From Missy: 

“I took the wind from the sea
I took the blood from an arrow
I took the wisdom of spring”

These are lyrics to my favorite song by the singer Laura Marling. This song was the inspiration for my Loved Letter Envelope Locket.

My Loved Letter Envelope Locket is made from a vintage envelope charm. Tucked away inside this charm is a miniature original drawing of an arrow on one side, and a heart on the other. This is drawn on heavy watercolor paper that is dyed with tea to give it a weathered look. Each charm is unique, so expect variations on the envelope locket, as it has a lovely copper patina.

The envelope locket measures about 1 inch wide and about .75 inches tall when closed. The envelope is attached to a chain that is 18 inches in length and has a lobster claw clasp closure.

Once again most of our bloggers are resolving to lose weight and hit writing goals this year — we’re kind of predictable in that way. However, maybe because of the continued recession or the fact that we’re getting older, almost all of the resolutions seem a bit more practical this year — except for Sarah Fazeli’s. Actually, I think that’s why I like Sarah Fazeli’s resolution best of all. 

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, … AND LOSE WEIGHT

My resolution last year was to “change my eating habits for the better.” I did that, and even though it took me till the last few months to do so, I have managed to not only succeed, but also to drop 30 pounds in the process. My resolution for 2012: to stick with my gym habits and keep working out till I reach my goal. If I stick to it like I have over the last few months, I will be healthier and more fit than I have ever been in my whole life.

Zack Bunker from Tall Glass of Shame and Runway Rundown

Lose 25 pounds.  In 2011 I think I gained 25 pounds.  So I am looking to go back to 2010 basically.
Patrick Connolly from Piping Hot Nerd: Adventures of a Bagpiper Mastering Manhattan

My 2011 resolutions were: keep my job, lose weight, finish novel. I did all of those things: kept the job until they fired all of us, lost weight and then gained half of it back, and yes, I finished the novel. This year the big resolution is to get paid to write, for the first time ever. The rest is always the same. Lose weight. Work. Be happy. All that. Goes without saying.
Gudrun Cram-Drach from Secret Life of an Expat

I think that for 2011 I resolved to be nicer to myself, and I think for the most part I have been pretty good at refraining from constant self-recrimination.  For 2012, I resolve to take better care of my health.  I’ll be thirty-five this year, and while a marathon is not my style, I’d like to maintain my recent healthy habits like walking and eating more veggies, and add some new ones in time.  Also, I’d like to be less angry.  I’m pretty sure it will kill me or incarcerate me if left untreated.
Roya Hamadani from Fierce Foodie

Since I didn’t make a resolution last year, I didn’t have to stick to one. It worked out really well. Can’t I just stick with that one for this year too? No? Ok, I resolute that I will lose 10 pounds (and gain it back, and lose it, and gain it back again, and, well… you get the picture).

Frankie V from Frankie Says…

I always keep my resolutions pretty simple and vague, as to make them easily achievable. So this year I will continue to “show them all”, “get even” , and “settle the score”… oh and lose ten to fifteen more pounds.

Sam Weitzner from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, … AND WRITE! 

Maybe this is how it goes when you have kids – your New Years resolutions become lifetime resolutions.  Maybe I’ll get last years done this year, maybe I won’t, but I can certainly start.  Keep working on my scripts.  Shoot a microbudget feature film.  Plug away at the self indulgent novel that I know at least 5 people want to read.  Find a good day care for my sprouting child.  Run a 5K in under 30 minutes.  See my friends more.  Score a goal.  Surf.  Dunk.  Get a dog.  Buy a house, if only to no longer be president of the HOA.  Too many?  Too few?  Too early to start now?
Josh Pullin from Stay-at-Home Dad

The one thing I didn’t get around to is finishing my memoir THE YEAR THAT SUCKED. So, that’s what I’ll do in 2011. Really. Honest. I just took a memoir intensive course and ventured into a writing partnership for just that purpose. Plus, if I don’t finish it this year, then I’ll have to face up to you guys next year. I don’t wanna do that. Oh and I need to lose 20 lbs before our big 10th Anniversary party in June.

Amy Robinson, Blogumnist Editor and writer of Tall Drink of Nerd

So the 2011 goals – Overall grade: C-

• Write one new novel, one new screenplay, and shoot one short film. Check on the novel. CHeck on the screenplay. Fail on the short film.
• Volunteer two days per month. Total fail. I tried to assuage my guilt by over-donating to my regular charities. While they were happy, I’m still faced with the knowledge I didn’t get out into the real world and help others.
• Limit news/political intake to 15 minutes per day. This probably wound up being about right. But only because there were days when I was on a complete media blackout and other days where I didn’t stop reading HuffPo. Providing that it’s possible to fail through success.

2012 Goals:

• Be better. In general and specifically.
• Volunteer once a month.
• Write ten pages per day, every weekday.

R. B. Ripley from Hyperbolic Tendencies

THE RESOLUTIONS THAT (GASP!) DON’T INVOLVE WRITING OR WEIGHT LOSS

I will finally do that burlesque show I’ve been talking about since 2009. There. Now I’m on the record! I’ll be the one in a wig and glitter. Get out your tassles, Frances!

Sarah Fazeli from Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered

Less moping, more hoping!  (which is kind of ambitious for an election year) (and seems like a more succinct iteration of last year’s resolution) (so we’ll see how it goes)

Michael Kass from Single White Nerd

My 2012 resolution is to try and be more organized. Things really get messy cos I am working on lots of things at once, and I love to multi-task. You do not want to see my craft room, trust me. My resolution for 2011 was better penmanship. I started out good, and sometimes I take my time writing my name when I sign a check, but I feel I have slipped up again. My writing is not so neat lately. I need to slow down and take my time.

