Because you asked for it: (more…)

Here’s my top 5, based purely on objective and unassailable criteria:

5: Arcade Fire/LCD Soundsystem
4: Gomez
3: Mute Math 
2: Interpol/Shout Out Louds
1: Fall Out Boy/The Academy Is…/+44

This was a difficult list because all of these shows were fantastic.  But FOB and friends deserve the top spot because of the bands they toured with, the quality of the show, and let’s face it: they rock.

 Your thoughts?

1) NCAA Basketball tournament and the Final Four
2) The World Cup
3) Major League Baseball playoffs and the World Series
4) NFL Football playoffs and the Super Bowl
5) NBA Basketball playoffs and championship series

Should never even be considered a “playoff” nor a “system”: The BCS for College Football

1) Passion Fruit
2) Raspberries
3) Avocados
4) Huckleberries
5) Peaches

1) Goodfellas
2) Raging Bull
3) The Departed
4) Taxi Driver
5) Cape Fear

1. Say Anything
2. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
3. Almost Famous
4. Singles
5. Jerry Maguire

1) This is Spinal Tap
2) Waiting for Guffman
3) Best in Show
4) A Mighty Wind
5) For Your Consideration*

* I haven’t seen this one yet. I’ve ranked it there according to the general feedback I’ve heard/read about it.

1) Rome
2) Paris
3) New York
4) Athens
5) London

Runners up: Constantinople, Moscow, Jerusalem, Troy, Shanghai, Tokyo

1) Phil Connors — Groundhog’s Day
2) Carl Spackler — Caddyshack
3) Dr. Peter Venkman — Ghostbusters
4) Bob Wiley — What About Bob?
5) Herman Blume — Rushmore

Runners up:
John Winger — Stripes
Bob Harris — Lost in Translation
Wally Ritchie — The Man Who Knew Too Little

1) Macbeth
2) Hamlet
3) Much Ado About Nothing
4) Romeo and Juliet
5) Henry V

Runners up: A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and The Tempest.

1) Monopoly
2) Risk
3) Scrabble
4) Chess
5) Life

Runners up: Checkers, Sorry, Clue

*This indicates that the ‘board’ is integral to the gameplay, unlike Pictionary or Mindtrap.

1) O Holy Night
2) Jingle Bells
3) White Christmas
4) Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer
5) Little Drummer Boy

NOTE: While I understand a few of these songs are inexorably linked to the artist who sings them I’m trying to keep this list to the song itself.

1) A Christmas Story
2) It’s A Wonderful Life
3) A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott)
4) National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
5) How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Runners up:
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Frosty the Snowman
- Miracle on 34th Street
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Scrooged

1) Blue
2) Red
3) Green
4) Orange
5) Pink

Note: Black and white are not colors, neither in light nor in pigment.

1) Snickers
2) Butterfinger
3) Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
4) Twix
5) SKOR

1) Disarm – Siamese Dream
2) Here Is No Why – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: Dawn to Dusk
3) Rhinoceros – Gish
4) Purr Snickety – Cherub Rock Single - 7″ vinyl
5) Thru the Eyes of Ruby – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: Twilight to Starlight

Runner up: Medellia of the Gray Skies – B-side from the Tonight, Tonight single.

NOTE: These are not my opinions, rather those of my brother-in-law who I consider THE Smashing Pumpkins authority. Here’s what he said about the exercise: “I picked 5 songs that are representative of the bands versitility, compositional prowess, creativity and sheer rock power…I feel that it’s a fairly representative sampling.”

1) The Far Side
2) Calvin and Hobbes
3) Get Your War On
4) Boondocks
5) Dilbert

1) It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
2) Young Frankenstien
3) The Nightmare Before Christmas
4) Halloween
5) The Addams Family

1) MTV
2) HBO
3) ESPN
4) Playboy
5) CNN

Runners up:
Comedy Central
Disney Channel
Fox News
Discovery Channel

1) Double Double - In-and-Out
2) The $6 Burger - Carl’s Junior
3) The Whopper - Burger King
4) Big Bacon Classic - Wendy’s
5) Sourdough Jack - Jack-in-the-Box

1) Converse Chuck Taylors (more…)

1) Alice in Wonderland
2) Robin Hood
3) Sword and the Stone
4) Dumbo
5) Beauty and the Beast

Runners up:
Mulan
Pinocchio
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Aladdin

1) Jeopardy!
2) The Price is Right
3) Family Feud
4) The Newlywed Game
5) To Tell the Truth

Sorry, Wheel of Fortune doesn’t break the top 50. That show is TERRIBLE and very un-entertaining.

1) The Contest
2) The Hamptons
3) The Opposite
4) The Marine Biologist
5) The Outing

Runners Up:
- The Puffy Shirt
- The Switch
- The Soup Nazi
- The Non-Fat Yogurt

Episode guide here.