New Neighborhood

In the past year or so, I've been trying to operate a blog of sorts through my webpage (www.murphysmoviereviews.net) but have encountered several problems with Yahoo and its options. Hence the relocation to this spot.

I'm hoping to use this blog to offer my views, mostly on arts-related things, but knowing me, it will occasionally drift off to other topics ranging.

A bit about me: for more than a decade, I worked as a film critic and entertainment writer in New York, first for a web-based company and later operating my own website. The company I worked for was sold to a larger one that was headquartered in California, so most of us got laid off. After years of struggling as a freelancer, I got an offer for a pretty good full-time job -- in Boston! Had to give it some thought, but I did move. The biggest frustration I find here is that the films I really enjoy -- foreign movies, documentaries, independent cinema -- don't really stay around here for very long. That is, IF they even get released here. Thank goodness for DVDs and ON DEMAND. So I'm able to keep that way, although there's a lag between when a movie gets released and when I get to see it.

Since there's something of a crisis now in the industry of film criticism -- more and more people are being laid off from print publications with some turning to the Internet and others just fading away. For an interesting take on that phenomenon, check out what Roger Ebert had to say (on his own blog!). Thanks to Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere for calling attention to it. Wells is someone I read rather frequently -- even though I don't always agree with him. But through his site, I've found some terrific writers. Over the course of time, I hope to build up a lot of links.

More to come in the near future. For now, hope all of the American readers had a very Happy Thanksgiving. And please send good thoughts to the families of those involved in the horrific bombings in Mumbai.