Missy Kulik from Dork Lifesyle

Finally get around to watching BREAKING BAD. I know. I know [dodges boot] I’ll get to it. Geez. I got around to quitting smoking in 2011, I’ll get around to more important things like watching a television show in 2012.

Joshua Mauldin from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

I think I wrote about keeping your resolutions to yourself, but what the heck. Last year I vowed to try to run a half-marathon. I did that in October, and felt really good about it, but I know there’s more in the tank. This year, I’m doing a full 26.2 miles. Pittsburgh Marathon. May 6. I’m already registered, so there’s no backing out now (and no reason to keep it to myself).

Joe Rusin from On the Contrary

Last year I resolved to do better with anger management. It didn’t really go so well, but it’s not really my fault since the rest of the world didn’t live up to their resolution to STOP PISSING ME OFF.  So this year, I’m just gonna try and keep my DVR above 50% and make more gratuitous and obscure musical theatre references. God, I hope you get them.

Eric Sims from California Seething

Travel more?  My 2011 Resolution was to travel and i didn’t do any of it, because I was so busy. So I guess 2012, Im freaking going somewhere. Even if it’s Dallas. Ok, not Dallas, but somewhere.

Matt Udvari from Gamer by Design

THE REBEL OR JUST FORGETFUL NON-RESOLUTERS

I don’t do this.
CH from CH’s Picture of the Day

To remember my 2011 resolution and accomplish it.
Ryan Dixon, FIERCE ANTICIPATION editor and writer of The Ryan Dixon Line

ONCE UPON A TIME, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, PAN AM and gasp! NEW GIRL all made both the Best of and Worst of lists. The bigger surprise, however, is how many cable shows ended up in the Worse of, which in the past might as well have been called a “worst broadcast and reality shows of the year” list. However, in 2011, many of us were disappointed by what were supposed to be the quality shows. Especially…

THE WALKING DEAD 

THE WALKING DEAD. I so didn’t care what happened to that little girl after she wandered off… After two episodes I was already sick of hearing about her, so dragging the storyline out to the mid-season finale (whatever the hell that is) really annoyed me. All the fun of the first season’s constant change was replaced with pregnancy tests and a big boring farm housing a barn full of zombies. I know i’ll tune back in when they resume episodes in February, but if they don’t pick up the pace soon I’m going to tune out. I have been reading the graphic novel it is based on, and boy don’t I wish they did it better justice. Now I see what all you fanboy purists were bitching about after episode 3 last year.
Zack Bunker from Tall Glass of Shame and Runway Rundown

For the second year in a row, I’m giving Worst of honors to THE BORING WALKING DEAD. Last year, it felt like I spent an entire season waiting for this show to live up to the promise of its series opener, only to be disappointed by the season finale. This year, I spent the entire season just waiting for something to happen, only to be a little bit pleasantly surprised by its last two episodes. That time-spent math is so bad. Sadly, I feel compelled to keep watching, because the show has promised that Michionne (one of the most badass black women in comic history) will be introduced in season, and I’m hoping that even this show’s writing staff won’t be able to figure out how to render her completely boring.

Ernessa from Fierce and Nerdy

THE WALKING DEAD. I want to love it.I try and try, but it just keeps disappointing.

CH from CH’s Picture of the Day

MORE NON-QUALITY CABLE

Pfff I don’t know. HUNG has lost its appeal, but I couldn’t say why. And the last episode of ENTOURAGE was pretty terrible. I hope there’s an Ari spinoff where he turns into an a-hole again.

Gudrun Cram-Drach from Secret Life of an Expat

 
The second half of AMERICAN HORROR STORY. It’s not that hard to engross viewers in a mystery, it’s damn near-impossible to pay off that mystery in a satisfying way [see Dexter Season One]. Once the writers started to reveal the secrets (I had a bad feeling when they note-for-note copied the Columbine incident for a character’s exposition) the show went downhill fast.

Joshua Mauldin from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

PAN AM was a total plane wreck. A wanna be that never got off the ground.
Patrick Connolly from Piping Hot Nerd: Adventures of a Bagpiper Mastering Manhattan

It’s sad how far  GLEE has fallen. It was my favorite show in its dazzling, unmarred first season. Now its a crapshoot if its even watchable week to week. Inconsistent much? Also, anything with “Real” and “Housewives” in the title.

Sarah Fazeli from Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
 
The GOP debates- or as they are known on Bravo- The Real Nutbags of the American Right. They are like one long infomercial for Obama’s reelection. Also, GLEE. Is this what teen entertainment has been reduced to? John Hughes must be rolling in his grave. I ought to track down the writers of GLEE and duct-tape their butt-cheeks together. Saturday detention would be totally worth it.

Eric Sims from California Seething

Sadly, I must say SUPERNATURAL has been deeply disappointing since the whole “Cass is the new God and not a very good one” plot line.  Woe is me!

Roya Hamadani from Fierce Foodie

GRIMM.  I don’t understand why people like this show.
Michael Kass from Single White Nerd

PARENTHOOD.  An over-dramatization of an already overly dramatic experience.  None for me, thanks.

Josh Pullin from Stay-at-Home Dad

I’m not sure I have the right to say this, since I only watched about 7 minutes of it – but it was that bad that I had to turn it off. TWO BROKE GIRLS was so annoyingly stupid for the 7 minutes that I watched it, that all I could keep thinking was, “Wow, Kat Denning’s got big boobs, and a nice ‘real-girl figure’…”

Frankie V from Frankie Says…

NEW GIRL. Zooey, STOP IT. You’re adorable. I get that, America gets that. You don’t need to do this… Let’s stop this charade… call me.

