In honor of the Holiday Season, today’s Friday Fun Meme is “Favorite Christmas Carols”
5. Greensleeves/What Child is This?
4. Carol of the Bells (version: on Mannheim Steamroller’s A Fresh Aire Christmasaudio clip here (#10)).
3. O Come, O Come, Immanuel (favorite version: “Veni Veni” on Mannheim Steamroller’s A Fresh Aire Christmas–audio clip here (#3)).
2. Silent Night
1. O Holy Night (far and away my favorite)
Honorable mentions: Joy to the World, The Christmas Song (version: either the Velvet Fog himself or Johnny Mathis), Los Peces in el Rio (clip here), Feliz Navidad–and tons others, as I love Christmas music.
Merry Christmas to you all.
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This week’s Friday Fun Meme: Favorite Christmas Specials.
This week, in order from 5 to 1:
5. The Year Without a Santa Claus (Heat Miser and Cold Miser make this one, no doubt)
4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
3. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
2. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (an utter classic)
1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (can it get any better than that?)
Had I gone generic “holiday” the Peanuts Thanksgiving and Halloween specials would be #s 3 and 4.
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Comment by Clint — Friday, December 16, 2024 @ 5:39 pm
Since Typepad is down at the moment:
5.Grinch (cartoon version)
4. Santa Claus is Coming To Town
3. Frosty The Snowman
2. A Christmas Story
1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (which I will have a little video for on the 24th)
In all honesty, I thought about this meme before your e-mail about the Grinch. I was going to look and see if you had posted anything on it, but literally headed out the door once I posted this.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Friday, December 16, 2024 @ 6:40 pm
Yes, I have been lousy in keeping up with the Friday Fun Meme. However, an e-mail from John Hay of Pros and Cons suggests a make-up mean: favorite cartoons.
The goal here is to list favorite specific cartoon episodes.
I excluded series in general (sticking to specific episodes) and holiday specials (I think I will save that for another meme).
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Blonde Sagacity has the Carnival of Comedy.
The Swib has the Carnival of Satire.
Iowahawk has Al Zarqawi guest blogging.
Protein Wisdom has a conversation overheard in a Ramadi bunker.
Poliblogger has has some toons.
Wizbang has another dumb crim…
[…] blogging. Protein Wisdom has a conversation overheard in a Ramadi bunker. Poliblogger has has some toons. Wizbang has another dumb criminal Ok, maybe I’m easily amused, but I really got tickled […]
Ok, I have a few FFM ideas in the works, but nthing that really grabs my attention, so I will just continue I meme I found over at Accidental Verbosity.
The Preferred Food Meme
Which do you prefer:
01. CHEESE or CHOCOLATE?
02. BLUEBERRIES or STRAWBERRIES?
03. COFFEE or TEA? (What, are you kidding me?).
04. CORN MUFFIN or ENGLISH MUFFIN?
05. PANCAKES or FRENCH TOAST? (And shouldn’t that be Freedom Toast?)
06. YOGURT or CREAM CHEESE?
07. RICE or PASTA?
08. CAKE or PIE? (Mmmm, pie/
09. GROUND BEEF or GROUND TURKEY? (Ground turkey is a commie plot)
10. HOT DOGS or HAMBURGERS?
11. JELLY or MARMALADE?
12. AMERICAN CHEESE or SWISS CHEESE? (If that makes me less of a patriot, so be it).
13. DIET SODA or NO SODA? (A sign of–five or so years ago it would have been “no soda”).
14. LEMONADE or ICED TEA?
15. CHERRIES or GRAPES?
16. CHOCOLATE QUIK or STRAWBERRY QUIK?
17. WAFFLES or PANCAKES?
18. WHITE BREAD or WHOLE-GRAIN/WHEAT BREAD?
19. PEAS or CARROTS?
20. PUDDING or FRUIT-FLAVORED GELATIN?
21. COLD CEREAL or HOT CEREAL?
22. KETCHUP or MUSTARD?
23. MUSTARD or MAYONNAISE?
24. MAYONNAISE or KETCHUP? (depends on context–on my burger, mayo, on my fired, ketchup)
25. BLACK OLIVES or GREEN OLIVES?
26. ONION or GARLIC? (What? I can’t have both?)
27. PLAIN BARBECUE or BARBECUE WITH SAUCE? (I’m sorry, but in Texas, barbeque means sauce–anything else s grillin’)
28. SCRAMBLED EGGS or FRIED EGGS?
29. EGGS or EGG REPLACEMENTS? (Yeah, right)
30. MEAT or VEGETABLES?
31. CHINESE TAKE-OUT or PIZZA?
32. SUSHI or DELI SANDWICH?
33. WHITE CLAM CHOWDER or RED CLAM CHOWDER?
34. KEY LIME PIE or LEMON MERANGUE PIE?
35. PIE & ICE CREAM or CAKE & ICE CREAM?
36. WHIPPED CREAM or CAKE FROSTING?
37. HONEY or MAPLE SYRUP? (depends on context)
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And all this time, I thought you were a reliable carrot guy. God, this is so disillusioning.
