Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Would hate to see you go Dx. Just posting the thread in April is pretty much all you need to do, as there really isn’t any ‘scoring’ or ‘rules’ to work or after or during the Challenge.

But I’m on record as saying that they’ll always be a May MYOC, even if I have to start it. It’s awesome that you step in and offer to start them a lot shado, but I’m hopeful that we can get some new blood into starting them. Someone needs to keep these things humming when you, Chad, and the others are gone.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

As I said, it's the easiest one to host. But I hosted 10 of them, and I'm just not sure I'm the right person to keep it going since weeks go by without me checking in here. I plan to participate, but I just don't know how often I'll check in to the forum (the new forum makes it a pain to upgrade lists, so that keeps me away also - The last one I did, I didn't even claim a list spot until the last day of the month, and I found a list I did for one last year that I never posted). I too, would like to see someone who hasn't hosted one before take over, but whoever wants it is welcome to it.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Yeah, not happy that my old format for every list doesn’t work well with the new software. Most months I didn’t put too much effort into formatting my lists, but now I’m even less inclined to do so.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

What did I miss? What's happening?? Where's everybody going?? Are they coming back??!! :eek:

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

No, no, I was just saying that all of us will leave eventually. Having 14 different people running the Challenges would seem preferable to having fewer.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I put my ratings symbols back in the Romance challenge - but it's somewhat of a pain as the system wants to keep the last size/color you used. I bold dates but if I don't do it with "Source" it'll bold everything in between automatically - even if I start with a single bolded line. I really, really, really, do not like the "improved" editor at all. It seems to take twice as long to do things as before. Just one of the common complaints I have with all the web based GUI crap. It takes 5-20 steps to do what you once did in a couple.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Well... I was going to give Greg another couple of days before volunteering - but shadokitty got antsy... No matter.

If Dimension X wants out I'll do the MYO challenge. It's a favorite and somewhat a no-brainer.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

OK... It's done... the 2020 May MYO challenge discussion thread has been started...

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

The way these challenge keep growing, it'll be the Jan 1st to Dec 31st Horror, Academy awards, make your own, romance, animation et. etc. Challenge"

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

You’re free to participate or not participate in any challenges you want.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Pretty sure we’ve been year round for about ten years now.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

There's rumbling that the Oscars might move for 2021 so there might be a challenge-free month next year (and two challenges in the same month depending on what happens).

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

True. And I do, but when challenges bleed over into other challenges for no reason at all, it gets annoying. The way it started with challenges having months was nice. Now you can be doing 2 separate challenges in the same month.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Thats not what i meant. More along the lines of challenges bleeding into other challenges.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

That doesn't happen that often and you can always ignore the overlap (I almost always do). Unless I'm missing one there's the Comedy which overlaps the Holiday due to Thanksgiving, the Academy Awards which can overlap TV or Action depending on just when the awards show is scheduled and will always overlap the Romance one added this year, and the Historical which overlaps the MYO due to backing up to include the Memorial Day weekend. IIRC most of those overlaps started only a few years back and were generally agreed upon by the participants.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

tv now starts in december

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Well the Oscars just got moved to April 25 which means the Oscar Challenge will run roughly March 27-April 25 (if we keep it at around 30 days). That means this challenge would overlap with the Drive-In/Cult Challenge.

Any thoughts?

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

My thoughts are that they really are two drastically different challenges so would it be a big deal to over lap them? Are the same people, for the most part, going to be participating in both? The Drive-in/Cult challenge is one that I don't participate in, but I usually do the Oscar one for instance. I certainly could be wrong about people wanting to do both though! But even if we did cross over these two challenges, it's just this year (I hope so, at least) so would it really be a big deal for one year even if people have to split their attention between challenges?

Also, just wanted to add that I plan on hosting July and August as usual. Will be getting the Sci-Fi/Fantasy threads up fairly soon.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I usually do both but neither is one of my heavier challenges. Mostly I’d be affected in that I’d have fewer opportunities for double credit. :D

Music/musicals/romance was launched on a trial basis this year, but it has a better chance of sticking around if the runway is clear of Oscars.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I too do both, but wouldn’t mind any overlap. It gives me more things to watch.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I don't do the Academy Awards challenge as most of the nominees are movies I just don't care to watch or watch again. Won't affect me at all.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

We could consider swapping months. Do the Drive-in challenge in March.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I intend to host the Criterion Challenge next month. Since the checklist is more or less automatic for that one and there isn't much to do in the way of pre-challenge discussion, I figured I'd wait until the 15th to start the threads. That's the day they'll announce the November wave. I can start earlier, though, if anyone is adamant about it.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

There doesn't seem to have been a Criterion November announcement but I've gone ahead and created the Criterion Challenge list and discussion threads.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I floated an idea in the Criterion discussion thread, and wanted to cross-post it here. I've been wondering of late whether maybe it would be worth considering revamping that challenge as a wider Boutique Distributor Challenge. Because we accept content that has been selected to stream on the Criterion Channel, that's more or less what it has become by default now anyway. A lot of the Channel content has been licensed from distributors such as Arrow Video; Cohen Film Collection; Kino Lorber; Milestone/Oscilloscope; Scream/Shout Factory; and the defunct Twilight Time, as well as the Sony Selects and Warner Archive Collection MOD programs. (If we voted now, I'd be against including Sony and Warner carte blanche because those are large enough to exceed the intended smaller scope of the challenge.)

