To end off our 'Turn of The Year' lists, we want to share some random personal thoughts - music, movie, TV, as we as a few others. We hope you enjoy our lighthearted look at the past year.
TOP 5 'Random thoughts that don't fit into any other lists':
* BEST ALBUM OF 2019 E-An-Na - Nesfârşite: If you know Matt you know that his musical tastes are incredibly eclectic - even though most of the time the spawn point is "make it heavy, and make it original". E-An-Na, is a folk metal band from Romania - you already know there will be some ethnic, eastern block melodies, but from time to time even incorporate some cabaret / almost steampunk swing as well.
Heavily influenced by the best years of Eluvetie, but is that ever a bad thing? Absolutely not! Check out the album here: https://e-an-na.bandcamp.com/album/nesf-r-ite
To hear what we are talking about with the steampunk / cabaret influence:
One of the best heavy tracks (iO.ta):
Runner Up: Inferi "End Of An Era - Rebirth" - The only reason this is a runner up is because it is a remake / re-envisioning of a previous version of an earlier release. It is great having the whole current lineup on this recording (the same lineup that actually makes a cameo into Tales From Nocturnia #2).
All this being said, these guys are at the forefront of the american tech-metal scene and they are doing it with some of the catchiest hooks out there played at almost inhuman speeds. The opening riff of the song 'The Endless Siege' just makes me want to run through a sheet rock wall at high speeds... keyword here is 'want'.
Direct link to the official album stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b3njUn5dq0
TOP 'WORST MOVIE' of 2019:
We watched a lot of really good cinema throughout the year but two movies stuck out for all the wrong reasons:
THE DEAD DON'T DIE: Zombie movie? Check. With Kylo Ren? Check. Seeing it in a super cool theatre? Check. A movie that tries too hard for its own good to be cool and witty and hip? Yep. Some of the most inane and ridiculous moments EVER thrown into a zombie movie? Unfortunately yep. Terrible use of 'breaking the fourth wall?'. You got it. Did we leave the theatre wondering what the heck that drivel was that we just watched? I think you can deduce what this answer is.
CHRISTMAS BREAK-IN: While neither of us are what you would consider "Christmas Movie Fans", for some reason we thought the Netflix movie "Christmas Break-In" would be a fun, lighthearted way to kill 1.5 hours. What ensued ended up being a badly acted and at times questionable bordering on creepy Home Alone knock-off (A little girl who spends all her time hanging out with the school janitor alone in his room, and everyone is ok with it. We're not making this up). The positive from this is that it ended up being an exercise in how NOT to develop a story, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 style.
FAVORITE STREAMING MINI-SERIES of 2019:
"Chernobyl": Always been fascinated by 'based on a true story' docudramas. This event is one of the most important in the history of modern world, as it helped to bring down the iron curtain as well as start the events that helped break up the Soviet Union. More than that, it shows the incredible actions by so many (who literally gave their lives for the cause) so that the worst man-made disaster in history did not become an event that changed the globe permanently.
The acting is superb and its one of those 'truth is stranger than fiction' stories. This is a series where you also want to watch all the behind the scenes content so you can understand some of the creative decisions that were made and why.
"Black Summer": Although this is allegedly set in the same universe as 'Z-Nation' it leaves all the campiness behind and has more of a feel of the 'Dawn of the Dead' remake mixed with the storytelling of 11:14 (where you get to see the same scene happening from multiple character's points of view).
Very intense. Every time they switched to another character you felt like you were in their shoes in real time. Too short for its own good but the good news is that it was just renewed for a 2nd season.
FAVORITE 'FACEBOOK LIVE' MOMENT we were a part of: Our good friend Chuck Pineau was nice enough to not only invite us on a FB Live of his to help promote our Kickstarter for the Heirs of Isildur trade, he was also brave enough to offer to perform a few stupid human tricks if we were to get backers during the show.
Sure enough, because people are both awesome and cruel, we got some backers, and we all watched as Chuck stuffed his mouth with a bunch of crackers while trying to recite some tongue twisters. The result, as expected, was a little messy...ok a lot messy.
Chuck got his revenge, however, while we were doing our own FB Live to promote the Tales From Nocturnia 2 Kickstarter, and Matt had to chug way more pumpkin spice coffee creamer than any human not named Steph Cannon could safely consume without deeply regretting their decision.
Best dance moves of 2019:
This is a highly contentious category, one that we feel will be disputed throughout the ages. We had just wrapped up our final event for our successful Tales From Nocturnia #2 kickstarter. Matt's daughter Kameryn insisted we do some TikTok dances with her. After a short coercion period, we relented and blew off steam for the better part of the next hour. Our only caveat was that we would only dance to music played at 1/4 the normal speed or less.
We're not sure if it's Kameryn's "I'm taking this seriously" moves, Matt's spastic rocking out, or Steph's....well, we aren't even sure what to call what she's doing. We'll let you judge for yourself in the video clips below:
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That's it for the these lists! But its only the START for the year. We have FOUR events coming up this month alone: 2020.01.11: LONG BEACH COMIC EXPO: Steph will be here on Saturday representing us and our interests with Alterna Comics! 2020.01.18-19 CENTRAL FLORIDA COMIC CON (Lakeland, FL): Two day pop culture event that we'll both be at. 2020.01.25-26 RENNINGER'S STEAMPUNK DAYS (Mount Dora, FL): Two day steampunk event that we always make our faces present for!
End of Jan (Date TBA): DRAWING for the Incentives for the TFN #2 KICKSTARTER Campaign. This will happen on facebook LIVE between the CFCC and RENNINGERS. Date and Time TBD.
Agree or disagree with something we said above? Have your own favorites? Let us know!
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