Best stuff of 2017

[-james-]

Alright, tell us what the best whatever of your year was. Film you saw, book you read, pub you went to etc.

Longer form contributions of the top 5/10 format are also most welcome.

Album of the year: Richard Dawson - Peasant. Spotify link (spotify:album:1Yg57d0GXf7ko3fiEmUBvb)

[Pleb]

Not a lot of films I've watched. The new Star Wars is pretty good.

[Giggles]

GS fucking off.

[Lewis]

I had a quite excellent burger in York a few months ago.

[Magic]

Amazon Echo first gen.
Spotify.
I Tell A Fly by Benjamin Clementine.
Get Out.
Chromecast.

I've really embraced tech this year.

[Dquincy]

What's so good about an Amazon Echo. It's just novelty bollocks.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I didn't see any new films, listen to any new albums or read any new books. Of course I did a lot of catching up on old stuff that is new to me: the best film I saw was O Brother, Where Art Thou; musically I 'got into' Sam Cooke and the Pogues; and the best book I read was probably Moneyball although I'm starting to doubt myself as I type that and perhaps it was really Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The best TV I saw, and this is new, was a little-heralded American series called 'I'm Dying Up Here' about young stand-up comedians in the 70s trying to make it.

The best football match I went to was Brentford 3-3 Brighton, and the best football match I saw on TV was Chelsea's FA Cup semi-final win over Tottenham. The best cricket match was Pakistan beating India in the Champions Trophy final. The best sport I saw, by far, was the Sunday of the Masters.

The best thing I bought was a Skoda Octavia. The best place I went was Whitby. The worst place I went was Nottingham (actually it was south Croydon but that is too close to my home to count), and the most overrated place I went was York.

The best meal I had was at one of those Brazilian carnivore places in Portugal, and the most fun I had was when my cricket club comfortably lost a semi-final to a much bigger club but just hours later I successfully got them thrown out for fielding an ineligible player, about which they are still seething to this day.

I discovered two 'things' which I had previously scorned: baseball and bitter ale, and both of them have made me a much more boring person.

The best coffee I drank was every cup of instant I made for myself to while away five minutes in the office.

[Alan Shearer The 2nd]

I didn't see any new films, listen to any new albums or read any new books. Of course I did a lot of catching up on old stuff that is new to me: the best film I saw was O Brother, Where Art Thou; musically I 'got into' Sam Cooke and the Pogues; and the best book I read was probably Moneyball although I'm starting to doubt myself as I type that and perhaps it was really Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The best TV I saw, and this is new, was a little-heralded American series called 'I'm Dying Up Here' about young stand-up comedians in the 70s trying to make it.

The best football match I went to was Brentford 3-3 Brighton, and the best football match I saw on TV was Chelsea's FA Cup semi-final win over Tottenham. The best cricket match was Pakistan beating India in the Champions Trophy final. The best sport I saw, by far, was the Sunday of the Masters.

The best thing I bought was a Skoda Octavia. The best place I went was Whitby. The worst place I went was Nottingham (actually it was south Croydon but that is too close to my home to count), and the most overrated place I went was York.

The best meal I had was at one of those Brazilian carnivore places in Portugal, and the most fun I had was when my cricket club comfortably lost a semi-final to a much bigger club but just hours later I successfully got them thrown out for fielding an ineligible player, about which they are still seething to this day.

I discovered two 'things' which I had previously scorned: baseball and bitter ale, and both of them have made me a much more boring person.

The best coffee I drank was every cup of instant I made for myself to while away five minutes in the office.

:D

I can see that warranting some sort of lifetime achievement award with the club.

[niko_cee]

Honorary trip to North Africa or something.

[Byron]

Well I don't read many books or watch many movies either, but the best movie I saw this year was probably Thor: Ragnarok. Me and the wife are a big fan of superhero movies but after a succession of movies trying a bit too hard (including the fucking abysmal Batman vs. Superman and the barely 'meh' Suicide Squad, it was good to see two movies that really worked this year (the other being Guardians of the Galaxy 2). Thor was fun to watch though, it managed to hit that sweet spot of injecting humour without being overly try-hard about it and in the end it was a movie I could watch over and over quite happily. That said, I haven't seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi yet so this may change.

