The Monkees

The time has come... once again... for...






2005 Discussion & Lists Thread
2006 Discussion Thread
2006 Lists Thread
2007 Discussion Thread
2007 Lists Thread
2008 Discussion Thread
2008 Lists Thread
2009 Discussion Thread
2009 Lists Thread







OFFICIAL RULES

-Movies, TV shows/specials, Short Films & Cartoons Count

-The movie or TV show DOES NOT need to be holiday oriented. It could simply take place during the holiday season (i.e. Batman Returns, Gremlins, Die Hard, etc.)

-Although the movie doesn't have to take place during the holiday season, a MAJORITY of the film HAS to take place during the holiday season. No movies with just one scene during the holiday season. If you're not sure, ASK!

-Any holiday from Thanksgiving through New Years Day may count

-A film can only be viewed once, UNLESS you watch it and then watched it again with a commentary

-There is no global goal, shoot for a personal goal. Whatever you want your goal to be go for it. For returning participants maybe your goal should be to beat a previous year's goal.

-Again, like past years there will be a THREE Wild Card option to include movies or TV shows you might watch during the holiday season that is not holiday oriented. My family used to watch Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory every Christmas. So anything is allowed, up to 3.

-PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE number your lists!

It doesn't matter how you see the film, VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, Laserdisc, Theatrical release, it can be counted. Just have fun.

The challenge begins at 12:00am CST on Monday November 22, 2010 and ends at 11:59pm CST on Saturday January 1, 2011



Links

ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas Schedule

CHECKLIST



PLEASE KEEP THE DISCUSSION TO THIS THREAD

Enjoy the Horror Movie Challenge and I Look Forward to All Participants!

Cardsfan111

I'm looking forward to it. I participated for the first time last year and it seems like this is a more "laid-back" challenge for me. I'm not as driven by building up numbers, but instead just more focused on holiday-related viewing.

Travis McClain

Is it really necessary to have specific films on the checklist? I, for one, loathe--and I mean loathe--A Christmas Story. Also, are there any thoughts about the 90 minute conversion standard for TV content & short films that other challenges have employed this year? I found it really helped keep my Animation Challenge list "cleaner."

In any event, I'm glad to see this thread is up; I've been thinking about the Holiday Challenge for the last couple of days while gorging on baseball and the Horror Challenge.

Bluelitespecial

I love the banner,and I am in again. Its just so much fun, and not as serious as the horror challenge.

Darth Maher

I'm against the TV show conversion idea. I think everything should just count as 1. Makes things a whole lot simpler.

Bluelitespecial

^^^Me too, now matter how long any cartoon is it should count as one entry. What Christmas movies have ever been oscar winners???

mike07

I'm in. I think I started to participate in this challenge last year but lost interest less than 1/2 way though it. This year, I hope to sit in from beginning to end!

journeyowns

I'm new to the board but this looks fun. I do echo one of the above posters about A Christmas Story. Can't stand that movie. Some members of my family really enjoys it though, so it's likely I'll catch at it some point anyway.

The Monkees

I'm also with the people about 1 TV episode should count as 1 entry and that's the way it's been for 4 years it will stay that way

Sadly I won't be able to hit my high number of last year this year because of my job. Boo.

journeyowns

Does the movie have to have won for best picture? Could it have won for other things? If so:

Miracle on 34th Street
1947
Oscar-winner for Best Actor (Supporting Role: Edmund Gwenn) and Best Writing (Original Story & Screenplay)

Holiday Inn
1942
Oscar-winner for Best Music (Original song: White Christmas)

Fist of Doom

Nope, a win in any Oscar category counts.

Quack

My favorite challenge of the year, love watching the Henson and Rankin/Bass shows/specials.

FantasticVSDoom

Yep, in again for this... Another vote for everything being 1 entry. Pretty much because its the way its been in the past and Im too lazy to do the conversion

Trevor

^

Indy24LA

Count me in, next to the Horror Challenge, this is my favorite.

Travis McClain

Re: TV conversion for counting - I'm surprised Trevor doesn't side with me on this; I would think uniformity would speak to his OCD nature. I personally reject the notion that just because something has previously been done a certain way that it must continue to be done that way, but I'm not out to sour this challenge in any way so I'm contented that we're counting each item viewed because that's how participants want to do it and I'll not bring it up again. (This year...!)

