There is always listmania associated with the end of the year. The ten best (or worst) books and movies, ten celebrities that staged a comeback this year and ten that disappeared into oblivion, the top ten archaeological disoveries, hottest fashion trends, the top ten Bushisms of 2007 - and many others.
Before everyone with an internet connection got a crack at putting out their year end lists, this used to be the media's gift to its consumers - a time capsule of various lists that recaped the year that had been. In a field bristling with contending events and personalities, the top ten would naturally be rife with omission and oversight.
Yet without these lists, the year would have come and gone for nothing, there would be no documented history of the high and low points, there would be no looking back at the remarkable moments, pondering the swift passage of time or the utter futility of list making itself.
Today, no two lists are alike and each represents the personality of the individual or collective culling it. Each year end list is one version of the events and the list maker's commentary on them. There is no single official list or uber-list and its only fair because people have lived the year differently and will remember it in their own way - list the top ten from their vantage point.
Before everyone with an internet connection got a crack at putting out their year end lists, this used to be the media's gift to its consumers - a time capsule of various lists that recaped the year that had been. In a field bristling with contending events and personalities, the top ten would naturally be rife with omission and oversight.
Yet without these lists, the year would have come and gone for nothing, there would be no documented history of the high and low points, there would be no looking back at the remarkable moments, pondering the swift passage of time or the utter futility of list making itself.
Today, no two lists are alike and each represents the personality of the individual or collective culling it. Each year end list is one version of the events and the list maker's commentary on them. There is no single official list or uber-list and its only fair because people have lived the year differently and will remember it in their own way - list the top ten from their vantage point.
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