Lists: Not Just For The Listless Anymore

Best Of 2004: The Rules Of The Game

2005-03-04T00:45:00.000-05:00

After much unfortunate delay, the ballots have been counted and the results are here for your perusal. The system used to calculate votes was based loosely on that used for the annual Village Voice film critics' poll, however, there are significant differences. Ideally, we would have followed a model closer to that of The Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll, but the model for that is more complicated for participants and I wanted to make this as easy as possible. However, perhaps we'll attempt that in the future--- yes, I'm planning future surveys.

Participants were asked to submit lists of up to twenty albums, fifteen movies, and/or ten television programs, with no minimum requirement for inclusion in any of the three surveys. Eligible items were those available primarily in calendar year 2004 in the US. As a result, some items listed on ballots were omitted from the final tally, but participants whose ballots had previously contained the maximum number of entries with an omitted item were informed when possible so that substitutions could be made. Lists were submitted either ranked or unranked and were alotted points in a way that added weight to lists with more items.

The Points Scale:

Lists of 1-5 items:
#1 - 5 pts; #2 - 4 pts; #3 - 3 pts; #4 - 2 pts; #5 - 1 pt
unranked lists - 3 pts/item

Lists of 6-10 items:
#1 - 15 pts; #2 - 13 pts; #3 - 11 pts; #4 - 9 pts; #5 - 7 pts
#6 - 5 pts; #7 - 4 pts; #8 - 3 pts; #9 - 2 pts; #10 - 1 pt
unranked lists - 7 pts/item

Lists of 11-15 items:
#1 - 30 pts; #2 - 27 pts; #3 - 24 pts; #4 - 21 pts; #5 - 18 pts
#6 - 15 pts; #7 - 13 pts; #8 - 11 pts; #9 - 9 pts; #10 - 7 pts
#11 - 5 pts; #12 - 4 pts; #13 - 3 pts; #14 - 2 pts; #15 - 1 pt
unranked lists - 12.66 pts/item

Lists of 16-20 items:
#1 - 50 pts; #2 - 46 pts; #3 - 42 pts; #4 - 38 pts; #5 - 34 pts
#6 - 30 pts; #7 - 27 pts; #8 - 24 pts; #9 - 21 pts; #10 - 18 pt
#11 - 15 pts; #12 - 13 pts; #13 - 11 pts; #14 - 9 pts; #15 - 7 pts
#16 - 5 pts; #17 - 4 pts; #18 - 3 pts; #19 - 2 pts; #20 - 1 pt
unranked lists - 20 pts/item

View The Results:

Best Albums Of 2004

2005-03-04T00:30:00.000-05:00

The Top Ten:

1.		Now Here Is Nowhere Secret Machines 145.16 points 7 mentions 20.74 average rating
2.		Bows + Arrows The Walkmen 120 points 3 mentions 40.00 average rating
3.		Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand 117 points 7 mentions 16.71 average rating
4.		Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes TV On The Radio 94.66 points 6 mentions 15.78 average rating
5.		Funeral The Arcade Fire 91 points 4 mentions 22.75 average rating
6.		The College Dropout Kanye West 89 points 3 mentions 29.67 average rating
7.		Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters 72 points 2 mentions 36.00 average rating
8.		Sung Tongs Animal Collective 71 points 3 mentions 23.67 average rating
9.		A Grand Don't Come For Free The Streets 69 points 4 mentions 17.25 average rating
10.		Good News For People Who Love Bad News Modest Mouse 67.66 points 5 mentions 13.53 average rating

The Rest Of The List:

