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Music Best Band: Broken Social Scene Best Solo Artist: Martha Wainwright Best Album: Martha Wainwright - I Will Internalize Best Single: K-os - "Love Song" Go 2004 songs getting released as singles in 2005 and thus being eligible! Best Live Act: Ack, tough. I've seen about 100 concerts this year. Bob Dylan, Sigur Ros, and Martha Wainwright all rank high, but I'll go with Keren Ann. Best Newcomer: Hrm. Martha has been in the "business" for some years now, and I don't really want her sweeping the awards. So, I'll go with Wolf Parade. Worst Band: My Chemical Romance/Green Day/Simple Plan/The Killers/Coheed and Cambria/Death Cab for Cutie/etc... Worst Single: Green Day - "Wake Me Up When September Ends." Next Big Thing: Uh... hrm. Tough. I'll say Black Mountain, but I don't really see them "exploding" like other Canadian artists of late. I really wish Les George Leningrad would get more recognition, though. EDIT: Ah, I thought it was the next next big thing. Probably The Arcade Fire, as they've gone from playing clubs with a capacity of 800-ish to selling out 4000 seaters, sharing a stage with David Bowie, and opening with U2. But if you're looking for a break-through artist who released their album this year (The Arcade Fire, while releasing Funeral last year, got much if their press this year) I'll go with one of the following: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Sufjan Stevens, The New Pornographers, Art Brut, Bloc Party, or Martha Wainwright. With the big winner being M.I.A. Hall of Fame Entrant: Bob Dylan. Film Best Overall Film: Water. Best Comedy: It's All Gone, Pete Tong. Best Drama: You, Me, and Everyone We Know. Best Non-Fiction/Fact Based Film: Born into Brothels, although I think that's 2004. So, I'll go with Good Night... and Good Luck, because I can't think of the name of the name for that grizzly bear movie. Best Actor: Matt Murphy (The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico) Best Actress: Agnieszka Grochowska (Warsaw) Best Plot Line (Regardless of film quality): Water Best Director: Deepa Mehta (Water) Worst Film: Uh. Jarhead, I guess. I'd like to say Brokeback Mountain, but it's not bad, just incredibly overrated. Most Anticipated Release: The Man With the Screaming Brain. Best Soundtrack: Drawing Restraint 9/No Direction Home: Bob Dylan Hall Of Fame Entrant (Actor, Actress or Director): Ray Liota, just because. Television Best Comedy Show: The Tournament Best Drama: Gilmore Girls Best Sitcom: Arrested Development Best Storyline: Doctor Who/Rescue Me Best Channel: CBC Best Reality Show: The Apprentice Worst Show: Prison Break Games Best Game: Shadow of the Colossus Worst Game: Fable: The Lost Chapters Best Game Character: The King of All Cosmos Best System: Nintendo DS, hands down. Most Anticipated Release: Shadow of the Colossus/NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005 Best Soundtrack: We <3 Katamari Best Developer: Namco Sports Best Team: The Vancouver Whitecaps Best Sportsperson: Don Taylor Best Sporting Event: 2005 World Junior Hockey Championship Best/Favourite Match: Edmonton Eskimos vs. Montreal Als in the 93rd Annual Grey Cup Most Overrated: Overrated what? I'll go A-Rod. Hall Of Fame: Mark Messier

"Check out Jack Johnson. He's pretty good." I'm going to go out and actually de-recommend him. He's pretty much a surfer who thinks paint-by-numbers guitar and a soft, quiet voice means you're insightful. The only thing worse than his albums is being dragged by your friends to watch him at an outdoor venue. Ugh... I'll also say no to Incubus, although I will admit that their work on the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack was both fantastic, and a pleasant surprise. Instrumental, just the way they should be...

The world needs more Sunn 0))) fans. I'm just doing my part.

I brought Johathon Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke with me on my snowboarding trip, and I'm starting to wish I hadn't. Now, I'm not normally big on fantasy (Neil Gaiman being one of the exceptions) but I'm loving this. It's nothing too groundbreaking -- it's the story of two magicians in 19th century England, where magic has become a long forgotten art, now only studied by "theoretical magicians" and many a street entertainer that claim to be "practitional magicians" -- but it goes about describing Mr. Norrell's claims of being an actual magician (in the first 100 pages, he's brought a woman back to life, tricked the French army, and made stone carvings in a Cathedral come to life) with such authenticity, and his ultimate goal of bring magic back to England with such ambition, that I'm loving it. Oh, and it's funny on occasions to boot. Take note, writers! This is how you do footnotes!

