6.25.2005
rankings
Rankings make me furious. Rankings make me furious because invariably, the rube who is doing the ranking is some muppet for whom I have very very very little respect. Matt Lauer was on the Daily Show two weeks ago discussing the Discovery Channel's 50 Greatest Americans poll. The top five were announced recently, and there is currently a poll on to determine who's at the very top. The top five, in alphabetical order, are:
Benjamin Franklin
Martin Luther King Jr.
Abraham Lincoln
Ronald Reagan
George Washington
This is, in my opinion, a list I can get behind. But what of the other 45 who made it to the list but not in the top five? Who's on it? Elvis. Oprah. Barbara, George, and George W Bush. George W. Bush even made the top 25! Tom Cruise. Brett Favre. Mel Gibson. Michael Jackson. Dr. Phil. Donald Trump. Truly illustrious company... Tiger Woods made it. I don't know what is particularly American about Tiger Woods, honestly. Who's not on the list but should be? Thurgood Marshall, Leonard Bernstein, John Marshall. Heck, Yo-Yo Ma and Andy Warhol should be on the list.
The American Film Institute came out with the top 100 movie quotes. Now, I think it's kind of silly, trying to figure out what they consider or don't consider a movie quote. But whatever.
Finally, the poll that makes us hate the midwest even more than we do. The Chicago Tribune's editorial board came up with the top 50 magazines in the country. So Cook's Illustrated beat New York. What's sad is that New York beat the New Yorker. People and Vogue beat National Geographic and the Atlantic Monthly. Newsweek and Time (at least they conglomerated the two of them) beat the Economist. This is ridiculous. My top magazine: The New Yorker, followed by the Economist and National Geographic. Number 50 on the list? Lake Superior Magazine. Enough said.
Benjamin Franklin
Martin Luther King Jr.
Abraham Lincoln
Ronald Reagan
George Washington
This is, in my opinion, a list I can get behind. But what of the other 45 who made it to the list but not in the top five? Who's on it? Elvis. Oprah. Barbara, George, and George W Bush. George W. Bush even made the top 25! Tom Cruise. Brett Favre. Mel Gibson. Michael Jackson. Dr. Phil. Donald Trump. Truly illustrious company... Tiger Woods made it. I don't know what is particularly American about Tiger Woods, honestly. Who's not on the list but should be? Thurgood Marshall, Leonard Bernstein, John Marshall. Heck, Yo-Yo Ma and Andy Warhol should be on the list.
The American Film Institute came out with the top 100 movie quotes. Now, I think it's kind of silly, trying to figure out what they consider or don't consider a movie quote. But whatever.
Finally, the poll that makes us hate the midwest even more than we do. The Chicago Tribune's editorial board came up with the top 50 magazines in the country. So Cook's Illustrated beat New York. What's sad is that New York beat the New Yorker. People and Vogue beat National Geographic and the Atlantic Monthly. Newsweek and Time (at least they conglomerated the two of them) beat the Economist. This is ridiculous. My top magazine: The New Yorker, followed by the Economist and National Geographic. Number 50 on the list? Lake Superior Magazine. Enough said.
