That is, you make a list of your top favorite 5, 10, 100, whatever, favorite movies, books, games, whatever. When does it say something about you
specifically?
One reason why I bring that up is because Ebert recently mentioned in his blog that some of Obama's favorite movies were The Godfather 1 and 2 and Casablanca, and someone in Ebert's comments criticized Obama for having a favorite film list that could have been picked from IMDB.
But those are great movies, right? Why wouldn't it be reasonable to have them as favorites?
Anyway, I guess the easy answer is, "Right at number 1." Well ... maybe.
I'd name my favorite movie, if pressed, to be 2001. Does that say anything about me? Not particularly. It's widely considered a classic.
On the other hand, my favorite game is R-Types. I don't know if anyone else has that as their favorite game. My top favorite games includes some like that that could be eccentric, but some "conventional" favorites (Super Mario Bros., Goldeneye), too.
So, I think for a list to say much about someone, it has to go deep enough to show conventional favorites AND eccentric choices.
I'm not sure how deep I'd need to go on my top movies list before it'd reveal anything about me. 2001? Conventional. Lawrence of Arabia? Conventional. 12 Angry Men? Goodfellas? Conventional. I think movies I think are overrated (Life of Brian, North by Northwest) are more unique to me. Are there movies I like more than average, even if they're not favorites? It's hard to think of examples. Life Aquatic could be one.
I think, in general, top videogame lists say more about people than movie lists, because I think people are more on their own with videogames. There are a few "safe" videogame picks (like Mario), but, while a person could reasonably pick a top ten list of movies that are all acknowledged classics, if someone played it so safe with games that their top ten looked like Nintendo Power's, then that would still reveal some not very flattering things about their taste.
One reason why I bring that up is because Ebert recently mentioned in his blog that some of Obama's favorite movies were The Godfather 1 and 2 and Casablanca, and someone in Ebert's comments criticized Obama for having a favorite film list that could have been picked from IMDB.
But those are great movies, right? Why wouldn't it be reasonable to have them as favorites?
Anyway, I guess the easy answer is, "Right at number 1." Well ... maybe.
I'd name my favorite movie, if pressed, to be 2001. Does that say anything about me? Not particularly. It's widely considered a classic.
On the other hand, my favorite game is R-Types. I don't know if anyone else has that as their favorite game. My top favorite games includes some like that that could be eccentric, but some "conventional" favorites (Super Mario Bros., Goldeneye), too.
So, I think for a list to say much about someone, it has to go deep enough to show conventional favorites AND eccentric choices.
I'm not sure how deep I'd need to go on my top movies list before it'd reveal anything about me. 2001? Conventional. Lawrence of Arabia? Conventional. 12 Angry Men? Goodfellas? Conventional. I think movies I think are overrated (Life of Brian, North by Northwest) are more unique to me. Are there movies I like more than average, even if they're not favorites? It's hard to think of examples. Life Aquatic could be one.
I think, in general, top videogame lists say more about people than movie lists, because I think people are more on their own with videogames. There are a few "safe" videogame picks (like Mario), but, while a person could reasonably pick a top ten list of movies that are all acknowledged classics, if someone played it so safe with games that their top ten looked like Nintendo Power's, then that would still reveal some not very flattering things about their taste.
