MAY the best song win....

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
It's absolutely fine by me gbg, borrow the idea away as much as you like

I'll try and ruminate on themes that might possibly prove of interest. I think we already used quite a lot of the more obvious ones though .... not that any of them couldn't be reused if wanted.

Thanks.

There are a lot of new people here, so it shouldn't be a problem if we have to reuse themes, but it's always fun to come up with new ones that we haven't already used. That should give us a bunch of new songs that haven't been nominated over and over again in these tournaments.
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Not sure if people are getting a little tired of these or whether the timing simply wasn't great for this one but participation in the qualifying rounds was generally lower than has been in the past. Will start another one up in a few months time and if turnouts are similar I think it might be time for me to call it a day on running these.
This was my first and only that I've done so take this for what it's worth:

I've been reluctant to join one of these (and the Halls of Fame) just because my brain isn't wired properly for ranking things. Like, if you asked me to rank the four Indiana Jones films I could manage that. Ask me to rank the 11(?) Star Wars films and my brain will crash. Give me an even more open-ended topic (Top 50 favorite movies) and I wouldn't even be able to get started on that. I gave this a try anyway and while I enjoyed the "finding new artists" part, the ranking process was just as difficult as I expected. That last 16-song round was a nightmare.

So having said that, I'd be much more inclined to join a themed tournament in the future. Give me 10 jazz songs and I can come up with some sort of ranking. Give me one bluegrass song, one video game score, one jazz tune and a Miley Cyrus song and my brain doesn't know how to process that. It's beyond "apples and oranges" for me and more like "apples and lasagna".

So when my participation started to dwindle at the end it was because I'm a basket case, not because the tournament wasn't fun or well-run.
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This was my first and only that I've done so take this for what it's worth:

I've been reluctant to join one of these (and the Halls of Fame) just because my brain isn't wired properly for ranking things. Like, if you asked me to rank the four Indiana Jones films I could manage that. Ask me to rank the 11(?) Star Wars films and my brain will crash. Give me an even more open-ended topic (Top 50 favorite movies) and I wouldn't even be able to get started on that. I gave this a try anyway and while I enjoyed the "finding new artists" part, the ranking process was just as difficult as I expected. That last 16-song round was a nightmare.

So having said that, I'd be much more inclined to join a themed tournament in the future. Give me 10 jazz songs and I can come up with some sort of ranking. Give me one bluegrass song, one video game score, one jazz tune and a Miley Cyrus song and my brain doesn't know how to process that. It's beyond "apples and oranges" for me and more like "apples and lasagna".

So when my participation started to dwindle at the end it was because I'm a basket case, not because the tournament wasn't fun or well-run.
Appreciate the feedback, sorry to hear this process began to make you a basket case toward the end This format is designed so people can come and go so no-one should ever feel they are 'obliged' to enter any rounds if for whatever reason they'd rather not or can't. I know you post-commented me when you wanted a little break so I hope you never felt obliged to participate once you had joined.

Previously tournaments were 'match' based (where just two songs would go up against each other and the pool of songs would halve each subsequent round) which sounds like it would probably have suited you better - unfortunately though it was a format that allowed abuse by the host being able to manipulate which songs were paired if they were so inclined (and sadly it was known to happen) which is the primary reason why I came up with the current format.

Nice to hear you enjoyed finding new artists through one of these, that's actually the main point of interest for myself in these and over the years (in both tournament formats) there have been quite a few artists nominated that I may not have otherwise heard of which I've liked enough to investigate further and purchase some of their works. Naturally I hope that you might join in again but even if not I hope you continue to see these as a possible source of artists that might be new and of interest to you.

Lastly, I do have to agree that apple lasagne sounds particularly unappealing



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
This was my first and only that I've done so take this for what it's worth:

I've been reluctant to join one of these (and the Halls of Fame) just because my brain isn't wired properly for ranking things. Like, if you asked me to rank the four Indiana Jones films I could manage that. Ask me to rank the 11(?) Star Wars films and my brain will crash. Give me an even more open-ended topic (Top 50 favorite movies) and I wouldn't even be able to get started on that. I gave this a try anyway and while I enjoyed the "finding new artists" part, the ranking process was just as difficult as I expected. That last 16-song round was a nightmare.

