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Chris Smith is a music journalist and professor of cultural criticism at the University of British Columbia.  In his most recent book, 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music, he presents his opinion of the albums that changed music - we know you may disagree and Smith addresses this issue below.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for a look at this book through music videos.

What is this human obsession with lists? What is the source of our compulsion to compare, to rank, to lord one work of art just inches over another when their differences can barely be defined? Is it genetic? Is it cultural? If vervet moneys had opposable digits and the intelligence to use them, would they strap on giant foam rubber “We’re #1” fingers and taunt the other species at the watering hole?

These were the questions I asked in December, 2007, when I embarked on a two-year project naming the 100 Greatest Albums of all time in a weekly column for the Vancouver Sun. I had been involved in the Rolling Stone list machine as a music critic in the late 1990s, and in 2006 published my fourth book, 100 Albums That Changed Popular Music.

The answer to my soul-searching inquiry was an unexpectedly satisfying copout: “Who cares?” It’s fun to make lists, and as philosophers from Aristotle to Saussure have noted, we understand things by virtue of their contrasting relationships to their peers. So if the Hendrix’s groundbreaking Are You Experienced was forbidden access to the top of the charts by the Beatles’ Sgt Peppers, then the takeaway detail isn’t that it was Number 2, but that it wasn’t Number 1.

But my book eschewed such hierarchal contrast, instead detailing these albums in chronological order to show how each album influenced (and was influenced by) its peers (hence the book’s emphasis on the most “important” albums rather that the “greatest.”) The Sun editors, however, insisted on a “countdown” list, so the readers could follow along for two years, each week coming one step closer to “the world’s greatest album.” The problem is, I don’t believe such a thing exists—while enough objective data can be gathered to loosely construct a list of the “most influential” albums, the notion of “greatest” albums infuses the equation with subjective criteria based on individual aesthetics, thus changing the nature of the criteria from person to person. (The same is true of all such ranking systems, whether they rate your favorite albums, movies, politicians, or family members).

The solution was simple: surrender to subjectivity. We titled the column “100 Albums You Have to Own,” and told our readers: “Agreeing or disagreeing with our picks is beside the point—write us a letter, rant to your friends, or sit down and make your own list. Great works of art invite such engagement, and we hope these will catch your ear. We only ask you to listen.”

Ultimately, I believe, such lists do serve a vital purpose as a stepping off point for critical engagement with a work of art—provided the author is honest about his intentions and criteria. My second favorite part of the entire process is discussing my selections with readers who object to my choices. My favorite part, of course, is ranking their objections.

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I'm currently working on a CD cover for a band. I've included a "slice" of the illustration. I thought I was finished but have decided to make some changes to the composition as the effect was not really what I was looking for. I'll post the final work when I've completed the changes. Most likely this slice will also change. I really enjoy creating CD covers. A while back I did a remake of Madonna's "Confessions on the Dance Floor" which you can see here.

Buying a home is probably the single most important purchase a couple can make together. Not only is finding the right house crucial but so is finding the right mortgage rate and package. After all, you’ll most likely live in that special house for decades, living with the right interest rate will make it that much easier to handle financially.

I remember when the hubs and I went shopping for this house. Our oldest son was six months old and though we hadn’t outgrown our rental house, we knew that it was smart to invest in our home while we were still young. We found an aggressive, but friendly real estate agent and he patiently drove us from house to house, pointing out the advantages, and disadvantages, of living in that particular area. I remember appreciating his honesty because it helped us make a smart and practical decision.

After we found our house, we spent additional time hunting for the best mortgage rate. We planned on taking out a 30-year loan (though we had every intention of paying it off early) and weighed the various mortgage packages carefully. I can honestly say we made an informed decision and we haven’t once regretted it. As the years progressed, we kept an eye out for better interest rates and refinanced. Today we’re very close to having our house paid off.

But where does one go to find out the best mortgage interest rates? How does one calculate a payment?

Personal Home Loan Mortgages can help you find information about mortgages along with state and city information and statistics. In addition, Personal Home Loan Mortgages provides mortgage calculators to help estimate monthly payments and payoff projections so you’ll know exactly how much to budget and approximately how long it will take before your home is paid off.

Personal Home Loan Mortgages also lists mortgage specialists by state and even city making it easier than ever to find localized help. Just visit their home page, scroll down to the bottom and click on your state, from there you can find the city nearest you.

