1mod's Best of '05

Now that we’re safely within the chilly confines of December it is again time for that most fastidious flurry of finicky funkiness that is my picks of the year’s greatest. So, without further ado, I present The Best of ’05.

Album of the Year: Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Generally, I don’t buy a lot of new records in your average year. I prefer to get my music the old fashioned way – by bumming CDs off my friends and ripping those bastards to my PC. This year, one album I went out of my way to purchase was Silent Alarm by Bloc Party. Why? Because this album is both lyrically sound and musically layered without sounding overly complex or artsy. And I like dance rock. And Kele Okereke looks like Buckwheat and sounds like Colin Hay with a lung full o’ helium.

Song/Single of the Year: Tegan and Sara – Speak Slow
Let me sum up: identical twin lesbian Canadians that rock like they ought to… And though their early solo-era Joan Jett haircuts and tendency toward folkyness initially put me off, Speak Slow was sufficient to kill Reverend Run’s Mind on the Road as my pick for Song of the Year. Ain’t that some shit?

Movie of the Year: The 40 Year-Old Virgin
There may have been films that I saw this year that I liked more than Steve Carell’s The 40 Year-Old Virgin while I was watching them, but none really followed me home from the theatre with as much charm and fervor. I still find myself mentioning bags of sand and the ubiquitous “Boner Jams ‘03” nigh daily!

TV Show of the Year: The Boondocks
As much as I love NBC’s take on The Office and the cockeyed behemoth that is Lost, as well as new fall season darling How I Met Your Mother (also known as that show with Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doogie Houser), I have to give the nod to The Boondocks. Not only has Aaron McGruder finally brought Huey and company to the tele, he’s also given Uncle Ruckus, the self-hating black man, a suitably comical voice.

Game of the Year: Resident Evil 4
If you didn’t choose RE 4 as your game of the year you obviously haven’t played RE 4. With lush, eerie environments, spot-on character models, and an enemy AI that just won’t quit Capcom again managed to scare the hell out of me while all the while spurning me toward a climactic, and none-too cheesy, resolution. Best. Resident. Evil. Ever.

Website of the Year: Scary-Go-Round
I love Web comics, but there are so damn many to visit that I sometimes have to cut the fat. Scary-Go-Round is lean. Clean and lean and, occasionally, obscene. Okay, not actually obscene, I just got a bit carried away… Sorry. Anyway, with all the charm of a Monty Python animated short (without the over-sized feet) and all the style of a Cornershop single, John Allison's Scary-Go-Round is the site that I make it a point to hit each Monday-Friday.

Man/Woman of the Year: Old Grandma Hardcore
With all the press she’s been getting from MTV, Game Informer, the Washington Post, and others, my mention of Old Grandma Hardcore won’t garner her blog any more measurable hits than she’s already pushing, but I gotsta give credit where credit is due. This 70 year-old dynamo has beaten more games than you’ve played, and she will completely kill your ass for an Xbox 360. And that, my friends, is hardcore.

Well, those are my picks. What about yours? Feel free to omit/add categories as you see fit.