The IMDb Top 250 is one of my favorite lists to follow.  It’s a list of the best-rated movies by hundreds of thousands of users on the International Movie Database, imdb.com.  The Godfather had been #1 for the two years I’ve been following the list, and sources online state that it’s held the top spot for over a decade.

The Shawshank Redemption has long held the #2 spot.  Its rating has always hovered right next to The Godfather’s, and many message boards have bickered about whether Andy Dufresne’s spiritual epic would ever take the top spot.

And finally, a little over a week ago The Godfather was finally dethroned.  The big surprise that it wasn’t The Shawshank Redemption that took the final spot, but a brand new movie.  The Dark Knight, this summer’s number one blockbuster, climbed into the top five spots on its first night, and within two days held an unbelievable 9.5 weighted rating, which takes away points from movies that not many have seen.  This meant that The Dark Knight’s astronomical score was doubly impressive. The Dark Knight did what Shawshank could never do and took the #1 spot, blowing away The Godfather’s 9.1 weighted rating

The shift caused an uproar among fans of the list, who started putting in votes for the two movies — some trying to keep Dark Knight on top, others trying to restore order on the list and bring Dark Knight down a few notches.

Fans of The Dark Knight have won the battle so far:  The Godfather’s average has sunk a little while Dark Knight’s has leveled out a tenth of a point above The Godfather’s.  In fact, The Godfather even slipped down to #3 below Shawshank for a couple of days, before a flurry of positive votes brought Godfather back to #2.

Whether hype machine The Dark Knight, perennial classic The Godfather, or cult classic The Shawshank Redemption deserves the number one spot is not necessarily the point of this post.  It is merely to speculate how people will vote in the coming days, months, and years.

My prediction is that The Dark Knight will hold the number one spot for a month or two before slipping down to number two and gradually towards number five or so.  It will very likely settle in the bottom half of the top ten, slightly above Lord of the Rings 3, which peaked at #2 not long after coming out on the list but now sits at #14.  The thing is, The Dark Knight is a much better movie than LotR and has a more dedicated fan base, I think.  I wouldn’t call it out of the question for Dark Knight to stay at #1 for over a year based on the number of votes it has so far, which is pretty substantial and well over half of the votes that The Godfather holds.

What do you think will happen?

Weezer is a fantastic alt-rock band that I have loved since I first heard “Buddy Holly” on the radio a decade ago.  Since then, I’ve taken the time to get to know their music.  I own every album and just about every EP and single, so I’ve observed the band’s evolution from misunderstood rockers to pop curiosity of recent years.

Though I in no way qualify as a “hardcore” Weezer follower, I am certainly a pretty big fan, and here is my opinion as to the twenty-five greatest songs they have recorded and released on major albums.

My ranking is of the studio versions, and no live tracks, B-sides, special editions, or unreleased material has been included. Particular care has been taken to judge the songs on their musical merit, and not consider them based on music videos or other factors external from the albums themselves.  Plenty of singles have been included, but some haven’t been.  Don’t be surprised to see an album track or two fighting their way up there.

Here’s a little bit of background on Weezer if you want to brush up.

Of course, these picks are just my educated opinion.  Feel free to disagree (and let me know in the comments).  Before I start, I also want to say that just about any track from Weezer’s blue album or Pinkerton could have pushed for a spot on this list.  I love both of those albums in their entirety.  And, without further ado, my picks.  Enjoy!

25. Burndt Jam (Maladroit)

The draw to this song is the catchy guitar riff that the whole melody is built around.  It’s one of a couple tracks on the album that has a distinct enough sound to stick in your head and keep you coming back.

24.  December (Maladroit)

Finally a moment of lightness — after an album of hard-hitting jams, Weezer ends their fourth album with a poppy, upbeat number.  Who can forget the chorus with the words “only love” repeated finishing off the song and album?

23. Island in the Sun (Weezer - green)

Why has this gone down as Weezer’s most popular, best-known song?  It rocks the iTunes charts and has become the dorky four’s signature song.  I always thought it was a bit overrated, though its mellowness and guitar hooks are charming.  Hep hep.

22. Thought I Knew (Weezer - red)

Penned and sung by guitarist Brian Bell, Thought I Knew gives us a different spin on Weezer.  After five albums of the usually excellent Rivers Cuomo taking the lead, his songwriting themes and vocal style have been relentlessly pounded into our heads, so the variety is nice.  Plus the song is darn good — think Fastball in their prime with a Weezer shine on it.