The best game I played was probably re-playing The Last of Us. I was a little late to the bandwagon first time round but holy fuck, it doesn't get any less heart-wrenching and emotional the second time round and with the single best story I have seen in a game. An absolute gem of a game, although The Witcher 3 came very close.

Best event this year was probably the UK General Election. Which sounds sad, but fucking lol at May for calling an election she didn't need. It was funny watching until 2am and seeing the collective explosions of anger and jizz on my Facebook. Plus I saw my old stomping ground (Canterbury) go to Labour for the first time in 100 years.

Best TV show I watched was probably Game of Thrones, but I need to watch more Line of Duty as that started off well and then I dropped it, probably while waiting to see if the wife wanted to watch it as well. I do have a soft spot for Good Morning Britain as well because I love seeing Piers Morgan get riled up.

Best event I saw was Aladdin at the Prince Edward Theatre. Me and the wife are big Disney fans so there's that but it was an all-round brilliant performance, only marred by the fact that Act 2 felt very rushed (probably because of all the original content they wanted to put in)

[McAvennie]

We had a baby on the 7th of January so it's been a busy year of work and child rearing.

Best book I read during late night sleeplessness was Joe Abercrombies "before they were hanged", which I had read before but was definitely just as good a read the second time around.

I didn't get to the cinema at all this year, but did finally get around to watching Manchester by the Sea, and thought it was fantastic, helps that I related to some of it, it was a gut-wrenching emotional drama for me.

In the summer I took the family to Amsterdam, which was a brilliant place for a short family break.

Best times of thre year though were all the family bits, especially impromptu beach BBQs during the summer

[ScousePig]

What did you like about Whitby, Jimmy?

[Shindig]

Game: Nioh. I like Dark Souls and the loot compulsion of Borderlands so this wound up being a nice surprise.

Gaming moment: The bit in The Surge where you kind of .... ruin everything.

You've had a medical AI help you throughout the game. When you get to the server room, you turn her off. The next scene has her running out of power whilst trying to stop the vote in the boardroom to launch the rocket into space that'll fuck mankind up.

Gig: Manic Street Preachers in Times Square (no, not that one). The place was absolutely bouncing.

Shit Durham busker of the year: Probably the lass that only has one note. There will always be students with guitars so I expect this to be hotly contested throughout the years.

Darksydephil related bollocks: The current saga has him allegedly paying a Dutch prostitute to pretend to be his girlfriend. This includes flight, services and such. Phil has apparently not paid her so she is spilling the beans about his hygiene, dick size, sexual preferences and trying to get her money back. Phil is trying to pay this through Patreon under the guise of an unpaid tax bill. Yup.

Becoming an uncle is cool as well as was looking after my mam when my dad was in surgery this year.

Playstation Country-related tweet.

929390801473249281

We're the zero.

[Ian]

bitter ale

When can we expect you to start yawning it up with the beer nerds in the drink thread?


Best book I read during late night sleeplessness was Joe Abercrombies "before they were hanged", which I had read before but was definitely just as good a read the second time around.

That whole trilogy is brilliant and definitely one for Game of Thrones fans who want something (in this case something better, I'd say) to tide them over while they wait for George to finish the next book or kick the bucket.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I don't yet have any knowledge of it, but I know I enjoy drinking it and I enjoy the fact that there are noticeably different ones, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

[Boydy]

Shindig's posts are so fucking weird. What was John said the other day?

[Shindig]

He said he wishes he never had you.

[-james-]

Food dickhead alert. I had a good year of eating so here are the best places I ate at this year. It's mostly tapas.

1. La Mejillonera, Burgos - Small, simple tapas place but probably the most memorable thing I ate this year. The menu consists of, I think, two mussels dishes, two potato dishes and two squid dishes. You shout your order across the bar and one of the four large Spanish men on the other side hands you it a couple of minutes later. I think it was a couple of plates and a small beer for about six euros. It's all brilliant and I went back up to the bar many times

2. Plaza Nueva, Bilbao - It's a square surrounded by pintxos/tapas places but fuck knows what the names of any of them are. Absolute paradise.

