2015 Forceys

THE FORCEYS (Kona Kai Resort San Diego)  This year's 10th Annual Forcey Awards took place on the Friday night of the 2015 Comic Con.  This was one of our most beautiful venues in the decade of Forceys.  The group of five representatives gathered with beer, whiskey and wine to celebrate the best of 2014/2105.  After a decade we're still going strong . . . 

BEST MOVIE - Guardians of the Galaxy.  Beating out "Birdman" and "Mad Max Fury Road", this wasn't a huge surprise.  In the past ten years, The Forceys have rewarded superhero films like "Iron Man", "The Dark Knight" and "The Avengers".  This was a solid Marvel entry and won by a landslide.

BEST COMIC - Southern Bastards.  Marvel superheroes win the Best Movie category but it's a small story about folks in rural Alabama that takes the Best Comic category.  Previous winners Hawkeye and Sandman stepped aside for this interesting and powerful title.  The Spider-Man fans split their votes among multiple Spider titles and this Bastard snuck in for the victory.

BEST MUSIC - John Carpenter - Lost Themes.  There were some solid releases from Basement Jaxx, Failure and Giorgio Moroder but this first release from director, John Carpenter are moody pieces that could have come from any of the classic 1970s horror films.  Previous winners - St. Vincent, Daft Punk and Broken Bells among others shows the eclectic tastes of this group.  This collection of themes is a fine addition.

BEST OF TV - The Flash.  The comic book genre dominates the TV section again.  The new show on the block beat out a solid run from "Daredevil", "Better Call Saul" and "Veep".  Previous winners including "The Walking Dead" and the original winner "Heroes" also come from the comic/superhero genre.

BEST OF THE WEB - Netflix. The best location on the web came down to three candidates.  There was the upstart of Comixology, the Forcey champion and three time winner, YouTube and the movie streaming game changer, Netflix.  Netflix on the heels of such great work as "Daredevil" tied YouTube as a three time winner this year.  It's hard to imagine a new winner in the years to come.

COOLEST ITEM OF THE YEAR - Gay Marriage.  A year after we were able to celebrate Legal Weed in this category, we awarded the Coolest Item to something that didn't seem possible when the Forceys started in 2005.  The world isn't such a bad place after all.  Just not as cool were the Lego Batman Tumbler and Pop Dolls.

STRIKEFORCE HALL OF DOOM - the highest honor is also known as "The Kirby".  Last year we inducted five honorees.  This year was also a solid crop of 5 inductees.  Each very deserving of the honor.

Christopher Lee.  Actor

Clint Eastwood.  Actor, director.

H.P. Lovecraft.  Author

Late Night / Late Show w/David Letterman

The Cure / Robert Smith.  Music.

Just missing the vote this year and hoping for further consideration - Carl Sagan, Doctor Who, HR Giger, Looney Tunes and Steve Ditko

THE KINNEY -  Cosby.  This category "celebrates" the worst / pathetic items of the year and there was a huge battle between Bill Cosby, Civil Unrest Because of Racism and simply something labelled Trump.  It was a single vote that kept Cosby atop the race.

BLAST FROM THE PAST - BEST REISSUE - 1966 Batman Show / Decline of Western Civilization Series Box Set. (Tie).  These two very different reissues both deserved recognition and voters couldn't decide.  This category recently celebrated Creepy, Roger Corman, Thor and Bone.

The Forceys took place late in the drinking evening but there was still plenty of post-awards fun to be had.  This gathering of the tribe is always the highlight of the weekend.  Guests are welcomed and encouraged for the 2016 version.

"If only I'd have thought of the right words / I could have held onto your heart / If only I'd thought of the right words / I wouldn't be breaking apart all my pictures of you."  Stay hard.

sb

NOVICE - Grilled Cheese Ep. 2

The continuing adventures of Grilled Cheese. . . 

March brought a trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas to see my older son and a visit to my first and favorite grilled cheese specific restaurant -  Hammontree's.  There are 16 sandwiches on the menu - so I really should have invited 13 more of you along.  Instead we were able to sample three of the sandwiches - all of which come highly recommended.

Caleb got the PARMAGEDDON without the mushrooms and on sourdough.  I got the SCARLET CHEDDAR on sourdough.  The 24 month vintage cheddar was incredible.  I can't recommend this highly enough.  The third sandwich is untitled because I just plain forgot to write it down in my excitement over the sandwiches.

In late March and early April we tried a couple other variations at home.

First we tried a very basic grilled cheese with bacon.  That's your basic topping and hard to do wrong.  The next attempt with pulled pork was even better.  The different meats all work quite well in the grilled cheese format.  I don't know that any single meat or combo of meats would be wrong.

Today, April 12th is National Grilled Cheese Day.  We celebrated with a little different take on the traditional sandwich.  The bread is dipped in egg like French Toast and coated with parmesan cheese.  The cheese inside is melted mozzarella.  I added tomato and jalapeno to mine and we dipped them in a vodka tomato sauce.  It's a nice little cheesestick style sandwich.

Still a novice we are just starting to expand horizons.  Nothing really crazy yet.  There are still some more breads and cheeses to judge.  So far the sourdough bread is the clear winner.

NOVICE - Grilled Cheese - Ep. 1

Novice.  Someone new or inexperienced to a situation or subject.

I've always had my little "projects".  In other days they were sweetly called "hobbies".  I've had moments where you might call them obsessions.  My OCD likes to defend them as learning.  I've learned about whiskey and I've spent a year sampling different cheeseburgers.  Part of my method has mostly been documenting the progress through Social Media.  See Instagram or Twitter or Facebook for my counts and countdowns.  What I've done but not documented is the process of my learning.

Last year I had over 500 beers in 11 months.  I learned more about craft beer and breweries than I ever thought I would know in my lifetime.  I started as more of a Beer Novice than I thought I was and border on being a Craft Enthusiast right now.  What I wish I'd done is document the progression.  What were the moments of "ah-ha" and when did I learn new important things.  It's easy to talk about the project at the end but I don't document the process enough.

The goal of this NOVICE project is to pick one or two or twelve things and write short to medium length blogs along the way about my progress.  Some will be just knowledge. Some will be trying new things.  Some will be larger adventures.  I'm limited by time, geography and budget in many cases.  So that's why there will be multiple projects at once.  I'm happy to accept challenges because there might be things I want to know about that I need a push on (thanks to Kim for encouraging me to watch all of "Sons of Anarchy").

GRILLED CHEESE

It's hard to call myself a "novice" regarding the first solid food I ever remember eating.  I've had them for 47 years and yet I've really never put much thought into the sandwich.  It's always just been whatever bread is available (usually white or wheat) and some butter and most of the time just some melted cheddar.  I've added some bacon and tried a couple different cheeses.  But in general it's been something I've not put much thought into.

For this purpose I'm talking about Grilled Cheese or Cheese Toasties.  Two pieces of bread, butter and melted cheese.  That's the base.  I'll get into different toppings and breads and cheeses as I go.  My first sandwich this weekend was my base.  It was a white bread from the bakery at Kroger, sharp cheddar and butter on the griddle.  I like my bread just a little golden brown.

I had tomato soup with the first batch but I am not making that a requirement for the project.  This is the classic for me.  This is the grilled cheese sandwich of my youth.  Melted cheese dripping off the plate.  Every future grilled cheese is measured against this classic.

The grilled cheese as we know it seems to have been around since the 1920s and the invention of sliced bread.  My very short research came up with the addition of tomato soup as a way to get children Vitamin C with their meal of the sandwich.

Next episode - different cheeses and different breads and maybe explore some toppings.

SB