Cancel my subscription.
Comment by Steven L. — Friday, December 2, 2024 @ 1:13 pm
I was assuming cooked veggies, and I would prefer the peas to the carrots in that case. Now, if the carrots are raw, then count me in there.
Oh, what a complex meme we weave…
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Friday, December 2, 2024 @ 1:17 pm
[…] 4:05 pm
Finally, the Sultan has gotten his act together again and fired up the Friday Fun Meme machine (sort of. This week he stole it — again). Anyway, here it is. The Preferred F […]
“Now, if the carrots are raw, then count me in there.”
IOW, you were for carrots before you were against them. Nice try — I certainly hope you picked “waffle” over pancakes.
Comment by Steven L. — Saturday, December 3, 2024 @ 11:48 am
[…] for Fun Posted by Jim Lynch under General | trackback uri I saw this over at PoliBlog on Friday. My answers are in bold. Which do you prefer: 01. CHEESE or CHOCOLATE? 02. BLUEBERRIES or […]
This week’s FFM challenge: name at least five lines (yes, I went a bit nuts) from TV/Movies that you always find amusing–maybe not laugh-out-loud funny, but that always amuse you.
FFM: Favorite Lines
(For extra-special fun, the sources of the lines are hidden below the fold).
No particular order:
1. “It’s made out of people!”
2. “He’s pinin’–for the fjord.”
3. “I do not think it means what you think it means.”
4. “I was aiming for his head”
5. “Thinking is so important”
6. “To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.”
7. “That’s just sad, Larry.”/”Larry, that’s just sad.”
8. “We are the Knights who say ‘ni!’”/”We are no longer…”/”A shrubbery!”
9. “Those aren’t pillows!”
10. “Hi, I’m Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl”. (came to mind because of #7).
Isn’t it true that everything is funnier if said in a Ross Perot voice?
Comment by Jan — Saturday, November 12, 2024 @ 10:34 am
True.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Saturday, November 12, 2024 @ 10:46 am
I’m still thinking about my list, but I must say, the two Monty Python quotes always make me smile, too.
Comment by Jan — Saturday, November 12, 2024 @ 11:08 pm
Favorite Quotes
Last FFM from Poliblog, which I never got around to over the weekend, was to name at least five lines from TV/Movies that you always find amusingmaybe not laugh-out-loud funny, but that always amuse you.
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[…] ent an e-mail to Steven Taylor demanding the reinstatement of the Friday Fun Meme. He has acquiesced. According to the book The Average American, a majority of Americans do the following. Here’ […]
Today’s Friday Fun Meme from Poliblog asks if you do the things that average Americans do and provides a list to go by. So here goes my addition to today’s fun:
Here’s my list, almost all of which I read in High School.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Lord of the Flies by William Golding
We own these
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine (my son is reading some of these) James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (my wife owns a copy from her teaching days, I think) A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
I read excerpts in a literature class once
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
We saw the movie, does that count?
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
And can someone explain to me why this is on the list?
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
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My husband used to have a shirt that said that. It was then followed by a list of banned books, most of which he had read. Today’s FFM challenge from Poliblog is this: Which of the The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 19902000 have you read?
Good God! I must be running with a bad crowd. Here’s my list: [This reminds me of something I think The New Yorker did a couple of years back–asking famous writers the classic book(s) that they feel most embarassed about never having read. I’d like to hear your list, Steven!]
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
# The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
Native Son by Richard Wright
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Another meme of the week from Poliblog:
How many of the Top 100 Challenged Books does our family own or have I read:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Bridge to T…
Most book-banners want to censor material because it is morally or politically objectionable; I, on the other hand, wish to ban certain materials because they are aesthetically displeasing, yet have somehow become so over-rated that they cannot seem …
I would also like to add an honorable mention: The Wind Done Gone, by Alice Randall, the Gone with the Wind parody that sent the Daughters of Confederacy into a tizzy. I understand that it was banned in Georgia.
My list:
Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Carrie by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Comment by Sheri — Saturday, October 15, 2024 @ 11:47 am
Actually, the list of banned/challenged books is the list of books I’d like to read before I die. I am fascinated by what IDEAS were so threatening that the words were forbidden to citizens (adults AND children), and why we are considered unable to make decisions concerning the material for ourselves.
