The best stuff you read, played, and watched in 2014

[Johnny Novgorod]

BEST MOVIE WATCHED: Birdman, Boyhood.

BEST BOOK READ: "Pulp" by Charles Bukowski, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by Raymond Carver, "Dr. Bloodmoney" and "Eye in the Sky" by Philip K. Dick, "Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy, "Slaughterhouse Five" and "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater" by Kurt Vonnegut.

BEST GAME PLAYED: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Borderlands, BioShock, Dead Space, Far Cry 3, inFAMOUS.

BEST TV SHOW WATCHED: True Detective.

 

[Vault101]

all these years are turning into blur...I can't quite remember what media I consumed...not a whole lot evidently

but anyway

BEST GAME: DA:inquisition hands down...mainly because it was the only game I really played, it surpassed my low expectations. I thought I was over Bioware games but apparently not

BEST MOVIE: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" <-(I watched this on new years eve after watching a "best of" compilation video) not familiar with Wes Andersons work but it was funny quirky and had a great visual style

BEST BOOK: the paying guests by Sara Waters, definitely one of her best

BEST COMIC: its only early days but "Copperhead" has me hooked, promising premise, great visual style

 

[Ishal]

BEST MOVIE WATCHED: Guardian's of the Galaxy I guess. Not really into movies.

BEST BOOK READ: The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Runner up is Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

BEST GAME PLAYED: Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

BEST COMIC BOOK READ: Probably the Cadance Shining Armor MLP comics, but I don't remember if that was released this year.

BEST ANIME WATCHED: Jormungand. Also the only anime I watched.

BEST MANGA READ: N/A

BEST SONG HEARD: Various game Soundtracks. Fallen off listening to new music lately.

BEST TV SHOW WATCHED: Legend of Korra. HA! Just kidding. Could you imagine? Season 4 of MLP. Runner up is GoT.

BEST WEBCOMIC READ: Heavenly Nostrils

BEST COMIC STRIP READ: uh... N/A? I only ready webcomics. So see above.

Been a pretty good year. Here's hoping 2015 will be better.

 

[Queen Michael]

BEST WEBCOMIC READ: Heavenly Nostrils

BEST COMIC STRIP READ: uh... N/A? I only ready webcomics. So see above.

To be fair, Heavenly Nostrils is going to start running in newspapers this year.

 

[FPLOON]

BEST MOVIE WATCHED (in theaters): The LEGO Movie
BEST MOVIE WATCHED (at home alone): Paprika
BEST MOVIE WATCHED (with others): The Room
BEST BOOK READ: Song of Solomon
BEST MANGA READ: Gunslinger Girl
BEST ANIME WATCHED: Space Dandy
BEST HENTAI WATCHED: Futabu! (Honorable mention to Summer Vacation...)
BEST VIDEO GAME PLAYED (alone): Child of Eden
BEST VIDEO GAME PLAYED (with mother): Rayman Origins
BEST VIDEO GAME OST (new): Persona Q:Shadow of the Labyrinth
BEST VIDEO GAME OST (remastered): Kingdom Hearts II.5 Final Mix
BEST SONG HEARD (just "once"): Never Catch Me by Flying Lotus
BEST SONG HEARD (on repeat): Toxic Crusaders by Deastro
BEST SONG HEARD (jokingly): Young Wild & Free (Karetus Remix) by Snoop Dogg feat. Wiz Khalifa and Bruno Mars
BEST SONG HEARD (in a porn-related video): Cake Cake (Crizzly Remix) by Rihanna feat. Steve Aoki
BEST SONG MASHUP HEARD: Potatoes & Low Asses by Psycosis
BEST ALBUM HEARD: Metaphorical Music by Nujabes
BEST SHOW WATCHED (live-action): Gracepoint
BEST SHOW WATCHED (animated): Steven Universe (Adventure Time was a VERY close second...)
BEST MINI-SERIES WATCHED: Over The Garden Wall
BEST COMIC STRIP READ: The Duplex
BEST WEB COMIC READ: Brawl In The Family

All "BEST" candidates are using the word "best" with the grainiest of salts imaginable... (Results may vary...)

