Travis McClain

What about next year, though?

I'm told that only fools volunteer. I'm in!

I'd be tempted to vote against multiple Make-Your-Owns, because I fear it would cheapen the one time a year when you're on your own. It did occur to me that I don't see any kind of Crime challenge, which could incorporate cop movies or gangster movies. I suppose we could generically lump cops in with soldiers and have a Men in Uniform challenge. (If, you know, you don't mind participating in a challenge with a blatantly homoerotic name.)

Trevor

Memorial Day month does sound appropriate for a War Challenge, although I imagine we could find other dates in the other open months that could work as well.

But yeah, unless Dimension X or others object, maybe starting next year we could have War in May and move Make-Your-Own.
One of us! One of us!
We should also have Foreign and Comedy Challenges.

NoirFan

I'm very much looking forward to the Western challenge, though I definitely think War films should be an entirely separate category. There are certainly more than enough Westerns available to watch, and combining unrelated genres like that dilutes the whole purpose. I'd be all for a Comedy Challenge, perhaps in November?

Trevor

You're right. I've regretted proposing that. I too am looking forward to delving through my Western collection.

I made the suggestion mainly because I've been trying to get more light shed on the Challenges here, and to encourage more participation. I'll have fun even if it's only three of us, but I see the Challenges one of the best ways to keep/make this forum more of a community and less a place where people just come for bargains or questions.
Great! I'll pencil you in. You'll be sharing the last week with the Holiday Challenge of course, but a lot of titles would qualify for both I imagine.

Dimension X

The May date was established for the Make-Your-Own-Challenge back in August, if anyone had any objections, they should've voiced them then. As for moving it next year, I'd say wait and see if the challenge is even popular enough to warrant a second year first.

Oh, and multiple Make-Your-Own-Challenges sounds like a terrible idea to me. Use whatever time is still open for another themed challenge.
I thought there was a Comedy Challenge scheduled, but I must've been thinking of Animation. November would be a good time for it if we were to add one (although, if you want to say May should be themed to War movies because of Memorial Day, maybe Comedy should be in April ).

Travis McClain

I admire the intent, and I support it. I think you made a remark elsewhere that you didn't feel like you finally "belonged" here until you participated in a challenge, and I totally get that. I dabbled with last year's Horror challenge, but being a baseball fan, I didn't fare too well. This year's Academy Awards challenge, though, was almost addictive!

I hate to bring negativity into the Challenges, but I've already decided to bow out of the B-Movie/Cult/Drive-In challenge, as well as the forthcoming Criterion challenge. I simply don't have much in the way that qualifies--and I only have one Criterion in my library. To be honest, I've wondered if maybe we oughtn't have a Make-Your-Own challenge as an alternative to the Criterion challenge, since there are 1) so few of them anyway and 2) not likely to be found in sufficient quantities in many of our libraries.

As for a comedy challenge, it sounds interesting. My first reaction is to have it follow the Holiday challenge in January. This way, we can all unwind from the nightmare that is the Christmas season and have some yuks before the Awards challenge picks up in February--and let's face it, the Awards challenge eligibility list is very much skewed in favor of heavier, more serious fare.

Trevor

Oh, we're having at least one a year for as long as I'm alive. We haven't even had it yet and I am positive that it is the best Challenge idea yet. I don't care if no one at all participates, it's a permanent fixture. No question.
But remember, watching one film for a Challenge is just as successful as watching 400.
I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but quantity means nothing really. I think the Criterion Challenge was really successful, except for the lame thread leader. Five participants watching two films each would be fine.

As long as there is a free month, and a person or two interested, why not have one? It doesn't have to have 100 people and 20,000 page views to be successful or useful.
Holiday a nightmare? Yeah, some people feel/joke about that, but overall i think most people think of the holidays as a light and fun period, with much mirth and comedy already. I'm thinking a Comedy Challenge would be much better as a follow-up to the dark and scary Horror Challenge.

Dimension X

You mean I'm gonna be stuck doing one every year?

Travis McClain

Ah, humor between Horror and Holiday. Sounds good to me! That would leave January and May for what is apparently "my" War Challenge. I still think May would make more sense, but I'll do as I'm told. Following orders would seem to be in the spirit of the challenge!

This is what I get for missing staff meetings...!