BTW, Waldo was banned for NUDITY.
Here’s a list of why some other books have been banned:
Comment by Laura — Sunday, October 30, 2024 @ 12:33 pm
The exact reason Where’s Waldo Was challenged/banned was because the mermaid is only wearing a bra (go figure!! I hope they never watched the little mermaid)
Comment by Robyn — Wednesday, July 5, 2024 @ 12:49 pm
1. Howard the Duck. This one was so bad it that is the only movie I walked out on after paying for it. It was a George Lucas production, so I figured it would be good. Of course, that was back when I didn’t realize that Lucas wasn’t all he was cracked up to be.
It may be the worst movie I have ever seen.
2. Johnny Dangerously Rented this one when my wife and I were dating. So bad my Dad went to find something else to do and we turned it off soon thereafter. It was crude, odd and not funny.
3. Adventures in Babysitting. I remember we stayed and watched the whole thing. I remember it made little sense. Above all I never understood why the little girl was so enamored of the Marvel Comics version of Thor.
4. Mars Attacks. President Jack Nicholson’s line “Can’t we all just get along” was funny, but that was in the commerical. The rest of the movie flippin’ reeks.
5. Red Dawn. The absolute worst Cold War movie ever made. The take over of the US by the USSR/Cubans was silly–and the idea that a bunch of High School kids could fight back was utterly unbelievable. For some reason the only thing I directly remember is the Cuban General saying “Vaya con Dios” to someone. I don’t remember who–just that it was supposed to be really dramatic.
6. Tarzan. The Bo Derek one–man, that was one BORING movie.
(Dis)honorable mentions:
Worst Trek flick: Star Trek V–surely the worst Trek film ever made, although it beats watching a re-run of And the Children Shall Lead. Four words: “It’s me! It’s Sybok!” (’nuf said).
Worst Star Wars film: that’s a toughie, but I will go with The Phantom Menace–surely the worst of that set, although the other two prequels were pretty bad.
Worst Indiana Jones romp: The Temple of Doom–it just did not live up to the other two by a long shot.
Worst Bond movie: Is it even close? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. George Lazenby replaces Sean Connery? You have got to be kidding me.
Sorry. Moonraker was worse; Moonraker makes my worst ten movies ever made consistently.
Comment by Steven L. — Friday, October 7, 2024 @ 10:23 am
I almost included Moonraker.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Friday, October 7, 2024 @ 10:31 am
I have to agree on the Star Trek and the Indiana Jones, haven’t seen the Bond or the Star Wars.
Red Dawn was exceptionally bad, actually watched it at school.
I liked Adventures in Babysitting; it was cute.
I’ll make my list later. Good choice of topic.
Comment by Jan — Friday, October 7, 2024 @ 10:39 am
Red Dawn was a classic 80s movie, Wolverines!
Comment by c.v. — Friday, October 7, 2024 @ 11:24 am
OHMSS the worst Bond film? Its one of the best, the only two better are Goldfinger clearly and From Russia with Love arguably. The worst are- Moonraker, The Man with the Golden Gun or Die Another Day
Comment by Bill — Friday, October 7, 2024 @ 1:15 pm
I’ve shown clips of Red Dawn to students when I talk about movies and politics in the 1980s. Every class includes at least one big fan.
We watched Howard the Duck as kids and it just dawned on me that I witnessed beastiality…I feel so incredibly violated.
Comment by Sheri — Sunday, October 9, 2024 @ 7:08 pm
I’ll make my list as soon as my @#$%^&* site gets up and running again, but I’ve gotta say the OHMSS is one of my favorites, if not the favorite. My warped self loves the fact that he actually falls in love and gets married, and then . . .
Worst Trek film was the first one. Talk about boooorrrriiiiiiinnnng. But the bald chick was cute.
I liked Red Dawn. Unrealistic? Maybe. Let’s ask the folks in Chechnya.
As usual, I’m a day late and a dollar short, or more accurately a week late and paycheck short. But anyway, here’s my addition to last week’s Friday Fun Meme.
Here’s a straightforward FFM: Favorite Words (that you actually use)
Ten Favorite Words (That I Actually use on a Regular Basis)
1. ubiquitous (simply a cool word)
2. writ large (ok two words, but used together)
3. indeed (I was into “indeed” long before I knew what a Glenn Reynolds was–I think it is a Spock influence, in fact)
4. vis-a-vis
5. exigencies
6. cognizant
7. synergy (I’ve noticed I have been using this one a lot lately)
8. penultimate
9. albeit
10. Spiffy
Honorable mentions (words I like, but don’t necessarily use all the time):
-vituperative
-loquacious
-gregarious
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You forgot “on balance” and “cool”, you use them all the time too.
