Once again, I’m sick when New Year’s rolls around. I’m usually sick on either on my birthday, Christmas, or New Year’s. It just so happens that it’s been New Year’s two years in a row. Anyway, on with the festivities.
Best TV Show: I dropped off of a lot of series this year. Supergirl lost my interest after a spectacular season 4. Batwoman, unfortunately, never had my interest. Even last year’s winner Titans stopped being must-see TV for me. However, there was one show that kept my attention for the length of its season ad that was, of course, Watchmen. There was nothing I didn’t love about this show. While I thought the ending was a touch anticlimactic, I also thought it stuck the landing. I didn’t mind that it left some questions unanswered. There could be no more seasons and I’d be happy with that although I’d love to see a Looking Glass spinoff.
Best Movie: I didn’t see a lot of movies this past year. If I did, they didn’t really stick with me all that much. If I had to nail one down I guess it would be Avengers: Endgame. Mainly because of a scene where Steve Rogers is holding a group therapy session of people who lost loved ones in ‘the snap’. I thought that was an attention to detail that I hadn’t seen in a comic book movie and reminded me a lot of last year’s comic book winner, Astro City.
Best Album: 2019 started off strong with great releases from A Pale Horse Named Death who seem to be writing the soundtrack of my life, and Flotsam and Jetsam who are the most underrated band in my opinion. However, there was one album that really stuck out for me and I feel bad making it my album of the year since it’s a rerelease and that’s the 10th Anniversary Edition of Halestorm‘s debut album. Not because of the original material, but because of such strong unreleased material. They could have released that all as its own album and it would have been awesome.
Best Comic: It’s a tie but since they’re both Spider-Man titles it’s ok. The first is the ongoing series Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man from 2019 which had several stories that hit me in the feels, as the kids say. The second was Spider-Man: Life Story which follows Peter Parker as if he lived as Spider-Man from the 1960s through today.
Best Podcast: I’m sure a lot of people think I must listen to true crime podcasts, but I don’t. To be honest, I don’t consume a lot of true crime content. Most of the podcasts I listen to are either comedy podcasts or have to do with one of my hobbies. In the case of the Cultaholic Wrestling Podcast, it’s both. I think I look forward to that podcast every week than any other. However, it is not my podcast of 2019 as that would go to Raise The Dead by Justin Robert Young. It’s a limited run historical political podcast that details the 1960 presidential campaign between JFK and Nixon while comparing and contrasting it to the 2016 presidential campaign. Yet the comparisons might not be where you think they are.
Best Wrestling Match/Moment: Yep, I started watching wrestling again. Thanks to p[romotions like AEW, and the revamped NWA, I’ve gotten back into wrestling. I stopped watching WWE years ago because they became so complacent without competition and I hated watching NXT people get called up to the main roster and have nothing done with them that I stopped watching the product altogether, but I digress. Match of the Year for me has to be Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes at AEW’s Double or Nothing. Not only did they keep me believing that Dustin could possibly pull off the win but the post-match promo from Cody was pure emotion.
Best Video Game: The Outer Worlds. Fallout: New Vegas is one of my favorite video games of all time. I was sad to hear that the developer Obsidian was bought by Microsoft because it meant that there would be no FNV sequel. However, The Outer Worlds is the heir apparent to FNV. I just wish it would have been a little longer but maybe they’ll add some DLC in the future to make it as epic as FNV. Honorable mention goes to Control.
Most Inane Political Agenda of 2019: All the gun nuts who thought a school shooting was caused because one of the suspects is trans. For that matter, let’s throw in all the people who think trans women are trying to invade their bathrooms or something.
Dumbasses of 2018: The 2,400 unauthorized individuals who visited Columbine High School in one year as some kind of murder groupie pilgrimage.
I hope you have a good 2020 and hopefully we’ll do this again next year.
The Trench Reynolds Report 