For some reason, lists of things have been popping up in my reading over the last several days. Here are several worth taking a look at:
- Beatles Songs Ranked From Worst to Best
Vulture has put out a ranking of all 213 Beatles songs from worst to best. And while I really don’t think the specific order means much (While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Yesterday are not in the Top 10, what’s with that?), the commentary about each song and the craft that did (or did not) go into them is terrific. Argue about the list all you want. (Please do!) But how great to give real thought to one of the great rock ‘n’ roll songbooks. - Quirky List of Top 25 Movies of the 21st Century
This list comes from the New York Times, and it clearly leans to the arthouse crowd. But there’s a lot to be recommended here even to the more casual movie fan. I thought it was interesting that two animated films made it into the Top 10 – (Anime-classic Spirited Away was #2 and Pixar’s psychological Inside Out was #7. Lots of movies on the list I was not familiar with, but I’ll now keep my eye open for them showing up on streaming. I will confess that one of my favorite parts of the article was the referral to a separate list of Six Directors Pick Their Favorite 21st Century Films. - Great Stories From Sportswriter Frank DeFord
My favorite (by a long shot!) sportswriter, Frank DeFord, died at the end of May. I loved his radio commentaries for NPR, his articles for Sports Illustrated, and his novels & books. (His novel Bliss Remembered about swimmers in the 1936 Olympics still sticks with me several years after I read it.) I will be having my feature writing students this fall read him.