The JIVE staff listed out the best of everything that makes us smile, laugh, and dance. From a staff writer's "dream" interview, to a bikini clad beauty, from a local Atlanta DJ who's career spans over two decades, to where we liked to meet and have a few beers. JIVE picked what our staff and readers found to be the most interesting content of the year, to the most interesting person we came to know. We also want to share what we believed was our musical event of the year here in our stomping grounds of Atlanta, Georgia, as well as honor the promoter who made it all happen for this lovely city JIVE likes to call its home.
Best Interview Of 2003Tea With The Dream King: A Neil Gaiman Interview
"That's right. Tea with Neil. If you've read his work and imagined him to be a gentleman and a scholar, you'd be right. He knows a lot about frozen silent films, is fascinated by the narrow focus of local newspapers, and he does a hilarious impersonation of William Shatner. His favorite Doctor Who was Patrick Troughton. He takes honey with his tea. When we was writing American Gods, he visited Lookout Mountain's Rock City not just once, but twice. Ruby Falls as well. This means nothing to most, but for a North Georgia native who grew up around those two tourist traps, the associative neato factor is immeasurable." - Thomas Strickland Read the Interview
Best MovieThe Lord of The Rings: Return Of The King
"...has all led up to this. The battles are epic, the effects are stunning, the characters are alive and breathing. There are moments in this film that will make you cheer, will make you wince, will make you laugh and will make you cry." - Thomas Strickland
Read JIVE's review
Best Anime RahXephon
A dash of Evangelion, mystery, strange climatic science fiction, classic mech robots, sexual tension, the "older woman, the "mystery girl", the bad ass chic and the misunderstood young boy who goes through discovery…everything you ever wanted and expected but with the best music, art and actual P.L.O.T. you could ever ask for. The end of the series found us on the edge of our seats. You know the anime series is great when you are extremely upset that you've finished it and there will be no more RahXephon weekends with friends." - Jewels
Start it off right: RahXephon - Threshold (Vol. 1) - With Series Box and T-Shirt on Amazon
Best Site to See Lithium Picnic
We found Philip Warner on Live Journal (we admit it). All you need to know is this is the quirkiest fetish photography site we've ever had the pleasure to gawk at. Beware though. You'll fall in love with his regular models.
www.lithiumpicnic.com
Best Place to ShopMedia Play
Forget the malls and the downtown traffic, come spend your entire weekend at your local Media Play. We are honoring Media Play for having the insight to actually develop an real Anime section that we enjoyed browsing, not to mention the best prices on books all year long. You've got to love those buy one get one free bargain books. Those Media Play Replay reward points (also good at Sam Goody and Suncoast) made us giddy, sending us $5, $10, and even $20 coupons in the mail each month. www.mediaplay.com
Number One Downloaded JIVE Girl Pin Up Picture Katie
Katie was JIVE's darling in 2003. This girl is not only beautiful, but brilliant. She's a Georgia State chemistry major with plenty of goals and ambition. She was also our number one downloaded pin up in 2003. Congratulations Katie!
Katie in our swimsuit issue
Most Read JIVE Column of 2003Balanced Solution
written by: Trevor 'Toon' Ostrowski
"Let’s be fair folks. If we, as human beings, are going to blame anything other then ourselves for our shortcomings, let’s at least be thorough. Let’s backtrack to every stupid mistake we’ve made and figure out who should be held accountable. It’s not fair to us gamers to focus on our pastime as the cause of pain and suffering. If someone decides to stand before a jury and screech about morals and “doing what’s right”, then don’t falter. Saying one company should be held responsible for their actions but ignoring another company for a comparable offense creates selective morality and thus makes the accusers entire argument null. Hold everyone to the same standards." Read the whole column
2003 was a year of exploration and expansion for JIVE Magazine. Once only an electronic music review outlet, JIVE began covering the arts and entertainment like never before this past year. We published more movie reviews in one year than we had in the last three years and so many game reviews each month that the industry really has it's eye on JIVE for features. We have already begun to stand out among other publications and we made a name for ourselves on topics that we've only just begun to cover indepth. 2003 was also the year we had star talent like Eddie Oliver and intellectuals like Dr. J.P. Saleeby present entertaining and informative topics to our readers. We are reallly excited about what 2004 has in store as well for our readers. Expect even more exciting things coming from JIVE.
