Greetings everyone! Hope your 2014 was a bit healthier than mine? After recovering from a frozen shoulder (relating to a 2013 ruptured appendix), I came down with an abscess in my liver (!) that had me back at the good ol’ hospital and then home for a lengthy convalescence. This makes two straight years where I’ve gone home with tubes sticking out of me. Charming, eh? But I am finally healthy — thanks to terrific doctors — and rarin’ to go in 2015.
As far as my documentary, Enemies of the State, I’m happy to announce that not only have I shot new interviews (with the folks at The Dissolve among others), but I’ve picked up a fantastic editor, Alaric Martin, who is not only a sharp storyteller but also a treasure trove of cinema knowledge. It’s been a while since my last podcast, but you can check out all my Split Reel shows here at CHIRP Radio. I’m also thinking of doing something different with the format this year — namely, getting back to prose! I definitely need an excuse to write more, and I want to focus on essays relating to some of the lesser-known films I’ve enjoyed recently. (Werner Herzog’s Into The Abyss has sent me down quite a Time Sink of Thought recently.) My favorite films of 2014? Boyhood, Boyhood, and Boyhood. But if I had to pick two others… Nightcrawler and Wild.