Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Yes, it has been nearly 5 months since my last post. If you couldn't tell by some of the job solicitation included with my last couple of video essays, finding paying editing gigs had become a major priority to avoiding, um, poverty. When I was lucky enough to get a flood of work in the last quarter of 2010 which will hopefully continue, so it can fund my creative pursuits, as well as, you know, pay my rent, certain things got neglected. Also, I should add I had spent a great deal of time last year bringing a small claims action against a former employer and then trying to get the money from them when they would not pay up, which was a barrel of laughs in itself. Let's just say I finally got the money and they are now out of business. Freelancing can be brutal sometimes.

It was 2/3rds of a shitty year, though I imagine I may have been still better off than plenty others. This blog had gone dark during the busiest movie months of the year. I had to work rather some ridiculous schedules from August to December to finally become financially viable, as well as put myself in position to score more consistent work in the future during the lousy economic times we are all dealing with in one way or another.

During that time, there was also some needed reevaluation on my part as to what I want to accomplish with this blog, as well as other ambitions in my life. In other words, expect to see more of a balance of video essays and written pieces, as well as a expansion of the subject matter tackled here. Not only do I plan to feature my own work whether it be analysis of other movies or my own original pieces, but anything interesting that I find on the web that is film-related and worth discussing. I also want to talk more about the film industry as a whole and where we will be going for the next decade, particularly for independent and do-it-yourself filmmakers. At the same time, I have come to the realization that trying to write a gargantuan piece every time out will result in less from this blog. I do have to be realistic with what I want to accomplish with "The Fine Cut" and manage my time better. Written pieces will generally be more concise than they have been, hopefully without sacrificing content and substance.

I had felt like I was having to decide whether to be an editor or filmmaker or blogger, when I realize that the less I try to characterize what I do, the more interesting these different aspects of myself will become when I merge them together. And, perhaps, some of you have also noticed that the two video essays I worked on with Matt Zoller Seitz and Aaron Aradillas were not necessarily just about movies. Sometimes, I want to express myself in ways beyond simply writing reviews of new releases. I will say those video essays put a filmmaking bug in me that I had not had for a long time, which made them easily two rare highlights for me last year.

Admittedly, there may have been other factors. Sometimes, it seemed that what few movies that were worth discussing had been almost chewed out and spit up by the film blogosphere. What more can I have said about something like "The Social Network" when hundreds of film bloggers had taken a crack at it? Doing a video essay about it would have been my preference, but, with new releases, that, for the most part, is not possible. It was also an odd year when I saw many movies, but cannot admittedly admit to a whole lot of enthusiasm about most of them. I will most likely do a round-up of 2010 soon, which will cover at least what I thought about many of these films. There were plenty of quality films, but very little that blew me away.

Though, I will say one film may have made me question a great deal about criticism and forced me to rethink things about myself. Let's just say it was a "documentary" directed by someone who has never shown his face in public. In addition, it may have highlighted some issues I had with the film blogosphere that some may have noticed in my comments on other blogs. I'm not sure if I am ready to deal with that fully yet, but let's just say certain "debates" from the past year made me just want to face palm. At this point, I think you can say the name "Christopher Nolan" out loud once and film bloggers will turn into the people from "28 Days Later" infected with the rage virus. But, perhaps, that is something to go into more detail when I talk about 2010.

Starting with the redesign, think of this as a reboot, to use one of the most tired words in corporate moviemaking for something more positive. Hopefully, life and what seems like a recovering economy will allow me to keep my commitment to this blog and contribute something interesting to this thing called the internet. This blog is and will always be a learning experience, as well as something that will be flexible in content and form. Here's to the true beginning of a new decade.