21. We Are All on Drugs (Make Believe)

A tireless satire of drug abuse in the vein of Afroman’s Because I Got High (though not quite as great), We Are All on Drugs is also one of the few tracks on Make Believe worth repeated listens.  Its driving guitar runs push elevate it from the shiny almost-pop that cluttered the rest of the album.

20.  Photograph (Weezer - green)

Short and succinct, but with as timeless a hook as just about any Weezer song, Photograph is a vintage example of the exciting, though somewhat insubstantial power-pop that makes Weezer’s green album such an exciting listen.  Not to be confused with the sappy Nickelback power ballad.

19. Pork and Beans (Weezer - red)

The lyrics are inane (intentially so, I hope), but the hook is so dang good you’ll still be shouting the lyrics as the song blasts from your car radio.  It’s one of the catchiest, most interesting songs since Weezer’s green album.

18. Undone (Weezer - blue)

Somewhat of a novelty, Undone would have a shot at a top five or top ten spot on this list if it had trimmed the talking, skit-like interludes between the verses and refrains.  The refrain has the sort of sunny guitar lick and melody that made Weezer so lovable and famous in the first place.  How can you not love shouting “IF YOU WANT TO DESTROY MY SWEATER….”?

17.  Space Rock  (Maladroit)

Hidden in the fourth Weezer album is a gem of an album track.  It doesn’t soar quite high enough nor have enough ambition to be a single, but it’s a delightful listen; the occasional song like this buried in album can do a lot to prove legitimacy of the talent of a band.

16. Getchoo (Pinkerton)

Perhaps the fiercest, edgiest song Weezer has released, Getchoo is unforgettable.  Its cynicism is propelled by an exciting — almost violent — tune and sonic texture.  The lyrics have a perfect rhythm and poetry to them.  “It used to be a game / now it’s a crying shame.”

15. Across the Sea (Pinkerton)

Rivers Cuomo has written about vulnerability and loneliness more times than I care to remember, but rarely as honestly or touchingly as in this excellent song off of Weezer’s second album.  A love song to a Japanese fangirl who wrote him a letter in one of his moments of isolation, Across the Sea penetrates both into a man’s rise to fame and his inner desperation.

14.  Keep Fishin’ (Maladroit)

The syncopation of the guitar, the bounciness of the refrain, and the backup vocals bring a potentially boring song into a small pop-rock masterpiece.  Though its lyrics aren’t as interesting as the stuff you find on the blue album or Pinkerton, the music might as well be straight out of Weezer’s glory days.

13.  Pink Triangle (Pinkerton)

“Everyone’s a little queer / Oh, can’t she be a little straight?”  A litte bit funny, a little bit heartbreaking, a little bit pathetic?  All of the above.  Pink Triangle is a love letter to a Lesbian and beautifully straddles the line of comedy and tragedy.

12. Beverly Hills (Make Believe)

Some Weezer fans despise it; I love it.  The first single off of Make Believe might have been a more routine affair than the band’s early hits from the mid ’90s, but it brilliantly twisted the beat-driven pop scene into something distinctly guitar driven and pure Weezer.

11. Hash Pipe (Weezer - green)

The continuous bass run complemented by almost-falsetto vocals of Rivers Cuomo might be the most distinctive, memorable sound ever constructed in a Weezer song.  The lyrics, purportedly written in the middle of night after Cuomo woke up and popped some Ritalin, are bizarre and nonsensical but memorable.

10. Butterfly (Pinkerton)

Instrumented with just an acoustic guitar, Butterfly is the closest thing Weezer ever wrote to a pure ballad.   Concealed by the innocuous sound is one of the saddest, most haunting songs I’ve ever heard.  A simple story of catching a butterfly thinly veils a tale of inner and outer destruction.  The final notes of the song — and the album — are joined by Rivers croaks “I’m sorry,” forming one of the most chilling moments in music.  Opera fans with a sharp eye might notice the parallels between this song and the end of Madame Butterfly, which only adds to the song’s intrigue.

9. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Weezer - red)

Weezer built their career on creative hooks and charmingly insecure lyrics.  Therefore it’s strange that this song, has such a familiar tune and displays bewildering self-confidence (”I am the greatest man that ever lived”) .  Though it’s a different approach, it still feels like Weezer, in all its eclectic glory.  It’s ballsy, it’s quirky, it’s brilliant.

