Last but not least: Cutting a path through the cultural jungle

 The online platform of the German news magazine Stern has launched a new service: the Stern-Shortlist. However, it is not about advertising prizes, even if the name suggests the lists that may mean the world to advertisers. Instead, Stern-shortlist.de aims to "cut a swathe through the cultural jungle", as the website puts it. The portal aims to provide an overview of the flood of music, films, TV series and books. The concept of capturing the world in lists is clearly based on the successful novel High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Its protagonist Rob makes a list of his worst break-ups after a painful relationship break-up. The topics on the Stern website are not quite so gloomy. It is fed by the editors; however, in the age of Web 2.0, users can of course also participate and publish their favorite lists on any topic. The shortlists are entertaining ("Songs that doped cyclists could listen to"), they impart knowledge ("Books that were nominated for the 2006 German Book Prize"), offer useful information ("Everything for children whose mother is turning 60") and make recommendations ("PC games for children that even critical teachers have no objections to").
The lists are also sometimes unintentionally instructive: for example, the list "Jasmin Wagner: albums from my CD shelf that my fans might be surprised about" tells us that the singer formerly known as Blümchen still exists. And some users also want to make the impossible possible: The list "Movies that are great even if you don't like Tom Cruise" is a truly ambitious project - as is the entry "Movies in which Jim Carrey doesn't grimace for once".