The Best Ofs and Favorite Moments for 2010

Last year's IT and SH*T Awards Show for 2009 required a large amount of work for only one post that maybe three or four people read. Plus you have probably already a zillion of these "Best Ofs" and "Award Lists" on lots of other sites so far. 

So this year I am keeping it simple by listing some of my "Best Ofs" and "Favorite Moments" for 2010.


THE MAN-CAVE'S BEST OFS FOR 2010

Best Theatrical Films (I've seen at least): 

 
Inception

The Last Exorcism

Tron: Legacy

Hatchet 2

Best TV Series:

 
Dexter (season 5)

The Walking Dead

True Blood (season 3)

The League (season 2)

V (season one)

Nell Sweetzer: Blowing Jobs since '09

Best New Term: 

"Blowing Job"

Best Heroic Moment:

Steven Slater, ex-flight attendant with JetBlue, doing what we all wish we could do sometimes by telling the world to take this job and shove it when he cursed out unruly passengers over the intercom at the end of a flight, before popping open a Blue Moon, opening the hatch and sliding down the inflatable slide to the runway. Extra points for choosing Blue Moon.

Best Indie Films (I saw over '10):

The Darkness Within

In Memorium

The Taint

Die-ner (Get it?)

Evil Things 

Best Live Performances:

Roger Waters: The Wall - the end all be all of concerts

VH1 Best Cruise Ever (all artists) - great times all around

Safetysuit (Mohegan Sun and HACC) - good tunes and great people

Best Local Indie Bands (Tri-State Region):

John Salamone Band 

Parachuting Apostles

Woodland Avenue

Wizard Eye 

Best Beer:

 
Wrath of Pecant - Like God's elixir

Duvel - my favorite Belgian Ale

Shark Attack - Great name, greater beer

Damnation - ask Zach from Z is for Zombies what this beer does to my brain

Best Books:

 

Cassastar

Meg: Hell's Aquarium

World War Z

Tales of Woe

Best Video Games:

Red Dead Redemption - the zombie expansion did it for me

Madden '11 - I know it's the same game, but it is a damn good same game to play

The Sims 3 - Never gets old for me. Never.

NCAA Football '11 - see Madden '11

Batman: Arkham Asylum - This was surprisingly fun to play.

Sexiest Females:

Katie Cassidy - I'd watch her if she were merely drying paint

Alice Eve - She's not out of my league at all

Laura Vandervoort - AILF...figure that one out on your own

iJustine - I have no idea what she really talks about, but she sure is nice to look at

Lea Michele - It was the GQ spread that did it for me. Just being honest.

Funniest Song Title: 
"Club Can't Handle Me Right Now" by Flo-Rida - what the hell does this even mean? What, is Flo-Rida going to get in a fight with the actual club building because he is so geared up that he cannot be controlled? Is he going to turn into the Flo-Hulk?






Best Moment I Don't Remember:

"Huh-huh...hey James...boobs! Huh-huh!"

Director Dom Portalla and me leaving a filthy, drunken voicemail for poor unsuspecting James Cortez of the PoT in the back of a Boston taxicab that would make a demon blush.

Best Soundtrack:

 

Tron: Legacy

Kick Ass

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World 

THE MAN-CAVE'S FAVORITE MOMENTS OF 2010

***The Man-Cave Meets Fellow Blogospherians

Hands down the best thing about running this site is meeting fellow writers, whether it is drinking beer in a hotel lobby or talking with them on the phone two days removed from oral surgery. Here are the fellow 'Cavers I got to meet in '10 and proudly call my friends (in no particular order)...

At Monster-Mania in March and August

- John Squires (and his gal, the lovely Jen) of Freddy in Space

- QoA Kristy Jett

- The Kindertrauma guys, Lance and John

- Jay Ryan of the Sexy Armpit

Over the phone, but nonetheless still awesome interactions

- James Cortez of Planet of Terror

- Becky Sayers of The Horror Effect

- Ron Scott of Strange Kids Club

- Robyn of Life By Chocolate

- Jamie Scully of Just The Cheese (texts) 

And finally my e-mail peeps!

- Alex J. Cavanaugh of Alex J. Cavanaugh

- T.S. Hendrik of The Non-Review

- Rev. Phantom of Midnight Offerings

- Mike Snoonian of All Things Horror

- Jeff Atencio of The Jaded Viewer

- Jesse Cohen of Not Worth Mentioning

- Abe Yospe of Blog O' Cheese
- Carl Manes of I Like Horror Movies
- Zack Shildwachter of Z is for Zombies, who also made me a kickass piece of artwork (see Damnation beer comment above)

Wow I cannot believe how many peeps I met in 2010 alone doing this blogger thing!

***The Man-Cave relaunch in November

Thanks to my pals Rev. Phantom and Ron Scott, the site formerly known as Enter The Man-Cave got a much needed makeover that perfectly fits my site content. From conception to  final design, these guys are, excuse my French, f'n awesome and the reason why you are looking at what you are looking at. Wait did that make sense?

***The Man-Cave Joins the Italian Film Review

While nursing an eye injury over the summer, Nigel Maskell reached out to me and asked me to join the IFR and his top flight staff. Teaming with such a group of great writers and the freedom to write on all films of an unfamiliar genre to me at the time, how could I say no? One of the most rewarding things I did this year and something I vow to contribute to more in 2011.

***The Man-Cave Puts His Ugly Ass on Video

My new Canon Camera, a birthday present from my wife and mother-in-law, became an outlet for some entertainment on this site. The main highlights were the interviews with Kristy Jett and John Squires at Monster-Mania with the help of my friend Dan Petrucci as well as my over-the-top giveaways announcements at the close of summer.



***The Man-Cave Supports Indie Filmmaking/Interviews
Another rewarding effort for The Man-Cave was my screener reviews of some independent features that made their way to me via both fellow bloggers and my direct communication with some distribution companies. Some were good, some were bad, but overall they were a lot of fun to watch by boldly venturing into the unknown with them. A bonus to watching these hard to find flicks was conducting interviews with the indie filmmakers about their projects, and in some cases indirectly made friends along the way. This is DEFINITELY something I look to continue in the new year.






So there you go folks! My besties of the year, followed by my favorite moments. It's been one helluva year and if '11 can be half as cool as '10, I will be a happy man. Thanks for your year-round support that never goes unappreciated or taken for granted.


Happy New Year's to you all. And as I always say: Be Safe but make sure to Have Fun!