I was born and raised in Los Angeles, which, in my adult life, makes me kind of a lonely person in a city that’s primarily made up of transplants and travelers.
The purpose of this blog is to be a collection of my thoughts and musings about media, including film and book reviews and general commentary on the industry, with a healthy delve into philosophy from time to time. Although I intend to talk about a broad range of genres, my own interests lean towards the mystery-science set, so that will probably pop up a lot. I try to update this blog on weekends. If you’d ever like to request a review, grab me for a guest blog or have a job for me, hit me up at Colin.Newton@live.com.
Why all this? Having left the academic system (for the moment–the better devil to know for the millennial seems to be graduate school), I don’t have a steady outlet for all my bright ideas. What’s that? Why not talk to my peers and colleagues? Friends even? What are you, nuts? This is why God made the Internet: So that every chump with an opinion and a phone connection could have a soapbox too.
Credentials: While I was in high school, I attended a program that taught screenwriting to high school students; while I was in community college, I interned at a local newspaper; while I was at university, I interned at one of the big three networks. I graduated from a local state university with a degree in journalism. My major was broadcast journalism and my minor was religious studies, but I started as a film major, which probably says something.
Despite any high-minded ideas I may have about the purpose of a college education, journalism school is basically trade school, and I have turned my training into a journalistic profession of sorts. I am currently a freelance writer for a couple of local newspapers and blogs, but I think the most telling thing about me professionally is that, when I’m on a job, I never introduce myself as a reporter for an outlet; I introduce myself as a writer for that outlet. All of my jobs have involved the English language somehow. In addition to my freelance work, I have been: a script reader, the author of a couple of for-hire screenplays, an English tutor at the university level… I have also played around in the world of prose fiction, but I haven’t done that professionally.
If something changes, I’ll let you know.
