It’s a question I’m getting more frequently and it does deserve an answer. So here it goes…

 

 

One of my main goals with The Haywire Effect was to hopefully secure a spot on the website ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com, which plays host to a rogue’s gallery of online reviewers who riff on everything from Z-rated martial arts flicks to video games and comic books. I’ve come to have a great deal of admiration for these guys, especially the site’s creator Doug Walker, known better as the Nostalgia Critic. What he’s managed to accomplish in only three years is pretty damn impressive, going from being just a lone reviewer to being featured in Entrepreneur Magazine for his work.

 

So, needless to say, when I received a rejection letter from Doug and his brother Rob, I was a little downtrodden about it. But that didn’t mean I was quitting. It just reminded me that you have to be original to stand out in a world that’s becoming more and more saturated with angry nerds staring into a camera from their couch, bitching about the latest bad movie they just discovered in the Wal-Mart bargain bin. What can I do to stand apart from those other guys?

 

 

Well, the first trick will be to remove myself from the whole “guy on his couch” equation. The Haywire Effect is going to be reformatted completely to include guest critics, skits, fake funny commercials, and numerous other gimmicks that I’m sure will be created along the way. It will be hosted like a variety show (i.e., Conan) with a similar layout, but the focus will be on lampooning movie news and crappy films.

 

The other trick will be to bring the length of the actual reviews down. Despite my best efforts to keep things under a certain running time, I have the tendency to cram a lot of information into my videos, and each review just got longer. Now, as I look back on them, I’ve come to realize just how much could have been lost with more concise editing and a few flicks of the red pen. I believe that a collaboration of efforts with a guest reviewer in a more conversationalist style is going to help that a lot.

 

 

So, when will it happen? If you thought you were gonna get a definitive date out of me, it’s not going to happen right now. There’s a lot of variables to consider, such as the busy pace of the wedding season, the necessity of bills, and whether or not the proposed “Best of the Mitten Movie Project 2010” review will happen. But am I scrapping the show? Absolutely not. The Haywire Effect may be a lot of work for not a lot of return at the moment, but it’s a passion that I harbor a lot of love for and in a way, it’s how I pay back all those awesome reviewers online who have made me laugh so hard on my down days.

 

To Doug, James, and Noah: Thanks guys.