2007: The Year in Review

My family never did the annual "Holiday Letter" like I know some folks do. Forgive me if I forget some fun stuff through the year in review!

• New Issue! - The summer brought the release of Cashiers du Cinemart #15, the best yet! So many issues are still available via Atomic Books!
• Classes - Cancun inspired me to take an intro to Spanish class at Schoolcraft College. Work inspired me to take a Dale Carnegie management training class.
• Detour-Mag.com - Big ups to CdC contributor Mike Malloy for the head's up on a position at Detour-Mag.com for a Cult Film reviewer. I've been working with those fellow Detroiters for the past few months doing a few reviews a week for them. The structure of having to churn these out has been great for a slacker like me.
• Wedding! - One of my oldest friends, Jeff Dunlap, got married to a terrific gal, Elizabeth Lindau of Canasta fame, in September. It was a wonderful ceremony in beautiful Western Michigan.
• Chicago - I hadn't been to Chicago for quite a while (not since Skizz and I went to CUFF a few years back). It was nice returning to the Windy City for a fun evening with Bachelor Jeff and his posse.
• Philadelphia Phun! - I'd only been to Philly once before (late 2006) and managed to fit in two more trips to the City of Brother Love in the first few months of 2007. Both times were in the name of pulp author David Goodis. The first trip was for GoodisCon -- a fun, albeit geeky, celebration of one of Philadelphia's favorite sons. The second was to be part of a documentary on Goodis. During both trips I met and hung out with some great folks (big ups to Lou, Melanie, Larry, Sharyn, Howard, and more)! I've been asked to come back in April, 2008 to be a part of Noircon.
• MDFF - I had the honor of being asked to co-host a panel on screenwriting at the Maryland Film Festival. That was pretty sweet and it got me into the festival proper where I got to check out a lot of great flix. Oh, and Atomic Books asked me to do a signing. That could have gone better but it was fun hanging with the Atomicons.
• Cancun - I had a great time with Andrea in Cancun this Spring. Didn't do much except relax and read in the warm sun.
• Las Vegas - I attended Camp Organic in the Spring as well. Three very intense days of research, strippers, and Power Point presentations.
• Atlanta - As I'm sitting here watching "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," it brings back some great memories of just a few weeks ago hanging out with my MicroCineFest pals and having fun.
• Boston - My workplace was awesome enough to send me to "An Event Apart" -- a web conference that really rang my bell. It's all about WC3 standards, baby!
• Montreal - I took my first trip to Montreal in the summer to attend the Fantastic Film Festival with Cashiers du Cinemart regular Rich Osmond. We saw quite a number of great films that I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise (HATCHET, FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, etc). Moreover, I met up with some folks that I'd been corresponding with for quite a while and to hang out with Rich.
• Toronto - I swung through Toronto on the way to and from Montreal but also made my annual sojourn to the Toronto International Film Festival.
• New CDs - This year brought a lot of CDs from friends. The Jennifers but out Colors From the Future and Uncle Leon & The Alibis had a couple of releases. Meanwhile, The Degenerettes toured the nation and stopped by our house for an evening of food, swimming, and JAWS.

A lot of travel. A lot of hanging out with friends. I watched a few hundred great films -- and a few stinkers. I read some great books. Work is treating me right. Family's healthy and safe. All in all, 2007 was a pretty great year.