What is Year of Critique?

What is Year of Critique?

Listen to one album, read one book, watch one film, and complete one video game, and write an in depth critique on each one, every single month, for an entire year. This is the challenge I am setting for myself in 2019.

Why Am I Doing This?

      When looking back on my four years of university, it pains me how frequently critical analysis of media was at the back of my to-do list. Other things almost always took priority; however, it doesn't accurately reflect how important I think analyzing media is. It's something I've been slacking on, and I believe doing a year of critique will scratch an itch that's been left unscratched for quite some time. Really though I don't think you will understand how bad I have been slacking on consuming media unless I tell you.

Music

Music is the medium I feel I have the least experience in. To many music snobs I am but a wee little fly crossing over into the mortal world. I know this to be true, because I did not start listening to albums in their entirety until about a year ago. As well anybody who knows me knows I have a very peculiar taste in music. On my own time I listen almost exclusively to pop-punk, math-rock, and Japanese electronic music (a weird trio, I know). I'm undeniably a music noob, but that isn't because I don't think music is important.


Why I think Music is important: Music is likely the first medium of art ever conceived by humans. As well it is the first medium of art I myself was drawn to, having played the piano for over ten years. It is (in my opinion) the purest form of self expression which is why it is so sad I have listened almost exclusively to three genres. I am hoping to branch out my tastes through a year of critique, and find a few artists who can be stepping stones towards my love of new genres.

Literature

Literature is (in my opinion) the most important medium to consume by far, which makes me a bit of a hypocrite as it is the medium I have absolutely been slacking on the most. I have only read four books to completion in the last five years of my life, and what's even more depressing is that I read three of those four books within the last year.


Why I think Literature is important: It's incredibly easy to forget how much literature has influenced our modern world when you aren't reading. Books from hundreds, even thousands of years ago were the first building blocks upon which our pop culture is founded. I truly believe that being able to think critically about literature means being able to think critically about the entirety of society as it exists today.

Film

Film is the medium I have consumed and critically analyzed the most in the last four years; however, this doesn't let me off the hook. It has been far too long since I watched a film by my own accord, rather than being roped into going to see a movie with friends. This is quite baffling to be honest, as every time I walk out of the theater all I want to talk about for the next week is the movie we all just watched.

Why I think Film is important: Film like literature, is a reflection of culture and society as a whole. The visual element as well helps key in on small intricacies of human nature that literature just can't capture with words alone. As well there is something surprisingly special about being able to see a story acted out by real people.

Video Games

Video games are the medium I have the most experience in, which is why the amount of video games I have completed is unacceptable. Sure I've spent a lot of time playing... the same three video games over and over. Granted I will occasionally be convinced to play a new game (and without fail be amazed at the beauty of linear story telling or limitless exploration that video games provide) but you better believe that within a few hours I'm back to playing the same three games. For how many hours of video games I have played, it's embarrassing how few video game I have completed.

Why I think Video Games are important: Video games have the added bonus of challenging you physically in a way that film, music, and literature do not. In addition to thinking critically about what a video game provides, you have to think critically about how the video game provides it to you.


      So as you can see, I have a lot of growing to do within each of the four mediums I will be consuming this year. I have been slacking off, and it is time I whipped myself back into shape. So then you may ask, what are the rules for a year of critique?

Rules

Like I said before, I will be listening to one album, reading one book, watching one film, and playing one game each month for twelve months straight. I can listen to, read, watch, or play, any amount more than this; however, I must complete one album, book, film, and game a month.

I must decide on the four pieces of media I am to consume beforehand, and make a blog post detailing why I picked each piece of media. Many months will have a theme to make the whole ordeal more engaging; however, if you would like to do a year of critique yourself you don't have to have themes at all.

Nothing I have already completed, I think this one is pretty self explanatory. For the sake of exposing myself to new things, I will be consuming only media that I have not finished before. Anything I started but couldn't get through is fair game.

And lastly, I must write a review and a critique on each piece of media I consume, and give my honest feedback. I want to state a disclaimer that what I say is not the law or the inherit truth. It will all be purely my opinion, an opinion that is subject to change from discussion.

Why a Blog?

      I know I am not the only one who feels they have been slacking on consumption of media so while I could just do this by myself and not tell anybody, I think it would be more fun to create a blog in an attempt to spread the word of this format to others. If I can convince at least one other person to do a year of critique themselves (or participate in my year of critique) I have done my job.

      As well making myself post about it online will help me keep to my own schedule and get everything out on time.



Thanks for reading up until this point. I will be making a post soon on my picks for January. The theme of January is  "Critically Acclaimed" so be prepared to start off with some heavy hitters.