Listmania: Miscellaneous of 2015

Scene from Magic Mike XXL

Every year, a lot of random things happen. Nobodies knows where they come from or what exactly they're here to do. While most are easily classifiable by genres such as politics, movies, and such; there are those that you likely won't hear about because, well, nobody really knows what to make of them. For the sake of this year's annual Miscellaneous, we're here to honor those achievements in pop culture that deserve your attention. The following is 20 categories that are worth mentioning, but lack a Top 10 worthy of their own post. Prepare for the excitement, because 2015 was surely a wacky year.

Paul Rudd in Knocked Up

Greatest Moment Of Justice

Recipient: The song "Happy Birthday to You" enters public domain.

For many, the idea of going to public places is often faced with one difficult challenge: having to put up with shoddy adaptations of birthday songs. While it has produced a lot of interesting results, finally putting the original song into the public domain feels like something that is long overdue. You see, prior this past year, you had to pay fines to sing a rather mundane song publicly. Now, it's everyone's given right to do so. TV's caught on, and soon will everyone else. It's a glorious time to be alive, only because one of the most inhumane justices in the music world has finally been fixed. If we remember 2015 for one thing, it is this.

Scene from (but not originally from) Mad Men

Best Product Placement

Recipient: Mad Men ends its legacy with a Coke advertisement.

In what will likely remain one of the most controversial finales in TV history, Mad Men ends its seven seasons with not a moment of catharsis, but protagonist Don Draper coming up with the Coke jingle while at a commune in California. For most, it's deceitful. However, it's arguably the most brilliant way to end a series whose sole existence was to follow the lives of ad men in the 60's. While some could argue for The Sopranos-level vagueness, it best embodies the power of advertising and the happiness that can be found in Draper. He may never break free from his job, but he'll always have that song to his credit. Considering that the series began with an episode highlighting a marketing push for Lucky Strikes cigarettes, it only feels right to end with a commercial, too.

Scene from True Detective

Least Improved

Recipient: True Detective season 2.

Few sophomore seasons of TV had as high of a hurdle this year to cross as that of True Detective. Season 1 was appointment TV that itself became one of the greatest things that HBO has ever aired. For the second season, writer Nic Pizzolato goes west to Los Angeles and attempts to strike gold with an even more ambitious story. The issue with that is that it highlights everything bad about Pizzolato's writing, which cannot sustain the extended cast and even the trashier moments are more embarrassing to watch. The finale is itself just as confusing and embarrassing as anything else to come down the pike. If nothing else, this may be a black mark on HBO's year - and that's including The Brink. It wasn't just bad TV. It was some of the worst to ever come out, even if it did have vague traces of brilliance. HBO hasn't green lit a third season yet, and it's hard to wonder why.

Kendrick Lamar

Proof That Important Music Can Still Be Great

Recipient: Kendrick Lamar releases "To Pimp A Butterfly."

There's a simple notion that most everyone out there believes: rap music sucks. Yes, there are exceptions, but the radio is an overwhelming scapegoat. However, Kendrick Lamar not only did the impossible and release an album as good as his breakout album "Good Kid, m.a.a.d. City," he topped it in every way. To listen to the album is like knowing where you were when you heard Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back." It's an album with immediacy that comes across both lyrically and in production. Lamar goes for the gusto as he explores racial identity in America, even ending with an altered interview with his hero Tupac Shakur. It's not an album that preaches violence, but one that asks more provoking questions. If nothing else, it's already on track to be one of the most significant rap albums since Public Enemy's. Otherwise, it's just a really good album front to back, and even has President Obama's approval.

Scene from Orange is the New Black

How About "Netflix And Hurry the Hell Up"?

Recipient: Netflix makes their shows notoriously slow.