Sam Weitzner from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

 DISAPPOINTING REALITY

SUPER BOWL XLV – Green Bay Packers 31 – Pittsburgh Steelers 25. Enough said.

Ryan Dixon, FIERCE ANTICIPATION editor and writer of The Ryan Dixon Line

WE THE PEOPLE with Gloria Alred.  Why does she have a court show?  I hope everyone understands that this show is 100% fake.  These are actors doing re-enactments of old court cases.  It’s from Entertainment Studios, the same people behind AMERICA’S COURT with Judge Ross, which is also fake.  And don’t get me started on the sub-par production values.  My high school AV department could crank out a better show than this.

Jersey Joe from Kicking Back with Jersey Joe

LADY HOGGERS - I mean, WHY???

Missy Kulik from Dork Lifesyle

All Real Housewives shows. Why do I feel like I’m the only person who’s not entertained by manufactured conflict? It raises my blood pressure to watch 5 min of this thing.

Matt Udvari from Gamer by Design

Amy wasn’t the only one who will dearly miss this show. For the first time ever an already cancelled show is making an appearance on our Best of list. Also of note: a return of the scripted show. This is our most fictional Best of list yet. GAME OF THRONES, ONCE UPON A TIME, and AMERICAN HORROR STORY also received its share of love, but OUAT and AHS are just two of the shows that’ll also show up on tomorrow’s worst of list. What other dramas did we both love and hate? Come back tomorrow to find out. 

MORE DRAMA FOR YOUR MAMA

PRIME SUSPECT.  I suspect that this show, which has already been cancelled, may be brought back to prime time.  That Maria Bello is something else.

Josh Pullin from Stay-at-Home Dad
 
AMERICAN HORROR STORY. The best new show on television this season. It has all my favorite things: A wicked sense of humor, freaks, creepy plot twists, sex, bitchy gay ghosts, things that make you cringe and the most horrific neighbor you can imagine played brilliantly by Jessica Lange. (If she doesn’t win an Emmy I will eat my blogumn.) I haven’t enjoyed a show this much since Twin Peaks!
Zack Bunker from Tall Glass of Shame and Runway Rundown

The First Half of AMERICAN HORROR STORY. This show started out with a bang. A great mystery, macabre characters, creepiness at every turn. Jessica Lange chain smoking and chewing scenery. Tami Taylor sans drawl. What could go wrong?

Joshua Mauldin from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

I am going to say REVENGE even though I only saw one episode. I am busy trying to catch up with life on DVD.  Shame on me.  I work in television.

Patrick Connolly from Piping Hot Nerd: Adventures of a Bagpiper Mastering Manhattan

RINGER because an actress like Sarah Michelle Gellar should be on TV dammit.  Buffy will never die!

Roya Hamadani from Fierce Foodie

I can’t remember the last time a show took over my day-to-day imagination like the all-too-brief ten episodes of HBO’s GAME OF THRONES.

Ryan Dixon, FIERCE ANTICIPATION editor and writer of The Ryan Dixon Line
 
GAME OF THRONES. It was like a medieval fantasy version of THE WIRE with its multiple characters and story arcs (and willingness to kill off any character). There was a fair amount of sex and violence, but none of it gratuitous, since it all worked to move the story forward instead of being merely exploitive like the awful TRUE BLOOD. Plus, it’s gotten a lot of people (myself included) to read the books, to which so far the series has been remarkably faithful.

Joe Rusin from On the Contrary

ONCE UPON A TIME.  I don’t know why.  I really don’t.  But I kind of love it.

Michael Kass from Single White Nerd
 

ONCE UPON A TIME on ABC. Why didn’t I think of this show? Why didn’t I write it? Why am I not starring in it? I demand to know. It’s like someone took the way I think and made an hour-long drama out of it.

Sarah Fazeli from Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
 

I don’t watcha  lot of TV except for Sunday AMC shows and stupid pawning shows that make me fall asleep at 12:30. So Im gonna have to default to the latest AMC show, HELL ON WHEELS. Otherwise known as “that train show with Common.”

Matt Udvari from Gamer by Design

DOWNTON ABBEY – I love the scenery, costumes, and the story. I love how it really transports me to another time.

Missy Kulik from Dork Lifesyle
 
I know it’s not groundbreaking, or mind-bending, or even that exciting, but something about PAN AM has me hooked. Those little blue dresses, jet setting around the world, opportunities to meet good-looking men in suits in a hotel lobby… some of my deepest fantasies are embedded in that show. I’m sure that’s what ABC was counting on with us 25-35 year olds.

Frankie V from Frankie Says…
 

*DEAD* 

HAPPY ENDINGS makes me laugh so hard. It’s a modern version of FRIENDS.

CH from CH’s Picture of the Day

I don’t know if it’s because if my friends Sallie Patrick and Delia Hauser had a baby, she would look exactly like Zooey Daschanal or because she’s just so darn awkwardly adorable in this show. But NEW GIRL is the only new show right now that I just have to watch every week and as close to its time slot as possible. I love her roommates and I just adore all the high jinks they get into. Couldn’t love this show more . Though, I also want to give shout-outs to the hilarious (and way better than FRIENDS) HAPPY ENDINGS (Damon Wayons Jr — who knew?), REVENGE, and ONCE UPON A TIME, which I’m enjoying despite that annoying-as-heck kid.

Ernessa from Fierce and Nerdy

NEW GIRL.  I jumped on the bandwagon late on this one, but I’m glad I did.  It’s nice to see a new sitcom back on television and Zooey Deschanel is hilarious. The show is funny, imaginative, and has great writing.  The laughs work and shouldn’t be missed!