Comment by Jan — Friday, September 30, 2024 @ 6:07 pm
my favorites were “hegemonic stability theory”
and “not so much”
Comment by clint — Friday, September 30, 2024 @ 7:53 pm
Steven: I guess we have to suppose that the names of your boys and your bride go without saying aren’t what this FFM was looking for (I’m making my list and my favorite word by far is my dog’s name).
Clint: if I don’t say “hegemonic stability theory” at least once a day my students start to think that there’s something wrong with me.
Comment by jd watson — Friday, September 30, 2024 @ 9:29 pm
I know there are more “Taylorisms” that I can’t think of right now, but Clint is right, “not so much” is a common one.
I’m still thinking about my list. I was thinking maybe I could just ask the kids, “what words do I use on a regular basis that you don’t really understand?” My oldest son often complains, at the dinner table, that it sounds like what I’m saying should be part of a paper for Dr. Taylor (yes, he mentions you by name), not just normal conversation. lol!
Comment by Jan — Friday, September 30, 2024 @ 11:29 pm
Ah yes, personal catchphrases are a whole ‘nother issue.
“not so much”
“all that jazz”
variations on “doesn’t give a rat’s rear end”
This list was words that I realy like just for their own sake, yet also use a lot.
And I am pleased to know that I am affecting the vocabularly level of dinner conversation!
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Saturday, October 1, 2024 @ 9:06 am
And you’re often affecting the topic, too.
Comment by Jan — Saturday, October 1, 2024 @ 9:53 am
A fellow word lover. I’ve always like penultimate also. Here is one that fits your blogger profession - redaction - which is the prcess of editing or revising an article.
One of my favs is defenistrate - the act of throwing something out of a window. My boss always comes to mind.
Comment by Dave — Saturday, October 1, 2024 @ 4:18 pm
[…] . will be attending the slasherfest. Go check out the Bar of Argghhh! Poliblogger tells us their favorite words. The Cranky Neocon is asking for people to adopt him. We’ve already put in our bid […]
Last week Dr. Taylor, over at Poliblog, posted a FFM that I never found the time to join in on. I thought maybe I’d catch up today. . . Note: Maybe seeing this trackback will remind Dr. T that it is Friday and he’ll do a new FFM for today.
Today’s Friday Fun Meme Challenge is based on a post I saw over at the Public Brewery a while back, wherein Paul suggested that Mark Twain probably would’ve been a great blogger.
So, here’s the challenge: name five people (or more) from the past whom you think would’ve been great bloggers. Bonus points if your list is thematic.
My list is Revolutionary Era Bloggers:
1. Benjamin Franklin. Clearly Poor Richard would’ve had a blog.
2. Alexander Hamilton. Not only was he a prolific writer, he was passionate and probably would’ve been the person on my list most likely to revel in the instantaneous nature of blogging–perhaps to his detriment at times.
3. Thomas Paine. Forget pamphlets, let’s go blogging!
4. John Adams/Abigail Adams. Certainly they both were prolific writers. They would have preferred the “personal journal” style of blogging, one would think.
5. Samuel Adams. Surely blogging would have been a fantastic forum for this Son of Liberty to decry the injustices foisted on the Colonies by the British.
6. Madison: I imagine his would be a more scholarly type of blog.
I will also say that there ain’t no way George Washington would’ve had a blog–too stoic/guarded for such public writing. Further, I can’t see Jefferson with a blog, as he seems to have preferred more deliberate writing–plus I don’t think his sensibilities would have allowed him to take the negative public feedback that can come with blogging.
So, whatcha got? Philosophers? Authors? Other politicians? Comedians?
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1. Emily Dickinson….The name of her blog would be…”I’m Nobody!Who are You? Of course her profile would reveal nothing about her personally. She would keep her anonymity.
2. John Greenleaf Whittier….The name of his blog would be Laus Deo.
3. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow….The name of his blog would be Excelsior.
Isn’t it obvious that Madison, Jay, and Hamilton would make a group blog together? Dare we call them “The Federalist Bloggers”? (Or if they take after the Volokh crowd, “The Federalist Conspiracy.”)
I can just imagine the kind of comments when Madison and Hamilton are on vacation, too: “What’s with all these posts by John? We want to read stuff from Alex and James again!”
How about Faulkner. It could be called “What my mind Thinks”.
Of course noone could read it because he can’t be understood…don’t believe the lies that those English professors tell you. They don’t understand him either.
Comment by clint — Saturday, September 24, 2024 @ 8:13 am
Friday Meme (A Day Late)
OK, my theme will be World War II. The opportunities for flame wars would abound.
Ok, I am trying to get back on track on the FFM, and this week is a borrowed meme.
