Future challenges

[sol]

The only BC I was thinking about was about that Scorsese recoms to Wright list.

The one BC that I was thinking of (when I thought that I would end up hosting) was simply Irish films. Fairly easy to track if you request participants to list Country of Origin, and it might promote deeper exploration rather than get everyone focusing on the UK. But whatever you want to do for a BC is cool.

What were your thoughts on I Care a Lot and its possible eligibility? Thanks again for volunteering to host!

[Lonewolf2003]

Oh - and an early eligibility question if you're up to it, Lonewolf. What do you think of I Care a Lot? Listed as a US/UK co-production on both IMDb and Letterboxd. Film is shot entirely in America and the production company seems to be American. The writer-director-producer is British though and at least a couple of the other producers are British... but the vast majority of producers are not British. Wikipedia also only lists the film as American (but that's not the best source usually for this sorta thing). Not seen the film myself of course, so no idea if it's particularly anchored to one country or the other.

Difficult question. For a challenge I would say it sounds like an American production.

But to be clear, I'm not going to be a very strict host checking all eligibility. I have no inclination to do that. I assume fair play from all, since we are all adults playing a game on an internet forum just for fun. (Of course with doubtful titles I will or if other users raise doubts.)

[sol]

Difficult question. For a challenge I would say it sounds like an American production.

But to be clear, I'm not going to be a very strict host checking all eligibility. I have no inclination to do that.

Yeah, that's fine. I don't care a lot about I Care a Lot being eligible or not (pun intended) but I appreciate your advice as Challenge host. I was going to err on the side of caution and not include it myself, but yeah, it's a tricky borderline case.

[Lonewolf2003]

The only BC I was thinking about was about that Scorsese recoms to Wright list.

The one BC that I was thinking of (when I thought that I would end up hosting) was simply Irish films. Fairly easy to track if you request participants to list Country of Origin, and it might promote deeper exploration rather than get everyone focusing on the UK. But whatever you want to do for a BC is cool.

What were your thoughts on I Care a Lot and its possible eligibility? Thanks again for volunteering to host!

Yeah was also thinking about doing a complete all parts, so having to watch one from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. (I didn't forget any did I?) Or to make it even more challenging about watching one in Welsh, Irish Gaelic or Scottish Gaelic. (Are there any?)

I was also thinking to use your rule with Benelux, that people have to list the country/part or it won't be counted at all. Otherwise it will be very hard to keep track of it all.

[Obgeoff]

I don’t know if we have any members from the Unionist community of Northern Ireland but best to split Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Republic if you are thinking of doing a bonus challenge. Having standalone Ireland could annoy Nationalists if you imply that Ireland is part of the UK and annoy Unionists if you imply that there is a United Ireland.

[Lonewolf2003]

Maybe I need some very complex rule that some movies can move from Ireland to Northern Ireland, but other can't move from Northern Ireland to the UK.

But seriously, I get your point. But that would be hard to do, cause Northern Ireland isn't a production country on IMDb.

[Obgeoff]

No, I think that you are right. Complex rules are the way forward, perhaps we could call it a protocol?

I’m surprised England, Scotland and Wales get separate status in IMDb but Northern Ireland doesn’t.

Good luck sorting the Irish coproduction entries. There is a thriving professional services industry here dedicated to film finance and the tax incentives for the industry.

[maxwelldeux]

PM sent to allisoncm to confirm hosting duties for Directed by Women.

No reply from allison yet. She was active on the forum 4 hours after I sent the message but I don't know if she read it (message is still in my Outbox).

Anybody know allison on another platform to ask her? I'm okay with trying to recruit another female host, but don't really want to start doing that if she's still keen to host.

EDIT: looks like Armo just read my mind and has already done that.

Allison obviously has dibs on the challenge, but if she's unable to host, I'll be backup. Mostly because I'm going to leverage my wife's brain, since she has a degree in women's and gender studies.

[sol]

Allison obviously has dibs on the challenge, but if she's unable to host, I'll be backup. Mostly because I'm going to leverage my wife's brain, since she has a degree in women's and gender studies.

Thanks, max. Just received a message from allison and she has stated that she won't be around next month, so the Challenge is all yours. I was actually thinking of asking your wife, but I know she hasn't been active much lately.

[maxwelldeux]

Allison obviously has dibs on the challenge, but if she's unable to host, I'll be backup. Mostly because I'm going to leverage my wife's brain, since she has a degree in women's and gender studies.

Thanks, max. Just received a message from allison and she has stated that she won't be around next month, so the Challenge is all yours. I was actually thinking of asking your wife, but I know she hasn't been active much lately.

I'll get the thread up this weekend.

[maxwelldeux]

Allison obviously has dibs on the challenge, but if she's unable to host, I'll be backup. Mostly because I'm going to leverage my wife's brain, since she has a degree in women's and gender studies.

