The UnSpun Blog

Home Appliances it Cannot be Home Without

Have you ever sat there, looked around your house, and noticed the myriad of small appliances you have? It's incredible. Look in your kitchen – microwave, toaster oven, coffee maker, coffee grinder, mixer. All small appliances, all important. What about a fan or a window air conditioner? Small appliances and almost crucial on certain days of the year.

Small appliances are the little (and sometimes not so little) things that make our worlds just that much easier. They're not necessarily essentials, but they can be hard to live without.

If you get ton of credit card applications, or other junk mail that could destroy your credit rating if not disposed of properly, you want a paper shredder. You don't need one. You could sit there with scissors and make all the paper into confetti by hand, but a paper shredder would save you valuable time. I take out my George Foreman Grill almost every single week, if I had to cook for my family without it, I could do it, but it would be far more difficult. Apparently a lot of you feel similarly about your George Foremans, because it's sitting at number six on UnSpun's list of "Can't-Do-Without Small Home Appliances" (click here if you don't see the list below):

I have to say, I'm moderately surprised that toaster oven is currently beating out coffee maker for the top spot. I can go without a toasted bagel on a daily basis, but not without a cup of coffee. Do you really feel differently?

Trying to Reason with Football Season

We're heading into the fourth week of the NFL season, and I think we're starting to separate the wheat from the chaff. We're really starting to see which football teams have it this year and which can't even pretend like they can hang with the big boys. That makes this the perfect time to visit the "Best NFL Team in 2008" list on UnSpun.

Looking at it, I'm actually moderately surprised, as of my writing this, the New England Patriots are still sitting on top of the list. Oh, don't get me wrong, they're a great team, but without Tom Brady I'm pretty convinced that they're not the best in the NFL. Indianapolis, currently with a record of 1-2 is sitting in the second position. Do we actually believe that they have just been unlucky thus far? Now, the Giants and the Cowboys, both at 3-0, are in positions 3 and 4. I might put them higher, but it certainly doesn't seem like they ought to be much lower.

Take a look at the whole kit and caboodle (and click here if you don't see it below):

This is really one of those fun lists. It's one of those lists that you need to come back to so you can update your rankings as the season progresses (the Pats might have deserved the top spot prior to their opening week's game, but they don't now). Just you watch this list change as the season progresses, you see who slides to where and what happens. Maybe we'll even talk about it again in the future.

Be it Saltwater or Freshwater, I Love Eel

I don't know, maybe it's the fact that it's mid-afternoon (that disquieting time between lunch and dinner), or maybe it's the fact that I've gone without for so long, or maybe it's the fact that it's just plain good, but I could totally go for a rainbow roll right about now. No, no, not a rainbow roll, some spicy tuna. Wait, not tuna, unagi… no! Anagi! Yup, that would do it, some delicious anagi.

Anagi, if you haven't had it, is like unagi, except that the eel is a saltwater eel instead of a freshwater one. If you like unagi, you need to try anagi.  I've actually not seen it in that many restaurants, but it's totally worth going to Hawaii for (the only U.S. state where I have seen it on a menu).

I was actually really surprised looking over the UnSpun list "Favorite Kind of Sushi" that anagi wasn't there. Naturally, I took a second and a half and added it in. Literally, that was all it took, a second and a half and now the best kind of sushi is on the list. I don't want to harp on it or anything, but the ease with which UnSpun allows any and all users to correct such omissions is one of the great things about the site.

Here, take a look at the now complete with anagi list (and click here if you don't see it below):

So, go forth, eat anagi till your heart's content, and if somehow your favorite type of sushi isn't on the list take the second and a half and add it in.

Farewell, We Hardly Knew Ye

Today is the "official" start of the new television season. It is a day that makes me, quite literally, jump for joy (and not in the way Catalina did on My Name is Earl). At this moment there are a plethora of new shows and returning favorites just itching to make their way onto your television screen. I say you should let them, goodness knows that I do.

You see, if you don't watch all your favorite shows and convince everyone you know to watch them, they're going to end up on an UnSpun list you don't want them to be on. They're going to end up on the Best TV Show Cancelled Too Early list, and that is not a happy place to be. Good old Firefly currently sits in the top spot on the list, and is followed by Arrested Development and Veronica Mars. Take a look, you're sure to find other favorites there (click here if you don't see the list below):

Be honest, is there something on that list that you wish you'd followed a little more closely at the time and miss desperately now? It's okay, let it out, let it all out. Don't keep that upset bottled up inside, it's not healthy.

There, there, isn't that better?

Why don't you go, check out something like the Best Reality Show on Television Today list or Best Quality Television Shows list and choose a couple of shows that you, personally, will watch and try to save this year (if they're not gone already). Doesn't it feel good to try and make a difference?

Into the Great Wide Open

I come to you today not with foolish talk and banter (oh there will be that too, but that's not why I come), but rather to discuss one of my favorite artists and to show you one of the recent updates we've made here at UnSpun.

Have you ever looked at one of our lists of songs and just weren't sure when you saw a title if it was the song you were thinking of? Or, perhaps you saw a title and couldn't quite place the song itself. Frustrating, very frustrating. I know, I've been there. Well, check out the way things work now (and click here if you don't see the widget below and you'll get to check it out on Facebook):

Just above, as you see, we have the "Top Tom Petty Songs" list and next to the vast majority of the songs there's a cute little "listen" button (if you're over at Facebook you need to click the "i" button next to the song for more info first). That's right, you click the "listen" button and you can listen to a sample of the song. Easy as pie, less caloric, and just as satisfying. Plus, these are Tom Petty (some with the Heartbreakers and some not so much) songs I've shown you, and he has to be one of the greatest artists around. Just seeing the list of songs gives me the warm fuzzies. Not only do his melodies stick with you, but the songs are awfully fun to sing yourself.

