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The Best of Its Kind
There are very few things that are universally recognized as the best of their kind. But some things were simply better than everything that came before them, and remain better than anything since. In honor of Rush Limbaugh, who was the best talk radio broadcaster in history, I thought it would be fun to hear some of your thoughts on what is the best of its kind. Any category will do – best beer, best album, best handgun – so let’s hear it.
I will say right up front that the best toy for children of all ages are Legos. They’re educational, versatile, can be used to create more than their advertised design, loved cross-culturally, and cross-gender, and are a better investment than many stocks.
What’s your best?
Published in General
Best fiction–Tolkien. Best juice–mango.
Best prose fiction in English: C.S. Lewis
Best drama in English: William Shakespeare
Best prose fiction in German: Eduard Mörike
Best drama in German: Friedrich Schiller (in particular “Maria Stuart” and “Kabale und Liebe”)
Best prose fiction in Old Norse: Njal’s Saga
Best poetry in Old Norse: Egil Skallagrimsson’s “Sonnatorrek”
Best beer currently on the market: Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout
Best Bier currently on the market: Kloster Scheyern Dunkeles
Best American beer currently on the market: DeSchutes Stout (with honorable mention for Sam Adams Honey Porter)
Best movie: The Seven Samurai. Ask me tomorrow and I’ll say Casablanca. Sunday it will be The Last of the Mohicans (1992 version). For some reason I find this category difficult to decide.
Best television series: The Granada TV version of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett.
Best SF television series: Star Trek with the Enterprise NCC-1701 no bloody A, B, C or D. Or K.
Best jazz fusion album: The Inner Mounting Flame by the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Best Christian rock album: Redemption Songs by Jars of Clay
Best Christian progressive rock album: Jesus Christ: The Exorcist by the Neal Morse Band. “Love has called my name” and “Get behind me Satan” alone make the album fantastic.
That’s it for now. I have to look for work.
Best handgun: 1911
Best Automitive engine: small block V8
Best motorcycle engine: in line 4
I agree with you about Legos. If I could only convince Mrs Tex to part with her duplicates (or triplicates) we could see some of that profit. Space limitations may force her to start reducing her inventory. (I never thought 880 sq ft would fill up this fast). Typical conversation:
her: “this set I bought for $50 is selling for $300 on eBay”
me: “how many do you have?”
her: “three”
me: “so…”
her: “huh?”
Best children’s book author & illustrator: Dr.Suess
This post https://ricochet.com/897728/where-no-one-has-gone-before/ got me thinking.
The best Star Trek series? Why the original series of course.
Best Star Trek Movie: Wrath of Khan.
Best cigarette:
Best Rock & Roll album:
In these sense of “best” that both revolutionized and which everything that comes after strives to be, but can’t surpass?
I mean, ‘Merica! for best country
Yellowstone, best park/public space/national land. It took the concept of the King’s hunting estates from Europe and democratized it and well, revolutionized it. It is also still the best public space in America, if not the world.
Best beer: Grolsch
Best James Bond: Sean Connery
Best music: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the best version performed by John Eliot Gardner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Best car I ever owned: 1981 Corvette
Best guitarist: Jimi Hendrix
Best race car engine: 426 Hemi
Best kick*ss computer character-female: Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Best kick*ss computer character-male: The Doomguy from the Doom series
Best bowling score I ever rolled: 189
Best round of golf (18 holes): 101
Best personal football stats: 1 touchdown and 1 first down (soon followed by 1 broken arm-best injury)
Best semester in college: 4.0 in the fall of my sophomore year
Best wife: neutral observer
I always carry a Swiss Army Knife and it is endlessly useful. Best carry-on.
Best book: Gospel of John
Best song: Hymn to Joy
Best novelist: Dostoyevsky
Best novel: The Brothers Karamazov
Best novel: Moby Dick
Best Gospel: Luke
Best beer: Chimay Bleu
Best medium-priced champagne: Laurent Perrier
Best symphony orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony
Best American symphony orchestra: Chicago Symphony
Best symphony: Beethoven Fifth. No, Beethoven Seventh. No, Beethoven Third. One of those.
Best symphony not by Beethoven: Mahler Fifth
Best vacation spot: south Maui
Best European city to visit: Amsterdam
Best meds to have on a desert island: ibuprofen and prednisone
Best US governor at present: Ron deSantis
this is fun but I gotta go…
Used to be. I don’t think you can carry it on airplanes anymore.
You are so right on both of these. I would give “Best Pilot Episode” to DS9, though.
We used to listen to a lot of Jars Of Clay and their music comes up on from time to time on my music ap, but I play Who We Are Instead pretty frequently.
The best Jars of Clay song: My Heavenly.
Best ephemeral art/artist: Hal Foster/Prince Valiant
Down in the PIT, they’d know this would be my entry. Hal Foster’s skills in illustration are unmatched — and to think it was intended for the Sunday Comics section then tossed in the trash is almost blasphemous. The writing was excellent, too. (The current artist/writer team on the strip is . . . okay, but the Foster and Murphy eras are wonderful.) I’m thankful that publishers are still keeping them in print.