Thanks, max. Just received a message from allison and she has stated that she won't be around next month, so the Challenge is all yours. I was actually thinking of asking your wife, but I know she hasn't been active much lately.

I'll get the thread up this weekend.

It's mostly drafted (thanks, allisoncm). I've asked Wife for some content, and she's working on it. One bonus challenge, but no stats. Fingers crossed, it'll go up Saturday my time.

[sol]

If no UK or Irish volunteer before this weekend, I can do the UK challenge.

Just double-checking that you're still up for this. I'm not planning to stay up after midnight watching UK and Irish films myself, but it has already hit March in some parts of the world.

[Lonewolf2003]

If no UK or Irish volunteer before this weekend, I can do the UK challenge.

Just double-checking that you're still up for this. I'm not planning to stay up after midnight watching UK and Irish films myself, but it has already hit March in some parts of the world.

Yep, was making the topic when you posted. It's up now: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5356

[sol]

If no UK or Irish volunteer before this weekend, I can do the UK challenge.

Just double-checking that you're still up for this. I'm not planning to stay up after midnight watching UK and Irish films myself, but it has already hit March in some parts of the world.

Yep, was making the topic when you posted. It's up now: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5356

... and I think you're doing the right thing by making the individual regions an Opt-In bonus challenge.

[blocho]

I had a hypothesis that the replacement of max's challenge scoring system with sol's challenge scoring system would lead to a decrease in viewership. I thought this would be because the new challenge scoring system would take some of the intensity out of the competition (a good thing, in my opinion). Also, the new TV/shorts rules made it a little harder to compile points from TV episodes and shorts. Well, I've crunched some numbers, and so far the evidence shows that I was wrong.

I took the four challenges so far this year for which previous editions existed and compared their numbers. For each edition, I calculated the total number of points and the average score for each participant. Here are the results:

Sci Fi
2021 - 1323 points, 32.3 average
2020 - 1663 points, 39.6 average

1000<400
2021 - 689 points, 24.6 average
2020 - 530 points, 19.6 average

Benelux
2021 - 378 points, 18 average
2019 - 293 points, 14 average

Run the Director
2021 - 1191 points, 42.5 average
2020 - 1515 points, 45.9 average

As you can see, in two of the challenges, the total points and average went up. But in the other two challenges, the total points and average went down. So what does this all mean? I think it means that people, as a whole, are making decisions about viewership and participation in the challenges that are little different from the decisions they made last year.

[sol]

Huh. I don't know how I missed your post before, but interesting stats, blocho.

In other news, it will be April in one week's time -- so how are we looking for hosts?

Here are next month's challenges:

-- Middle East (excluding Iran)

-- Doubling the Canon Nominees

-- Animation

(for anybody scratching their head, we have a separate Iran/Central Asia Challenge later on in the year)

As usual, I could host any of the challenges. Again as usual, if I do host, it won't be with any bonus challenges of note, so if there is a bonus challenge that you'd be keen to see -- or if you are really enthusiastic about one of the topics -- please volunteer to host now.

[flavo5000]

Huh. I don't know how I missed your post before, but interesting stats, blocho.

In other news, it will be April in one week's time -- so how are we looking for hosts?

Here are next month's challenges:

-- Middle East (excluding Iran)

-- Doubling the Canon Nominees

-- Animation

(for anybody scratching their head, we have a separate Iran/Central Asia Challenge later on in the year)

As usual, I could host any of the challenges. Again as usual, if I do host, it won't be with any bonus challenges of note, so if there is a bonus challenge that you'd be keen to see -- or if you are really enthusiastic about one of the topics -- please volunteer to host now.

I may throw my hat in on Animation, maybe come up with another scavenger hunt like I did with the Comedy challenge last year.

[sol]

I may throw my hat in on Animation, maybe come up with another scavenger hunt like I did with the Comedy challenge last year.

Thanks, flavo. I'll take that as a tentative yes unless anybody else volunteers to host.

A quick note to anybody thinking of hosting the Middle East, please speak sooner rather than later because if I'm hosting I want a decent couple of days to put something together.

[Melvelet]

I'm tempted to take over the DtC nominations, complete with recommendation game. I hope that my stats tool in combination with a high participation won't break my neck. Maybe my ideas for automatic retrieval of imdb by only copying the (movie title (year)) string as posted by the user will work out, then I can permanently reduce the amount of work but it requires quite a bit of coding.

Well, I guess in the worst case I can always switch to themagician's challenger tool (~abandoning the stats)

[sol]

I'm tempted to take over the DtC nominations, complete with recommendation game. I hope that my stats tool in combination with a high participation won't break my neck. Maybe my ideas for automatic retrieval of imdb by only copying the (movie title (year)) string as posted by the user will work out, then I can permanently reduce the amount of work but it requires quite a bit of coding.

