First Night ice scupture, Boston, Jan 1, 2012
The new year always brings with it lists of the most, the best, the worst of the previous year. And of course the lists of people who are no longer with us. Here’s a sampling of lists from around the internet.
There’s the NYT list of the top ten best books of 2011 based on their 100 notable books list. First is The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, and second is Stephen King’s book on the Kennedy assassination, 11/22/63.
The New Yorker has a list of the best films of last year. They liked Scorsese’s children’s movie Hugo best. Here’s a list (very different) from Rotten Tomatoes. They also liked a children’s movie, The Muppets.
Here’s a list of some of the famous people who died in 2011 (compiled from various lists around the ‘net)
Anne Francis
Dana Wynter
Jack LaLanne
Jane Russell
Elizabeth Taylor
Sidney Lumet
Peter Yates
Jackie Cooper
Harmon Killebrew
Phoebe Snow
David Nelson
James Arness
Jeff Conaway
Arthur Laurents
Jack Kevorkian
Clarence Clemons
Gil Scott Heron
Randy Savage
Peter Falk
Amy Winehouse
Bubba Smith
Cliff Robertson
Andy Rooney
Anne McCaffrey
Ken Russell
Joe Frazier
Dorothy Rodham (Hillary’s mom)
Betty Ford
Harry Morgan
Vaclav Havel
Al Davis
Steve Jobs
Tim Hetherington (photographer, died in Libya)
Christopher Hitchens
Kim Jong-Il
Osama bin Laden
Who did I leave out?
What about the worst political gaffes of 2011? The Week has a list. Not surprisingly, Republican presidential candidates hold several places on the list. Number one was from Michele Bachmann:
1. Michele Bachmann: The Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery
In January, the Minnesota congresswoman said “we know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States.” Then in June, Bachmann doubled down on her claim that the slave-owning authors of the Constitution worked to end slavery, citing the efforts of John Quincy Adams — who was 9 when the Declaration of Independence was signed. “I hate to be a stickler for reality,” said Steve Benen at Washington Monthly, but “to use the possible beliefs of a 9-year-old boy as evidence that the Founding Fathers ‘worked tirelessly to end slavery’ is simply absurd on its face.”
Which political gaffe was your favorite? I’d have to go with Herman Cain not knowing anything about Libya or Rick Perry not knowing the names of the cabinet posts he wants to eliminate.
Neutrinos
At Wired, there’s a list of the top scientific discoveries of 2011. Number one, was faster-than-light neutrinos, a discovery that most scientists dismissed. Another biggie was learning that we all have Neanderthal DNA. And of course there was the possibly earth-like planet that could support life. Check them out!
I’ll end with this one. At the Daily Beast I learned that Boston was America’s drunkest city in 2011. They list the top 25. The number two drunkest city is also in Massachusetts–Guess which one, Pat? Springfield! Interestingly, most of the drunkest cities seem to be in cold-weather areas.
What interesting end-of-year lists have you seen over the past few days? Please share. Or talk about any old thing you want.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, SKY DANCERS!!!!