8. Surf Wax America (Weezer - blue)

Bubbly, sunny guitar rock fills Weezer’s first album.  However, a close listen revealed a true pathos in the lyrics of nearly every song.  The one song from the album which has breezy lyrics to match the album’s melodies was Surf Wax America (though even it has a slight air of loneliness to it).  The result is a masterful pop song, complete with a brilliant hooks and classic lines. For example:”I’m going surfing ’cause I don’t like your face.”  Might be my favorite Weezer line to date.

7. Tired of Sex (Pinkerton)

From the screeching guitars to the band’s straining voices to the sporadic shouting, the first song of Weezer’s second album shows right away that sunniness of the debut is history.  It’s as much a sonic assault as a straightforward song.  Fortunately, the more intense, more stark sound yields a more profound, fully-formed piece of musical expression.  A catchy Weezer melody is buried within a more complex sound, and the result is both bizarre and sublime.

6. Say It Ain’t So (Weezer - blue)

The brilliance of Say It Ain’t So relies on the fact that Weezer decided to take the song slow.  If they had sped it up, it would’ve been far less distinguishable from a dozen and a half other songs by the band.  As it stands, though, Say It Ain’t So is one of Weezer’s masterpieces.  With the off-beat up-strum and a cool, constant beat, Say It Ain’t So is a blend of reggae, metal, and pop brought to life by heartbreaking lyrics about the Cuomo’s youth, troubled by his father’s alcoholism.

5. The Good Life (Pinkerton)

Most of the songs on Pinkerton deal with big troubles in life — loneliness, desperation, frustration — told through metaphors and images of little things.  The Good Life ups the ante and wears its epicness on its sleeve.  Instead of stories about butterflies, Lesbians, and groupies, this song is a straight-up confessional about falling out of happiness.  “When I look in the mirror / I can’t believe what I see / Tell me who’s this funky dude / Staring back at me.”   Equally epic is the melody, soaring higher and lower more dramatically than any Weezer song to date.

4. Dope Nose (Maladroit)

The best Weezer song of the past decade is fast, simple, and short.  The guitar pounds out a peppy, high-voltage series of riffs not seen since from Weezer since Buddy Holly.  The lyrics are weightless, accompanying the timeless licks with catchy lines instead of solid substance.  Rather than a fault, the insubstantial lyrics allow to Dope Nose to rock out uninhibited. In 2:17, Weezer pumps out a tune that sounds like vintage power-pop, but faster and better.

3. Only In Dreams (Weezer - blue)

Regarded by some as one of the premier guitar tracks of the 1990s (in fact, Q Magazine picked it as the #9 guitar song of all time), Only In Dreams is a vast explosion of all the tension built up in the nine self-conscious, insecure tracks that precede it on Weezer’s debut album.  The layered guitar riffs build and coalese into a stunning three-minute crescendo that is one of the defining points of Weezer’s career.

2. Buddy Holly (Weezer - blue)

With the most infectious guitar riff since the Beatles’ Twist and Shout and a little wink of self-conscious irony, Weezer’s second single is one of the most memorable tracks of the 1990’s.  It’s silly without being annoying, it features guitar-work to lend it rock and roll legitmacy, and it’s nerdy in just right ways.  Ultimately, it’s an odd little alt-rock masterpiece, the piece that put Weezer on the map, one of my favorite songs.  And that’s for all of time.

1. El Scorcho (Pinkerton)

From the opening gurgle to the final chorus, El Scorcho is at once yanking our chains and crying tears of honest despair.  Is it truly pathetic, or is it a self-knowing twist of melodrama?  As the junky references to wrestling and snotty punk music are interwoven with opera allusions and the jangly rhythm guitar collides with a heartbreaking vocal performance, we listeners are still left hanging.  And so we keep coming back, listening to it over and over, unable to get it out of our heads, until we realize that the song is intentionally an enigma, a perfect juxtaposition of dorky earnestness and consumable junk-culture.  I rank it among my top half-dozen or so favorite songs of all time, and consider both a work of art and a guilty pleasure.

The first post on Listosaurus Rex covered SydLexia’s spectacular Top 100 NES games list. I just ran across the site’s sequel covering the SNES.