3. St. John, Smithfield, London - There is a butcher's and a restaurant on the premises, I'm not sure which came first but it's a great marriage. The menu is whatever they have in that day, I suppose. I had devilled kidneys on toast, I'll probably never eat that again and that is a damn shame.

4. Taberna da Rua Das Flores - Our airbnb host recommended this place. They don't do bookings so you have to just show up and wait. We tried in the evening and were told we'd probably be there about two hours. Came back earlier the next day and saw what the fuss about. Menu had a lot of fish iirc and was superb iirc.

5. Casa Manteca, Cadiz - Small tapas place we went to for lunch. It's a couple of minutes from the beach which is the only important thing really. The food was fucking excellent, obviously. Just order ham, cheese, olives, shrimp, sausage, wine, octopus, ham, cheese etc.

7. Youmiko, Krakow - I'd been here before, went back this year to see if my previous visit had been an aberration, but no, the best sushi restaurant I've been to in Europe really is in Poland.

8. Absinthe, Sifnos - I'd never been to a "modern" restaurant in Greece. Not that that's a bad thing, but across the Adriatic is usually about as far flung as culinary influences get. I had a salmon & ginger tataki to start and a goat curry after, both brilliant.

9. Naše maso, Prague - Another butcher's/eatery. This one is literally a butchers with a couple of tables in, you go up to the counter and select your meat. The best steak I had all year.

10. Eska, Prague - The second best steak I had all year. The starters were banging as well.

11. Blanquerias, Valencia - The 20 euro lunch menu is absolutely brilliant. Involved dishes called "egg at low temperature" and "shrimp cappuccino" which were both much less gross than they sound.

12. Taberna la Senia, Valencia - Tapas. Good.

13. The Hug and Pint, Glasgow - Vegan asian place. The menu rotates daily, the service is quick, the food is cheap and absolutely gorgeous and this is how every restaurant should be run.

14. Burgermeister, Berlin - The best damn burger I've ever eaten. There's two of them now, but go to the original one under Schlesisches Tor u-bahn for the proper experience.

15. Au Père Louis, Toulouse - Weird little wine shop that does great tapas style dishes. French as fuck.

[Baz]

Bloody hell how many holidays have you had.

[Waffdon]

Finding out how beautiful wine is.

[-james-]

Bloody hell how many holidays have you had.

Two, but one was really long.

[Jimmy Floyd]

'Shrimp'? What is this, a Woody Allen film?

I have heard from multiple sources that Bilbao is secretly the food capital of the world.

[Kikó]

Finding out how beautiful wine is.

:drool:

Get on the red.

[Giggles]

The best sushi is in Leuven but youmiko is lovely.

[Waffdon]

:drool:

Get on the red.

I am. Rose is disgusting and haven’t really tried White. Merlot is lovely.

[Ian]

Any preference yet? Love a rioja.

I've learned that I can be quite happy with a dry white but the sweet stuff can fuck off.

[Clunge]

I learned Malbec is the tits this year. I already loved red, but the Portugueser in my life amped things up with her penchant for Malbec and now I am hooked. Tbh though, just hot home for Xmas and I'm already munching through a stash of Lidl's £4 Pinotage which is ACE. In fact, Lidl's wine in general is the business.

[niko_cee]

Would have thought a Portugueser would be more into Douro, which can be good stuff.

The mighty cab sav is (obviously) the mac daddy of the reds. Just bought a case of Coonawarra ones for Christmas. May the good times roll.

[-james-]

'Shrimp'? What is this, a Woody Allen film?

I have heard from multiple sources that Bilbao is secretly the food capital of the world.

One of them was likely me. Here's some bad pintxo photography (https://imgur.com/a/HIBw6). The idea of eating small things every so often is just a million times better than eating a big thing all at once.

It's a top, top city even without the food.

[The Merse]

Things that spring to mind...

