I generally don’t write about my personal life here but this, in many ways, was a big year for me. I officially graduated from University with a BSc in Computer Science and I landed my first full time job as a online media manager and web designer for a PR firm. I finally began having my first real relationship with another person since five years prior – I love you if you’re reading this (and I love you if you aren’t) – which honestly left me not bitter or anything, but just willing to wait, and I’m happy I did.Also many things happened for me in the world of film pseudo-journalism (as I like to call it). I’m now writing a weekly column for my local newspaper (a paying gig) which you can see every Saturday in the Lifestyle Section of the Jamaica Gleaner (look out for my Top Ten Films of 2010 tomorrow), I was actually accepted – even though I didn’t end up attending – as press for TIFF2010 (I’ll be there 2011 I promise) and I basically am starting to have a lot more confidence in my writing and my ability to land jobs as a writer as opposed to just being a technical liaison for editors and web managers.

So I can say all in all 2010 was a fantastic year. But at this time of year it’s not just about looking back and remembering but planning for the road ahead. So here are the things that I want to get done in 2011 (as it relates to Gman Reviews and me as a writer):

1. I want to pledge a vow of posting at least once a day here at Gman Reviews. Come hell or high water. This means making a lot of decisions about what I’m going to be writing about. Sure there will be some days where I’ll be lazy and just post a trailer that hit the net and say to myself, “yup I posted”, and run back to my real life. So I will now be posting reviews of not just what I see in theatres but also if classic films that I’m watching and any movie that I decide to spend time on catching up. I also want to restart heading into the 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die list of films, I won’t be posting those reviews ever week but I will try to dig into that to keep at it. So expect a lot more reviews of films more than 2011 movies this upcoming year.
2. The above mentioned review policy will therefore outlaw general Marathons, as much as I enjoyed doing them I always found myself not meeting my own deadlines (which I hope doesn’t happen again). I’m also going to be creating a page just for Recommendations. Anyone can go there and just recommend a movie to me. At that point I will put it on a list and literally just go from top to bottom and then do  review of that movie on the website. So keep recommending me movies and I’ll watch it – no matter what the movie (as long as I haven’t seen it before).
3. I will comment more. I talk to a few other bloggers directly, whether it be through IM or twitter or what but I find that even though I’ll read a lot of blogs I actually barely ever comment. I’ve always been disheartened every so often from writing because I don’t get a lot of direct comments, but I think I must lead by example. I will comment more on other people’s websites and try to keep the comment love going.
4. I will actually finish the redesign I’ve been promising you guys forever now. I started thinking about redesigning the blog about two years ago. I started coding it about 6 months ago, and to this date I haven’t actually finished. I know I don’t have that much more work to do on it, but I’ve been paying so much attention to actual content creation that I keep putting it off. I hope that by February – when I plan to shift the site to a new server – it will be done and you guys can then tell me what you think of it.

That’s basically it. I’d like to take this moment to say a big thank you to all those bloggers out there over the internet who’ve over the year guested on my podcast and read my articles. You guys keep me doing what I do, so keep doing it. Love you all and Happy New Year everybody.