(Second best: Mitt Caniff/Terry and the Pirates.)
Best commonly known piano: Steinway
Most beautiful melody: variation 18 of Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
Romantic classical music most widely beloved by pianists: Chopin’s nocturnes
Best Mozart pianist: Robert Casadesus
Favorite symphony number: Largo from Dvorak’s New World symphony
Best opera number by best voice: Pavarotti in Nessun Dorma (@2:35…magnifico)
My favorite soprano voice: Kiri Te Kanawa
Best cures for the grumps: listing things to be thankful for, favorite music jams
Speaking of jams, ultimate party jam: 1999 by Prince
Best book ever written: Holy Bible
Favorite protestant theologian: John Wesley
Best historical biographer: David McCullough
Best founding father and president: the first, George Washington
Best form of government: democratic republic, if you can keep it
Best sunset: tossup between desert or ocean
Best soft drink: Squirt
Best tea (tough one, but I’m going with): Darjeeling, lightly steeped
Best fruit: oranges from my back yard
Best candy bar: strawberry Twizzlers not technically a candy bar, so I’ll go with either Kit Kat or Snickers, but I really like Reese’s peanut butter cups…unfortunately, I like too many of them :-)
Most memorable sound: ocean waves beneath window at night
Best human institution: the oldest – family
Sweetest sound (top 4 here): “you’re forgiven”, “I love you”, “thank you”, and a child’s laughter
I’m pretty much a CS Lewis stan, but the Chronicles of Narnia I absolutely loved as a child. Still do.
Best sounding LP: The King James Version from Sheffield Labs
Best live rock album: Waiting for Columbus by Little Feat
Best beer: Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale
Best Scotch: Laphroaig
Best Bourbon: Blanton’s
Yes, I’m coping fine – thanks for asking!
<<——— Best rock album
Best beer: Gulden Draak Belgian ale; runner-up: Solace Brewing Co. Partly Cloudy IPA (a local Virginia brewery)
Best movie: Classic, Casablanca; 90s-present: The Commitments; Sci-Fi: Forbidden Planet
Best bourbon: Buffalo Trace
Best Star Trek episode: The Menagerie (2-parter)
Best singer: Frank Sinatra
Coffee Crisp
Phil, you should do a tasting with Gulden Draak, Chimay, Orval and some more of the Belgians. You’ll come around to Chimay.
Haven’t tasted that many Belgians, so I’ll put them on my to-do list.
I’ve been lobbying Mrs. Guerra for a Remington 1911 since last summer. I almost had her when I was buying a shotgun but my phone battery went dead at the gun counter. :(
Is that image in your home? If so, some of my children want to visit and stay for the summer. Wow. We have several large bins full of them and try as I have over the years to organize them the little guys always muddle it up in no time. That’s fine, because they’re toys after all, but inevitably my five-year-old will ask me to “help” him make a set from an old instruction manual and then
weI will end up raking through the 27 gallon totes for the right pieces for the better part of a week. It’s a good thing I actually enjoy it.Best rebounder in the NBA: Moses Malone
Best Arm in the NFL: John Elway
Best musical performance: John Coltrane “My Favorite Things” live in Antibes 1965.
Best cup of Coffee: My first cup in the morning.
Best time of the week: On my way out the door from work when I have 2 days off.
Best athlete I ever competed against: Al Hamilton. He was all Big Sky at Weber State. Dude had a huge vert man.. I was trailing him on a fast break and he raised up and dunked in front of me. His feet were above my freakin head. I saw the bottom of his shoes.
Best golf score 18 holes: 78
Best golf score 9 holes: 32. I was 4 under par. I think I was possessed by Tiger Woods for a few holes. The back 9 I woke up and didn’t even break 80.
Best guitar: Fender Stratocaster.
Best fruit: Rainer Cherries.
So the Mrs’s Lego habit had taken up a big corner of our shop building. We built another building with a 2 bedroom/2 bath guest apartment and 1/3 of the building is her Lego work shop. It looks like a plain steel building from the outside so we get taxed like it’s a warehouse (tax man can’t come on the property here, unless they are invited. Just like a vampire, which is pretty apt if you think about it).
More pics where a friend’s grand kids came over, and some pics where you can see the wall of unassambled sets. When we have kids over she sets them up with an assembly table and send them home with little sets. As hobbies go it’s sure cheaper than a boat or airplane.
You and she are now two of my favorite people.
Best television series: The Sopranos
Best Cheap Whiskey Tullamore D.E.W.
Best Rock Album: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon
Best Movie: The Godfather
Yes.
Best single game performance by an NFL defensive player: Derrick Thomas’ seven sacks vs. Seattle 11/11/90
Best single game performance by an NFL offensive player: Ed Podolak Chiefs vs. Dolphins 12/25/71 (350 total yards: 85 rushing, 110 receiving, and 155 on returns.)