Thanks, Melv. Your stats are always amazing and great to hear that you'd be up for having a recommendations game as in previous years. But yeah, totally understand the whole "break my neck" thing. I know that it has already been challenging to keep things up-to-date with the Challenge you're hosting this month, so I wouldn't want to put any undue extra pressure on you.

So, this is how we are looking so for next month:

-- Middle East (excluding Iran) -- probably sol, with a pie chart but no bonus challenge

-- Doubling the Canon Nominees -- probably Melvelet, likely with a recommendations game and tons of stats

-- Animation -- probably flavo, likely with a scavenger hunt bonus challenge

If anybody else is keen on hosting, let us know because nobody is a definite 'yes' yet.

[beavis]

Well, my watch-list for DtC has been made and the collection browsed for DVD and BR's that I might be watching. Can't wait for the thread of the challenge to post pictures again

Spoiler

with current plans, this will be the last challenge I'm participating in this year, so... not sure if this new quirk of mine has been liked much, but it will have been a short lived tradition anyway

[sol]

Middle East Challenge thread is up and ready to go.

I may throw my hat in on Animation, maybe come up with another scavenger hunt like I did with the Comedy challenge last year.

I'm tempted to take over the DtC nominations, complete with recommendation game.

Just confirming that you guys are still on for this (if not, please let us know ASAP). New Zealand will hit April in a little over 26 hours time.

[flavo5000]

Middle East Challenge thread is up and ready to go.

I may throw my hat in on Animation, maybe come up with another scavenger hunt like I did with the Comedy challenge last year.

I'm tempted to take over the DtC nominations, complete with recommendation game.

Just confirming that you guys are still on for this (if not, please let us know ASAP). New Zealand will hit April in a little over 26 hours time.

Ya, I'm going to create a thread today hopefully. I got my scavenger hunt planned out.

[sol]

I'm going to create a thread today hopefully. I got my scavenger hunt planned out.

Good man. Hoping and praying for a Disney or recent box office crap scavenger hunt since I've decided to use next month's challenge to finally plug up some of my holes in this area.

[flavo5000]

I'm going to create a thread today hopefully. I got my scavenger hunt planned out.

Good man. Hoping and praying for a Disney or recent box office crap scavenger hunt since I've decided to use next month's challenge to finally plug up some of my holes in this area.

I did that a couple years ago... It was rough. Watching all the Chipmunks and Smurfs movies in a single movie is a really bad idea.

[Onderhond]

Let's see if we can shame sol into watching some decent animation too

[mjf314]

I've been watching a lot of anime recently anyway, so I'll participate. I've almost finished Aria the Natural, so I should be ready to start Aria the Origination by the time the challenge starts.

[flavo5000]

Alright. Thread is out there. Let me know if I messed anything up or if you see anything weird in there.

[flavo5000]

Let's see if we can shame sol into watching some decent animation too

Well, if he participates in the scavenger hunt, it'll pretty much force him to watch at least a few things that aren't on the Box Office list.

[sol]

I'm tempted to take over the DtC nominations, complete with recommendation game.

Okay, it's now officially April in New Zealand (and other countries will follow soon) and no word from Melvelet yet. I've pinged him on both this thread and the Waves Challenge thread but no response. I'll send him a PM right now too.

If Melvelet isn't available to host, do we have anyone else willing to step in? OP should be similar to last year's, but using the 40/80min rule instead.

[beavis]

I have time to keep score I guess, but I'm not aware of all the rules and tools you guys have agreed on regarding challenges, also not the greatest with excel or programming skills...
so, if I can help I will, but I'm not sure I can...

[sol]

I have time to keep score I guess, but I'm not aware of all the rules and tools you guys have agreed on regarding challenges, also not the greatest with excel or programming skills...
so, if I can help I will, but I'm not sure I can...

Hopefully Mel will surface some time soon, but if he doesn't turn up tomorrow, it would be awesome if you could jump in instead.

Hosting is pretty easy if all that you are tracking is # of films viewed. In fact, you don't even need to use excel unless you are tracking multiple columns (e.g. totals for different countries). This is a word document leaderboard that I used for a challenge that I hosted last year without extra columns:



Just manually move participants up and down as the count column changes. Very easy to put together and track in Word.

As for the rules, these are the only ones that you should state:

- Each feature film (over 40 minutes) counts as one entry.
- 80 minutes of short films or miniseries/TV episodes counts as one entry.
- Films must be watched one at a time and at single speed (not sped up).
- Rewatches are allowed and are good for the soul.

All other rules (whether participants need to state year-of-release, country or director etc.) may vary from challenge to challenge. All depends what stats (if any) you wish to track.

But yeah, hopefully Melvelet will still be up to hosting because his recommendations game sounded promising. Let's see what the next few hours bring.

[Melvelet]

Oh sorry, thread will be up soon

[Melvelet]

With the current mood to work on extending the challenge tool, I will probably take over the Japanese challenge next month. I will confirm later in the month