Listen, Netflix had a great 2015. There is no denying that they have dominated the online streaming market for several years now. And with good cause. Most of their programs are astounding and so fun to watch. However, this year also was met with another unfortunate trend: slowness. Once reliable series like Orange is the New Black now took their time to build momentum and hook viewers. Suddenly, the model wasn't to make each episode good, but make it unfulfilling enough to keep you watching. There were a handful of shows (Sense8, Daredevil) that took this mantra to heart, resulting in making it difficult to really get into any of these shows. While Netflix and chill sounds like a good prospect, the first thing that needs to change is making shows that are actually enjoyable to watch and not take forever just to find motivation to watch the next episode.

Scene from The Birth of a Nation

Most Embarrassing Important Centennial

Recipient: The Birth of a Nation

Let's face it: movies used to be far more racist. The issue here isn't so much that it was racist as director D.W. Griffiths' epic was also important. It was the first film of its kind to come along. There are long stretches that are fairly impressive and feature cutting edge techniques for 1915. For a film that should be celebrated for its Civil War reenactments and realistic portrayals of Abraham Lincoln, it likely will be forgotten for its latter, and more uncomfortable, half. The black slaves are freed and they immediately become demonic hounds interested in raping women and not wearing shoes. The image is itself barbaric, though not too removed from the black face culture that would last for a few decades more. What's more disturbing to contemporary audiences should be the presence of the Ku Klux Klan (or: The KKK), who are the heroes of the story. Of course, this is based on the book "The Clansman," so that doesn't help - and this film even helped to raise membership at the time. It's a great film technically, but otherwise it's an embarrassing thing to revisit all this time later.

Best Nude Scene

Recipient: Broad City's Abbi Jacobson dances in her apartment to Lady GaGa's "Edge of Glory."

In season 2 for Broad City, the two gal pals pushed the limits even further with more vulgar humor, including proof that naked women can be funny. In one episode, Abbi Jacobson discovers that her roommate is gone. In a moment of freedom, she disrobes and begins to sing around her apartment in the nude. With a great song choice, the resulting product is a work of art. While also a contender for best long take of 2015, Jacobson's performance as she comically dances in her moment of freedom is such a wonderful and pure expression of life. Even if it's only a minute long, the scene sticks with the viewer, forcing them to accept that yes, we all want to dance naked to Lady GaGa. The only thing is finding the time. In an otherwise uneven season, this is their biggest contribution to TV culture of the year - sure to put a smile on your face each and every time.

Scene from Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter

Best Animal Actor

Recipient: Bunzo from Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter.

Who doesn't love a good animal actor? Every year, there seems to be one or two that just takes the world by storm. This year, there's no one that should win your heart over more than Buzo: the lovable rabbit from Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter. In a film that is a creative take on Fargo fandom, the rabbit's addition to Kumiko's journey to find the treasure is itself a great and cute story. He is the most mystical and curious animal since the Gorefine's cat in Inside Llewyn Davis. If your friend has been said to be on Team Bunzo, then make sure to give them a special gift this Christmas. Team Bunzo is the best team to be on, no exceptions.

Scene from Last Week Tonight

Best Thing to Come Out of Russia

Recipient: Last Week Tonight interviews Edward Snowden.

What a year it was for Edward Snowden. Okay, so maybe he's still unable to come back to America, but look at what else he's done. Citizenfour won the Best Documentary award at the Oscars. Director Oliver Stone is making a movie about him. He even joined Twitter to high acclaim. Still, the best thing that likely came from all of this is the Last Week Tonight interview in which John Oliver secretly visited Russia to talk to him about security. The interview was a fascinating mix of security revelations while being able to talk at length about naked pictures. It's the Snowden interview that we deserve, and it lived up to its unexpected expectations. While the rest of Last Week Tonight proves that it's still one of the best comedy shows out there, it will be tough for them to ever top this interview.

David Oyelowo

Best One Man Show

Recipient: David Oyelowo in Nightingale.

Very few faces made an impact quite like David Oyelowo at the start of the year when his role in Selma was the poster child for Academy Award racism. It definitely was a great performance in a film that felt unfortunately timed to current events. However, Oyelowo's next move was possibly even more ambitious, as he did the one man film Nightingale for HBO. As a man preparing for visitors at his house, he records his reactions to mundane things. It's not only one of the best performances of the year in either TV or film, but also a great example of how writing can add subtlety to characters. It is probably the only evidence you need to know that he is a great actor because he sells every last second of the film as he spirals into depression and madness. 

