Rocking the Boat: The Best in Geek of 2011

Here you go ladies. Image couresy theimproper.com

The end of the year is the time when everyone starts putting out lists of things that were either awesome or awful. Hey, I’m no different. Here are some of the reasons why it was great to be a geek in 2011.

5. Comic Book Movies

While not all comic book titles were winners (Green Lantern, Green Hornet, Priest), others were really, really good. I’m glad that studios are beginning to see that sticking to established storylines and characters will really pay off for them.

It was nice to see the X-Men back in fine form, and my two favorite Marvel characters, Thor and Captain America, both got movies that did justice to their comic book counterparts and did well at the box office.

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night was another comic book movie that was released earlier this year. While not widely known, it was still a fun romp and Brandon Routh seemed like he had fun filming it.

Rounding out the year was The Adventures of Tintin, based on the classic European comic book series. It’s nice to see Stephen Spielberg throw his hat into the comic book movie ring (though, isn’t it weird that he has two movies that he directed out in the same month?).

4. Gen Con 2011

I already detailed in this post why Gen Con is so awesome. I can probably safely say that it will be on my list for next year as well, assuming that the Mayan calendar ending doesn’t signify us getting eating by winged serpents.

3. The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim

Skyrim could easily ruin my life if I let it. There’s an endless amount of things to do. Killing dragons and other monsters just feels awesome. And being able to press a button and make all your enemies fly backwards 30 feet is waaay too much fun.

I’m actually getting to a point where I need to make myself stop playing Skyrim so I can enjoy playing other games that I have bought or received as gifts.

These guys needed a Doctor. Instead, they got guns and an insane Bill Pullman.

2. Doctor Who-niverse

Season 6 of Doctor Who and  season 4 of Torchwood were both great this year. The Doctor managed to save the universe while learning that he’s not completely infallible. He also seemed to realize that he should tone things down a little bit (Series 7 seems to be going the direction of the Doctor being more mysterious).

Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper managed to pyrrhically  save the world, with the help of Mekhi Phifer. At the end of ever series of Torchwood, I always feel bad for the team. They’re trying to do the work of the Doctor, but they are never able to do it as well as he does. Such is the plight of humanity with out the Deus ex Machina.

1. Kindle Fire

I never thought I would see Amazon become a series hardware company. I assumed that they would stop with making amazing e-readers, but the Kindle Fire really exceeded my expectations. For the price, I don’t think you’re going to find a better tablet right now.

While the storage space is limited (aside from the free cloud storage, and it doesn’t contain a camera or many of the other cool things that the iPad does, it’s still fast. Plus, with Amazon’s full weight behind it, it’s only going to get better.

Fellow geeks, what did I miss? Sound off in the comments.