Jersey Joe from Kicking Back with Jersey Joe
 
Comedy – UP ALL NIGHT (Fox). It’s the cast. I can’t get enough of Christina Applegate and the relationship she and Will Arnett (who is refreshingly un-schticky) is just fabulous. Maya Rudolph’s gravy. Drama – AWAKE on NBC. Just wait, you’ll see.

R. B. Ripley from Hyperbolic Tendencies

LOUIE. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I’m supposed to pick some piece of shit show that premiered in 2011 but, to quote the theme song, it’s “Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie.” When I watch Louie, I’m 24 again, laughing uncontrollably in the back of the Comedy Cellar watching a genius at work on a Tuesday night and begging the MC for a five minute spot in front of the six drunks left in the club at 11:30 PM (two of them are making out and one only speaks Hebrew) so I can try out my new Scrooge McDuck: Baby Raper bit. It’s a shitty, wonderful life being a comic and he nails it perfectly.

Eric Sims from California Seething

NON-FICTION GEMS 

CURIOSITY (on The Discovery Channel). I think the format of the show, coupled with the breadth of topics it covers keeps this show engaging to not just science nerds, but also anybody, as the title suggests, curious about a given topic. The Adam Savage episode particularly blew my mind, talking about technology extending human life well into the future.

Sam Weitzner from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

MASTERCHEF FRANCE– LOVED IT! MASTERCHEF was great for my language studies. Here’s why: people bring their accents from all over the country, they talk normally so you hear lots of swearing and slang, you learn about French food, not just what’s done in the restaurant but what home chefs are capable of (for example, they don’t panic when faced with a dessert challenge, or octopus for that matter), you learn about French chefs, big shot visits every week for the final elimination challenge, and they go to cool places in France to do their challenges. They even went to New York City for one episode, which was disappointing because the challenge in cooking “American food” was to make a hamburger and cheesecake. Even the chefs are clueless about what we eat.

Gudrun Cram-Drach from Secret Life of an Expat

And apparently I’m not the only one who hates this song. Maroon 5 and LMFAO pretty much dominated our worst of list this year.

MOVES LIKE JAGGER by Maroon 5 It doesn’t even make sense… Mick Jagger is one of the most unsexy men and he flaps around the stage like an epileptic watching Japanese anime!
Zack Bunker from Tall Glass of Shame and Runway Rundown

I know people think it’s catchy, but I think Mick Jagger should be really upset to have his name featured in a song as lame as Maroon 5′s MOVES LIKE JAGGER. Someone should tell Adam Levine that he’s trying too hard with all those tattoos and tight t-shirts, when it’s clear he probably got beat up just as much as Rivers Cuomo in high school. Just own it, man. And part of me wishes that the famously litigious Rolling Stones would find a way to sue Maroon 5 for this ear sore.

Joe Rusin from On the Contrary

This is so terrible, I can’t bear to watch the whole thing.

Missy Kulik from Dork Lifesyle

LMFA-NO

PARTY ROCK ANTHEM, LMFAO… while I secretly fine this song a tiny bit brilliant, I’m terrified to listen to it for fear it will lock in my brain on repeat for the next three days.
Gudrun Cram-Drach from Secret Life of an Expat
 
SEXY AND I KNOW IT by LMFAO is unlistenable.  There’s nothing else to say about that.
Roya Hamadani from Fierce Foodie

Hands down, PARTY ROCK ANTHEM. I HATE this new form of “music.” If you wanna call it dub step, fine. Techno, house…whatever. I hate it. It’s uninspired, unimaginative, and I keep thinking I am living out the opening scene of “Blade” and I will have to throw down and fight vampires at nay second. Not to mention, every time I turn around, this song is playing everywhere; from the gym to the bank.

Sam Weitzner from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

 AND EVERYTHING ELSE 

Rebecca Black, FRIDAY. I didn’t like this song when it first came out and liked it even less when Kohl’s turned it into a Black Friday jingle! I think it made dogs bark up and down the east coast every time that commercial aired.
Jersey Joe from Kicking Back with Jersey Joe

I don’t have one. Might need to listen to more bad music.
Michael Kass from Single White Nerd

ROCKETEER by The Far East Movement.I drank too much at a company summer party and heckled these guys through their entire set. They were gracious enough to offer me a drink to stop yelling, “You suck! Play an instrument!” at the top of my inebriated lungs. I would apologize for that night but I didn’t write these lyrics:  ”Where we at, only few have known / Go on the next level, Super Mario / I hope this works out, Cardio / ‘Til then let’s fly, Geronimo.” People yell Geronimo when they’re falling a**holes. Anger rising…must contain rage…

Joshua Mauldin from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

ALL HE DOES IS WIN video remix by DJ Steve Porter, which I also picked as my favorite song of the year. Tim Tebow is one of the worst quarterbacks in the history of the NFL – he can’t even complete 50% of his passes. Now that he’s managed to be a part of a couple, or 7, “miraculous” wins there seems to be a momentum shift towards cutting him some slack. Courtesy of Skip Bayless on ESPN’s First Take: 1. All he does is win. 2. He is a force of competitive nature (whatever the hell that means) 3. He’s not a pro bowl quarterback and shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers (I might’ve added that one in there), and Cam Newton. If all you do is win, and take the worst team in the NFL (according to Skip Bayless earlier in the season) to the playoffs then you are, by definition, a pro bowl quarterback. Sounds to me like someone (Skip Bayless) hedged their bets just enough to ride this wave of fantastic finishes to his very own video remix. Congratulations Mister Bayless.
Josh Pullin from Stay-at-Home Dad

Something about a red solo cup? Listening to this song was like arguing with a zealot – completely useless and no fun at all.

