Welcome to the 1st Annual AudioShocker YOU DON’T SUCK Awards for 2008, where we celebrate the few pieces of mass media that didn’t completely blow last year. In keeping with our “Music. Movies. Comic Books. Pop Culture. Media is kind of our thing.” credo, we’ve carefully evaluated offerings in the categories of Music (by Neal), Movies (by Pete), Comics (by Nick), and TV (by all of us). Here are the results:
Music (Arists, Singles, Videos, and Albums)
The nominees are:
- Lil Wayne – A Milli / Ms. Officer / any of his collabos.
- Pink – So What / Sober (both from Funhouse)
- Vampire Weekend – Oxford Coma
- The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing
- The Cool Kids – The Bake Sale
- Portishead – Third
The 2008 YOU DON’T SUCK Music Winner is: The Cool Kids
Neal says: It’s always hard to decide with music. This is the most subjective category there is. Lil Wayne was stellar, but vocoders prevent us from giving him top honors. Pink returned to relevance with killer singles and Vampire Weekend brought us alternative music (and a video) that didn’t suck. New favorite The Ting Tings and Pete’s pick Portishead rounded out our noms. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the nominees, but there can be only one winner. The fantastically hip Cool Kids know how to make a good record and their beats have ridiculous knock.
Movies (Films, Flicks, and Moving Pictures)
The nominees are:
- WALL-E
- In Bruges
- Burn After Reading
- Slumdog Millionaire
- The Wrestler
The 2008 YOU DON’T SUCK Movies Winner is: In Bruges
Pete says: In Bruges was the best-written movie of the year and has incredible performances from its three main actors (Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson). This is the first film from writer-director Martin McDonagh, and in that regard this strikes me as another reason to single out the film, since we can be optimistic about another strong filmic auteur (though the man is, apparently, a well-seasoned playwright) making the scene. Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler were excellent, but neither topples In Bruges as my pick for the all-caps not sucking distinction.
Comics (Ongoings, Minis, One-Shots, and OGNs)
The nominees are:
- Avengers: The Initiative #14-19 (Marvel Comics)
- Kill All Parents! (Image Comics)
- Terra #1-4 (DC Comics)
- War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD #33-35 (Marvel Comics)
- Water Baby (Minx / DC Comics)
The 2008 YOU DON’T SUCK Comics Winner is: War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD #33-35
Nick says: I’m obsessed with War Machine thanks to this story arc. These issues (a.k.a. Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #33-35) follow Jim Rhodes after an electronic recording of Tony Stark prompts him to prepare for an impending crisis (Secret Invasion). Christos Gage, Sean Chen, Sandu Florea, Jay David Ramos, Joe Caramagna, Adi Granov, and Bill Rosemann are all in top form as they deliver the best comics of 2008. (This goes without says that I’ve been nursing an addiction to Marvel vs. Capcom lately and Rhodey happens to be my fighter of choice.)
Television (Shows, Finales, and Premiers)
The nominees are:
- Chuck
- Avatar
- Metalocalypse
- Mad Men
- The Spectacular Spider-Man
The 2008 YOU DON’T SUCK Television Winner is: Avatar: The Last Airbender
We say: Honestly, was there ever really a doubt? Avatar has been an AudioShocker favorite since before there was an AudioShocker.com! This Nickelodeon original made us sit up and take notice with its tremendous visuals, compelling story, and surprisingly mature themes. We’re sad we couldn’t give Chuck and Mad Men higher marks, but Buster Bluth and Don Draper would want it this way. Now we’re keeping our eyes peeled for new episodes of Big Love, BSG, Entourage, and Spectacular Spidey!
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