As an example of how much fun it is to sing Tom Petty, I actually figured out how to upload an mp3 of me singing "Mary Jane's Last Dance" to this piece.  I was going to insert it right here, but it struck me at the last minute that I like you guys and want you to return to the blog, me singing would ensure against that. So, while I won't make you suffer listening to my singing, I will encourage you to click that little "listen" button and to hear Tom Petty perform yourself.

The Trees for the Forest

A far wiser, wittier, worldlier (and wordier), mind than mine once wrote "Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?" Has a more true thing ever been written?

Well… the answer that is "almost certainly," but to answer in such a way negates the point. To answer in such a way takes all that might be magical and wondrous in the quote and tears it apart. I'll tell you what, let me just take back the question entirely so we don't get too caught up in destroying Whitman's brilliance.

Trees.

Trees do so much for us. They help make the air breathable, they provide shade on hot days, backrests for those of use who wouldn't be able to survive a picnic without a backrest, and make for some pretty swell climbing material. Have you ever thought though about just what kind of tree is the best kind of tree? Could it be a Spruce? A Redwood? Maybe it's a Pine or a Maple or an Elm. I just don't know what the right answer is for you, and what's worse, I think you've probably never actually considered the question. Consider it now. UnSpun has a list of people's Favorite Type of Tree (click here if you don't see it below)

One of the risks of making sure you aren't caught missing the forest for the trees is that you end up missing the trees for the forest. We at UnSpun don't want that to happen to you. So take a moment, consider which tree in the forest is your tree in the forest and don't let that tree fall (in the standings) without making a sound.

You are Standing in an Open Field West of a White House...

It takes a special person to instantly recognize the title Temple of Apshai and the brilliance which it represents. The same can be said of Skate or Die, Spy Hunter, Populous, Wolfenstein 3D and the myriad of other fantastic old-school games that populate UnSpun's Best Computer Games of All Time list.

If you're anything like me, you spent hours sitting there with Apshai and Zork and Adventure (where else could you kill a dragon with your bare hands?). If you're really like me, after playing the original Prince of Persia for the 8 millionth time, you opted to turn your monitor upside down after drinking the potion that flips the graphics upside down rather than drinking the right side-up potion (the strategy really didn't work as well as it ought to have, my brain recognized the monitor was upside and tried to compensate for it despite the fact that the image on the screen was right side-up).

Go ahead, take a gander, remember all the glory of those computer games past (and click here if the list doesn't appear below):

There it is, and what really amazes me about the list is not just that something like Apshai is there, but that a game as old as Apshai sits right next to far newer fare. The list actually really is looking at the best computer games ever. So, as you contemplate the incredible amount of fun that some of those games were, I'm going to see if I can't save Sandy Pantz and stop the Purple Meteor once and for all.

Walking a Mile in Someone Else's Shoes

Have you ever stopped, looked around, and thought to yourself, "I like my life, but if I could be someone else, just for a single day, I'd love it." Oh sure you have. Who hasn't? Imagine it, just for one day you're Oprah or Angelina Jolie or Bill Gates or your boss. Wouldn't that just be swell?

As for me, I wouldn't want to be Oprah (too many responsibilities) or Angelina Jolie (too many kids) or Bill Gates (too semi-retired) or your boss (I don't even know your boss), but there are a few people out whose shoes I would spend some time in. I wouldn't mind be Tiger Woods for a day. I think it could be fun to be Queen Elizabeth (either the first or the second). Maybe even a day as Bill Clinton could be amusing. The point is, I think about it and you do too. Lots of people do and that's why there's a list at UnSpun focusing on people's choices. Take a look at the results thus far (click here if you don't see it below):

There are certainly a few curious choices in the list above and lots of folks I'd never want to be, but the point is not to focus only on my choices, the point is that we all get a say.  So, stand up and vote, it's your civic duty.

Nobody Does it Better

We all have our heroes. You might like George Washington. Someone else might like Abraham Lincoln. A third person might really admire Bea Arthur. I too have a hero. My hero is tall, handsome, and speaks with a suave British accent. He likes a nice martini - shaken, not stirred - and carries a license to kill. He started his life in books, and has since moved to movies (though the occasional new novel still does appear).

He's returning to the big screen on November 14 in a feature entitled Quantum of Solace. I'm convinced that it's going to be truly outstanding and I can hardly wait to see it. I've been trying to console myself though with some of his other big screen adventures. My favorite, unquestionably, is From Russia With Love, but most UnSpun voters seem to prefer Goldfinger. Here's how the Best James Bond Film of All Time list currently looks (click here if you don't see it below):

So, what do you think… Casino Royale? Thunderball? Live and Let Die? Goldeneye?

The Top Way to Top Your Pizza

A good pizza is a thing of beauty. Too few people understand that. Getting that right mixture of cheese and sauce, the right dough, and the right oven make all the difference in the world. I don't know if it's true or not, but I've been told by many a New York pizza man that the reason New York pizza is head and shoulders better than the rest of the pizza in the country is the water in the New York area.

Of course, while cheese, sauce, and dough are important (and quite possibly water too), toppings can be crucial as well. I like sardines, I think they make for a good pizza, others probably think me insane. It's Hawaiian pizza I can't stand, but some swear by it. In the end though, I'm a sausage, peppers, and onions person. I like pepperoni and tons of other toppings too, but it's sausage, peppers, and onions that I'll always return to in the end.

It may be that I'm the only one who feels this way.  Here is UnSpun's list of the Top Pizza Toppings and sausage, peppers, and onions is not highly ranked (click here if you can't see it below):

So, what's your favorite?  If you could put any topping in the world on a pizza, what would it be?