R. B. Ripley from Hyperbolic Tendencies
 
Anything off the new Megadeth album Thirt3en. The music is great, but then stoopid Dave Mustaine starts whining. Why does he insist on “singing.” My husband says “A lot of people really like his voice.” I told him those people are all going deaf. Seriously…
Amy Robinson, Blogumnist Editor and writer of Tall Drink of Nerd

 
Love Adele. But they need to stop playing “Rolling in the Deep” ad nauseaum. Loses it impact after the 1.21 billionth play.
Sarah Fazeli from Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
 
I could do without hearing SOMEONE LIKE YOU ever again. Hey, Adele, maybe the problem is that you’re always looking for someone just like the last asshole who dumped you. I’ve got news for you, honey, you keep doing that, it’s always just going to “hurt instead.”Eric Sims from California Seething

I’M ON ONE by DJ Khaled. This song does the rarely-used technique of repeating an ear-grating, high pitched sound over and over. Oh sigh, I miss my beloved rap, when people rapped. About stuff other than the club and drinks that “might be purple it might be pink.” Depends on how you mix it, I suppose, as the wise Drake says…
Matt Udvari from Gamer by Design

Amy wasn’t the only one disappointed in a highly-anticipated action film this year. Check out the other Action Clunkers below. Also of note: Best of picks TAKE SHELTER and BRIDESMAIDS made this Worst of list; nobody liked SUCKERPUNCH, and surprisingly only one of us picked the latest TWILIGHT installment as the worst movie of the year.

ACTION CLUNKERS

I AM NUMBER FOUR. Having not seen any previews, all I knew was this came from kidlit, so of course I jumped at it. But the film was trying too hard to be grownup and in the end, it couldn’t hold its gun.

Gudrun Cram-Drach from Secret Life of an Expat

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES. While the plot was cool, as with many disaster films, the characters are clichéd and just didn’t work.  The soldiers seemed flat and generic, while the dialogue just wasn’t real life.  Some of the effects screamed computer generated and at times the sub-par camerawork got in the way of the story.  There are far more polished films out there and with a little more work, this could have worked.  (This film’s main rival, SKYLINE, from a year earlier, was even worse.)
Jersey Joe from Kicking Back with Jersey Joe

NOT SO FEEL GOOD FAMILY MOVIES

HUGO.  What is wrong with me?   It found it soul-less and uninteresting. Do not get why people are gaga over it.

Patrick Connolly from Piping Hot Nerd: Adventures of a Bagpiper Mastering Manhattan

And Amy wasn’t the only one who loved this movie. We had so much agreement at FaN this year, that we could easily split our Best of list up as THE MUPPETS, BRIDESMAIDS, ATTACK THE BLOCK, THE LAST HARRY POTTER, and EVERYTHING ELSE. So um, that’s what we did…

IT’S A TIE BETWEEN THE MUPPETS AND…

It’s a tie between THE MUPPETS and RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - because those were the movies I came closest to seeing this year. I couldn’t, though because I had to stay home and watch Pawn Stars instead since my DVR was down to 18% and I had to clear space for the Psych marathon over the weekend. It’s a hard knock life for me.

Eric Sims from California Seething

It’s a toss-up between GNOMEO & JULIET and THE MUPPETS. GNOMEO & JULIET is a feast for Shakespeare fans and actor geeks everywhere. Montagues are the blue garden gnomes; the Capulets are the red garden gnomes. Get it? It’s seriously the best, funniest, and surprisingly faithful adaptation of a Shakespeare play I’ve seen in a long time, besting the R & J a German company did in 1995 at the RSC’s London International Shakespeare Festival –  where Juliet refused Paris by stamping her feet and smearing her face with a chocolate bar, a long line of her suitors bearing gifts entered the stage on skateboards, and the balcony scene was done on trapeze. GNOMEO & JULIET is also your one big chance to hear Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewert, Julie Walters, Jason Statham perform together.

Watching THE MUPPETS was like looking in on my childhood, like living Emily’s climactic speech in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” when, during the herafter-death peek in on her life on earth, the morning of her 12th birthday, she says, “Good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover’s Corners….Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking….and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths….and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth,you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it–every,every minute?” — only the theme of the movie was that you don’t have to say goodbye. The Muppets never left. The world just…forgot about them.

Oh, Kermit. Piggie! Manomana Doo Doo Da Doo Doo and Wakka Wakka! Someday we’ll find it, The Rainbow Connection! The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me…sniff.

Sarah Fazeli from Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered

BRIDESMAIDS 

BRIDESMAIDS. Because nothing is funnier than watching a girl crap her wedding dress in the middle of the street.

Zack Bunker from Tall Glass of Shame and Runway Rundown

BRIDESMAIDS. This was a huge surprise to me. I have to admit that even though I think I am a highbrow subtitle reading poser, I love juvenile bathroom humor movies, and this one was a bathroom humor movie with heart.  I haven’t laughed so much since SUPER BAD.

Patrick Connolly from Piping Hot Nerd: Adventures of a Bagpiper Mastering Manhattan

BRIDESMAIDS: I can’t remember the last time I almost peed in my pants in a movie theater.

Frankie V from Frankie Says…

ATTACK THE BLOCK

It is my mission in life to get every nerd I know to 1) read READY PLAYER ONE, and 2) watch ATTACK THE BLOCK. Both of them are gifts from Nerd Heaven. And ATTACK THE BLOCK is a great crowd pleaser if you’re convening with family over the holidays. It’s the one new release on video right now that everyone over the age of 12 will at least sorta enjoy — like REAL STEEL with English project kids, weed, and aliens. Okay, nothing like REAL STEEL — but it really is a crowd pleaser. Seriously, give it some love. I also adored MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, REAL STEEL, CRAZY STUPID LOVE, and DRIVE.

