Listicle Faves

Longtime visitors will recall this site once focused on media advice, vestiges of which remain in the Blog menu above or Tags on the right. Industry Q&A, tips, and fun recs. Social media replaced that demand, though I do miss playing tastemaker sometimes. And I understand the rush that comes from a new discovery with a back catalog, like a vacation to look forward to. Or books we buy because we fantasize it includes the time to read them.

So if you enjoy my creations, and wonder what ooze they crawled from, dig in. You are what you eat, and this is my diet, mixed metaphors and all. Personal favorites, not superlatives or rankings. Some have evolved, but I tried to avoid recency bias. Hope I’m not giving away answers to any security questions ….

Music

When it comes to vocal music, I prefer soulful stuff that would be difficult to replicate with another instrument. This seems to also be true of the players I most admire, who’ve created a signature voice. I grew up on ’70s balladeers, ’80s pop, and hair-metal (detailed on my INSPIRATION page), accepted grunge, loathe today’s pop, and now listen mostly to prog/fusion and Americana. I’m in my yacht-rock era, sans yacht. It would be neat to assemble some fantasy supergroups from these columns, especially since many are dead.

Screen

A common thread here is a sense of auteurship. The series have showrunners who execute strong visions with storytelling innovations. Most of these directors could be identified by any scene from their work. The movies exhibit a sense of curiosity, or clever comedy played straight. (I’m only making such connections after the listmaking fact.) Some current shows might crack this list, but prestige TV in general is on the decline.

Print

I love fiction that implicates the reader or has meta qualities, as well as southern gothic and crime/noir. Nonfiction is mostly for laughs, entertainers, or industry education. Little here has changed, since I haven’t been writing fiction recently or reading what comes along with it. About 200 unread books await on my shelf, half by friends.