I’m a bit too young to have experienced the NES in the prime, but the SNES blew my mind as I was growing up. A few Super Nintendo games remain my favorite games ever, so it’s cool to see these hardnosed game geeks sentimentalizing the classics. Here’s the top ten:

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
2. Super Metroid
3. Final Fantasy III
4. Super Mario World
5. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
6. Chrono Trigger
7. Mega Man X
8. Final Fantasy II
9. EarthBound
10. Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting

Unlike the NES list, I’m actually familiar with most of these games, so it warms the cockles of my heart to see these hardcore gamers hilariously arguing the value of these decade-old treasures.

My favorite portion might be each of the critics tongue-in-cheek ripping Super Mario World — maybe my favorite game ever — for being so darn easy. It’s so true.

Anyways, if you have a bone in your body that is nostalgic for sixteen-bit glory days, I’d recommend check out SydLexia’s list. It’ll be good reminiscence with plenty of laughs

There are a few things that I tend to wax nostalgic about.  Any victory of the Redskins over the Cowboys would qualify, as would any Billy Joel record my dad played for me as I was growing up.  But another thing I that I have countless warm memories of is computer games.  As far back as I can remember, these interactive adventures were my greatest pastime and the focus of my free time.

I’ve sinced moved on to bigger and better things, like “console gaming” and “having a life” (just kidding), but I will always browse any Greatest Computer Games list to see if any of my all time favorites have been included.  Recently, I stumbled across a particularly professionally-done one on IGN.  Here are the final results of the countdown:

1. X-COM: UFO Defense (1994)
2. Civilization IV (2005)
3. Star Wars TIE Fighter (1994)
4. Rome Total War (2004)
5. Fallout (1997)
6. Starcraft (1998)
7. Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
8. SimCity 2000 (1993)
9. Half-Life 2 (2004)
10. Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings (1999)
11. Sid Meier’s Pirates (1987)
12. Battlefield 1942 (2002)
13. System Shock 2 (1999)
14. Company of Heroes (2006)
15. Grim Fandango (1998)
16. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006)
17. World of Warcraft (2004)
18. Call of Duty (2003)
19. Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness (1995)
20. Deus Ex (2000)
21. MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat (1995)
22. The Sims (2000)
23. Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004)
24. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six (1998)
25. IL-2 Sturmovik (2001)

The list straddles between picking influential games, games that were great at their time, and games that are most fun today.  For example, The Sims 2 is a more complete, fulfilling experience than the original, but The Sims blew everyone’s mind by looking good and playing better.  In fact, its addictive life-management gameplay wowed people so much that it outsold any game in history.

I was a bit surprised to see the pick at number one, but I can’t call it a bad pick by any stretch.  I played the shareware version to death back in the day.  It was one of those games I begged my parents to buy the full version for me, but they never budged.  I’ll have to go hunting online and see if I can find a torrent legal download of it somewhere.

But for any lifelong computer game fan, the real satisfaction from this sort of list comes from seeing your favorite games receiving props.  And here is where the list excel.  Warcraft 2 was my obsession for months on end.  Modern RTS games may improve gameplay and graphics, but none will ever steal my heart like Tides of Darkness did.  It was dramatic, exciting, engrossing, beautiful, and hilarious — everything my young mind wanted out of a game.  The map editor alone got double-to-triple hours worth of play from me, and blowing up critters remains my favorite Easter egg in any game.  Even Warcraft 2’s transcendent follow-up, Starcraft, didn’t engross me the way the humans’ and orcs’ epic struggles did.

But the only game to give Warcraft 2 a run for its money was Age of Empires 2.  Epic in scope and brilliant in execution, Age of Kings revived my love of RTS gameplay to a level it hadn’t been since the peak of my Warcraft 2 obsession.  It made up for having only one unique unit-set by having thirteen distinct, balanced civilizations to tinker with.

I’m also glad TIE Fighter is getting props, though #3 might be a stretch.  There was just something so satisfying about flying around TIEs and taking out X-Wings, completing secret objectives for the Emporer and taking orders from Vader.

There are of course a few oddball picks (IL-2 Sturmovik?), and Starcraft as low as #6 will pass as travesty in some circles, but overall this list hits all the right nerves and includes plenty of deserving classics.  Of the twenty-five, I’ve played fourteen of the games (or their similar predecessors or follow-ups), and I now have a hankering to find down some of the picks I missed (Deus Ex, Fallout) to see if they’re worth their reputation.

