And, In A Burst Of Uncreative Energy...
...I'd like to welcome all of you to the Inaugural McKinney Diner Year-End Awards! Like every other newspaper, television show, magazine, web site and other media outlets, we'll be having our Best & Worst of 2007 as we look forward to ringing in a new year.
The last thing the world needs is another awards show, right? But, here at The Diner, we'll have some standard categories as well as some the management made up. And, no other award shows give away the lime-green (matching this year's background) coffee mug with a gold rim around the top. We know that those gold rims aren't dishwasher safe, but they exude fancy as far as mugs go. Besides, the awards aren't meant to actually function, for cryin' out loud!
Anyway, on with this year's awards:
And, The Coffee Mugs Go To...
Best Movie That I Saw, Drama: Into the Wild. Sean Penn should win the Academy Award for this one. It might win Best Picture, too. Absolutely incredible movie. Honorable mentions go to (in order) Reign Over Me, Gone Baby Gone, The Bourne Ultimatum.
Worst Movie That I Saw, Drama: Premonition. Awful. Absolutely awful...and if it weren't for being able to look at Sandra Bullock for about an hour there would be nothing redeemable about this one.
Best Movie That I Saw, Comedy: Juno. Brilliant screenplay--very original and an excellent cast made this one incredible movie...that has an outside shot at Best Picture at the Academy Awards, I bet. Honorable mentions go to The Wendell Baker Story and Hot Rod.
Worst Movie That I Saw, Comedy: The Ex. Jason Bateman was actually in the best and worst movie of the year, but he couldn't do anything to save this movie. No one could. What a stinker.
Best Movie That I Saw, Animated: Ratatouille. Manalive what a great story and excellent animation.
Honorable mention: Surf's Up. Very clever with a few laugh-out-loud moments, especially with Chicken Joe.
Best Actor: Emile Hirsch in Into The Wild. I just don't know how it could get any better than this. He carried a movie that is pretty much a one-man show for two hours. Not to mention he was playing a complex character who lived abundantly, loved adamantly, believed passionately and died horrifically. All in one movie.
Best Actress: Ellen Page in Juno. When her father found out she was pregnant, he said, "I didn't know you were that kind of girl, Junie." When Ellen Page said, "I'm not sure what kind of girl I am, Dad." I believed her. And her comedic timing of the writing stole the show.
Best Song I Heard For The First Time In 2007: "Hard Sun," by Eddie Vedder, for the Into the Wild Soundtrack. Some sample lyrics: "When she comes to greet me/she is mercy at my feet/I see her inner charm/she just throws it back at me." Yep. It's a re-make, but a very good one.
Honorable mentions to "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse (but I have to admit that I liked it an awful lot better when I thought it was just a good song, not a life statement). Lyrics include: "Didn’t get a lot in class/But I know it don’t come in a shot glass/They’re tryin to make me go to rehab/I said no, no, no/Yes I been black, but when I come back/You wont know, know, know."
Also, "Loose Lips" by Kimya Dawson for the Juno soundtrack (has a very Violent Femmes for a new generation feel). Some lyrics: "So if you wanna burn yourself Remember that I LOVE YOU/And if you wanna cut yourself Remember that I LOVE YOU/And if you wanna kill yourself Remember that I LOVE YOU/Call me up before you're dead/We can make some plans instead/Send me an IM, I'll be your friend/Shysters live from scheme to scheme/And my 4th quarter pipe dreams/Are seeming more and more worth fighting for/So I'll curate some situations, make my job a big vacation."
Worst Song I Heard For The First time in 2007: "This Is Why I'm Hot" by Mims. Lyrics include: "I'm hot cause I'm fly (fly)/You ain't cause you're not (Mims)/This is why [2x]/This is why I'm hot [2x]" Are you kidding me?
Honorable mention: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" by Soulja Boy. Lyrics include: "Soulja Boy up in it (OH!)/Watch Me Crank It/Watch Me Roll/Watch Me Crank Dat Soulja Boy,/That Super Man Dat (OH!)/Now Watch Me Do." Remember when Rap and Hip-Hop used to mean something and it was rough and highly innovative and creative? Yeah, those days are long gone. It's a commercial cartoon of itself.