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Best game played: Wasteland 2
Best book read: Catch 22
Best song heard: Chainsaw Morning by Ringo Deathstarr
Best movie watched: Guardian Of The Galaxy
Best TV show watched: House of Cards
Best comic read: The Walking Dead (Though the last comic I read before this was one of the Sonic ones back in the 90s so this kind of wins by default. Still good though)

 

[Mimic]

BEST MOVIE WATCHED: Captain Phillips (Tom Hank's performance at the end)

BEST BOOK READ: The Name of the Rose

BEST GAME PLAYED: Dark Souls 2

BEST GAME NOT PLAYED: Valiant Hearts (watched on the Youtubes)

BEST SONG HEARD: Hey Baby by Pitbull (as a dance song)

BEST TV SHOW WATCHED: Fargo

 

[MysticSlayer]

Best Movie: Big Hero 6
Best Game: (Toss-Up) Dishonored or Saints Row 4
Best Album: (Toss-Up) Space Police-Defenders of the Crown by Edguy or Heart by Kamijo
Best Anime: I would say Golden Time, but I technically started watching that in 2013. As a result, I'll say Baccano!

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

Best of 2014

Best Game: Alien: Isolation

Best Movie: 50/50

Best Book: Either Dracula or It.

 

[Paul]

Hilary Mantel's novels about Thomas Cromwell, servant of Henry VIII ('Wolf Hall' and 'Bring up the Bodies')

I have a copy of Wolf Hall sitting in my room, having bought it on a whim maybe 18 months ago. Is it a decent read? I bought it and for whatever reason never really got around to it, although I remember noticing it had won a handful of accolades.

Alas, I'm struggling to think of what I read, watched and played in 2014 that really stood out. Almost all of my picks across these categories are from before 2014. If that's not a problem, then here we go:

Best Game: Far Cry 3 / 4. Both were really enjoyable games, though I haven't yet completed 4. I'll probably pick it up and play it to completion in the future, though from what I saw the game was a ton of fun and reminded me of Just Cause 2 (which I also need to play and finish in future...).

Best Movie: Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream. The topics are similar but the film approaches differ so greatly they're worthy of note. I'm fairly sure most people have seen one or both.

Best TV: American Horror Story. I hadn't followed it until 2014 and then blitzed the first three seasons. As far as I'm concerned Season 2, Asylum, had the potential to be the best of the three. Unfortunately the last two episodes weakened it, so it's a draw with Murder House. Coven was definitely the poorest of the lot.

Best Book: Trainspotting Trilogy. I'm not sure how else you'd describe it, given Irvine Welsh wrote 'Skagboys' as the prequel and 'Porno' as a sequel. Trainspotting is the best of the three, unsurprisingly, but Porno is a strong enough entry as well. Skagboys is the weakest of the three but adds a nice bit of detail all the same. They're all written in Scots dialect.

 

[Dizchu]

Best Movie Watched: Good Will Hunting

Best Game Played: The Longest Journey

Best Album Listened to: Casualties of Cool - (Self-Titled)

Best Anime Watched: Princess Jellyfish HURR I DON'T WATCH THAT WEEABOO TRASH... Actually no, Princess Jellyfish was really enjoyable for me.

Best Series Watched: Orange is the New Black/Trailer Park Boys (tied)

 

[San Martin]

Hilary Mantel's novels about Thomas Cromwell, servant of Henry VIII ('Wolf Hall' and 'Bring up the Bodies')

I have a copy of Wolf Hall sitting in my room, having bought it on a whim maybe 18 months ago. Is it a decent read? I bought it and for whatever reason never really got around to it, although I remember noticing it had won a handful of accolades.

It depends what you like. Book recommendations are hard when you don't know the person's tastes. What do you like?

But yes, it is an excellent read, and if you ask me it deserves to remembered as a classic.

 

[kingofkumquats]

Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy for those released this year, and Pulp Fiction for movies I just got around to seeing finally.

Game: Probably Far Cry 3

Song: "Sad Machine" by Porter Robinson, "Faded" by ZHU, "Gold" by Chet Faker, "Drop the Game" by Flume and Chet Faker or "XMAS_EVET10" by Aphex Twin. Or "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" by Daft Punk.

Book: Probably A Dance With Dragons or Mort by Terry Pratchett. Ooh, or Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

TV Show: Orange is the New Black

Webcomic: Cyanide and Happiness

 

[the December King]

BEST MOVIE WATCHED: I can't think of what this might be- I liked Argo, but I might have to come back to this later.

BEST BOOK READ: The Troop by Nick Cutter- in my opinion, top notch horror from Canada. Honourable mention should go to Douglas Nicholas for Something Red- a well written book, but I tired of the characters.

BEST GAME PLAYED: 7 Days To Die. I haven't been as on top of new titles this year, but I really had fun playing this higher end minecraft sandbox game(?) on steam.

BEST COMIC BOOK READ: Scalped by Jason Aaron and illustrated by R. M. Guéra.

BEST ANIME WATCHED: Attack On Titan, or Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I also enjoyed the Full Metal Alchemist.

BEST SONG HEARD: Father of The Wolves by Amon Amarth.

BEST TV SHOW WATCHED: Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones- these two simply trumped all else I watched this year. I also enjoyed season 2 of Luxury Comedy, but this fascination is hard to explain to sane people.