Shows:
Employed to Serve @ Exchange, Bristol. 10/10. Powerful.
Gnarwolves @ Green Door Store, Brighton. 8/10. Would be 10/10 if including the rest of the exceptionally messy night. Great gig, terrible flooring (cobblestones) for crowd surfing. Ouch.
Mine @ some record store in Shoreditch I don't remember the name of. 6/10. Disappointing. Worth being there for their last show in intimate surroundings and it was free - but would be 5/10 if it weren't for Earth Moves support slot.

Films:
Okja. 7/10. Included for being Netflix best yet.
Get Out. 9.5/10. Best 'horror' in a decade.
Last Jedi. 8/10. Very solid, good character development.
Blade Runner 2049. 9.5/10. Almost perfect.

Life Events:
Promotion. 9/10. Hard work but making P's, worth it.
Moving to London. 6/10. It's grand, I just miss Bristol too.
New missus. 8/10. She's good.
Going full vegan. 6/10. It's just awkward when eating at peoples houses.
Pulling Bakayoko from a pack early doors in FUT. 10/10. Fucking beast.

Decent year.

[Kikó]

Would have thought a Portugueser would be more into Douro, which can be good stuff.

The mighty cab sav is (obviously) the mac daddy of the reds. Just bought a case of Coonawarra ones for Christmas. May the good times roll.

Had a glass of Duoro at lunch yesterday. Think it was my first one actually - really good stuff.

Recommend trying primitivo and borolo if you're trying your reds. White wine wise, two Portuguese in the alentejo and vinho Verde.

[Giggles]

I kept buying chanti when I was on holidays because I recognised the name and it was nice.

[Magic]

Would have thought a Portugueser would be more into Douro, which can be good stuff.

The mighty cab sav is (obviously) the mac daddy of the reds. Just bought a case of Coonawarra ones for Christmas. May the good times roll.

Love Douro wines. A cracking region.

[McAvennie]

Had a glass of Duoro at lunch yesterday. Think it was my first one actually - really good stuff.

Recommend trying primitivo and borolo if you're trying your reds. White wine wise, two Portuguese in the alentejo and vinho Verde.

My wife gets orgasmic over Barolo, so I've taken to always having a bottle in the house in the hopes she'll include me in the fun 🤗

[Magic]

:(

[randomlegend]

The best thing I 'bought' (strictly speaking it was a birthday present) were these shoes:

http://www.colehaan.com/mens-zerogrand-wingtip-oxford-british-tan/C14493.html?dwvar_C14493_color=British%20Tan&dwvar_C14493_width=

https://4real-uploads-jellolabs-com.imgix.net/36H9QZIw9Ohf_E26/photo.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&w=540&h=540&fit=clip

for Uni/working next year.

I know they are a bit funky looking, but they are so amazingly comfortable for standing around on the wards all day. I absolutely love them. If I had enough money I'd buy another pair in a different colour to rotate.

[Giggles]

The trainer soles on old man shoes looks a bit weird but I'd say they are comfortable.

[Henry]

I'm going to say that Baby Driver was the best new film I watched, though not the best overall and I'll probably see better that were produced this year.
I've read something like 20 books and Adults in the Room was the only one of these released this year. Coincidentally that was the best of the lot anyway.

[Pepe]

Any preference yet? Love a rioja.

Riojas are good.

Usually I go for either Malbecs or Tempranillos, since they are almost always decent enough, at least here in the US. Abroad you get a lot more options. Chianti tends to be alright too. Barolo is quality, for reserved for the Kikos of the world, or the Magics when trying to pretend they are Kikos.

[Magic]

The best thing I 'bought' (strictly speaking it was a birthday present) were these shoes:

http://www.colehaan.com/mens-zerogrand-wingtip-oxford-british-tan/C14493.html?dwvar_C14493_color=British%20Tan&dwvar_C14493_width=

https://4real-uploads-jellolabs-com.imgix.net/36H9QZIw9Ohf_E26/photo.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&w=540&h=540&fit=clip

for Uni/working next year.

I know they are a bit funky looking, but they are so amazingly comfortable for standing around on the wards all day. I absolutely love them. If I had enough money I'd buy another pair in a different colour to rotate.

What the fuck. :D

[Pepe]

Might as well just wear Crocs.

[randomlegend]

Haters gonna hate.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The sole looks a bit weird which is a shame.