10 - Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
Robert Downie Jr returns as the fictional detective, hot on the heels of Moriarty. Most of the original cast return, most notably Jude Law as Watson. This is more action flick and less of the detective work but still retains the humour of the original. A mention has to be made to Stephen Fry as Myecroft Holmes who had some of the best scenes and lines in the movie though I could do without seeing the good Mr Fry naked again......
9 - Super Dungeon Explore
Super Dungeon Explore is a bored game based heavily on the old eight and sixteen bit turn based Japanese RPGs such as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3/6 and Shining Force. The basic concept is fairly simple. One player takes control of the monsters while the others take control of the heroes. The rule set is simple to learn but takes a while to master. All the characters and monsters are represented on the board by some very nice looking miniatures. Soda Pop/CoolMiniOrNot, who make the game, put a lot of effort into making this look damn good. Value for money is pretty good as well. The game costs under £70 but you get 52 miniatures. You look at a company like Games Workshop, and you would struggle to get that many miniatures for £70 alone, not counting the rest of the game.
My only down side would be that the game will need expansions in the future to keep it fresh, which will obviously cost more. It is, however, a game that I would recommend that you play. It's fun, quick to pick up and looks cool.
8 - Thundercats 2011
I'm hoping most of the people reading this blog know what Thundercats is. If you don't.... *sigh*
Thundercats was a staple of my childhood in the 80s along with Transformers and Centurions. Centred round a group of humanoid cats (I know, I know) and their adventures on "Third Earth" against Mumm-ra and his henchmen The Mutants. I'm not going to go into the rest of the plot, as most of it is actually irrelevant.
The reboot has a different back story, though the characters are mostly the same. The key players are all there and even some of the supporting cast from one off episodes in the original series get airings, the Robear Berbils being one that stuck in my head.
I have to admit, when this was announced I was very unsure. Reboots of most of the cartoons from my childhood have been awful (Transformers armada springing straight to mind). I was more than pleasantly surprised at the quality of this show. The animation is crisp even if it is Americanised manga/anime style. The storylines aren't dumbed down for today's kids.
I would highly recommend this show to any children and any fans of the original series.
P.S. Watch out for Larry Kenney, the voice of Lion-O in the original series, voicing Claudus, Lion-O's father in the pilot. He even says that immortal line :D
7 - Thor
I am so glad that Marvel are now making their own films rather than selling the rights to third party production studios. All the movie's building up to The Avengers next year have been on the above side of average. Even Iron Man 2, which I think is the weakest of the films, was enjoyable and has re-watchability. Compare that to X-Men Origins: Wolverine....ok let's not go there. Anyway, on to the film in question here, Thor.
I loved it. I have to be honest I wasn't sure how Kenneth Branagh would handle an action movie but he did a damn good job. Chris Hemsworth was believable as the arrogant heir to the throne of Asgard even if he was a bit wooden at times. The special effects, always a selling point in any superhero film were of the usual high quality we have come to expect of Marvel studios. Asgard looked amazing, as did Jotunheim. The star of the film though was, without a doubt, Tom Hiddleston as Loki (and when you consider that Anthony Hopkins was Odin, that's quite a compliment). I personally think he did an amazing job in the role and can't wait to see him in The Avengers. I've not really touched on Natalie Portman's role as Thor's love interest Jane Foster. This is really because I found her kinda forgettable. Kat Dennings as Darcy was far more memorable, even if it was for being a bit irritating.
A special mention has to go out to Clark Gregg on his recurring role as Agent Coulson. He is there mostly for comic relief but does it surprisingly well.
Overall, a fantastic film even if a few of the supporting characters weren't that great.
6 - Dungeon Defenders
Over the past few years there hasn't been many computer/video games that have taken up a lot of my time. Though I have played a lot of different games, usually it's been for a reasonably short period. The only games, until recently, that have had a lot invested in them have been World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2 and Minecraft.
Recently though, Dungeon Defenders has been eating up all my gaming time.