Ernessa T. Carter from Fierce and Nerdy
 

ATTACK THE BLOCK. Just go on iTunes right now and rent it. You will not be disappointed.

CH from CH’s Picture of the Day

Going over the list of 2011 movies, I am shocked at both how little I saw and how little I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw. I did like ATTACK THE BLOCK a lot because it was a simple movie, and I am a sucker for sci-fi, cockney Brits, and hip hop. Also liked THOR, CAPTAIN AMERICA, RISE OF THE PLANET APES (amazed at how much I liked this!), FRIGHT NIGHT (also shocked), and THE MUPPETS. Yes, I clearly went style over substance this year.

Sam Weitzner from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

THE LAST HARRY POTTER

I’m going to have to geek out and say HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: Part 2. As a longtime HP fan, I’d been waiting for this film for a while, and as someone who didn’t so much love Part 1, or even the film before that, I was worried that they would screw it up. But in my opinion, they didn’t.

Gudrun Cram-Drach from Secret Life of an Expat

That last Harry Potter – I am only saying this cos it is the ONLY movie I saw in the theater!

Missy Kulik from Dork Lifesyle

AND EVERYTHING ELSE…

Michael Winterbottom’s THE TRIP. Not since SIDEWAYS has there been a better exploration of the subtly twisting tides of male friendship. Equally hilarious, heartbreaking and cringe inducing. Plus, it makes you really hungry for scallops.

Ryan Dixon, FIERCE ANTICIPATION editor and writer of The Ryan Dixon Line

SUPER 8 made me feel like a kid growing up in the eighties again.  I loved the storytelling, the emotional adventure, and grew nostalgic for those pre-digital days before twihards and texting.

Roya Hamadani from Fierce Foodie

MONEYBALL. I’m a big baseball fan and I thought this film captured the magic of the 2002 Oakland A’s and the attempt to create the perfect team.  The film takes a hard look at the inside workings of the game from the stats, to recruiting, the politics, and economics involved in signing the perfect player.

Jersey Joe from Kicking Back with Jersey Joe

THE ARTIST.  Precise, moving, deceptively layered, amazing performances and a dance sequence.  Loved it muchly.

Michael Kass from Single White Nerd

The first hour and fifty-five minutes of TAKE SHELTER. TAKE SHELTER is a patient, deeply moving portrayal of a good man trying everything he can to stave off the inevitable destruction of schizophrenia. Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain deserve Oscar consideration.

Joshua Mauldin from FIERCE ANTICIPATION
 

BELIEVE YOU ME.  Films should mean something and this one does.  Here’s a link: http://fischersfork.com/

Josh Pullin from Stay-at-Home Dad

There’s just no way to pick one, so I’ll thumb my nose at the rules and declare that I was equally thrilled by WIN WIN, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, CONTAGION, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, RANG, THE KING’S SPEECH, BEGINNERS, THE BEAVER, BRIDESMAIDS, and HUGO. Let’s just call that my best picture nomination list.

R. B. Ripley from Hyperbolic Tendencies

DRIVE. Who thought an arty little genre movie would have such impact. It was SHANE set in lonely Los Angeles, with a wonderful soundtrack that added to the mood, great performances by all involved (Ryan Gosling even won me back with this one), and great surprises (mostly of the violent sort). Most of all, as an Angeleno I thought it really captured the feel of Los Angeles. Its geography was actually correct in chase scenes, and the sense of isolation in a crowd while driving a car really rang true for the experience of living in L.A.

Joe Rusin from On the Contrary

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. I expected to see a decent romantic comedy, and it turns out that its actually a fantasy movie And of course, any artist can relate to this theme: “Why does everyone keep calling my art a freaking hobby.” Oh life.

Matt Udvari from Gamer by Design

Just like last year, the only things we fierce nerds can’t agree on are which books sucked the worst. Though, in a happy surprise, unlike last year, only one book that I loved, showed up on this year’s Worst of List. Go HERE to read why THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES was my favorite non-fiction book of 2011, and go below to see why Ryan Dixon did not feel the same way. 
 

BESTSELLER BOOS

I tried to read A TOUCH OF DEAD by Charlaine Harris, the Sookie Stackhouse book of short stories, in French and, while I really need to practice my French and am a fan of True Blood, it’s just too dumb.
Gudrun Cram-Drach from Secret Life of an Expat

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER by Seth Grahame-Smith. I read this because of all the hype surrounding it. I found it uninspired and average at best.
CH from CH’s Picture of the Day
 
While the amount of research I do before purchasing books usually allows me to avoid true stink bombs, the most disappointing read for me this year was Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Pulitzer-prize winning biography of cancer, THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES. I had fiercely anticipated this book for half a year before it was published, but in the end, I appreciated it more as a monument than an actual reading experience. It’s amazing that this subject hadn’t been tackled before in a vast canvass approach, but a lot of the time it still felt like I was reading a text book written by a really good novelist.

I know that one of Murkherjee’s major influences was Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On, which was a much more gripping “read” (and far more emotionally devastating) thanks in part to Shilts’ skill at sliding the hard-science seamlessly into the narrative, wherein Emperor seemed awkwardly divided between “story” and “science.”
Ryan Dixon, FIERCE ANTICIPATION editor and writer of The Ryan Dixon Line
 
Note: Let me spin this category on its head. I’ve spent much of 2011 avoiding reading Tina Fey’s BOSSYPANTS because my expectations are so utterly astronomical, I can’t chance being disappointed. So, I guess you could say it’s my favorite book I haven’t read, and my least favorite book to risk reading. Still here’s hoping the hardcopy is under my tree on Christmas morning.