FFM: Official Sports Teams of PoliBlog
Borrowing from The Yin Blog, this week’s FFM is What is Your Blog’s (or Your Personal) Official Sport Teams (and a Little Bit of “Why”)?
For PoliBlog they are as follows:
Pro Football: The Dallas Cowboys. I was born in Forth Worth and spent my early football-formative years with Roger Staubach’s Cowboys. I have been a fan ever since.
College Football: The Texas Longhorns. I did my undergrad work at the University of California, Irvine (Go Anteaters!/Zot!)–which didn’t have a football team, but I was always partial to the Longhorns during my youth in Texas and given that I spent six and a half years at UT as a student and one year there as a Visiting Instructor, it is no surprise my blood runs burnt orange. I also pull for the Troy Trojans, but that’s a whole different kind of fandom, and a whole different level of football.
Pro Basketball: The San Antonio Spurs. When I was a lad, we never watched basketball in my house. For a while Dallas didn’t have a team, and when the NBA came to Dallas in the form of the Mavericks they, well, sucked. However, when we moved to SoCal when I was in High School, it was the Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabar era for the Lakers, and I became a Laker fan until I moved back to Texas for grad school. Between the fact that Lakers I knew all started to retire, the fact that I didn’t get Laker games, and the fact that I did get Spurs games helped transform me into a Spurs fan. It was the David Robinson era, and so there was something there to like. I think that because basketball really was a sport of my youth, it made it easier to switch alliances.
Pro Baseball: The Texas Rangers. I am, at best, a lukewarm fan.
College Basketball, Baseball, Women’s Basketball: UT, just because, but I am hardly a hardcore fan. Let’s put it this way, the only itme I have ever watched a UT baseball game was when they were in the final game of the College World Series. And the only time I ever watched a women’s basketball game was when they were in the Championship game a while back.
Hockey: I am not a hockey fan (unlike my youngest sister), but I have actively rooted for the Dallas Stars in the past when they were in their Stanley Cup years. I even watched a number of games. When the NHL went on strike, I didn’t notice.
Soccer: As a Latin Americanist, I thought I ought to like soccer. So I once tried really, really hard to care about soccer. It didn’t work.
Teams I actively root against: The New York Yankees, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Texas A&M Aggies (although sometimes, if it will make the conference look good, I can tolerate them winning), the San Francisco 49ers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Redskins, and the New York Giants. And, I must admit, the Lakers of late (rivalry with SA, plus the whole Kobe things was annoying–so my transformation in that area has been complete, I suppose–with apologies to my brother). Also: any team ranked higher than Texas in the polls (or even those near Texas in the polls).
Jump on in! If you link from your own blog, note that inline trackbacks and pingbacks are now working, so as log as you send one, you’ll get a link below. Also: if your blog doesn’t have trackback capability, you can use the link below to send a manual trackback.
Friday Fun Meme! Official Sports Teams of The Unusual Suspects
In the tradition of Poliblogger, here’s my Friday Fun Meme! I like it because its about my favorite sports teams.
Pro Football: The Pittsburgh Steelers (as if that wasn’t obvious enough). I have bled Black and Gold really since Bill Cow…
If I look at the year I graduated from college (1990, I only own two of the songs on the list, and on;t Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’ is one that I listen to with anty regularity (its on my MP3 player):
59. Something Happened On The Way To Heaven, Phil Collins
65. Free Fallin’, Tom Petty
If I do 1996, the year I completed grad school, the list of songs I have in some form is a bit longer:
3. Because You Loved Me, Celine Dion
13. Ironic, Alanis Morissette
18. It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, Celine Dion
39. Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Deep Blue Something
50. Time, Hootie and The Blowfish
76. As I Lay Me Down, Sophie B. Hawkins
99. Only Wanna Be With You, Hootie and The Blowfish
Certainly a longer list. Of course, I am not sure that it says much about 1990 v. 1996 except that in 1996 I was listening to far more pop radio than I was in 1990, when I essentially listenrd to none (which was largely true in 1986, for that matter).
Although, I will confess, my wife’s influence on CD buying/MP3 downloading is evident in some of these, tunes (especially Celine Dion), although I confess to liking all the tunes above, but none of them would make my Desert Island Playlist, except maybe Time by H&TBF–I have always really liked that song.
OK, yesterday and two weeks ago Friday, I simply got too busy to remember the FFM. Last Friday, in wake of Katrina, an FFM didn’t seem appropriate. However, since one reader noticed its absence, and I would hate to dissapoint (and because I enjoy the FFM), here’s this week’s Friday Fun Meme a day late (and I will eventually get back on track, hopefully next Friday).
First, go here, then type the year you graduated from HS into the search bar.
