About

What’s all this about?

On the 18th November 2024, I’ll be turning 30. That’s thirty years of media influence over my poor, old brain. To try and understand a little bit more about what makes me me, I’m ranking the top 30 pieces of media that have gripped me throughout my 30 years on this earth. These are my Thirty Before Thirty.*

Don’t expect greatness, consistency, or sense. You won’t find Groundhog Day here (I’m sure it’s great – but I wouldn’t know!), or Pride & Prejudice. This is a reflection of 30 years of media impact on me – not a greatest hits. Any cross-over between media that is actually good is purely coincidental. In fact, sometimes you’ll see the complete opposite. Bad art impacts us all, too.

People & art are always linked, so if you know me, you might see yourself here. If you do, give us a wave!

Each week, you’ll receive a short, weekly write-up counting down from 30 for each category of media. How exciting.

*Strictly speaking, there’s actually 150. That’s thirty albums, videos games, TV shows, films and books.

The Rules

To make things a little more interesting, there are a few rules I’ve set myself for each of these rankings.

1. Rankings are to be based on impact, not greatness. Often times the most impactful pieces of art are the ones I most enjoyed – but that isn’t always true. How do I measure impact? I don’t. There’s no methodology here, just pondering. Try not to think too hard about my working out.
   
2. Avoid repetition, where possible. Emphasis on the where possible here. For albums, I will avoid adding LPs from the same artist. Books – the same author, films the same studio/director (etc). This is purely to avoid making my list of albums a Radiohead playlist, or the list of films a Pixar-fest. There will be patterns here, for sure, but I’m keeping it as diverse as I can. Where repetition might’ve reared it’s head, I’ve picked my favourite from that artist and ranked them accordingly. I may not stick to this rule. Prepare for a lot of Sci-Fi.
   
3. Don’t think too hard about it. There might be a few ones missed here-or-there, or changes I might want to make in the future – but this list can only ever be a reflection of how I am now. The write-ups and lists you see here aren’t deep dives into how good each piece of art is: it is how that art has made me. Think of them as streams of consciousness – not critical reviews.

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