After an outstanding year of review production at Filmtracks in 2025, this year is currently on pace to surpass it as the most active in the site's history. The number of reviews of all-new 2026 scores is barely ahead of schedule, and the quantity of re-writes of existing reviews to account for new albums is exactly on pace. The staggering success this year has been the number of new reviews of older scores, however, with 106 such reviews already written in the first six months. Last year saw 73 such reviews of older scores completed during its first half, with an eventual total of 145 for the year.

The new reviews written this year have kept up with the major theatrical and streaming releases. The reviews of older scores remain the more interesting development, the titles selected based mostly upon completing the discographies of popular composers. Finishing their debuts in July are retrospective series of John Barry (back to 1980, with prior scores held for a future round), Michael Giacchino, and John Powell. The surveys of Giacchino and Powell will make their coverage at Filmtracks complete. In prior rounds, the complete discography for Patrick Doyle, as well as the mass majority of James Newton Howard and Alan Silvestri albums, were published.

Next will come reviews of two legends of an older generation who composed into the 1970's. Several other major composer discographies have been tackled since those for the two legends were written in late 2025. As of the time of this writing, 149 reviews are awaiting their debut, and with a release schedule of about 12 to 14 of these retro reviews published per month, many of them will not be revealed until well into 2027. The remainder of 2026 will aim to fill out more popular, current composers' careers but with no attempt made to complete their discographies. Because of the need to publish these reviews at a steady rate every other day, my concentration will shift to other tasks needed at Filmtracks.

Perhaps the most important news at Filmtracks this year has been the massive server upgrade and rewriting of much of the back-end software at the site in January. With the server environment and its operating system brought to more modern standards, the site can persist with its legacy features still operational for several more years to come. The next vital project is a redesign of the site, with the desktop and mobile versions refreshed to match the functionality of the two templates and improve accessibility in both. The look of Filmtracks has not been updated since 2015, and this next redesign will not offer the same breadth of fundamental upgrades experienced in that advancement. In other words, the basic layout features of the site will remain largely the same.

All of this work is dependent upon a few factors related to my increasing blindness. That disability, which originated in 1997, has slowly worsened after a major loss of sight in 2024, and it continues to challenge my digital lifestyle by forcing me to read and write through vision that looks like a combination of a funhouse mirror and a muddy windshield. I upgraded my home office setup earlier this year to allow for greater monitor scaling with an emphasis on textual clarity, and it has assisted in reducing my eye fatigue from trying to concentrate through such a distorted field of vision. That home office's light has been configured to optimize my ability to continue writing, though compensating becomes more and more difficult with each year.

Last year at this time, my employer, the City of Seattle, was threatening to force me to return to office rather than telecommute 100% of the time as I had done successfully since 2020, following what many perceive as politically motivated return-to-office policies to assist in revitalizing the downtown Seattle core. Since my vision fatigue is significantly worsened by movement and commotion in public places, three hours of commuting to the City's tower downtown would have caused me prohibitive issues, both at work and then in the evenings after returning home. Thankfully, the City granted a 100% remote work disability accommodation. (Experiences like attending sports games, driving, and air travel are problematic nowadays, a huge loss of life enjoyment.)

This summer, however, the City is indicating to me that it was too lenient last year with telework accommodations and is retrofitting a special work space for me in the tower. Seattle IT human resources associates are claiming that the City is not concerned or responsible for the fact that the mere process of commuting to and from that office in trials last year has already proven to cause me tremendous eye strain, reduced productivity, and further loss of enjoyment in life that non-disabled employees enjoy despite their commutes. If the commute into the tower causes me to need an hour to recover, for instance, that time is unpaid and will, alongside other eye strain breaks, elongate my 9-hour work day and commute to 14 hours.

My own team at work, including two levels of managers above me, is trying to support me as best they can against this impractical accommodation alteration, and I thank them profusely. But despite exceeding expectations and kicking ass for my team and for the City as a whole (I was elevated this year to be the lead digital content strategist for the entire City's digital product suite, including website, newsletters, calendars, blogs, etc.), the City is insisting that unnamed business needs require me to be on site for the majority of each week. I dread the pain this will cause, the threat to my safety during the commute, and the impacts it will have on my work product and Filmtracks as a side effect.

All of this is to say that my productivity at Filmtracks could reduce significantly if the City decides that I must expend my limited visual capability on commuting at this point in my life journey. With the 30th anniversary of the site approaching, I very much hope I can complete a redesign of Filmtracks, and the increasing blindness also remains the primary driver behind all these retrospective reviews of scores I want to cover before the writing process becomes even more arduous. As some of my closest friends at Filmtracks and beyond have commented, there is great irony in the fact that my day job requires me to advocate for the accessibility needs of Seattle's citizens, and yet I cannot seem to receive the same dignity and empathy from the City for my own disability.

I will continue to do whatever I can to maximize what my vision allows, both for Seattle's underserved communities and for the soundtrack community at Filmtracks. But I'm also under pressure to find another employer, one with a more progressive and fact-based recognition of the value of telework. Such moves come with risk, especially as I am also trying to balance my forest restoration project in Kitsap County west of Seattle as well.

I thank everyone at Filmtracks for the continued support during these stressful times. As with last year, please enjoy all the new coverage of great composers to debut over the remainder of the year.

Christian