Q: What the hell is this, anyway?

A: We've decided to poll the members of the Needcoffee.com staff to create what the site considers to be the best of the best. In other words, it's yet another way we've devised to shamelessly plug products that please us.

Q: Who's on the Needcoffee.com staff?

A: Fifteen full-time, part-time and cut-time content writers and consultants. There's enough of us that we could take the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in a fair fight.

Q: What makes you whackjobs think you're qualified to say what "the best of the best" is?

A: This is what we do--we take in and assess pop culture the whole year through. Between all of us, we watch several hundred movies and TV shows a year, go through DVDs like rice, read comic books like they're going out of style (which, unfunnily enough, they are), and so forth. We have no lives. Therefore that puts us in a unique position to know what's good. If you feel like you want to go wade through all this shit on your own, hey, rock on with your bad self.

Q: Why do some categories have three nominations while others have up to seven?

A: Ideally, we strive for five nominations in each category--however, in some there are ties that take us over five. If we're going to get to eight, then we strike all the tied contenders. Trying to keep this from getting too terribly silly.

Q: When will the winners be announced?

A: As soon as we can. Votes are due back from the staff members on the 9th.

Q: Why the hell do you do this so late? Awards Season is so five weeks ago.

A: Well, primarily because not all of our staff members have access to a Top 20 cinema market, so it takes a while for films to roll out to where they can see them. So January is a catch-up month to digest all that has come before (and books that come out in December take time to read, natch). February we nominate and hurriedly try to cram in any nominees that we missed. So we do it as fast as we can. And, you know, the site's free. So what are you going to do?

Q: Is there anything else important we need to know?

A: Yes. It only rains when clouds bang together. But everybody knows that.