The blurred line between "favorite" and "best"

I often times find that it's difficult to differentiate between "bests" and "favorites," as they can tend to get blurred and we then mistake one for the other and vice versa. Just a couple weeks ago, someone asked me to name what I thought were the five best songs of all time. This was incredibly difficult on multiple fronts. First off, how exactly would one define "best" in this situation? The five most influential songs of all time? The five most technically sound songs of all time? The five most emotionally-charged, inspirational, or affecting songs of all time? There are a number of different routes one could travel when being asked such a question. It's also difficult to discern one's own personal best to the best at large. Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" - is it one of my personal favorite songs? No. But do I feel it's probably one of the best rock songs in the genre's history? Yes. In both scenarios, a person's viewpoint is subjective, however, with the latter, a person is attempting to combine that subjectivity with a certain amount of objectivity, regardless of how unbiased and educated that objectivity may or may not be. Often times, though, a person will blur the two, and when asked what the best movie of all time is, they may respond by saying, "Definitely The Notebook," since it's their personal favorite, and therefore, in their mind, it's the best. However, if they were to stand back and not look through a biased lens, would they still answer in the same manner? While it's possible, the odds are probably fairly slim.

So how does one discern between the two? While it can be difficult, I tend to differentiate the two by thinking about the following:

- If it's a personal best or favorite, it's something we watch or listen to with a great deal of frequency, more than any other song, show, band, or movie (or what have you). For me, some of my favorite movies are: The Naked Gun, Clue, When Harry Met Sally, Airplane, among many others I watch fairly regularly.

- If it's classified as one of the very best, it had a grand influence and impact on oneself as well as potentially many others; it was innovative, well constructed, and technically-sound. Whenever one hears this type of song or sees this type of film, he or she may feel goosebumps and the song or film may not leave their mind for several hours or days due to the significant impact it left on them. For me, such films would be: American Beauty, The Lives of Others (German), Songs From the Second Floor (Swedish), The Usual Suspects, among many others.

- The two groups can overlap at times, but I rarely find that to be the case.

At the end of the day, though, no matter whether one is listing off personal favorite songs or films or laying claim they're the very best, it's all quite subjective. Even experts in the fields of music and film rarely ever come to a consensus about what constitutes as the "best." That's why there's always so much debate come Grammy and Oscar season.

Well, on that note, I better get going and attempt to list the five best songs ever. Five seems to be too low of a number, though, which prompts a headache just thinking about it. Maybe I'll up that number to ten. Hmm... That seems a bit low too. Fifteen or twenty? Ah, screw it; I'll make it 100 and see how that goes. Wish me luck!

Boycotting jukeboxes because of TouchTunes

I love music and enjoy hitting the bar(s) over the weekend, so naturally, when the mood strikes me, I've never been coy about playing some songs on the jukebox. This past Thursday, a friend of mine turned 50, so several friends of her's, including myself, all met up to celebrate the occasion. At around 9:30, a friend of mine and I both chipped in $5 to play some songs on the jukebox. Four hours and 231 skips later, we gave up on hearing the songs we had selected, and went home knowing we had just wasted $5. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me (and many others), and due to that, I'll be boycotting jukeboxes. Why? The scam known as TouchTunes. You see, here's how the plot typically breaks down. A person (or group of people) downloads the TouchTunes app on his/her phone, consumes one too many adult beverages, and due to this, has less care for spending extra money to hear the songs of their choosing right NOW. That's the thing with TouchTun

The difference between "looking" and "checking out"

I may be way off with these numbers, but it's my approximation that at least 75% of individuals whom are involved in a serious relationship feel it's perfectly acceptable to "check out" members of the opposite sex they're not involved with. Meanwhile, approximately 25% either don't feel this is acceptable or aren't sure about the matter. I hadn't thought about this matter for a while, but since I've been dating a woman for about 8 months, the topic has been pondered about some. When reading or hearing others discuss this very issue, I often times hear comments similar to the following: "It's human nature to look." "There's nothing wrong with checking others out. I'm sure he/she does it too!" "It's fine to do it. Just don't tell your boyfriend/girlfriend about it or do it in front of them!" "It's natural to find people attractive." When observing the array of comments, I i

The verdict is in. To no one's surprise, Jonathan Hoenig has been found guilty of being an idiot.

Just recently, when discussing the Michael Brown shooting and whether or not race had anything to do with it, Fox News contributor Jonathan Hoenig said, "You know who talks about race? Racists." One moment while I provide Mr. Hoenig with the well deserved slow-clap. :: slow-claps for two seconds :: So, that was quite the line by Mr. Hoenig, wasn't it? "You know who talks about race? Racists." Well, wasn't he just talking about race? So, by his own words, I guess that makes him a racist. Also, if he wants to be consistent, does this mean that people whom talk about gender are sexists and people whom talk about sexual orientation are homophobes? With that line of thinking, Hoenig would engage in the following back-and-forths: Hoenig: "So, who are you voting for?" A woman: "The Democratic candidate, because he's been adamant about his support for equal rights for women." Hoenig: "You sexist feminist nazi!"

The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

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