the most beautiful offbeat sport: curling
What: The Scottish sport of curling, in which you throw a series of 44-pound stones from the hack across the hog line and down the sheet toward the house, getting the right weight, directing your sweepers, laying guards and frozen rocks, and taking out opposing stones, all with the goal of lying your shot rock […]
the most beautiful fantasy novel series: The Dying Earth
What: Jack Vance’s classic science fantasy mashup series The Dying Earth, written sporadically from 1950 to 1984 and collected in the compendium Tales of the Dying Earth. Why: There are sometimes so many great choices in a category that I struggle to choose the most beautiful one. This isn’t one of those times. Vance’s Dying […]
the most beautiful sitcom episode: Turkeys Away
What: The 1978 WKRP in Cincinnati episode "Turkeys Away," which concerns a Thanksgiving Day promotion gone wrong. Here is its famous closing scene. Why: WKRP was a mild little sitcom set at a Cincinnati radio station which had just undergone a format change to rock music. The old guard (bumbling station manager Arthur Carlson, slimy […]
the most beautiful marketing blunder: Earring Magic Ken
What: Mattel's 1993 release of an updated Ken doll, with surprising results: Why: This month's hoax touting an oddly-endowed inflatable Wolverine reminded me of the greatest of all shockingly bad brand extensions. In 1993, Mattel surveyed five-year-old girls about whether Ken and Barbie should be splitsville. Girls supported keeping Ken as Barbie's boy-toy, but they […]
the most beautiful automotive feature: the Excursion’s BlockerBeam
What: The BlockerBeam, a unique safety feature debuted in the 2000 Ford Excursion: Why: In 2000, showing the foresight that would lead to the collapse of the American automotive industry, the Ford Motor Company produced a vehicle that can only be described as obscene. The Excursion was an SUV big enough to haul nine Big […]
the most beautiful country rouser: Tennessee Flat Top Box
What: Roseanne Cash’s infectious version of her dad Johnny’s song “Tennessee Flat Top Box,” from her 1987 breakout album King’s Record Shop: Why: Roseanne Cash was uniquely poised to lead country music out of its darkest period. The early 1980s had seen the Nashville Sound devolve into orchestrative schmaltz, pop insensibility, and jingoistic posturing. Cash […]
the most beautiful country ballad: Angel from Montgomery
What: John Prine’s heartsick 1971 ballad “Angel from Montgomery.” Here is its greatest version, a live performance by Bonnie Raitt, in support of the recording on her 1974 album Streetlights: Why: Like gospel music doesn’t hedge on which gospel it’s referring to, country music is not shy about declaring which country it’s about. Sometimes it’s […]
the most beautiful history book: Common Ground
What: Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Live of Three American Families, J. Anthony Lukas’s 1985 chronicle of the breakdown of hallowed traditions in the wake of mandatory desegregation in Boston: Why: Understanding Boston requires seeing it through the prism of its most violent change, the period of the late 1960s and the 1970s. […]
the most beautiful movie deaths: Die Hard’s FBI guys
What: The deaths of Special Agent Johnson and Special Agent Johnson (“no relation”), and subsequent collateral damage, in the 1988 action film Die Hard. I don’t have a clip, but the start of the process is shown in this DVD cover: Why: In our discussion of the Oscars, Evon and I once returned to our […]
the most beautiful online Flash cartoon: Broken Saints
What: The 12-hour, 24-part animated epic Broken Saints, released on the internet from 2001 to 2003: The entirety of Broken Saints can be seen at brokensaints.com. Why: Macromedia’s Flash program democratized animation. Prior to the advent of Flash, major animated series were the exclusive province of the Disney-and-FOX set. Broken Saints took advantage of the […]