Official "Top 5 favorite" list thread

This reminds me of the episode of the Office (US) where they have a fire in the kitchen and play Desert Island.

Top 5 favorite books

1. The Sun Also Rises
2. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. Not much, just chillin'
4. He's just not that in to You
5. Jane Eyre

 

TV characters (in no order)
1. Seinfeld
2. Simpson
3. Bundy
4. Fred Murtz
5. Iron Chef Sakai

(Worst playoff) Relief pitchers
1. Niedenfuer
2. Moore (RIP)
3. Lidge
4. Eck (one bad slider set the tone in '88)
5. can't think of a fifth

Top 5 TV crushes
1. Kelly Bundy
2. Seinfeld girlfriend who laughs like Elmer Fudd on a blender
3. Mayuko Takata (judge on Iron Chef)
4. Alex (DA from Law and Order SVU)
5. Bowflex girl circa '93

 

Top 5 things I did on the dumbest day of my life (sometime in August 1992)

5. Failed to bring my wallet, driver's license, etc., on a baseball trip to Tiger Stadium. Oh by the way, I went to a Sunday afternoon game after working third shift, meaning I drove 3 1/2 hours on about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. All I had was my ATM card, some cash, and my Blockbuster card.

4. Assumed the Ohio Turnpike rest areas had ATMs. (They do now, they didn't in 1992)

3. Didn't have enough money in my pocket to cover tickets, food (for me and then-14-year-old Z-Man, my little brother), gas, and most importantly, tolls.

2. Punched and shattered my windshield in a fit of rage (for real, I need little brother Z-Man to confirm, he was there) when I had no money to pay my Ohio Turnpike bill, my lie that my wallet was stolen in the rest area being about as believable to the turnpike Nazis as if I would have said that Bernie Kosar stole it. They made me sit there until I could file a police report. The fit of rage had a lot to do with all of the above, but mostly because ...

1. I got deported from Canada.

Decided to head to Windsor to check it out after the game, not knowing without any form of ID (I had only been to Canada once at the time) I wasn't getting in. When they asked for it, I was like, "I've got my Blockbuster card, will that do?"

They pull me over, interrogate Z-Man, who they apparently thought I was either using as a teen prostitute slave or a drug mule, realize he's my brother (duh, motherfucker sounds like me and looks like me, only uglier! ), release him, and has us sign papers.

I thought I was signing some sort of waiver, until I notice it's deportation papers. They send me back into uncoming American traffic from the downtown Detroit tunnel, which was fucked, so I took a detour onto a Windsor side street to get in the Canadian line. This violated my deportation, so some Dudley Do-Right mountie threatened to arrest me. I just got pissed, hit the accelerator, and headed back to Detroit. America! Fuck yeah!

Sadly, unlike most of my long stories, that is all 100 percent true. I was a Darwin Award waiting to happen that day.

 

Top 5 books I own about the history of the Balkans ...

1. Balkan Ghosts
2. The Balkans
3. Salonica Nights
4. The Making Of Eastern Europe
5. The Other Europe

 

Books

1. For Whom the Bell Tolls
2. Cannery Row
3. The Sun Also Rises
4. The Great Shark Hunt
5. East of Eden

Radio stations
1. EQX
2. KROQ
3. WXND
4. Mighty-690 (old-school SoCalians will remember)
5. Any AM station that picks up MLB baseball along the dark highway.

 

Top 5 favorite books about American politics that I own:

1. Mutual Contempt -- about LBJ and RFK's rivalry
2. Darkhorse -- the story of the 1880 presidential campaign
3. The Ambition and the Power -- about Jim Wright's fall
4. President Nixon -- most accurate portrayal of RMN yet
5. Master of the Senate -- Caro's masterful LBJ bio

 

Movies:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird -- My grandmother said this movie perfectly captured the town she grew up in, Louisville, Miss. (Pronounced: Lewis-ville) Add that to the fact that it's a great movie, and you can debate whether Harper Lee or Truman Capote wrote it, and it's over the top.
2. Das Boot -- I'm an ex-submariner, but our boats had almost nothing in common with WWII boats. The movie perfectly captures the despair of the German U-boat life after the tide turned against them.
3. Citizen Kane -- I don't even know all the cinematorgraphic reasons you're supposed to love this movie. I just think it's cool.
4. Fletch -- Gotta have a comedy on the list, and this flies the flag for Spinal Tap, Caddyshack and Animal House.
5. Manhattan -- There's at least a half-dozen Woody Allen movies that could occupy this spot, but I'll choose this one.

Bands
1. Wilco
2. Any band Ryan Adams is in
3. Old RHCP
4. Prince
5. Chickasaw Mudpuppies (Not really in my top 5, but if anybody has any of their stuff I'd pay to get copies.)

 

I suppose it would ruin this thread beyond repair if I listed the five Ann Coulter books I have as my top 5, so I'll just list three of them, then the two books Rush wrote. In fact, just forget I said anything.

OK, here is my real top five book list
1. Ball Four -- have re-read it a few times and laughed my ass off every time.
2. Slander, by Coulter -- Sorry, but she really has a way with words
3. Sea Wolf by Jack London
4. Any of the "Fiddler" Mysteries by A.E Maxwell. I've read all 8 and since they contain the same lead characters, I'm calling it just one (and a fun ride).
5. Loose Balls, Terry Pluto's book on the old ABA.

And it's really hard to pick five when there are so many others.

Top five favorite music artists/groups
1. Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
2. Little River Band
3. Joe Jackson
4. Nat King Cole
5. Lowen & Navarro
5a. Billy Joe Walker Jr.

 

You're not sorry at all.

Top five music artists/groups

1. Velvet Underground
2. Carly Simon
3. Toby Keith
4. Pearl Jam
5. Carrie Underwood

 

Was there a 10,000-watt blowtorch involved?

 

Top Five Rocky Movies:

1. Rocky IV
2. Rocky I
3. Rocky III
4. Rocky II
5. Rocky V

 

Top five MLB games I've been witness to:

1. May 18, 2004 -- Big Unit 27, Braves 0
2. Oct. 23, 1996 -- Mr. Leyritz, meet Mr. Wohlers
3. April 22, 2001 -- O'Neill, Justice HRs off D. Lowe in 10th give Yanks walkoff win vs. BoSox
4. Aug. 21, 1991 -- Francisco Cabrera 3-run HR off Dibble w/ 2 outs in 9th ties score at 9-9; Braves beat Reds in 13 at Riverfront
5. July 14, 2006 -- Hoffman allows 3 in 9th, Padres score 2 to tie it; Braves take lead in 10th, Padres tie it; Braves take lead in 11th, win 15-12 (LaRoche 2 HRs, Chipper 2 HRs, Adrian Gonzalez 2 HRs, A. Jones HR, Piazza HR)

Honorable mention:

- 4/10/05 (Pedro's 2-hitter trumps Smoltz's 15 Ks)
- 7/14/01 (Ripken homers in final two at-bats in Atlanta)
- 10/14/95 (In surprise Game 4 start, Avery tosses 6 shutout IP to sweep Reds and clinch NL pennant)
- 5/29/88 (Ryan 3-hitter beats Cubs at Wrigley)
- 10/24/99 (Game 2, '99 WS -- All-Century Team announced)
- 9/23/99 (Chipper seals MVP award w/ 4th homer in 3 days to sweep Mets)
- 7/31/98 (Mercker outduels Maddux -- McGwire hits 25 bombs in BP)
- 7/19/91 (Ripken HRs during 1,500th straight game; cool fact: Gehrig homered in his 1,500th straight game, too.)