"Sufjan Stevens is great" Yes, yes he is. If you're into that new folk-ish sound, check out both of the young Wainwrights, Rufus and Martha. Martha just released her debut solo album this year (self-titled), and it's, arguably, the best debut of the year. She also has an EP out called I Will Internalize, which includes a duet with her brother Rufus, "Bring Back My Heart," and I love it. Rufus has been around for some time, has released 4 CDs -- the best of the bunch being Poses, but I'll entertain mentions of the self-titled -- and a DVD earlier t his year. Not as powerful as his sister, and most of his songs are about love, but he's amazing. Post rock always "mellows" me out nicely, so check out the guitar-driven Mogwai, as suggested earlier, and the... odd Godspeed You! Black Emporer. Sigur Rós is always mentioned among them, but they're not post-rock. Still, the best thing to come out of Iceland, even if Takk... was a bit disappointing. Ágætis Byrjun and ( ) are equally awesome. Other bands to check out: M83, Air, Four Tet, Spiritualized, Eels, and doves (their early work. None of this "hey, let's just toss loads of guitars on our old sound and call it an evolution" crap that made Some Cities. The Last Broadcast and Lost Souls are the way to go.)

Joy Division Dead Kennedys The Viletones Misfits The Sex Pistols Iggy and the Stooges Iggy Pop The Distillers The Briefs Tsunami Bomb The Black Halos d.o.a The Unseen Interpol The Cure The Velvet Underground

1.) Sigur Rós - "Saeglopur" 2.) Sigur Rós - "Gong" 3.) Martha Wainwright feat. Rufus Wainwright - "Bring Back My Heart" 4.) Broken Social Scene feat. K-os - "Windsurfing Nation" 5.) Sunn 0))) - "Candlegoat" 6.) The Mars Volta - "L' Via l'Viaquez" 7.) M.I.A - "Galang" 8.) Aesop Rock - "Holy Smokes" 9.) Sufjan Stevens - ""The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!" 10.) Eels - "The Other Shoe" That sounds about right.

With the exception of Brokeback Mountain, which is horrible, and The Squid and the Whale, which I have never even heard of, that's actually not a bad list. Now, because no one could care less, I'll post mine. 1.) Water 2.) Warsaw 3.) Me and You and Everyone We Know 4.) The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico 5.) A History of Violence 6.) Hustle and Flow 7.) ...Good Night, and Good Luck 8.) Keane 9.) Everything is Illuminated 10.) It's All Gone, Pete Tong

Ahem. Laaaaaaaaaaaaaa la la la la la la la la la la la la la.... KATAMARI DAMASHI Meteos, Bubble Bobble, EarthBound, and Civ III are all close, too.

Martha Wainwright - Martha Wainwright Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary Aesop Rock - Fast Cars, Fire, Danger, and Knives Spoon - Gimme Fiction Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase Sigur Ros - Ba Ba/Ti Ki/Di Do The Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses Kate Bush - Aerial Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures The Smiths - The Queen is Dead Iggy Pop - Sister Midnight That... should be good.

Meteos, which is the best puzzle game since Katamari Damacy, and Feel the Magic are by far the best things released on the system yet. Oh, and yeah... it's worth it.

1.) Sigur Rós 2.) Radiohead 3.) The Smiths 4.) The Velvet Underground 5.) Joy Division 6.) The Cure 7.) Bad Religion 8.) The Clash 9.) The Fall 10.) A Perfect Circle I should have voted Iggy Pop in on a technicality, but meh, I'm in an APC mood lately, so the 'Godfather of Punk' gets to look out on the list. As do others who normally go on my top 10 list (Bowie, Cat Power, Aesop Rock).

Eh, I prefer the FFX OST (and, for that matter, the FFX-2 OST) to anything on the PSone/SNES. 'To Zanarkand' is probably my favorite video game song that wasn't from Chrono Cross or Baten Kaitos.

DemiKids comes to mind.

Actually, Boston are safe as hell. I think they have something around $18 million committed to the payroll for the upcoming season. A lot of teams are like that nowadays. I'm just worried about what'll happen with my 'Nucks. Rumors around town have Nazzi and Bert leaving sometime soon, which isn't too surprising.

Ah... well, it's not like I listened to them after Dave Williams passed away anyways.

If I can ever find this series in store, I'd buy it. I love both Football Manager and Eastside Hockey Manager (although I won't be buying a new EHM until they give it a full match engine, not the poor one in 2K5).

