WW: Vol 27 No 2 - Aug 11

Greetings once again from London! The summer is winding to a close, and we've actually had pretty good weather for a change. On the other hand, my financial situation hasn't changed at all since I last wrote - I'm still job-hunting. Strangely, even though I am drastically under-employed, my day-to-day schedule remains busy. So the freelance work I have keeps me running, but I'm not making enough to survive. I read through specific job listings daily, but it's starting to get scary, and I'm beginning to look at things that aren't related to my 30 years of experience - which makes me rather sad.

ELECTRONIC CHAOS. As if that weren't enough ... I meant to send this out two weeks ago, but my computer started acting up. It finally collapsed entirely lastr Saturday, resulting in a three-hour call to Apple and a 12-hour process of reformatting my hard-drive. Alas, the problem isn't solved and it's still a complete mess, which is making both work and job-hunting very difficult. I'm writing this from my 6-year-old laptop, which is barely functioning. Anyways...

CRITICAL ROLE. I continue as secretary of the UK Critics' Circle Film Section, while isn't hugely time-consuming, but involves a few meetings each month. At least it keeps me in the middle of everything! I attended half of this year's Edinburgh international Film Festival; it was stripped-down due to budget issues, but I still had fun staying with friends there. Now with autumn approaching things are gearing up for both the London Film Festival and the movie awards season, which I help coordinate for the Critics' Circle.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS. I also got out of London twice this summer to see friends. A weekend in Oslo for a wedding was a lot of fun (the plane fare was cheaper than the train ticket to Edinburgh). And then airline miles made it possible for me to attend my family reunion in Colorado in August, with a week in Los Angeles beforehand - it was great to see close friends and relatives for two weeks.

MEMORY LANE. In Colorado, I went through the boxes that had been stored in my parents' garage since I moved to Britain 19 years ago, as well as some boxes packed when we moved to Ecuador 35 years ago, plus things my mother saved since I was born. It was amazing to travel back to my early childhood through all of this stuff! And it wasn't easy to throw most of it away, but I brought a suitcase of treasures back with me. My parents have now moved to Southern California, just a mile from where my brother and his family live in San Juan Capistrano.

LONDON BURNING. I arrived back in London in the middle of the riots, and news coverage in the USA made it sound like I was returning to a warzone. But I haven't seen any sign of the damage or violence; the areas where I live and work were unaffected. Hopefully politicians will look at the root causes of the unrest.

COMING SOON. I'll be sticking close to home over the next few months looking for work as well as covering the 55th London Film Festival in October. There is a possibility of Christmas with family, although we don't know yet where that might be. But the main priority is finding a way to pay the increasingly mounting bills, and of course sorting out my computer chaos!

WW: Vol 27 No 1 - Mar.11

Greetings once again from London, where the winter has been longer than usual. We had record amounts of snow in December, and it's been a sunny, cold, relatively dry winter since then. We're still waiting for spring, although at least the daffodils finally made their appearance this week, about two weeks later than usual. So there's hope in the air!

JOB HUNTING. My main job right now is to not worry about not having enough work to pay my bills (fortunately I have some savings to keep me afloat for a few months). The contract I had with Idea magazine ended in December, and I have been badly under-employed since then, with other clients also cutting back due to the recession. It's rather scary being in my late 40s when there's a massive crowd of hungry young 20-somethings willing to work for free. And the most worrying thing is that in the six months I have been looking I've only found a handful of jobs I can apply for. So I am exploring other ways of making ends meet through temporary work or renting out my bedroom, for example. Meanwhile, I still have regular and one-off freelance film-review jobs, so I am fairly busy with screenings and writing.

THE AWARDS SEASON. The first two months of this year were consumed with preparations for the London Critics' Circle Film Awards, which were held for the first time at the British Film Institute on the Southbank. This meant a lot more work for me as the film critics' secretary, as I counted the votes and helped coordinate the nominees' attendance details, among other things. But it was great fun to work on, and the night was a resounding success. On the night, I had two jobs: to welcome the starry nominees and special guests at the end of the red carpet and then to present the supporting actress award to Olivia Williams. (I'm pictured above with our best actor Colin Firth and his wife Livia, and special award winner Kristin Scott Thomas.)

FAMILY AND FRIENDS. I had a great break in California over Thanksgiving, seeing friends and attending a Cline family reunion in the mountains (lots of snow there!). And then I saw my parents again a few weeks later here in London as they were travelling home from a trip to India and Nepal. Two weeks ago I took advantage of very cheap airfare and flew to New York for five days to visit friends and watch the Oscars at a civilised hour (the show ends at 6am Monday morning London time). That helped me recover from the intensity of the previous two months, and also just to get my mind off things here.

