Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bestof

Great destinations, routes and experiences in and around Toronto.

maudlin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:54:55 -0800

I want to go to there, but I need your advice on where "there" is. Starting point: Toronto. Range: any land within 100 km (60-ish miles) of High Park, but I can go further for something really special. Means of transport: my trusty steed. Time frame: now until November-ish. I'm looking for great routes or awesome destinations, urban, rural or suburban, like the best roti in Scarborough, a tiny potter's studio somewhere in Peel, or a gorgeous path by some body of water that isn't Lake Ontario. I want to go somewhere to do something neat, like picking apples or riding horses. And this is not Torontofilter or bikefilter. I'm looking for creative ideas from anyone, anywhere. If you're from the GTA or any place within reach, what places, routes and experiences would you recommend? For example:

- A great view or nearly-secret thing that few other people know about. I never got around to the secret swing, and I regret it.
- The best [meal / farmer's market] in [area of your choice].
- Galleries are an obvious choice for me, but beyond that, is there, say, a raku studio nearby that gives demos or classes?
- Some place I should go to with my camera or sketchpad, or else.
- Where is a movie or tv show being filmed right now? I don't care about star-stalking, but am curious about the ebb and flow of work on site.

If you're not from around here, what kind of place or experience do you have in your neck of the woods that I should try to find locally?

Restrictions: very few.

- These have to be day trips, thus my soft limit of 100 km (200 km round trip). However, if need be, I can justify taking a train partway to get to someplace great and back in one day.
- I favour free or cheap over expensive, but can justify spending some money on an awesome experience.
- I can carry a fair amount on my bike, but there are limits, so I don't think I'll be furniture shopping any time soon.

Otherwise, suggest away!

"Let them eat bagels."

whimsicalnymph — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:08:15 -0800

Where can I find the best bagel in NYC? At the risk of starting a riot, I'd like to hear MeFites' opinions on where the best bagel can be found in NYC.

I have lived in New York over a year, and I have yet to eat a bagel (I think Super Size Me made me not want to eat them for a while).

I have a friend coming into town in October, and as part of her visit, I'd like to take her to a great NYC place, with the best bagels on Earth. No small feat, but I imagine if anyone knows where such bagels can be found, the people of AskMe will know.

I need some more scifi tunes!

donabean — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:50:58 -0800

What are the best examples of music that is unapologetically science fiction/fantasy ? I love hawkwind(especially 77-79 era), Gary numan, the legendary pink dots, devo, fad gadget and the like. Help me make the perfect sci-fi playlist. I also like deltron, cannibal ox, and the anticon collective , and am not opposed to some orb or lee scratch perry, or any genre(would probably love sci fi themed country if i ever heard it)-so it doesn't have to be prog/new wave to make me delighted.

Best art and coffee table books?

tusharj — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:06:39 -0800

What are your favorite coffee table books and art books? Examples for me are the art editions of Taschen like GOAT, The Godfather family Album, the MILK project(Humanity), all books by David LaChappelle. Other examples are Sophie Calle's Did you see me, the entire Annotated Series.

What I am looking for are special books which make really good gifts(even though they may be expensive). These are books which you can spend hours looking at, not necessarily reading. I am also looking for great publishers of such books.

Unique childrens books would be great. There was an Italian futurism pioneer who made some amazing childrens books, but I am unable to recall his name.

I would appreciate if people would just stick to giving book recommendations and the reason for recommending. Thanks

Help me build the best contemporary book collection ever!

tusharj — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:01:03 -0800

I am looking to build an amazing collection of contemporary books, which will include essentials, but also osbcure yet amazing titles. I am including the categories that I am looking to build my collection in below, and I am looking at about 20-30 titles in each category, say 20 essentials and 10 obscure titles. I am not looking for stuff that is extremely mainstream, for example I would not want any Grisham, Sheldon, Arthur or Deepak Chopra, Monk Who Sold his Ferrari, or the Secret.

The kind of books that I like are "Godel, Escher and Bach", Annotated Alice, Outposts, The Stanley Kubrick Archives. Not easily found, intelligent, beautiful amazing books. I even like controversial books like "Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Centre Disaster" and "the Missionary Position: an expose of Mother Teresa". Even rare spritiutal books like "Tertium Organum" and books by Idies Shah on sufis or any book by Alan Watts.

I am also looking for books which are beautifully designed, as in they are wonderful objects within themselves like the Godfather Family Album or the MILK project book, Humanity.

Money is not an object, and even though I prefer books in print, rare books that are out of print would also do.

If you are familiar with any of the categories below, I would like you to recommend the essentials in these categories. Otherwise, any amazing book that you have come across, which is not completely obvious would be great. Also if you ve come across good lists from experts and authors etc, of their favorite books, would be great if you could link.

Film
Music
Biographies
Children's Books
Comics
Graphic Novels
Cooking, Food and Wine
GLBI
History, Politics
Psychology
Architecture
Psychedelia
Sexuality
Spirituality
Travel
Sci Fi
Controversial

Best albums of 2008

Who_Am_I — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:26:35 -0800

What were the best albums of 2008? I just realized that I've only got about a dozen albums from last year. I generally enjoy Metafilter's taste in music, so what were the standouts for you? Any genre, new artists or just new releases.

I've already got (and recommend) Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes, Girl Talk: Feed the Animals, Muse: HAARP, and God is an Astronaut: God is an Astronaut.

What are your favorite premium online services (of any kind) and why?

raddevon — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:16:22 -0800

What are your favorite premium online services (of any kind) and why? I'm looking for services of all kinds (photo sharing, video sharing, online backup, online file storage, music, etcetera). Feel free to give multiple answers in different categories or just a single answer. Contribute as little or as much as you want!

