Dimension X

List thread is now active.

May is just over a week and a half away, so it's time, once again, to take a look at your dusty, unopened box sets, your unwatched stacks of Blu-rays, DVDs, HD-DVDs, LDs, VHS or Beta tapes, your DVR, your Netflix queue, etc., etc., and decide what you think you should spend 31 days watching. Now's your chance to finally watch all the stuff that didn't fit, or that you just didn't get around to, during the other Challenges.

Since you choose your own Challenge theme, you make the rules.

There are however a few guidelines which everyone should follow.

Challenge Guidelines:

The Challenge runs from May 1 through May 31.

Sure, you can do your May MYOC in September if you want, but the list thread will only be stickied during May, so if you want anyone else to see what you're up to, please try to do it near those dates.

Please state your challenge theme and your challenge goal and rules (if any) at the top of your list(s) in the list thread so others can tell what you're doing.

Please don't duplicate an existing "Official" DVD Talk Challenge.

This guideline is mainly here so we don't subtract from participation in any of the other Challenges, and to encourage participants to focus on genres not already covered by a Challenge, but since everyone's "need to watch" list is different, and you're able to watch stuff that qualifies for one or more of the other Challenges during every other Challenge, you're free to narrow the focus of one of the broader "Official" Challenges.

For example; Say you only collect horror, then you could make your Challenge to watch just horror films, or just horror TV shows, or just zombie films, etc. Or if you have lots of unwatched Sci-Fi, then your MYOC could be just watch Sci-Fi movies, or watch Star Trek shows, or watch TOS, etc.

Here's Trevor's handy-dandy list of Challenges from his "Official" DVDTalk Challenges Compendium thread:


DVDTalk Challenge Schedule

Month	Month-long Challenge	Partial Month Challenge
January	TV	Holiday ends on the 1st; varying Academy Award
February	Musical/Romance/Music	varying Academy Award
March	Action/Adventure/Crime	varying Academy Award
April	Drive-In/Exploitation/B-Movie	none
May	Make-Your-Own	none
June	Historical Appreciation	none
July	Sci-Fi/Fantasy	none
August	Animation	none
September	Arthouse/Indy	none
October	Horror	none
November	Comedy	Holiday starts week of Thanksgiving
December	Holiday	none

Since we already have Monthly "Unwatched Media Pile" Threads, please do not use that as a theme.

During past MYOCs, people weren't happy with this being used as a theme, and I tend to agree that it is a little lazy. So how about giving a little thought to the theme and coming up with something a little more creative, please?

Check out the previous challenge threads for ideas:
2010 discussion thread.
2010 list thread.
2011 discussion thread.
2011 list thread.
2012 discussion thread.
2012 list thread.
2013 discussion thread.
2013 list thread.
2014 discussion thread.
2014 list thread.
2015 discussion thread.
2015 list thread.
2016 discussion thread.
2016 list thread.
2017 discussion thread.
2017 list thread.
2018 discussion thread.
2018 list thread.
2019 discussion thread.
2019 list thread.
2020 discussion thread.
2020 list thread.
2021 discussion thread.
2021 list thread.

▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

Dimension X

Last year I watched just unwatched movies I had bought at Dollar Tree. I think this year I'll do movies I bought at thrift stores. Seems like a good way to work through some of them, and they cover a lot of genres (so I shouldn't get bored).

Trevor

Sweet. Need to try to be creative this year.

Also, thanks for the reminder to update the calendar. We have Musical/Romance/Music every February now.

pacaway

And the Criterion month has been reworked as an Arthouse/Indy challenge.

As for this year's MYOC, I'll still be previewing for our international film festival in September so it'll be difficult to squeeze much else in, but maybe something TV related so I can focus on shorter content that I can work around those films. I'll have to figure out a real theme though. I have tons of TV content and it's all ripped to my plex server now so it's easy to access.

Cardsfan111

I've been thinking about this year's MYOC approach while considering the other challenges. While TV content is often allowed, films remain the central focus, with the obvious exception of January. The recent Academy Award challenge reminded me that we have a time to celebrate the best of movies, so I'm leaning to using next month to focus on the best of television. Unless I change my mind, I'll probably feast on Emmy-award-winning shows. I've got seasons of Game of Thrones, ER, Frasier near the top of the unwatched pile and few other options as well.

Trevor

Actually, fwiw, my calendar was up to date. I think DX just used last year’s post.

Dimension X

More like four years ago.

