Posts by Raymond Walker5

While we wait for those replies to roll in, I thought I’d go ahead and drop the raw links from the poll right here for easy access.
Here is the full list:

A Fistful of Dollars Titoli
A Fistful of Dollars Theme
For a Few Dollars More
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Theme
The Ecstasy of Gold
The Trio
Silhouette of Doom
The Big Gundown
L'Arena
Ad Ogni Costo
Once Upon a Time in the West Theme
Man With a Harmonica
Farewell To Cheyenne
Lontano
Love Circle
La Moda
The Sicilian Clan
Theme de Le Goff
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
La Bambola
La Califfa
Come Maddalena
Chi Mai
A Fistful of Dynamite
Le Casse
Un Amico
My Name is Nobody
Rabbia E Tarantella
Moses Theme
Novecento
Il Gatto
Le Vent, Le Cri
The Thing
La Morale
Deborah's Theme
Cockey's Song
Gabriel's Oboe
The Untouchables
Cinema Paradiso
Secret of Sahara
Moscow Farewell
Casualties of War
The Desert Principle
Forgetting Palermo
A Heartfelt Breeze
Playing Love
Hypocrite Bows and Despair
Malena
The Harmonica Plays
Baaria

The link in the poll under number 9 is broken:
The Arena

If it turns out to be necessary—once I figure out how to properly embed hyperlinks into these polls—I can just start a fresh one exactly like this one and we can have the moderators delete this version.

What is going on with this forum layout? I’m trying to use the poll feature, but for some reason, standard hyperlinks just won't work. It used to be that anything over 50 characters would break the link, but now even shorter ones seem to be causing issues... 🤦

Does anyone here happen to know what the deal is with this glitch?

Broken link in the poll, under number 9:
Madison Square Garden

Since we’ve discussed before that there aren't any issues with opening additional polls, I’m going to launch a new little concept. I’ll be the one putting these polls together whenever I have some downtime and, hopefully, as long as there is interest from everyone. If my ability to get these up within a reasonable timeframe ever falters, someone else can certainly step in to take the reins if people still want to participate. And if interest fades, well, that's okay too.

The core idea behind these polls is that we’ll host a weekly vote featuring the best (or most iconic) works of specific groups, artists, or musicians based entirely on your personal taste. Whether it’s Beethoven, Taylor Swift, or Beyoncé—it truly doesn't matter. It could even be music you produce yourselves; who knows, maybe one day I’ll join in with my own tracks! Whether these artists are household names or completely underground is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that the selection reflects the musical preferences of our community members. There won't be a rigid rotation for whose turn it is to pick, but everyone will eventually get their chance if this takes off.

As for the rules, all you need to do is send me a polite private message with your favorite artists or bands, and then I'll set up a poll for them. Since I don't share all of your specific tastes, it would be incredibly helpful if you could also include a tracklist of the songs you think deserve a spot in the poll (feel free to include YouTube links right away if you want to save us both some time).

When putting those lists together, please try to:
1. Pick songs that truly represent the best and most defining work of the artist or group.
2. Don't leave out the big hits or the essentials just because of a silly reason like "I'm tired of hearing them."
3. Avoid letting obscure deep cuts overshadow the heavy hitters (though, of course, obscure tracks and your personal favorites are more than welcome to be included).
4. It's ideal to provide links to the tracks; however, if you're short on time, I'll just find the YouTube links myself.

I realize many of you might feel like you could run these polls yourselves, but I think it's better to have a steady cycle of polls at regular intervals so we don't accidentally clutter the forum with too much activity all at once.

The number of songs in each poll will be quite flexible. You might wonder why I’d include as many as 50 tracks for someone like Ennio Morricone. Well, when someone has had a career spanning over half a century and composed scores for over 500 films, series, and documentaries while remaining genre-defying and top-tier, they deserve to be presented in their full glory.
On the other hand, for an artist who has only released two to four albums, there’s really no point in having a poll longer than 15 or 20 songs. We should use a bit of common sense here so we don't overwhelm everyone by forcing them to listen through a massive list of niche or mediocre tracks from a single album.

Regarding the voting process, at the start of every poll, I'll specify the maximum number of votes each person is allowed to cast. If you decide to vote more than that, there isn't much I can do about it anyway, and since we aren't calculating a grand total sum of votes, it shouldn't really impact anything.

For every musician or band, I’ll leave a dedicated thread active permanently. Each new poll will be started under a new thread so that we can have long-term discussions about that artist's music, which I think makes things much cleaner. Plus, it ensures all results remain easily accessible to everyone.

Voting will remain open for one month for each artist or group, even though I'll aim to introduce new ones every week. This is just to ensure nobody feels rushed and to allow people to cast their votes even if they missed the initial window.

