New Directions

It feels like just yesterday when I posted the "Declaration of Principles" here at The Cinema Doctor.    Yet, it was four and a half months ago and I have now had enough time to evaluate the endeavor.  I left my good friends at Pajiba in mid-July out of dissatisfaction.  This had nothing to do with Dustin, Dan, or Brian and everything to do with me.  I wanted to review more new releases, as I felt like I was getting pigeon holed with the film retrospectives, and yet the site had too many smart, funny, and amazing writers with seniority to make that dream a possibility.  


I thought that starting my own site and putting more of an emphasis on media at large from a more academic standpoint would prove fulfilling but dream of turning what is essentially a personal blog into a widely read site for criticism just was not feasible.  Between a 9-5 job, dissertation revisions, academic job hunting, and a personal life, I was lucky to post one or two articles a week.  I watched as web traffic gradually declined on a monthly basis because I simply could not keep interest in the blog single-handedly.  For every early review like Hugo (2011), which spiked traffic immensely thanks to the embargo-free sneak preview I attended, I found myself with ten reviews that I had put a lot of time into and only a few people read.  I slowly resigned myself to that outcome.  There just aren't enough hours in a day...  


Yet, I found out last week that I had been slightly underestimating myself.  I was contacted by some old college friends from UW-Milwaukee who were starting a new web publication.  They had followed my work since my undergrad days of writing for the UWM Post and asked me if I might have time to serve as the chief film critic for Cultural Transmogrifier.  I agreed and started producing content for the site, which launches this week.  I am thrilled to be a part of a loving family of writers again and I hope that this new project can fulfill both my desires to produce the content I want and to reach a proper audience.  Some of my fondest memories at Pajiba came out of our dynamic as a team, supporting one another when commenters went crazy and ribbing one another when we disagreed about the latest Tarantino film.  I look forward to working with my old friends and you can follow us over at www.ctzine.com.  The site is still in the design phase, but we'll be launching this week.  


As for The Cinema Doctor, I'll be shutting up shop for the most part.  I may run the occasional piece of Comics Studies or Video Game criticism or post a course syllabus once in a while, but the bulk of my work will now be running at Cultural Transmogrifier.  I just want to take a moment to thank a few people for their support over the past couple months.  First, to Pajiban Mswas at BGW Designs for the wonderful logo.  Secondly, to Dustin, Dan, Joanna, and Brian at Pajiba for the support.  Third, to my wife Nicole who had the patience to let me sit out a couple adventures to write up reviews.  Another thank you to Grae Drake at Popcorn Mafia for inviting me onto her podcast.  Finally, a big thank you to the readers who migrated over from Pajiba and the friends who kept the faith.