The best comic books of the year

I want to be completely honest here and let you know I hated the end of the "Death of Wolverine" so at no point will it show up here. That said, these are some of my favorite comic books of 2014:

Thor: God of Thunder + Thor

The final stage of Thor: God of Thunder leads to Thor to eventually be unworthy to hold Mjolnir leaving it on the moon, which leads to the new female Thor that I have been really digging so far and I am not sure if this come from having a daughter or not, but the hammer looks good in the hands of the new Thor. 

The Chew

I have spent most of this year turing as many people as possible onto The Chew because outside of Saga, I find this to be the best book (comic-wise) I have read in forever. In a world where the FDA is the big scary agency and they hunt down those who sell actual chicken in restaurants as it is now the illegal substance enters Tony Chu who is a Cibopath which is someone who can see where a thing came from and what happened to it, by eating it. Sounds interesting? Good. Go get it because it keeps getting better.  

Magneto

Magneto is bad again but he is not as strong as he once was. This book is fun because Magneto is back to being bad and haunting in the way that the story is told from Magneto's perspective as he tries to deal with his past. This was refreshing because I didn't really dig him being the Robin to Cyclops Batman for all that time. 

Tooth and Claw

It is very early in Tooth and Claw but the sheer amount of storytelling that goes into each page is taunting and I cannot get enough of this wizard/Game of Thrones leaning story. 

Low

From issue one I was hooked. We are driven underground because the Sun is trying to kill us and once underwater - we are trying to kill each other. The first issue is a gut punch and after that, the story takes off. While you are enjoying the holidays, download the first issue of Low. 

XMAS Mixtape - The best songs of 2014

Continuing the tradition I started well over a decade ago creating a list of my favorite songs of the year, here is the 2014 edition. When I started doing this it actually was a mixtape that morphed into a CD, that migrated into various streaming services (you can pick your favorite below). I simply love this time of year because this list opens up a ton of discussion about what people like and don't like about my lists from people I talk to a lot and some only this time of year - which is of course why I do it. 

So why not start with the artist I will get the most hatred for?

Taylor Swift had the best pop record of the year, there I said it. Her work on 1989 is sublime if you are looking for pop ear-candy, unmatched really. The album is exactly what the format needed, when it needed it; Which is why it was the first record in over a decade to go platinum in its opening week. Since she pulled her tracks off all the streaming services to help with that sales thing, enjoy Blank Space below: 

On to the rest, 90 minutes of my favorite music from 2014. I hope you enjoy, I hope you hear something you haven't heard before, and if you want to discuss - I would LOVE that. 

Or on Beats Music if you prefer

1) Blackbird Song - Lee DeWyze - this year I have played a ton acoustically this year, so you will see this theme come up a lot sonically, but the weight of this song just kills me every time I hear it. It was used to perfection in The Walking Dead and has been in rotation ever since.

2) Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson - Arguably the second best pop record of the year belongs to one of the most interesting men in the format in Mark Ronson with vocals by the best entertainer in that format Bruno Mars. If you like Motown, just a little bit you will dig this one.

3) Fire Squad - J. Cole - The beat is infectious and lyrically, especially towards the end, I think there is a lot of industry inside baseball going on in there that I enjoy.

4) Two Weeks - FKA Twigs - This was a big year for women in music, particularly interesting women doing really interesting music FKA Twigs is currently dating a famous vampire actor, but I will let that slide because of the song

5) Out of the Black - Royal Blood - I LOVE THIS ALBUM so it was hard to pick just one track but this one will do just fine. 

6) Sweet Amarillo - Old Crow Medicine Show - The Remedy record has a great sound that is perfectly captured in this track. If you haven't had a chance to get into these guys, make it part of your 2015 goals.

7) Understand - The Roots - You can argue that this might not be the strongest Roots record of all time, but this track is powerful especially in the hook when man asks for God then runs when he show up. This is a topic the Roots have tackled a couple of times I just connected to this one a lot this year. 

8) Geronimo - Sheppard - Infectious rock pop that I am surprised not to hear more because each time I heard it, I wanted to hear it again.

9) Candy Man - Primus - In a year that we had a remake of Sgt. Peppers by The Flaming Lips + Miley Cyrus, why wouldn't Primus have a take on the music of Willy Wonka. As you might guess they are the perfect band to take on this sort of a risk and it pays off BIG TIME because it is perfect in every way. 

10) Trainwreck 1979 - Death From Above 1979 - I love the build and I love the sound, these guys were a fun surprise this year for me.

11) i - Kendrick Lamar - Kendrick is unstoppable and "i" was a great tease for what is to come next year.

12) Habits - Tove Lo - I debated between this track and "Not On Drugs" but thought this one was just a tiny bit better. 

13) Till Its Gone - Yelawolf - If you made the mistake of buying the Eminem Shady project you know that Yelawolf was about the only thing any good on that whole thing, this song is a shining example of why you should keep an eye on him.

14) Gold - Chet Faker - The bass line alone in this song was cool enough to make the list.

15) I Want To Get Better - The Bleachers - Some very fun nerd rock from NYC.

16) Multiplied - NEEDTOBREATHE - this is one of my favorite songs of the entire year and if you have not had the pleasure of seeing them live, you should put that on the list too. The drums layers and lyrics in this song dance over the guitar to create a song that I could not get enough of. 

17) Aerosal Can - Major Lazer - Might not be a household name but this song should illustrate why he should be.

18) My Favourite Faded Fantasy - Damien Rice - Hauntingly beautiful, I have not loved a Damien Rice song this much since 9 Crimes. 

19) Marilyn Monroe - Pharrell - I know that Pharrell shows up a bunch this year, but he had a good year and from his own project - this was my favorite track, and be honest nobody wants to hear Happy ever again. 

