP and Best Coast's Fade Away EP. Not full albums, but still good.

Some good stuff, but nothing really NEW. Mostly a lot of good bands steadily improving, punctuated by a few comebacks like Mulcahy. Lorde has promise, but a lot of work to go before she hits Robyn or Janelle Monae's level. (Note: Still haven't gotten around to the most recent Daft Punk album somehow. That probably skews things a bit.)

[secondwhiteline]

Also, comic of the year - Copra by Michel Fiffe. It's the only comic worth reading. (Although I did also enjoy the various Adventure Time comics and True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, as well as random indie stuff by guys like Michael DeForge.)

[beastovjudgement]

It did not even occur to me to have a top five albums list. The others are, in order:

2. Inquisition, Obscure Verses for the Multiverse
3. Audrey Horne, Youngblood
4. Satyricon, self-titled
5. Summoning, Old Mornings Dawn

[beastovjudgement]

For some reason, I looked at the Rolling Stone "100 Best Songs of 2013". Of the seven or so I had actually heard (I don't keep up on mainstream music - not because I am "wicked underground", but because it doesn't interest me), I unsurprisingly liked exactly zero.

Another couple music-related bests:
The best song of 2013 from an otherwise average album - Ancient VVisdom, "Here is the Grave".
Best live performances, in no particular order apart from the last two, which are tied for first place:
Marduk at Gramercy Theatre; New York, NY
Manilla Road at Maryland Deathfest; Baltimore, MD
Bad Religion at House of Blues; Boston, MA
Ghost at Royalle; Boston; MA
Watain at Palladium; Worcester, MA
Dawnbringer at Dusk; Providence, RI
Goblin at Sinclair; Cambridge, MA
Venom at Maryland Deathfest; Baltimore, MD

Best day of 2013: Friday the thirteenth of September - my wedding to the world's most awesome woman. She is the best.

[Caleb]

Caleb's favorites of 2013. Normally I'd choose video game of the year, but I didn't play much...for the record, from what I have played? The Last of Us was the best, hands down.

Album of the Year: Janelle Monae, The Electric Lady. I'm gonna go mainstream here, sadly. Look, I like lesser-known artists just as much as the next Kamboucha chugger. But I've been a fan of Monae since she debuted Chase Suite (Metropolis: The Chase Suite, whatever) in '08. And I'm pumped that she's finally getting mainstream exposure. And yeah, I loved The Electric Lady. I'm just really sick of hipsters rolling their eyes at me when I say I like this more than Daft Punk's LP (which I also loved), but I've had Dororthy Dandridge Eyes stuck in my head since I heard it. And the whole album is just as good. (WORST: Yeezus. We get it, KanYe. You like yourself a lot. You're a genius. A god. Please go away.)

Movie of the Year: 12 Years A Slave. I'm torn on this one. The Conjuring scared the crap out of me. Fast Six and Star Trek Into Darkness were wildly entertaining. And The World's End made me laugh really, really hard. But 12 Years A Slave left me with a lump in my throat, hoping for the entire running time that poor, poor Solomon Northup would find his way back to his family. It's a really hard movie to watch, but well worth it. And it's just nice to see Chiwetel Ejiofor FINALLY land a role that lets him take center-stage in a film worthy of his immense talent. (WORST: Texas Chainsaw 3D. "Do yo' thang, cuz." Enough said.)

Book of the Year: The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman. I never know what to expect from Neil Gaiman. When he's on, he's ON. When he's off, his stuff is really, really hard to read. Luckily, Ocean at the End of the Lane is Gaiman's best work since Neverwhere, and it more than makes up for Anasi Boys. If you haven't read it yet, do so. (WORST: Books are such a time commitment, I didn't seek out anything bad...okay, Divergent sucked.)

Comic of the Year: Batman Zero Year. By now, Batman's origin has been told enough between comics, books, movies, television, and video games, we should all be sick of it. Credit to Scott Snyder, then, for making the whole affair feel fresh and new by combining the best parts of Batman's various origin retellings with his own stamp. Unlike the needlessly edgy revamp of Superman, this one actually feels like a destined classic product-of-our-times. (WORST: Trinity War. A huge victim of expectations. But it still sucked.)

DVD / Blu-Ray of the Year: Pacific Rim. I was split down the middle on this movie. On one hand, big robots hitting monsters. On the other? Lousy acting and a story that stalled more than it ran. But in Blu-Ray, on a crystal-clear LED with surround? Pacific Rim kicks all kinds of ass and really makes the neighbors angry. This is the ONLY time my neighbors have complained about my surround system, but good god...this movie needs to be experienced in a theater environment. (WORST: X-Men Adamantium Collection. Wolverine claws are THE PERFECT reason to double dip on a bunch of movies you probably already own...for $150! Fox likes money, guys.)

TV Series of the Year: Boardwalk Empire. With respect to Walter White, Liz Lemon, Tyrion Lannister, and the lady who (thankfully) shot The Governor in the face (I hope), Boardwalk Empire's 4th season was a masterclass in building tension with a heckuva payoff. Okay, Bobby Cannavale's psycho Gyp Rosetti was missed, but he was replaced with the criminally underrated Jeffrey Wright's Doctor Valentin Narcisse, a Machiavellian prick with an axe to grind against...well, everyone. And, after two seasons where the writers couldn't figure out what to do with him, Michael Shannon got a lot to work with. If you're not watching Boardwalk yet? Get on that. Go on. Breaking Bad is over, and there's no Governor. (WORST: Is House Hunters still on? Yes? Okay, House Hunters. Seriously, you want to hate humanity? Watch House Hunters.)

Toy of the Year: Gizmo (Medicom). NECA's Spider-Gremlin has been bumped back a few months to '14. Luckily, I still have this li'l guy - a mock-up of the puppet used in Gremlins - to tide me over. He's a little on the pricey side, but well worth the money for any Gremlins diehard. Really, it looks JUST like Gizmo. The next best thing to having an actual Mogwai. Maybe better, since he won't eat after midnight and go all Gremlin on you. (WORST: Cuddles My Giggly Monkey. This thing is freakin' terrifying. If I was a kid, I'd run in fear from Cuddles My Giggly Serial Killer Monkey Robot.)

Action Figure of the Year: Helena Bertinelli (Mattel). I've been demanding this figure since Series 5 or so. And I looked forward to her for almost an entire year. Well worth the wait. She's not my favorite DCUC figure, but I'm so happy to finally have Helena hangin' out with Babs and Dinah that I don't even care about the whole Batzarro thing. (WORST: Batzarro. Duh.)

[secondwhiteline]

Hey, remember when I spent like the past year telling you guys about Michel Fiffe's Copra? Take a look at [url]this CBR best-of list[/url]. Notice #1?