diff --git a/content/post/2023/10/top-25-best-music-albums-of-all-time.md b/content/post/2023/10/top-25-best-music-albums-of-all-time.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..71fdc1d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/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? diff --git a/content/works/the-creative-programmer.md b/content/works/the-creative-programmer.md index 3e3e2a32..ba9ca98d 100644 --- a/content/works/the-creative-programmer.md +++ b/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. diff --git a/static/post/2023/10/topsters-music25.jpg b/static/post/2023/10/topsters-music25.jpg new file mode 100644 index 00000000..08ebe7c3 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/post/2023/10/topsters-music25.jpg differ