I think it's safe to assume that most of the regular readers (if I have any left) know I have a little side gig writing about movies. It doesn't pay (yet - I'm working on that bit) but it offers me the opportunity to do two things I love: writing (you'd be hard pressed to guess that considering the lapse in my posting here over the last few months) and movies. The entire project started right here as a side project on Blogger where I was reviewing movies.
Not sure how many people read those early posts but in 2005 I took the big leap and set up my very own website. MAD About Movies sort of put me on the map with a few other sites and individuals who were talking movies. Sometime after the site went live, Colleen, Dale and I started a podcast and we've been at it ever since. In 2007 I closed down MAM to join a group of passionate writers at a new place we called Row Three. We moved the podcast over and have been there ever since, basking in the glow of minor notoriety and awesome conversation.
I had no intention of ever leaving Row Three, a site I co-created but late last year I was given an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I'd been communicating back and forth with the great folks at Quiet Earth. It was a friendly relationship and one I valued since their knowledge and readership was so much bigger than ours. And then it happened. They offered me a job. I was a bit hesitant at first because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Row Three but I also couldn't pass up this door-opening opportunity so after much debate, I made the decision to limit my contribution at Row Three to the podcast and the occasional post and came to call Quiet Earth home.
I've been there a few months now and the learning curve has been a bit daunting. I'm use to reporting news that are mainstream and QE is more interested in the work being done on the sidelines, the indie, foreign and genre stuff that doesn't always get attention. Having to dig for new stuff is a little different than just browsing the major sites and filtering what I thought was worthwhile. That said, it's been a great experience and one that's already starting to pay off.
I've come a long way in what seems a very short time. In 5 years I've gone from a little blogger blog that few read to a major film website. I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store. If this first full week of the year is any indication, it's going to be an awesome ride.
I've added a QE feed on the sidebar but if you're into film and are willing to try something new, I urge you to check us out!
The great folks at TED have just posted clips from a speech given by Nicholas Negroponte, architect and computer scientist best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of MIT's Media Lab, at the first TED conference in 1984. I think it's safe to add the title "futurist" to Negroponte's resume. Not only are the bits of his speech really interesting and ground breaking in 1984, a number of them are now a reality.
There are plans to release the entire 2 hour talk but some of it needs to be restored. In the meantime, take a time out and check out Negroponte "wax prophetic on the converging fields of technology, entertainment and design".
This is so neat. D sent me a link today to Aerogel. It is nicknamed frozen smoke, solid smoke or blue smoke due to its semi-transparent nature and the way light scatters in the material; however, it feels like expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) to the touch.
You can buy your very own piece of Aerogel silica on eBay. I wouldn't suggest you purchase it though. My understanding is that this stuff evaporates when kept for too long. By the time the auction ends and the stuff arrives, it'll only be a tiny little piece.
Still, the technology is wicked cool and the future of this technology is endless. When you consider that the military is approximately 10 years ahead on technology and we already have knowledge of this, it makes you wonder what else they've got under their sleeves.
I've been a bad blogger. Things have been busy these first few days of 2007 and I've been running around like a mad woman. It appears that it's slowing back down to regular pace around here though so I should be back to normal for next week.
Lots has happened the last few days. I am now an official full time employee as of Jan. 1st. Signed all the paperwork yesterday and, after almost 8 years of various temp jobs, I'm finally full time staff with the full package. It's nice that I've already been here for so long so it's was just a matter of filling in some paper work. I figure this will be good for the next few years as I continue to trod along on my degree with the final intention, to either do a library sciences master or a teaching degree (with film/cultural studies) as a main focus. I figure I like movies so much, I may as well do something worthwhile with it. Of course, this is the plan now but who knows? Maybe the review site will take off and I can do that full time. That would be sweet (to use a term that's totally 90's).
I'm a bit miffed at the weather man. Last night, I checked the 11PM news to get heads up on the weather for this morning. The verdict was for flurries over night and then showers in the morning with the snow gone by the morning commute. Imagine my surprise when I looked out the back window this morning to find this. Sorry guys, I tried to upload the pictures but Blogger isn't cooperating.
Thanks to my inability to upload pictures at the moment, this also means that I can't post today's KFF. Bugger. Instead, I'm going to entertain you with another segment that will become a regular for the year. I purchased The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said page-a-day calendar for 2007 and so, every day, you too will get to revel in the greatness that stupidity can provide.
Ode on the Mammoth Cheese Weighing Over 7,000 pounds
We have seen thee, queen of cheese, Lying quietly at your ease, Gently fanned by evening breeze, Thy Fair form no flies dare seize.
poet James McIntyre, from the book Very Bad Poetry
