The 2017 Year in Review in Review

2017 is all but dead. 2018 has already started in much of the world. So let’s let GANG PARADE’s new year’s message take care of things to start off:

Great. I wanted to publish this look-back-then-look-ahead yesterday (the first day of the year and all), but I, uh, had some complications like a raging headache and desire for lots of naps to work through instead. I don’t think anybody missed this jazz too much, though.

Nonetheless! Continue reading

A Very Homicidol Night with NECRONOMIDOL

This is all that I could muster after a night that confirmed everything that I’ve been doing about this whole idol business. In front of gods and man and maniacs, NECRONOMIDOL had not only taken the stage and wreaked absolute havoc, but had cut a very different jib in meeting with me, in person, and providing some great insights.

Oh, and Oshi put on the tiara that I gifted her, and all was well. Continue reading

Your Homicidols Best of 2017

Friends, for all of the bellyaching about the overall volume of quality idol output in 2017, we still managed to have an exciting showdown of idol forces for the best of the year. You don’t know it, and I won’t be too specific, but there were a lot of close calls in what follow here, and a number of ties just below the winners even at that — ultimately, even you all couldn’t decide what it was that most deserved to be honored with a Best Of. Good job!

Nonetheless, after months of pre-nominations and voting and etc., we got down to a healthy group of finalists, all of whom deserve a ton of credit for being the literal cream of the crop even thought only one was going to win — ultimately, in a situation like this, everything is subjective, anyway. BUT! To make things more interesting overall, while it is the picks of you all, the Western loud idol community, that really matter, I will again demonstrate my own incredible acumen for being correct about what’s best in idol, as will folks who contributed to the site over the course of the year. You’ll find it fascinating if not unnecessarily obscure!

As a brief preview: Do you remember how BiSH ran roughshod over the awards last year, basically making a mockery of the whole shebang? We managed to avoid that this time, though WACK’s influence was strong. However, for all of Watanabe’s stable’s influence over Western fandom, a new apple of our all-seeing eye has emerged, and the distribution overall, I think, speaks volumes as to where people line up and how they view what idol is producing.

Without further ado, I give you the Best of 2017. Continue reading

Your Best of 2017 Ballot 2

You can still vote on the first ballot for the other categories, too!

Good morning, everybody! A lot of folks have voted on the first half of the ballot, and this half is the one that’s actually the most loaded with big awards. In a few cases, you’ll need to put your thinking caps on, questioning whether your personal fandom or what you know to be true is the greater priority. I’ll tell you, the results so far? People might be surprised, and in a pleasant oh-how-interesting-I-would-not-have-expected-that way.

If this is your first entree into the Best Of process, I’m asking for your contact info so that I can send you the randomly drawn prize, which will be randomly drawn on Sunday! Also, a brief satisfaction survey at the end.

Ready? Continue reading

Your Best of 2017 Ballot 1

Changed the format of the ballot a little bit, guys, because the results were reporting weirdly and I don’t need it to be any more confusing; everything submitted so far is fine, but you can vote again if it makes you more comfortable, and I’ll honor the second

Hello team! I’m hellaciously busy with Day Job this week, but I’m still tremendously sorry for not starting the voting process for the Best of 2017 until now. Rather than do the three-step routine like we did last year, I’m condensing it down to two ballots over four days, the better to get this wrapped up and winners announced while still on the right timetable.

You guys did a great job of breaking down the very best in loud idol in 2017 — I spent half of the year complaining that it was a lame year compared to 2016, and here we are nonetheless with a really great group of nominees, with some pleasant surprises and (ahem) a couple of interjections by yours truly to make it a little more interesting (and also to have a fuller EP category).

Ready? Continue reading

Closing Time: Last Call for Your Best of 2017 Nominees

It took a while, gang — counting is hard! — but I finally got everybody’s nominees tallied for each category in the Best of 2017. The only thing left to do before we settle this? Figure out what happened in November that deserves to make the cut.

Rather than give up the actual, full list of nominees just yet, I’m approaching this in a completely new way: Below is a table; that table contains the least-vote getting actually qualified nominee per category. The task before you? If you think that something that came out in November (for instance, some highly anticipated album! some particularly violent MV!) needs to make the cut, then nominate it! BUT this isn’t a simple nomination — that thing you like needs to get at least as many nominations as the least vote-getting actually qualified nominee. Make sense? Continue reading

Your Best of 2017 Pre-nominees Need You to Mercilessly Cut Them Down

Thanks, everybody! Nomination cuts are now closed!

Welcome to the not-quite-final stage of the Best of 2017 process! Kerrie has done the lord’s work, and we’ve managed to compile a pretty thorough (but, one could say, still not thorough enough) collection of nominees for the traditional categories. While we definitely need to cut, we also probably need to include some more recent stuff, or items that slipped through the cracks. And that’s where you all come in!

Here’s how this is going to work:

  • “2017” actually means “December 2016-November 2017”. A handful of people who complained about the process last year will still fail to grasp the concept of impermanence.
  • Between right this very second and COB next Saturday, use these pre-nominations to list your top 5 per category.
  • You can do this in the comments, on Twitter or on Facebook.
  • Yes, you can still add new nominations.
  • This is a popularity contest! If you want something to win, make sure that your friends are involved and pre/voting, too.
  • To be representative, it’s one per group per category; come at me, WACK people.
  • We’ll tally up the pre-vote and put out a final call for new nominations before …
  • Real voting happens the week of Dec. 11.
  • Are there door prizes this year? Hopefully! It depends on the generosity of our friends.

Continue reading

Best Of Season Is Upon Us, Folks, So Get Those Nominations In

It’s not yet quite November, but the close of the Best of the Year … year is upon us — for reasons, we closed up part of 2016’s epic festivities, but this time around gives us a full 12 months, November ’16 through November ’17, to reckon. What’s best? What’s worst? What’s next? We all decide!

Kerrie has been keeping track of nominations on a rolling basis here in this spot in the forums, but she also took the process public over the last few days:

Continue reading

One More Pre-call for the Best of 2017

Kerrie, bless you for doing this, but let’s all prepare ourselves for the entire nomination and voting process to be spoiled by somebody dropping the greatest works of all entirely in the final week of November.

Oh, what’s this, a reminder? Yep, I’m here to pester you all again regarding this year’s Best Of awards. Last year’s Best Of 2016 nomination process was a bit chaotic, so throughout the year, I’ve been keeping a thread going in order to keep track of anything of note that has happened over 2017, from releases, graduations and just things that pissed off/delighted you throughout the year so far! However, I’m merely one foolish woman, so it’s easy for me to forget things, which is where you come in! Continue reading

What Are Your Mid-year Contenders for the Best of 2017?

Hey team, as you may have known, we did a little thing at the end of last year with a big ol’ community award thing for the Best of 2016. It was an absolute WACK bloodbath! Babymetal got completely shut out! I had lots of contrary opinions!

Well, Kerrie’s been compiling 2017 nominations going back a couple of months now, and we’d like your input, too. Continue reading