Back in the 80s, a great friend of mine and I were hanging out and chatting in the front room of his parents’ house in Havertown, PA.[1] At one point, he walked over to the piano and said something like, “You know popular music. What song is this?” He then played two A major chords, … Continue reading This Tramp will always be Super to me
Category: Statistical reasonsing
Assessing Kamala Harris’ running mate choices
On the evening of July 22, 2024, Vice President Kamala D. Harris secured enough endorsements from delegates to the Democratic National Convention to become the de facto 2024 Democratic presidential nominee. Three days later, Harris announced she would choose a vice-presidential running mate by August 7. During the early summers of 2016 and 2020, I … Continue reading Assessing Kamala Harris’ running mate choices
Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 7 (My 100 Favorite Artists and Conclusion)
Having spent four essays detailing how difficult it is to rank one’s favorite music with both objectivity and methodological rigor (here, here, here, here), then using one such method to rank my 100 favorite tracks and albums, I conclude this series with an examination of my favorite artists and some final thoughts. As with every … Continue reading Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 7 (My 100 Favorite Artists and Conclusion)
Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 6 (My 100 Favorite Albums)
In five previous essays (here, here, here, here, here), I detail how I used appearances on 434 mixes (August 1981 to November 2023) and total plays to calculate a score for 9,560 tracks. Using these Track Scores (“TS”), I ranked my favorites from a tie for #7,529 (2,032 tracks with one play and no mix … Continue reading Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 6 (My 100 Favorite Albums)
Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 5 (My 100 Favorite Tracks)
In the first four essays in this series (here, here, here, here), I detail the evolution of the 434 music “mixes” I have created since August 1981. These mixes migrated from cassette to CD to 150-GB flywheel iPod, with a handful of videocassettes added along the way. As of April 2024, I have put 3,625 … Continue reading Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 5 (My 100 Favorite Tracks)
Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 4
In the first three essays in this series (here, here, here), I detail the evolution of the 434 music “mixes” I have created since August 1981, when I recorded 14 current favorite tracks onto a 60-minute cassette, calling it “My Stuff,” by putting a speaker from my stereo turntable next to a hand-held tape recorder, … Continue reading Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 4
Jimmy Rollins belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame
Reporting on the previous day’s Philadelphia Phillies game, Bob Brookover began his September 18, 2000 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer this way: “Excitement, an ingredient that has so often been marked absent during this sorry Phillies season, made a return appearance yesterday at Veterans Stadium. It came from the youthful exuberance and raw talent … Continue reading Jimmy Rollins belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame
Charting the Second British Invasion: The Singles
Through most of the 1980s, I bought a copy of the music trade magazine Billboard every week. Friends and I pored over its singles and albums charts, seeking insights into that week’s most popular music. I also calculated the top artists each week, as well as the top singles, albums and artists of each year. … Continue reading Charting the Second British Invasion: The Singles
My 100 Favorite Films…Probably
[Ed. note: This essay was updated on April 1, 2025] On December 1, 2022, Sight and Sound Magazine released the results of its decennial Greatest Films of All Time Critics’ Poll (“SS Poll”). The key result is that Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles dethroned Vertigo as the “greatest film of all time.”[1] … Continue reading My 100 Favorite Films…Probably
2022 Elections: A Post-Mortem (Part 2)
A few days ago, I took our golden retriever Casper to a local park for a long run. It was late at night – or, rather, early in the morning – so we had the park virtually to ourselves. I used a Chuckit! to fling an oversized tennis ball against a high chain link fence … Continue reading 2022 Elections: A Post-Mortem (Part 2)
Just Bear With Me... 