And Now For Something Completely Different!

So this week we’re taking a little break from the Not-Posting-About-Writing-By-Posting-Scanned-Old-Pictures and instead Not-Posting-About-Writing-By-Posting-An-Award. Completely different!

The award in question is the Sunshine Blogger Award, which was given to our friend over at Experience Film and passed along to us here¹. Among other things, Experience Film posts cool mash-ups of movies and music, such as clips from the Zach Snyder film Sucker Punch, a movie with stunning visuals and, uh, lots of room to be improved by mash-ups. If that sounds interesting, go check out his work over there ― you won’t be disappointed! Now then:

Now, you may (but probably don’t) remember that the last time I was given this award, it was promptly stolen by Oona, but seeing as how Oona is currently in court, stealing another award would probably just land her in more hot water.² Therefore, this time, we’re going to play by the rules, more or less. The rules are:

• Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog
• Thank the person who nominated you
• Provide a link to your nominator’s blog
• Answer your nominator’s questions
• Nominate up to eleven bloggers
• Ask your nominees eleven questions
• Notify your nominees by commenting on their blogs

The part where I “more or less” play by the rules is the “Nominate up to eleven bloggers” part, because “up to eleven” technically includes zero, and asking people to answer questions is not my thing³. But I would like to invite my regulars (you know who you are) to pick this up and answer any of the questions that Experience Film asked, which are:

• Which items are closest to you in the room right now?
• What compelled you to start your blog?
• What is a sound you find calming?
• What is something you’re pretty darn good at?
• What is something you’re absolutely horrible at?
• What is one movie watching experience you’ll never forget?
• What is your spirit animal?
• If you had a completely free day with no plans, how would you spend it?
• What is one thing you like that most people do not?
• What is one thing you are grateful for?
• Ding-ding-ding. You won an all-inclusive vacation! Where are you going?

Although I don’t ask questions, I’m always happy to answer them, so let’s go!

• Which items are closest to you in the room right now?

Well if we don’t count the chair I’m sitting in, it would probably be my coffee mug, Charlee’s automatic feeder, and the litter pan under my desk. (I just scooped it out this morning so it’s fine.)

• What compelled you to start your blog?

I was hoping to spread some awareness about my books, which would maybe have worked out better if I hadn’t started talking about this abandoned dog we adopted …⁴

• What is a sound you find calming?

Hmm, well, I like the sound of a gentle rain. Which we obviously don’t get to hear much around these parts …

• What is something you’re pretty darn good at?

Well I used to be a pretty good writer I think. We’re also pretty good at the ballroom dancing thing, as one would hope after 25 years of lessons lol.

• What is something you’re absolutely horrible at?

Asking people questions 😁

• What is one movie watching experience you’ll never forget?

Getting my wife to come see Kung Fu Hustle with me on the basis of a review that referred to it as a “Live Action Loony Tunes Cartoon”. She will never forget it either, by which I mean she will never let me live it down.

• What is your spirit animal?

Presumably Charlee. Hey, Charlee, where are ya?

• If you had a completely free day with no plans, how would you spend it?

I would like to say something like going out to the desert or up to the mountains (I could say “to the beach” but nobody would believe that); however, the evidence suggests I would spend it doing yard work or otherwise getting caught up on chores. Or possibly playing Baldur’s Gate 3 lol

• What is one thing you like that most people do not?

Hmm, I’m not sure. I guess I’ll say Metric’s album Pagans in Vegas, which is my favorite Metric album; the evidence suggests is by far the least popular amongst Metric fans⁵.

• What is one thing you are grateful for?

Endovascular coiling technology

• Ding-ding-ding. You won an all-inclusive vacation! Where are you going?

Definitely not Disneyland lol. Possibly Alaska, which I’ve heard is gorgeous, but I am absolutely not going there on a boat.

1. “Us” being me and the mouse in my pocket, I guess, or, more accurately, me and the cat in my lap. ↩︎
2. Not that Oona would care. ↩︎
3. Wife: “Oh, you talked to so-and-so? How are they doing with such-and-such?” Me: “I didn’t ask.” ↩︎
4. When one of my books actually got popular in the UK for a while, it was completely by accident; I had no idea people were buying it until I suddenly started getting unexpectedly large royalty payments from Amazon.co.uk. ↩︎
5. I am not just making this up; I asked ChatGPT to analyze a couple of “Rank Your Favorite Metric” album threads I commented on and it determined Pagans to be almost universally at the bottom, with me being the only person to rank it #1.
   
