I know, I know.  I say it every year.  ”I’m going to start writing on SpaceMonkeyX more.”  But I never do.  Why?  Because the blog (as a format, as a concept) is pretty much dead.  Why would I write here when I can tweet, pin, and share with ease?  I know, I know.  This is a permanent record of my life that can live on here as long as I continue to own the domain and pay for hosting.  But I don’t know if we need, or even want, our online lives to be so permanent anymore.  I think part of the appeal of the ever-changing world of social networks is that your life isn’t always available forever and ever and ever.  You might post on Pinterest for a while, then switch over to Google+, back to Facebook, and later find that Instragram is your new home away from home.  It’s hard to keep track of you; hard to pin you down.  I think that’s why Facebook’s Timeline feature freaked so many people out when they first saw it.  ”Oh, man…they know everything!”

But I digress…

I thought I’d update today simply because it’s been a few months into 2012 and I do have a few things I wanted to record for posterity.

First up, if you look back a couple of entries, you’ll find The National Film Registry Project (or just click that link right there).  At first I decided to just make this new project part of SpaceMonkeyX.com.  But then I realized that this site wasn’t man enough to contain such a huge passion project.  So I decided to spin it off into its own site, WatchingTheList.com.  I’ve also started working with my buddies over at Bubble Pipe Network to produce a podcast based upon my adventures through America’s cinematic history.  Unfortunately, I’m not making any money from WTL, so my paid writing gigs have had to come first.  Which means I’m not getting a whole lot done on the site (the podcast has been pretty slow-going, too, but part of that is because the Bubble Pipe site has been under construction).  I’ve probably watched about four more movies from The List, but I just haven’t had time to write up my reviews.  Yeah, I’ve been that busy.

What have I been busy writing?  I’m still writing for mental_floss, but, at the tail-end of 2011, I also picked up an exciting gig at Mashable.com.  Between those two, I simply haven’t had a lot of time to write movie reviews anymore, which means not only is WatchingTheList not taking off like I’d hoped, but I’ve had to pretty much stop writing for WeLoveCult.com.  And I only get the occasional review done for TopHatSasquatch.com, too.  It’s been a hectic few months and the rest of 2012 doesn’t appear to be any easier.

Oh, and aside from all this writing, I’m also starting an Etsy store in an attempt to sell my “artwork” (I’ve always hesitated to describe what I do as “art”, but I can’t really think of a better term for it, even though it requires more patience than actual talent).  My store isn’t up and running yet, but I do have a sample image of the first piece.  Check it out:

That’s an 8.5″x11″ print straight from our home printer.  I’m hoping that if I take it Kinko’s it will turn out a little bit sharper.  I probably need to play with the scanner settings, too.  This is one of the smallest pieces I’ve done, actually; most are 19″x24″.  I’m also going to do much smaller versions – trading card size – because that’s kind of a big way for people to get their name out.  Do something small and inexpensive to whet people’s appetite, and then hit them up for the larger prints once you have them interested.  I’m also working on a few pop culture-inspired ideas that I hope to debut later this year.

By the way, if you’re wondering where I find the time to work on these drawings (because it does take a lot of time), for the last couple of hours of my day (usually around midnight or later), I force myself to step away from a computer screen.  Essentially, this is what I do when I watch a little TV every night just before bed.  I can’t just sit and watch TV anymore (unless I’m watching a movie for a review), so this is what I do to occupy my brain.

Well, that’s a pretty good update for now, don’t you think?  I’d love to tell you that I’ll be back soon to provide further insight into my life, but, let’s be honest, it’ll probably be another few months before I come back.  In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter, on Google+, on Pinterest, and over at Mashable.com and mentalfloss.com!