Last month, I added a new section to my website: Picks.
I made this because a friend asked me if I had a Letterboxd account they could follow. At this point, I’m not interested in joining another social network that generates value from my contributions. I’m also not a fan of the type of discourse (or lack thereof) that these sites engage you in. So instead, I added a new section to my website and made up my own rules.
Pitches, not reviews
Most sites for sharing your tastes and opinions about media funnel you into expressing them as reviews. This usually means you get to rank things from 1 to X and an optional text box. The value that each number receives is largely arbitrary and depends on your personal philosophy. It is no surprise then that a lot of discourse on these sites boils down to “WHAT? You rated X a Y?”.
Rating things on scales never felt natural to me. The situation in which I most often suggest media is when I’m asked in conversation. It feels weird to answer with a score in that situation. Instead, I pitch the movie/show/game/book on what I think makes it stand out and its themes. Why should you watch this movie? What does it have to say? Does it say it eloquently?
Lastly, a review can have a negative conclusion. That’s not what I’m interested in. If I didn’t like it, it’s not a pick.
We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.
No Spoilers
Another problem with “reviewing” something is that you will give away details. How many depends on your personal style and usually, how much you care about spoilers yourself.
I happen to fall into the camp that is very anal about this. I’d much rather have someone I trust vouch for a movie and then watch it blindly than get a plot synopsis. I have had so many fantastic experiences with media that were elevated by the fact that I wasn’t totally sure what I was going into.
When I do give a synopsis, I try to make it as faint as possible. Really just the corner pieces of the picture, maybe from the first 5% of the overall runtime.
No visuals
Early on, I debated if I should have screenshots or trailers for my picks. I ultimately decided against it.
For one, I think seeing something like the graphics of a game can lead to unfairly judging it superficially. I’d much rather pique your interest with words before you look at the visuals. This way, there is a strong intention already and you might feel more open to trying new things.
The other reason is that I’m mostly trying to capture the feeling of recommending something in a casual conversation among friends. I’m not pulling out my phone to show you screenshots or trailers. Rather, I’ll describe what made it meaningful to me, and perhaps you can identify with that.
Investment up-front
In busy adult lives, time is usually the limiting factor. That’s why I’ll try to be as precise as possible about your expected time investment up front.
Especially for Videogames, this is one of the most important indicators that determines if I will engage with a game at all. I want to know up front if I can actually see myself investing the given amount of time into a piece of media at all.
I’m now trending more to short experiences that really have something unique to say.
Non-obvious
You don’t really need me to suggest you the movie that recently won an Oscar.
The fact that you’re seeking out opinions on what media to consume shows that you’re at least superficially engaged with it. If everyone is talking about it already, why should I.
Get in there
If all that sounds like something you’d enjoy, head on over. You can filter the grid by type of media and you can subscribe to get new picks via RSS.
While I try to make my writing direct and to the point in long form articles, I’ll allow myself to use more flowery language when writing picks. The overall short nature of them makes up for the wordiness.
This is a topic that is more personally important to me, rather than professionally. I’m experimenting a bit with more personal touches on this website and I am really happy with how these turned out, now that I have written a handful of them.