COMING SOON. The next few months will be spent mainly trying to develop my work possibilities. I have no plans to be out of London, although I know I'll need to get away again at some point. There is always the possibility of getting a film festival jury spot, and I'm waiting to see what happens with the slimmed-down Edinburgh Film Festival before I decide if I'll attend that in June. And the Lichti branch of my family is having a reunion in August that I hope to attend as well. It's been far too long since I've seen all of them!

Rich.

Cline/Brown reunion

 Forest Falls, California, November 2010

WW: Vol 26 No 3 - Nov.10

Hi again from autumnal London, where the trees are rapidly progressing from red and orange to completely bare. The last few months have been up and down for me, as far as stress goes. There's been plenty of work to keep me busy, with some weeks too packed with deadlines and others in which I've been able to regroup a bit. I've also had time to look around for a new job, but have only found a few that touch on my experience. Applications are in, but I've heard nothing yet, so the search continues. In other news...

THE LAST IDEA. I am currently drawing together the Jan/Feb issue of Idea magazine, which will be my last as editor. My contract was extended until 1st December, which has given me a brief reprieve before my imminent under-employment. Tomorrow I'll meet the new editor and over this coming week I'll hand off the issue to her, then help make sure it gets to print on time. This is my 40th issue as editor, so at least I'm finishing on a nice round number.

THE FESTIVE SEASON. September and October are pretty thick with film festivals around the world, and there were three that I was involved in here: the 18th Raindance Festival in London, the big 54th London Film Festival, and wedged in between I was on the jury at the Iris Prize Festival in Cardiff. Including the 30 competing Iris shorts, I saw 94 films in October. Yikes! And I somehow managed to review all of them at Shadows on the Wall. Now the year-end season has begun, with awards buzz on all sides as I try to see the eligible films before casting my votes.

GET OUT OF TOWN. London's a great city, but if you don't escape every now and then it can drive you nuts. Especially with strikes on the Tube every month or so. I managed to get away for 10 days in September, with my first visit to Lisbon (a seriously stunning city) and then a week in Faro like last year. Four days in Cardiff for Iris helped break the intensity of October. And I am off to California next week for a Cline family reunion over Thanksgiving. It's been a year and a half since I was last in Los Angeles, so I look forward to catching up with friends and family there. Not to mention the sunshine.

UP NEXT. I'm planning to stay in London for Christmas again this year - always a great time to be in the city. My parents will be visiting for a few days in mid-December, which will be fun. And for January I've applied for a place on a film festival jury (more on that later). Otherwise, my time will be spent sending out ballots for the London Critics' Circle Film Awards and counting up the nominees in December and winners in January. I'm on the committee that plans the glamorous awards night, which will be on 10th February. And of course I'll also be intensifying the job search.

WW: Vol 26 No 2 - Jul.10

Greetings once again from London on another warm, cloudy day. It's been a remarkably hot summer this year for a change. And it's exactly two years from today that the Olympics will kick off here. The various venues are nearly complete, although the rest of the city is disrupted by construction projects and road works. Anyway, the months since my last update have been fairly momentous for a change...

FAMILY TIME. I had a really nice visit with my sister Lynette in May - 10 days in Houma, just outside New Orleans. It was my first time in the area, and I especially enjoyed all the seafood, plus visits to Bourbon Street and down into the bayous. Of course, the main thing was spending time with Lynette and family and to be there for Andrea's high school graduation. My parents were there as well, so I got to catch up with them too. Meanwhile, my brother Russ and his family moved from Quito after 16 years there; they're relocating to Southern California. So there are no Clines living in Ecuador for the first time in 35 years.

AT THE MOVIES. I was also out of London for two weeks in June, as I headed to Edinburgh for the UK's oldest and largest film festival. It's my favourite festival, with a relaxed atmosphere and a good range of films. I blogged every day and reported on the movies for BBC 5 Live. And I somehow managed to see 53 movies. This spring I also took on the role as secretary of the London Critics' Circle, and my regular work continues as a freelance critic for BBC Radio, Heat magazine, Contactmusic and other outlets, including my own site: www.shadowsonthewall.co.uk

ANOTHER IDEA. Through all of this, the production cycle of Idea magazine continues to dictate my schedule, as every other month I give three full weeks to putting out another issue. The Jul/Aug issue had a sporting theme to tie in with the World Cup, and I'm now working on the Sep/Oct magazine, which includes stories about local heroes who take action on big issues. But the bad news is that after six and a half years, the Alliance has decided not to renew my contract in October. This isn't a budget-crunch issue, just a restructuring. And it's a pretty awful time of year to be looking for work, especially as a journalist/editor when the industry is shrinking. But here I am hunting for a job and hoping this will be a positive transition.

COMING SOON. As I tighten by belt to plan for possibly lean days ahead, I haven't taken a holiday this summer. I will take a very cheap getaway to Portugal in September (as I did last year), and I'm thankful that I can use air miles to get to a family reunion in California at Thanksgiving. Otherwise, I'll be lying low in London, looking for a job and keeping busy with my regular work as a film critic. I also have two UK film festivals coming this autumn: I'll be on the jury at a festival in Cardiff in early October and then there's the London Film Festival later that month.

