Seriously, go watch Guardians of The Galaxy.

So we’re at Part 2.

Quick reminder of how this works – each entry (and I’m going to try to do this everyday as often as I can for the rest of the year) will highlight a favorite book, movie, album, comic, or item of extreme nerdery that I dug this year. Doesn’t mean it came out this year, just means that I dug it this year.

Let’s have some fun.

Books

Mountain Home by Bracken MacLeod

I reviewed Mountain Home earlier this year (give a click here for my thoughts). Needless to say, I dug the hell out of this book, and with it currently priced at under a buck on Kindle, you should totally go out and buy it. Bracken’s got a great style and a real knack for disturbing the reader with the way he presents violence and that slow burn sense of dread. Very few books come out of the gate full-bore and

Music

Morning Phase – Beck

In a word: beautiful.

I’ve been a bigger fan of Beck’s post-Odelay output; citing Midnite Vultures and Sea Change as near-perfect examples of their genres. The man – in my mind – is a musical genius who never replicates himself that often.

Here’s Blue Moon, one of the singles, but definitely not one of the stand out tracks.

Seriously, if you wrote Beck off at any point, jump back on.

Movies

How to Train Your Dragon 2

As a dad, I have to go see kids flicks. Luckily, I can control some of the content.

SOME.

God damn, Penguins of Madagascar.

Whatever. HTTYD2 (hooray, laziness!) was shockingly:

• Competent for a sequel
• Mature
• Fun!

Needless to say, I’ve watched two times since we bought it for the kid and enjoy the movie even more.

Comics

The Superior Spider-Man (Finale)

I was completely onboard for the switch from Peter Parker to Otto Octavius back in 2013, but I was not prepared for how fantastic that year of Spidey would turn out.

While not the best part of the whole story, Goblin Nation managed to be a solid finale to a saga that, to me, will hold up with some of the absolute best Spider-Man/Doc Ock stories of all time.

Also, Superior Spidey’s turn up in Spider-Verse only makes me miss him more. What a fantastic take on Peter Parker.

Random Nerdery

Loot Crate

A Netflix for nerd swag.

What a smart idea. You drop 20 bucks a month and you get a box with cool little figures/art/t-shirts. I’ve signed up two friends for it, and to be honest, might sign up at some point next year (I may be using them as guinea pigs).

Check out the site and take a look at past months, which all have themes like villains, video games, or movies. It all seems well-worth your time if you’re the type who likes to snatch up random loot from cons or shops.

That wraps it up for Part 2.

Be Easy,

Angel