Happy The ’20s, everyone! Here are your Eric D. Snider updates. Some of them are significant, so pay attention!
First of all, here are your end-of-the-year features, as per usual:
The best and worst movies of 2019
2019 films: miscellaneous data
Wide releases of 2019: a handy list
Media inventory: what I watched and read in 2019
Second of all, after 20 years and 4,000 reviews, I’m no longer a full-time movie critic. I got a day job (more on that later) that occupies enough time and pays enough money that I don’t need to freelance anymore. My sincere thanks to everyone who supported my Patreon and helped keep me afloat over the last few years. Your services are no longer required.
However, I’m still seeing movies, and still talking about them on the Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider podcast. Instead of reviews, I write a li’l paragraph in response to each new movie as soon as I see it, and email it to Patreon subscribers. This service is called EDS-ASAP. I used to do this as a bonus, to tide you over till I wrote the full review, but now it’s usually instead of the review. If that’s something that’s worth $1 a month to you, sign up for (or remain signed up for) the Patreon.
Now, then. The job. As I announced right before I started, I’m working for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or as it’s known in Utah, “the Church”). It’s a full-time contract position that requires me to wear a suit and commute to the Church Office Building in downtown Salt Lake City each morning at an obscene hour. It’s a good job and I’m glad to have it. I’ve been a Mormon for free all these years, so it’s nice to finally be getting paid for it.
What am I doing? I’m writing content (my favorite thing to write) for a new app called Gospel Living that will launch soon and be aimed at the youth. Every day the app will have some brief bit of content like an inspiring video or song, accompanied by about 100 words introducing/summarizing/pitching it. I’m one of the people writing those hundred words. For the youths.
I’m enjoying it. The work isn’t hard, but it isn’t boring, either. The people I work with are nice, and my team leader was in the Garrens Comedy Troupe with me, so we’re old pals anyway. We work on the 23rd floor, surrounded by Church magazine people and the music committee. The building has a great cafeteria.
I commute from Provo to SLC via the Frontrunner train. I’ve driven to work twice, and both times didn’t get there any faster than if I’d taken the train. If I had to drive there and back every day I would become insane and murderous. Why anyone would fight with traffic like that when they could take the train is beyond me. I sit in silent judgment of such persons.
In addition to Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider, I’m still editing Crooked Marquee for the time being, and I’ll be covering Sundance later this month. I still have … maybe not a whole foot, but a couple of toes in the movie world. The rest of me is otherwise occupied, wearing a suit and being a businessperson and taking the morning train.
What does all of this mean for you, the devoted Eric D. Snider reader? Alas, it means I won’t be cranking out movie reviews anymore. Anything I do write, though, will be posted at EricDSnider.com, so keep it bookmarked and check back occasionally. You could also sign up for the free email list (NOT the same as the above-mentioned EDS-ASAP) and get an email every now and then with updates and links to whatever I’ve written since the last time. You can sign up for that list here.
I miss some aspects of my former life, but I’m enjoying the financial stability and not having having to think of anything to say about mediocre movies that don’t merit discussion (hi, “Midway”!). Onward and upward!
Love,
Eric
