Giant Bomb/Bombcast:

Quick confession: The nerdiest thing I continue to partake in is listening weekly to a podcast about videogames called the Giant Bombcast. Each week, 2+ hours of videogame content that really comes down to the likability of Jeff Gerstmann, Ryan Davis, Vinny Caravella, Brad Shoemaker and Patrick Klepek. I have been listening to these guys (Patrick being a newer regular of this last half of 2011) since early 2008, so nearly four years, and as really fucking nerdy as this sounds, it’s like I know these guys personally. Keeping a long show funny, their website, devoid of annoying ads and full of funny and original content that you can’t get on other sites, Giant Bomb is just a great website to find information on games and game-related content (such as pages dedicated to hamburger related games). Even if I do not always agree with their opinions on games, it’s still nice to see what content they pump out on the daily. Check it out if you haven’t. 

Snapbacks/Camp Caps/SUPREME, IN GENERAL: 

I don’t normally see myself as a hat guy, but I still found myself invested into some hat gear in 2011. It’s a scary habit, hat collecting, and I’m lucky I only dived into purchasing 3 camp caps. The almighty Supreme gear that is ever so allusive makes it all more desirable, but I’m still not going to lay down more than 50 dollars for a FUCKING HAT. Also looking to get out of hat buying, especially after seeing a bunch of young teens wearing every old style of NHL snapback imaginable.

Shawarma:

Poor picture aside, shawarmas are delicious, despite whatever circumstances. And lucky I have a shawarma place right by my school, because one chicken shawarma beats a meal from every shitty fast food “restaurant” at my school and it’s the perfect meal for studying. They played a huge role in my work ethic this year and continue to rise the charts to become one of my favourite foods. 

“American Psycho”/Brett Easton Ellis:

I probably don’t have to convince you that “American Psycho” is a great novel, it has practically become a classic. However, a novel has never made me laugh and feel sick at the same time. When I watched the movie, the reasons for Patrick Bateman’s killing seemed unclear, but the writing in the novel is so perfectly paced, with complete uninterrupted chapters of reviewing pop stars’ albums from the 80s, that the motives for his disconnectedness is drilled into the reader, with major help being from the perspective in the first person. After reading this, I proceeded to read Less Than Zero, which is surprisingly more depressing and I now am reading Rules of Attraction at the moment, which is different but seems interesting. Brett Easton Ellis’ themes consist of young, rich and numb narrators who deal with these feelings of having it all but having no emotion. I think his crafting of each novel is paced so perfectly, that I see it (not as effectively) done in Chuck Palahniuk’s novels. I also oddly like how he has auteurism such as the Bateman’s being sprawled through several novels, or Less Than Zero having a sequel in this generation, it’s interesting to compare the 21st century to the 80s. 

Kill Screen:

A video game website written like Pitchfork. Also it’s good to see that it’s not full of “fuckin’ chainsaw” comparisons. Sure, call it a “hipster” or “indie” website, that’s fine, and I’ll admit their reviews can be a little pretentious (i.e. their review for L.A. Noire) but they make me think about different aspects about the games I spend mindless hours playing. I hope they continue to do this and I’m even considering getting a subscription for their print-magazine.