Sarah Fazeli from Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered

This is difficult because if I hate something I tend to stop reading it, mainly because I have calculated about how much time I have left on this planet minus the time spent sleeping, driving, showering etc., and there is just not enough time to read badly written books.  Also, I get bored easily.  However I did skim BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER by Amy Chua until I became sickened and filled with rage at the audacity and cruelty of people who think over-controlling their children leads to anything but lifelong resentment.  And nervous bowels.

Roya Hamadani from Fierce Foodie

HOW TO LIVE SAFELY IN A SCIENCE FICTIONAL UNIVERSE by Charles Yu.  Critics loved it.  At first read, I kind of liked it.  Now I admire it and really kind of dislike it.  I can’t really describe why without going into all sorts of detail.  Which might be why I dislike it.
Michael Kass from Single White Nerd

I didn’t hate anything this year. My least favorite reading experience this year would be MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden. I finally read it and… Wow. Just repetitive and dull.
Amy Robinson, Blogumnist Editor and writer of Tall Drink of Nerd

THE TRAGEDY OF ARTHUR by Arthur Phillips. Really this was just an excuse for author try to write a Shakespeare play, but he muddied it up with a cliche-riddled fictional memoir before it. It felt like intellectual masturbation without a climax (sorry…too much?).

Joe Rusin from On the Contrary
 
I will put in the book that I got almost all the way through here: SKINNY BITCH by Rory Freedman. I know it’s a bit older, but the information in that book will make you put down meat for good. Well, at least for 4 months, like I did. And that is why it’s my least favorite book… I don’t want to know the truth!!

Frankie V from Frankie Says…

THE SUN ALSO RISES - Ernest Hemmingway. If you’re an insufferable, rich, white, alcoholic, anti-Semitic whiner with no dick — this is the book for you! Otherwise, stay away. This is the sort of book that actually makes sitting on the toilet worse. Fuck you to the dude who forced us to read this for the book club. He hates Jews. (kidding!) (maybe)
Eric Sims from California Seething

LOSING MY RELIGION….

THE BOOK OF MORMON by Joseph Smith (the source material for my favorite Book of the year)

Patrick Connolly from Piping Hot Nerd: Adventures of a Bagpiper Mastering Manhattan

FORGED: WRITING IN THE NAME OF GOD — WHY THE BIBLE’S AUTHORS ARE NOT WHO WE THINK THEY ARE by Bart D. Ehrman.  This is a fine book for anyone interested in the pseudonymous authorship of the New Testament (or the ancient world in general) but if you’re familiar with Ehrman’s previous work, this one is a bit redundant. Much like “Misquoting Jesus” was a less scholarly rewrite of “The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture”, “Forged” feels a little too familiar.

Joshua Mauldin from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

THE GOSPELS by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Just too many contradictions in the narrative to sweep me along for the ride.

R. B. Ripley from Hyperbolic Tendencies

NON-FICTION NON-LIKES

SEE A LITTLE LIGHT: THE TRAIL OF RAGE AND MELODY by Bob Mould with Michael Azerrad. For some reason I thought i’d love this book, especially considering I love Bob Mould as a musician and DJ as well as us having the whole “Bear Community” thing as something in common…. alas, no. This book wasn’t the exciting memoir I had hoped for, instead it read like a long explanation of why he was better than his counterparts in Husker Du and why they will never reunite. Every fun story or interesting anecdote about his life in general or time in Husker Du was followed by some smug self indulgent reminder about how he has changed the history of music without even trying. In a memoir it is hard not to be a little self indulgent, but I don’t believe the word “humble”  appears anywhere near the printed pages of this book. We get it Bob, you won’t ever get back together and perform with Husker Du… We aren’t even asking you to.
Zack Bunker from Tall Glass of Shame and Runway Rundown

1999: VICTORY WITHOUT WAR by Richard Nixon.  Okay, after the initial novelty wore off, the dry subject matter and long drawn out sentences started to put a damper on the evening and Mr. “I am not a crook” had to go back on the shelf.
 
Jersey Joe from Kicking Back with Jersey Joe
 
and tango makes three by Justin Rischardson and Peter Parnell. Illustrated by Henry Cole. I don’t hate it because it’s about penguins, although I, unlike other people that find penguins adorable (see MARCH OF THE PENGUINS and/or HAPPY FEET 1 & 2 if you don’t believe me), find birds that can’t fly to be somewhat of an oxymoron, ostriches exempted. I don’t even hate the book because it’s a true story about gay penguins that tried to have their own baby penguin, but couldn’t because of you know, biology. And, I don’t even hate it because they left out what I find to be the funny part of the story – you know, the part about how after the zookeeper gives them an egg that needs a family and they do a good job at raising it, one of the penguins discovers that he’s not gay after all and starts up with a female penguin. I hate it because it’s one of my son’s favorite books even though it’s chock-full of thick paragraphs and requires an enormous time commitment to read once, let alone the three or four or more times it takes for a toddler to tire of being read to.

Josh Pullin from Stay-at-Home Dad

 
That STEVE JOBS book. Are we really so deep into commercialization that a book has to come out right when someone dies?  Come on, man.

Matt Udvari from Gamer by Design

I don’t read a lot, but I did hate this Rachel Ray cookbook I perused. I can hear how smug she is in the pages!

Sam Weitzner from FIERCE ANTICIPATION
 

AND MISSY KULIK HAS IMPECCABLE TASTE

I did not buy any I did not like.

Missy Kulik from Dork Lifesyle

Ernessa Says: This was a terrible year for having to pick a favorite book, because so many great ones came out. THE MAGICIAN KING by Lev Grossman*, SILVER SPARROW by Tayari Jones, and A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD all made it onto my Top 5 Reads of the Year list, but the top spot goes to READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline. Simply put, if you are a nerd, you will balls-to-the-wall adore this book. And I’m not the only one who’s completely in love with this rare gem of a novel…

 *I almost didn’t include Grossman after that recent TIME magazine article, in which he admitted that he was only looking forward to books by fellow white males in 2012 — which is just ridiculous. But MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is on my list of favorite movies of the year, so I figured if Woody gets a pass this year, so does Grossman. Still on the fence about reading his next book, though. 

