I’m resolving to be more involved in the snacks and party offerings I bring to get-togethers next year. Like making cheese logs or cookies instead of mindlessly buying a bottle of wine. I also want to get better at giving people presents on their birthdays. I don’t do that enough. — Tabitha from “Fierce Science” To never again fill out an end-of-the-year wrap up questionnaire for Fierce and Nerdy.  However, I doubt I’ll be able to keep this resolution, as Ernessa T. Carter is an annoyingly persistent editor. When it came time to making her contributors fill out the end-of-the-year wrap up questionnaire that you are now reading, she was like an evil galley ship master, relentlessly whipping our already bloody backs to get as much free content as possible.  — Ryan from “Fierce Anticipation” Less US Weekly, more actual book readin’. Step one is losing the celeb gossip rag subscription. Step two is just say no to late night TiVo in bed. That one will be a bit harder to stick to. I’ve already started a book and it’s about a cat. I figured that’s a good start for me. — Robin from “Wonderfully Awful” I am tired of making major resolutions that I never keep.  So this year, I have a couple small things in mind.  I want to take a cooking class, start an exercise routine of some kind, work harder on paying off my debt and see a career counselor or someone similar to discuss career advice. — Monique from “Political Physics” I have a few resolutions – one is to eat more fruit. I love sweets, but I think I need to turn to nature’s candy this year! I also started yoga and trapeze in 2004. I kept with...

So what was your worst moment of 2008? That would be a toss-up between the day our 16 yr old cat Weasel was euthanized or the night my Dad went into the hospital with Mylodysplasia Syndrome (MDS) The loss of Weasel is still tough, there are times where I cry just cause I still miss her. Dad is getting better, but sitting with him at the Oncology lab while he took his chemo treatments was definitely tough. — Amy from “Tall Drink of Nerd” This would be work related so I will self edit to avoid losing my job. — CH from “Buy Your Geek This” Being the 57th person to be laid off from my workplace, and knowing that if the remaining few can’t ride out this recession, the company may go out of business. It would be one thing if this was an isolated incident particular to my own life. But people all over the world are getting the pink slip and wondering how we’re gonna get by. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better. — Clark from “Nerd Date” Recently, I found out my mom is getting a second divorce.  It was all her idea, and he and I are not even that close, but it just gave me one more reason to believe that forever is unattainable. — Delia from “Chic Geek” Jeez Louise, there have been so many. Most of them boy related, many of them involving something that felt like heartbreak, but all of were steps in the right direction. — Gudrun from “Secret Life of a Nerd Girl” Had an argument with a loved one via cell phone, but the backdrop was gorgeous. The roof of the Grove parking garage, with a panoramic view from hints...

How about now? I’m feeling pretty good while writing this. I went to Target and Trader Joe’s this afternoon and didn’t want to claw my face off. Then I bought a copy of the Watchmen which I’m going to read later. Yes. Right now is good. Tabitha from “Fierce Science” Being offered the opportunity to become a blogumnist on Fierce and Nerdy. Not only my favorite moment of the year, but perhaps of the decade. It even rivaled the first time I had sex at the very belated age of 21. I was that excited when Ernessa asked me to contribute to this blog. Seriously. — Ryan from “Fierce Anticipation” Naturally, it’s Doctor Who related.  For Christmas, my fiancé surprised me with a second gift: a Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver.  My very own! — Redheaded Stepchild My favorite moment is when my roller derby team (and ETC’s former team) the Tough Cookies won the LA Derby Dolls 2008 championships. I have been with the team since the beginning and we had never made it to champs, much less won. Skating the track while holding that massive trophy is something that will stay with me forever. — Robin from “Wonderfully Awful” That one is easy….giving birth to my son.  Why, because it was the most incredible moment of my life, I have never been so surprised by my own strength or afraid of the realization of just how much I loved this person whom I had just met. — Monique from “Political Physics” This is really difficult, but my comic character, Tofu Baby, made an appearance at the Flagpole Music Awards. I got to be her voice back stage as she talked to the audience with Pete McCommons, the Flagpole’s editor. She even got heckled...