In fact, I’ll make this easy: If you live in Missouri, visit this page. You’ll find listings for Missouri mortgage brokers, title companies and real estate brokers. If you would like to live in the best city in the country (of course, I’m biased), then visit the Springfield, Missouri page for an even more detailed listing of brokers and title companies.

It can’t get any easier than that!

So if you’re ready to shop around for the best mortgage rates, or you’re thinking about refinancing, Personal Home Loan Mortgages is a great place to start.

Let’s see a show of hands, how many of you have used, or are currently using, online auctions to either sell your stuff or find stuff for bargain prices.

*raises hand* Though I’ve only technically participated that one time, (the whole Wii experience at Christmas time), it was such an adrenaline rush that I would love to try it again. And again, and again.

And to me, trying to outbid your opponent in the last seconds is almost more fun that actually winning the item – almost. It’s always fun to try and win the bid, but at a reasonable price.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could participate in an online auction where the whole object behind the program was to underbid your opponent, not outbid them?

Well guess what folks, that’s exactly what Bid4prizes is set up to do. Read on …

Bid4prizes is a unique site that allows you to bid on cool products, but with a fun twist. The LOWEST UNIQUE bidder actually wins the auction!

The lowest unique bid for every prize starts out at one penny - but if more than one person bids a penny, then that penny is no longer the lowest unique bid and 2 cents is. If more than one person bids 2 cents then 3 cents is the next lowest unique bid. And so on and so on. The winning bid could be anything, it could be a penny, or $1.05 even $500.22! Whatever is the lowest UNIQUE bid wins the prize!

Oh yes, you read that correctly. The object of this online auction is to underbid your opponent. If you win the prize, it doesn’t even cost you the amount you underbid, you get it for free! Bid4prizes even pays the shipping!

I know what you’re thinking, “Yeah, sounds great. But what sort of prizes do they offer?”

Wii’s
iPods
Plasma TVs
Apple iPhones
Laptops
Stereo systems
Computer monitors
even cash!

Are you kidding me? And get this, you don’t even have to be online to bid, you bid through your cell phone via text messaging. Talk about easy!

We’re minimalist kind of people, we like the more modern looking stuff, the less the better, so I’ve got my eye on that the Plasma TV. We could then get rid of the huge entertainment center in there now, make our living room look bigger and then jazz up the area with cool artwork, talk about art-gallery-deco-style!

In addition, every time you bid on an item, you build points. And after you accumulate so many points, you can cash those in for rewards, like:

Purses
Backpacks
Clothing
Watches
Electronic
Tools
Handheld Radios
And tons more.

Where’s my cell phone, I need to underbid someone.

I need to apologize – I’m selling out, giving in, throwing in the towel; I’m succumbing to my greed and giving it a shot.

What shot is this, you ask?

I have signed up with Pay Per Post.

Yes, it’s true, you will start seeing ads on this blog. I held out as long as I could, I swear, but curiosity got the better of me and I simply must try this.

I’ve been researching and reading about this program for quite some time. So though I have a pretty good idea how it works, I’m not sure it’ll work on this blog.

And here is where I need to ask for your help. Please be patient with me as I try this. I promise, I’ll try my best not to be boring or to pound one particular thing in your head. I also promise that the ads I write about here will somehow relate to my life – either I’ve experienced it, I’ve wondered about it or just felt like it might prove useful to you guys. Though I would be lying if I said I wasn’t doing it to try and make a little money, I honestly don’t want it to clog up this blog or chase off any of the few readers I have (and you two know who you are) away.

So, I approach this program with some reservations. I will give it a shot and see how it goes. But if it doesn’t work out and I begin to lose readers, then I will stop because it’s more important to me to maintain whatever level of entertainment, or reputation, this blog has attained over the last several months than to try and make a fast buck here and there. YOU guys mean too much to me. The thought that I might turn even one reader off bothers me more than I would like to admit.

I’m both scared and excited about starting this venture. I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m approaching this challenge as a writer, first and foremost. To me, it can’t be any harder than writing the marketing material I wrote in college – only now instead of working toward that grade, I’m working toward advertiser approval. Who knows? Maybe the advertisers will love me so much that they will offer me more writing jobs. Wouldn’t that be something? But I won’t know what kind of rewards this opportunity might present until I try it, so brace yourself.

I won’t openly disclose that what you’re reading is an advertisement on every entry; I trust you’re all smart enough to catch on. But I do plan on posting this handy little button

at the end of the post just as a head’s up on what’s going on and a link in case you would like to give this program a try, too. Also, I have posted an “I Disclose” page for those interested.

Again, thank you for your patience while I give this a try and please, click often.