Best Book I Read in 2007, Fiction: "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy. It's official. I'm on the bandwagon, even if Oprah's driving it. She hit the nail on the head by putting him in her book club...and I'm starting "The Road" which won a Pulitzer today.
Honorable Mention: "The Gum Thief" by Douglas Coupland. Granted, a lot of folks don't "get" him, but I think he's terribly underrated due to his stereotype.
Best Book I Read in 2007, Non-Fiction: Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy" by Vincent Bugliosi. Well written, too. It's the definitive book on the subject, and I think closes the case. Oswald, alone. No question.
Honorable Mention: A Long Way Gone, by Ishmaiel Beah. Wow. Just read it. Wow.
Best Work-Related Book: "Jim and Casper Go To Church" by Jim Anderson and Matt Casper. A great read for those in Christian circles who want to see ourselves as those outside our Tribe see us.
Honorable Mention: "Punk Rock Dad" by Jim Lindberg. Granted, it's not written by a Christian (that I'm aware of) but there's an awful lot of common sense parenting in it, by somebody who's just as busy as any of us. He's a touring singer of a punk band and really understands the demands we have and what's truly important in child raising...minus the "God" perspective, of course. But love and what that looks like play a big part in that book.
Best TV Series: I became a big fan of "Pushing Daisies." Granted, I don't watch television all that much, but when I do, this show is very well done and creative & innovative. You don't see much like it on the tube and it's a shame the writers went on strike because this show was pretty much hitting its stride.
Best Thing That Happened Professionally: Our church hired a new Teaching Pastor, Steve Hixon. It's a pretty big deal and I think our search committee and board of elders found the right guy. I'm excited about working with him and getting to know him on a personal level.
Best Thing That Happened Personally (excluding nuclear family): After a difficult 2006 in family matters, I got to meet Margaux Childress Sentz. I'm absolutely smitten with her. Have been from the get-go, and it's only gotten worse after I got to meet her in person on her home turf in October.
Best Health-Related News: When the calendar rolls over, I'll have lost 25 pounds compared to where I was in 2006. Yeah. That eat-less/exercise-more thing actually works. Who knew?
Worst Health-Related News: Before Thanksgiving, I'd lost 32 pounds compared to where I was in 2006. When you eat-more/exercise-less, yeah, that actually works, too.
Best Sports Moment: Auburn beating Alabama for the 6th year in a row...a record.
Honorable mention: Auburn's kicker Wes Byrum kicking, and then re-kicking after a timeout, a game-winning field goal against Florida as time expired. Also, the Dallas Cowboys have two: Getting the Super Bowl to the DFW area in 2011 as well as their record-setting winning season.
Worst Sports Moment: Early June when the Texas Rangers were already out of the pennant race. Sure, Ron Washington did an excellent job with what he had to work with...but he didn't have much to work with.
And now, for the Blog Awards:
Best Commenter Award: Pierced & Tattooed Kristen. Consistent. Funny. Insightful. Provocative. Everything you'd want in a blog commenter.
Honorable mention: Art-teacher Kris. Hollywood, the old-college roomie.
Best Diner Blog Entry, 2007, As Voted On By Management: Wednesday, May 9, 2007. Part 3 of the "19 Things I Learned in 19 Years of Youth Ministry" Series.
Best Patron Blogger of 2007, As Voted On By Management: Aqui, Ahora by Kendra Thompson. Great topics, healthy responses & interactions, provocative stuff on a regular basis. Good balance of photos & deep thoughts!
Honorable Mention: Pierced & Tattooed Kristen (her photo blog is very creative...if only there were more consistency!), Highland Village Lori, Flower Mound Bonnye and Petite Picaso Kelsey.
The floor is now open for "Reader's Choice Awards" in the following categories:
Best 2007 Movie (overall)
Best 2007 Book (overall)
Best 2007 TV Show (overall)
Diner Entry of the Year
Blogger of the Year (non-Diner)
Deadline for submission is January 6, 2008!
We hope you've enjoyed our awards, and The Diner Management would like to thank all of you for your patronage in 2007. We look forward to next year's show!