So having said that, I'd be much more inclined to join a themed tournament in the future. Give me 10 jazz songs and I can come up with some sort of ranking. Give me one bluegrass song, one video game score, one jazz tune and a Miley Cyrus song and my brain doesn't know how to process that. It's beyond "apples and oranges" for me and more like "apples and lasagna".

So when my participation started to dwindle at the end it was because I'm a basket case, not because the tournament wasn't fun or well-run.

I don't know if this will help or not, but when ranking the songs, (or movies for the HoFs), try to remember that there are no right or wrong answers. It's all a matter of opinion, and your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's opinion.

Personally, when ranking lists, rather than trying to rank the whole list when I'm finished listening to all the songs, (or watching all the movies), I find it easier to just break it down and deal with each item one by one. I just start with the first two items on the list, and decide which of the two is my favorite, and then put that on top. Then I take the next item, and starting at the top of the list, I just compare it to each item on the list one at a time. By starting it at the top of the list, I am comparing it to my current favorite, so when I get to the item that I like it more than that item, It will just kind of fall into place where it belongs.

For me, doing it one at a time takes away the stress of having to figure out everything all at once.

Having said that, I know how you feel about ranking lists because I feel the same way when I have to write reviews of movies for HoFs, (or any other reason for writing a movie review). I have a problem with "the blank page". It can take me longer to write a one paragraph review than it took me to watch a 2-hour movie. I can stare at the blank page for hours, and not know what to write. I usually know if I liked a movie or not, but I can't always express in words why I liked or disliked a movie, and I can have a panic attack trying to figure it out sometimes.



Appreciate the feedback, sorry to hear this process began to make you a basket case toward the end This format is designed so people can come and go so no-one should ever feel they are 'obliged' to enter any rounds if for whatever reason they'd rather not or can't. I know you post-commented me when you wanted a little break so I hope you never felt obliged to participate once you had joined.
I did not feel obligated to play every round, which is one reason I gave this a shot in the first place. I dreaded the final round just because I knew there would be so many songs, but I thought it would be lame if I didn't join in on the final round.

(and I hope it's clear that I'm being hyperbolic for humor's sake. I didn't actually dread anything. I'm fine.)

I don't know if this will help or not, but when ranking the songs, (or movies for the HoFs), try to remember that there are no right or wrong answers. It's all a matter of opinion, and your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's opinion.
Yes, common sense eventually won the day and I too came to this conclusion. It's all for fun after all.

Personally, when ranking lists, rather than trying to rank the whole list when I'm finished listening to all the songs, (or watching all the movies), I find it easier to just break it down and deal with each item one by one.
That was actually my method also.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
I DREAD EVERYTHING
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That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
also, I typically rate my lists first by genres I like most. I don't even care what those other songs are. If it's not my stuff, it's kicked to the end first where they fight it out in some sort of Thunderdome style death match. MY stuff goes up top with Auntie and fresh, non-radiated water, unless someone else noms something better---as long as it's in a style that I still like, of course. Otherwise my nom goes first. Always.

I mostly copy someone else's list so I don't have to deal with all of that [ list ] coding crap and formatting. Usually, I copy Chyp's. His lists are mostly in line with what I would pick. Except he never seems to place Bowie first. Whatever. I quote him because he does that list legwork and so I can spend more time flipping everyone else's noms off while I copy/paste the good stuff from Chyp's list that he placed around #3 or #7 (usually) and move it up to my #1 spot. Don't forget the asterisks (I HATE typing that word btw), else your listing will get jacked up. Once I'm set with my #1, 2 and 3s, I then just hit the return key like 20 times to put a whole lot of distance between my good stuff and well, the not so good stuff. THEN!!! I'll copy/paste one line at a time leaving a good 2-3 return breaks between, leaving plenty of room to rearrange later if I feel froggy.

Before I know it, I have a submission list! And I don't even have to listen to anything but my own song! So like if there are 12 noms, I'll just listen to MY song 12 times which I've probably already done before hand. So it all works out. Most times if I see anything from uh... that death clown avatar Spaulding, I just drop whatever his nom is to the lower third of my list just on principle.

Note: some or all or none of this post should be taken seriously. Seriously.