The 2008 Random Awards: Everything Else

Started on the movie catch-up by going to see Slumdog Millionaire. Brilliant movie, I highly recommend it. Such an amazing premise, though I still think Wall-E is better. The movie also had a nice use of what is probably my favorite song of 2008, M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes". Here is the best of 2008 of what I haven't covered so far:

• Representative of the Year:
• 2008, with one really big exception, has to go down as one of the worst years in recent memory, if not in my entire live. Not personally. It's just that with the economy and torture and war, life on the grand scale pretty much sucked. You know, with one really, really big exception.
• Runners-Up:
• Lehman Brothers -- It was the "official" beginning of the economic collapse.
• Bernie Madoff -- How could he not know he was going to get caught? More importantly, what are the odds that he dies of natural causes at this point? One hundred to one? Longer?
• Winner:
• Barack Obama -- In the long run, after this economic mess has passed, people looking back on 2008 will be focusing on one thing.


• Sports Item of the Year:
• Runners-Up:
• The Celtics -- See, Yankees and Dan Snyder, you actually can buy a championship.
• Mario Chalmers -- Okay, this is the last time I'll link to it. I promise.
• The Phillies -- Philadelphia is a pretty hard-luck city when it comes to sports, but with a group of superstars like Howard, Utley, and Hamels, they took home the title.
• Winner:
• The Giants -- Not only did they upset the 18-0 Patriots, they did it in one heck of a game.


• Amusement of the Year:
• Runners-Up:
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann -- I watched this every night until the day after the election. Then I cut it off cold turkey.
• Wii Fit -- Video games meet fitness. The Wii changed the face of mass-consumer gaming, but the I think the implications of the balance board have yet to be fully felt.
• FiveThirtyEight.com -- Nate Silver and Sean Quinn did pretty well for themselves this year.
  
• Winner:
• Politics -- The greatest election season of my life because of the circumstances, the characters, and accessibility of information.
  
• Memorable Moment of the Year:
• Runners-Up:
• "I'll get back to ya" -- The one and only time I will mention the sad, strange ride of Sarah Palin.
• "The fundamentals of our economy are strong!" -- Whoops.
• "Yes, we can." -- It was actually delivered on one of the worst nights of Obama's campaign, the New Hampshire primary. It became the number one catch-phrase of the year and was therefore run into the ground.
• Winner:
• Duh -- Here's the moment of the announcement and the huge celebrations around the country. Here's the full victory speech. "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."
  
• Person of the Year:
• Runners-Up:
• Some person who wasn't Barack Obama.
• Another person who wasn't Barack Obama.
• Yet another person who wasn't Barack Obama.
• Winner:
• Barack Obama -- This had to be Time's easiest Person of the Year ever.
  
• Thing To Most Look Forward To In 2009 :
• Winner:
• Eleven more days. There may not be much else to look forward to.