Retrocrush.com presents the 100 Most Annoying Things of 2005

The League is deeply jealous of Retrocrush's list.

Sitting through these movies must be torture...

Maybe this should be on Nanostalgia.com, but what's up with all the torture going on in movies, TV, etc... ?

Maybe I've seen too many commercials for films like Saw, Hostel and Wolf Creek lately, but the latest trend isn't crazy, unstoppable killing machines (Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger), serial killers (Hannibal Lecter, etc...), or even slightly sympanthetic killers (Norman Bates).

The latest trend, as near as I can tell, is for folks to end up getting tortured for 90-120 minutes.

After watching years of Fear Factor (now, apparently, in syndication) , Dog Eat Dog and Ally McBeal, maybe we're all used to torturing ourselves with movies and TV.

I dunno. I guess that's what the kids like these days, and maybe it's not too far of a cry from House on Haunted Hill or some of those other Price movies.

Opinions?

The League shouts "Bulls$%^!!!!" a great number of times.

Congratulations to the referees in tonight's Suns/ Knicks game. They really won that game for the Knicks.

I've only rarely seen such one-sided game calling. 3 Suns players were fouled out before the first of three OT's and 1 more fouled out in, I believe, the second OT (but that was Burke, so I'm not really sure how much of a conspiracy that one was).

Apparently, when in NY, putting your hands up when someone else shoots constitutes a foul. Also, there is no such thing as an offensive foul in NYC. Ever.

41 fouls on The Suns, 27 on the Knicks?

That was truly awful, awful reffing. The Knicks didn't deserve that win.

2006: a Year in Review

I've only been awake for about thirty minutes, but I think we've had enough of 2006 to make some calls on how this year went.

Movie of the year: the few seconds of Narnia they showed in a clip on Headline News.

Song of the Year: Polyphonic Spree's "It's the Sun". For some reason that's what was in my head when I woke up.

Meal of the Year: "Muffin Tops Cereal"by Malt o' Meal and a cup of official Ruta Maya coffee sent by cousin Susan from Austin.

Cat of the Year: Jeff

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBUDDY!!!

Wow, did 2005 suck. Hurricanes. Tsunami after-effects. Political scandal. War. No Hot Tamales at the Gilbert WTC. Multiple hospital stays for Jamie. Cancellation of Arrested Development.

Yeah, you know what... @#$% you, 2005.

Anyway, Happy New Year, Loyal Leaguers.

And now...

The League of Melbotis 2005 Person of the Year

We name this person Person of the Year with some trepidation as we recently learned that Jim D's own mother reads this site from time to time. Mrs. D, I gotta ask that you forgive me for this one, but it was already in the works.

Without further ado, The League of Melbotis presents our first Person of the Year.

Congratulations, Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng. You are 2005's selection for Person of the Year.

Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng, well... I feel really awkward with Mrs. D reading this, but... you know... Anyway, he pulled a truck across a parking lot using his penis as an anchor.

That makes him not just Person of the Year, but, in fact, MAN of the year.

Article 1 on the amazing feat.

Article 2.

Article 3.


Master Tu

Here is Tu Jin-Sheng's own website, ironcrotch.com

Special thanks to Loyal Leaguer Dan Peters for informing me of this amazing feat.

2005 Year End Awards: Part II
Continuing the previous entry on this free-form topic...

TV Shows I watched regularly in 2005:
The Daily Show
Colbert Report
Headline News (oh, Linda Stouffer, you dreamy eyed babe of the half-hour news..! )
Arrested Development
Family Guy
The Soup
Monster House
Justice League Unlimited
The Office (US Edition)
the aforementioned Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which I'm not sure I care for
and
Suns Basketball


TV Shows of Note that I caught Only Occasionally:
Wonder Showzen
American Experience
City Confidential
My Name is Earl
Smallville
Comedians of Comedy
Boondocks


TV Shows I still will not watch for no other reason than because people keep telling me to watch them:
The Apprentice (both Donald and Martha)
West Wing
Battlestar Galactica
Entourage
Boston Legal
Sopranos (in fact, anything on HBO...)
Commander in Chief

Special Mention: Lost. I do watch Lost, but it's because I love my wife dearly and she asks me to sit with her each week to watch the show.

Movie I've watched more times on cable this year than I really want to admit:
Napolean Dynamite

Movies I meant to see, but I didn't, so I hope they come to cable:
Good Night and Good Luck
Syriana
Jesus is Magic
MirrorMask
Munich
The Producers
A History of Violence (funny story, that...)
2046

Movies I saw which I thought were okay, but not great:
March of the Penguins (do none of you people watch Discovery Channel? Actually, Discovery would have inserted some science in there somewhere, not just wide-eyed wonder)
Madagascar (what was the moral? Try not to eat your friends? Thanks.)
The Constant Gardner. It wasn't bad, it was just so relentlessly depressing, I wasn't really sure why I was sitting there after the first hour.

Movie I followed until literally the last scene:

Memoirs of a Geisha. I had to ask Jamie, who'd read the book, what just happened there in the last scene before the credits rolled.

Times I had to tell someone to shut up in a movie this year:

At least twice. Star Wars I had to tell someone to hang up their phone during the Kenobi/ Anakin duel. King Kong, where I walked all the way across the theater to ask some kids to shut up. It seems like it happened another time, but it's not coming to me.


Album Cover of the Year:
Kanye West: Late Registration

I've heard only part of one song off of this album, but I know one thing: George Bush doesn't care about teddy bears


Comic Cover of the Year:

All-Star Superman #1

Recommended Collection of 2005 (non-continuity/ affordable):

DC: The New Frontier Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

Recommended Collection of 2005 (non-continuity/ not-affordable)

Watchmen Absolute Edition (actually, the price I found here at Amazon is pretty darn good)

Recommended Series/ Collections of 2005 (continuity/ affordable)

Well, probably Infinite Crisis, but a special nod to Adventures of Superman by Greg Rucka. Includes collections Unconventional Warfare, That Healing Touch, and issues 640-648

Recommended Collection of 2005 (continuity/ not as affordable)

Identity Crisis

Absolutely heart-breaking. The controversy surrounding the scenes in issue #2 in a monthly format did this series a disservice that should have been foreseen and avoided. We can save the debate of that choice for later.

As a single read, the series works significantly better, and has the feel of a book rather than episodic, issue driven plot points. Definitely worth a review. And definitely not the comfort food provided by so many DC comics.

Well, that's it for Part II. I'm pooped. If anyone has any suggestions for additional categories, let me know and we may see a part III.

Jim D. sent this article along.

"Time to make the donuts" guy has merged with the great donut shop in the sky. May Michael Vale get to sleep as late as he likes for all eternity.