OFF THE SHELF

When I started this thing – essentially a detailed log of every single DVD I own – I didn’t realise just how time consuming it would actually be. I didn’t realise that it would become such a lengthy part of my life that it would see me travel through one loving relationship, into the world of single-dom, into another relationship and back out the other side again (or maybe that says something about the shit-house that is my love life huh?) and potentially back into the original relationship I was in, in the first place.

It would also see me start a new job and gain a strong foothold within it and it would see itself from one website (filmrot) and on to another (this one!) where it has secured concrete foundations. And it would go from being a stringently published weekly column to a monthly one, and then one that appeared whenever time and circumstance allowed within my personal life. It’s been a behemoth of a project with thousands of films reviewed and, to be frank, it could not have been accomplished, especially in the last few months when my health took a serious downturn, without the love, support, help, understanding and inspiration of a number of people who I’d like to take a few minutes to identify in the closing issue of this column.

First of all, I’d like to thank my parents as is the cliché. To my mum, for letting me “rent” her womb for nine months all those years ago and to my dad, for paying “the deposit”. Guffaw! Guffaw!

My grandmother, Irene, who supports me in every single endeavor and never shoots down my dreams. Even when I continually fuck up! She’s my best friend and my surrogate mum and I’m the luckiest grandson in the world!

Wyverex, for giving Off The Shelf an official “home” here at StalePopcorn and for supporting me in this even when it became blatantly apparent that it was taking up space when no one was reading anymore, when personal circumstances made publication less regular and for fixing the issues when they broke and for publishing them when I couldn’t. I couldn’t have kept Off The Shelf going without him!

Mediamelt over at Filmrot for allowing me to put this thing out there on his website in its early incarnation for the first twenty odd issues and never dropping me an e-mail saying “What the fuck are you doing filling my website up with these heavy mounds and mounds of text that no one is reading?”

Richard Fox, Stu Pollock (you may know him from the comments area as “Jackson” – “Jackson Pollock”? Geddit? No, it was my creation! I take full responsibility for it!) and James Porter – three great friends of mine who occasionally take a look at my work and pass comment. I’m lucky to have friends like them and they’ve been of great help to me over the last few months when my health went south! Plus thanks to Fox’s thirst for anything gory, Stu’s eclectic taste in anything and everything (I remember a night we both indulged in some Die Hard rip-off with Eddie Griffin and Vinnie Jones on a double-bill with some chick flick with Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep) and the recent creation of the “Cultural Exchange” between Porter and I (whereby we each bring a film we like but the other hasn’t seen and try and turn them on to it over the course of a double bill and some booze etc) my DVD collection never feels complete and I always get to encounter some great films I’d otherwise never have given time to.

My fellow “staff writer” Kristina, for giving female online movie journalists a good name with her fantastic writing, brilliantly sardonic sense of humour and unwavering support. I hear she is a firecracker in the bedroom too! On a serious note, Kristina, you’re a lovely lass and you inspire me to want to be a better writer every time I read your stuff. Every time you throw a pithy one-liner out within your reviews I ache with jealousy!

Katrina Jones, for reading a few issues over my shoulder here and there as they were being put together and for offering words of encouragement and the like. Cheers. You’re a good friend! But more than that you were, and still are, an angel on my shoulder! You stuck with me as a friend, girlfriend and back to friend again through illness, irritability and helped me realise that the first four seasons of Scrubs are ”borderline brilliant”. I’ve said it to you once before and I’ll say it again - no words, no action, no nothing can ever express my remorse to you but just how thankful I am that I was lucky enough to have met you and still count you in my life as a friend!

StalePopcorn and Filmrot regulars, Chris from Dreamlogic, Brett (where’s he gone?), Nionix (for a time!), NotorietyH and James, along with a whole host of others whose names I’m rather callously failing to identify, who always made sure – if they could – that every issue got a response and were always supportive of Off The Shelf. Even in its infancy.

Dave at EclecticGamer. Yes, Dave at EclecticGamer! We may have had our differences but anyone who took the time to read his ‘100 Days of Snark’ series will see one of the best pieces of online ‘long-form’ movie journalism you could ever read. It was his work there that made me realise there is a place and an audience for ‘long-form’ writing on the internet and without his ‘100 Days of Snark’ I would never have had the bottle to go forth with Off The Shelf. So, even though he will quite possibly take this the wrong way (no, it’s not “snark-asm”!) or whatever, thank you Dave and, for what it’s worth, you’re a good writer and I like your stuff!

And that really is about it!

And that’s it! We’re done! They think it’s all over… It is now!

Thank you! Goodnight, Good Luck and… ‘See You In The Back Row’!

Posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 1:10 pm under Off The Shelf by Gazz.
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3 Responses to “OFF THE SHELF - Issue # 40: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS”

Gazz Said on March 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm 1

‘Congratulations on this Gazz!’
Cheers Gazz. It’s deader then a ****in funeral home round here innit?
‘It is indeed. Where is everyone?’
I’ve no idea. Perhaps they’re here. But they’re just hiding from you?
‘You mean hiding from YOU? You’re Gazz. I’m just your inner thought process.’ Oh yeah… That’s right!

Kristina Said on March 21st, 2008 at 11:22 pm 2

I got a shoutout! Yay!

And you’re more than welcome, man. You’re a cool dude.

Wyverex Said on March 27th, 2008 at 3:30 pm 3

Well it’s about bloody time!

Nah, seriously mate, well done. It’s been a long ol’ slog but in the end it’s certainly worth it and I’m very happy to have been able to provide a stable home for OTS right here.