OFF CAMPUS

The end of the year draws nigh and, if the ancient Mayans/John Cusack are to be believed, the end of the world is scheduled to follow shortly.  But before that happens, and before the cold medicine I’m hopped up on wears off, it’s time for another Best of the Year list.

These are the 2011 Seno Awards.  As always, I make no apologies.

Man of the Year: Dirk Nowitzki

After LeBron James made “The Decision” in June 2010 to take his talents to South Beach, joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to form the nucleus of a veritable superteam, the forthcoming NBA championship was all but bestowed upon the Miami Heat by fans and pundits alike.  D Wade, King James, and Chris Bosh (who, turns out, is in dire need of a cool nickname)?  Who was going to be able to hang with that trio?

Enter Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks.

The Mavs were an unlikely candidate to play spoiler to be sure.   Recent seasons had largely been characterized by play-off futility.  The loss in the 2006 Finals to the self-same Heat, the epic collapse against Golden State in ’07, the inability to overtake the rival Spurs consistently, etc.  But through it all, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban never gave up on Nowitzki, a good player who had earned (perhaps deservedly to that point) the dreaded label of being unable to win the big one.

The 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks, anchored by Nowitzki and defined by absurd depth and a commitment to team defense, entered the Western Conference playoffs as a three seed.  After dispatching the Trailblazers 4-2 in Round 1, the Mavs followed with an oh-so glorious sweep of Team Evil in Round 2.   Thanks to two late rallies in the Western Conference Finals, both keyed by Nowitzki, Dallas defeated the OKC Thunder in five, setting up a rematch of the 2006 Finals against the heavily favored Heat.

And early on, it looked like the Heat would indeed run away with the series, as the Mavericks would struggle as a unit for much of the first four games.  But Nowitzki, who had been playing out of his mind for a good deal of the playoffs, continued to dominate and almost single-handedly kept the Mavericks alive.  Come Game 5, the Mavs perimeter shooting heated back up, and the heretofore invincible Heat would go on to fall to Dallas in six.  It was a hell of a championship run, sparked by a great competitor who  finally got over the hump and helped a franchise that was seemingly always on the cusp earn its first title … and in so doing, became the second German athlete in a row to win my Man of the Year award.

Woman of the Year: Olivia Wilde

Dating back to last December’s Tron: Legacy, Wilde has served as eye candy in just about every other film I’ve seen.  Which is good, because her presence helped make a number of stinkers bearable.  But in all seriousness, it’s not often that one woman can look beautiful in as many different ways as Wilde can.  And no matter what look she ends up rocking, she always bring those incredibly sexy eyes to the party leaving no doubt that the one and only Olivia Wilde is once more on the screen.

Movie of the Year: In Time

I was fairly surprised at the Internet’s reaction to this flick.  Yes, the acting was a little rough, but most of the criticism didn’t cite that as a fault.  I found it to be a well-executed action film based, like most good science fiction stories, on an intriguing metaphor for modern day civilization.  Interesting premise, good enough acting, and a stylish interpretation of the near-future combined to make In Time my favorite movie in a year that was marked by a lot of “meh” level efforts from Hollywood.

Television Show of the Year: Game of Thrones

When I first began reading what would turn out to be my favorite novel series of all time, never in my wildest dreams would I have ever  dared to hope that it would become the basis for an HBO series developed by the creators of Rome.  And yet in 2011, that is exactly what happened.  The cast was fantastic, the sets were sublime, and despite the fact that any time Benioff and Weiss made a creative call that I disagreed with caused me to subsequently lose my shit like the geekiest of fanboys, Game of Thrones proved to be just about everything I could’ve wanted out of an adaptation of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.  Can’t wait for Season 2 … and I really hope it takes the name of the second novel, or I will lose my shit again.

Comic Book of the Year: Morning Glories

Reading as much fiction as I do, it’s not too often that a new series leaves me completely baffled as to where it’s headed.  Serial stories have tropes and at the risk of sound like a pompous ass, I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting them.  But Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma’s on-going series centered around the lives of six students at the mysterious Morning Glory Academy is so blessedly out of left field that I get to enjoy the entire narrative ride like the authors intended.  I mean, I have no idea where the hell they’re going with this thing, and I’m loving every page of it as a result.  Which, actually, is another point in its favor: page count.  At a time when most comic books are slimming down to 20 pages as a cost-cutting measure, Glories often goes over thirty at the same price point in order to ensure a satisfying and complete read in each and every issue.  Singularly entertaining and economical and projected to last a hundred issues, Morning Glories is poised to be up for this award for years to come.

Webcomic of the Year: Lackadaisy

In the realm of online sequential artists, there is Tracy Butler, and then there’s everybody else.  I don’t care that Lackadaisy hardly updates as it’s a veritable feast for the eyes when it does.  Nor do I care that it’s a Prohibition-era story featuring lolcatz because it is so. damn. pretty.  In summation, I like things that are pretty.

Music Single of the Year: “Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys)

This December release from one of last year’s best musical acts is a late entry but I’m also already listening to the hell out of it, so this one’s an easy call.  Cementing the win is this music video in which The Carleton makes its glorious and overdue return into the collective social conscience:

Album of the Year: 21 (Adele)

There were a number of singles I dug this year, but only one album contained more than one of them.  Adele performs a style of music that rarely does it for me, but her vocal virtuosity is undeniable.

Game of the Year: Portal 2

This was a really busy year for me, what with maintaining the strip, designing my first book, scouting cons, work that actually pays, etc.   As a result, I didn’t play a single game that was released in 2011, and given the buzz that I was privy too, it’s probable that I missed out on some real winners.  So I consulted with my esteemed colleague and immortal weapon-in-training A-Rod on the matter.  Here’s what he had to say:

I think lots of sites, magazines, etc. have been raving about Skyrim.  Some have already chosen it as game of the year.  I haven’t played it, so I don’t really know how good it is.  As far as games I’ve played, I think it’s a tough call between Portal 2 and Batman: Arkham City.

Portal 2 is just so much better than Portal 1 in my opinion.  It was funnier, better written, and had more interesting voice work and brilliant characters.

Arkham City is well, it’s Batman.  It’s pretty much the definitive Batman experience on any platform at this point.  You can pour hours and hours into that game finding every trophy, clue, etc.  Plus, if you ask me, the score for that game is mighty epic and the plot of the game itself is much more dark than it’s predecessor.

I think I had more fun playing Portal 2, but was more engrossed with the world built by Arkham City.  Honestly, it’s hard to choose between the two.

Thanks for the cogent and thoughtful analysis, A-Rod.  Moving forward, maybe I just outsource this whole damn column to my friends and take a day off for a change.  Anyways, out of A-Rod’s two candidates, I’m going with Portal 2 on the grounds that I saw My New Best Friend and Lil G the Boy Wonder play the hell out of it over a couple of weekends and they seemed to have a good time of it.

And that brings this blog entry, and 2011, to a close.  Hope you all had a great year and best wishes for 2012.

What I’m Reading: Fables: Rose Red by: Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham
What I’m Watching: Bleach Season 16
What I’m Listening to: “Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys)