At the beginning of it, there were no iPhones, no Secret Invasions, and, most significantly, Exfanding Your Horizons was still just over eight years away from being born. Shocking, I know. A world without EyH? That's a world I don't want to be a part of, thanks.
But, since EyH wasn't a part of the entire past decade, we can get away with not having to do a Decade in Review post, like they're doing on the Newsaramas and CBR's of the world. Instead, we here at Exfanding HQ present our Year in Review. Much shorter than reading a Decade in Review on your part, and much easier to compile on our part.
Still, as we did last year at this time, Nathaniel and I have gone through this blog, post by post, and handpicked our very favorite moments of the year that was. Sure, it's self-serving and even a little bit arrogant, but hey, it's our blog.
This year, we each picked nine (you know, because it was 2009) posts that we wrote, and nine posts that the other guy wrote, plus a few that we both worked on together. Ooh, and bonus categories are at the end.
So, without further ado-doo, we present to you the Best of Exfanding, 2009:
THE BEST OF ALEX:
Nathaniel's picks:
- Monday Thoughts (A wonderfully heartfelt post, and I love the phrase, "Ah, but, To Latveria with tradition, I say.")
- A Critical Hit (Alex volunteered to play D&D. What more reason do I need?)
- Waiting for Wednesday, Issue 30 (The best intro to any Waiting for Wednesday. Ever.)
- An Introduction to October (Eloquent, and it reads like the preface to a bestselling book.)
- Gifts for Geeks: Comics 2009 (When Alex goes into helpful guru mode, good things happen.)
Alex's picks:
- Comics and Me (For its Sappy Factor!)
- ...Everyone Would Do It (Because now it's ironic!)
- Waiting for Wednesday, Issue 1 (For sentimental reasons more than anything else.)
- Holy Coherent Storytelling, Batman!...I Think (Because it was like a college English class all over again!)
- That Which Can Drive a Man Insane (Because of the line where Tinker Bell's head explodes.)
- An Introduction to the Films of Kevin Smith (Because it was long overdue.)
A vote from each of us:
- An Introduction to Conventions (Mostly because of the photo at the top of the post.)
- The Basics: Horror (Because it was so much fun to write.)
- These two go together, so it's only kinda cheating. Wonderful World of Alex and Thinking About Comics (Because writing each was like therapy.)
THE BEST OF NATHANIEL:
Alex's picks:
- How NOT to Prepare a Video for YouTube (Because I like it when technology fights back. Especially against Nathaniel.)
- Refreshingly Geeky (Because it was a good day.)
- The Basics: Roleplaying (Because, as all of Nathaniel's explain-y posts tend to be, it was in-depth, useful, and interesting.)
- Philosophy of Stuff (Because it was a thoughtful post, and it yielded the following image:)
Nathaniel's picks:- 50 Things to Do This Weekend (This idea came completely out of the blue, and I love the result.)
- Repairing Star Wars (I'm one of those weirdos who has issues with all of the Star Wars movies, and it was cathartic to explain my reasoning in depth.)
- Exfanding Review: Final Fantasy I (I rarely nitpick and analyze non-Mega Man games, so this was refreshing, and enjoyable to write.
- Two Gifts for Geeks posts, because if Alex gets to cheat a little, then I can, too: "Safe" Gifts for Befuddled Buyers and The Hottest Gifts of 1989 (I feel like the former is one of the most genuinely helpful posts I've written, and as far as the latter goes, the concept alone is enough to win me over.)
A vote from each of us:
- Star Trek: The thinking man's sci-fi (I got to Exfand on my all-time favorite fandom!)
- Star Trek RIP, Parts One and Two (I've got a lot to say about the 2009 Star Trek movie, but this was my first chance to say basically everything I wanted.)
- Fanboy Father, or Dad the Dork (One of the only posts to ever make me teary-eyed while writing it. Real men get leaky around the eyes sometimes.)
- The Basics: Food ("Possibly my favorite post in the history of this blog," says Alex.)
- A Visit to the 24th Century, Parts One, Two, and Three (I got to experience my all-time favorite fandom!)
OUR FAVORITE JOINT POSTS:
- Spider-Man's Secret Identity Is... Abe Lincoln? (There's no better time-killer than playing with Virsona.)
- Exfanding Your Horizons Watches the Watchmen (Our first officially planned joint post! Probably.)
- Exfanding Review: Fanboys (One of our funniest and most coordinated joint posts ever.)
- Our Geek Claims to Fame (Because during times like that, Nathaniel makes me look cooler than James Bond.)
- 1 Day, 2 States, 4 Stores (The epic nature of such a day goes without saying.)
- Exfanding Your Horizons Turns 1 Year Old! (And they said we'd never make it. Ha! Who said, you ask? Them, I tells ya! Them! They know who they are. I'm looking at you, Grizzly Adams and that arrogant bear of yours...)
BONUS ROUND:
Favorite Guest Posts
- Nathaniel: NYAF: Not Your Average Festival and Anime and Fansubs
- Alex: Terry Prachett: The Colour of Fantastic, Anime and Fansubs, and, even though it was only an excerpt and not officially a Guest Post, When God Gets the Blues.
Least Favorite Post
- Nathaniel: Universal Hint System: (Almost) Spoiler-free walkthroughs (I was in a rush and didn't make this post as funny or as helpful as I wanted. Maybe someday, someday I'll go back and rewrite it.)
- Alex: Too many to count, unfortunately. Lessee....how about a representative grouping of posts? Those and These and Tuesday Links and Things and Friday Links and Things (Because I hate filler posts, and I have resolved never to do another link dump post again. Oh, and because the names are stupid.)
Most Unexpected Post that Isn't Entirely About Food
- Nathaniel: An Evening with the Harlem Globetrotters
- Alex: What he said.
Most Whiny Post
- Nathaniel: Nintendo's "Kind Code" will play your games so you don't have to
- Alex: Well, since I won the crown of "King Whine" this year, I'll just pick out (one of) the more recent ones. How about...Waiting for Wednesday, Issue 42.
Favorite Picture
- Nathaniel: I had fun making this one.
(From Designing games for fun and... well, just fun, really.)- Alex: This one's easy.
(From 10,000 Hits!)
3 comments:
"A world with EyH? That's a world I don't want to be a part of, thanks."
Did you mean that? :x
Thanks for picking my post, guys. I'm really flattered.
I have to say, I agree with a lot of your choices in each category, though I do like Nathaniel's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Oregon Trail more than Captain Kirk learning that Priceline is really a front to pay for his illegitimate children...
Hey, it was a very well-written post, and a great addition to the blog, so thank you!
And I like your take on the Kirk picture...
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