	Album (Artist)	Score	Mentions	Average
11.	From A Basement On A Hill Elliott Smith	66.66	5	13.33
12.	Blueberry Boat The Fiery Furnaces	65	3	21.67
13.	The Power Out Electrelane	62	2	31
14.	Antics Interpol	60.66	5	12.13
15.	Shake The Sheets Ted Leo/ Pharmacists	53	3	17.67
16.	DFA Compilation #2 [Various Artists]	50	3	16.67
17.	The Libertines The Libertines	48	3	16.00
18.	How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb U2	48	1	48.00
19.	Van Lear Rose Loretta Lynn	47	2	23.50
20.	Fuckin A The Thermals	46.5	3	15.50
21.	Last Exit Junior Boys	46	1	46.00
	Some Wilderness Oxford Collapse	46	1	46.00
23.	Blondie Ada	42	1	42.00
	Abbatoir Blues/ The Lyre Of Orpheus Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds	42	1	42.00
25.	Tyrannasaurus Hives The Hives	40	2	20.00
26.	Sonic Nurse Sonic Youth	39.66	3	13.22
27.	Our Endless Numbered Days Iron & Wine	38	3	12.67
28.	Creature Comforts Black Dice	38	2	19.00
29.	You're A Woman, I'm A Machine Death From Above 1979	38	1	38.00
	She Loves You Twilight Singers	38	1	38.00
31.	Misery Is A Butterfly Blonde Redhead	36.16	4	9.04
32.	A Ghost Is Born Wilco	36	3	12.00
33.	ONoffON Mission Of Burma	35.66	3	11.89
34.	Split The Difference Gomez	35	2	17.50
	Stealing Of A Nation Radio 4	35	2	17.50
36.	Uh Huh Her PJ Harvey	34.66	3	11.55
37.	Showtime Dizzee Rascal	34	1	34.00
	You Are The Quarry Morrissey	34	1	34.00
39.	The Unsustainable Life The Beauty Pill	32.66	2	16.33
	This Island Le Tigre	32.66	2	16.33
41.	I The Magnetic Fields	31	2	15.50
42.	Anniemal Annie	30	1	30.00
	The Trial Of The Century The French Kicks	30	1	30.00
44.	Who Killed The Zutons The Zutons	29	2	14.50
45.	Real Gone Tom Waits	27	2	13.50
46.	Red Tape Brooks	27	1	27.00
	They Were Wrong So We Drowned Liars	27	1	27.00
48.	Madvillainy Madvillain	25	3	8.33
49.	The Futureheads The Futureheads	24	2	12.00
50.	Troubled Waters DJ Clever	24	1	24.00
51.	Medulla Björk	23	2	11.50
52.	Peace Love Death Metal Eagles Of Death Metal	21	1	21.00
	Secret Wars Oneida	21	1	21.00
	Around The Sun REM	21	1	21.00
55.	Spirit Stereo Frequency All Night Radio	20	1	20.00
	LP Ambulance LTD	20	1	20..
	Blood On The Wall Blood On The Wall	20	1	20.00
	SMiLE Brian Wilson	20	1	20.00
	The Concretes The Concretes	20	1	20.00
	You Fail Me Converge	20	1	20.00
	Nino Rojo Devandra Banhart	20	1	20.00
	Wet From Birth The Faint	20	1	20.00
	Red Bedroom The Fever	20	1	20.00
	Half Smiles Of The Decomposed Guided By Voices	20	1	20.00
	Almost Killed Me The Hold Steady	20	1	20.00
	Rock The Faces The Hong Kong	20	1	20.00
	No Danger Inouk	20	1	20.00
	Rendezvous Luna	20	1	20.00
	Satanic Panic in The Sky Of Montreal	20	1	20.00
	Summer In Abaddon Pinback	20	1	20.00
	Fiction Man Robert Pollard	20	1	20.00
	Sex.Murder.Music The Sexy Magazines	20	1	20.00
	Seven Swans Sufjan Stevens	20	1	20.00
	The Willowz The Willowz	20	1	20.00
75.	Codename: Disaster Bark Psychosis	18	1	18.00
	Hot Fuss The Killers	18	1	18.00
77.	Careless Love Madeleine Peyroux	15	1	15.00
	Triola Im Fünftonraum Triola	15	1	15.00
79.	Devin Dazzle & The Neon Fever Felix Da Housecat	13	1	13.00
	Venice Fennesz	13	1	13.00
	Penance Soiree Icarus Line	13	1	13.00
	Liberation Trans Am	13	1	13.00
83.	Milk Man Deerhoof	12.66	1	12.66
	Goodnight Nobody Julie Doiron	12.66	1	12.66
85.	Young Prayer Panda Bear	11	1	11.00
86.	Free The Bees The Bees	9	1	9.00
87.	American Idiot Green Day	8	2	4.00
88.	To The 5 Boroughs	7	2	3.50
89.	Greatest Palace Music Bonny "Prince" Billy	7	1	7.00
	Blue Cathedral Comets On Fire	7	1	7.00
	Body Language Kylie Minogue	7	1	7.00
	Together We're Heavy The Polyphonic Spree	7	1	7.00
	King Of Crunk & BME Recordings Present Trillville & Li'l Scrappy	7	1	7.00
94.	A Foreign Sound Caetano Veloso	5	1	5.00
	Long Gone Before Daylight The Cardigans	5	1	5.00
	Le Dust Sucker Le Dust Sucker	5	1	5.00
	We Shall Be Hated Mountain Goats	5	1	5.00
98.	No Cities Left The Dears	4	1	4.00
	Death Disco Ivan Smagghe	4	1	4.00
100.	Astronaut Duran Duran	3	1	3.00
	Love.Angel.Music.Baby Gwen Stefani	3	1	3.00
	Bubblegum Mark Lanegan	3	1	3.00
	Get Away From Me Nellie McKay	3	1	3.00
104.	Power Q And Not U	2.5	1	2.50
105.	Asobi Seksu Asobi Seksu	2	1	2.00
	Universal Audio The Delgados	2	1	2.00
	The Delivery Man Elvis Costello	2	1	2.00
	Treddin' On Thin Ice Wiley	2	1	2.00
109.	Give The Bad Plus	1	1	1.00
	Kamikaze Twista	1	1	1.00
	When It Falls Zero 7	1	1	1.00