Then, code the entries as follows:
Bold equals “I woudn’t automatically change the station if it came on the radio.
Strikethrough means “I might break my finger trying to change the station once I figured out which song it was.
Bolded Italics means “Not only would I turn it up, I own it on CD or as an MP3″
Do nothing to entries you don’t remember, or have no response to (and, I will grant, there are several I would put in the strikethrough category just by reading the song title and/or the artist, but since I don’t remember them, I left them alone).
You may note overall favorites or other commentary at the bottom.
1. That’s What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Gladys Knight
2. Say You, Say Me, Lionel Richie
3. I Miss You, Klymaxx
4. On My Own , Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald
5. Broken Wings, Mr. Mister
6. How Will I Know, Whitney Houston
7. Party All The Time, Eddie Murphy
8. Burning Heart, Survivor
9. Kyrie, Mr. Mister
10. Addicted To Love, Robert Palmer
11. Greatest Love Of All, Whitney Houston
12. Secret Lovers, Atlantic Starr
13. Friends And Lovers, Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring
14. Glory Of Love, Peter Cetera
15. West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys
16. There’ll Be Sad Songs, Billy Ocean
17. Alive And Kicking, Simple Minds
18. Never, Heart
19. Kiss, Prince and The Revolution
20. Higher Love, Steve Winwood
21. Stuck With You, Huey Lewis and The News
22. Holding Back The Years, Simply Red
23. Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel
24. Sara, Starship
25. Human, Human League
26. I Can’t Wait, Nu Shooz
27. Take My Breath Away, Berlin
28. Rock Me Amadeus, Falco
29. Papa Don’t Preach, Madonna
30. You Give Love A Bad Name, Bon Jovi
31. When The Going Gets Tough, Billy Ocean
32. When I Think Of You, Janet Jackson
33. These Dreams, Heart
34. Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone), Glass Tiger
35. Live To Tell, Madonna
36. Mad About You, Belinda Carlisle
37. Something About You, Level 42
38. Venus, Bananarama
39. Dancing On The Ceiling, Lionel Richie
40. Conga, Miami Sound Machine
41. True Colors, Cyndi Lauper
42. Danger Zone, Kenny Loggins
43. What Have You Done For Me Lately, Janet Jackson
44. No One Is To Blame, Howard Jones
45. Let’s Go All The Way, Sly Fox
46. I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On, Robert Palmer
47. Words Get In The Way, Miami Sound Machine
48. Manic Monday, Bangles
49. Walk Of Life, Dire Straits
50. Amanda, Boston
51. Two Of Hearts, Stacey Q
52. Crush On You, Jets
53. If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
54. Invisible Touch, Genesis
55. The Sweetest Taboo, Sade
56. What You Need, INXS
57. Talk To Me, Stevie Nicks
58. Nasty, Janet Jackson
59. Take Me Home Tonight, Eddie Money
60. We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off, Jermaine Stewart
61. All Cried Out, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force
62. Your Love, Outfield
63. I’m Your Man, Wham!
64. Perfect Way, Scritti Politti
65. Living In America, James Brown
66. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A., John Cougar Mellencamp
67. Who’s Johnny, El Debarge
68. Word Up, Cameo
69. Why Can’t This Be Love, Van Halen
70. Silent Running, Mike and The Mechanics
71. Typical Male, Tina Turner
72. Small Town, John Cougar Mellencamp
73. Tarzan Boy, Baltimora
74. All I Need Is A Miracle, Mike and The Mechanics
75. Sweet Freedom, Michael McDonald
76. True Blue, Madonna
77. Rumors, Timex Social Club
78. Life In A Northern Town, Dream Academy
79. Bad Boy, Miami Sound Machine
80. Sleeping Bag, ZZ Top
81. Tonight She Comes, Cars
82. Love Touch, Rod Stewart
83. A Love Bizarre, Sheila E.
84. Throwing It All Away, Genesis
85. Baby Love, Regina
86. Election Day, Arcadia
87. Nikita, Elton John
88. Take Me Home, Phil Collins
89. Walk This Way, Run-D.M.C.
90. Sweet Love, Anita Baker
91. Your Wildest Dreams, Moody Blues
92. Spies Like Us, Paul McCartney
93. Object Of My Desire, Starpoint
94. Dreamtime, Daryl Hall
95. Tender Love, Force M.D.’s
96. King For A Day, Thompson Twins
97. Love Will Conquer All, Lionel Richie
98. A Different Corner, George Michael
99. I’ll Be Over You, Toto
100. Go Home, Stevie Wonder
My personal favorites in the list are: Walk of Life by Dire Straits, Invisible Touch by Genesis, Take me Home by Phil Collins and These Dreams by Heart.
