An Open Letter From The Oscar Buzz

Scene from The Life of Emile Zola

As you likely have noticed, output on here has been a little low in recent weeks. I have stated before that this is in large part because of my return to school, which has sucked up plenty of my free time. However, I do think that I still owe everyone an apology for not producing more content, specifically on weekends where I would have had ample time to make up any missing assignments. The missing entries weren't done out of spite, but more the fact that life has been a bit hectic in recent weeks. While school is over, the holidays are literally a week away and that is sure to eat up more of my time. So, what am I going to do out of compensation? I'm probably not going to make up the missing work, but I will do my best to do a little extra in the days ahead.

You may ask yourself what the little extra pertains to. In all honesty, my financial condition makes it difficult for me to accurately see every Oscar contender opening this week. As much as I would love to review Silence, Fences, and 20th Century Women, I realize that I also have other priorities (and even more films from earlier) to catch up on. The year has been busy for me, and anything beyond what I'm about to write should be seen as me having a few extra hours to produce content. Keep in mind that I am also going to be running my annual Listmania series on my Optigrab blog, of which is set to launch this week as well and will be a lot of fun.

First up, I promise to give you full reviews of the three films that I'm most excited for: Jackie, La La Land, and Manchester By the Sea. While I cannot guarantee what days which days they will be released, I do promise that they will be coming before the week is up. Regular coverage, including Theory Thursday, will also be available. I haven't picked a subject yet, but I do intend to do a holiday themed Failed Oscar Campaigns column this upcoming Saturday - after which every future entry will hopefully be released every other week. It's the one thing that I'm disappointed for not keeping up, as it usually is my favorite column. I will also have a long overdue column of Nothing But the Best on Spotlight released sometime midweek.

Other than that, I am planning on writing a few bonus opinion pieces. The two to look out for involve Will Smith's bizarre prestige drama choices; and a look at why John F. Kennedy is cinema's absent president. I also intend to cover any future coverage of the Oscars as they happen. As it stands, I feel bad that I haven't been faithfully covering the little stories or dissecting ever short list that has been released. I am unsure if I will change this policy, but I may consider doing a short list highlight week sometime in January before nominations (provided it fits into schedule). 

Again, I apologize for any unprofessional behavior that I have shown; going days without writing a word here. It isn't due to lack of interest, but just a variety of other issues being more important. I do worry that with the holidays that some of these promises won't be delivered on. However, I will openly admit that I intend to keep most of them since I don't have school interfering with my regular schedule. If any are late, please understand the constraints of a holiday season. Family is important as well as time consuming. I may not be as vocal on Christmas - but that's to be expected. Hopefully I won't have too many issues for the rest of the year. Fingers crossed. I will see you later today or tomorrow for regular coverage to start up again.