20) Cut My Teeth - Dilated Peoples - Another hip hop outfit that might not be sponsored by a soda company, but is one that I like to turn people on to and this year they had a great record drop complete with a collaboration with Aloe Blacc, Cut My Teeth is my favorite from Directors of Photography. 

21)  When We're Fire - Lo-fang - He opened for Lorde this year and I spent a lot of time addicted to this track before the song and looooooong after. Seemed like a perfect way to close the year out, musically. 

The best books of the year

Each year I release a mixtape of my favorite songs of the year. 15 years ago when I started this it was actually a mixtape that evolved to a physical CD and now lives on a streaming service. However, I thought before I do that this year I would do a couple other posts about some of my favorite things of the year - starting with books.

The Girl With All the Gifts is a fantastic take on the zombie genre and I am not sure if it is because I have a daughter that I found this book to be so haunting or that M.R. Carey is just that good but this was a refreshing take on a genre that can be a bit, stale at times. I will keep this description pretty vague because giving too much away will really rob the text of its power. 

James Risen's new book Pay Any Price is one of those books like Ghost Wars or The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn that I feel most should read. The Military Industrial Complex (a phrase coined by Eisenhower) has become a thing that seems much more like an industry in a Marvel comic book that something which surrounds and effects most of us. Regardless of the side you might be on politically, this feels to me like a book that creates conversations we should be having more. 

I have friends that are very scared of Nicholas Carr books, because by in large they are scary in subject matter in much the same way that Stephen Hawking feels that AI will own us all someday. The Glass Cage attempts to take on our ideas of automation and ask larger questions about our reliance on that automation. Before you buy the book, try to do your multiplication tables without a calculator and you might be in the right frame of mind. 

When the Edward Snowden/NSA story broke, I was transfixed - I read every piece that Glenn Greenwald and the other journalists wrote and pre-ordered No Place To Hide when I saw the narrative of what happened was turned into a book. The first half reads like a Jason Bourne novel and morphs into this chilling description of our data and worldwide data and what the CIA had been doing with it. We can have a debate on your thoughts on Edward Snowden, but if you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a tablet - you owe it to yourself to read this book. 

I have read Your Turn twice since I got in the mail last week and this is, without question, Seth's best book. If you have followed his trajectory it has lead to this moment where he arms everyone with the tool-set to "do your art" and my wish for anyone who reads this blog in 2015 is that they do just that. The book is laid out with design in mind to complement the content. I cannot say enough great things about this book so please pick it up.

Nick Cutter's (real name is Craig Davidson) debut horror novel The Troop is a disgusting, twisted ride that any fan of the horror genre will devour. I brought it along on vacation and read it in one sitting. This could be partially because my years as a cub and boy scout fed into the terror the boys on this adventure must have been feeling or my general enjoyment of things that make you uncomfortable. In the podcast above he is compared to Steven King and I think there might be something to that both in the prolific nature in which he writes and the sort of scares he leans on. 

Honorable mention:

Two years ago James Luceno wrote a book about Darth Plagueis (the Sith lord before Palpatine) that I could not put down. Now with the new movie around a year away, fans like me are looking for stuff to consume to keep us satiated until Episode 7 arrives. So, when I saw that Luceno wrote a book about about Moff Tarkin, I bought it. While I am not finished - if you have a Star Wars fan on your list, it is pretty brilliant. 

Is this the year to make a leap? It's your turn.

This week Seth Godin shipped a new book "It's Your Turn," and if you have read any of my blog posts, listened to any of my shows or podcasts, or suffered through a beer or dinner with me I am sure I have channeled or quoted Seth Godin, unapologetically. I do that because I find his work to be profoundly important. Godin's work has done more for me and shifting the way I make "a ruckus" than just about any other thing I have consumed over my 40 years wandering the planet.

This book is another big shift for him as unlike The Icarus Deception in which he did a Kickstarter for and then eventually ended up putting the book in a traditional lane like a bookstore, this one will not. You can get yours here, and Seth will ship you extra copies in order to spread his art - and the book is that important both because of the art, as well as, the experiment. 

Below is Seth from the NYC event (with Gary Vaynerchuk + Dave Ramsey) talking about art and connecting. The final minutes he talks about what happens if you ship and it fails? But more importantly he asks, "will you become someone who matters?" An important question as we head into the new year. Will you become someone who matters and will you share your art with the world in the coming new year because Seth would tell you that we need your art, and I agree.

You have every element in your body to channel your energy to change the surroundings and surround yourself with people who empower that art. I have spent the last 12 months changing a lot of things in my life because I knew it was time for "what's next." 

People that I trust were important to taking that leap but so were the new people in my life that recharged that idea that I could do "anything." I don't mean anything like the millennial "everyone gets a trophy" sort of way, what I mean is everyone has something fantastic they can do, in Godin's words - their art. 

Of course it is much safer to do things that do not push the envelope or seem out of the box to the people in your life. But, now is the time to put new people in your lives and ship that art. I have a renewed sense of purpose and one of the things I feel Titanically moved to do is help people ship their art (which is why many of my posts are of this nature) which is as much of warning as it is a call to action.

It's your turn...go thrash, go write, go paint, now go make art.

Destiny: The Dark Below

Next week the very first DLC for Destiny drops and if you have played as many hours as I have you are ready for a new challenge. One of the things I love about the game is that the universe changes every few days with new types of strikes, crucible, raids, and legendary weapons + armor. If you have purchased the new DLC you will get new missions, new gear, and a new anti-hero/villain and if you are a PS4 player you will get this:

The 4th Horseman is a perfect gun for players who want to blaze a new path and might be interesting enough to buy a PS4 ; ) 

If you are an XBOX One player and want to raid, let me know - otherwise enjoy the new loot drop heading your way next week.