That was fun!

 

[The Wykydtron]

BEST GAME: Comyu. Fully translated this year, aside from the lack of choices in battles it's still the best battle centric Visual Novels i've ever played. It's got a good sense of humour too, like quite a few VNs they fill the gaps between heavier plot scenes with light fluff to keep the pace up. (See the entire first arc of Grisaia no Kaijitsu.) Good thing too, cuz Comyu gets heavy as fuck later on. Saejima pls. Why are you so depressing?

BEST *GAME*: Since some (wrong) people don't consider VNs as games i'll add Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius in there. It is also a VN but it has actual combat mechanics, generally summed up as Fire Emblem In Space. It has some grade A voice acting, especially considering it's a Kickstarter indie game. "Icari Isadolve. Remember my name" in the 2 seconds before your mech suit explodes and propels your already charred body into the cold emptiness of Space I mean.

BEST BOOK: I've read like one this year so saying it's "best" is silly. It was The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, it looks aight so far.

BEST ANIME: Watamote OVA because Tomoko is best anime character. I would go for Akame ga Kill but I assume everyone will probably die horribly somewhere along the line and i'll be too sad to recommend it.

[sub][sub]Oh god Sheele why T_T[/sub][/sub]

BEST SONG: I'll go with the most catchy song this year and make it the Normal Battle theme from Monster Girl Quest. I was wondering whether to make this best game of the year over Comyu but if the game industry failed so hard in 2014 as to make a porn game my GOTY I might just have to stop gaming entirely.

Spoiler: DEATH SWORD CHAOS STAR!

 

[Spanglish Guy]

Best Game: Shadow of Mordor. I didn't really play all that many games out of of those that came out this year and of the ones I did SoM stood out the most for me, I really should finish it though.

Best Film: Probably Guardians of the Galaxy or Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I greatly enjoyed both of these films immensely, for varying reasons. There were a few films I saw this year that I did enjoy a lot but they didn't quite stand out as much for me. Oh ok I'll add the Lego Movie in too because that was a damn fine film. Oh and for films that didn't come out this year I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time and despite being a rather bizarre film I really enjoyed it and wished I had seen it far sooner.

Ok if I had to pick one as the best it would have to be Cap' America, probably.

Best TV Show: Haven't watched a great deal of tv shows but I will go with Arrested Development, series 1 in particular.

Best Anime: It is a toss up between Kill la Kill and Watamote. KLK was the first anime that I properly watched ever (barring a couple of films I saw ages ago) and just did everything right for me. Watamote on the other hand is the most recent anime I have watched to date and I found myself really connecting to Tomoko, I'll agree with the post above and also say that she is the best anime character IMO. Gonna through in an honourable mention to No Game no Life too because that was it was great and I love the premise.

Probably gonna have to say Watamote just edges out on top due to many scenes hitting close to home.

 

[Starbird]

BEST MOVIE WATCHED: Judgement At Nuremberg or Guardians Of The Galaxy.

BEST BOOK READ: Seafort series by David Feintuch.

BEST GAME PLAYED: Honestly...nothing really. Not a great year in this regard. Probably a replay of God Of War 2.

BEST COMIC BOOK READ: The Boys by Garth Ennis.

BEST ANIME WATCHED: Naruto. Yeah, shoot me but I still love the series.

BEST MANGA READ: Berserk.

BEST SONG HEARD: No Children by The Mountain Goats.

BEST TV SHOW WATCHED: Moral Orel.

 

[KissingSunlight]

Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy. There were better movies like Boyhood and Birdman. Yet, GOTG was simply a lot more fun to watch than anything else this year.

Underrated Movie: Bad Words. Starred and Directed by Jason Bateman, this is a funny comedy that don't handle children with kid's gloves. That might offend some people. If you aren't offended by that, then watch it. It has one of the best mystery I have seen in a movie.

Album and Song: Andrew Jackson Jihad released a brilliant concept album about death this year called Christmas Island. I dare you to listen to the song Linda Ronstadt without tearing up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_BIMtdKYC4

TV Show: The Newsroom. A very maligned series about people who are making an effort to be better than what other people believe is acceptable.

Video Game: God of War 2. I went with catching up on games on the PS3 than investing in a next generation console. So, Sony and Microsoft have a couple of years with me to start producing games that would make want to get them. If they don't, I'll retire my gaming hobby.

Comic Book: Saga. It still keeps me guessing. Beautiful art. A very original story that I devour everytime I open a new issue.

Best Book: On Writing by Stephen King. Part memoir and part writing tutorial, but completely interesting look inside the writing process of one of the most successful author of our times.