OUR FICTION PICKS

READY PLAYER ONE. I read this book in 4 days it’s the best book I have read in years could not put it down.
CH from CH’s Picture of the Day

1.  READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline  I have not had that much fun reading a book since the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony when I was 11.  And this one didn’t even have bizarre sex scenes involving Death and Mother Nature.

2.  THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morganstern.  Never have I read a book that made me wish so fervently that the place it described was real.
Michael Kass from Single White Nerd

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan. The fact that, after heartily recommending this book to friends and colleagues, and being asked “what’s it about” I didn’t have an answer except possibly, “Growing up…?” but on reading it I was entranced, I learned so much from Egan, and for a couple of weeks, it made my writing better.

Gudrun Cram-Drach from Secret Life of an Expat

While the snobbish side of me (a not insignificant percentage) wants to say James Joyce’s Ulysses, no other book gave me more pleasure than Jennifer Eagen’s A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD. While many of the authors following in Joyce’s very big footprints write novels that share Ulysses’ bulk, Eagen somehow managed to play all the necessary post-modernist games in a tight, endlessly entertaining package. A perfect gem of a novel

Ryan Dixon, FIERCE ANTICIPATION editor and writer of The Ryan Dixon Line

Alas, there are so many books I have not yet read from previous years that it’s impossible to catch up to books being released this year (I wrote a column praising late adopting, after all http://fierceandnerdy.com/the-wisdom-of-late-adopters-on-the-contrary). Even though I think it was published in 2010, I’ll jump on the bandwagon of Jennifer Egan’s A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD. It was not the only newer book I read, but it was the only one I liked (and quite a bit).
Joe Rusin from On the Contrary

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD - Jennifer Egan. Egan reminded me how much I adored New York in my 20s and how hard it was to leave behind when I got older. This is a beautiful book about the relentless cruelty of passing time and the evergreen mercy of second chances. Kudos to the dude in our book club who picked this one out — oh, wait, it was me. I’m awesome!

Eric Sims from California Seething

GO THE F**K ASLEEP by Adam Mansbach – Forget “Pat the Bunny.” This one is my new go-to baby shower gift.

Sarah Fazeli from Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered

THE LORAX by Dr. Seuss.  A classic tale of capitalism versus the environment, only it rhymes.  They should make it into a movie.  Oh wait, they are.  They should make it into a good movie…
Josh Pullin from Stay-at-Home Dad

THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY by Walter Mosley. Spending 400 pages with the aging, dilapidated, nonagenarian Ptolemy Grey was one of the most engaging and inspiring things I did this year.

R. B. Ripley from Hyperbolic Tendencies

If it’s a book released this year, my award would go to MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN by Ransom Riggs. Can’t wait for the sequel. BUT, I was really moved by BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett, even though I didn’t want to be. (I know, it came out in 2002) Assuming it was for opera buffs, I thought I wouldn’t get it. Boy, did I get it. It was one of those books where I missed the characters after I finished. She’s a really good writer.

Amy Robinson, Blogumnist Editor and writer of Tall Drink of Nerd

OUR NON-FICTION PICKS

THE ART OF STEAMPUNK by Art Donovan. The most beautiful and comprehensive collection of Steampunk Art I have seen to date. This book is a great inspiration for designers, craftsmen, the Steampunk aficionado, or anyone just curious about it. A must have for anybody who loves this design movement as much as I do!

Zack Bunker from Tall Glass of Shame and Runway Rundown

BOSSYPANTS, Bossypants, Bossypants by Tina Fey!!!  Second favorite: THE PSYCHOPATH TEST by Jon Ronson.  I like to laugh and also live in fear.

Roya Hamadani from Fierce Foodie

1999: VICTORY WITHOUT WAR by Richard Nixon.  Amazed that I chose this?  Not as amazed as I was finding Nixon’s face jumping off of the book shelf in a New York City Upper East Side bar.  Why was it there?  I have no idea, but it made for some hilarious commentary and entertainment for the group I was with…

Jersey Joe from Kicking Back with Jersey Joe

I really liked DESIGN* SPONGE AT HOME by Grace Bonney. This book collects eye candy from her blog, one that I look at on a weekly basis. It is nice to have it in book form for perusal.
Missy Kulik from Dork Lifesyle

RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner.  This book is the definitive catalog of the destructive marriage between Washington and Wall Street. Starting in the early 1990′s, it details exactly how the financial meltdown of 2008 came to fruition from a sober, “just-the-facts” perspective. Anyone occupying tents outside of a government building needs to have read this.

Joshua Mauldin from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

This may not be from this year but I usually only read plays, so here was my favorite book, ZEITOUN by Dave Eggers. It was one of those nonfiction books that made me check the back to see if it was actually true.

Matt Udvari from Gamer by Design

No shocker here; Patton Oswalt’s ZOMBIE SPACESHIP WASTELAND. Equal parts hilarious bit and introspective biography, it’s everything you’d expect from a book from the notable comedian… and more. My favorite, as a writer, was the bit “Punch Up Notes” detailing one producers insane notes on a draft of a movie.

Sam Weitzner from FIERCE ANTICIPATION

IT’S NOT REALLY A BOOK, BUT….

THE BOOK OF MORMON  (the musical)

Patrick Connolly from Piping Hot Nerd: Adventures of a Bagpiper Mastering Manhattan