top 25 best music albums of all time

content/post/2023/10/top-25-best-music-albums-of-all-time.md

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+---
+title: "Top 25 Best Music Albums Of All Time"
+date: 2023-10-27T13:03:00+02:00
+categories:
+  - braindump
+tags:
+  - lists
+  - music
+---
+
+After compiling my [top 25 best games of all time list](/post/2023/10/top-25-best-games-of-all-time), I started drafting a list of my 25 best albums of all time, which after several revisions, I still have conflicted feelings about. It somehow was much harder for me to come up with 25 musical entries compared to the video game one, in part because I'm not a big music nut and in part because I wanted the list to showcase a bit of variety. Simply dumping 25 hip-hop albums in there---my favorite genre according to the [2022 in music](/post/2022/12/2022-in-music/) post---would not suffice. 
+
+Anyway. Here goes. Caveat Lector. Here be dragons. And so forth.
+
+![](../topsters-music25.jpg "My Top 25 Best Music Albums Of All Time.")
+
+Again, bear in mind that it's _unsorted_. Contrary to the top 25 game list, I wouldn't know where to start when trying to pick a single favorite: it's much more dependent on my mood than anything else. A first glance immediately reveals my preference for (1) eighties alt pop/rock, (2) game soundtracks and chiptunes, and (3) hip-hop. 
+
+Row 1:
+
+1. **Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here**. This one has been burned into my brain by endless sessions on repeat. When we were little, my dad copied the CD to a cassette to listen to on my Sony Walkman while we drove to our yearly holiday destination in Spain. Needless to say, I know about every position of about every _ploing_ by heart. 
+2. **Genesis: Invisible Touch**. It has _Land of Confusion_ on it. Nuff said. 
+3. **Michael Jackson: Thriller**. I had difficulties choosing between _Thriller_ and _Bad_, both are superb. Gotta pay respects to the King Of Pop, deservedly so.
+4. **Cory & The Wongnotes**. A recent entry thanks to Ruben Schade's Music Mondays. The up-beat cheerfulness always puts me in a good mood. Even the [full recording session on video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvMUDLyMCf4) radiates happiness.
+5. **Duran Duran: Decade**. Okay, I admit, I cheated by picking a compilation album, but I wanted to get a _James Bond_ song on here as well, and all others are scattered throughout their impressive discography.
+
+Row 2:
+
+1. **Ratatat: Classics**. It was either this or _St Germain_'s _Tourist_ as the perfect ambient music to facilitate focus.
+2. **Boss Fight: Caps On, Hats Off**. It was either this or one of _Dubmood_'s _Lost Floppies_ as the perfect modern chiptune mixture.
+3. **Pizza Tower** the soundtrack. As I said before, [I can't get enough of this soundtrack](/post/2023/03/pizza-towers-soundtrack-is-amazing/), it has no business being this good for a small indie game release.
+4. **Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia** the soundtrack. Any _Castlevania_ game comes with an amazing soundtrack, of which the three Nintendo DS incarnations---_Dawn of Sorrow_, _Portrait of Ruin_, and _Order of Ecclesia_---are my favorites. 
+5. **Mega Ran: Castlevania: The Nocturnal Cantata**. I only recently discovered the concept of _nerdcore_, the phenomena where video games and rap, two very _Brain Bakey_ things, meet. _Mega Ran_ portrays this perfectly by leaning on the _Castlevania_ tunes: a triple win!
+
+Row 3:
+
+1. **GTA Vice City: Wave 103 FM**. A second nod to (British) new wave music, but really, any of the _Vice City_ radio stations are brilliant. The ones I listen to mostly are: V-Rock, Wave 103, Radio Espantoso, Flash FM, and Wildstyle. Is this
+2. **Ancient Astronauts: Into Bass And Time**. German band _Ancient Astronauts_ successfully revived classic west-coast beats in _Into Bass And Time_. Its simplicity and consistent pace makes me even prefer it over its progenitors.
+3. **Wu-Tang Clan: Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)**. Probably the best thing ever to come out of Brooklyn, and despite the huge _Wu-Tang_ discography, the first is still the one I go back to the most, thanks to RZA's masterful sampling skills. 
+4. **GZA: Liquid Swords**. Selecting a single best _Wu-Tang_ solo album is no simple task, so I cheated yet again and included a _GZA_ and _Ghostface_ instead. 
+5. **MF DOOM: MM... Food**. After making this pick, I realized I should have picked _MF DOOM_'s collaboration with _Madlib_ instead, _Madvillainy_. 
+
+Row 4:
+
+1. **Deltron 3030: Deltron 3030**. In case that wasn't clear, I love the _Dan The Automator_ and _Del the Funky Homosapien_ (who's also a _Hieroglyphics_ member) duo: they reappear in the next choice and in the virtual group _Gorillaz_. _Deltron 3030_ was one of the first prophetic space tales spiced up by _Kid Koala_. Perhaps I should have picked one of _Kid_'s mixtapes instead.
+2. **Handsome Boy Modeling School: So... How's Your Girl?**. This is so very much strange, I love it. Their second album, _White People_, is less stellar but still wonderfully weird.
+3. **Hieroglyphics: Full Circle**. Another super group that drops less harsh beats than _Wu-Tang_ does, something I prefer as I get older. 
+4. **Swollen Members: Bad Dreams**. Canadian horrorcore that successfully crawled out of the underground scene. Their latest albums seemed to have lost their roots which is a shame.
+5. **RJD2: Dead Ringer**. Either a _RJD2_ album as a DJ or in the form of _Soul Position_ could be slotted in here. Perhaps also _Kid Koala_? By this point, I was having a lot of trouble selecting the "best of all time" ones.
+
+Row 5: 
+
+1. **Ghostface Killah: Supreme Clientele**. After realizing I needed one more _Wu_ solo album, I included _Ghostface_, as he's the most compelling to listen to. I still need to listen to _Fishscale_, but it probably won't be as good as this. 
+2. **Sonic Mania** the soundtrack. When it comes to video game soundtracks, oldie Sonics just beat the crap out of Mario. _Sonic Mania_ offers stellar remixes of Hydro City tracks, making me pick this one instead of _Sonic 3_. 
+3. **Age of Mythology** the soundtrack. This or the _Sim City 4_ soundtrack is the perfect background music when I'm getting bored of _Ratatat_, but in practice, the _Diablo II_ ambient music also frequently makes an appearance.
+4. **Gorillaz: Demon Dayz**. Perhaps the original album is the better one? I don't know, again, it depends on the day of the week and the position of the moon. 
+5. **Jurassic 5: Power In Numbers**. Another super group, but at this point, I only had one slot left, and just picked the CD I had lying around. 
+
+I'm upset the following albums didn't make it: _IAM: L'école Du Micro D'argent_, _Jedi Mind Tricks:  "The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological, And Electro-Magnetic Manipulation Of Human Consciousness_, anything from _Gravediggaz_, the soundtrack of _The Messenger_, _Wax Tailor: Hope & Sorrow_, ... 
+
+What was the point of this exercise again?