...I'd like to welcome all of you to the Inaugural McKinney Diner Year-End Awards! Like every other newspaper, television show, magazine, web site and other media outlets, we'll be having our Best & Worst of 2007 as we look forward to ringing in a new year.
The last thing the world needs is another awards show, right? But, here at The Diner, we'll have some standard categories as well as some the management made up. And, no other award shows give away the lime-green (matching this year's background) coffee mug with a gold rim around the top. We know that those gold rims aren't dishwasher safe, but they exude fancy as far as mugs go. Besides, the awards aren't meant to actually function, for cryin' out loud!
Anyway, on with this year's awards:
And, The Coffee Mugs Go To...
Best Movie That I Saw, Drama: Into the Wild. Sean Penn should win the Academy Award for this one. It might win Best Picture, too. Absolutely incredible movie. Honorable mentions go to (in order) Reign Over Me, Gone Baby Gone, The Bourne Ultimatum.
Worst Movie That I Saw, Drama: Premonition. Awful. Absolutely awful...and if it weren't for being able to look at Sandra Bullock for about an hour there would be nothing redeemable about this one.
Best Movie That I Saw, Comedy: Juno. Brilliant screenplay--very original and an excellent cast made this one incredible movie...that has an outside shot at Best Picture at the Academy Awards, I bet. Honorable mentions go to The Wendell Baker Story and Hot Rod.
Worst Movie That I Saw, Comedy: The Ex. Jason Bateman was actually in the best and worst movie of the year, but he couldn't do anything to save this movie. No one could. What a stinker.
Best Movie That I Saw, Animated: Ratatouille. Manalive what a great story and excellent animation.
Honorable mention: Surf's Up. Very clever with a few laugh-out-loud moments, especially with Chicken Joe.
Best Actor: Emile Hirsch in Into The Wild. I just don't know how it could get any better than this. He carried a movie that is pretty much a one-man show for two hours. Not to mention he was playing a complex character who lived abundantly, loved adamantly, believed passionately and died horrifically. All in one movie.
Best Actress: Ellen Page in Juno. When her father found out she was pregnant, he said, "I didn't know you were that kind of girl, Junie." When Ellen Page said, "I'm not sure what kind of girl I am, Dad." I believed her. And her comedic timing of the writing stole the show.
Best Song I Heard For The First Time In 2007: "Hard Sun," by Eddie Vedder, for the Into the Wild Soundtrack. Some sample lyrics: "When she comes to greet me/she is mercy at my feet/I see her inner charm/she just throws it back at me." Yep. It's a re-make, but a very good one.
Honorable mentions to "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse (but I have to admit that I liked it an awful lot better when I thought it was just a good song, not a life statement). Lyrics include: "Didn’t get a lot in class/But I know it don’t come in a shot glass/They’re tryin to make me go to rehab/I said no, no, no/Yes I been black, but when I come back/You wont know, know, know."
Also, "Loose Lips" by Kimya Dawson for the Juno soundtrack (has a very Violent Femmes for a new generation feel). Some lyrics: "So if you wanna burn yourself Remember that I LOVE YOU/And if you wanna cut yourself Remember that I LOVE YOU/And if you wanna kill yourself Remember that I LOVE YOU/Call me up before you're dead/We can make some plans instead/Send me an IM, I'll be your friend/Shysters live from scheme to scheme/And my 4th quarter pipe dreams/Are seeming more and more worth fighting for/So I'll curate some situations, make my job a big vacation."
Worst Song I Heard For The First time in 2007: "This Is Why I'm Hot" by Mims. Lyrics include: "I'm hot cause I'm fly (fly)/You ain't cause you're not (Mims)/This is why [2x]/This is why I'm hot [2x]" Are you kidding me?
Honorable mention: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" by Soulja Boy. Lyrics include: "Soulja Boy up in it (OH!)/Watch Me Crank It/Watch Me Roll/Watch Me Crank Dat Soulja Boy,/That Super Man Dat (OH!)/Now Watch Me Do." Remember when Rap and Hip-Hop used to mean something and it was rough and highly innovative and creative? Yeah, those days are long gone. It's a commercial cartoon of itself.
