Things have been a little quiet around here since I posted my review of Tammy,
and many of you who do not follow my other exploits on the internet and
elsewhere may feel that you are overdue an explanation for my absence.
Rather than run the risk of letting this blog become slowly mothballed
by default - by way of not posting anything new until no-one is reading
it anymore - I think it's best that I clear the aor and give you all an update.
The reason for the pause in posts is threefold. Firstly, and most importantly, I am in the final stages of preparations for my wedding to Aimee Braunton on July 9th. We are both really excited by the big day but there is still a lot that remains to be sorted out, and so I have had to devote all my spare time to helping out (Aimee, to her eternal credit, shouldered much of the preparatory burden during my exams and so it's only fair that I muck in more now). I had already planned a small hiatus from blogging during the month of July for my wedding and honeymoon, but for the sake of the wedding actually going ahead in the first place, film reviews have had to take a back seat.
Secondly, there have been a lot of changes at work recently to which I and my colleagues at the Western Gazette are still adjusting. Since Trinity Mirror took over Local World, we have been substantially reorganised to turn us more into a "digital first" operation, with reporters now having little or nothing to do with the print edition which appears every Thursday. We've had a number of redundancies across the group, and I've been moved to a different patch as our new website, Somerset Live, prepares to take flight on June 13. It's been a difficult and at times traumatic process, and I have often had no energy or enthusiasm left for my film reviews after spending the whole day at the local news coalface. I hope that as things settle it will become easier to balance the two, but in terms of the long-term future of this blog, we will have to see.
Thirdly, there is the simple matter of writers' block. I'm more than halfway through my review of The Breakfast Club - which will be my 250th here on Mumby at the Movies - but I've hit a John Hughes-shaped brick wall. My imagination has somewhat diminished in recent times with the demands of my job; journalism and creative writing should not be mutually exclusive, but deadlines by their nature demand simplicity, and I sometimes wonder whether my intellect is becoming exhausted. I do not say this to disparage either my job or the people who pay me to do it; it is simply a reflection of how my brain has changed. There is only so much inspiration I can have to go with my finite amount of perspiration, and often that means there is nothing left for the blog when the working day is done. So rather than fill these pages with hackneyed guff which is beneath both me and my audience, I sometimes think it best to write nothing at all until something good comes along.
All of which is a protracted and long-winded way of saying: sorry that there's been no content on the blog for a while. I will try and do better in the future, and will have more content for you very soon. Thanks for bearing with me, and God bless you all.
Daniel
P. S. I'm also attempting to revive The Goon Show Guide within the new posts - watch this space...
The reason for the pause in posts is threefold. Firstly, and most importantly, I am in the final stages of preparations for my wedding to Aimee Braunton on July 9th. We are both really excited by the big day but there is still a lot that remains to be sorted out, and so I have had to devote all my spare time to helping out (Aimee, to her eternal credit, shouldered much of the preparatory burden during my exams and so it's only fair that I muck in more now). I had already planned a small hiatus from blogging during the month of July for my wedding and honeymoon, but for the sake of the wedding actually going ahead in the first place, film reviews have had to take a back seat.
Secondly, there have been a lot of changes at work recently to which I and my colleagues at the Western Gazette are still adjusting. Since Trinity Mirror took over Local World, we have been substantially reorganised to turn us more into a "digital first" operation, with reporters now having little or nothing to do with the print edition which appears every Thursday. We've had a number of redundancies across the group, and I've been moved to a different patch as our new website, Somerset Live, prepares to take flight on June 13. It's been a difficult and at times traumatic process, and I have often had no energy or enthusiasm left for my film reviews after spending the whole day at the local news coalface. I hope that as things settle it will become easier to balance the two, but in terms of the long-term future of this blog, we will have to see.
Thirdly, there is the simple matter of writers' block. I'm more than halfway through my review of The Breakfast Club - which will be my 250th here on Mumby at the Movies - but I've hit a John Hughes-shaped brick wall. My imagination has somewhat diminished in recent times with the demands of my job; journalism and creative writing should not be mutually exclusive, but deadlines by their nature demand simplicity, and I sometimes wonder whether my intellect is becoming exhausted. I do not say this to disparage either my job or the people who pay me to do it; it is simply a reflection of how my brain has changed. There is only so much inspiration I can have to go with my finite amount of perspiration, and often that means there is nothing left for the blog when the working day is done. So rather than fill these pages with hackneyed guff which is beneath both me and my audience, I sometimes think it best to write nothing at all until something good comes along.
All of which is a protracted and long-winded way of saying: sorry that there's been no content on the blog for a while. I will try and do better in the future, and will have more content for you very soon. Thanks for bearing with me, and God bless you all.
P. S. I'm also attempting to revive The Goon Show Guide within the new posts - watch this space...
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