I bring this up because as much as I love the Criterion Challenge, participation is easily the lowest of all the challenges. Always has been, and is damn near barely alive by now. Some of that has to do with the community itself disintegrating, but the Horror Challenge is alive and well so our fellow forum members do still remember their login credentials. I feel like there are a lot of forum participants who collect and watch all kinds of content that's eligible for the challenge as it already stands, but abstain because their perception is that if it isn't Bergman, Fellini, or Kurosawa that they're shut out. I hate that, because you could also be watching and talking about Anna Biller, Jackie Chan, MGM Musicals, or movies with scores by Quincy Jones. None of those themes come across from the words "Criterion Challenge".

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Could we vote on and add only 1 a year? Make it special, like the R&R Hall of Fame. Not flood the challenge with new distributors all at once but add a new worthy one each year. Just a suggestion.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

The problem is that Criterion has effectively already done this via the Channel. Suppose we voted to induct Arrow Video in 2021. Well, a ton of Oscilloscope content is still going to be eligible anyway as it's already been on the Channel. What would we accomplish by withholding formal recognition of Oscilloscope? Also, if these distributors have been deemed worthy of inclusion on the Channel, oughtn't that be good enough to determine worthiness for our challenge?

We could stop allowing content that has previously streamed on the Channel and only accept content actively there. That would be tidier, but I would argue it would also be antithetical to the spirit of the challenge.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

If the goal is to increase participation, I don’t think adding one boutique label is going to move the needle much.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Ya, good points. You're right

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Here are the distributors whose content I know has appeared on the Criterion Channel and is already eligible for the challenge:

Arrow
Cohen Film Collection
Kino Lorber
Olive Films
Oscilloscope/Milestone
Shout! Factory/Scream Factory
Twilight Time

They've also hosted stuff from Lionsgate, Sony Selects, and the Warner Archive Collection. My feeling is that those might be large enough to go outside the scope of what the challenge is about, but I can be persuaded otherwise.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

November Comedy Challenge list thread has been posted.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

We are coming up on the new year and I am interested in what challenges will be run for January thru April. Can someone let me know what they are?

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Barring any more changes, the Oscar Challenge will run March 15 - April 25

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Unless something has changed, the calendar is:

January: TV on DVD* [begins New Year's Eve]
February: Romance, Music & Musicals
March: Action/Adventure/Crime/Mystery
April: Drive-In/B-Movie/Exploitation
May: Make Your Own
June: Historical Appreciation
July: Science-Fiction & Fantasy
August: Animation
September: Criterion [proposed expansion to Boutique Label for 2021]
October: Horror [with an unofficial warmup phase starting in September]
November: Comedy
December: Holiday [begins week of Thanksgiving]

And as Lisa noted, the Oscar challenge is on its own schedule.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

Romance Music Musicals was an experiment for last year, but when the Oscars were moved, it seemed to make sense to run it again in 2021. I’m fine with that plan unless others disagree (but anyone can always skip a challenge that they don’t care for).

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

OK, thanks, that is just what I was wondering about.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I'm entirely in favor of bringing it back! That theme was a great idea that I feel completes the lineup. I can come up with several movies that aren't eligible for any other challenge. Documentaries, war movies, and westerns are all covered by Historical Appreciation. Film noirs and courtroom dramas are implicitly covered by Crime/Mystery.

Sports movies are really all that seem left. I wrote those into Historical Appreciation and so far as I know, they haven't been removed from that. (I reasoned that sports movies tapped into the same machismo as war and westerns, and it was also inspired by the fact that almost every history teacher I had in middle & high schools were employed in that capacity to justify having them there to coach one team or another.) But even if sports are tossed out of HA, the individual films should still have a home somewhere. Just to take Kevin Costner's baseball movies, Bull Durham is a comedy that's also had a Criterion release and Field of Dreams is fantasy. That leaves For Love of the Game which is also...a romance, now covered!

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I just wanted to let people know that I’m planning to post the discussion and list threads for the TV on DVD challenge this week sometime. Last week I got a new laptop, but it was shipped with a faulty power cord, so I had to order a new one.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I was gonna see about returning as host this year, but I think you enjoy doing it more than me. If you want to take the year off, though, lemme know. In any event, I've got two Batman box sets that I'm eager to get into next month ('66 and TAS). I'll try not to make y'all completely sick of Batman. At least there'll be the Discovery season finale on the 7th, for those who don't mind talking through spoiler boxes.

Re: "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium
 

I have no issues at all with you doing it this year Travis. I’m feeling stressed out this year anyway, what with COVID going on. While I’m glad to participate, I don’t mind stepping down from running it.