Top 5 Games of 2014
5. Mario Kart 8
It’s the most beautiful Wii U game, it’s the best playing Mario Kart to date, the DLC is fantastic, and it dominated my free time towards the end of my college career. Too bad they ruined battle mode.
4. Transistor
I didn’t love Bastion as much as everyone else did. It was pretty and sounded nice but the style was incoherent and the fighting was dull. Transistor took everything good about that game and fixed all the flaws with a brilliant, creative combat system and haunting, ruined, yet still classy cyber world. 3. Bayonetta 2
Above all else, I am a fan of ridiculousness, and there was no other game this year that featured more, better ridiculousness than the continuing adventures of gaming’s favorite sexy librarian dominatrix bullet hair witch in Bayonetta 2.
2. Threes!
You can read my thoughts on why this is the best mobile game of the year over on 148Apps.
1. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Still hate the name, but Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the best entry in my favorite series so how could it not top my list, even if its 3DS counterpart doesn’t feel entirely necessary.
More after the break.
Top 5 Movies of 2014
5. Gone Girl
Remember how I said I love ridiculousness? Gone Girl has insane, dark, hilarious, and super-trashy ridiculousness exploding out of every orifice once the real story of this seemingly average thriller is revealed. And as a Tyler Perry scholar, I had to put it on here.
4. SnowpiercerA smart, violent, crazy, dystopian class warfare tale and the only good Chris Evans movie this year. Ride the rails.
3. Jodorowsky’s Dune
This entertaining documentary about how failure and disappointment still have value in creative work got me through a tough period involving a certain project of mine that’s now hopefully somewhat back on track. Also, it might even be better than Dune the book, which I also read this year.
2. Boyhood
Some of the story beats don’t necessarily work, especially later on, but this real-time 12-year epic of small personal moments is an astonishing achievement nonetheless.
1. (Reserved for Selma)
Song of 2014
Gust of Wind
The Pharrell collaborations on Random Access Memories were arguably the best parts of that album, and bringing back Daft Punk for this Girl track had equally spectacular results, even if I’m pretty sure it’s actually Pharrell himself singing through the robot filter.
TV Show Ending of 2014
The Legend of Korra
Benders.
Quality of Life Ruining Social Media Service of 2014
When I first heard about Twitter, I thought it seemed dumb and super narcissistic. I never stopped thinking that, but as a journalist I also took advantage of its networking and reporting opportunities. Plus there’s lots of funny stuff on there, including great drama. However, as the internet continues to become a meaner, more outraged, dumber place, where real people and anonymous forum people struggle to co-exist, seeing all the nonsense on Twitter bums me out pretty much every day. But I can’t stop reading it.
Best Thing I Did in 2014
Graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University
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