Marksworld or Mark's World were the preferred monikers, but I've decided to opt for a blog title that's still tied to the eclectic areas in film, video, and film music that I generally write about in several venues.In the DVD realm, I contributed a hefty wad of reviews for Told You So Productions [TYS], which maintained a strong & steady mandate to review the extras and assorted goodies on meaty DVDs, until its closure in the fall of 2005.
From TYS sprung KQEK.com, which I designed as a media site that embraces film books, films on DVD, and film music. We're still going through our own growing pains, but since May of 2006, we've started to establish a review pattern and interest for rare & unusual classics, foreign films, recent flicks, and weirdo stuff (hence the affectionate and justified use of mondo in this blog).
Part of this page's purpose is to function as the main index to all the new articles, interviews, retrospectives, and reviews in print & web venues to which I've contributed.
For KQEK.com, it'll offer a few more details on new updates and items than the more concise capsules we're sending via RSS feeds & Usenet posts - just to give you a better idea of why we think our stuff is more neat than the larger (but still invaluable) major sites.
KQEK.com's mandate is to be an information bridge, and visitors to this blog will also find links to some of the intriguing and/or oddball sites & pages we find when scouring for material for our reviews and articles. (You'll see what I mean as we move further into July.)
The same goes for related news & reviews that would have crowded an already heavily linked interview (via our interactive WKME wetboarding experience for web-watchers, which adds a cool shade of "wow" to every reading. Ahem).
Having hands in the DVD and film music camps, Mondo Mark will also announce when the latest DVD column for Music from the Movies [MFTM] is up & running. As the current intro to July states, the focus will no longer be on those mere mentions composers have pretty much had to settle for during the past 2-3 years; we're going for a more selective and broad angle, but MFTM's column will still be the key site where you'll find out what DVD releases contain material of special interest to the film music aficionado - be it a composer commentary track, meaty interview, isolated score, or bonus CD.
If you haven't checked out MFTM, please do; and I'm not saying this as a longtime contributor. Both Film Score Monthly [FSM] and Soundtrack (plus the fondly remembered CinemaScore) magazine each had their own character and scope while in their old print format, and MFTM in print & web formats hasn't received wider familiarity among readers.
The mag began as From Silents to Satellites with a unique British/European angle, and like the aforementioned pioneers, it evolved into a thick, high-gloss, international-themed periodical, with seriously detailed articles by some devoted writers, and ultra-special issues on the Matrix films, Sergio Leone, and the Lord of the Rings flix.
Most should find that FSM's transition as an online subscription magazine in January has gone very well. I still miss holding a physical magazine, but a print format is a huge undertaking, and I think the new FSM's done well by also adding more of its huge back catalogue of prior issues to subscribers.
I'm a big proponent of making archival info online, as old reviews, interviews and articles eventually become the only footnote for a release, a person, a style, or a body of work that will eventually slip away from the consciousness of older aficionados, and be less sexy to newer fans. The mags, sites, and CD labels collectively keep the work of film composers old and new alive, and the reward in digging through older articles is sometimes a wonderful informational discovery.
Anyhoo, stay tuned for the next update, and feel free to add one of our RSS feeds to your reader. Just click on the appropriate logo to subscribe to this page directly. You can also choose from our menu at feedburner.com the MFTM DVD Column, updates to KQEK.com, or for this page, which covers everything Mondo Mark (but without footage of facelifts, a hippo hunt, or ty-dyed chickens set to Riz Ortolani's "More").
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