Best Book I Read in 2007, Fiction: "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy. It's official. I'm on the bandwagon, even if Oprah's driving it. She hit the nail on the head by putting him in her book club...and I'm starting "The Road" which won a Pulitzer today.
Honorable Mention: "The Gum Thief" by Douglas Coupland. Granted, a lot of folks don't "get" him, but I think he's terribly underrated due to his stereotype.
Best Book I Read in 2007, Non-Fiction: Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy" by Vincent Bugliosi. Well written, too. It's the definitive book on the subject, and I think closes the case. Oswald, alone. No question.
Honorable Mention: A Long Way Gone, by Ishmaiel Beah. Wow. Just read it. Wow.
Best Work-Related Book: "Jim and Casper Go To Church" by Jim Anderson and Matt Casper. A great read for those in Christian circles who want to see ourselves as those outside our Tribe see us.
Honorable Mention: "Punk Rock Dad" by Jim Lindberg. Granted, it's not written by a Christian (that I'm aware of) but there's an awful lot of common sense parenting in it, by somebody who's just as busy as any of us. He's a touring singer of a punk band and really understands the demands we have and what's truly important in child raising...minus the "God" perspective, of course. But love and what that looks like play a big part in that book.
Best TV Series: I became a big fan of "Pushing Daisies." Granted, I don't watch television all that much, but when I do, this show is very well done and creative & innovative. You don't see much like it on the tube and it's a shame the writers went on strike because this show was pretty much hitting its stride.
Best Thing That Happened Professionally: Our church hired a new Teaching Pastor, Steve Hixon. It's a pretty big deal and I think our search committee and board of elders found the right guy. I'm excited about working with him and getting to know him on a personal level.
Best Thing That Happened Personally (excluding nuclear family): After a difficult 2006 in family matters, I got to meet Margaux Childress Sentz. I'm absolutely smitten with her. Have been from the get-go, and it's only gotten worse after I got to meet her in person on her home turf in October.
Best Health-Related News: When the calendar rolls over, I'll have lost 25 pounds compared to where I was in 2006. Yeah. That eat-less/exercise-more thing actually works. Who knew?
Worst Health-Related News: Before Thanksgiving, I'd lost 32 pounds compared to where I was in 2006. When you eat-more/exercise-less, yeah, that actually works, too.
Best Sports Moment: Auburn beating Alabama for the 6th year in a row...a record.
Honorable mention: Auburn's kicker Wes Byrum kicking, and then re-kicking after a timeout, a game-winning field goal against Florida as time expired. Also, the Dallas Cowboys have two: Getting the Super Bowl to the DFW area in 2011 as well as their record-setting winning season.
Worst Sports Moment: Early June when the Texas Rangers were already out of the pennant race. Sure, Ron Washington did an excellent job with what he had to work with...but he didn't have much to work with.
And now, for the Blog Awards:
Best Commenter Award: Pierced & Tattooed Kristen. Consistent. Funny. Insightful. Provocative. Everything you'd want in a blog commenter.
Honorable mention: Art-teacher Kris. Hollywood, the old-college roomie.
Best Diner Blog Entry, 2007, As Voted On By Management: Wednesday, May 9, 2007. Part 3 of the "19 Things I Learned in 19 Years of Youth Ministry" Series.
Best Patron Blogger of 2007, As Voted On By Management: Aqui, Ahora by Kendra Thompson. Great topics, healthy responses & interactions, provocative stuff on a regular basis. Good balance of photos & deep thoughts!
Honorable Mention: Pierced & Tattooed Kristen (her photo blog is very creative...if only there were more consistency!), Highland Village Lori, Flower Mound Bonnye and Petite Picaso Kelsey.
The floor is now open for "Reader's Choice Awards" in the following categories:
Best 2007 Movie (overall)
Best 2007 Book (overall)
Best 2007 TV Show (overall)
Diner Entry of the Year
Blogger of the Year (non-Diner)
Deadline for submission is January 6, 2008!
We hope you've enjoyed our awards, and The Diner Management would like to thank all of you for your patronage in 2007. We look forward to next year's show!
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