content/works/the-creative-programmer.md

@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ Please also consider leaving an honest review to improve the visibility of the b
 
 ### External
 
+- 2023-08-30: [CodeMotion: Combating AI Code Generation with Creativity](https://www.codemotion.com/magazine/ai-ml/combating-ai-code-generation-with-creativity/) promotional article
 - 2023-06-13: [CodeRanch Book Promotion Q&A](https://coderanch.com/t/773382/engineering/Wouter-Groeneveld) with Wouter Groeneveld
 - 2022-11-18: [KU Leuven---Wouter Groeneveld Presents New Book](https://wms.cs.kuleuven.be/cs/nieuws/nieuwsberichten/wouter-groeneveld-presents-new-book-2018the-creative-programmer2019) (Department of Computer Science university news item)
 - [The Creative Programmer on GoodReads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63234724)
@@ -78,4 +79,4 @@ Please also consider leaving an honest review to improve the visibility of the b
 - 2023-05-13: [The Creative Programmer Is In Print!](/post/2023/05/the-creative-programmer-is-in-print)
 - 2022-09-23: [The Creative Programmer Early Access Release](/post/2022/09/the-creative-programmer-early-access-release)
 - _Brain Baking_ Pages tagged with ["creativity"](/tags/creativity) or ["PhD"](/tags/phd)
-- [Academic publications](/works/papers) the book is based on.
+- [Academic publications](/works/papers) and [doctoral dissertation](/post/2023/07/identifying-and-amplifying-non-technical-skills-in-se-education/) the book is based on.