We covered a lot of ground in January and I wanted to take the time to put in a bit of context.
I do these awards like this because my opinions are easily dismissed without explanation. If I just post my Best Actor list, for example, I’m dismissed as a loon who doesn’t watch films. My tastes are outside the norm, sure, but I know my stuff. I saw well over 100 new releases in 2013. I didn’t review all of them because I had given up on attempting to attain membership in the online critics groups that required certain formatting, scoring, and frequency of posting to even qualify for consideration. I’m no longer going to review everything I see because I can do better work writing about films and media I’m passionate about than writing about everything.
With the Sketchys, I get to define the context of the awards. I get to explain why I think films that didn’t even get enough of a theatrical release to be considered for the Academy Awards are better than films nominated all over the place. I get to include anime in TV coverage and books that would never be reviewed by the New York Times in print awards. Best of all, I get to go with my instincts, removed from critical consensus, to remind you (or even introduce you) of great media that got eclipsed by splashier campaigns right alongside the big budget productions that are really worth the hype.
After 31ish days of recognizing the best entertainment media of 2013, it’s time to abandon medium specific honors and cross the streams. Artists of the Year is the top prize at The Sketchys. This is a recognition for the best media creators of the year. It is not a ranked list, but a celebration of artists to remind us all of the bar the new year has to climb.
A new year in media is not an excuse to accept inferior work. These artists prove that passionate creators can produce extraordinary work at any budget. Let’s look back one more time to propel us into a brand new year of media.
That’s right. It’s been less than a week and we’re already moving on from Australia Day to our second national day celebration at The LAMB. Next Thursday, I’ll be gathering up all the links from LAMB members about New Zealand cinema in honor of Waitangi Day. All the details are available at the link below.
This is the final medium-specific category of The Sketchys. Tomorrow, I have something very special planned to commemorate the year in media.
For today, we’re looking at the best new web shows started in 2013. You might be able to predict a few of the entries based on shows I’ve written about this year. There are a couple surprises in this unranked list. I also include my favorite episode with each honoree. Let’s get to it.
When I was growing up, I rotated through a lot of obsessive film phases. The biggest ones were musicals and horror films. The Bride of Frankenstein is one of those films that got tossed on the heap because my parents ok’d renting it at the video store. I probably hadn’t watched it in almost two decades and it definitely left a stronger reaction this time around.
We’re winding down the Sketchys with two more days of film coverage. First up, we’re looking at the best art direction, makeup, and directors of 2013. Much like the gaming superlatives, these categories are not ranked. They are an appreciation of film craft.
Though the error is now resolved (with a reconditioned replacement coming c/o phone support), I’ve spend far too much energy since 3PM this afternoon trying to get any help from Verizon Wireless to fix their broken merchandise.
Here’s a sample of what my phone was doing today. This is, surprisingly, done after I had to return to the store with the screen frozen to prove I wasn’t making it up. There are no outside apps; it is factory reset at this point.
I would normally just let this go since it was resolved, but the behavior of the employees in the store coupled with the intentionally broken e-mail contact system for any store or corporate district means I’m putting this out. Click through for the letter I tried to send to my district’s corporate director that never went through. It’s a doozy. I suggest a cup of tea or another relaxing drink to get through it.
