December
15Ten Reasons Why I Don't Make Lists
The media likes to assault readers at this time of year with year-end summaries, predictions and random “best-of” lists and they’re coming hot and heavy this year (there aren’t enough ads to fill the space).
The lists are designed to make media gurus seem thoughtful and profound; instead, they often leave readers wondering, “Why did I trust that critic all year long?”
So let me start by congratulating the Economist for admitting that its crystal ball in ’08 was totally cracked. Last year at this time, its prognosticators managed to get nothing right, including the prediction that Hillary Clinton would be heading for the White House.
Magazines like Time and New York filled their latest issues with “best-of” lists and they were nothing if not idiosyncratic. In Time, critic Richard Corliss listed “Synecdoche, New York” as the second best movie of the year (behind “Wall-E”), while New York called the film the “Best Mess” (I agree with New York).
Time conjured up lists of the Top Ten Break-Ups (Madonna and Guy Ritchie), Ten Top Fashion Faux Pas (Anna Wintour’s fossil dress) and even the Ten Top Bank Slogans (“What’s in your wallet?” from Capital One).
New York’s lists go for the truly arcane. Its award for the “best montage” goes to “The Brothers Bloom,” which hasn’t even been released yet (it got delayed till next year) and chose Mathieu Amalric for its list of “movie unforgettables” (he apparently played the black sheep in “A Christmas Tale”).
New York’s choice of “best movie script” went to two Norwegian writers who wrote a film called “Reprise” that I didn’t happen to see (or hear of) and anointed “Ghost Town” as the “Best Movie You Didn’t See” (I saw it and would put it atop my list of “forgettables”).
Interestingly, very few publications are making lists of predictions this year. Apparently, the last few weeks have proven too traumatic.