-raptor

I came across a funny site the other day: Peter’s Site on Multiply.com. This portion of his site is dedicated to finding and discussing the ugliest cars in the world. So far nine have been nominated.

Here is my rank of his nine nominees. I’ve linked to pictures of the cars. The order is from least ugly to most ugly. This only includes the cars nominated on Peter’s Site.

1. Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren
   What’s the deal with this nomination? Sure, the bumper’s jumbo Mercedes logo is a bit obtrusive and annoying, but this car is still pretty nice, in my opinion.
   
2. Lesux SC340
   I suppose the nomination here comes from the curved rear of the car. It admittedly doesn’t look that great from behind. But there are uglier cars.
   
3. Ferrari Enzo
   It’s certainly obnoxious and over the top with its sportiness. But it’s still pretty sleek. Not a beauty by a long shot, but it still has a nice, if strong, luxurious flavor to it.
   
4. Pontiac Aztek
   The Aztek is not a pretty car. It can’t quite decide if it’s going to be sporty in a suburban sort of way or rugged in a pickup truck sort of way. The end result is a sort of boxy mishmash that just doesn’t do much for the eyes.
   
5. AMC Pacer
   Station wagons are almost inherently tacky. But the Pacer’s obnoxious dome-style windows on its rears don’t help its case.
   
6. Honda Element (seen above)
   Ugly from the front, ugly from the rear, ugly from the side, ugly from any isometric perspective — yep, the Honda Element is one heck of an ugly car.
7. AMC Gremlin
   I’ve seen pictures of Gremlins that aren’t terrible. With the right paint job on the right model from the right angle, it’s got a certain muscle car feel that’s almost classy. But nearly every picture you see will confirm that the Gremlin is in fact a very ugly car.
8. BMW Isetta
   It doesn’t even look like a car. It looks like an especially cramped go-kart with a closed top, or something. The door opening in the front is just weird. If BMW wanted to do something cool with their car, they should have thought Delorean. Anything other than that ridiculous door in the front would have worked.
   
9. Fiat Multipla
   Even someone good with Photoshop couldn’t distort a picture car to make it uglier than a Multipla. It’s just hideous and obnoxious. That weird hunk of car that sits sort of in the center of the design — why is it there? Did someone actually think it would be a good idea to put it there? Was it the result of some sort of freak car factory accident?

Discuss: What is the ugliest car on this list? Can you think of any ugly cars that weren’t included in the discussion?

Including games that have come bundled with systems, here is a list of the top fifteen bestselling video games of all time, as of March 2008:

1. Super Mario Bros. - NES - 40 million copies *
2. Tetris - Game Boy - 33 million copies *
3. Pokemon Red/Blue - Game Boy - 20.08 million copies
4. Super Mario World - SNES - 20 million copies *
5. Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES - 18 million copies
6. Wii Sports - Wii - 17.85 million copies *
7. Nintendogs -DS - 17.79 million copies
8. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - PS2 - 15 million copies
9. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec - PS2 - 14.87 million copies
10. Pokemon Gold/Silver - Game Boy - 14.51 million copies
11. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - DS - 14.17 million opies
12. Super Mario Land - Game Boy - 14 million copies
13. New Super Mario Bros. - DS - 13.14 million copies
14. Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire - GBA - 13 million copies
15. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - PS2 - 12 million copies

* - game included with a system as a bundle

Nabbing all of the top seven spots are games from Nintendo consoles, including Wii Sports at #6 from the current generation, which is sure to jump at least to #3 by the time Nintendo releases its next console.

Topping the list is Super Mario Bros., which gets an enormous amount of help from the fact that it was included with the system, not to mention the fact that it is routinely cited as the best game of all time by web-sites and other publications. However, Super Mario Bros. 3 at #5 shows that you don’t need those things to sell ridiculously well as a Mario game. Also, #12 on this list is a remake of #1, just emphasizing how marketable the game is without the bundling.

At #2 is Tetris, also widely acclaimed as among the greatest and most influential games ever. Have you ever met someone who doesn’t like Tetris? If so, they’re probably a cynic or lying.

