PixlBit

Yes, my plan to spend each week of the year thinking about a specific year in the past has finally got to its end, and now I'm on this very year. 

MUSIC

Then: You know, I got a Steve Wilson album, a They Might Be Giants album, and a Of Montreal album this year, but with my retro playlists taking up all my listening time, I really haven't given them a good listen yet until this week. I really liked a track off Steve WIlson's Hand. Cannot. Erase. that reminded me of why I like listening to prog rock guitar solos; and I liked some tracks from the Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold soundtrack that were suitably evocative of fantastic worlds. 

Now: I'd love to get my hands on this Ozric Tentacles album Technicians of the Sacred. Good prog rock is hard to find. 

GAMES

Then: I played very little of what actually got released this year, but I did manage to play the heck out of Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell. Mark and I played this co-op and had a blast in old Crackdown style: going berzerk in a city sandbox. 

Now: So much I want to get to, but I think most of all might be Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. on 3DS. It's comparison to the gameplay of Valkyria Chronicles is all I needed to hear to buy it. Now I just need to find the time for it. My project to play and trade my backlog in order of shortest to longest playtime, has put a lot of more recent games on hold - recent games tend to be long games. That's just the times for ya. 

BOOKS

Then: Only Halo: Last Light, which I'm reading now and almost finished. 

Now: I want to read this book I saw in the library one day in the new release section called Destruction was My Beatrice: Dada and the Unmaking of the Twentieth Century by Jed Rasula. I'm fascinated with art of the time between the world wars. Artists were reacting to the near world ending chaos, and looking to break down the art traditions of a culture so clearly flawed. I love the wild creativity, comedy, and experimental nature of Dada and Absurdist plays. 

FILM/TV:

Then:I have a few favorites, but if I had to pick one it would be Mad Max: Fury Road. There's not a whole lot to this movie in the way of dialog, or even story, but I love the visual style of this movie so much. It seemed heavily inspired by Cirque du Soleil with its acrobatic action scenes; and the variety of cars pieced together from post apocalyptic junk was a sight to behold. It's just plain fun to watch. 

Now: There are a few more movies coming out I'd like to see like Hateful Eight, but recently a friend recomended Ex Machina from early this year. So I'd like to see that. 

What did you like most this year?