So why start a blog? It's a valid question, given that we've managed without one for eight years. I could spin you a yarn about planning to start one for ages and not getting around to it, but that would be bullcrap. The idea came to me only recently. We were going through a slow period when most of the site's reviewers were incapacitated in some way, and it struck me that it would have been useful to pass this along, to provide a reason why no reviews had appeared that week and to throw out an assurance that we'd be back up to speed soon.
It would also, I reasoned, provide an opportunity for me to bounce around ideas or comment on a film related issue without having to write a fully fledged article. There have been a number of times over the past couple of years when there's been something I've wanted to post a few words about but haven't had time to flesh out, opinions or observations that sit in a mental pending file just waiting for the right review into which they can be incorporated. I'll try my best to resist the temptation to use the blog as an opportunity to get on my political soapbox and comment on what an appalling tosser George Osborne is, unless it's film related, of course. Oh crap, too late.
It will also give us the chance to provide a little background detail on the interviews we conduct and the festivals we attend, what it's like to be small fish in a very big and sometime self-important pond. In this respect, you can think of this column as DVD extra feature, a behind-the-scenes video in literary form, a Twitter feed without a word limit, if you like. This should start tomorrow, when Tim and I are off to London to interview prolific French writer-director Christophe Honoré at the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema film festival. The day has already thrown up its share of obstacles and we're not even there yet, but I remain optimistic. Anyone who knows me personally will probably snort loudly at that.
So that's it for the intro. The current site weather report is that two of our regular reviewers are currently taking some time off but will be back on board in the hopefully not too distant future. We've a new reviewer on board in the shape of Michael Ewins, whom some of you might know from his own excellent film blog, and one of our past writers looks like coming back on board after an extended break, during which he's been involved with the Occupy movement. Several reviews are currently in progress, including DVDs of Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, Holy Flying Circus, and The Yellow Sea, the first of which should be posted tomorrow.
The Google search continues to function a little shabbily, largely because Google is still struggling to pick up a good many of the older reviews. I'm still in the process of transferring external links like those on IMDb from DVD Outsider over to Cine Outsider. Once that's complete and DVD Outsider slips off the map, the search results should improve a little.
Right, I'm off to make sure the bloody camera is working. |