I won't be providing tedious biographies or exhaustive discographies; instead, I'll simply provide a link to the artist's Wikipedia page and their official website.
I'm assuming everyone here is fluent in English—unless you're 70 years old and were taught Russian in school!

And finally, just to wrap things up, the main goal of this whole thread is really just to spread some good vibes and have a bit of fun together.

If any questions pop up or if you just want to chat, please feel free to shoot me a private message.

30. Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
29. ABBA - Chiquitita
28. The Beatles - Let It Be
27. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
26. Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence
25. The Animals - The House of the Rising Sun
24. The Beatles - Hey Jude
23. Fleetwood Mac - Albatross
22. The Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin
21. A-ha - Take on me
20. The Beatles - Yesterday
19. The Doors - Riders On The Storm
18. Toto - Africa
17. The Mamas & The Papas - California Dreamin'
16. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
15. Abba - Dancing Queen
14. Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge over troubled water
13. Queen - Show Must Go On
12. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
11. Deep Purple - Child In Time
10. The Shadows - Apache
09. Abba - Super Trouper
08. Scorpions - Wind of Change
07. The Eagles - Hotel California
06. The Rolling Stones - Paint it Black
05. Pink Floyd - High hopes
04. Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
03. Abba - Waterloo
02. Queen - I Want To Break Free
01. Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is

Larry Walker24 said:Is this thread still active?!

Why wouldn't it be? It’s fantastic. Honestly, one of the best discussions we've ever had on here!

well... and they're great in bed too... since it's all the same person anyway ☕

Honestly, I’m convinced Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber are actually the same person...



☕

😈

Morgan Brown4 said:Personally, I’d probably drop Leone from the list entirely. It’s almost a given he’ll pull the most votes, mostly because of his massive fanbase—plus, you always have those folks who’ve only ever seen his stuff and don't know anything else, or people who just dismiss the rest of the genre as total garbage.

Well, if you’re calling it trash, then it’s probably trash, so I think I'll skip it altogether.

To sounds like I actually know more about the soundtracks for these movies than I do about the films themselves 🙂
At this point, I’d bet that Morricone composed the music for at least 12 out of these 20 films.
Personally, if I had to pick my absolute favorites, it would have to be Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in the West and good, bad, ugly

steelmarlin77 said:Do you ever feel like you actually made something of yourself in this life? Because, honestly, I haven't. I poured everything I had into it, really gave my all and handed out everything I could spare to the people around me—to everyone I actually cared about—but apparently, I’m just not important enough to even warrant a response to a post like this. Not that they’d even know I wrote it, anyway. If I had to kick the bucket today, I’m pretty sure all those people have someone else more vital, or way more significant, than me to worry about. They’d move on and forget me pretty damn fast, maybe some would take a little longer, but that’s basically the whole story.

Is that supposed to be enough? You know, for enlightenment, or self-discovery, or reaching the absolute peak of human achievement?
It has to be, because there isn't anything else left to grab onto.

The way you loathe yourself... it's almost blissful.

Well, it’s obviously hemorrhoids—what else would it be!?
My advice? Grab some Preparation H (or whatever brand you can find at Walgreens), start loading up on fiber, cut back on the red meat, and drink way more water.
If those spots are really bothering you, go see a specialist, but I highly doubt they carry any deeper significance. If there's a stinging sensation, you're probably just dealing with some minor skin fissures.

It’s almost funny, acting like anyone actually knows what someone's true strengths and weaknesses are. It's all subjective anyway, which makes those whole lines of questioning feel pretty pointless. I remember one time I sat through four grueling hours of IQ tests and psychological assessments just for a single job application—and that was with a massive crowd of people waiting behind me.
Back when I had to take a psych evaluation at a major hospital like Mayo Clinic, it wasn't nearly that drawn out or exhausting, yet I walked away with a legitimate, professional psychological profile.
So why is it that some corporate firm tries to play it so much safer and more pedantic than a medical institution? They love to brag about being cutting-edge, even though the infrastructure around them is barely holding together despite all their "innovation."

redbear2 said:Sure thing. 😉

You could have also pointed out that he deserved a penalty for being disrespectful. ☕

It sounds like you took something personally that wasn't even directed at you. To me, it just makes your mindset pretty clear. You could probably start an entire thread about it if you wanted. This kind of desperate, pointless complaining actually says a lot about someone who claims to be such a big advocate for free speech and having a bit of fun, yet ends up getting completely tripped up by something this trivial.

Just sugarcoat it if you have to. You can try to convince yourself that garbage isn't garbage all you want, but you don't need to waste your breath trying to convince me.

redbear2 said:That’s not really the point. In person, I can read the room. I know how people react to certain comments, so when I'm around people who tend to blow up over everything, I just don't say anything that might trigger a scene.

If someone were spreading lies about a deceased person just to smear their reputation without any basis in reality, then yeah, that's wrong. But I don't see the issue with a dark joke that doesn't actually drag down the memory of the person who passed. 🤷

The whole thing just feels like a bunch of fake morality to me.

