LIST(LESS)

I get comments from some readers who say I should jazz up my blog with a personal picture or two. Why not, right? If myspace.com has taught us anything it's that people love to put pictures of themselves on their blogspace to share with their new cyberfriends. It's also been a boon to online dating.

My answer is simply--no way. Employers (including the people who pay my check every two weeks) scan people's blogs for content they deem objectionable and they can use the pictures to discriminate. And none of it is illegal. In fact, people have been fired for the pictures of themselves that they've posted on their own blogspace. (There was an excellent piece on this on the Wednesday edition of CBS' The Early Show). So no pictures of me in this space...you'll just have to keep wondering what I look like.

Trust me, it's better for both of us this way!

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Lists

Too lazy or tired to write a reasonably intelligent blog? Then it's time to fall back on that old standby, the lists. These are my opinions and mine alone, but if you think I'm way off base you can always write me and tell me so. Today's lists:

Best Living Contemporary American Songwriters (lyrical division)
1. Joni Mitchell*
2. Paul Simon
3. David Byrne
4. Stevie Wonder
5. Lyle Lovett
6. Smokey Robinson
* - I'm not an idiot, I'm aware that Joni Mitchell is Canadian. But she's lived here so long, I'm calling her an American, okay?

Five Best All-time U.S. Presidents
1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. Theodore Roosevelt
Most underappreciated: Bill Clinton

Five Worst All-time U.S. Presidents
1. George W. Bush
2. Warren G. Harding
3. Herbert Hoover
4. Jimmy Carter
5. Richard Nixon
Most overrated: John F. Kennedy

I know what you're thinking--how could I rate Nixon higher than Carter? Simple--while Carter was smart, honest, earnest and forthright, he accomplished little in his one term of office, suffered through a hostage crisis, embarrassed the U.S. with his Olympic boycott and presided over a recession and double-digit inflation. Carter has been much better as an international ambassador and founder of Habitat for Humanity. Nixon was smart but also duplicitous, racist, paranoid, ruthless and resigned in disgrace. However he also oversaw detente with Russia, opened up China for trade, ended the Vietnam War and oversaw eight years of steady economic growth. His accomplishments don't outweigh his failings, but they come closer to balancing out than Carter's.

And one more list, for fun...

Ten Best All-Time American-Made Feature Films, 1927 - present**
1. Citizen Kane, 1940
2. Dr. Strangelove, 1962
3. The Godfather, 1972
4. Taxi Driver, 1976
5. Gone With The Wind, 1939
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968
7. Do The Right Thing, 1989
8. The Wizard of Oz, 1939
9. Goodfellas, 1990
10. Schindler's List, 1993
** - Why only 1927 to now? Because while there are many great historical films from the silent era, important works that paved the way cinema as we know it, I think listing films from the silent era among the 10 best of ALL TIME would be a bit like listing the Model-T among the all-time 10 best automobiles. It makes the wrong point and it's not really a fair comparison--the greatest artistic and popular cinematic experiences came since the advent of sound. Why American-made? Because who has really seen all of the great works of cinema from all of the countries of the world? Certainly not me. I know American movies the best, so that's what I listed. Keep in mind the film didn't have to be directed by an American--it just had to be financed and released by an American studio with American money. It is a coincidence that my top 10 happens to consist of films all directed by Americans although titles by Alfred Hitchcock, Bernardo Bertolucci and Ang Lee were strongly considered.

Wow. You aim to write a simple little nothing blog and look what happens! I'm even more pooped now...if you have a comment on any of my lists, feel free to drop me a line.

Peace.