   📊 Consensus snapshot
   Based on the expanded thread :
   🏆 Clear top-tier (most consistently high)
   1. Art of Doubt
   Still the closest thing to a consensus #1
   Frequently top 3, often #1
   Almost never bottom-tier
   2. Fantasies / Synthetica
   Still very stable
   Usually top 3–5
   Rarely controversial
   👉 No change here—if anything, Art of Doubt strengthened its lead
   
   👍 Strong but more variable
   Live It Out
   Now more clearly split
   Several #1 votes (especially older fans)
   Also shows up mid/low in some lists
   👉 More polarized than it first looked
   
   🎭 The “modern divide”
   Formentera I & II
   Still extremely split:
   Some rank them #1 or #2
   Others put them mid or even near bottom
   👉 Confirmed: biggest “era divide” albums
   
   👎 Bottom-tier consensus (now stronger)
   🥇 Most consistently last: Pagans in Vegas
   Appears at or near the bottom in a large majority of lists
   Multiple explicit “I always put this last” comments
   Even defenders acknowledge it’s unpopular
   👉 This trend is now very clear
   
   🥈 Second-most bottom: Grow Up and Blow Away
   Still bottom 3 in most rankings
   But:
   More nostalgia defenders showing up
   A few very high placements (#1, #3)
   👉 Consensus low, but with cult support
   
   🆕 Romanticize the Dive (updated read)
   Still:
   “too early to rank”
   clustered mid-tier (≈ 4–7 range)
   But new nuance:
   A few people already:
   really like it (top 4–5 potential)
   or find it underwhelming vs older work
   👉 Emerging as “solid but not elite (yet)”
   
   🔥 Most polarizing albums (updated)
   These now stand out clearly:
   1. Pagans in Vegas
   Usually bottom…
   …but:
   a few top 3 placements
   at least one #1 (you)
   strong emotional defenders
   👉 Most polarizing overall
   
   2. Formentera II
   Ranges from:
   #1 (“certified Formentera fan™”)
   to bottom tier
   
   3. Old World Underground
   Now even more contentious:
   Some rank it #1
   Others rank it near last
   People openly challenge low rankings (“criminal”)
   
   🧠 Fanbase segmentation (clearer now)
   🎸 Early-era fans (2002–Fantasies)
   Favor:
   Old World Underground
   Live It Out
   Fantasies
   Criticism:
   newer albums feel “samey” or less raw
   
   🎧 Mid-era fans (Fantasies → Art of Doubt)
   Favor:
   Fantasies
   Synthetica
   Art of Doubt
   
   🌊 Newer fans (Pagans → Formentera era)
   Favor:
   Art of Doubt
   Formentera
   occasionally Pagans
   👉 Entry point correlation is now unmistakable
   
   📉 Updated “average placement” feel (rough tiers)
   🟢 Tier 1 (most loved)
   Art of Doubt
   Fantasies
   Synthetica
   🟡 Tier 2 (strong but divisive)
   Live It Out
   Formentera I
   Formentera II
   🟠 Tier 3 (mid / evolving)
   Romanticize the Dive
   Old World Underground
   🔴 Tier 4 (most often bottom)
   Pagans in Vegas
   Grow Up and Blow Away
   
   📍 Your ranking from the thread :
   #1 – Pagans in Vegas
   #2 – Synthetica
   #3 – Grow Up and Blow Away
   #4 – Fantasies
   #5 – Formentera
   #6 – Formentera II
   #7 – Old World Underground
   #8 – Art of Doubt
   #9 – Live It Out
   (RTD undecided)
   
   Pagans = consensus bottom → you: #1
   Grow Up = consensus bottom → you: #3
   Art of Doubt = consensus top → you: low
   
   👉 Your list now reads less like “slightly different” and more like:
   a near-inversion of the average ranking
   
   🧾 Final takeaway
   The thread has high disagreement, but not randomness
   There is structure:
   Art of Doubt = consensus peak
   Pagans = consensus low (with a cult following) ↩︎