Lists are a big deal on the Web. You see them everywhere. Sites such as Yahoo use them constantly thrown in among their news feeds. A number of magazines that still feature lists used them before the Web proliferation such as Forbes and U.S. News and World Report’s College Rankings.
I believe that I wrote a list for pay once. It was a sidebar to a story if memory serves me. I don’t have my files handy and I don’t want to search through a bunch of CDs to find the piece, which I can’t print here anyway without permission, perhaps money or both.
But I read somewhere that lists are suited for the medium of the Web. Lists with short text are well-suited for those who read, or scan, Web sites. Bearing that in mind, I decided to put together a “An EFD Top 10 Interesting Top 10 List That May or May Not Contain 10 Entries.” These lists are not necessarily Top 10 lists, as my deliberately confusing title says somewhere. They are not all particularly good. Some lists are very unique, as you will see. Others are done to death. But all had content that drove me to comment on them individually. For the creator of those sites, I’d have to say that is pretty good providing you want and actually care if someone reads your blog. And after all, we really don’t want anyone to read our blogs, now do we? So, here we go:
EFD’s Top 10 Interesting Top 10 Lists That May or May Not Contain 10 Entries
1. The Top 10 Most Fascinating Urinals.
The name pretty much says it all. Some entries are works of art. I suppose these works are not beyond those of the famed abstract expressionists and pop art figures of the late 20th century. Somehow, I see shades of Robert Rauschenberg here.
The term “cute” is in the eye of the beholder. I am not drawn to cute as a rule but there is something about these little creatures that just made me give this the No. 2 spot. Perhaps it is because of how the next top ten aren’t as cute.
3. Top 10 Truly Awful Ways To Get Killed By An Animal
Good God Gertie, as we say down here in southeastern Texas! This site may tempt you to start checking out the safety records of the zoo next time you go there. That is not to mention that drainage ditch or bayou next to your house.
4. 13 Hilariously Inappropriate T-shirts
These are hilariously inappropriate. Probably NSFW. But I like the site because it is a list with 13 entries. Some of the T-shirts are very uproarious. It is like the old saying: “clothes make the man.” They also make the woman or women. However, the women and men also make the clothes in a few photos here.
5. The Top 10 Most Ridiculous Items Taken Away By The TSA
I know these folks are on the front lines of fighting terrorism, but c’mon. Cheeses! I see the rationale for the TSA taking some of these items. I see as well that some common sense has become a casualty of our “War on Terror.”
6. The Top 10 Most Ridiculous Hair Styles in Popular Music History
As a topic, this seems rather hackneyed. That is soon forgotten once you catch a few of these doos. I always thought Flock of Seagulls were the most bizarre. They are here, but they have good company.
Country song titles are rich deposits for “S & S,” which is the acronym I just thought of when it comes to the genre’s song titles. It stands for “Sarcasm and Satire.” These C & W titles are waaaaaaaay past done to death. If you read this blog you know I am a big fan of a lot of country music. Nonetheless, this site catalogs many, many good titles even if it is pretty difficult reading.
This is another “D2D,” (done to death) which is like S & S only it is closer to DOA.”
9. Babies Named A Bad Bad Thing
Another way more overdone Top 10 here. Perhaps overdone like an abandoned turkey in a deep fryer on Thanksgiving. A few comments might border on upsetting some people’s sensibilities. Maybe just as many other readers probably meet the site with a nod and a “yep.”
I would be tempted to say this is written by someone who does a daily Top 10 column and this is Friday’s on a really bad week. Instead it is Thursday’s. I also remind the writer about No. 4, lecturing. Still, it is a very well-written piece and I can say that I am sure I would come up with something worse on many occasions if I had to write such a list for every day. All of this written above me stands as an example.
Well, there went three hours of my life that I’ll never get back.