Gross as in a dozen dozens.... digging up a few list of dozens from the ar(t)chives before the re-start and adding some new ones as well. Many related to the blog's subjects, some more personal. Image above via Photofunia.
Anagrams of composer names
I've always loved word plays, and anagrams are among the most fun of them. The anagram generation site is a great help if you want to see how words or names can have fascinating anagrams. To keep this post at least a little on-topic for this blog (which for this occasion has warped into Stars for Karate!), I made an example of 12 classical music composers, whose names anagram into rather unexpected results:
Free Bulgaria! (Gabriel Faure)
Cruelest prophet (Peter Sculthorpe)
Bulldogs urinal (Douglas Lilburn)
Returnable flaws (Walter Braunfels)
Sour Polish (Louis Spohr)
Trouser labels (Albert Roussel)
Nine recalls (Carl Nielsen)
Kraut timeouts (Toru Takemitsu)
Marble abuser (Samuel Barber)
Personal twit (Walter Piston)
Cheesier TV (Steve Reich)
Mashed oats (Thomas Ades)
Try it yourself - but be warned, it is addictive.
Copyright statement: image above is in public domain.
A choice for complete pop/rock discographies
David Sylvian
Dire Straits
Genesis
Kate Bush
Peter Gabriel
Pink Floyd
Porcupine Tree
Queen
Simon and Garfunkel
Steven Wilson
Tori Amos
OK, it would suck never to hear anything again from the likes of ABBA, Beatles, Eagles, Kayak, Paul Simon solo, Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music, U2, ELO and so many others, but keeping it to these twelve acts would not be that bad.
Copyright statement: image above is in public domain.
A choice for complete classical music discographies
The same as above, but for classical music. It is interesting, because the result is different from my top 12 composers - one has to take into account width of repertoire and variety of styles. Here they are in chronological order.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Franz Schubert
Johannes Brahms
Antonin Dvořák
Jean Sibelius
Gustav Mahler
Maurice Ravel
Arnold Bax
Dmitri Shostakovich
Toru Takemitsu
Sofia Gubaidulina
Main casualties when compared to my list of favourites are Wagner, Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss, and Vaughan Williams.
Copyright statement: Image above is in public domain.
Vintage British Situation Comedies
Here is a list of my 12 favourite vintage British situation comedies (taking 2000 as the cut-off year for the definition of vintage). There is no ranking, I'll list them by year of release.
Since all of these are pretty well-known, I won't discuss them further. Of course, several others came close, such as Dad's army, The young ones, KYTV, Man about the house, etc.
The good life [1975-1978]
Fawlty Towers [1975-1979]
Yes (Prime) Minister [1980-1988]
Allo! Allo! series 1-6 [1982-1992]
Blackadder series 2-4 (1986-1989)
Red Dwarf series 1-6 [1988-1993]
Keeping up appearances [1990-1995]
One foot in the grave [1990-2000]
Bottom [1991-1995]
The Brittas Empire [1991-1997]
Absolutely Fabulous series 1-3 [1992-1996]
The vicar of Dibley [1994-1998]
Since all of these are pretty well-known, I won't discuss them further. Of course, several others came close, such as Dad's army, The young ones, KYTV, Man about the house, etc.
Copyright statement: low resolution screenshot, deemed fair use.
Vintage British Sketch Comedies
Here is a list of 12 favourite vintage British sketch comedies (taking 2000 as the cut-off year for the definition of vintage). There is no ranking, I'll list them by year of release.
The Morecambe and Wise Show [1968-1977]
Monty Python's Flying Circus [1969-1974]
Not the Nine O'Clock News [1979-1982]
Spitting Image [1984-1996]
Alas Smith and Jones [1984-1998]
French and Saunders series 1-5 [1987-1996]
Alexei Sayle's Stuff [1988-1991]
A Bit of Fry and Laurie [1989-1995]
The Mary Whitehouse Experience [1990-1992]
Canned Carrott [1990-1995]
Newman and Baddiel in Pieces [1993]
The Imaginatively Titled Punt and Dennis Show [1994-1995]
For the sitcoms, it was a challenge how to select only 12, for this list, it was a challenge to get to 12. But in the end, I like the result. Personal favourite of the lot: A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
Copyright statement: low resolution screenshot, deemed fair use.
