Death of the Year Awards 2006

This time of year, those of us who read the news are bombarded with all sorts of top ten lists-- short, simple written pieces that rank the importance of items within a certain group.  For instance, one of my favorite lists around New Year's time is the top ten inventions of the past year.  This list takes 10 innovations and ranks them in terms of how useful they are or how useful the writers predict they will be.  Because these lists are all about opinion, a top ten is as good as the person writing it.  And to be honest, the people writing them have not been very good this year.  Reality Magazine, whatever the hell that is, did a "Top 10 Outrageous Moments in Reality TV."  So outrageous!  The China Daily wrote "The Top 10 Olympic Stories Unveiled."  I read it and I still don't get it.  And the worst of them all was this thing I came across from a Toronto news station that published the "Top 10 Weather Stories of 2006."  As tempting as it is for me to write an end of the year top ten list, this time of year it's played out.  Instead, I have decided to begin a Flumesday tradition.  At the end of every calendar year, I will hold the Death of the Year Awards, or if you prefer, "The Croakies."  Around Christmas time, my dad used to choose the one most significant death of the year.  While a bit morbid, it was always well thought out and some years, even mildly suspenseful.  But my thinking is why just have one film of the year award, when you can have whole fucking Oscars?  So in honor of he who sired Flumesday, I am proud to offer the first ever "Croakies"-- the Death of the Year Awards 2006.

 The Death of the Year Awards 2006