Tumultuous times have plagued Filmtracks over the past year, with efforts to build a permanent office for the site delayed and its temporary home shifting to a new location in the summer of 2018. Readers should expect irregular breaks in new coverage as these issues of residency are resolved.

Final permitting and financing for the site's future home in Southworth, Washington were in progress in late 2017 when I fell victim to budget cuts and inexperienced management at the Seattle Colleges, the unexpected layoff effectively killing the construction process for at least a year. My family has lost significant money and sleep due to this catastrophically timed misfortune, and the experience should serve as a painful reminder to anyone about choosing one's employer carefully.

While the project remains on hold awaiting financial stability and relief from commodity prices (primarily lumber) artificially inflated needlessly by Donald J. Trump's pointless trade wars, the site will move to Vashon Island, Washington. This vastly improved but challengingly expensive location is closer to downtown Seattle than the site's previous home and is, coincidentally, the sailing haven to which composer Basil Poledouris retreated in the final years of his life.

An official update notice of the site's change of address will be forthcoming as I work with publicists and labels to retain promotional supply. A few major labels have decided in the past year to cease offering any products to the site, leading to significant gaps in coverage of re-releases and delays in processing all-new reviews. Generous donations have assisted greatly in the purchasing of select major titles for coverage, though preference in review order still favors products supplied promotionally.

Despite the site's difficulty obtaining titles for consideration, I managed to write 19 all-new reviews and 30 re-writes in the first half of 2018. Overall output almost matched all of 2017's productivity in just the first six months, and many re-writes are ready to appear "On Cue" as the site completes its physical move in July and August. The number of reviews still requiring re-writes is only about ten at this point, the smallest to-do list in several years.

Revenue at Filmtracks continues to barely cover its basic costs. No significant changes are expected in that situation anytime soon. Likewise, no structural improvements are scheduled for the site over the rest of the year. Foundational stability remains the primary goal, that that luxury will have to wait for real life circumstances to (hopefully inevitably) improve.

Christian