Re: A Christmas Story - I see I do have some support on this point of contention. I forgot to mention that as much as I hate A Christmas Story, I'm really not big on any of the National Lampoon movies, though if I had to endure Christmas Vacation, it's one of the few that I find tolerable. Perhaps we could combine the few specific movies into an optional checklist item?

--- Watch EITHER "It's a Wonderful Life"/some version of "Miracle on 34th Street"/"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"/"A Christmas Story"

The Monkees

Another note on the conversion, I personally think it's stupid. Why should TV shows be counted any different than something that is considered a TV "special" (i.e. Rudolph or Charlie Brown Christmas)? And if short films count then TV shows should count as 1 as well. That's just my personal feelings on the conversion, if anything it just confuses people.

Also with the check list, I'm not the one who came up with all the titles on there (I did add the Garfield title though) but the titles on there are considered "essential" holiday viewing. Does that make it right? Not really, but whatever, if you want you can drop any title, no real RULE on it.

Fist of Doom

It saddens me to think there are people who don't like A Christmas Story.

I'm also against converting TV stuff. Most of what we watch during this challenge are TV specials and shorts; no need to make extra work for everybody.

Dimension X

Another vote against "TV conversion." Keep it the way it is.

Travis McClain

I've already capitulated and tried to graciously let it go; is there some reason you guys won't let it?

There's really no honest response to this assertion that doesn't continue to make me the villain of this thread. I'll instead politely thank you for the permission to omit the specific titles.

Dimension X

Would it have upset you if I had agreed with you? I hadn't looked at this thread since the first post, so I decided to weigh in on that one topic (mostly because I agreed with, and liked the reasoning used in, The Monkees' post that I quoted in my post).

Now I'll go back to just lurking and updating my Challenge list every other day or so so I don't piss off anyone else (although I'm sure my taste in movies probably has upset a few too).

Trevor

Check your calendar, it's Pick on MinLShaw Day.

But seriously, I think a lot of people post or reply to a specific post before reading the entire thread. At least, I know I do that all the time.

Plus, even if the idea starter capitulates (and here I thought I wouldn't see or use that word today), it doesn't mean the topic is closed. Others may want to give their input pro or con.

My OCD does agree with you, but I'd rather the other Challenges wise up and follow this one's numbering scheme. Actually, I'd prefer there be no numbers at all. Just massive checklists.......

Multiple 's in there.
You can blame me for much of the expanded checklist(s). My basic thoughts on them were (are?) that they are optional and that only a very small percentage of die hards would even try to fully complete them. I'm kind of surprised that they have become so popular.

When we were creating the expanded checklist for the Holiday Challenge I just added things to get it to a formidable size.

But yes, I understand the problem of a checklist item requiring one to watch a particular item. Combining them might be a good idea, but I'd suggest two things per checklist item, like what Chad did for this year's horror checklist. So I'd edit your idea to:

--- Watch EITHER "It's a Wonderful Life" or some version of "Miracle on 34th Street"

--- Watch EITHER "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" or "A Christmas Story"

This would separate them into "old classics" and "almost old classics".

Travis McClain

It's okay. Trevor 'splained it to me:

I checked. He's right.

Speaking only for myself, I find that the checklists in general do a really good job of provoking a diverse viewing experience for the month--which isn't easy to do, since most of them are organized by genre somehow (this is more of a setting theme, though I suppose there's something of a Holiday genre that's emerged over the years).

Sounds good. You could also pair them up so that each person has a choice of which era he or she prefers; i.e., It's a Wonderful Life or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Also, I got to wondering if there'd be any interest in adding an item along the lines of "Watch something featuring the original performance of an iconic Holiday song." Here's a list on Wikipedia of such titles.

Doc Moonlight

And my OCD nature would point out that there is more than one version of "It's a Wonderful Life", so the checklist option above should be worded:

---Watch either a version of "It's a Wonderful Life" or a version of "Miracle on 34th Street"

Darth Maher

Actually, I don't mind numbering my lists... just to see what I watched, but I don't do it as any kind of competition. The whole "30 minutes counts as XX" seems to go against the view that we are not competing.

This isn't a slam against MinLShaw in any way... just how I've felt about the challenges for a long time. I'm glad that the Horror Challenge is finally allowing TV. I just find it weird that in the end, my list might have 23.25 entries... just seems silly.