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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3617 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 10, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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What are great examples of "X is your favorite Y's favorite Y." The idea being that while your favorite Y finds great mainstream success and produces palatable hits, X is the fountainhead from which the real genius flows, the inside baseball avant-garde or the raw authentic source material, that your favorite Y translates for the public.

For example, Howlin' Wolf is, for many classic rock fans, your favorite musicians favorite musician. His music wasn't nearly as big as the Stones or Zeppelin, but the Stones and Zeppelin were listening to his records and that's where their hits came from. A lot of Wolf's later career was shows cosigned by white rock artists who loved his stuff.

Who is your favorite writers' favorite writer? Our favorite lifting coach's favorite lifting coach? Favorite chef's favorite chef? Favorite politician's favorite politician?

Etho is your favorite Minecrafter's favorite Minecrafter. Even famous youtubers like Mr. Beast are watching Etho if they're watching Minecraft.

Although he currently has a lot of mainstream success, I think Bach is a historical example of your favourite composer's favourite composer. While he received a fair bit of recognition in his own time, after his death his works were regarded old fashioned as music went from Baroque to Classicism and then to Romanticism and he was a bit forgotten. In the 19th and 20th century people started getting more interested in historical music and Bach's reputation grew again to the point where he's now regarded as (one of) the greatest composer(s) ever. However among Bach enjoyers in the period where he wasn't very highly regarded, were Mozart and Beethoven. Both of them studied Bach's work, which inspired them to write more complex counterpoint. So in the second half of the 18th century Bach was probably the perfect example of your favourite composer's favourite composer.

Velvet Underground is always described as a "group no one listened to, but everyone who did founded a band." A lot of my favorite music (David Bowie, Jesus Mary and Chain, Sonic Youth, Strokes, La Femme) is pretty obviously influenced by them and there are a lot of others besides the ones I listed.

Kenji Lopez-Alt is every cooking YouTuber's favorite cooking YouTuber (he's also my favorite cooking YouTuber). In turn, Kenji's favorite chef seems to be Jacques Pépin.

Taking this somewhat literally: Raymond Carver is my favorite writer's favorite writer. (Haruki Murakami talks about his admiration for Carver in many of his nonfiction pieces.)

In another area: Agnieszka Radwanska played a style of tennis that connoisseurs really appreciated, despite her lack of success at the absolute highest level. See also Fabrice Santoro.

To go completely afield: the Red Devil 4050 is your favorite pry bar user's favorite pry bar. Possessing especially the original version of this is a mark of taste and distinction in certain building trades.

Where do you get an original version of these? Amazon has 4050 and 4050CL, the latter having a mill finish so there’s risk of rust. The former apparently manufactured in China.

Well, the real story behind this: the 4050CL that you can get online is as good as it gets these days, and it's a good pry bar that will meet any typical need.

But - my dad has been a glazier for right on 40 years, and I used to go help him on jobs sometimes, and when we'd meet other glaziers, builders, etc., it happened unusually frequently that they'd comment on his ancient RD4050 from before they discontinued it in the 2000s. And lots of times these old farts would pull out their own old banged-up 4050s, and start telling stories about how they'd bought this one in 1993, etc., etc. It was the damnedest thing. Old glaziers are like that about all kinds of tools, but the Red Devil 4050 is the one that stands out in my mind by name. Even now, I'll go back home and stand around in his workshop, and he'll pull out the 4050 and say, "Bet you ain't got one of these." I'll say, "Give me one then!" and he'll say, "I can't, you can't get 'em no more. The new ones ain't as good."

Harry Nilsson had this relationship with John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/harry-nilsson-didnt-enjoy-praise-from-the-beatles/

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