Bucket list countries
A dozen countries I have not been to, but would love to see one day (the list of countries I did visit is substantial: about two dozen in Europe, China, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Canada, USA, Grenada, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Swaziland, South Africa). Here we go:
Norway
Finland
Iceland
Ireland
Latvia
Lithuania
Estonia
Malta
Japan
Vietnam
Chile
Argentina
I did not expect Europe to dominate when I started to make this list for a discussion board, but that's how it came out.
Copyright statement : image above in public domain.
Imaginary Tribute Bands
Years ago we played a game on one of the music discussion sites, in which one had to post a fictive but believable pop/rock band name, taking turns in alphabetical order. I took that one step further in said game, by aiming for fictive tribute band names. Here are a dozen of my best, with the band name they would tribute in parentheses.
The The The Tribute Band (The The)
U2Too (U2)
Sanjay Goes To Bollywood (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
Here Come The Warm Jets (Brian Eno)
X-Men Without Hats (Men Without Hats)
Mad About Madness (Madness)
The Backseet Boys (The Backstreet Boys)
Izzy Isbourne (Ozzy Osbourne)
Fat Elizabeth (Thin Lizzy)
Clowns Left Jokers Right (Stealers Wheel)
The Tillermen (Cat Stevens)
Just Justin and the Justintimes (Justin Bieber)
Copyright statement: image above created via Photofunia.
Homo Ludens
A list of twelve games that I have enjoyed a lot in the past or am still enjoying right now - the latter are marked with an asterisk.
Chess*
Bridge
Canasta/Samba
Scrabble
Octordle*
Sudoku*
Monopoly
Cryptic Crossword*
Mafia
Mahjong
Stratego
Dutch style Jass
Copyright statement: image above is in public domain.
Contemporary Photographers
For a while, this was a separate topic within my blog. However, for possible copyright reasons, these posts were deleted. Here are a dozen of my favourites among the living:
Brian Griffin (1948)
James Nachtwey (1948)
Annie Leibovitz (1949)
Frans Lanting (1951)
Ellen von Unwerth (1954)
Mario Testino (1954)
Brigitte Lacombe (1958)
Craig McDean (1964)
Nick Brandt (1966)
Sølve Sundsbø (1970)
Gavin Bond (1970)
Patrizio Di Renzo (1971)
Copyright statement: image above is in public domain.
Free Public Domain image sites
A treasure trove for anyone who needs pictures free of copyright constraints for a blog like this. Here are twelve of the best (you can find links in the right hand column).
Burst
FlickrCommons
ISO Republic
Magdeleine
Max Pixel
NeedPix
Pexels
Pixabay
Public Domain Pictures
PXFuel
Stockio
Unsplash
Copyright statement: image above is "Structured Art With Cubes Like Steps" by Matthew Henry from Burst, in public domain.
Favourite 21st Century TV series
I am not a big TV watcher, but here are 12 TV series that debuted this century, where I've tried (and usually succeeded) to watch every single episode.
Scrubs (2001-2010)
House, M.D. (2004-2012)
Marple (2004-2012)
Primeval (2007-2011)
The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019)
Modern Family (2009-2020)
Sherlock (2010-2017)
Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Death in Paradise (2011-?)
Agatha Raisin (2014-?)
The Orville (2017-?)
The Mallorca Files (2019-?)
Copyright statement: using DVD box cover images is deemed fair use.
Music Web Sites
To round it off, twelve music web sites that I find very helpful. The mark at the beginning of each entry contains the link to the site.
✅Talk Classical
✅Slipped Disc
✅Bis Records
✅Chandos Records
✅Hyperion Records
✅Prog Archives
✅All Music
✅Discogs
✅Acclaimed Music
✅ArkivMusic
✅Dutch Top40 and Archive
✅UK charts and Archive
Copyright statement: image above is in public domain.