Help me experience the Best of Nicaragua!

kmtiszen — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:19:49 -0800

Best of Nicaragua: In search of all the best Nicaragua has to offer. I'm planning a trip to Nicaragua in late December and surprisingly, I'm finding online resources a little scarce. I was hoping I could harness the power of MeFi and get some first-hand perspective on the wonders of the country. I'd like to focus on the following, but I'm open to any suggestions:
- Best City/Village
- Best Hike
- Best Beach
- Best Volcano
- Best Market
- Best Bars
- Best Off-The-Beaten-Path Hidden Gems

Thanks all!

Best of Wikipedia?

anastasiav — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:44:46 -0800

I know there is a "Best of Craigslist" site. Is there something similar for Wikipedia? Lately I've been having some dull moments at work and have found that browsing Wikipedia is educational and helps pass the time. In doing so, I've found some articles that are unexpectedly great. Is there some sort of central resource for the best of Wikipedia? If not, what articles would you recommend as "hidden gems"?

Best way to count online ballots with numerous writeup answers?

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:25:52 -0800

You know those "Best of" surveys that run in most alt weeklies? We've done online versions of them and its always been problematic, so we're looknig for better suggestions on how to do it. The main problem seems to be is that ballots are "write in" meaning people type in their answer. So for "Best Sushi" the user has to write in "Takashi's Sushi Bar" or some such.

The problem starts here because not everyone can spell Takashi, or not everyone uses the aprostrophe S or some people write in the full name, while others write in just "Takashi". So for that one quesion, we can have numerous answers which the computer, yet in human terms are one and the same.

How can this be avoided, using off the self software? There's probaly not a perfect solution, but there's got to be something better than just having a person go through and manually count the digital ballots. We've used phpQ before and looking at SurveyMonkey, but they both have this fault. Can you suggest other survey software? Perhaps something that displays a pop menu of answers that have already been submitted, so can the user can pick from that list without having to type? and lets an admin go into the back and collate votes on a per question basis?

We'll be comin round the mountain.

sophist — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:58:16 -0800

The best week long backpacking trip in the United States? So I raised the possibility to a few of my friends of going on a backpacking trip this summer, and was immediately encouraged and promoted to trip planner. As we live spread out among both coasts and traveling is inevitable, location is quite flexible. While I have done extended trips both solo and in groups, including multiple 14'ers, at least one or two of the people going will have very limited backcountry experience. The people however are young and adventurous, and in decent shape although not super-fit. Gear and preparation is an entirely different problem, hopefully not confused with my question.

I am looking for something doable in ~5 days covering 8-12 miles a day assuming moderate elevation changes. Extra points for lush scenery, lakes, wildlife, minimal crowds, easy campsites, nearby peaks, etc. Some cross-country route finding may be fun, but preferably limited. My digging so far has suggested the John Muir Trail, High Sierra Trail, Wind River Mountain Range, or some other part of the PCT or CDT. I'm looking for great experiences, other recommendations, or scathing reviews. Thanks!

Best hardware story employee in NYC?

zoomorphic — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:44:52 -0800

NYCfilter: I've been assigned to track down the most helpful, friendly, patient hardware store employee in the city. It's sort of an annoying quickie assignment, since there are countless helpful men and women in nearly every hardware store, so the angle can focus more on personality: a beloved, avuncular sales rep who works the floor of a (preferably local, non-chain) store and has gained a small reputation as being the go-to person for newbies who can't screw in a light bulb.

Even if you think you're the only person who knows about him or her, I'm totally open to suggestions. This is a "Best Of" issue and it's always nice to reward people who make a name for themselves by being nice and efficient, eh?

Hitting my eye like a big pizza pie (and bagel)

nadawi — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 07:52:31 -0800

I am in NYC for the first time and I've done nearly everything that was on my list to do. The only things I am missing are a great slice of pizza (new york style, of course) and a bagel that will knock my socks off. For an added bonus, I'd like to do it on the cheap. I'm staying in Brooklyn, but the neighborhood isn't terribly important.

What changed your life in 2004?

dhoyt — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 19:38:10 -0800

Now that 2004 is over, what things did you discover during the year—books, movies, art, philosophies, spiritual discoveries, travel opportunities, software, gadgets, products—which improved your life?

Sci Fi Collections

geekhorde — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 00:17:14 -0800

[Two Obscure SciFi Short Story Questions]
When I was a kid our family library was stocked with lots of 'Best Of' Sci Fi collections. One particular story that I half remember had something to do with the human race being enslaved by large aliens, and basically a slave revolt by humans occurs in one of the alien ships. The other story was about an alien artifact (a helmet?) and some quasi-Egyptian pyramid ruins. That's really about all I can remember, other than I remember enjoying both stories very much. Any ideas? I figured furtive had such good luck so quickly, and these have been bothering me, so I'd try my luck.

Not sure, but I think they were both in the same book.

best of music in 2004

ifoughttheapemen — Fri, 26 Nov 2004 08:38:50 -0800

Every year I put together a 'best of' comp' to hand out to holiday guests. This year I'm drawing a blank. Fiery Furnaces- sure, Wolf Eyes- Maybe. Mirah, again, this year? I'm having a hard time finding the anthems of 2004. Maybe today's songwriters got too swept up in the election to write a classic 'head-nodder'? Maybe I just got to caught up in the election to listen? Can you help? What's your best pick of the year?

Vegas, Baby!

skallas — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:23:22 -0800

Is there an "off the beaten path" in Vegas? Recommendations? Best of?

Which pr0n movies are your favorite?

Stynxno — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 18:49:52 -0800

Inspired by this thread, I find myself wondering, which pr0n movies are your favorite?