I most likely won't be able to post any new predictions today, so I thought this might be a good day to post an open thread and learn something about my readers.
I'm wondering what things you like most about this blog. (Presuming that you like it at all!) Specifically, what interests you about what I'm doing here, and what keeps you coming back to check me out.
Here are a few questions to help get you started:
Are you only interested in the current year's predictions, or do you like that I try to do predictions for future years (currently through 2017!)?
Are you only interested in the "BIG" awards (best picture, director, acting categories), or are you glad that I try my hand at the lesser known categories like shorts, documentaries, foreign language, song, etc.?
Do you find that you only read the top of the list to get the five or ten nominees, or do you enjoy reading all the way to the bottom to see who the long shots are all the way to number 50?
Do you like that my blog is mostly just the lists themselves, or would you prefer more commentary, discussions and open threads like this?
Do you think I am close to being correct with my predictions, or do you find yourself laughing at how "wrong" you think I am? (It's ok, you can tell me!)
Do you use these lists when deciding what movies you might like to see, or are you just a predictions addict (like me!) who would read no matter what?
And regardless of which of these things you like the most (or least), THANK YOU for checking out my little blog!
I'm a fellow prediction addict. I love your blog because you do take the time to cover some of the more obscure categories like the shorts etc. It's really hard to find genre category predictions really early on so that's what I love about your site the most. THere are a bunch of sites that focus on the big predictions, best picture etc. Of course you need to cover that but please don't drop the genre predictions. In fact, if you paid more attention to the genre stuff I think it would give you a niche. I don't think that looking more than two years down the road is worth it, it's just too hard. I enjoy reading the whole lists you publish because it gives me a bunch of potential trailers to watch. I'm particularly interested in documentary predictions because they are often the hardest and require some real homework. It would be great to have more open threads like this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the cool blog!
Thank you for this great feedback. I think that we must be kindred spirits, because I really like doing the smaller categories as well. And in some ways, I feel like the predictions in the smaller categories are more authentically "mine", because in the bigger categories there is so much buzz out there that it starts to influence me in a way. (That doesn't mean that I'm copying other people, just that I tend to second guess myself more when everyone else is running in a different direction.)
ReplyDeleteI also like doing the long lists and think that I will definitely keep that format. After I've done research on all of those movies it would feel unfair somehow to just post the top five. And I figure that the people who only want the top five can just stop reading at that point if they want.
I've been thinking for some time that the tracker Pages in the upper right hand corner don't accurately reflect what I'm doing here, because they give too much space to the big categories, with picture, director and each of the 4 acting categories getting their own separate pages. I'm thinking that at some point down the line I may want to change the format of those to look something like this:
Page 1: Best Picture
Page 2: Animated, Documentary and Foreign Language Features
Page 3: SHORTS!
Page 4: Director and Screenplays
Page 5: Lead and Supporting Actor
Page 6: Lead and Supporting Actress
Page 7: Art Direction, Costume Design and Makeup
Page 8: Cinematography, Film Editing and Visual Effects
Page 9: Song, Score, Sound Editing & Sound Mixing
Page 10: What I've learned, tips for other predictors, or my track record.
It will be a while before I make that change, but that's what I'm thinking about for some point in the future.
Thank you for writing in! Your comments helped give me the courage to keep thinking in this direction, even if it's different than what the other sites are doing.
I, to be honest don't have any interest in the shorts and documentaries. But it's really cool that you do.
ReplyDeleteYour predictions are good, but you need to use more statistics in them. I've been working with Internet Oscar predictions since 2003 and I have a lot of experience with Oscar predictions.
Statistics are often very much correct on they're own.
My advice to you is to make strong research on each category. See past winners, follow the patterns in the certain category, and such.
I understand that this is your first try at Oscar predictions? If so, you are doing hell of a job.
My advice is to focus heavily on the upcoming awards, and occasionally on the ones to come in the future.
Keep up the good job. With me you have a full time follower.
Thanks! It is indeed my first time trying these, so hopefully I'll get better as I go along.
ReplyDeleteI have started to make some changes that I didn't do before that are the same idea as the statistics. Specifically, I have started to have a list of past winners and nominees in front of me as I update each category, to give me a sense of the types of films that win.
Thanks for being such a loyal reader!
I think it would be cool if maybe you included a little info about the movies, for example on the Best Picture page maybe trailers, and for Best Actor/Actress a picture of them or something like that.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great suggestion. It is definitely something I would be open to doing in the future. I just have to sit down long enough to learn how to do it from the technical side of things.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking out my blog!