Feel free to jump in. If you link from your own blog, note that inline trackbacks and pingbacks are now working, so as log as you send one, you’ll get a link below. Also: if your blog doesn’t have trackback capability, you can use the link below to send a manual trackback.
Hey, you have the same year I had! I have to say, though, that the Italics only doesn’t really differentiate them from the rest. Maybe italics AND bold to show the ones you own.
I would note, however, that your tastes seemed to be much more mainstream than mine, although dire straits was good all around.
You are a college professor, and you are younger than me!
Ack!!!
Oh, well… I *could* have been a college professor, I just decided I was shallow and liked money.
Comment by Jack — Saturday, September 10, 2024 @ 1:09 pm
HS 100 Meme
From Poliblog: The Year I Graduated High School
Steven Taylor provides a link to the top 10o songs of your high school year. Put your year in the search engine to get the list. Then, code the list according to your preference.
Coding (altered from…
And Jack–not only that, but I’ve even reached tenure
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Saturday, September 10, 2024 @ 2:35 pm
It’s amazing how few songs I own from my senior year. It will take me a while to go through and code the list.
Comment by Jan — Saturday, September 10, 2024 @ 10:45 pm
Friday’s Fun Meme: the Saturday Edition on Sunday
I will confess that I have missed the Friday Fun Meme from Poliblog, though I certainly understand the reasons for its absence the last few weeks.
Nevertheless, the Sultan has re-instituted the FFM this week, though a day late, so here we go:
Remem…
There are some great blog names out there, and these are my favorites (in no particular order). I like evocative and/or clever names and these all fit the bill (indeed, I often wish I had conjured something less generic than “PoliBlog”).
1. Toner Mishap. I like clever humor and I like self-deprecating humor. This title has both.
2. Unlocked Wordhoard. It just sounds cool and well captures the essence of blogging.
3. Signifying Nothing. As noted above, I like self-deprecating, and the literary reference angle is nice.
4. Althouse. “Althouse” is simply a perfect last name for an eponymous blog (let’s face facts “Taylor” simply wouldn’t work). It also evokes a dual meaning (perhaps just to me) of “alternative house” i.e., that the blog is place where one might encounter alternative ideas or somesuch. it also makes me think of “Bauhaus“–why that matters, I couldn’t say, so back to the list.
5. Arguing with Signposts. A fantastic name that also in evocative of what blogging often is all about.
Honorable mentions:
Outside the Beltway (clever, works on several levels, and has the ability to be referred to via initials: OTB).
Political Animal (Given my admiration for Aristotle, I wish I had thought of this one).
Majikthise: As an HHG fan, I must confess, that’s the perfect name for a philosophy-based blog.
Feel free to jump in. If you link from your own blog, note that inline trackbacks and pingbacks are now working, so as log as you send one, you’ll get a link below. Also: if your blog doesn’t have trackback capability, you can use the link below to send a manual trackback.
FYI, Toner Mishap is also an anagram of Misanthrope. B2 deserves the credit for exploring the names and we agreed that TM was the best for all the reasons you mentioned.
After a one week hiatus (I was to busy last Friday), the Friday Fun Meme returns.
BOOKS I COULDN’T FINISH
I am sure I could figure out 10, especially if I thought back to college text books, but these are the ones that leap to mind:
1. Little, Big by John Crowley. I bought the book because Mel Gilden, author and co-host of a SciFi radio show, Hour25, swore it was the best fantasy book he had ever read since LOTR. I tried mightily to get through, and have kept it for over twenty years with the possibility that I would one day try again. Mostly it read like a plodding LSD trip.
2. The Sword of Shanara. In High School I was always looking for the next LOTR and tried Sword. It struck me as too derivative and for some reason never caught my fancy. However, clearly many people disagree with me. Who knows, I might give it a try some day.
3. Lord Foul’s Bane. I think I gave this one a try in early High School. For some reason I could not get past the first couple of pages. I can’t even remember what it was that turned me off. I may give a try again some day, as I found his Gap novels most impressive, even though there was a general lack of respectable characters and one has to wade through a brutal tale in the first novel.
4. Battlefield Earth. I tried. I really, really tried. But several hundred pages into the book I just lost all enthusiasm. And consider: I was reading it as a Sophomore in High School right after we had moved from Texas to SoCal and I had yet to acquire any friends, so it wasn’t like I had anything else to do.
5. The Day Lincoln was Shot. I had to read it for 8th grade American History. The first time I ever used Cliffs notes in lieu of completing a book.
6. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. This one was for AP Literature when I was a senior in High School. That one really required Cliffs Notes. UGH.
