doodledee

Here's my end of year best of. Libby was saying that one year I should go all Oprah and give out one of each thing that wins an award. I thought that was a good idea. Maybe next year.

• Clothing Item of the Year - The cardigan. Or as I like to call it, The Office Cardigan. This would be a trend that I tried - and admittedly failed - to kick off last winter. I'm thinking maybe people are confused as to how it works, so allow me to explain: you come to work, you take off your jacket, and you put on your cardigan. Shazam! Instant professorial credibility. Am I missing something about what's not to love? Because it seems pretty straightforward to me. Here's hoping it catches on in Winter07.
• Unexpected Like of the Year - Can we talk about Tina Fey on 30 Rock? Because here's the deal: I honestly never understood why anyone liked her. She was always so smarmy and smug and stuff on SNL. Boo. When 30 Rock started I'm sure I wasn't the only one secretely hoping it would bomb, just to teach her a lesson. Then BAM! the show turns out to be frickin' awesome. And it works because a) it's actually funny and b) Fey is the vulnerable, likeable everychick instead of the cocky, know it all everyprick. And BAM! AGAIN!, now I'm a huge Fey Fan. BAM! What the hell just happened?
• Takeout of the Year - A couple years ago – more like 5, actually – I swore off delivered and/or frozen pizza. Best decision I ever made. I spent the next few years perfecting my homemade crust recipe, which I'm not too proud to admit is pretty effing mint. Then, yeah, kids and stuff, and suddenly knead, rise, knead, rise isn't as schedule friendly as it used to be. Enter Broder's deli, where for $3, you get a perfectly made dough ball, bagged and ready to take home and pizza party up. I usually get two smalls and 20 slices of their spicy pep. Fire up the oven, assemble with the family, bake for a few minutes, and devour. You're welcome.
• Overhype of the Year - Dylan's new album, 'Modern Times'. Don't get me wrong, it's a good - probably even great - album, but all these rubes comparing it to 'Blood on the Tracks' or 'Blonde on Blonde' or 'Highway 61' are just beyond absurd. An album like 'Blood on the Tracks' is arguably the greatest record ever made. Anyone who doesn't have it on their desert island list can look forward to spending day after day throwing sand in their own faces as punishment for forgetting it. (It's ok, when the rescue chopper shows up and you ask for water, a junior bacon cheeseburger and a copy of Blood on the Tracks, they'll totally understand.) And now I'm supposed to believe that 'Modern Times' is going to have that type of impact or staying power? Come on. (Runner-up: Trader Joe's opening in SLP.)
• Doof of the Year (Local) - Remember that story about the meerkats at the zoo that had to be killed to test for rabies after one of them bit a girl? Of course you do, you couldn't avoid it. Ok, now raise your hand if you posted on the internet and/or called into a talk radio program to tell the world how you felt about it. Hi, you're a doof. (A special shout-out goes to King Doof Don Shelby, whose soliloquy on the 'murdered' and 'butchered' meerkats set a new record for local tv douchebaggery.) In related news, I bet if you talked to the right people, you'd find out that the most-commented articles on the PiPress website last year were this meerkat story and the Barbara Streisand article after her concert here. It's too bad Babs didn't bite the head off a meerkat during her show... the internet would literally have exploded all over your keyboard. Yuck.
• Mancrush of the Year - Right up until the headbutt that rocked the word, Zinedine Zidane had this thing locked up tight. Then, yeah, the headbutt. One minute you're shopping for a 2T Zidane jersey for your kid, the next your explaining to yourself that it never would have worked, he was old and bald, and you don't really speak French. Thank god for Ozzy on Survivor. Sigh.
• Music Stuff of the Year - I didn't buy many 'new' records this year. Certainly not enough to list my top 100 - which bizarrely seems to have replaced the traditional 'top 10' in many of this year's 'best of' lists. I did, however, download a ton of stuff. So much so that – I shit you not - Verizon cancelled my "unlimited" broadband card due to overuse. Sometime soon I'll put together a list of my top 5 downloads or something. It'll be 2007 by then, but thankfully this blog isn't constrained by the boundaries of traditional end of year list protocol. And for the record, if I had to pick a best 'real' album, I'd probably go with Built to Spill's 'You in Reverse'. I also enjoyed local boy Mason Jenning's 'Boneclouds', but that's kind of a sissy pick for album of the year, so pretend I didn't say it. And yes, I liked the Dylan album, dammit.
• Appliance of the Year - The dishwasher. Our old house didn't have one. Our new house does. The level of peace and harmony it ushered into my life is hard to put into words. Let's just say it got the Wally out of my Wolves locker room. I love you, man. (Runner-up: the ice maker.)
• Salad Dressing of the Year - Smith & Wollensky's 'Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette'. Runner up was perennial favorite Jimmy's Blue Cheese French, but to be honest, it wasn't even close.
• Concert of the Year - I didn't go to a ton of shows last year, but I certainly went to enough to justify listing a favorite. And the no-contest winner was Justin Roberts at the Cedar. I took my kid. And it was so, so awesome.
• Failed Radio Experiment of the Year - Doy, it's the show I was on. I still don't know how or why we made the final 4, but it sure was fun while it lasted. In other news, I think this is the first repeat winner in the history of doodlelists.
• Graffiti of the Year - Don't get me wrong, I'm far from being one of those urban trendbots who pretends to know and/or appreciate graffiti, but I'll be the first to admit that I got repeated smiles this summer after a bunch of the white stick figure 'men' on the walking path around Lake Harriet were retouched with white paint so that they looked like they were wearing long skirts. The 'artist' basically just painted their legs closed all the way down to the ground. Genius.

My best to all the winners.