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kottke.org posts about best of

Prospect Magazine lists the most overrated and

Prospect Magazine lists the most overrated and most underrated books of 2006. Top 3 overrated are The God Delusion, The Blunkett Tapes, and Everyman. I so agree about Everyman…it’s the only book I read this year where I genuinely wanted my money back at the end of it. (via mr)


The year in errors

Every year, Regret the Error1 publishes a roundup of the year’s media errors and corrections. I didn’t think anything could beat these corrections from the 2005 list:

Norma Adams-Wade’s June 15 column incorrectly called Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk a socialist. She is a socialite.

The Denver Daily News would like to offer a sincere apology for a typo in Wednesday’s Town Talk regarding New Jersey’s proposal to ban smoking in automobiles. It was not the author’s intention to call New Jersey ‘Jew Jersey.’

but the 2006 collection is a strong one. Here are some of my favorites:

A correction in this column Thursday about a June 14 Taste section recipe for French coconut pie incorrectly suggested that the recipe called for a pint of vodka.

In Wednesday’s Taste section, a Washington Post recipe on Page F7 included an incorrect cooking time for carbonada (braised beef with onions and red wine). The dish should be cooked for 2 1/2 hours, not 10 to 20 minutes.

Because of an editing error, a recipe last Wednesday for meatballs with an article about foods to serve during the Super Bowl misstated the amount of chipotle chilies in adobo to be used. It is one or two canned chilies, not one or two cans.

A story in the July 24 edition of the Sentinel & Enterprise incorrectly spelled Sheri Normandin’s name. Also, Bobby Kincaid is not a quadriplegic.

The regional court in Duesseldorf ordered the weekly WirtschaftsWoche to print a correction to an article that claimed Piech wore “garish ties with hunting motifs” and did not know the exact number of his children from various marriages, a court spokesman said. The magazine, owned by the Handelsblatt group, had published a picture of Piech wearing a tie with a picture of a man with a gun and an elephant. It quoted Piech as saying in an interview that he had sired “about a dozen children. The exact number is not known”. The court accepted Piech’s argument that his comment had been meant ironically and that the motif on his tie was not a hunting motif…

Mr Wakefield is not and never has been a member of the Communist Party. The error is regretted.

In a March 17 story about protests planned against the Iraq war, The Associated Press erroneously identified Jeremy Straughn as a political socialist at Purdue University. He is a political sociologist.

She’s got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that. [He meant “coup”.]

Recent articles in this column may have given the impression that Mr Sven Goran Eriksson was a greedy, useless, incompetent fool. This was a misunderstanding. Mr Eriksson is in fact a footballing genius. We are happy to make this clear.

I especially like the recipe ones…just the thought of some unsuspecting reader eating her meatballs with all those chilies or the fellow debating whether he should serve his obviously raw braised beef to the rest of his family. Be sure to check out the whole list.

[1] When I first posted this, I misspelled “Regret” as “Reget”. (No, really!) I deeply regret the error. (thx, mauayan)↩


Premiere magazine’s list of the 20 most overrated

Premiere magazine’s list of the 20 most overrated movies of all time. (via lists 2006)


Best books of 2006 from The Economist. (via rp)

Best books of 2006 from The Economist. (via rp)


The best movie posters of 2006. (via lists 2006)

The best movie posters of 2006. (via lists 2006)


Top 50 music videos of 2006. Includes inline video

Top 50 music videos of 2006. Includes inline video so you can watch them all. (via waxy)


The bestselling book at Amazon for 2006? Cesar’s

The bestselling book at Amazon for 2006? Cesar’s Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems by Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer.

Update: Browse the top sellers by cover.


Bookslut lists the best book covers of 2006. (via lists 2006)

Bookslut lists the best book covers of 2006. (via lists 2006)


50 works of art you should see before

50 works of art you should see before you die, a list compiled by Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones and his readers. (via eyeteeth)


A panel of critics at The Guardian

A panel of critics at The Guardian pick the world’s 40 best directors. Anyone missing? (via khoi)

Update: A reader pointed out that this list probably isn’t that current (Errol Morris’ Fog of War is still forthcoming, for example). Oh and please note that the list is comprised of working directors; it’s not an all-time list. (thx, kate)


The best and worst restaurant trends in

The best and worst restaurant trends in NYC for 2006. Among the worst, Mexican: “Zero progress on one of the most misunderstood and untapped cuisines in NYC.”


