Why a newsletter? Why now?
I’ve been thinking about doing this for about a year or so, actually. I used to have a political blog from 2004-2010ish, and I’ve been feeling nostalgic for it while also not really wanting to start up yet another project. Enter idiot Elon. The change in the management of Twitter made me want to have a space that was dedicated to things I like beyond my love of movies. I am intending this to be a somewhat casual experience compared to my writing at MovieJawn, but since it is still me, it will likely sill come across somewhat formal. But I’m going to try to keep the mood somewhat light (I literally just wrote “gonna” and deleted it, so my track record for casual is already not great).
Why Vast Designs?
The name of this comes from this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote:
I’m a big picture thinker. I have tons of beginnings, projects, designs, and expectations in my mind, and only lack time or other resources to make them real. But this is a space for me to share my designs and the things I am currently thinking about. I think of myself as a cultural explorer in addition to being a film critic and podcaster. And I love America. Well the idea of America. I think on paper, I largely agree with the American project, but we’re a long way off from enacting those ideals, and always have been. So expect some thoughts on how various things speak to the idea of America now and then. Plus it gives me the charter to write about whatever I want.
What’s your plan for this?
My first project is movie related. Now that I’ve seen Wakanda Forever (review here, on MovieJawn) I am going to rewatch the entire MCU and write about that here. Well, all of the movies. I’ll decide what I do about the shows when I get to them.
But I also plan on writing about books, music, comic books, maybe some topical stuff too. We shall see.
My current plan is to post here about three times a week, with a longer update on Sundays.