The Best of the Best!

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. For almost a year now, I have been writing about entertainment and entertainment related accessories, and now that the year has come to an end, it is time for me to wrap up what I think was the cream of the crop.
So here it is, the Mad Mad Media Best of 2006 list.

Best place on the Net to waste time
YouTube. Why watch TV when you can watch YouTube. In one short year, YouTube went from obscure geek site to the Internet destination. Want to see an old Pepsi commercial? You’ll find it on YouTube. Want to watch highlights from last week’s SNL? There it is on YouTube. Want to see the 2006 World Champion Brat Eating Contest? You guessed it, YouTube. Sure, the site is challenging the very limits of copyright law and way too many people are posting questionable material, but YouTube is by far the best on the Web right now.
Runners up: Internet Movie Database, MySpace, Mad Mad Media, Stumble Upon.

Best Blog (Besides Mad Mad Media)
Good Weather For Airstrikes. Like indie music? Love indie music? Good Weather For Airstrikes is definitely for you. The music blog explores the reaches of the emerging music scene and provides samples of some of the best music I’ve ever heard. In fact, much of the music I discovered this year, I found because of Good Weather For Airstrikes! Keep up the good work boys!
Runners up: My Old Kentucky Blog, Skatterbrain, the Sheboygan Press blogs, Pop Candy.

Best New Artist
Terra Naomi. Terra is awesome. She broke out on YouTube, sold out of her latest CD and is embarking on a tour of Europe. I don’t know what else to say about her. I interviewed her on the Mad Mad Media podcast a couple of weeks ago and she was really cool and down to earth. It’s going to be great to see what she can do with a label behind her. Go, Terra, Go, Go, Go!
Runners up: Victoria Vox, Nikki Capra, Sandra Grace.

Best New Group
(Tie) Headlights and The Young Republic.
Headlights--This Champaign, Ill. Shoegazers’ song, Put Us Back Together Right, was only the tip of the ice burg. The trio featuring Tristan Wraight, Erin Fein and Brett Sanderson have mastered hypnotic indie rock, and their first LP “Kill Them With Kindness,” released in August on Polyvinyl Records, is proof of that. TYR on the other hand is different. Any group that describes their music as orchestral folk is all right in my book. This 9-piece Boston group is about as cool at they come in my book. Need I say more?
Runners up: My Little Radio, Karmella’s Game.

Best Established Group/Artist
The Sounds. Part punk rock, part ‘80s synth, part hot chick rock, The Sounds are amazing! (P.S. check them out and more on this week’s Mad Mad Media Podcast).
Runners up: The Stars, Death Cab For Cutie, Regina Spektor

Best Really Established Group/Artist
Erasure. This was a great surprise this year. Though know for their bubbly synth pop, Erasure released Union Street this year, a compilation of acoustic reworkings of some of the duo’s hits. Incredibly moving and beautiful, it gave Erasures sometimes overproduced music incredible relevance.
Runners up: Morrissey, Emma Bunton (Spice Girls), Justin Timberlake (not kidding)

Best Movie
The Fountain. I’ll be honest. I didn’t see every movie this year. But The Fountain was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Most of the reviews I read after seeing it seemed to miss the whole point, but don’t listen to them. This movie is amazing!
Runners up: A Prairie Home Companion and The Departed.

Best Movie Hype
Snakes on a Plane. That’s it! I’ve had it with these mother (something) snakes on this mother (something) plane. Best line from an action movie ever, but the makers of this summer flick could have crammed it into the final product a little better. Snakes on a Plane may not be the ultimate action B-movie ever made, but the hype leading up to it was incredibly exciting. (PS. Snakes on a Plane hits DVD on Tuesday).
Runners up: There aren’t any mother something runners up!

Best Reality Show
(Tie) Everest and Man Vs. Wild. I found these late in the year. Both are on the Discovery Channel and both are gripping. Everest follows a team of mountain climbers as they ascend Everest and MVW follows Bear Grylls, a seasoned adventurer and survival expert who served with the Special Air Service, a special forces unit of the British army, as he shows you how to survive in the harshest environments. It may not always be pretty, but Grylls survival antics make for interesting viewing!
Runners up: American Idol, NBC Primetime (To Catch A Predator series), Project Runway

Best TV Drama
Eureka. This SciFi original series won me over this summer and I’m hoping it will return. In it, U.S. Marshal Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) and his teenage daughter get stranded in an odd small town where the government conducts many of its secret experiments. A clever mix of science, romantic pitfalls and geek humor, Eureka is a show worth discovering.
Runners up: Law and Order (any one will do), reruns of Dead Like Me

Best TV Comedy
The Office. Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his band of misfit office workers are the funniest thing on television, taking shock humor and shock to an entirely new level. I’m still hoping Jim and Pam going to get together, but until they do I’ll continue to laugh my head off every Thursday!
Runners up: My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, Scrubs, The War At Home

Best Animated Show
(Tie) Family Guy and The Simpsons. Both of these shows aren’t as good as they were a couple of years ago, but they are still darn good! I’m sure The Simpsons movie that comes out in 2007 will be the beginning of the end for the series, but its still better than most of the stuff on TV. Family Guy is too inconsistent, but when its hits the bulls eye, it’s outrageously funny.
Runners up: Anything except American Dad. That show stinks!

Best TV watching snack
Multi Grain Wheat Thins. These things are awesome! They beat out cheezy puffs, nachos, pizza bites, corn chips and a number of other things to take this top honor. I could eat a whole box of these things!
Runners up: Boo Berry (when you can find it), Pringles, Manny’s Corn Chips, caramel corn.


That's It. The podcast will be up later today. See you next year!!!