Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
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Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
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Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#2Huh. Up til now I thought "potboiler" meant mildly entertaining filler, "a way to pass the time while waiting for a pot to boil", since "a watched pot never boils".
Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#3It's a fair thesis but the reality is that films and most things are constantly getting a lot better because people are learning from the best
Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#4> Go by the average rating, not popularity. It’s better to watch something a million people love than something 10 million people watched and consider okay.
I agree on the principle, however there’s a trust issue.
Out of n reviews on IMDB and RT how many of them are authentic? And how much weight does a critic’s review bear on the overall score?
In my case, be it for a movie or a book (not so much for songs though) the Lindy effect applies.
Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#5> Go by the average rating, not popularity. It’s better to watch something a million people love than something 10 million people watched and consider okay. I agree on the principle, however there’s a trust issue. Out of n reviews on IMDB and RT how many of them are authentic? And how much weight does a critic’s review bear on the overall score? In my case, be it for a movie or a book (not so much for songs though) t…
Another problem is that movies with high average rating can also be really generic. A lot of my favorites are controversial, you either love them or hate them: Lost in Translation, The Lighthouse, even Frances Ha to some extent.
By sorting on average you miss the most unique.
Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#6> Go by the average rating, not popularity. It’s better to watch something a million people love than something 10 million people watched and consider okay.
... but the average rating is a measure of popularity :/. The best movies I have ever seen are rated poorly, because most people didn't understand them or they weren't "easy" to watch; if you want to find good content, you need to read reviews and find people whose recommendations matter to you, not work off ratings.
Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#7*Enjoy the most popular, not the latest, media
There'd be a lot of gems that would have been hidden from me if I just enjoyed what everyone else liked.
Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#8> If people are still talking about it after so many years, it must be really good.
I disagree. If something is long-term popular, that doesn't mean it's really good, it means it hit the average taste pretty well. The average taste is very bland, because it's, well, average. You can't really deviate too far from the lowest common denominator if you want to hit the average taste and be super popular.
Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#9It's a fair thesis but the reality is that films and most things are constantly getting a lot better because people are learning from the best
So, what are your recommendations for film, tv series, album, and music video?
(you have a stronger point than I first thought: film and albums are nineteenth century, while tv series and music videos are twentieth, so these are all young media by comparison with dance, drama, literature, poetry, etc., and so may still be in the steep phase of their development curve.)
Re: Enjoy the Best, Not the Latest, Media
#10> Go by the average rating, not popularity. It’s better to watch something a million people love than something 10 million people watched and consider okay. ... but the average rating is a measure of popularity :/. The best movies I have ever seen are rated poorly, because most people didn't understand them or they weren't "easy" to watch; if you want to find good content, you need to read reviews and find people who…
> but the average rating is a measure of popularity
Not quite? Mulholland drive for example, was widely praised by critics and is remembered fondly by film nerds, but is not in most senses “popular”.
I’m not arguing that ratings are perfect, I largely agree with you; just that they’re a weird measurement and not one largely of popularity.