Hello again, friends. I had initially intended to make my first post about the structure of the final 13 episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones (it’s still coming). But somehow, this felt wrong. My welcome post was brief, and I don’t feel like I’ve yet introduced myself sufficiently to warrant anybody even wanting to follow this blog (or to inspire myself to comfortably spill out all that is rumbling around in my head). So, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to tell you a little about myself.
Where to begin? My name is John Webster. I grew up in Westminster, Maryland, but have called Florida my home since I was 8 years old. I am quite a shy introvert, so I have naturally always been drawn toward the imaginative arts, i.e. film and literature. Both of those inclinations became obsessions with my introduction in high school to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. I first read The Hobbit, falling in love with the story of Bilbo Baggins, and then went on to read and adore The Lord of the Rings as the films began production. Long story short, the books taught me to love reading, and the films taught me how much I loved the film medium (and how much I yearned to be filmmaker).
Peter Jackson’s first trilogy became my gateway drug to a whole new world of film love. I began watching the Oscars thanks to the numerous nominations (and wins) the films received, and made it my business in the next few years to see as many nominated films as possible. As a result, I became more and more exposed to a variety of films that I probably would have never watched before. That field was further widened in 2005 when I saw the film Pride & Prejudice, which led to me abandoning typical “gender stereotyping” in my film selections (thanks in part to a developing adoration of actress Keira Knightley, but we’ll talk about that later…). As the years have gone on, I have dipped my toes into every conceivable film genre, and find myself open to any and all types of storytelling. I truly believe I am the better for it.
I mentioned yearning to be a filmmaker. That is how I have spent much of my life. I gained skills as an editor and filmmaker in high school, but spent my post-college years working at a television news station as a photojournalist. I don’t consider that wasted time, but I do feel it kept me from pursuing my passion. I have recently decided to dispense with my own personal roadblocks, and now call myself a filmmaker. At present, I do short film projects and micro-films, but I hope to grow and evolve into a more ambitious artist.
Why am I starting this blog? A myriad of reasons: first, it’s something I’ve considered doing for a while now. As an introvert, I have lots of thoughts and feelings on film, television, books and music that I feel I want to talk about. But, of course, I don’t have as big of social circle in my personal life as I would want. And, even if I did, there’s no guarantee that any of them would necessarily wish to hear about the subjects which I obsess over. Secondly, I have recently begun to try and reach out to more like-minded individuals across the internet. This began as an attempt by me to go outside of my comfort zone at the Game of Thrones fan convention “Con of Thrones” and has resulted in me being introduced to more wonderful people than I ever imagined. So I want to try to find a way to speak to them and others about what makes me tick, and maybe form some strong bonds with those of you who love some of the things I love.
To expand on what I said in my last post, I want to talk film, television, film & television musical scores, books and anything else imaginative. There are so many stories that worm their way into my subconscious, and all I want to do is dig deep and talk about them with you guys. My passion for music resides with original scores, and I hope there are others of you who share that love. Contemporary music has never really been my thing (with a couple exceptions, of course), and I adore classical style compositions. My favorite composer has always been the late James Horner, but I, of course, love the works of John Williams, Howard Shore, Jerry Goldsmith and many others. On the television front, I am quite enamored with Bear McCreary (I hope others of you love Outlander as much as I do).
I hope this post gives a somewhat more elaborate view of who I am and what I’m interested in doing here. I wanted to avoid getting too detailed on any specific thing, because I’d like to save some of that for individual pieces. But hopefully, it’s enough for a start. If any of you have thoughts or questions you’d like to ask me, please don’t hesitate to post in the comments. I would love to hear from some of you and talk about love of all the myriad fantasies we indulge in.
My next post, and my first official piece, will be about the structure and editing of Game of Thrones’ final 13 episodes. To set up your expectations, I was a big fan of the final seasons (and the final six episodes, in particular). My aim here is not to get embroiled in contentious debates about the reaction of the episodes, but simply to talk about my response to the changing style of the episodic structure as the series neared its conclusion.
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to talk with you all soon.
Namárië
Concerning Fantasy 