2013 Favorites

A roundup of some of my favorite things in 2013.

1- Books:
Favorite Stand Alone Book: Azazel by Youssef Zeidan

I started this book late in December 2012, and finished reading it two days into the next year. It is a piece of historical fiction that follows a Coptic monk named Hepa through his journey from Egypt to Syria, and then onto further lands. The plot is laced with religious thoughts and the beliefs of the early Christianity vs the beliefs of what followed 500 years later. The book has won the Arab Booker prize a couple of years back, and the reasons it won are clear. The dialogue is as heavy with provocative ideas as the narrative in this novel. The events seem very historically accurate, when reading I sometimes forgot that this is a work of fiction and not a memoir. A notable mention goes to the beautiful word choice in this book. The Arabic language is beautiful, no debate there, and the author has used it here to his advantage. Some sentences in the dialogue flowed like honey, but the narrative was the true star of this book.

Favorite Book Series: Saga by Brian K. Vaughn, artwork by Fiona Staples

Without a doubt, Saga would be on this list. It was a refreshing breath of air compared to the usual fantasy books I seem to have picked out lately. The plot was interesting and both character and event driven. The graphics were beautifully executed. More than anything I liked the dialogue in the novels, it was light, witty, and thoughtful.

Honorable books mention: The short story No Free Lunches by Jeffrey Somogyi

2- TV & Movies:
Favorite New TV Show: NBC's Hannibal

Hands down. I've made a lengthy post on TV shows I started in 2013 but haven't finished. Hannibal is one of three I actually am still interested in, and by far the most captivating. I've written a post about Hannibal here. Just go watch the show.

Favorite Season of a Returning Show: AMC's Breaking Bad

IMDB's rank of the show is 9.5, it is the most watched show on Netflix, and all for good reason. The best TV show I've ever watched, and the last season was better than anything else returning to TV this year. Season three of Game of Thrones was such a disappointment I couldn't finish my weekly recaps. Basically, no other show is even on the same level.

Favorite Movie: Pacific Rim

This was a bit of a tough one. I was hesitant as I really liked The Great Gatsby and Electrick Children, but both had some elements missing to make either of them my favorite.However, Pacific Rim was absolutely perfect. Although neither its science nor logic would hold up under close inspection, its whole is much greater than the sum of its parts, and those parts have giant robots. It's straight up good original movie that doesn't try too hard and isn't scared of making fun of itself. More of this Hollywood, less dark past prequels.

Favorite Anime: K

I haven't watched much this year, but this was REALLY good. It reminded me a lot of the Japanese shows I watched as a kid on Spacetoon, but multiplied in the quality of the graphics and the complication of the story.

Honorable TV & movie mentions: Brooklyn Nine-Nine and World War Z.

3- Internet:
Favorite Youtube Show: Bravest Warriors on CartoonHangver

I usually am not interested in these types of shows. Don't get me wrong, the graphics are cool and all, but you get nothing out of this type of show. I guess eventually that is what got me into it. You get nothing out of it. It is just a good show to watch when you are bored and are "on a break" from what you are supposed to be doing. Each episode is about 5 minutes and some of the characters -namely, catbug- are pretty cute.

Favorite Website: www.87daysbefore.com

I first discovered Rachel Whitehurst on Youtube in the summer of 2012 when I was searching for videos about what to bring to your dorm room. Ever since then I've been a faithful subscriber to her channel. She's absolutely gorgeous, smart, and funny. Her videos are personal, which is amazing because her personality is beautiful. Her website shows who she is and what she cares about very well. It it where I get news about new products and techniques. I love it.

Favorite Blog: www.dalalid.com

Dalal AlDoub is a Kuwaiti fashion and beauty blogger. I first found her on the Instagram popular page. I love her blog because her entries are short and fun. Her style is refined and classic, yet has a touch of modern styles. She recently launched a Youtube channel in which she films makeup tutorials using the same blog name.

Favorite Phone app: Cracked Lite

I only installed the Cracked app in December because I didn't know it existed, but it has quickly become my favorite app. The layout is perfect. There is a huge difference between viewing Cracked on your phone browser and viewing it on the Lite app. The content, as usual, is awesome.

Honorable internet mention: The David Pakman Show on Youtube and Cracked's After Hours on Youtube.  
 

2013: A Year in Books

2013 began with me setting a reading challenge for myself. Now that it has ended, it is time for me to revisit that challenge and either give myself a pat on the back for trying, or buy myself a large cup of frozen yogurt. Also, I added books I've read for class, but I won't add a rating for those. Here are the books I've read in 2013:

1. American Idle: A Journey Through Our Sedentary Culture by Mary Collins
2. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Leviathan and John Green 2/5
3. Horns by Joe Hill 4/5
4. Saga: Volume 1 by Fiona Staples and Brian K Vaughn 4/5
5. Saga: Volume 2 by Fiona Staples and Brian K Vaughn 4/5
6. A Game of Thrones (Graphic Novel) by George R. R. Martin, Daniel Abraham, and Tommy Patterson 3/5
7. Mini Shopaholic by Sophia Kinsella 2/5
8. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco 3/5
9. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson 5/5
10. As You Like It by William Shakespeare 4/5
11. Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre 4/5
12. العبودية المختارة by  أيتيان دي لا بواسييه
13. Smile by Raina Telgemeier 3/5
14. Divergent by Veronica Roth 1/5
15. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury 5/5
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey 5/5
17. The Ricky Gervais Guide to Medicine by Ricky Gervais 3/5
18. No Free Lunches by Jeffrey Somogyi 5/5
19. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 5/5
22.   كخه يا بابا by عبدالله المغلوث
23. I Suck at Girls by Justin Halpern 5/5
24. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 4/5
25. Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe 2/5
26. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3/5
27. Blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris 1/5
28. Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern 5/5
29. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 4/5
30. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 5/5
31. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote 4/5
32. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl 4/5
33. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling 5/5
34. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin 5/5
35. Avalon High Coronation: The Merlin Prophecy by Meg Cabot 5/5
36. Avalon High Coronation: Homecoming by Meg Cabot 5/5
37.  عزازيل by يوسف زيدان
38. The Healthcare Handbook by Nathan Moore and Elisabeth Askin
39. The Complete Short Stories by Oscar Wilde 4/5

Re-reads:
40. Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
41. Steig Larrsson's The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo Graphic Novel by Leonardo Manco, Andrea Mutti, and Lee Bermejo.
42. Looking for Alaska by John Green
43. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky

Other than a couple of short stories, I haven't finished anything else. 43 out of my original goal of 50 is not too bad at all.