OPW Challenge 2024

Ok, let’s try this again.

Obviously, I failed my One Per Week Challenge last year. Yes, life gets busy, but probably the main reason I stopped keeping up with my blog is because I might be too much of a perfectionist. I said that I wanted to share my thoughts on a book, movie, and/or album each week, but I became a bit obsessed with wanting to review all three rather than at least just one. I bit off more than I could chew. I have never in my life read 52 books in a year, so how did I think that I would be able to not only read 52 books, but also watch 52 movies and listen to 52 albums all in one year? No way! I have a full-time job and other personal commitments.

New year, new me! This year, I will stick to posting once per week and be realistic with my goal. In fact, let’s try to make this into a S.M.A.R.T goal:

  • S – Specific: I will listen to a new album, watch a new movie, and/or read a new book every week this year. I will do this ideally throughout the weekdays, but if I have not finished a book/movie/album by Friday each week, I will either watch a movie or listen to an album by Saturday evening. I will then write and publish my review(s) on Sunday evening.
  • M – Measurable: I will follow the schedule detailed above and check in with my progress every Friday before work.
  • A – Achievable: I will not force myself to consume a book, album, and book every week. I will do only one.
  • R – Relevant: Why am I doing this? I still believe that it’s important to be a more mindful consumer of art. Going along with that, I am no longer referring to books/albums/movies as just “content” or “media.” I feel like the internet has reduced so many things to just “content,” and I want to train myself to go back to thinking of books/albums/movies as art forms. I have also always loved to write and journal, so this blog is a way to get back into writing more.
  • T – Time-bound: Like I said earlier, this is a weekly goal that I will check in on every weekend, but it’s also a year-long goal!

Update to My Rating System:

I have been using a 5-star rating system so far in my blog, but throughout the year I’ve learned that star, a letter grade, or even numerical rating systems are not the most effective ways to rate and recommend art.

If you are interested in hearing some arguments for why these kinds of rating systems are ineffective, I recommend watching the videos below:

I’m sure there’s more videos and articles about this out there, but these are two recent ones that come to mind.

Dan Murrell is a film critic that I love. I have been following him closely for about a year now. He inspires me to become better at critiquing art, and his passion for movies is contagious!

I love Dan’s rating system which he introduced this year during his review of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the 9:12 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3hLTu5O6nY

He explains it a bit more in his review of Elemental at the 7:28 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IdPybSYAk4&list=PLAiZvLTt5NwD3zUiF5tADGBZctJToy7_0&index=112

Here’s a picture of his rating scale:

This has been my rating system so far:

  • 1 star = I did not enjoy it at all and I do not recommend.
  • 2 stars = I did not enjoy it, but I didn’t hate it completely! (For albums, this could mean I enjoyed at least one song.)
  • 3 starts = Meh. Not great, but also not bad. (For movies, this could mean that I would be willing to watch it again.)
  • 4 stars = Great, but not perfect! I would recommend it to others.
  • 5 = Perfection! I would definitely recommend to others. (If it’s an album, I will probably have it on repeat for the rest of the year.)

Dan’s sliding scale is very similar to what I’ve been trying to do, but I feel that when I just say that something is 4/5 stars the rating loses context. I’d rather update my rating scale to make it something more visual and easily understood. I’m not a graphic designer, so this might not look great, but this is the sliding scale I’m going with for now:

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a comment