Well here we go again. These years seem to be drifting past more and more quickly. 2018 was a decent year with some adventurous highlights. I went to London, graduated from Sunderland, turned 22, started an MA in Creative Writing at Northumbria, saw some films, made some videos, wrote, acted and, for the first time, attended a funeral.

Creatively it could’ve been better but it was still ok. I cranked out six videos on YouTube, would’ve liked to have produced more however I’m particularly proud of my reaction to Logan Paul’s suicide forest vlog and BARBARA. I wrote and directed an Audio Drama for my Radio Production Module at Sunderland. Even though I have a few issues with the final product, I’m very proud of the audio effects, the story and the performances.

I think I’ve done ok on the blog. As usual activity has fluctuated over the year but according to my analytics, I’ve gotten 56 more reads than I did last year. I hope I get more next year. I’m proud of the Phantasm reviews I cranked out for Halloween. Writing reviews of all five films by October 31^st was a big challenge, very much like the four reviews I did last Halloween, hence I’m proud that I delivered what I promised.

I did a bit more drawing, which I’m happy of since it’s an art I’ve dabbled in and out of over the years. Last Christmas I received a DVD illustration course taught by Professor David Brody. After months of leaving it to gather dust on my shelf, I finally decided to pick it up, put in my DVD player and get back into drawing. For a few months I followed the course and my illustration began to improve. Unfortunately though, I stopped. I find illustration to be an intimidating art as your mistakes and faults are a lot more visible to people. Committing to it can be scary.

For cinema it hasn’t been good. My financial situation in 2018 forced me to prioritise things and seeing films was not one of them. Within the first six months of the year I hadn’t gone to the cinema. The only current films I’d seen were The Cloverfield Paradox and Ready Player One, both I saw on home media. I never got around to seeing Black Panther, Solo or Infinity War. Towards the end of the year things started to improve. I went to the cinema a bit more frequently and caught films that I had a real interest in, like The Predator and The Meg. Out of the few films I saw in the year, I felt that Halloween was the best and Ready Player One was the worst.

Going down to London with the Atlas Theatre Company was definitely a highlight. Their show A Stone’s Throw Away, a drama that chronicled the struggle of the British Suffragette movement, was very powerful. I pretty much tagged along as a tourist. I had visited London before back in 2011, purely to attend the Doctor Who Experience at the time (I’m such a nerd). Unfortunately, I didn’t see any of the city’s landmarks. Hence visiting this year was such a joy as I spent a whole Saturday with a friend seeing Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London eye, the Sea Life aquarium and London Dungeons. It’s great to be able to say that I have seen and experienced my country’s capital.

Personally it’s been more of the same partly. My existential crisis continued, however I have committed to some arts this year and I think I have a clearer idea of what I want to do. Since starting the MA, doing more drawing and making videos, I am sure that storytelling, illustration and comedy are my main passions. How I am to work in all three arts in the years to come, I don’t know. Hopefully at some point in 2019, I will.

Speaking of which, what’s the New Year going to be like?

I hope to seem more films. Some I definitely want to see on the big screen, specifically Toy Story 4, Star Wars Episode 9 and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

I hope to create more content, especially more videos. I hope to finish my MA with a great, efficient understanding of writing technique and the courage to use it. I hope for new experiences, new knowledge, new people and new joys.

I hope you’ve all had a Merry Christmas and you all have a happy, prosperous and fantastic New Year.