Then, at #3 is Pokemon, the greatest video game sensation of them all. I remember well when every kid would be playing it during recess at school, while eating at Burger King, while waiting in the dentist’s office — everywhere, for that matter. It doesn’t surprise me at all that it’s so high on the list.

Standing strong at #4 is another bundled game, Super Mario World, perhaps my favorite game ever. It remained among the most recognized and beloved games of the 16-bit era.

Taking the fifth spot is Super Mario Bros. 3. This one surprised me more than any game out of the top ten. Though I know it is one of the most widely known and loved games of all time, I didn’t know it sold at a volume that almost matched Pokemon. I guess I’ve always underestimated the amount of NES’s that were sold.

At sixth and rising is Wii Sports. The Wii continues to sell out just as shipment is received, and goes for about $150 more than retail on sites like Amazon and ebay, despite the fact that they system has been out for well over a year. There’s no end in sight to the massive demand. It could potentially jump its way to #2 or #1 by the time this console generation is over. If you don’t believe that, think of this: The newest console generation is about a year and a half old, so a little less than a third over. Tripling the number of copies sold by Wii Sports places it firmly at number one. It’s unlikely that the Wii will continue selling at the rate it is for a whole five years, but it’s certainly not an impossibility.

At seventh is the latest cutesy, handheld phenomenon, Nintendogs. Despite rave reviews and massive numbers, I’m not completely impressed with it. Pokemon was a really substantial game, a perfect balance of simplicity and depth, and I’m not sure Nintendogs quite matches it. However, I haven’t had extensive playing time with it, so I’m not sure.

Nabbing eighth and ninth are two classic PS2 games. Vice City was controversial but massively loved and enjoyed. It had very much of a cool factor to it, meaning adults and young adults weren’t hesitant to get their hands on it, unlike Pokemon. Gran Turismo also has a cool, authentic factor to it. It was so detailed with its depiction of sports cars and racing, and earned such rave reviews, that it was snatched up by millions.

At tent, eleventh, and fourteenth are more Pokemon games, a few years removed from the immense cultural machine that was the Pokemon fad when Red and Blue were released. Nonetheless, consumers still seem to come out in droves to pick up any Pokemon-related product. Pokemon games usually receive favorable reviews, which certainly helps.

Nabbing twelfth is a remake of the #1 game on this list, except in hand-held format. The game created quite a buzz when it came out and the Game Boy was the latest big thing in video games. Only Tetris, #2, was bigger at the time.

Taking thirteenth is another Mario game, which gained a lot of consumer recognition because of the title’s similarity to #1 on this list. As you discover more and more about video games, it becomes more and more clear how all-encompassing Mario’s impact on the video game industry and market has been.

Finally, at number fifteen, we have San Andreas, one of the most controversial games of all time with the “Hot Coffee” scandal. However, it is one of the most critically acclaimed games of its generation, earning impeccable review scores from many game publications, including the beloved Platinum Award from the magazine of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the Holy Grail of review awards.

Here is a breakdown by system:

• Game Boy: 4 games (26.7%)
• PS2: 3 games (20%)
• DS: 3 games (20%)
• NES: 2 games (13.3%)
• GBA: 1 game (6.7%)
• Wii: 1 game (6.7%)
• SNES: 1 game (6.7%)

Discuss: Are these the games you expected to see on the list?

A couple weeks ago I posted about Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists.  But what good is discussion of artists without discussion of art?

Guitar World magazine put together a list of the one hundred greatest guitar solos by polling readers of their favorites and ranking the results.   Although I don’t have a copy of the issue, I managed to find the list online at about.com.  I doubt any connoisseurs of classic rock will be surprised the see some of the selections at the top.

Without further ado, the songs featuring the top ten guitar solos, the guitarists of each one, and the artist of the song featuring the solo.

1. Stairway to Heaven - Jimmy Page - Led Zeppelin
2. Eruption - Eddie Van Halen - Van Halen
3. Freebird - Allen Collins, Gary Rossington - Lynyrd Skynyrd
4. Comfortably Numb - David Gilmour - Pink Floyd
5. All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix - Jimi Hendrix Experience
6. November Rain - Slash - Guns ‘n’ Roses
7. One - Kirk Hammet - Metallica
8. Hotel California - Don Felder, Joe Walsh - The Eagles
9. Crazy Train - Randy Rhoads - Ozzy Osbourne
10. Crossroads - Eric Clapton - Cream

I think this is an excellent top ten list.  I love every one of those guitar solos and have no problem calling them some of the best I’ve ever heard.  I was especially impressed to see Hotel California, perhaps my favorite, making the top ten.