Scene from Steve Jobs

The Bomb Who Loved Me

Recipient: Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs.

Here's a tough confession to make in light of its box office success: I genuinely loved Steve Jobs. Now, I don't care much for the man. I am not in his cult. Frankly, the Steve Jobs-ness wasn't even a factor to why I liked it. What I enjoyed was more that it was an unfathomable collaboration between Danny Boyle's artful direction, Michael Fassbender's charismatic performance, and Aaron Sorkin's dizzying script. The whole thing may have been better suited for theater, but it still comes across as a fascinating examination of celebrity and private life during three important junctures in Steve Jobs' life. Are they factual? Who cares. Is the finale too sentimental? Maybe, but it's the only way to make this triptych click correctly. I don't know that it was ever a film that could work for mass audiences, but it's an amazing experiment in making a film that looks as visually conflicted as its protagonist. The results are definitely impressive, at least to me it seems.

Dr. Dre

Worst Comeback Album

Recipient: Dr. Dre does a surprise release with "Compton," his first album in over a decade.

There's a lot that's immediately baffling about Dr. Dre's "Compton" album. Was it meant to be a soundtrack to Straight Outta Compton? Its release would suggest that it was some crazy cross promotion. Along with the news that the long fated "Detox" was never coming, this album seems like an odd encapsulation of an important musician's career. "Compton" was supposed to be autobiographical, but featured prominence by people not named Dr. Dre. Even if you come away liking it, be honest with yourself - was its wave of success just not disappointing? There was no "Still D.R.E." or "The Next Episode" that got radios hot. For a man that has good fortune of finding some of rap's most influential figures, how can an album that took so long to come out just be ignored so heavily less than six months later? If nothing else, he'll always have Beats By Dre to keep him happy.

Shia LeBouf

Best Time at the Movies

Recipient: Shia LeBouf watches "All My Movies."

If there is one thing that will make no sense to future generations, it's Shia LeBouf's career. He isn't a great actor, but following his transition into adulthood, he has become somewhat of a neurotic mess - serving more as a prop for guerrilla art than thought provoking acting. When he randomly decided to watch all of his movies in reverse earlier this year, it garnered a lot of strange feedback. Most of all, it created some of the best images of the year, as LeBouf reacted to his various movies in different ways. While most are disappointed that he wasn't able to watch some of his Transformers movies without falling asleep, many took the chance to just take in the weirdness of it all - largely done in silence on a webcam online. Even if you don't care about his movies, it's easy to become curious as to why this was even a thing.

Scene from Sense8

Better Montages Than Story

Recipient: Sense8

When The Wachowski Siblings hit TV for the first time, there was a lot to be excited for. Having found ambition with Cloud Atlas, the prospect of making a globe-spanning series was a curious experiment. If nothing else, it's one of the most racially and sexually diverse shows of the year with some of the most positive reassurance on display. However, the stories were themselves dull and lacked any real momentum, choosing to embrace vagueness and style over its high concept's potential. However, the show did have awe-inspiring moments scattered throughout, notably in montages where everything came together beautifully. For starters, check out the "What's Going On?" montage, where everyone meets in a unified, awe-inspiring form of editing. Add in the most artistic orgies and naturalistic birth sequences and you get a show whose ambitions should mean that it's better than it is. However, the only real truth to the matter is that The Wachowskis did better work here than they did on their clunker Jupiter Ascending.

Best Self-Indulgent Love Letter to a Franchise

Recipient: Inside Out

There's a lot to admire about Inside Out. It does an impressive job of making abstract concepts such as emotions into something plausible to viewers. It's a film whose story works to impressive heights. However, I'd like to think that it's also one of the most meta films that Pixar has ever done. With this past November marking the 20th anniversary of their first film Toy Story, it feels like a good time to reflect on why they have remained such an integral voice in animation. When understood that the creators are the five emotions, the story begins to make sense as a love letter to how Pixar manipulates the viewer by pulling levers in your brain. It's a formula that essentially has made them the dominant choice for American animation quality for most of the young 21st century. But it still works as a film without this, which only gives it extra points.

