Another year is here. As usual the media went crazy with all kinds of list and what not. Everybody has a list of some sort. MTV and the VH channels are filled with meaningless list. List like the 100 worst songs (by whose standards?) or 50 worst music videos. I quickly ignore most of the worst this or best that being propagated on MTV, VH1 or any of those channels.
I further ignore most top this or that list on the news networks, or other channels like TV guide, E, Bravo, or any of the other gazillion channels that feel like they know what the best or worse of something is.
In America there are only a few lists that one may note (if you want to) when it concerns the entertainment industry (I think I wrote a similar blog entry at the beginning of last year. Boy, I am repetitive.). Popularity as determined by sales or ratings are the most important list in our capitalistic country so a list of the top one hundred this or that based on sales or ratings shows how accepted something is by the American public or market penetration as they say.
And even rankings based on sales can be manipulated. All you need is a person or party with the financial means to spend heavily on a product to move it up on a list that uses popularity based on sales.
Scientific rating systems like that supposedly used by Gallup and Nielson are another type of list that probably should get a little more attention than most lists. Although depending on the methodology being used so called scientific list can be inaccurate or manipulated too.
Then there are list composed by the so-called professionals in a field or those that work in a particular field. Many of the awards like Oscar, the Emmys, Grammys, and Screen Actors Guild awards fall into this category.
Professional critics list usually are based on criteria or standards that the general public do not share. For instance right now the movie that seems to be the most popular with critics is the gay cowboy movie ‘Brokeback Mountain’. This movie is on many professional critics top list and will probably be nominated for many awards but the public (no matter how handsome the two leading men are) does not seem to be too enthused although there is a heavy marketing campaign trying to push this picture.
Now these awards are important because as a rule by being given an award (especially one with a long history) it will be reviewed by future professional critics, might end up being studied in high schools and colleges and on many published list in important and informational publications throughout history.
As most probably realize or know many of those award-winning movies will not appeal to you and you’ll end up wondering why they won an award. Only if you’re knowledgeable of how the professional critic in the various arts are indoctrinated will you understand why this or that movie were considered worthy of an award in their eyes
A piece of art is also judged within its time so knowledge of the period in time a film or whatever was created will also help you understand its status within that period.
Study aesthetics if you want to figure out why an award was given to a piece of music, art or film. Also remember (as I have often said) the judging of any art form is highly subjective.
Having said all this about list I think it is time for me to give my own lists of the top songs and movies that I saw or listened to last year. I am not saying that the songs or movies came out last year. I’m only saying that I heard or saw them last year. That means these are songs I had not heard or movies I had not seen until last year that I think are pretty good.
My favorite songs heard for the first time last year are; ‘Gold Digger’ by Kanye West, ‘The 13th’ by The Cure, ‘Navras’ by Juno Reactor and Don Davis (or Juno Reactor vs. Don Davis as written up on the CD), ‘Superstar’ as sung by Murry Head, ‘The World Is Yours’ by Macy Gray and Slick Rick, ‘100 Years’ and ‘NYC Weather Report’ by Five For Fighting, ‘Da Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’ by Missy Elliot (on the MTV Party To Go 99 CD), ‘Million Voices’ by Wyclef Jean, ‘Nobody Cares’ by Deborah Cox, ‘Clarity’ and ‘Bigger Than My Body’ by John Mayer, ‘Flamenco Sketches’ by Miles Davis, ‘La Bamba’ by Trini Lopez (live version- from Time Life’s box set “The Folk Years”), ‘Relax’ by Chingy, ‘Kirkirimai’ by Orange Range, ‘Underneath Your Clothes’, ‘Eyes Like Yours (Ojos Asi)’, Poem To A Horse, Suerte, Objection (Tango), Rules, Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango), and Te Dejo Madrid all by Shakira (all found on her CD “Laundry Service”), ‘Get Right’ and ‘Still Around’ by Jennifer Lopez ( this Latin star besides having a beautiful body has a soulful voice that is successfully combined with some soulful sounding music on her CD “Rebirth”), ‘A Festa’ by Maria Rita and Que Linda Morena by Area 305.
I did not see that many movies this past year. It wasn’t because I have some new huge and amazing home entertainment center at home but because I just did not have the time. Besides many of the movies I thought would be good to see this year did not contain elements that would be enhanced by seeing them on the large screen at the theater so I have very few movies that I can highly recommend this year.
I can only mention three films worth seeing from last year and at least two of them are already on DVD. ‘Star Wars Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith’ directed by George Lucas, ‘War Of The Worlds’ directed by Steven Spielberg and ‘Sin City’ directed by Rodriguez, Miller and Tarantino.
I am sure there were other good films last year. I am planning on seeing some of the films nominated by the Golden Globes and Oscar (when they are announced) in the theater but I probably will wait to see most of them when they are released on DVD.
This past year the movie and music industry have seen declining ticket and CD sales. It seem like technology is starting to have a profound affect on how the American public gets its entertainment.
Music CD sales are declining in part do to the illegal and legal downloading of music from the Internet and the copying of music played on high definition satellite radio (commercial free and high quality). Mp3s or other types of music files appear to be replacing the CD.
The movie industry seemed to have been affected by various forces created by new technology too. Home entertainment centers, home gaming platforms, DVDs, illegal downloading of movies and the Internet have all conspired against the moviemakers and exhibitors.
The rise in gaming is taking away or limiting the number of times those in the younger demographic will see a movie. This group would formally go see the large action packed blockbusters two, three or four times sometime. No doubt home gaming and other pursuits online have taken a lot of this repeat business away.
Many films released this past summer were not those that would have attracted the young demographic or action film fan anyway. Serious political dramas will not do it when many Americans don’t care for politics and don’t know history, especially young adults. I guess since the last few years have seen declining ticket sales the industry decided to experiment.
A lot of the movies this year did not have a lot of special effects which mean one is not missing anything by not seeing them in a theater on a large screen with a super sound system. The decline in the price of building a high-powered home entertainment center means there is no need to go to a theater to see a special effects filled film either so maybe special effects factor is not that important anymore.
Alas, the entertainment taste of the American public may be undergoing a significant change and only time and the movement of technology (especially as it concerns computers and the Internet) will tell where things end up.