Secrets of the City

This was my short-list:

Stephen Colbert
Arianna Huffington
M.I.A.
Danny Bonaduce
Judith Miller
George Clooney
Craig Finn
David Chappelle

I went with Arianna cuz I was pretty sure I should say something internety.

Small nitpick from the Huffington blurb: Nora Ephron was married to Bernstein, not Woodward.

Steve Carrell (sp)?

He has had funny stuff prior to 2005, but this year he really took off with his movie and The Office, which may be funnier than Arrested Development. For my money, which is rarely spent on entrainment, he’s the funniest guy in Hollywood right now.

I’m shocked that no one picked the people behind Arrested Development. Everyone involved with that show is brilliant.

Here are some others I thought about:

Kanye West
Google Guys
Nick Denton
Anderson Cooper
Marcia Cross
Steve Jobs
Cindy Sheehan

That’s not a small nitpick.

The extent some people go to look witty on that City Pages rag never ceases to amaze. Eddie Guerro for god’s sakes? I wonder what City Pages is gonna do next year when they lose all that sleaze ad revenue?

I guess if I were trying to be “ironic”, and had to pick something internety/techie related and didn’t actually you know have to pick someone who was an artist or whatever, I would go with Patrick Wildenborg for his work on Hot Coffee that reminded us this year just exactly how much fully clothed pixelated sex scenes in a video game can do to upset our fragile society. I think I could even justify it. That’s what art is supposed to do.

Especially v2.1 which removed that pesky limitation of one date per game day. I mean c’mon, a thug with my street cred can’t be limited to one ho a day, yo.

Nah.. I’d go with Amanda Congdon.. who am I trying to kid?

With the right amount of *ahem* exposure next year I have little doubt that she will overtake angelina jolie on the 2006 google zeitgeist.

A clarifying note on process: CP asks writer types to select someone who is interesting from the past year. So if there’s a consistent “witty” or “ironic” style, it’s endemic to America, not CP. But more importantly, it’s intentionally not a scientific poll — in fact, it’s almost the opposite of scientific, and its charm (or if you prefer, frustration) lies in its unwillingness to be comprehensive like all these other kinds of lists. I’ve always loved the idiosyncratic randomness of CP’s list, but maybe that’s because I’m tired of redunancy in the other lists.

I agree about Steve Carrell. His year was huge (moreso than the Arrested Development people, I think, Taylor), and comedy was under-represented this year. Then again, as Rex noted in his comment about process, this list isn’t really meant to be representative of anything at all.

> CP asks writer types to select someone who is
> interesting from the past year. So if there’s a
> consistent “witty” or “ironic” style, it’s endemic
> to America, not CP.

Yes, but it’s still filtered through the choices of, specifically, the people asked to write by CP editors, not “America.” Not that I have a problem with that, but it’s a little facetious to claim that there isn’t an institutional or subcultural filter going on at all.

Sure, I agree with that.

Stephen Colbert is definately on my list. Who else could get a Congressmen to punch him on camera?

Yeah, The Colbert Report is a spin off of the Daily Show…But the Daily Show is tired and besides the Report features high fives (while winking) and 45% more satire. WORD.

Amanda Congdon definitely had a good year.

In the downloadable talent category, the guys from diggnation had a good year too: http://revision3.com/diggnation

I especially enjoy Colbert because of his ability to deliver the whole show in character – his whole demeanor is an imitation of Bill O’Reilly, which I find absolutely genius.

For some counterpoint, Am I Annoying’s Most Annoying People of 2005.

Pat O’Brien annoying? More like hilarious. Immediate disqualification because of those cell phone messages earlier this year. Laugh out loud funny.

I also got a kick out that Post Secret blog/book/exhibition etc.

Take my opinion with a huge grain of salt, but…

How is Eddie Guerrero less of an artist than anyone else?

Nate’s pro wrestling enthusiasm is utterly sincere, in any case.