Posts Tagged ‘Best of’
“I cannot choose one hundred best books because I have only written five”*…
Fernando Sdrigotti, The Situationist Guide to Parenting
Since the arrival of twins, Spirulina and Ocelot, I have been indebted to my great friend and editor Fernando Sdrigotti for his invaluable parenting guide, inspired by the philosopher and alcoholic Guy Debord. No more awkward silences during the hours it seems to take the au pair to dry her hair — Sdrigotti’s guide provides no end of suitable conversation topics for bright 2 year olds, from Peppa Pig’s role in mediating social interactions between toddlers in the nursery to detourning the playground. Can’t afford another holiday abroad this year? Just remember, as Sdrigotti tells us, beneath each playpen lies the beach! The Situationist Guide to Parenting shifts the paradigm of the self-help genre, reinventing Sdrigotti as a Dr Spock for the modern dad.
It’s that time again– time for a cascade of “year’s best” lists. Here, from 3:am Magazine, a particularly satisfying one: from the tantalizing title above to such interest-piquers as Sima Nitram’s I Fucking Hate Don XL, George Glaciate-Furbisher’s Flenge’s Dictum, and Diana Smith-Higglebury, Reclaimed Territory: A post-Brexit Britain Household Companion, a list of books that one needn’t feel bad for not reading… as they don’t exist. Hilariously ridiculous authors, titles, and critical precis– wonder at what might have been at “3:am books of the year.”
* Oscar Wilde
###
As we turn to books that we should perhaps actually read, we might send closely-observed birthday greetings to Gustave Flaubert; he was born on this date in 1821. Best remembered now for his 1856 novel Madame Bovary, (and his meticulous devotion to his style and aesthetics), Flaubert reportedly woke at 10am every day and promptly hammered on his ceiling, to get his mother to come down and talk to him.
Flaubert helped to introduce a new form of realism into fiction; as a consequence he and his work had considerable influence on later writers, from his protege Guy de Maupassant to Joseph Conrad and James Joyce.
It’s not too early…
… to begin the ruminations on 2011, a year that will live, if not in infamy, then firmly sandwiched between 2010 and 2012.
Dave Pell’s nifty Next Draft offer a jump-start on the process:
Big Lists of Everything
– Atlantic Magazine’s 2011 Year in Review.
– NY Mag’s Year in Culture (movies, exhibitions, music, etc)
– Time’s Top Ten of Everything (and they sort of mean everything).
– AOL (with HuffPo) presents this year’s Best of the Best (in every category you can think of).
– LA Times Year in Review (lots of unique lists here, from memorable quotes to best Google Doodles).
– E! Online’s List of Everything Entertainment, Celebrity and Royal.
– MTV’s Best of 2011 (Movie Animals, Biggest Breakups, Photo Leaks, etc.)
Books and Articles to Read
– NY Times Notable Books of 2011.
– Slate’s Best Books of 2011.
– Salon: Writers Choose Their Favorite Books of 2011.
– Atlantic Editors Choose the Best Book I Read This Year.
– LongForm’s Best Articles of the Year.
– Give Me Something to Read’s 2011 Highlights.
Photos To Look At
– Atlantic’s InFocus Year in Photos: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
– Reuters Photos of the Year.
– BuzzFeed’s 45 Most Powerful Images of 2011.
– Time picks the Top 10 Photos of 2011.
– Buzzfeed’s 50 Best Animal Photos of 2011.
Things to Watch on a Screen
– Rolling Stone’s Best TV Moments of 2011.
– Daily Beast presents the Top Viral Videos of the Year.
– New Yorker’s 26 Best Films of 2011.
– Salon’s 10 Best Movies of 2011.
– Atlantic’s Best TV of 2011.
– Good Magazine’s Most Memorable Video Moments (in 1:34).
– AdWeek’s 10 Best Commercials of 2011.
Music to Crank
– NPR’s Year in Music.
– Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Singles.
– Pitchfork’s Top Tracks, Videos, Photos and more.
– NPR’s 5 Best Cover Songs of 2011.
Items for Purchase
– GQ’s Best Stuff of the Year.
– Wired’s Wish List.
News, Memes, and Oddities to Ponder
– NPR’s Top Ten News Memes.
– Atlantic’s Top Ten Politics Stories of 2011.
– Buzzfeed’s 40 Best Memes.
– WaPo’s Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year.
– Buzzfeed’s 16 Most WTF Moments of 2011.
– Atlantic’s Most Important Tech Stories of the Year.
– Buzzfeed’s 45 Things We Should Forget About 2011.
– Rolling Stone’s Top Ten Memes of 2011.
– Buzzfeed’s Top Ten Protest Signs of 2011.
– The 2011 Year’s News in Lego.
– Top 10 Geeky Marriage Proposals of 2011.
– Funny or Die’s Winners of 2011 in categories such as: Most Women Forcibly Bedded By a Guy You Never Heard Of Before This Year, But Almost Became Our President.
– And of course, the Onion’s Year in Review.
As we reminisce and assess, we might recall that it was exactly 200 years ago– on this date in 1811– in the Mississippi River Valley near New Madrid, Missouri, that the largest series of earthquakes in U.S. history began; by the time it was complete, it had raised and lowered parts of the Mississippi Valley by as much as 15 feet and changed the course of the Mississippi River. The earthquakes– measuring as high as 8.6 magnitude on the Richter scale– were felt strongly over roughly 50,000 sq. mi., and moderately across nearly 1 million sq. mi. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, by comparison, was felt moderately over roughly 6,200 sq. mi.
“The Great Earthquake at New Madrid.” a nineteenth-century woodcut from Devens’ Our First Century (1877) source
The Naughty Noughties..
source: sbukophile
As the end of the decade approaches, “Best of” lists are sprouting like kudzu. Happily Jenni Leder and Kottke.org are compiling “The Noughties”
It’s basically a list of all the “best ofs” from the 2000s. It’s a work in progress so I would love to get your input on what should go on the list. I’ll also be doing a weekly post highlighting the best of the “best ofs” that are on the list, as well as keep you all updated on any new developments.
Currently, the count stands at 150, but readers should check back for the updates– the hits are bound to keep on coming…
As we prepare to usher out the old, we might tilt our necks and cast a commemorative glance into the skies, as it was on this date in 1903 that Orville and Wilbur Wright made their 12 second, 120 foot flight at Kitty Hawk, NC– the first successful controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight.
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