end of year

2015 List of “Best of” Lists

Source: The Year in Fungi – The New Yorker

Five mycological highlights from 2015, including banana killers, rainmakers, and the zombie cure.

Source: Top 25 News Photos of 2015 – The Atlantic

The past year has been a series of tumultuous news stories, from the massive migration crisis and the war and terror those migrants are fleeing, to historic images of faraway Pluto, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling supporting same-sex marriage, and widespread protests about continued inequality.

Source: The Year in Drone Video: Real Estate, Architecture, and Cities – In the Air – Curbed

Source: Ten LGBTQ News Stories the Mainstream Media Ignored in 2015

Truthout recaps some of the LGBTQ stories the mainstream media missed, ignored or just plain got wrong in 2015.

Source: The Most Intriguing LGBT Characters of 2015 | GLAAD

A handful of characters caught the eye of viewers and critics alike this year by telling unique and exciting stories, here are some of the (mostly) new LGBT characters in 2015 that stood out from the crowd.

Source: The Lives They Lived – The New York Times

Remembering some of the artists, innovators and thinkers we lost in the past year.

Source: The 10 Best Feminist Quotes of 2015

Source: The best book cover designs for 2015

Check out more great covers at the NY Times, Buzzfeed, and The Casual Optimist. Compare with last year’s picks.

Source: The Year That Was and Wasn’t – The Morning News

We asked writers and thinkers to tell us: What were the most important events of 2015—and what were the least?

Source: Highlights from 2015 | Gender Spectrum

Source: The best (or worst) news media corrections of 2015

A compilation of the best, or worse, or most convoluted, or contrived, or outrageous, or downright silly media corrections.

Source: Best Pure CSS Pens of 2015

Best Pure CSS Pens of 2015

Source: The 10 Best TV Shows of 2015 | Village Voice

Source: Top 15 classes of 2015 | Northern Illinois University

Continue Reading2015 List of “Best of” Lists

Annual “Best of” Lists for 2014

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A small selection of “best of” lists from 2014.

The Man Booker Prize – 2014 Finalists
— awarded to The Narrow Road to the Deep North: A novel by Richard Flanagan

Pulitzer Prize – The 2014 Winners Fiction Finalists
— Awarded to The Goldfinch: A Novel by Donna Tartt

Newberry Medal Award 2014 Finalists
— Awarded to Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo

PEN – Literary Awards Winners 2014

New York Times – 100 Notable Books of 2014

New York Times – The 10 Best Books of 2014

The Washington Post – The ten best books of 2014

Publisher’s Weekly – The Best Books of 2014

Amazon – The Best Books of 2014

Good Reads – Best Books of 2014

Autostraddle – Top 10 Queer and Feminist Books of 2014

Mother Jones – The 19 Best Photobooks of 2014

New York Times Sunday Book Review – The Best Book Covers of 2014

Buzzfeed – 24 Movies You Probably Missed This Year, But Should Totally See

Buzzfeed – The 39 Most WTF Moments Of 2014

Reuters – Best photos of the year 2014

Wall Street Journal – Year in Photos 2014

Nasa on Instagram

IO9 – The Most Amazing Science Images Of 2014

Mubi: Best Movie Posters of 2014

Rolling Stone – Rob Sheffield’s Top 25 Songs of 2014

Continue ReadingAnnual “Best of” Lists for 2014

Annual “Best of” Lists for 2013

I’ve put together much more comprehensive lists like this in the past, but time and priorities have interfered this year. Here are the end-of-year retrospectives that I was able to review and enjoy this December.

100 Notable Books of 2013 – New York Times

50 Book Covers for 2013 – The Casual Optimist

The Best Book Covers of 2013 – New York Times

Notable Children’s Books of 2013 – New York Times

Most Talked About in 2013 – Facebook Stories

Best photos of the year 2013 from Reuters.

The Top 10 Photos of 2013 from Time.

The 45 Most Powerful Photos Of 2013 from BuzzFeed.