Scene from The Knick

Best Head Scratcher

Recipient: The Knick does brain surgery.

For the sake of those with a weak stomach, I will not share the visual. However, The Knick is a series that has prided itself on testing the patience of its audience. The images that have been seen are grotesque and unforgettable. Among the more memorable is the scene in "Whiplash" where Dr. Thackery does brain surgery on a patient. While unlocking the cover to his head, he reveals how the various portions of the organ works. If nothing else, it's one of the most convincing portrayals of a brain to ever be seen on TV. It's also likely to give you nightmares and make you relieved that your head scratcher has never been as literal as it was here.

Aya Cash

Best Reason to Be Depressed

Recipient: Aya Cash gives an amazing portrayal of depression on You're the Worst.

In season one, You're the Worst had the tough hurdle of being a great show about repulsive people. In season two, it was more about attempting to not just be redundantly repulsive. Thanks to some clever writing, Stephen Falk and crew managed to make a season that showed the emotional maturity of its characters by making its central lead suffer from depression. What could've been an easy gimmick ended up being one of the greatest achievements in comedy this year. Thanks largely to Aya Cash, the performance portrayed the condition in ways that felt all too real and made the emotional payoff of the season all the more worthwhile. For a season that was already going strong, Cash managed to take it one step further into one of the best seasons of TV comedy ever with a performance that is more than worthy of every reward that she qualifies for.

Scene from Master of None

Best Family Get Together

Recipient: Master of None does an episode dedicated to Aziz Ansari's parents.

It was a curious thing to see where Aziz Ansari would go post-Parks and Recreation. However, it didn't take long for him to land a great new gig with the Netflix series Master of None - which quickly became one of the streaming service's best new series. Among its episodes however, few have gained as immediate affection as that of "Parents." And for good reason. It was an episode that not only showed the sentimental side of Ansari, but it allowed a better understanding of the generation preceding the first wave of American Indian and Chinese citizens. It's an episode full of great commentary regarding the immigrant experience that also features a great turn by Ansari's dad, whose comedy chops make him an immediate highlight of the show. While the other episodes are just as good, very few are as immediately affectionate and likely to hook you as well as "Parents."

Scene from W/ Bob and David

Best Reboot

Recipient: W/ Bob and David reimagines Roots, with better white people.

There were few surprises as relieving as that of W/ Bob and David. Bringing back a large part of the Mr. Show cast, its four episode run produced the familiar irreverent humor that made Bob Odenkirk and David Cross so beloved to begin with. In the best of the bunch, Cross plays a director who recreates Roots with a better portrayal of white people. It's an absurd take on PC culture and rewriting history combined with some of the most brilliant writing in comedy this year. Even in a series that has a lot of high points, this one stands out, largely thanks to its crazy idea and commentary on ego and culture that may not be intentional, but is not too far off from directors who are too uncomfortable to make challenging movies about the past.

Scene from The Late Show with David Letterman

Fondest Farewell

Recipient: David Letterman leaves The Late Show after three decades.

The year of 2015 was a major shift in late night TV on almost every channel. We lost Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and the grandfather of them all: David Letterman. While many could argue that his cantankerous personality has worn thin, it only added to the magic that surrounded his closing year. He didn't care about being polite, and he was often on fire as a result. While the final week featured the familiar farewells (including George Clooney shackled to Letterman for almost an entire episode), the build up was an emotional experience that captured what we lost with Letterman. We lost a more antagonistic version of late night that unfortunately Jimmy Fallon or James Corden will never be able to offer. He made late night worth watching, and that final farewell as the montage played over The Foo Fighters live singing "Everlong" only brought the point home harder. Late night, in the traditional sense, is dead. I will miss it just as much as I already miss Letterman.