Our Top 3 Personal Geek Moments for 2010

16 days into the new year. It’s 2011. The dust has settled from the mad partying, the bodies dredging themselves off the floor in their druken stupor. Too many nachos eaten, too few Dance Central dances danced. Work has, for most of us, got back into its routine, though many of us wistfully remember how things were just a month ago. Even as the haze clears from our collective minds, one thing still remains at the top of it – how us, at HereBeGeeks celebrated 2010 in crazy style, and how some memories will remain firmly etched in our conciousness. One day before our first anniversary as a website (YES!), we recount the top 3 geek moments for each of us, and I hope you enjoyed following us throughout a year full of madness. So read on as we delve on the personal level before going into what really inspired us as a collective.

Alvin:

Being the guy who generally writes the TV stuff for the site I think I’ve invested quite a bit more than the rest into TV shows – which also means quite a bit of this is going to be TV heavy. But still, I do believe it’s for the right reasons, there has been some strong television to watch this year, strong enough, in fact, that I have to commit the crime of leaving out Matt Smith and Karen Gillan from the top 3.

1) Launching HereBeGeeks.com

Call it a little self-congratulatory (or a lot self-congratulatory), but seeing this little site grow, well, it’s been a huge trip. From the fans that we’ve made, to the friends that we’ve made, to the oppurtunities that we got – each of you have played a part in our little success. We came up with the banner at the very beginning – maybe it’s time to come up with a new one?

2) Fringe – The Entire 3rd Season

Actually the awesomeness that is Fringe season 3 began way back in episode 18 of season 2 – the Peter Weller guest starring episode “White Tulip”. If there was any doubt Fringe could be THAT show which just deserved way more viewers that was when it started. Right now it’s hard to pinpoint which episode truly stands out in season 3 – but that’s strong praise for each episode has been equally strong in one way or form throughout the season. Trust us when we say we can’t wait for Fringe to return. Is it also praise to say that you wish this was the last seaon? It’s been so good that I’m not sure where they can go from here.

3) Community – Modern Warfare

Community started out a little too slowly for me. With Jeff and Britta not being the most compelling of leading stars, it took Community a little too long to evolve into the full ensemble piece it is today. I’d given up on it after about 4 episodes, but shame on me for not waiting – Community hit its stride around 7 episdoes in and never looked back, and I believe it’s culminated with perhaps one the best half hours in TV for the entire year. Possibly to blame for Community’s continued search for the next genre to compose a love letter too and thus forgetting about their characters for a while, that doesn’t take awake from the fact that this episode is full of geek love. Essential viewing.

Pete:

1) The launch of The Heroic Age at Marvel

2010 began with the return of the first Captain America Steve Rogers from the “dead” which then led to Siege, marking the first time Marvel’s Big Three (Cap, Iron Man and Thor) fought on the same side in years, and finally culminating in The Heroic Age. Those who know my penchant for buying a comic book series from issue #1 would have been right in guessing that this meant picking up a whole slew of titles including Avengers, New Avengers and Secret Avengers. The Heroic Age has been a bit more of a miss than a hit, in general, but how could one not geek out over having not one, not two but three Avengers teams in the main Marvel Universe?

2) The inaugural SFF panel at SporeCon!

(Photo by @jolantru)
Getting involved with SporeCon also meant learning about, and subsequently attending the inaugural Speculative Fiction panel on the sidelines. Whatever feelings I may have had about the panel aside, it was the first time I got to meet the likes of Sarah Coldheart, who would later end up contributing to HBG, Nicole Chen, one of our most ardent supporters, and Dave Chua, writer extraordinaire whom HBG now considers a friend. Not bad for a panel attended by only 6 people!

3) No Ordinary Family premieres!

Yes, there were detractors that believed it was way too soon after the demise of Heroes earlier this year for another original superhero television series to show up. Yes, for a moment, No Ordinary Family did seem ridiculously reminiscent of all the superhuman goodwill Heroes had already squandered, but ultimately, the show survived the competitive television industry to earn itself a full season order. Although I am a big fan of Michael Chiklis, I did have initial reservations about many of the other casting choices, and sometimes I am concerned about the relatively poor writing in the series. However, it seems like the simple mythology is making it easy for fans to keep coming back for more, and admittedly being the fan that stuck with Heroes to the end, I have to geek out about having a superhero series airing that isn’t Smallville.

Wai:

One amazing thing that I never really thought of till last year was that all the people we love are just that: people. They always seemed larger than life, geek celebrities that just happened to share the same interests that we did. So I suppose that it’s only fitting that most of my personal geek moments involved having just a bit of time to shoot the breeze with the guys I’ve always looked up to, realizing that they’re just simple folks and loving them more because of it.

1) SPORECON

Sporecon is probably the only gaming (and when I say gaming I mean board/card/mini games) convention in Singapore, and it’s been making a regular scene in Singapore every year for three years. I’d also like to think that it’s been growing (albeit slowly): last year was the first year with panels, and we’ve had people come in from the region and even as far away as the US. Probably the thing I was proudest of was that the event I ran even came out in Privateer Press’ own magazine, No Quarter!

We can only hope that next year will be even bigger.

2) Meeting the Guild

It was on our way to San Diego (for SDCC, what else), queuing up for the train from LA to SD when we saw two familiar faces lost in the station: none other Robin Thorsen and Amy Okuda of Guild fame. Turns out they were taking the exact same train as us to SDCC, and rather than heading to the back of the line (now snaking through the station) we got them to join us in our place in line.

They parted ways when we got to the absolutely packed train, but since we were only a few seats down (and joined by both Jeff Lewis and Sean Becker) we also ended up chatting when we could. We told them about our huge geek pilgrimmage to the US, talked about the guild, SDCC and everything else, and Jeff also shared that he hadn’t really travelled until he started the Guild. Robin also told us to enjoy ourselves at Vegas. 🙂

Amazingly enough I’d meet up with both Jeff and Robin again on my trip in Gencon in Indianapolis. They, together with Sandeep Parikh were also heading back to LA from Indianapolis, and I managed to sneak in another chat with Jeff. They’re just great GREAT people, and I hope that they’ll manage to come down to Singapore some day.

3) Gencon

I was the only HBGer lucky enough to be able to make it to Gencon, and it was an experience, just like SDCC was. The mecca for gamers, Gencon seems to be the best of both worlds; a large enough con that you have awesome new releases and events, together with one small enough that you can spend some time with the painters or game people that you have always been a fan of.

For a much more in depth look in Gencon, see my top 5 awesome things from Gencon. Essentially though it was great to take part in panels and contests, and gaming with everyone around the globe. I have to admit that the best part was drinking, getting drunk, and suffering from a hangover with the Privateer Press folks. If I could ever go back to another convention, Gencon would be it.

Hope you enjoyed reading! Tune in tomorrow when we reveal the top 3 moments as a collective – no prizes for guessing which they are, but you’re welcome to try!