7. The Book of Lost Tales. As one might note from the above, I am huge Tolkien fan–and was especially such in Middle and High School. However, even my hard-core Tolkienness could not get me to actually read all of the drafts and notes in the BoLT. I own it and several other of the edited volumes that Christopher Tolkien put put out (but not all of them). I have skimmed through them, but have never read them.
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Hmmm, interesting list.
When I was in high school, it was a matter of pride for me to finish every single book (or series) I started. A friend recommended the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever which starts with Lord Foul’s Bane. I read the entire series – it is not worth revisiting in my opinion. The main character is depressing and it is hard to empathize with a “hero” who starts out by raping another. The only benefit that I gained from reading the series was I then decided my policy of finishing every book I started was foolish and now have no compunction about quitting books that don’t keep my attention. I also enjoyed the Gap series. If you want more by Donaldson, his two-book series Mordant’s Need is decent.
I enjoyed the first Shanara book I read, but the few others I read all seemed like the same story with a few minor changes. However, he’s still publishing, so hopefully his recent books are still not rehashes of his first.
I had the same experience with The Book of Lost Tales as you. Fortunately I picked it up after reading the Tomas Covenant series, so I didn’t feel obligated to finish.
However, I greatly enjoyed Battlefield Earth. I thought it was one of Hubbard’s better works and much, much better than the horrible movie with the same title. I picked it up in high school, but I’ve read it several times since then too. If you were going to retry any of these, I’d suggest this one.
Funny, Deb mentioned this post as a good meme and I immediately said “Thomas Covenant; I couldn’t even get through the first book!” Funny to see it’s on your lis, now that I’ve seen the post myself.
I had the same problem with Lord Foul’s Bane my first time through. I just couldn’t get into it. The second time I forced myself past page 100 or so…and that’s when the book took off.
My college friends and I enjoyed the series (all six books), and I think we all read the whole thing twice each. Donaldson’s problem is that he obsesses over the feelings of the characters way too much; if he focused on moving the story along rather than on how much emotional pain everyone was suffering, his books could shed 40% of their weight.
My rule now is if a book doesn’t grip me after 100 pages, I’ll give up and throw it against the wall. Doesn’t happen often, but the last time it did was “TimeScape” by Gregory Benford. Yeah, I know it won a bunch of awards, but the plotline is stale and the characters were one-dimensional. Isaac Asimov’s “The Gods Themselves” is a much better example of the “talking backwards through time” genre.
I’ve got Battlefield Earth at home; I’ll definitely have to try it soon. Thanks for the tip, Admiral.
Comment by pianoman — Friday, August 5, 2024 @ 3:30 pm
Funny–your post reminded me that I tried to start Timescape but just couldn’t get started.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Friday, August 5, 2024 @ 3:49 pm
This will probably get Me banned, but I was not able to get into Dune. Everyone said how great it was, it sold and sold, and there were many sequels, but I couldn’t get more than 1/3 the way through it.
Well, the only two that jump to mind are:
1. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
2. Run Away Jury by John Grisham
There are certainly others that I didn’t finish for one reason or another, but those come to mind as one I “couldn’t” finish.
My husband teaches Portrait of the Artist is you ever want any pointers on it. lol But then again, he teaches Metamorphosis but he couldn’t make me like it.
Comment by Jan — Saturday, August 13, 2024 @ 10:37 am
I’ve read Metamorphosis, but egads, I can’t stand Joyce.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Saturday, August 13, 2024 @ 11:01 am
Steve actually considered doing his dissertation on Joyce. I’ve only ever read “The Dead” by him. I liked it okay, but it was only a short story.
Comment by Jan — Saturday, August 13, 2024 @ 10:16 pm
[…] Dr. Taylor: Books you know you should read that you can’t seem to finish. Oh, wait. It already has been.
[…] , Personal — Paladin @ 2:35 pm
Today’s Friday Fun Meme, courtesy of the Sultan, of course, is Favorite Christmas Specials. Here we go, in no particular order (top 5): 1. Alber […]
Pingback by A Knight’s Blog » Friday Fun Meme — Friday, December 16, 2024 @ 1:35 pm
WHat? No love for making you think of the grinch?
Comment by Clint — Friday, December 16, 2024 @ 5:39 pm
Since Typepad is down at the moment:
5.Grinch (cartoon version)
4. Santa Claus is Coming To Town
3. Frosty The Snowman
2. A Christmas Story
1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (which I will have a little video for on the 24th)
Comment by William Teach — Friday, December 16, 2024 @ 6:27 pm
In all honesty, I thought about this meme before your e-mail about the Grinch. I was going to look and see if you had posted anything on it, but literally headed out the door once I posted this.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Friday, December 16, 2024 @ 6:40 pm