Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Best of 2013 Consumption

It’s that time, amigos, to say goodbye to 2013. I’ve once again made a note of the best stuff I spent my time reading or seeing. You’re most welcome to it. Not all of it is from said year, just consumed in it. Please, too, consume with a grain of subjectivity.

BEST FICTION BOOK: The Armageddon Blues: A Tale of the Great Wheel of Existence by Daniel Keys Moran




BEST NONFICTION BOOK: Co. Aytch: A Confederate Memoir of the Civil War Sam R. Watkins




BEST BOOK OF PHILOSOPHY: The Quantum Mechanics of Minds and Worlds by Jeffrey A. Barrett



  • HONORABLE MENTION: Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton 

BEST BOOK OF POPULAR SCIENCE: E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis





BEST STAR WARS ANYTHING: Clone Wars episode “The Lawless” by Chris Collins (writer) and Brian Kalin O'Connell (director)


  • HONORABLE MENTION: The Star Wars works of yours truly

BEST MOVIE AT THE THEATER: Before Midnight by Richard Linklater (writer, director), Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke (writers)




  • RUNNER-UP: Pacific Rim by Guillermo del Toro (writer, director) and Travis Beacham (writer)
  • HONORABLE MENTION: Gravity by Alfonso Cuarón (writer, director) and Jonás Cuarón (writer)


BEST MOVIE ON DVD: Howl’s Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki (writer, director)




  • HONORABLE MENTION: Throne of Blood by Akira Kurosawa (writer, director), Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto and Ryûzô Kikushima (writers)

BEST COMIC BOOK: The Four Immigrants: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924 by Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama




BEST BOOK OF POETRY: Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Robert Bly




BEST TV SERIES: Seinfeld




BEST THEATRE SHOW: Terminator Too: Judgment Play by Thomas Blake (writer, director) and Jim Cunningham (writer)


 
  • RUNNER-UP: The Lion King musical by Julie Taymor (director), Elton John (music), Tim Rice (lyrics), Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi (writers)

MOST IMPACTFUL CULTURAL EVENT: Edward Snowden NSA revelations




  • ADDITIONALLY: Supertyphoon Haiyan, ongoing Syrian Civil War
  • HONORABLE MENTION: Election of Pope Francis

That's it for my first outing here, and my return to blogging. See ya on the flipside of the New Year, friends! ~ Abel G. Peña