A stickler might point out that two of the songs in the top ten, along with several others in the complete one hundred, are by two guitarists and thus not solos.  However, if you listen to them, I think you will realize that they match the spirit of guitar solos; they are each improvisation-style guitar licks, usually within the context of a song (though “Eruption” and “Star-Spangled Banner,” which also made the list, are guitar solos on their own, separate from other songs).

It’s interesting how only three of Rolling Stone’s top ten guitarists, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton, landed songs in the top ten.  However, since this is a reader poll, it makes sense that songs by guitarists with less mainstream appeal and who don’t focus as much on acrobatic solos, such as Robert Johnson and B.B. King, would be less likely to earn votes from the general public.

My favorite part of this list is probably the few oddball songs scattered throughout, such as “Surfing With the Alien” at #30 and “Cult of Personality” at #80.  I don’t listen to much classic rock radio, so I might never have listened to these songs if I hadn’t stumbled across this list.  By the way, the guitar solos in both of them are mind-blowing.  Look them up on YouTube.

I don’t really have many complaints with this list.  I would have put Layla higher and would have ditched every non-”Teen Spirit” Nirvana solo.  It is impressive that I can find so little to nitpick with on such a huge list, though.  Definitely check it out.

Pretty much every major video game site or blog put together big “best-of” lists for the last major console as the next generation of games started to come out.  The most interesting of these was the Gamecube lists, for a few reasons.  First of all, it had the fewest cross-platform games, making the lists the most insular.  Next, the Gamecube games continue to live on because of the backward compatibility and ‘Cube controller compatibility of the Wii.  Finally, Nintendo has always had the most obsessive, hardcore fans, the type of fans who will compulsively rank and debate their favorites because they love them so much.

I found a few lists I liked across the net and decided to assemble them into one ultimate, comprehensive top ten list.  There was a suprising amount of consitency, though nearly every list had its unique picks not seen on the other lists.  With some number crunching and weighting in a spreadsheet, I was able to come upon a final order for the games.

Without further ado, the lists, and my tabulation of the concensus Top 10 Greatest Gamecube games.

List #1:  IGN

1. Metroid Prime
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Super Smash Bros. Melee
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
5. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
6. Pikmin 2
7. F Zero GX
8. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
9. Super Mario Sunshine
10. Wave Race: Blue Storm

I love IGN’s writing and I think their picks are pretty solid.  Few argue with the greatness of the first five, and they put up good cases for the greatness of the second five.  I think number ten is a little bit of a surprise, especially since Double Dash didn’t make the top ten.  Overall, though, this is excellently done and quite enjoyable.  I recommend you give it a read and see what games they picked for numbers 11-25, as it’s a Top 25 list in actuality.

List #2: Gamespot

1. Metroid Prime
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
4. Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron 2
5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
6. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
7. Pikmin 2
8. Viewtiful Joe
9. Freedom Fighters
10. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4

Gamespot is great because they provide a wealth of information for each game.  Unlike IGN’s list, it’s a systematic organization of highest review scores.  From what I’ve read, other games were more memorable and left a more lasting impact than Tony Hawk 4 or Freedom Fighters.  Still, the list is comprehensive and provides a gateway to more information.  The list also goes on and ranks every game released for the ‘Cube, certainly a useful resource for Wii and Cube owners looking good games they might have missed.

List #3: metacritic

1. Metroid Prime
2. Resident Evil 4
3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
5. The Legend of Zelda: Collector’s Edition
6.  Madden NFL 2004
7. Soul Calibur II
8. Viewtiful Joe
9. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
10. SSX 3

The site metacritic.com doesn’t write its own reivews.  Rather, it culls reviews from various other sites and given a score out of 100.  As much as I love most of these picks, I think simple critical praise at the time of release shouldn’t be the barometer for how great a game is.  Some games are great at the time, but are quickly topped.  Others simply fade from memory.

The best and most memorable games stick with you and leave a longer-lasting impact.  That’s something that can’t completely be judged during the first few days you play it.  Case in point: Madden 2004 being in the top ten of best reviewed games.  Most agree it’s good, but few people argue that it’s one of the system’s ten best games (though I did enjoy it thoroughly, personally).  However, metacritic’s still an interesting list to look at, and points you in the direction of various reviews from across the net.

