The [your name here] Awards!

Movie of the Year
Munich
History of Violence, A
Brokeback Mountain
New World, The
Downfall

Winner:

Worst Movie of the Year
Fantastic Four
Ring Two, The
Last Days
North Country
Elektra

"Winner":

TV Show of the Year
Arrested Development (Season 2)
Carnivàle (Season 2)
Lost (Season 1)
The Shield (Season 4)
Six Feet Under (Season 5)

Winner:

Video Game of the Year
Resident Evil 4 (PS2)
God of War (PS2)
Doom 3 (PC)
Jade Empire (Xbox)
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)

Winner:

Hit Song of the Year
Best of You- Foo Fighters

This year's token white nominee would be The Foo Fighters in what is probably their last real career highlight and probably their last crossover hit.  It's a fairly forceful rock song that takes it time to build up before sort of exploding into this anthem.

Drop It Like It's Hot - Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg had more commercial longevity than a lot of rappers of his generation, possibly because he was never that angry and rapped about things that a new generation of teenagers comes to appreciate every year.  This was probably his last huge solo hit courtesy of Pharrell Williams (and the other Neptune) who gave him this odd minimalist beat with tongue clicks. 

Get Back - Ludacris

Ludacris is not a rapper with a great range of skills but he can put together some really strong and forceful party singles and this is probably his best.  He's in total boss mode here talking about his willingness to wreck a dude for getting in his grill.  Some clever rhymes, a killer beat, perfect music for Hollywood executives to dance to.

Hate it or Love It - The Game Ft. 50 Cent

50 Cent had a number of hits this year of varying degrees of quality.  His best work were his collaborations with The Game during their brief alliance.  This and "How We Do" (which would have been nominated if I weren't limiting things) were both technically singles off of The Game's album but 50 kind of dominates both tracks.  This one is probably the closest that 50 ever got to making a serious track about crime rather than his usual mafioso celebrations and Cool & Dre's beat definitely propels it.  

Ordinary People - John Legend

His sound seems a bit more ordinary in a post-Adele world, but John Legend was a real breath of fresh air in 2005.  This song in particular seemed pretty bold as an R&B single that sounded nothing like a piece of pre-Disco piano balladry about complicated relationships.  It's not generally what I go to pop stations to hear, but it's nice to have something on the charts that's all respectable and shit.

Winner:

Drac, nice to see you agree with me with Lost.

My favorite songs from the Mesmerize/Hypnotize album were probably "Stealing Society" and "Question!".  2005 was probably the last year I spent keeping up with modern rock, after bands got done protesting the war the genre just started to seem really juvenile to me and not in a fun way.  Still like the old stuff though.

Okay okay, its been a busy week, geez.

Thank you!

Best Movie:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Sideways
Aviator, The
Vera Drake
Million Dollar Baby

Winner

Worst Movie:
Van Helsing
Polar Express, The
Saw
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Alien Vs. Predator

"Winner":

Best TV Show:
Arrested Development (Season 1)
Da Ali G Show (Season 2)
The Shield (Season 3)
The Sopranos (Season 5)
The Wire (Season 3)

Winner:

Best Video Game:
Ninja Gaiden
Unreal Tournament 2004
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Half-Life 2
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Winner:

Best Hit Song:

Dirt Off Your Shoulder
by Jay-Z

The ultimate "fuck the haters I'm awesome" anthem, this presidentially endorsed track had Hov rapping over an oddly busy yet minimalist Timbaland beat and it did it over a decade before a certain someone was trying to convince people to shake it off.   

Hey Ya
by Outkast (Andre 3000)

The act that owned music in 2004 was Outkast, who released a crazy double album that was actually a pair of solo albums.  The biggest most catchiest hit out of the whole project was this Andre 3000 jam that more or less eschewed rap alltogether in favor of a full on peppy pop hit with deceptively downbeat lyrics about ending relationships.  

The Way You Move
by Outkast (Big Boi) ft. Sleepy Brown

I'm generally trying to stick to a one song per artist rule in this category to spread the wealth a little bit but I'm making an exception here because these were essentially seperate solo hits from the two group members.  Also, I feel like Big Boi has gotten short shrift by pop culture, his flow was arguably superior to his partner's and his first true solo album is seriously under-appreciated.  He also proved just as able to make a number one hit as Andre with this cool fusion of rapid rapping and a 70s style soul hook.
 
Burn
by Usher

The other artist that owned music in 2004 was Usher, who released his best selling and almost certainly best album Confessions that year.  That album spawned a whole bunch of hits that could have been nominated were it not for the one song per artist strategy.  Yeah was his big party jam, Confessions Pt. II was his torch song and this breakup song sits somewhere in the middle.  This is an almsot timeless feel, it would still be a radio hit if it were released today but it would also fit pretty well in an old school quiet storm rotation and yet it uses (then) modern production doesn't feel like a super retro throwback.

All Falls Down
by Kanye West ft. Syleena Johnson

The other other artist that owned music in 2004 was Kanye West, who released his debut album The College Dropout that year.  Through the Wire and Slow Jams were the bigger hits but the best of the hit (and it apparantly was a hit according to Billboard) was this song with one of his patented soul hooks interpolated from a Lauryn Hill song.  This was back when West (sometimes awkwardly) came off as more of a conscious alt rapper and this was pretty unusual for a mainstream artist at the time.  At this point I kind of miss the old Kanye who didn't seem like a complete nut and who you could still kind of defend.

Winner 

PG, you are incorrect on your video game choice. Dracula is correct.

2003

Movie of the year
Nominees

Anchorman
Kill Bill Vol. 1
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Winner:




Show of the year
Nominees

24 S2
The West Wing S4
The Wire S2


Winner:




Game of the year
Nominees

Alhambra
A Game of Thrones

Winner:


Expansion of the Year
Winner:

Oh I was thinking city of God was 2002.

Drac likes Farscape?