Nice to see someone pay enough attention to my posts that they go through and comment on virtually everything. As for Elfen Lied, it seems to be either a love or hate anime (much like my other loves in life, ICO [best. game. ever], Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [best. movie. ever], and Sigur Ros [best. band. ever]). I can see why someone wouldn't care for it, but I loved it. It drew me in from the beginning with Lucy kicking ass and escaping, then heading to the mainland to stay with whatstheirfaces (bah. Too early to think). Perfect mix of odd comedy, gore, and drama. I might be overstepping it a little by calling LE's OP the greatest, but I loved it, and I can't really think of something that tops it. Maybe the BECK OP, or something so painfully obvious that it's lost on me. And Samurai 7 owns your soul

I'm shocked that Limp Bizkit where brought up in a Coldplay review. I mean, they're my guilty pleasure and all, but still... Limp Bizkit?!?! Nice read, though.

Hm... The Shins, for starters. While not my favorite band, tons people love them. Oh! Inverted World was a good release, with New Slang being a surprising hit thanks to Garden State. It's worth a look. Chutes too Narrow, their follow up, is only worth hearing for Young Pilgrams, though. Tegan and Sara are a must. Anything you can get your hands on, do it. I don't think they've released a bad song. Their best would be Monday, Monday, Monday, Pride, Not Tonight, Take Me Anywhere, or Walking with a Ghost. But you can't go wrong with anything they've put out. I've only heard Want One by Rufus Wainwright, but it's fantastic. Oh What a World is an awesome song, which I highly recommend. I've heard great things about Want Two, but I've never got around to buying it. I know you said no Country, but you never said anything about Alt-Country. >_>. The releases from that genre aren't anything like the cookie cutter state that is the current country scene. Ryan Adams, Wil, and Matt Mayes stand out.

Now, considering that I'm Canadian, and don't know what's broadcast in America save for Trigun, FMA, and Champloo on Adult Swin (one of which is average, one of which is below average despite the first 9 episodes and a couple at ~30, and one of which I haven't seen), I'll just ramble off my favorites, all of which are easily attainable through torrents. And, the ones that are finished, DVDs (sadly, I have to drive about an hour and a half to go to the only decent anime store in BC. Bah). Anime Elfen Lied (Episode 14 was disappointing though.) Full Metal Panic (and it's second season, Fumuffo. Fommuffu. Fom... ah... I can never spell it.) Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (I loves me the short series') Full Moon wo Sagashite Bleach (not out on DVD, as it's still being released. On episode... 35, I believe, but I'm only on 20 after a two month internet hiatus) BECK (awesome OST.) Gankutsuou (I'm a GONZO fan. So sue me.) Gungrave (The gore... so... good) Last Exile (Has possibly the greatest OP I've heard) Samurai 7 (again, GONZO) Excel Saga (the sub is decent, but the actors never could really keep up with their Japanese counterparts. Hilarious to no ends). Air TV I've heard so many good things about School Rumble, and I've watched it, but it never really clicked. I'll be giving it another chance soon, though. And I haven't been keeping up with the 2005 releases thus far, having only seen 2 shows. Glass Mask (pretty good. Potential to be awesome, much like the manga, and previous series'), and Speed Grapher (some say it blows, but I enjoy it). As for manga... Bleach (yes, again) Yakitate!! Japan (the anime was good for the first 8 or so episodes, but the manga is so much better.) Love Hina (Not a fan of the anime, but the manga is a Godsend. And a staple for any collection) GANTZ (Again, a case where the manga is better than the anime, although the anime has a good following. It's not for me, though) MAi-HiME (not great by any stretch, but I enjoy it) So... yeah.

That had to be one of the worst shows on TV. And I watched both hours.

I've had the album for... about a week or so, and love it. Better than Parachutes, not quite as good A Rush of Blood to the Head. The live album doesn't count because it brings up too many awesome memories of seeing them live at G.M Place. Mwaha. Anywho, my favorite track, bar none, has to be 'White Shadow.' I've listened to it so many times this past week, I've lost count. 'What If,' 'Talk,' and 'Til Kingdom Come' also stand out. Sadly, I can't even put this album in my top 10 CDs so far released this year. Not a shot at Coldplay, it's just this year has been amazing, what with outstanding albums from Gorillaz, doves, Beck, Oasis, Architecture in Helsinki, Aesop Rock, The Mars Volta... too many to count.