It's been a while.

I've been in my movie era.

Hi friends. It’s been a while.

There was a period of a few years where I was in a real creative springtime: lots of ideas for articles, long-form research, books, podcasts and more. Somewhere along the line, the things that once gave me so much life started to look more and more like work.

Rocco is still as goofy as ever.

For the past year, I’ve been in what I’ve dubbed “my movie era” (Taylor Swift could never). I joined AMC A-List and started going to the movies every weekend, often seeing 2 or even 3 movies on a Saturday night. When I was at home, I stopped watching the Real Housewives and started watching every A24 movie I possibly could (“Dream Scenario” is extremely odd, but I kind of liked it.). I’ve been adding movies to my Letterboxd watchlist faster than I can watch them.

My movie era has been a time where I’ve practically stopped creating. I’ve been consuming media, not so much to just waste time, but to learn something new. Movies are a few hours when I put my phone away and completely immerse myself in a story, something that I had previously done by reading books in one sitting.

This was the Olympics, but I assure you Rocco has blocked my view of many movies, most recently the original Gladiator.

Now, I’m ready. I’m ready to finish the book I started writing over a year ago. I’m ready to share some thoughts on difficult topics that I haven’t previously worked out publicly. I’m ready to share some of what I’ve learned by watching over 160 movies this past year and reading 280 books the year before.

I’m ready to create, to share, to start some important conversations.

Since I last wrote to you, I adopted another dog. I’ve had a podcast with one of my best friends for over a year where we review Disney Channel Original Movies (Go Big or Go DCOM). I rarely use an Oxford comma anymore because the style guide I follow at work doesn’t use it.

Look at them. I can’t even.

Without a place to write, I’ve been developing my ideas on X (formerly Twitter). I’m sure this will be much better.

I’m back and I have a schedule of content I hope to bring you. Along with a plea.

With writing less, I lost a portion of my income that I had started to really depend upon. If you would like to see regular writing from me and are able, I’d be grateful if you would consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Paid subscribers will receive a weekly media review (movie, book, latest TikTok trend) every Friday. The first one will come this evening at 5 pm CT and will be my thoughts on Wicked: Part One.

I understand if you want to wait to make sure you’re really going to hear from me. I’m excited for what’s to come and hope you’ll be along for the ride.