I must keep reliving this beautiful year!

December 11, 2018 11:32 PM

The New York Times (or its Styles Desk) invites you to relive 2018, now blessed with cheevos. (Best on mobile, ok on desktop.)
posted by Going To Maine (16 comments total)

No thanks. This was the worst year of my life, what with the Southwest 4-Hospital Tour and all the subsequent doctor interactions and medical procedures. All while evil occupied the White House and made great strides toward undoing the good things that the government managed to accomplish since the last time the robber barons were in charge.

You can have 2018. I'd as soon skip it.

Fortunately, when I did "click here," nothing happened.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:11 AM on December 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

Fortunately, when I did "click here," nothing happened.

Typical 2018!
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:45 AM on December 12, 2018 [8 favorites]

That is probably the most unpleasant web experience I have had all week!
posted by lollusc at 3:55 AM on December 12, 2018 [8 favorites]

I was super grumpy about being ordered to shake my phone, but it works with just tapping and is kind of fun. Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Elon Musk. Disease, bad weather, drugs, and Trump. They didn't show me a single story about Sad Trump Voters, which is good because I would've thrown my phone across the room and then picked it up again to write them another angry email. For the past year and a half, I've been getting my current events from The New Yorker, a manageable weekly dose, and I think this was a good choice because a lot of the stories I just saw would have stressed me out at the time and there was nothing I could have done. Also, I definitely think disease is going to take out humanity before climate change really gets going. Those mosquitoes have it in for us.
posted by betweenthebars at 3:57 AM on December 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Well that was an annoying 5 seconds before I closed the tab in disgust.
posted by octothorpe at 5:00 AM on December 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

See, that's the thing about this year, and the last couple for that matter. You can do anything, no matter how stupid, pointless, annoying...complete shit. And when someone calls you on it you can just give them a smug little smile and go, "Thank you, yes, I've captured the spirit of the times nicely, haven't I?"
posted by Naberius at 5:33 AM on December 12, 2018

Why would anyone want to do this? I like sophisticated Internet things but I don't think most of us have enjoyed the year.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:50 AM on December 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

From the "?" page:
You stood beneath a waterfall of news all year. What did you take away? We believe in being informed news consumers. We also know that this news cascade flattens the importance of any given story — something you’ll notice here as unruly pairs of stories come flying your way. Maybe you’ll find you missed important stuff. Maybe you’ll find you remember things that don’t matter.

I thought this was kind of neat, a different way of approaching the year in review. But I love the risks the Styles desk has been taking recently (remember that wild royal wedding FAQ?). Thanks for posting, Going to Maine.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:12 AM on December 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

Frankly I’d rather if NYT stayed away from shoehorning this kind of in-vogue absurdist aesthetic to their news... the mute button also did not work and the page somehow made sounds from my (silenced) phone which was also annoying. Had to close as quickly as possible.

Maybe a fun idea but bad execution IMO!
posted by auggy at 6:44 AM on December 12, 2018

I mean... I think they want it to be annoying? That's the joke. They know this year sucked too.
posted by something something at 6:45 AM on December 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

Thanks for the post, and thanks to the Times!

Although I too hated this year, I found it oddly satisfying to see a story about the Family Foundation school (whose alumni keep dying) and the Victoria Secret's fashion show juxtaposed.
posted by jasper411 at 6:50 AM on December 12, 2018

I closed it when I saw a picture of an emaciated Yemeni 7-year-old who later starved to death, juxtaposed with a story about Bitcoin as peppy carnival music played. That's fucked up and awful. And if it's a commentary on how the world is fucked up and awful, well, good job, you soulless assholes.

I wish this hadn't made it to the blue. It's worse than ironic or tongue-in-cheek or simply silly, it's fucking depraved.
posted by skullhead at 7:55 AM on December 12, 2018 [6 favorites]

Running that thing on my phone made it very warm in a couple of minutes, stopping it caused an immediate cool down
posted by epo at 9:26 AM on December 12, 2018

When I click on a news story, I see an alternate version of the headline. Did they rewrite them for purposes of this game, is it print vs. web or A/B testing, or something else?
posted by box at 11:25 AM on December 12, 2018

That music makes me want to play Animal Crossing or Mario.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:49 PM on December 12, 2018

"Shake to begin", it says. On my computer.

I stare dumbly at it for a moment. I may or may not be stoned at this time, for what it's worth. Okay I am very stoned. Then I click.

I accidentally click on the floating "click this for sound", and the Nintendo Wii Shop music begins playing at high volumes, completely drowning out the Kraftwerk I was listening to, as it begins flipping the display at random to justapose some news about Bill Gates with... I've forgotten already. I closed the tab before I even realized anything else was happening.

"How long can you endure?"Not very long at all, it seems.
posted by egypturnash at 3:22 PM on December 12, 2018