The episode in which we find out that a bunch of FaN bloggers now hate Heroes, and that we don’t particularly like reality shows with “America” in the title. Fringe.  I want to hurt the writers.  I have never laughed so many times at horribly cheesy lines as I have watching that show…well….maybe Lost 3rd season would be a close second. Whoever sold “its sort of X-Files meets Law and Order” should be put away.  — Delia from “Chic Geek” Fringe.  Just bring back Scully and Mulder.  Don’t give us this attempted X-Files hooha. — Redheaded Stepchild Heroes. What happened Heroes? I think they nuked the fridge when Sylar came back in like the first episode of the second season. If I learned one thing from comic books it’s rotate the damn villain. Also who did Masi Oka piss of so badly that they decided to turn his character into one of the Three Stooges? How many times can he be hit in the head and knocked out? You could at least slip a mickey into his drink just to mix it up. CH from “Buy Your Geek This” Heroes. Did I hallucinate Season One of this superhero soap opera? Was it actually as watchable as I recall? Just like George Lucas shat all over my memories of the original Star Wars series, the memory of how good Heroes may have been is permanently soiled by what it has become. Someone needs to shoot this show in the back of the head. Twice. — Clark from “Nerd Date” Seriously, why couldn’t Heroes frickin get it together this season? They have so many resources, but they can’t seem to kill anyone off, can’t seem to pull off a legitimate romance (Are there any women on...

After a harrowing writers’ strike we renewed our vows with TV this year. And for some of us, the love is stronger than ever. 30 Rock.  Always.  The funniest show around!  And if I’m allowed a second favorite…Skins!  Incredible. — Delia Hauser from “Chic Geek” I always love 30 Rock… just so smart and funny.  And I have a great spec for it – so I don’t want it to get canceled! — Jessica Glassberg from “Musings on the Amusing” As much fun as I’ve had watching the shenanigans of the namesake character on Pastor Greg, I think I’m gonna’ have to go with 30 Rock as my favorite TV show of the year. How can anyone NOT love it? In addition to being a serious fox, Tina Fey has got to be one of the best comedic writers of the last ten years, and the whole cast just burns shit up – Tracy Morgan? Unparalleled. “Kenneth The Page?” Brilliant. And Baldwin is killing it every episode. This show already deserves to be in the TV Hall of Fame solely on the merit of Baldwin’s line from the Carrie Fisher episode, “Never go with a hippie to a second location.” ??– Jordan Weeks from “Enough Already” Battlestar Galatica. The best show on TV just kept on getting better. When future generations look for art that reflects our post-9/11 world, BSG will be their cultural, spiritual and political touchstone. One of the best end-of-season cliffhangers ever. — Clark Perry from “Nerd Date” Even though I’m not a fan of reality TV, I have to admit that Kitchen Nightmares is a wonderful guilty pleasure. As far as scripted TV goes, it doesn’t get much better than The Big Bang Theory. And The Tudors was fun (even...

Forget exes, let’s have a moment of silence now for the wasted hours with books we didn’t love. Deadly Harvest by Heather Graham. I picked it up at a Rite Aid because I was meeting a friend for lunch who’s always late. I thought it was going to be a sexy murder mystery, but instead was 300+ pages of the literary equivalent to playing Clue with your niece. Come ON!  — Tabitha from “Fierce Science” It wasn’t a bad book – the writing was excellent – but I couldn’t get through it.  Jose Saramago’s The Double.  I tried twice, and finally gave up. — Redheaded Stepchild I tried to listen to [the audiobook of] Moby Dick by Herman Melville .. but I just couldn’t listen to the minutia of whaling any more. — Jessica from “Musings on the Amusing” It’s a tie. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Echo. It goes off on one tangent after another because Echo is a know it all that can’t seem to stick to the main story. And The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice. Like all Anne Rice novels it’s mediocre at best while being completely self-indulgent. I still haven’t finished either of these books and have been “reading” them since late summer. — Kaboom from “Venice Flytrap” Um…the audiobook of Wigfield by Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello was really disappointing… — Delia from “Chic Geek” I picked up In In the Woods at the airport.  It was fairly OK, but it made me want to write, cause if this Tana French pseudonym lady can do it, hell anyone can.  The worst part was that it had no ending.  I only read it to the end to see the outcome, which it didn’t...