Dungeon Defenders is a variation on the tower defence genre where you actually play as one of four heroes (well before you add in DLC), The Squire, The Huntress, The Apprentice and The Monk. On each level you have one of more Eternia Crystals that you have to stop enemies, who spawn from set doors on the level, from destroying. You have several ways you can do this. You can attack them directly, use special abilities that you gain as you level or, and this is the main point of the game, you summon defences to aid you. Each character has different defences to match their personality. The Squire, for example has physical defences such as a harpoon tower or spiked barricade. The Apprentice (basically a mage) has magic missile towers and fireball towers. The Huntress summons traps that go off as the enemies walk through them but have to reset before they will go off again. The monk is more a support class, summoning auras that can slow down or damage enemies, heal allies or, and trust me this is the most awesome defence in the game, make the enemies attack each other.
As you level up, you can increase the stats of your hero or defences. Also weapons drop that can also be upgraded.
What really makes this game though, is the four player co-op. I've not personally played on random servers, only with people I know while chatting to them on Teamspeak but it's the most multiplayer fun I have had since end game raiding in WoW:TBC. Even though my characters are a fair bit behind as I spent some time trying some out before deciding on The Monk, the game is still fairly balanced. The limited Mana (used to build your defences) between waves of enemies and limited build allocation means that you can't just have a level 50 mage build 9001 Deadly Striker Towers (the mages best tower). You have to think about placement and also what defences to use. There is a bit of strategy involved.
There are also a few game modes as well as the campaign but I can only comment on survival (unlimited waves of increasing amounts of enemies) as I haven't tried the others.
I would highly recommend this game on the condition you have people to play it with. It doesn't really stand up as a single player game. If you are wanting something similar for single player, go get Orcs Must Die.
P.S. at time of writing, Dungeon Defenders is at 50% off on Steam.
Buy Dungeon Defenders on Steam
5 - Fife Flyers joining the Elite Ice Hockey League
Most people that know me, know how big a Fife Flyers fan I am. I have supported the team for the last twelve years and have gone to as many matches as I have been able to in that time. When I started going, we were in the British National League, a professional league that allowed, I believe, eight imports (imports are classified as non British trained players) and the rest of the team had to be Brits.
Six years ago, the BNL folded and the team were left with two options. Go to the EIHL or go to the amateur leagues. At the time, the directors of the club didn't think the EIHL was financially viable so it was down we went. For the last six years we have moved from amateur league to amateur league, never finding a stable home. This summer the Flyers were left with no amateur league left to join and the move to the EIHL was made.
The oldest hockey club in the UK has returned to pro hockey.
The flyers twitter was pushing the #backinthebigtime tag and things began to come together. We were late joining the league and several teams had all their signings done before we even started looking at ours.
It's not been easy by any means. The coach and directors have admitted they underestimated the league. This is a ten import league that we started with six, one of which is our 38 year old player/coach Todd Dutiaume who joined the club back in the 90s. Slowly over the first half of the season we have strengthened the team and now look in a position to push for a play off spot.
Some of the imports we have signed have been of outstanding quality. Our netminder (goalkeeper for you non hockey people) Garrett Zemlak is quite possibly the best netminder ever to pull on the gold, white and blue and Matt Cohen is reminiscent of Bill Moody, my favourite player when I first went.
Our British lads have taken time to adjust but are now coming up to speed as well. Some of them, such as Steven "Hamish" McAlpine got there quicker than others but now guys such as Chris Wands and Jamie Wilson, who got a lot of flak at the start of the season and were told they were not EIHL quality, are showing that they can compete at this level, with Wands being picked as the stand out Brit in a few games.
We are, unfortunately, still sitting at the foot of the table but we have half the season(ish) ahead of us. Time to show the EIHL what we are made of.
C'mon Flyers!
Fife Flyers Ice Hockey Club
4 - The Samsung Galaxy S II
I've used a lot of mobile tech over the years. From a Psion 3 to the Sharp Zaurus. Nokia 5100 to HTC Tytn II. Creative Zen to iPod Touch. Palm Pilots to iPads. Some have been good, some have been bad. Some have been amazing.
The Galaxy S II is the first that has made me go OMFG Awesome.
Android has come a long way since I first saw it on my G1. Although the Android market is still fragmented to hell, it hasn't stopped hardware manufacturers from pushing the specs up and up. The Galaxy S II is the most responsive phone I have had the pleasure of using. It's the first phone/tablet device I have had that I would say it is a pleasure to use. I usually hate the custom interfaces that phone manufacturers add, but touchwiz was actually decent with a few nice features. It still could be better though.
And it doesn't take much to do that.