Philosophically, I agree with you entirely. And yet, there's a part of me that just feels like it's wrong to only participate so minimally. I dunno, maybe it's just the way I'm wired.

As noted above, I'm on board with this. (I actually missed the previous post about having it in November, or I wouldn't have bothered with my superfluous January remarks.)

Dimension X

How about having the "War Challenge" in November in honor of Veterans Day?

Travis McClain

Sounds good to me! Out of curiosity, what's a good number of categories to have for a checklist for one of these things?

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Movies taking place during certain wars? Maybe an espionage category and one for cannon fodder?

Travis McClain

Oh, I've already got a list. I just need to know what a good number of categories is!

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Ah. I always just went for the same style as other challenges and as long as it wasn't freakishly long compared to the others, I felt fine.

RobCA

I haven't seen one yet that wasn't too freakishly long. Personally, I think we should have a rule that checklists have to be in spoiler tags. That way, those of us who don't give a rat's ass about them can read others' lists without having to scroll through the damn things.

Rob

Travis McClain

I've spoilered my checklists, but the truth is that the lists themselves are what threaten to overrun most threads. The reason is, there's no standard. Some members list every award for which the film was nominated or won--whether in the Awards thread or not. Some break up their lists by the day that they watched, with date headers. Some include large graphics.

But, yeah, I'll try to keep the War Challenge checklist manageable. I have some ideas that I hope will be rewarding for its participants.

RobCA

Yeah, the large graphics can be annoying too at times (I love my Adblock) but none of the other things you mentioned really bother me. I used to break up my lists by the day I watched stuff, but now that I'm only able to watch one or two movies a day, I don't bother.

BTW, no offense, but I hate war movies even more than I hate the checklists, so I'll be avoiding that challenge completely. So feel free to make the checklist for that one just as long as you want to.

Rob

Travis McClain

No offense taken at all. Would you be kind enough to share with me what it is about war movies that you don't like? It might be helpful to me in crafting the checklist and directing the challenge. I confess that I'm not terribly big on them myself, but then Trevor very shrewdly recruited me for the challenge. It seems like something I have to do in order to justify my history degree.

RobCA

They just don't interest me at all. Admittedly, I've only seen a few, but enough to know that I don't care for the genre. I'm not a big fan of action films, as a rule, which might have something to do with it, but there are a few I like. Sorry I can't really be any more specific than that; the genre as a whole just has zero appeal for me.

Rob

Travis McClain

Would you be interested in a war movie if it was more of a drama (or a comedy), than an action picture?

RobCA

Hmmm, possibly. I do like A Very Long Engagement, which I think counts as a war movie, but that has absolutely nothing to do with why I like it. If anything, I like it in spite of that.

Rob

Travis McClain

I have to say, I'm rather excited about organizing the War Challenge. Aside from starting the threads and putting together the checklist, what are the duties of a host?

Trevor

And making the rules.

But generally, most of the Challenges here have been halfway created and set-up by the forum as a whole, with many people contributing 'rules', and many have other people doing the checklists or some part of the Challenge. We all owe the Challenges being to Chad though, so 10% of all your profit goes to him as a tribute. He may try to get 'physical' favors from you as well, but according to the DVDTalk bylaws he just gets the 10%.

A results thread is also nice if you have time to do one, people seem to enjoy those.

Personally, I prefer a very loose format with huge numbers discouraged, or counting even discouraged, as it should all be about community building and discussion. I think TV shows should definitely be allowed, with the standard 'counting' being 1 point for a film of any 'academy' length, 1/2 a point for a 60 minute TV show, and 1/4 point for a 30 minute show.

Travis McClain

I have some pretty clear ideas of what I'd like to do, but I expected to shake things out with a discussions thread to see if I've missed something or included something of little interest to participants. 10%, huh? In the spirit of my challenge...he'll have to fight me for it!

This is actually what I'm most anticipating, because I hope that my challenge will really invite some personal discussion.

Hmm. The History Channel is a given for the War Channel, and I've actually got a spot on my preliminary checklist for one of their documentaries. Things like Band of Brothers come to mind, or Generation: Kill, but otherwise the only thing from TV that comes to mind is Tour of Duty. I'm sure I'm missing a lot of obvious ones, but I'm drawing a blank for war on TV. Something for the eventual discussions thread!

Trevor

Lots of older TV shows like Combat and Rat Patrol.