Continue ReadingAnnual “Best of” Lists for 2013

Annual “Best of” Lists for 2012

Top 10 Science Stories of 2012 – Discover Magazine

2012: The Year in Pictures – New York Times

2012 Year in Pictures: Part I – The Big Picture, Boston.com

2012 Year in Pictures: Part II – The Big Picture, Boston.com

2012 Year in Pictures: Part III – The Big Picture, Boston.com

The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2012 – Time.com
“TIME’s social media editor Allie Townsend & social media associate Amy Lombard pick the 140 Twitter feeds that are shaping the online conversation in 2012.”

2012: The Year in Words – Merriam-Webster Online

Best Books 2012 – Goodreads
“Announcing the winners of the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards decided by readers.”

Best Books 2012 – NPR
NPR puts together a number of “best of” lists for literature in different genres.

Best Books of 2012 – Barnes and Noble

Best Books of 2012 – Publisher’s Weekly

10 Best Books of 2012 – New York Times
Wow – women actually have 3 of 10 spots on the list! Way to go, NYT, you guys are making progress. Maybe next year, we’ll even get 4 spots, given that women write 70% of all the books published.

Favorite Book Cover Designs of 2012 – NYTimes.com
“We asked people in and around the world of graphic design to name one of their favorite book covers from 2012 and briefly describe its appeal.”

Best Movies of 2012 – Roger Ebert

Best of 2012: The EW movie awards – Entertainment Weekly

Best of 2012: The EW TV awards – Entertainment Weekly

The Naughty and Nice of 2012 TV – everybody and television

Best & Worst of the Year – TV Guide

The Best Albums Of 2012 – VH1

50 BEST ALBUMS OF 2012 – Rolling Stone

The Best Games of 2012 Awards – Gamespot
“There was a noticeable change of direction for the gaming industry in 2012. As many developers shifted their gaze toward the next generation, the big-budget games that would normally fill our time were in much shorter supply.”

Continue ReadingAnnual “Best of” Lists for 2012

Ringing out 2010

Father Time Yesterday we had a mini earthquake here in Indiana and this time I actually felt it, because I was still lying in bed like a lazy person on vacation, because I was a lazy person on vacation. It felt like a harbinger, a bellwether.

I have been significantly lackadaisical lately about nearly everything except work. I’ve been focused there. And I have been focused on reading lately – a LOT. Particularly on writing that has a transporting effect on me. There’s something in particular I’m looking for, and I’ve been deconstructing and pulling apart what I’m reading to get at the heart of what has that transporting affect, and how I can bend, alter, focus and create that in my own writing. I feel like I’m poised to jump off a tall cliff and I’m waiting for the right moment; for the breeze to gather strength and help carry me off.

Today we need to get the house clean because we have a few friends coming over to play board games and watch the ball drop. Tomorrow; nothing to do. I have plans for the new year, I just don’t feel like sharing; they tend to falter when I do. And I’ve never been good at resolutions. So this year, a priority instead: transformation.

Continue ReadingRinging out 2010

My “Best of 2003” Retrospective List

Best TV show: Joan of Arcadia.

Honorable mention: Celebrity Poker Showdown, The Amazing Race 4

Best Fiction: Life of Pi.

Honorable mention: American Gods, The DaVinci Code

Best Non-Fiction: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look At The Right

Honorable mention: Indiana Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and Other Offbeat Stuff

Best Song: Crazy in Love – Beyonce

Best Album: Home – Dixie Chicks

Honorable mention: Elephant – The White Stripes

Best Movie: Return of the King

Honorable mention: Cold Mountain, Master and Commander

Best DVD: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)

Honorable mention: Spirited Away

Best Website: Friendster.com

Honorable mentions:
Eschaton by Atrios
Television Without Pity
Tee Vee – Home of the Vidiots

Most Evil GOP Bastard: Tom DeLay
In the field of GOP bastardy, few can compare with the malevolent influence of the GOP House majority leader. Known as “The Hammer,” this Texas power broker maintains tight control of his “peers” through his prodigious fundraising (he apparently lets lobbyists write their own legislation).

A big list of “best of” lists from major news outlets, etc:
What Do I Know’s Best of Lists

Continue ReadingMy “Best of 2003” Retrospective List