Android has, since the beginning, had custom ROMS (the software on the device) which, while not easy to change to, has usually improved the devices. When the Galaxy S II was released, I have been told anyway, that Samsung actually sent some devices to the CyanogenMod team to root and customize.
The result is a fantastic custom firmware that takes the device from OMFG Awesome to OMGWTF Awesome. And with Samsung not locking the bootloader, it's not a difficult task to root and update.
The only problem, this phone is almost a year old now and the newer Nexus S is now available.
Still, I am glad I decided on this phone when my upgrade was due. This easily takes the title of gadget of the year.
3 - Within Temptation at Glasgow Barrowlands
I wasn't really a fan of Dutch operatic metal band Within Temptaion. I didn't mind them and though a few of the songs I had heard on Kerrang or Scuzz were ok, but they weren't a band I would go out of my way to listen to. Lisa, however, was a huge fan and wanted tickets to the gig for her birthday so I did my husbandly (or boyfriendly since it was so long ago when I bought them) duty and got two tickets for their gig at the Barras on November 10th.
That all changed about 2 minutes after they stepped on stage. MY FUCK THIS BAND ARE GOOD!
Lisa had me listening to their latest album, The Unforgiving, on the way from Fife to Glasgow which I did think was pretty good. The album doesn't do their live act justice. Don't get me wrong the studio recording is good, but in a lot of cases, bands don't sound quite the same live as they do recorded. Within Tempation do, well with one notable exception, they guitars are more prominent which makes some of the songs sound that little bit heavier than the recorded version.
Sharon den Adel has some voice. She also is one of the most humble front women I have seen. Stopping to chat with the crowd, but not in the usual "YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST CROWD EVER!!!!!" type way, but actually just telling us about her day.
In the background they had this large video display used to full effect to enhance the music but also to tell the story of The Unforgiving. The new album is a concept album based around a comic series of the same name. Some short video clips have been made and set to the tracks from the album (For example here is the Mother Maiden short set to the song Faster on Youtube).
I would put this gig up there with the best shows I have ever been to and look forward to when Within Temptation return to Scotland to see them again.
2 - Kaylee's first birthday
My daughters first birthday, how can this not be on the list. Though this is on here for a different reason....the battle between Superman and Batman that occurred in our back garden.
Nothing I type here will be able to describe this so I provide you with video evidence
1 - My wedding
Well if this wasn't my biggest highlight of the year, I think I may have ended up castrated....
Seriously though, the biggest day of my life (though I argue that Kaylee's birth was joint biggest) has to be my number one thing of the year.
11th of March 2011 was a day filled with nerves, smiles, tears and laughs.
The Victoria Hotel in Kirkcaldy was the setting for our big day and to be fair, we couldn't have asked for a better venue. The staff were amazing and catered to everything we, and our wedding planner Helen needed. The food was fantastic and the room that we stayed in that night was perfect.
Though the thing I will hold in my mind forever is just how beautiful my wife to be looked (OK, OK. I'll quit with the mushy stuff). The ceremony was lovely and the local registrar did a great job. Also, how many people can say they walked out of their wedding to Nine Inch Nails ^^.
After the ceremony, in which Lisa's self written vows were so much better than mine it's not even funny, we retreated to the bar while Helen and the staff got the room setup for the meal and reception. During this time the incredibly talented Ange Harper and Charlie Kruger took our posed photos.
So yeah, speeches. I suck at public speaking but I think Lisa and myself managed not too bad. We had a two part rhyming speech that I think (hope) went down very well. We then did our unrehearsed and made up on the spot thank you's.
The reception was fantastic and a huge thank you has to go out to local band Off The Cuff for providing the music.
I could go on and on but I think I will stop there.
The only bad part was that something happened with our digital video camera and the footage of the ceremony was lost to the digital ether and no amount of data recovery software could restore it.
It was one of the best days of my life and one I will remember forever.
Victoria Hotel Kirkcaldy
Ange Harper Photography
Eventive (Facebook link as I have been made of fail and need to finish Helen's site)
Honourary Mention - Peter Dinklage
For no other reason than he said "Cunt" on prime time TV.
And that's the end of my top ten "things" of the year. Feel free to comment with your top "thing" of the year.
Thank you for reading and I wish you all a fantastic New Year. All the best for 2012