The NY Times Book Review’s 100 notable books

The NY Times Book Review’s 100 notable books of 2006. Making the list are several kottke.org notable books: The Ghost Map, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Consider the Lobster, and The Blind Side.


Historical rankings of US presidents. Honest Abe

Historical rankings of US presidents. Honest Abe is number one with a…well, he’s just #1. George W. Bush comes in at a respectable 22nd, just behind Bill Clinton. (via fakeisthenewreal)


Discover magazine picks the 25 greatest science books

Discover magazine picks the 25 greatest science books of all time. Darwin, Newton, and Galileo top the list.


Are you ready? I said, ARE YOU

Are you ready? I said, ARE YOU READY? End-of-the-year list season has begun!! Woo! Let’s get it started with Information Leafblower’s list of the top 40 bands in America as chosen by a bunch of music bloggers. Lots of guitar music that the indie rock kids like so much.


The NY Times asks a bunch of

The NY Times asks a bunch of comedians: Which five comedies would you want to take with you if you were stranded alone on a desert island? My list: Dr. Strangelove, Zoolander, Office Space, Election, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.


Five great fight scenes from movies. I’m

Five great fight scenes from movies. I’m not a connoisseur of movie fight scenes, so I don’t have much to add to this list, but I’m glad Jackie Chan made the cut.


Top 100 photos taken by the Hubble Space

Top 100 photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, a singularly talented photographer.


A list of the 13 scariest people in America.

A list of the 13 scariest people in America.


A list of 20 works of art you

A list of 20 works of art you need to see before you die. They want to make a list of 50…suggest your favorites in the comments.


The Royal Institution of London has named

The Royal Institution of London has named Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table the best science book ever written. Other authors in the running: Oliver Sacks, Steven Pinker, and Richard Dawkins.


Five great movie monologues. #1 is Merkin Muffley

Five great movie monologues. #1 is Merkin Muffley talking to Dmitri on the phone in Dr. Strangelove…one of my favorite scenes of any movie ever.


List of the 7 worst fonts. What, no

List of the 7 worst fonts. What, no Hobo or Brush Script? Comic Sans is, of course, #1 with a bullet. (via wider angle)


Top 100 most popular classical music pieces, featuring

Top 100 most popular classical music pieces, featuring stuff like Beethoven’s 5th, Pomp and Circumstance, and Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.


Surprisingly good list of the top 10 Web 2.0

Surprisingly good list of the top 10 Web 2.0 losers. It’s too early to pass judgement on Netscape (the site has shot to the top of Google search results for current events keywords because of the site’s high PageRank) and SixApart’s inclusion is wrong. The top four spots are right on; the Odeo situation is sad (I thought they were really onto something), but Flock, Edgeio, and Squidoo seemed not quite equal to the hype right from the beginning.


The 100 best skateboarding photos on Flickr.

The 100 best skateboarding photos on Flickr.


Popular Science picks their annual Brilliant 10, a

Popular Science picks their annual Brilliant 10, a group of young gun scientists who are just starting to do great work.


Stylus magazine has a list of their

Stylus magazine has a list of their top 100 favorite videos, complete with embedded YouTube clips of the videos themselves for your instant gratification. Ok, now let’s fight about what was excluded and how wrong that is… (via paul)


Megnut’s got the scoop: Gourmet magazine has

Megnut’s got the scoop: Gourmet magazine has named Alinea the best restaurant in the US, amazing considering its only been open a little more than a year. “[Grant Achatz] is redefining the American restaurant once again for an entirely new generation. And that β€” more than his gorgeous, inventive, and delicious food β€” is what makes Alinea the got-to-go-to restaurant in the country right now.” (I would argue that the food is the real reason to go, but whatever…)


A list of the 50 worst things ever

A list of the 50 worst things ever to happen to music, from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (#50) to Suge Knight (#2)…I won’t spoil #1.