Yankee Fog has been online for almost exactly a year now. When I started, my plan was to treat it more like a weekly column than a blog; instead of a series of short entries, I’d post one long entry, one day a week. I also attempted to remain fairly focused; just like a newspaper columnist, I aimed to write in a consistent voice about a fairly focused topic–to whit, the life of an American screenwriter in London.
In the year I’ve been online, I’ve developed a small but loyal (and, based on the comments, intelligent and articulate) readership. Still, I’ve gradually found myself chafing at the self-imposed restrictions. I even created a separate website for humor pieces that didn’t fit in with the voice I had created for Yankee Fog. I’ve also found that my readership has plateaued at a fairly low number.
And so, in an effort to (a) give myself more freedom, and (b) broaden the site’s appeal, I’m going to try to post with less topical and stylistic consistency, but more frequency. I’ll also be moving over my posts from Devincible.com to put my stuff in one place.
As always, I’ll welcome your thoughts along the way.
Oh, and now that I’m no longer posting a single piece every Tuesday, I have to scrap my old tagline (“Something interesting every Tuesday.”)
Happy Birthday! I like the new tag, but to be honest I’d taken to checking every other day anyway. Maybe that says more about me than it does your posting.
I liked your pieces on the BAFTA’s, but was wondering how one becomes a member. I’m a film maker (in a much looser sense of the term) and was wondering what actually qualifies someone as a member of the academy? I wouldn’t mind the free cinema outing and dvd’s given my students budget.
You know, I was introduced to this website by way of my school – prior to the election we were shown your short films in our government class. I copied down the website then and followed devincible to yankeefog. This was about a month before the election, and from there I read everything you’d ever posted in *cough* about a week (says something about how much time i have, doesn’t it?). I must say I’ve grown quite attached to this site and the humorous stuff you post. I’ve taken to bringing it up in conversations with my friends as humorous little asides, with proper credit given of course. I really hope that the changes you have planned work out for you and that your readership begins to climb again. Your writing certainly deserves it! …and really the whole point behind this long and rambling post was this: maybe your new tagline could be “Something new every day I feel like posting”? Although I must admit I kind of like your new one too…
Pogo, thanks for the compliments. Hope you continue to enjoy the site.
NIK, when I joined, the qualifications for membership stated “Applicants must have a minimum of three years professional experience in the film, television or interactive entertainment industries (or any combination of these) and must be able to demonstrate a significant professional contribution to the industry.” To demonstrate these qualifications, I sent them a CV as well as the name of a BAFTA member who was willing to vouch for me.
Recently, though, BAFTA has decided to cap its membership at 6500. According to the letter I got on this, “Since our membership is already close to the limit, new UK applications will be held back until September, following annual renewals in July, when we will know how many membership places are available. Allocations of new UK memberships will in future be made according to the recommendations of the sector committees – film, television, children’s, interactive – who will also take into account the needs of the UK nations and regions. The cap is in place until further notice, but will be reviewed and monitored over the coming months and particularly at the time of renewals each summer. The cap does not cover non-voting categories of membership within our branches and affiliates in the nations and regions of the UK and in the US, and additional non-voting categories may be introduced.”
I think BAFTA has a student membership category, by the way, which no doubt has less stringent requirements (and a lower annual membership fee) than the usual category. I’m not sure, but I am guessing that student members don’t get to vote in the awards. If so, this means that you would NOT be able to take advantage of the free DVDs and the autumn screening madness. On the plus side, it also means you wouldn’t be held back by the 6500 cap on voting members. Even without the free DVDs, BAFTA is a great deal, and there are plenty of events and screenings year-round that you don’t have to be a voting member to attend. So it may be worth contacting the membership office and inquiring:
Membership Department
The British Academy of Film & Television Arts
195 Piccadilly
London W1J 9LN
Telephone: (020) 7734 0022
e-mail: membership at bafta dot org.
(As always, note that I’m just an individual member of BAFTA, and can’t speak for the organization as a whole.
Only a year? I thought you started this when you moved to London in Sept. 2002? Or maybe I am crazy?
I start sending out e-mail updates to my friends when I moved here in September 2002. But I didn’t start posting them to the web in blog form until February 2004. Just to make things as confusing as possible, when I started posting things in February, I posted all my back e-mails, backdated to the date the events took place.
So, you aren’t crazy. Or–if you are–the evidence has to do with that strange thing you’ve been doing with a tub of butter and an ostrich rather than this blog.
I read your Batman story. I am now inspired to get out of the newsie newspaper business and into entertainment journalism. I have a feeling that dudes like Bale have a lot more insight than a local mayor or shopkeep.