I've incorporated the updates mentioned so far. Looking at Trevor's list (finally), it looks correct now.

shadokitty

I’ll throw my hat in and will start to think. Maybe cel shaded animation since I’ve been on an 80s cartoon kick lately.

Travis McClain

I've been considering "Eighty 80's Movies". In case anyone might be interested in diving into 80's movies, I've compiled a spreadsheet of Top Movie Hits of the 1980's. It contains each year's top 10 video sales and rentals per Billboard; top 10 box office hits per Box Office Mojo; top 10 ranked on Flickchart; top 10 checked on iCheckMovies; top 10 highest rated on Letterboxd. It also includes each year's Best Picture nominees. That data is in chart and list forms. There's a third sheet collecting various magazine/website top 80's lists.

I also enjoyed the "Actor Daisy Chain" theme I improvised last year. I'm strongly considering combining them and doing an "Eighty-Film 80's Actor Daisy Chain". I haven't gotten that far yet.

KaBluie

Our roof collapsed (no one was hurt) and we are now staying with my sister in her trailer (6 people, 3 dogs & 3 cats).
My 78 year old mom and are on a couch in front of a TV which luckily they don't really watch (They spend 100% of their waking hours playing games on their phones).
My mom keeps watching the same movies over and over again.
She'll watch someting then a couple days later she'll choose it again,
when I say ''We just watched that Yesterday.'' she'll say ''I don't remember it.''
I'll say ''the reason you don't remember it is because it wasn't memorable, it was BORING!''
So since I'm stuck watching all these godawful pieces of sh*t over and over, I might as well make that my May Make Your Own Challenge!

pacaway

OMG, that's hilarious and sad all at the same time!

Travis McClain

Maybe no one was hurt when the roof collapsed, but what you've described sounds pretty painful. In any event, I'm glad everyone is safe.

BobO'Link

What, if any, is the significance of the titles in italics in your spreadsheet?

Travis McClain

There's a notation at the bottom that explains those films are unique to whichever list they appear. For instance, The History of the World, Part I was the seventh highest grossing movie of 1980, but failed to make the top 10 video rentals or sales, or the top 10's from Flickchart, iCheckMovies, or Letterboxd. There are a few that were unique to a given list but later appeared when I added more chart data and I just missed going back and un-italicizing those.

Darkgod

I am doing Super Heroes, Super Spies, and Super Stars - Comic Book/Super Hero, Spy Films/Tv and Wrestling

omike

I'm planning to take part but as usual I don't know exactly what I'll be doing yet.

Mr Awesome

80s Movies and TV will likely be my theme.

Dimension X

I started the list thread.

Surfinhank

Thanks for hosting Dimension X. As a precursor to the October challenge I'll be doing horror, but exclusively TV horror series.

Trevor

I’m doing “Unopened, Unwatched and Unwanted” as my theme. Stuff I’ve bought over the years and keep putting off.

Dimension X

Thank you, and everyone else, for participating.

lisadoris

I was going to start a Buffy/Angel re-watch in May so I think I'll stick to that.

BobO'Link

Still undecided - so much stuff and ways to organize it... May pick a longer, unopened/partially opened TV series and just binge it - something like Stargate-SG1 or Farscape or The Flash or Grean Arrow or Supergirl...

Travis McClain

I've committed to "Eighty-Film 80's Daisy Chain" as my theme. I'm looking forward to diving into the films of that decade. I grew up largely insulated from mainstream pop culture so there's a lot that I absorbed by osmosis through classmates or parodies, but never actually saw the movies themselves.

Giving myself greater flexibility this time. In addition to actors as connectors, I'm expanding to include directors, possibly composers, or even on a more tangential level like being based on source material from the same creator. (Two Stephen King adaptations, for instance.) I'm also allowing concert films and stand-up comedy specials, but only if the performer appears onscreen in the adjacent film. For instance, David Bowie: Glass Spider could connect to Labyrinth because Bowie appeared in it, but it could not connect to Sixteen Candles, which includes his recording of "Young Americans" but not Bowie himself. Gonna prioritize first time viewings, but I'm open to revisiting movies especially if I haven't seen them in quite awhile. Likewise, I'm not excluding franchises outright but I want to try to cast a wider net.

Documentaries about the 80's are eligible even if they were released after the decade. I haven't given any thought to which ones I might want to incorporate, but I'm sure there'll be periodic temptation to dive down a rabbit hole. Seemed prudent to allow for that upfront. I'm way behind on poking around PBS while I still have a free subscription.

Indy24LA

I think I will make it easy on myself and just watch my favorite movies.