Well, 2011 was a tough year. Economic struggles, cancelling of great shows, earthquake in Japan, protests on Wall Street, etc. All of this may have distracted you from browsing new things and finding cool stuff. So here are 11 things that I found this year and enjoyed. Maybe you will too. Before everyone asks, I am not bothering to mention Ghost Story, Game of Thrones etc. because they shouldn’t
have flown under your radar. Instead I will share a few lesser known goodies!
Everyone should
be watching Walking Dead. I expect many of you TVo it like me or watch it on line, in any of the many legal or other forms available. You may have missed the show that comes on right after called Hell On Wheels. The show is set after the Civil War with the backdrop of the Union Pacific Railroad’s construction of the Trans Continental Railroad. This isn’t Rail’s West! The main plot focuses on Cullen Bohannon, a Confederate soldier who is delivering vengeance on the Union soldiers who killed his wife during the war. The show is well written, and beautifully filmed. The detail to the sets and costumes are spectacular.
We may not have Stargate anymore but we can remember the crew of SGU with these drink coasters. Check them out at Think Geek!
If you have a Twitter account there are some great fictional personalities you can follow. These are two of my favorites! DRUNK HULK types his posts with caps lock on and broken speech adding personality to those 140 characters. Batman is, well angry, bitter and uncaring of how many of his sidekicks die. Enjoy!
Technically, this book came out in
December of 2010, but it was a fun read and like most of us, we didn’t get it till 2011. Nothing like a steampunk western setting with Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp running around the west in body armor, except Thomas Edison as a cyborg. Throw in some shaman magic and you got a kick ass novel. The shoot out at the O.K. Corral will never be the same.
5) Duck Duck Go
Duck Duck Go is Google without all the privacy invading tracking, ads, spam, or history. It’s just clean unaltered web searching and it’s free! Not really sure if this existed before 2011 but that’s when I found it.
6) Blue October Any Man In America
This album is a beautiful trainwreck. The true story of the lead singers bitter divorce and custody battle for his daughter is told in brutal detail on this album. It is painful to listen to at times but makes for some of the most passionate song writing I have ever heard. Check out this video.
7) Munchkin Zombies #2 Armed and Dangerous
Well, you can’t really enjoy the wonder of this expansion to the game Munchkin if you don’t own the base set. There are over 20 different expansions with alternate settings and more. The cards are witty, fun and wonderfully illustrated by Muskrat John Kovalic. If you are a gamer, tabletop or PC, this game is a blast! They suggest 3-8 players for this game but I prefer 4 or more myself.
8) Godsmacked
Take the Greek Gods, throw in a great sense of humor and enough pop culture references to choke a gorgon and you have Godsmacked, a light, fun novel by Paul Cicchini. This book was on my top ten list and my copy has been passed around the house for my wife and brother. Pick up a copy, or order it for the Kindle and see for yourself where Charlie Ellison finds himself and why he has such a hard time getting home! You will be glad you did.
The best thing to happen to home electrical outlets is the U-Socket! It is brilliant in it’s simplicity! No longer do we need adapters and weird ways to charge our phones and power our devices. This may require the help of an electrician to install if you aren’t the handyman type, but it’s fairly easy to install. It costs around $30, so you won’t be replacing all your outlets, but a couple of well placed usb ports will make your house full of gadgets easier to manage!
10) Evernote
If you are the creative type or like me, the forgetful type, then Evernote is for you. Evernote is the easy way to note ideas, events, websites, etc. and sync them to all your devices at once. It’s a personal, virtual memory bank. This is handy when I have a story idea or something I want to blog about. Quickly snap a pic, type a note, etc. and it is in my memory for later. One more reason to love my phone!!!
11) Wampa Rug
How cool would you be, with one of these to curl up on. There isn’t much to say except that this is the coolest home accessory! My future office/den will be all Star Wars decor. Light sabers on the walls, R2-D2 trash can, bacta tank in the corner, etc. Until then, I can dream.
So there you go. Hope you found something new and it makes your 2012 a bit more enjoyable.
Happy New Year!!!!
December of 2010, but it was a fun read and like most of us, we didn’t get it till 2011. Nothing like a steampunk western setting with Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp running around the west in body armor, except Thomas Edison as a cyborg. Throw in some shaman magic and you got a kick ass novel. The shoot out at the O.K. Corral will never be the same. 5) Duck Duck Go
Duck Duck Go is Google without all the privacy invading tracking, ads, spam, or history. It’s just clean unaltered web searching and it’s free! Not really sure if this existed before 2011 but that’s when I found it. 6) Blue October Any Man In America
This album is a beautiful trainwreck. The true story of the lead singers bitter divorce and custody battle for his daughter is told in brutal detail on this album. It is painful to listen to at times but makes for some of the most passionate song writing I have ever heard. Check out this video.
Well, you can’t really enjoy the wonder of this expansion to the game Munchkin if you don’t own the base set. There are over 20 different expansions with alternate settings and more. The cards are witty, fun and wonderfully illustrated by Muskrat John Kovalic. If you are a gamer, tabletop or PC, this game is a blast! They suggest 3-8 players for this game but I prefer 4 or more myself. 8) Godsmacked
Take the Greek Gods, throw in a great sense of humor and enough pop culture references to choke a gorgon and you have Godsmacked, a light, fun novel by Paul Cicchini. This book was on my top ten list and my copy has been passed around the house for my wife and brother. Pick up a copy, or order it for the Kindle and see for yourself where Charlie Ellison finds himself and why he has such a hard time getting home! You will be glad you did. 9) U-Socket USB Wallplug
The best thing to happen to home electrical outlets is the U-Socket! It is brilliant in it’s simplicity! No longer do we need adapters and weird ways to charge our phones and power our devices. This may require the help of an electrician to install if you aren’t the handyman type, but it’s fairly easy to install. It costs around $30, so you won’t be replacing all your outlets, but a couple of well placed usb ports will make your house full of gadgets easier to manage! 10) Evernote
If you are the creative type or like me, the forgetful type, then Evernote is for you. Evernote is the easy way to note ideas, events, websites, etc. and sync them to all your devices at once. It’s a personal, virtual memory bank. This is handy when I have a story idea or something I want to blog about. Quickly snap a pic, type a note, etc. and it is in my memory for later. One more reason to love my phone!!! 11) Wampa Rug
How cool would you be, with one of these to curl up on. There isn’t much to say except that this is the coolest home accessory! My future office/den will be all Star Wars decor. Light sabers on the walls, R2-D2 trash can, bacta tank in the corner, etc. Until then, I can dream. So there you go. Hope you found something new and it makes your 2012 a bit more enjoyable. Happy New Year!!!!
Cyber Trout 