WW: Vol 26 No 1 - Apr.10

Greetings once again from London, and once again apologies for the lateness of this update. I hope you had a good Easter - it was a four-day weekend here, which I used for much-needed rest, mostly. Life has been as busy as ever (if not busier) for me over the past few months, even though I haven't done much travelling at all. But amid the economic chaos, I am thankful that my work has been steady...

COLDEST WINTER EVER. OK, maybe not "ever", but certainly for the past several decades. And definitely the coldest in the 18 years I've lived in Britain. with a lot more snow and sub-zero temperatures than I've ever seen in London. All of the plants in my window boxes died (they'd survived the previous seven winters with no problem). It's also been a long winter, which is unusual, with cold weather continuing into last week. It's sunny and warmer today, but I've stopped trying to predict where things are going. Let's just hope for a barbecue-friendly summer!

CRITICALLY SPEAKING. For the London Film Critics' Circle, February is our big month, with our glitzy awards ceremony (on the 18th this year). I've been on the awards committee for the past several years, and it's always great to see our work pay off on the night. This year I have also taken on the role of secretary for the film section of the Critics' Circle - it's not a lot of extra work, but it's something I can do to help and to deepen my involvement there. I'm also a member of the Online Film Critics Society and Fipresci (the international cinema press federation), and of course I continue to cover films weekly in print, on radio and online.

IDEA REVISITED. For the Jan/Feb issue of Idea magazine, we did a fairly comprehensive redesign - both physically and editorially, changing the slant of our stories. It's been a challenge to reach an even keel with this, but now that we're into our third issue in this style (it goes to press tomorrow) it's feeling more natural. On the other hand, the economic crisis has taken a toll on our advertising, with the result that we have fewer pages in each issue - which means that there's less we can do within each magazine. Hopefully things will start turning around soon in this area. In the mean time, we now post the entire issue online so you can flip through the pages.

OUT OF TOWN. It's been nice over the past eight months or so to stay put at home for a change. I've only been out of London three times - to Ireland in November for two days with my parents, to Edinburgh for three days in February to see friends and to New York for five days in March to escape from London (and watch the Oscars at a normal time of day rather than all night as it is here). Next month I'm planning to visit my sister Lynette and family near New Orleans (and I'll see my parents there too), and then in June I'll be at the Edinburgh Film Festival as usual. And that's about it as far as news from me right now.

WW: Vol 25 No 2 - Oct.09

Howdy once again from London, with apologies for the long gap between these updates. I've had an unusually busy few months since the last WW - I keep thinking it's just me who thinks that life is getting more hectic by the year, but it's clearly a real thing as everyone I know is feeling it too. I think I managed two blog updates, and I need to get better at that. My Facebook page is more up-to-date with photos and the usual bits of randomness...

SUMMER TIME. I had a great trip to California at the end of June - a few days of work and then time to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Their reception was a lot of fun, with around 200 people from over all of those years. As a family, we got to spend a really nice week together in a beach house, and then I had the 4th of July weekend with friends from university days. I also got out of London in August for a camping trip in the English countryside with a crazy group of friends, and in September I spent a week on an island near Faro, Portugal, just lounging in the sunshine and eating seafood - my first non-working holiday in more than a year. I think I need more of those.

BUSIEST TIME OF YEAR. For London film critics, October is a demanding month. Press screenings for the London Film Festival (14-29 Oct) start at the end of September, nearly three weeks before the festival actually starts. And during those weeks there's another major festival in London, Raindance (30 Sep-11 Oct), celebrating independent films. It's a little overwhelming, really, as I'm watching two or three films a day this month in addition to the normal releases that are opening in cinemas. But at least the average quality seems a bit higher, and I've seen some excellent films that deal with important themes in clever, engaging ways. Some higher-profile ones worth looking out for are The Informant, The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Road and Up in the Air.

BRIGHT NEW IDEA. Of course, it's not exactly a stress-reliever that I also had to produce an issue of Idea magazine in October. But I got the Nov/Dec issue to the printer on time; we have several articles in this edition looking at global warming in the run-up to the Copenhagen conference in December - but we wanted to examine it from a practical perspective, showing how climate change is already affecting people around the world and what we can do to help them. The Jan/Feb issue is now in the early stages, and we are doing some redesigning and restructuring to better target our readers. We could use patience, creativity and insight in these days.

WINTER'S COMING. I haven't made many travel plans over the next few months - I hope to get out of the city for a few days in early November just to recover from the festivals and to build up strength for the year-end season. I'm also looking forward to a visit from my parents at the end of November for a few days. Otherwise it'll be work as usual as I spend most of my time at my computer writing or sitting in darkened screening rooms. It may sound glamorous when I say that I met both George Clooney and Viggo Mortensen this past week, but I could really use a good night's sleep and some free time to read a book for a change.