There is a massive difference between making a dark joke among your close friends and posting public comments the very next day after someone loses their life—especially when you know the victim's family and friends are scrolling through those same threads. First off, having basic empathy and human decency is everything in a situation like that. You have absolutely no idea what those families are going through right now. They are dealing with an unimaginable loss, and the last thing they need is some small-minded person online making light of their loved one's passing. It’s just unnecessary.

So, let me get this straight. Imagine a semi-truck accidentally runs over a car, and inside that car was a woman—someone who was a wife, a daughter, and a mother to her kids. And then you just sit there and type, "Well, at least there were pancakes in there." Then, someone who actually lost that person—someone for whom she was their entire world—reads your comment, and you honestly expect them to just take that as a normal thing to say? Are you seriously okay with that?

Just because you have the legal right to be an absolute moron doesn't mean you actually should.
You know, there’s that one corner of the internet—one of those dark, gritty sites where they host photos of people who’ve been killed in car wrecks or other terrible accidents, along with footage of some truly gruesome crashes. It’s heavy stuff. But what really gets to me is the comment section underneath those images of mutilated bodies. People leave these absolutely vile, disgusting comments... honestly, just mocking the victims and being incredibly disrespectful. It's pretty unsettling.
Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean it's actually right.

It isn’t really about the rights of the deceased here—they don't have much to worry about at this point anyway. It's truly about those left behind, the people for whom those departed actually meant something.

redbear2 said:Don't put words in my mouth. I never said it was okay to mock someone or laugh in their face, just that people shouldn't be acting out over the internet. Get lost. I'm not interested in going back and forth with people who aren't making any sense.

If you think it's perfectly fine to joke around like that online, then why wouldn't you just say it to their face? Go ahead, tell them it's totally acceptable to joke that way. What’s the hold-up? It seems to me you actually know deep down that saying those things to someone's face isn't right—which is why you wait until you're behind a screen. Real classy move there.

redbear2 said:No, rather you just haven't grasped what I was actually getting at. My point is simple: people need to accept that loved ones pass away because it's just part of the human condition. They shouldn't be blindsided by it being brought up, especially by some random stranger on the internet.
People lose someone dear to them every single day. If we all had to walk on eggshells constantly, we'd never get anything done.

So, what you're saying is someone should just "get over" the fact that a loved one is dying? Or am I supposed to just "get over" the fact that someone else's loved one passed away? 🤣
And what exactly is this bolded part meant to imply? Is your entire existence centered around mocking the deceased? It sounds almost like an addiction—as if you wouldn't know what to do with yourself if someone took that outlet away.
As for "tip-toeing around them"? Who exactly is asking you to do that? All anyone asks is that you don't stick your nose into places where you aren't welcome.
By that logic, why shouldn't I stand on a street corner in Chicago and shout insults at someone in a wheelchair? Why should I be restricted in my pursuit of such intense enjoyment?
Following that line of thought, why should anyone restrict you from making jokes about the dead, or even going so far as to call a grieving family and laugh at them over the phone for losing someone? Go ahead, tell them it's perfectly normal for their loved ones to die and that they should just accept it. Try to force some kind of logic onto the pile of nonsense you're promoting just to convince yourself that this is actually okay—that people should just "snap out of it" and realize that their departed relatives are nothing more than great material for your jokes. After all, the sheer thrill you get from mocking someone whose family just lost a person in a tragic car accident is something that deserves recognition. Maybe they should let you write "witty" and "hilarious" commentary under every tragedy reported in the local news.
Oh, I don't know... who knows? Maybe it would actually bring a smile to their faces, since they can't get their loved ones back anyway, right? Tell them clearly to stop fighting it and understand that YOU HAVE A NEED to turn the death of their family members into a punchline.
Or better yet... no... why don't you just show up at the family's front door, start cracking jokes about their "departed" loved ones, and then let them decide your fate for themselves? 😉

redbear2 said:You’re taking death way too seriously. People pass away every single day; you just have to accept it. There’s nothing wrong with someone being a little reckless with their words regarding it.

I think you might be missing my point entirely, don't you?
While I tend to view the concept of mortality with a bit more detachment than you do, I certainly don't dismiss the genuine suffering of those left behind by a loss.

redbear2 said:I’d actually find them charming precisely because they can say something like that about dead people. It irritates me when people treat death like some massive social taboo, when really, it's just a standard part of life.

I don't think it's really about making death a taboo, though. To me, it feels more like a matter of basic respect for the families and friends left behind. Imagine being someone scrolling through the internet and stumbling upon a comment saying your loved one was "laid to rest" or something similar—it's harsh. I think any one of us could easily find ourselves in that position, and it's pretty clear we wouldn't want to stumble upon callous comments like that about someone who meant the world to us, regardless of how others might view them.