Notes:

15 people participated in this survey, with each list consisting of about 13 albums on average.
The top ten by average rating are, in order: 1. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb by U2; 2. TIE: Last Exit by Junior Boys + Some Wilderness by Oxford Collapse; 4. TIE: Blondie by Ada + Abbatoir Blues/ The Lyre Of Orpheus by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds; 6. Bows + Arrows by The Walkmen; 7. TIE: You're A Woman, I'm A Machine by Death From Above 1979 + She Loves You by Twilight Singers; 9. Scissor Sisters by Scissor Sisters; 10. TIE: Showtime by Dizzee Rascal + You Are The Quarry by Morrissey.

Best Movies Of 2004

2005-03-04T00:15:00.000-05:00

The Top Ten:

1.		Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind Michel Gondry - USA 183 points 14 mentions 13.07 average rating
2.		Kill Bill: Volume 2 Quentin Tarantino - USA 116 points 10 mentions 11.60 average rating
3.		Dogville Lars von Trier - Denmark, USA, et al 88 points 4 mentions 22.00 average rating
4.		The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou Wes Anderson - USA 86 points 8 mentions 10.75 average rating
5.		Napoleon Dynamite Jared Hess - USA 81 points 6 mentions 13.50 average rating
6.		Sideways Alexander Payne - USA 71 points 5 mentions 14.20 average rating
7.		The Incredibles Brad Bird - USA 58 points 5 mentions 11.60 average rating
8.		Shaun Of The Dead Edgar Wright - UK 58 points 3 mentions 19.33 average rating
9.		The Motorcycle Diaries Walter Salles - Argentina, Chine, Peru, et al 52 points 3 mentions 17.33 average rating
10.		Before Sunset Richard Linklater - USA 47 points 3 mentions 15.67 average rating

The Rest Of The List:

	Film (Director)	Score	Mentions	Average
11.	A Very Long Engagement Jean-Pierre Jeunet - France	42	2	21.00
12.	I [Heart] Huckabees David O. Russell - USA	41	4	10.25
13.	Fahrenheit 9/11 Michael Moore - USA	34	6	5.67
14.	Spider-Man 2 Sam Raimi - USA	32	2	16.00
15.	Garden State Zach Braff - USA	23	4	5.75
16.	Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban Alfonso Cuarón - USA	23	3	7.67
17.	The Five Obstructions Lars von Trier + Jørgen Leth - Denmark, et al	22	4	5.50
18.	Hero Yimou Zhang - Hong Kong, China	22	1	22.00
19.	Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle Danny Leiner - USA, Canada	21	3	7.00
20.	Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring Ki-duk Kim - South Korea	18	1	18.00
	The Trilogy Lucas Belvaux - France, Belgium	18	1	18.00
22.	Collateral Michael Mann - USA	16	2	8.00
23.	The Aviator Martin Scorsese - USA	15	2	7.50
	Super Size Me Morgan Spurlock - USA	15	2	7.50
25.	Mean Girls Mark S. Waters - USA	15	1	15.00
	Million Dollar Baby Clint Eastwood - USA	15	1	15.00
27.	Ray Taylor Hackford - USA	14	2	7.00
28.	DiG! Ondi Timoner - USA	13	2	6.50
	Vera Drake Mike Leigh - UK	13	2	6.50
30.	Cowards Bend The Knee Guy Maddin - Canada	13	1	13.00
	Osama Siddiq Barmack - Afghanistan	13	1	13.00
	Saw James Wan - USA	13	1	13.00
33.	Machuca Andrés Wood - Chile	12	2	6.00
34.	The Dreamers Bernardo Bertolucci - Italy, France, et al	11	2	5.50
35.	Crimson Gold Jafar Panahi - Iran	11	1	11.00
	Friday Night Lights Peter Berg - USA	11	1	11.00
	Sky Captain & The World Of Tomorrow Kerry Conran - USA, UK	11	1	11.00
38.	Ocean's Twelve Steven Soderbergh - USA	9	1	9.00
	Secret Things Jean-Claude Brisseau - France	9	1	9.00
40.	Alexander Oliver Stone - USA, UK	7	1	7.00
	Beyond The Sea Kevin Spacey - USA	7	1	7.00
	Closer Mike Nichols - USA	7	1	7.00
	Coffee And Cigarettes Jim Jarmusch - USA	7	1	7.00
	Festival Express Bob Smeaton - UK, Netherlands	7	1	7.00
45.	Zatoichi Takeshi Kitano - Japan	6	2	3.00
46.	Anchorman: The Legen Of Ron Burgundy Adam McKay - USA	5	1	5.00
	Bad Education Pedro Almodóvar - Spain	5	1	5.00
	Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story Rawson Marshall Thurber - USA	5	1	5.00
	Enduring Love Roger Michell - UK	5	1	5.00
	Red Lights Cédric Kahn - France	5	1	5.00
51.	Saved! Brian Dannelly - USA	4	1	4.00
52.	The Bourne Supremacy Paul Greengrass - USA, Germany	3	1	3.00
	The Brown Bunny Vincent Gallo - USA	3	1	3.00
	Dawn Of The Dead Zack Snyder - USA	3	1	3.00
	Finding Neverland Marc Forster - UK, USA	3	1	3.00
	Good Bye Lenin! Wolfgand Becker - Germany	3	1	3.00
57.	Control Room Jehane Noujaim - USA	2	1	2.00
	Kinsey Bill Condon - USA	2	1	2.00
59.	Primer Shane Carruth - USA	1	1	1.00