List #4: GameSpy

1. Resident Evil 4
2. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
3. Metroid Prime
4. Super Smash Bros. Melee
5. Soul Calibur II
6. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
7. Beyond Good and Evil
8. Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
9. Viewtiful Joe
10. Super Mario Sunshine

GameSpy’s list is my favorite out of the lists I looked at, not just because I like the picks the best, but because the writing is so effective.  If you look at any of these lists, look at this one.

List #5: Kombo

1. Metroid Prime
2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
3. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
4. Super Smash Bros. Melee
5. Resident Evil 4
6. Super Mario Sunshine
7. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
8. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
9. Pikmin 2
10. Viewtiful Joe

Kombo is not as established and respected as some of the other sites on this list, but this is one of my favorites of the lists I’ve looked at.  The picks are good, the writing is concise, effusive, and informative, and the site looks great.  A very pleasant read.

List #6: About.com

1. Beyond Good and Evil
2. Tales of Symphonia
3. Resident Evil 4
4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Colletor’s Disc
5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
6. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
7. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
8. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
9. Animal Crossing
10. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

I’m generally not a big fan of the mega-blog About.com, but since it’s so widely read and recognized I decided to include it in this tally.  The writing is too brief, and some of the picks are a bit oddball, but I’m digging the inclusion of Animal Crossing and Tales of Symphonia.  Not digging the omission of Double Dash, Metroid Prime 1, and Melee.

THE CONCENSUS:

After tallying the results, assigning number values to different spots on different lists, doing some number crunching, and some swapping based on average placement and frequency of selection, I present to you the comprehensive Top 10 Greatest Gamecube Games according to the Internet.

1. Metroid Prime

2. Resident Evil 4
3. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
4. Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
5. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
6. Super Smash Bros. Melee
7. Pikmin 2
8. Viewtiful Joe
9. Super Mario Sunshine
10. Beyond Good and Evil

I weighted About.com’s list less than the others, so Metroid Prime edged out RE4.  Since it seemed like only half of the lists had considered Twilight Priness, as it was such a late addition, I doubled it’s value, and it placed neatly behind Wind Waker, giving them number three and four.   Super Smash did not place in all of the lists, but placed very highly in the ones it did.  Eternal Darkness only barely beat it in my number crunching.   Next came Pikmin 2, followed by a toss-up for eighth, ninth, and tenth.  I decided to rank the three contenders — Mario Sunshine, Viewtiful Joe, and Beyond Good and Evil — by how many top ten lists they had made.

There you go!  What were your favorite games for the Gamecube?  Leave a comment and share!

Here’s a review of everything I looked at in handy table format:

Roger Ebert is absolutely my favorite movie critic. I don’t always agree with him (for example: he gave The Usual Suspects only one and a half stars) but I always like the thoughtful analysis. “Roger Ebert loves movies more, and better, than almost any critic” says famous director Martin Scorsese, and from my limited observation of movie criticism, I’d have to agree. He has a warm heart and an open mind towards movies, never afraid to learn something new from them or about them, never afraid to be pleasantly surprised or unfortunately disappointed. He gives a lot of four star reviews, but I think that such an esteemed critic, such an experienced viewer, is able to see beauty in so many movies is a great thing. Most people lose appreciation for an art when it becomes a career, when they spend too much time with it, when they develop familiarity. Not Roger. He remains passionate and joyous towards the art of cinema.

It’s just a little bit overdue, as he released it a few weeks ago, but here is his list of his top ten favorite movies from 2007:

1. Juno
2. No Country For Old Men
3. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
4. Atonement
5. The Kite Runner
6. Away From Her
7. Across The Universe
8. La Vie En Rose
9. The Great Debaters
10. Into the Wild

Of these I have sadly only seen three. I’m working on it, though. A few are coming to the cheap local theater I usher at, so I’ll get to see them for free.

Movies are an art, and as such, Ebert tends to go with the movies that move him the most, as opposed to those that have the tightest scripts, highest technical achievement, and the most critical praise. We see some of this with Juno, a romantic dramedy, at number one, and oft-maligned Kite Runner and Across the Universe earning spots on the list.

He provides solid reasoning for each of his picks. I think the list is worth a look.

What movies did you enjoy in 2007?