List #013 - Prognostications

Some say the world will end on December 21st, 2012. So why not make a YouTube playlist of music from 2012 in preparation for this possible event?

The playlist is titled: Prognostications: 2012 and "Recent" Favorite Songs
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJE5a80RY7kIN6p8RAScTmPcl1wpMdY-U

The first ten songs are from 2012, the next ten from 2010 or 2011, and then an encore song from 2012. Most of these songs are by artists whose origins date back to the 60's and 70's, but there are a few from today's modern music.

The YouTube playlist is subject to change. This is the list of songs currently on the list at the time of this post.

Bob Dylan - Duquesne Whistle
Psy - Gangnam Style
The Rolling Stones - Doom and Gloom
Bruce Springsteen - We Take Care Of Our Own
The Beach Boys - That's Why God Made The Radio

List #012 - September 31st

(Version 1.1)

In laymen's terms...
These 31 albums symbolize the 31 years I have enjoyed listening to music.
These 31 albums are 31 favorite studio albums, in order from near-best to best.
These 31 albums were selected out of all the albums I have listened to over the years.
These 31 albums are by 31 of my favorite artists and bands.
These 31 albums are subject to change, of course. :)

Can you identify the artist or band of each album?

Honorable mentions: 4; Aqualung; Band on the Run; Days of Future Passed; Escape; Every Picture Tells a Story; Faith; In The Court of the Crimson King; London Calling; Purple Rain; Slowhand; Stampede; Ten Summoner's Tales; Toys in the Attic

31. Play
30. Exile on Main Street
29. Sports
28. Ghost in the Machine
27. Cloud Nine
26. Mike + the Mechanics

List #011 - A-52's Album Listening Marathon

Music exploration can be quite cumbersome. There is the music of bands I'm a big fan of, while there is music of bands I'm interested in. There are deals on Amazon MP3s that I just can't pass up to buy. There are CDs of music I've given as gifts that I have some interest in. And everyone in my family has their own music collections.

The problem is the pace I'm listening to new music in was too slow compared to the albums I'm adding to iTunes. (And when I listen to new music, I often want to be absorbed in it uninterrupted.) The result was many, many albums that I have on iTunes that I haven't listened to in full.  Some albums I have had for a long time collecting dust. So, I figure I need to have a marathon of sorts to catch up on all this music lost in my iTunes archives.

52 albums. Highlighted by the bookends: from the 14 albums in the The Beatles Stereo Box Set to the 6 albums in the Humble Music Bundle (http://blog.humblebundle.com/) a couple months ago. Covering a whole variety of interests and genres via single, double, triple, studio, live, and compilation albums. The goal was to listen to each of them (giving my quick thoughts on each) by this September's end. That's about an album a day, two-a-day if some are short.

The order of the albums was determined by random (a deck of cards to be specific) plus two rules:
1) no two Beatles albums or no two Humble Bundle albums will be listened to back-to-back, and
2) one particular album will be played on the 31st anniversary of its release.

(Two albums were later added appropriately: Bob Dylan's Tempest, which was live streamed on iTunes at the time, and Genesis' Abacab Complete, music from Abacab and the Abacab sessions.)

Starting in early August, the marathon did end on September 30th, and the final order is below.

What will be next? Re-listen to most of these albums and pick out my favorites.
With the invention (or discovery, take your pick) of Spotify, I might do another marathon with The Rolling Stones being the centerpiece. We shall see...

List #010 - Rush Order

Rush's 20th album of studio material, Clockwork Angels, will be released on June 12, 2012. In the past four years of music exploring, I've took a major interest in progressive rock. Especially the Canadian band Rush. Now after buying most of their music, I like to share the order in which I have bought their music.

This Amazon Listmania list includes all 23 albums I have bought, including the upcoming album. For each album, I give my thoughts, favorites, and facts on how I liked or disliked each album. Though I am limited to 400 characters per album, my commentary should be enough for you to explore Rush's music and in any order you wish!

Click the link below to go directly to the list. The list on here is simply the Rush albums I've bought in the order of purchase.

http://amzn.com/lm/R2XHJFWS0RQG7Y

1. The Spirit of Radio
2. Retrospective 3
3. Moving Pictures
4. 2112
5. Permanent Waves

List #009 - Monopoly Probabilities

The well-famed Parker Brothers game of Monopoly features a board of 40 spaces traversed via rolling two six-sided dice, with the goal to amass and upgrade properties towards being the last player to not go bankrupt.

Using basic math knowledge, we could create a table of all possible outcomes of rolling two dice. Results will show that the number most-rolled is seven (1/6 chance), the numbers least rolled are two and twelve (1/36 chance, each), and doubles are rolled 1/6 of the time.

But determining the space we will end up on at the end of a person's roll of the dice isn't just based on the roll of the dice. If a person lands on a Chance or Community Chest space, does he stay there or will he move? Does the person stay in jail for a short time or long time? Did the person already roll doubles once or twice before the roll?

Computer scientist Truman Collins takes this and more into account in creating several tables of data. These include long-term and short-term probabilities on landing on a particular space, the average income per opponent roll per property, and the average amount of opponent rolls to recoup all costs. If the numbers are not your thing, enjoy the list of spaces on a Monopoly board.

http://www.tkcs-collins.com/truman/monopoly/monopoly.shtml