A few of these books were read, not published in 2008, but luckily a good book is always a good book, no matter the vintage. The Book Thief was the best book I read this year.  The prose is gorgeous and the story is unique and compelling.  It’s going in my top 5 books of all time.  The fact that it’s written from Death’s POV in WWII Munich is original and it moved me to tears.  A lot of tears. — Amy from “Tall Drink of Nerd” The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I both love and hate books that make me feel like I shouldn’t even bother to write, because I’ll never be as good as this. And this was the book that I loved and hated most this year. Just writing about it makes me want to step up my game in 2009. Favorite book of the decade so far. — etc My favorite book is actually my favorite series of the year: Sharon Shinn’s Samaria series.  I’m generally put off by anything to do with angels, but I found this series a thoughtful, entertaining treatment of questions about the existence of god. — Redheaded Stepchild Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris…sorta like an HBO version of Office Space. Hilarious, moving and loving. Plus the author is adorable. — Kelli from “Fierce in Seattle” A trashy Jackie Collins paperback called Thrill! Oh, it was a delight. Does the impossibly beautiful Hollywood siren fall for the irresistible bachelor with a secretive past? What about her ex-husband who still obviously holds a torch for her EVENTHOUGH his new wife is directing her (his ex-wife) in her (new wife’s) directorial debut? Did you get all that? Me...

The darkest hour is just before dawn, and we spent some dark hours in movie theaters this year. Click on the titles of the non-mainstream movies to view trailer. The Blue Hour. It’s sad and boring and everybody dies in it. To her credit, my friend who invited me to the screening didn’t know what we were walking into. The worst part was the director was at the screening and I had to do my best to not loudly sigh and say obnoxious things about how horribly boring and sad it was. — Tabitha from “Fierce Science” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. If every person in Forrest Gump was killed at the end of their part of the story, you would have the same movie. Just rent Big Fish for the story about life and loss, then rent Romeo and Juliet for the tragic love story. Both much better movies and I think the running time of both combined is shorter than B.B. — CH from “Buy Your Geek This” Downloading Nancy. A based-on-a-true-story (read: no happy ending) film about a woman who hires a guy to kill her. Ok, the production value was slick, and the acting was quite good (Maria Bello does the best freakouts), but I ask you, why?  It just made me feel dirty. — Gudrun from “Secret Life of a Nerd Girl” In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. I know don’t ask!  We rented it on Netflix and it was absolutely horrible.  Why?  The acting was bad, the story was lame and even the action was bad.  Geez, if you watch a movie like that and the fight scenes suck then what’s the point!?!? — Monique from “Political Physics” The most disappointing film was...

Our FaN team weighs in on the best movies of 2008. Agree, disagree or don’t see your pick on our list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was whimsical and heartfelt (if overlong), and Milk was unusually prescient given the passage of Proposition 8 in California. — Charles Cron from Thought Chuck This year was super-tough, because I adored so many movies. But in a neck-to-neck battle between Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I’m going to have to give it to Button, just because I’m a sucker for anything that aggressively investigates Life and Death. — etc I don’t think I’ve seen it yet…but in it’s place either The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Tropic Thunder. — Kelli Bielema from “Fierce in Seattle” The Dark Knight: Just as Michael Phelps’ record eight gold medals at this past summer’s Olympics set the bar incredibly high for athletic accomplishment, Christopher Nolan’s film is now the standard not only for all future comic book movies, but the entire tentpole genre. — Ryan Dixon from “Fierce Anticipation” I have to go with The Dark Knight.  I know it’s predictable, but I loved the moodiness and honestly Heath Ledger was brilliant.  At the end I was peeved cause he can’t be the Joker again.  How shallow am I? — Amy Robinson from “Tall Drink of Nerd” Die drei Räuber (Les Trois Brigands): An animated feature from Germany, about three gruff thieves who kidnap an orphan girl and fall in love with her utter cuteness (and of course change there ways and save the day), based on a classic children’s book. I first saw the director on a panel, and it made me adore the European animation...