On July 25th, 2008, at about 5 in the morning I put up our first blog post for this video project we were working on called The Film Cynics.
Before I head off to bed after having been up for hours trying to figure out how to make this thing work, and after having spent a couple hours working on my written review for Kung Faux for Kung Fu revisionist Mic Neumann (can you tell I’m proud that that’s actually a chore?) I thought I would write a quick note letting all you out there know that we’re gonna try to contribute to this blog on a regular basis, letting you know what movies we’ve seen or added to our collection or whatnot. We look forward to your feedback (actually I’m a little worried about it myself).
Anyways, bed beckons. As the weekend zooms by, I hope to be able to put together some more of the pieces together for our next rond of reviews that should be comign your way by mid August.
Note the typos… At the time, I was giving anything related to the project a name derived from ‘Cynic’, so I dubbed it The Cynical Blog. I’ve never been entirely sure if that was a nickname or what, and to this day I’m not really sure what this site is called.
The blog was entirely 100% Brian’s idea, he felt we could expand the reach of our show through the viral nature of blogging, and two years, 628 posts, 141 gigabites worth of our content downloaded, 91,553 visitors, and one LAMMY nomination later, I’d like to think he was right on the money.
Our blog is what kept the fires of our little Film Cynics idea burning long after all hope of getting our pilot picked up had faded from possibility. And it was the blog that brought us in touch with an awesome community of readers and bloggers – which has made this whole hing so rewarding in a way neither of us expected. Thanks go out to all of you for that, but especially to Sarah for her guidance, Fletch for bringing us into the flock, Castor for lots of good advice, and our guests, past and future, for forgetting the first rule of the radio business: Don’t trust anyone in the radio business.
Since we started the blog, we’ve come up with some regular features like The Vault, our Podcast and Top 5 Fridays – I’m still wracking my brain for something new and simple. Maybe “Mashup Mondays”, “Transposed Tuesday” or “Second Thursday of the Month Price of Popcorn Rant”. Those who have an idea we should try, we’re all ears. The only way this medium grows is through collaboration – and here’s to another two awesome years of collaborating.
Congratulations!
You guys are most awesome dudes and I’m most gracious to have been a part of your show, and will continue to enjoy reading your blog. I love the podcast, love the Vault, and love your top fives.
Thanks Heather! So glad you’re one of the first to join the “guest club”. Love having you among our confederates!
Congratulations and happy birthday The Film Cynics! Keep up the good work fellas
Thank you, sir! Many happy returns!
Happy birthday to the Film Cynics!
Always a pleasure! It’s been great having you as a regular reader, dude! Us Canadians gotta stick together… BTW – I actually have become a fan of Rookie Blue.
Although Rookie Blue hides its Canadian roots, the show gets better one episode after another, because the characters become way more interesting. All in all, I’m glad that Global didn’t make an insuferable summer filler. Of course, far from me the idea of saying that Rookie Blue comes close to The Shield, Southland or Durham County just to name a few cop dramas, but it’s pleasant to watch.
They refered to Timmins more than a couple times in the last episode I saw, it doesn’t get much more raw Canadian than Timmins, Ontario… Yeah, it’s not perfect, but it’s turned out way better than my moderate expectations. Ah Southland, come back to me! I tried out the second season of Durham County and I just couldn’t stomach it – it was too spaced out and maybe even too dark for me.
Congrats on making it another year. I turn the terrible two in a couple of months.
We’ll be there to harass you, no doubt! Stay tuned for your shout out in our ‘cast this week. I’ll be posting my written review of Inception, with a few spoilers attached either Monday or Tuesday (probably Tuesday) but I’ll be reading your review tomorrow.
Well done gents – here’s to the next two years!
Indeed, sir! I hope we’ll be spending it in close contact!
Sure hope so – a week without you two is like a week without sunshine!
Congrats as well – were it not for the blog, I’d never know about your show, so I am thankful it exists.
Ironic that Brian was the inspiration for it, though, since the weight of it has largely fallen on your shoulders (though props to B for writing much more in the past year or so). Great idea and delegation!
Yes, many of Brian’s ideas wind up somehow being my cross to bear for one reason or another. I dunno how he does it, he’s even gotten groupies off the show… He can have ‘em since I get first crack at the screeners, which was the reason I got into this racket int he first place.
Thanks for being a booster, Dylan! Your support’s gone a long way, especially towards making us feel we’re doing something that has value, not monetary value, or artistic value, or commercial value… but something.