The 2016 Trenchie Awards

Best Movie: Captain America: Civil War. It’s what we finally wanted out of a superhero movie, people in tights beating the crap out of each other. Why BvS couldn’t grasp that is beyond me.

Best Album: 2016 was a pretty good year for music, my music anyway. Some great albums that came out in 2016, such as Lords of Black II, Flotsam and Jetsam’s self-titled album, and Dystopia by Megadeth. However, the one album that kept getting played over and over in my collection was Be Like The River by relative newcomers Devilskin. Give them a listen here.

Worst Album: I normally don’t do worsts anymore but I felt one album this year definitely deserved it and that’s Heavy Crown by Last in Line. Last in Line is Ronnie James Dio’s former backup band putting out an album of originals, but the album just sounds like nothing more than Vivian Campbell bitching about Dio for an hour. If you want a good throwback metal album, listen to the Resurrection Kings album instead.

Best TV Show: The Netflix comic shows have been pretty weak if you ask me. Daredevil Season 2 was a little off even though it had The Punisher and Luke Cage kind of bored me so I have to give it to The Flash once again. It’s so gloriously comic booky and fun that I just can’t miss an episode.

Best Comic: 2016 was not a great year for comic books. I mean what was up with Marvel’s publishing schedule when it came to Civil War II? Anyway, there was no one great series that stood out for me, but as far as single issues go it’s definitely DC Rebirth #1. The frame where Barry Allen pulls the original Wally West out of the Speed Force actually made me choke up a little bit.

Best Video Game: While I Mostly play games that are years old so I can get them on discount, I actually played a 2016 game and the game was Amazing. That game was Stardew Valley. I derived a lot of enjoyment out of this retro style farming simulator. Trust me, it’s more entertaining than it sounds.

Most Inane Political Agenda of 2016: Let’s see if I can think of something that has nothing to do with the election. Oh, I’ve got it, the FDA’s ruling on vaping that’s basically scheduled to kill the industry. Let’s take something that has gotten scores of people to quit smoking and regulate into the ground by imposing outlandish application fees of $1M.

Dumbasses of 2016: Again, let’s see if I can avoid invoking the election. Got it again. Let’s give it to all the people who watched ‘Making a Murderer’ and now think Stephen Avery is innocent. He’s not. He’s a cold-blooded killer who is exactly where he is supposed to be.

Biggest Jackass Celebrity of 2016: Once again I’m going to try to avoid the election especially since Trump won this category last year. Nope, can’t do it. It has to be Trump. He’s more celebrity than politician even though he is the President-Elect. While I’m not as fearful or venomous as a lot of Trump opponents, and I don’t require a safe space, nothing this man does fills me with any kind of sense of hope. The next four years are going to be a rough ride, and hopefully, in that time both major parties can come up with a candidate who isn’t an out of touch career politician or an inexperienced douchebag.