Announcing My “50 Favorites” Project

I am officially 50 years old today. I certainly don’t feel old enough to be 50, although some of my joints do hurt quite a bit more than they did this time last year. As I’ve mentioned to several friends, modern adulthood is weird. Sure, I have kids and a mortgage — classic signifiers of adulthood — but I still feel much the same as I did when I was 30, or even 25. Most of my interests have remained intact and unchanged over the last three decades, and I’ve even revived some interests from high school (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons).

I’m still running Opus, of course, and felt like I should do something on the site to mark the occasion. Thus I spent a good portion of 2025 working on one of my most ambitious — and nerdiest — blogging projects to date. I’ve always resisted the idea of creating definitive music and movie lists, but I’m rescinding that long-standing policy for my 50th birthday. Throughout the month of February, I’ll be publishing definitive lists of my favorite music and films of all time, with a new list published every Monday morning.

As a good pop culture obsessive, I spent far too long agonizing over these lists and then writing up blurbs to explain why their selections have remained so memorable and meaningful over the years and decades. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did obsessing over them. Finally, I’d be sorely remiss if I didn’t thank my lovely wife Renae, who graciously gave her feedback and editing skills to this project.

Coming tomorrow… my 50 favorite songs of all time.