Notes:

16 people participated in this survey, with each list consisting of about 9 films on average.
The top ten by average rating are, in order: 1. Dogville; 2. Hero; 3. A Very Long Engagement; 4. Shaun Of The Dead; 5. TIE:Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring + The Trilogy; 7. The Motorcycle Diaries; 8. Spider-Man 2; 9. Before Sunset; 10. TIE: Mean Girls + Million Dollar Baby.

Best Television Programming Of 2004

2005-03-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

The Top Ten:

1.		Arrested Development (Fox) 31 points 5 mentions 6.20 average rating
2.		Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) 29 points 3 mentions 9.67 average rating
3.		The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central) 28 points 6 mentions 4.67 average rating
4.		Lost (ABC) 18 points 2 mentions 9.00 average rating
5.		Studio 7 (WB) 15 points 1 mentions 15.00 average rating
6.		The McLaughlin Group (Syndicated) 14 points 2 mentions 7.00 average rating [ T I E ]
		The Newshour With Jim Lehrer (PBS) 14 points 2 mentions 7.00 average rating [ T I E ]
8.		Late Night With Conan O'Brien (NBC) 13 points 3 mentions 4.33 average rating
9.		I Love The 90s (VH1) 11 points 1 mentions 11.00 average rating
10.		The West Wing (NBC) 10 points 2 mentions 5.00 average rating

The Rest Of The List:

	Television Program (Network)	Pts	Mentions	Average
11.	Road To The White House (C-SPAN)	9	1	9.00
	Saturday Night Live (NBC)	9	1	9.00
	Senate In Session (C-SPAN 2)	9	1	9.00
14.	2004 Tour De France	7	1	7.00
	Dinner For Five (IFC)	7	1	7.00
	Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)	7	1	7.00
	Film School (IFC)	7	1	7.00
	Law & Order: SVU (NBC)	7	1	7.00
	The Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle Of The Sexes (MTV)	7	1	7.00
	Senate Judiciary Committee (C-SPAN 2)	7	1	7.00
21.	Frontline (PBS)	5	1	5.00
	Scrubs (NBC)	5	1	5.00
	Senate Armed Services Committee (C-SPAN 2)	5	1	5.00
24.	Date Patrol (TLC)	4	1	4.00
	Senate Foreign Relations Committee (C-SPAN 2)	4	1	4.00
26.	The Apprentice (NBC)	3	1	3.00
	Boiling Points (MTV)	3	1	3.00
	Gilmore Girls (WB)	3	1	3.00
	Degrassi: The Next Generation (The N)	3	1	3.00
	The OC (Fox)	3	1	3.00
	The Practice (ABC)	3	1	3.00
	Radio Free Roscoe (The N)	3	1	3.00
	Senate Health/Education/Labor Committee (C-SPAN 2)	3	1	3.00
	The Simpsons (Fox)	3	1	3.00
35.	The Charlie Rose Show (PBS)	2	1	2.00
	Senate Budget Committee (C-SPAN 2)	2	1	2.00
37.	Senate Finance Committee (C-SPAN 2)	1	1	1.00

Notes:

9 people participated in this survey, with each list consisting of about 6 programs on average.
The top five by average rating are, in order: 1. Studio 7; 2. I Love The 90s; 3. Curb Your Enthusiasm; 4. Lost; 5. TIE: Road To The White House + Saturday Night Live + Senate In Session
C-SPAN 2 is the network with the most shows listed, 7. NBC has the second most shows listed, 5.