Pitchfork

MTV is handing out woodies! Sadly, it has nothing to do with a new Christina Milian video. Rather, it's for the mtvU 2005 Woodie Awards -- an awards show/concert event held by MTV's indie-centric college network. The show will be taped November 2 at New York's Roseland Ballroom and premieres on mtvU and mtvU.com November 10.

Several Pitchfork faves snagged nominations, including the Arcade Fire (five nominations), Common (four), Gorillaz (three), M.I.A., the Decemberists, and Bloc Party (one each). This year's ceremony will be filmed live for the first time, and will feature a full lineup of performers, presenters and more that will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

In keeping with mtvU's brief tradition, the Woodies focus on college community: students from around the country will chip in as on-camera talent and behind-the-scenes commentators throughout the live show. For the second straight year, the awards themselves were designed and made (yes, out of wood) by students at the Greenwich Village-based New School.

And since, let's face it, MTV can't possibly do anything straightforward anymore, nominees are divided into abstruse categories like the "Breaking Woodie", the "Left Field Woodie", the "Good Woodie" and the filthy-sounding "Streaming Woodie" and "Road Woodie". The "International Woodie" goes to Bloc Party. Probably. For a full list of categories and nominations, check out the mtvU website. Winners will be determined by online voting. In last year's inaugural Woodie Awards, Modest Mouse took home top honors as Best Artist and the (sigh) "Silent but Deadly Woodie" for their video for "Float On." Eww, what's that smell?