The Siskoid Awards 2020 - Technical Achievement Ceremony

I've done this like a dozen times now, but if it's your first, the Siskoid Awards are always followed by a Technical Achievement Ceremony, hosted by a famous star parallel to the main event, and by technical, we mean a hodgepodge of categories and jokes that don't really fit the main article--I mean, ceremony.

 

And to host, I suppose I could have asked Anya Taylor-Joy since it seems to be her year (Emma., The Queen's Gambit, and from off the shelf and into theaters for six months, New Mutants), but she's probably too busy. Instead, I went with one of my celebrity crushes, just for a chance to fake-work with her - Maya Rudolph! Take it away, Maya!

Best role-playing moment of 2020 - I want to give honorary mentions to three separate games I was involved in before handing out the Golden Typewriter Monkey. In our Savage Worlds Rippers game, I really like the moment where the street urchin/thief climbed up an undead T-Rex skeleton's spine and undid its head's moorings; it's just so crazy. In our recent Stupor-Powers game, the players using Jung's biography against him was a great gag. And my favorite part of the Star Trek Adventures game I play in is really the chance to generate documents, whether reports or correspondence for my character. BUT! The Award actually goes to a conversation on GURPS Old West I had with former players Pout and Bébert (recorded as Let's Roll episode 2) that was not only a cool stroll down memory lane, but actually resurrected our GURPS campaign, even drawing in the OTHER two players. A minor miracle given I hadn't spoken to many of these guys in years. Of course, with role-playing, it's not done until it's done, and we'll see what 2021 brings, but regardless, the relighting of old passions deserves the award.

The Balls of Steel Award - Goes to Disney+ for announcing so many new series (10 for Star Wars alone) when they haven't even pushed out even ONE of their announced Marvel series. Now obviously, COVID yadda yadda delays yadda yadda some of these are years down the line yadda yadda, but still.

Least Worthy of its Reputation - Sometimes you decided to watch a flick that's universally been classified as a turkey to see just how bad it is. And sometimes, you instead discover that it's a lot of fun and popular wisdom be damned, it's worth the reevaluation. For me this year, that was Steel with Shaquille O'Neal. I'm not kidding. It's not a good film, but it's a pretty amusing TV PILOT. I would certainly watch it over some of the DCU blockbusters we've gotten from the Snyderverse. I know that's not saying much, so let me put it another way: I would voluntarily rewatch it. (But to be clear, it's still just a 2.5/5 in my book.) Runner-up? New Mutants.

Best short of 2020 - An early frontrunner might have been Short Trek's Children of Mars, but once Doctor Who started producing new content to go with its COVID Lockdown global watch events, there were more contenders in the arena. There's really no contest, the award goes to Farewell, Sarah Jane, a tear-jerker "series finale" for the Sarah Jane Adventures, penned by Russell T Davies and starring various alumni from the show. I sobbed so damn much.

Favorite new Podcast of 2020 - I don't listen to a lot of celebrity podcasts, but I've pretty much been listening to The Delta Flyers every week as it came out. This Star Trek: Voyager indexing show features Garrett "Harry Kim" Wang and Robert Duncan "Tom Paris" McNeill sharing memories and reevaluating the show where they forged their real-life friendship. It's quite pleasant and sometimes even features special guests (there's one where they call up Robert Picardo and make him have a small bike accident).

I'd like to end the ceremony with a few movie statistics and prizes, courtesy of Letterboxd. Last year, I logged 751 entries in my movie diary (including shorts) and I didn't think I would beat that, but COVID did as COVID does maybe? This year, I managed a whopping 826! (Including 66 shorts; 699 were new watches.) Which stars did I watch the most? Let's have a look:

Of course, the list is skewed by my Keanu-Charlize twinned movie marathons (which started in 2019 which is why you're not seeing their TOTAL number of movies), though chugging all the Zatoichi films actually made Shintarō Katsu come out ahead of them (it also explains the number other Japanese actors in the Top 10. Ginger Rogers and Charlie Chaplin finish off the Top 5. Sylvester McCoy shows up thanks to a rewatch of his Doctor Who stories. But wait, I watched allllll of those Keanu and Charlize movies... which were the best?

Best Keanu (of all time, to date) - The Internet says The Matrix, and my own personal ratings would have it be Much Ado About Nothing, but that's not his vehicle, nor is he very good in it, so next in line is, in fact yes, The Matrix. Best I hadn't seen before: My Own Private Idaho. Please avoid at all costs: SPF-18.

Best Charlize (of all time, to date) - Internet says Fury Road, I say Atomic Blonde, I think we're both right. Best I hadn't seen before: Monster. Please avoid at some costs: Hollywood Confidential.

Meanwhile, here's what happens when you look at Directors whose work I watched a lot of, without comment:

And there you have it, folks. Another year, another meaningless awards thing. My thanks to Ms. Rudolph and thank YOU for sticking with us all these years. The Siskoid Awards will probably return in a year's time, barring the Apocalypse.