I’d like to officially welcome you to the newest wing of the Cinemasters universe. Over the last several months we have been expanding our empire to include more and provide more to those who have invited us into their homes and hearths already and to entice even more people to become a part of our extended family. I guess that means I should do a little introduction to our family to get us kicked off. That seems like an efficient way to start this first blog. Think of it as a little “Getting to know us” sort of deal. Except everybody doesn’t get to introduce themselves because its just me writing this. And honestly, I’m probably not the most capable one to do it since I barely know some of these people. I’ll be honest, I’m dangerously unqualified to be doing most of the things I do but does it stop me? Nope. So we’ll just add this to the list.
First off we have our founding father Cinemaster, Ron. He’s really the heart of the operation. This man knows how to put a podcast together with expert precision. And that’s not just from the technical expertise, which he definitely has. He’s also got a lifetime of movie watching under his belt. And I know what you may be thinking, “Hey pal, I’ve watched a lot of movies too!” Well, you may have and that’s awesome. It’s not like the title of Cinemaster came with an official plaque and a salary. We made it up. And based on setting this blog up, I don’t even think we were the first ones to come up with the idea. But we’re doing a hell of a job with it. So thanks for that. But back to Ron. There’s a certain something that we’ve identified that makes a Cinemaster what he or she is. It’s not just that you like to watch movies a lot or even have watched a lot of movies. Its the fact that movies fill a certain void in you. They give you what you need to keep going in life. They are the blood that pumps through our Cinemaster hearts. Now, its not the only thing. But this zeal for film is what drives someone to become a Cinemaster. And Ron was the one who blazed our little path to become what we have today. Without Ron, we would all just be a random assortment of people who like movies a lot and talk about them whenever we can with those that will listen. Ron is our glue. He brought us all together and keeps us in line. He is our First Avenger.
I suppose a natural next step seemingly would be to chronicle my own involvement in our endeavor. But I’m going to save that for a little later. So I’m gonna cover our other OG (Original Gangsta) before talking about our newer members.
Nick Wright is officially grandfathered in as a Cinemaster though really he’s befitting of the title “Bitgeek” as this is where the Cinemasters were birthed out of originally. Nick joined Ron early in life. Like I said, it would probably be far more fitting to have everybody write about themselves so you’d get an accurate portrayal of who they are in a real sense. But that’s not how this blog is going. There will be plenty of time going forward for all of the Cinemasters to write whatever they would like so you’ll get to know them in much more intimate settings. For now, I’m chronicling the assembling of these 35mm avengers. So if Ron is the heart, Nick is the brains. The entire world of movies may not be as much his forte as other realms of pop culture but this man is genius in the things he catches. While many of us other Cinemasters have an eye for certain things, Nick could put us all to shame in his attention to detail in so many settings. I don’t know if I’ve ever met a bigger Ghostbusters fan, complete with Proton Pack (currently building 2.0), PKE Meter AND Ghost Trap! I also remember hearing his thoughts via email on the most recent Star Wars entry and being blown away by the level of scrutiny he saw things through. This is why there was never a question that the Prince of Pixels would be invaluable as a Cinemaster. Personally, I’m quite looking forward to more contributions from him in other franchise works we dissect and getting his thoughts on anything that sparks his filmgoing fancy. Because of his never ending pursuit of technical minutia, he is easily our Iron Man.
Next I think its only fair to unsheathe the White Machete, aka Kirstie. Technically she predates myself in relation to other Cinemasters and she guested on Bitgeek before I ever joined the team. So her participation is not only deeply sanctioned but shrouded in mystery and steeped in intrigue. She’s also our token lady Cinemaster but don’t let this dame fool ya. She’s earned every bit of her serrated moniker by providing edgy commentary and rapier wit with every contribution she’s made to the family thus far. One of my biggest regrets to date is the fact that I’ve not had the pleasure of discussing films with her directly. But the podcasts she has been featured in are an absolute audiovisual delight, filled to the brim with interesting insight, titillating trivia (specifically our most recent entry featuring the Machete) and an on camera presence that my robustly bearded self could never contend with on just about any level. If Ron is our Captain America and Nick is our Iron Man, Kirstie is most definitely our Black Widow and we are lucky to have her on loan whenever she is in town. We absolutely look forward to many more entries into our catalog featuring the White Machete and may have to find more creative ways to incorporate her on a more regular basis as we are always a better podcast with the White Machete in tow.
I believe that brings us to one of our newer members, Jason “4K Jay” Bridwell. We had a lot of fun tapping into Jay’s knowledge on our most recent Star Wars podcasting. He’s been a movie buddy of Ron’s for years and we were able to bring him to the table to talk about all things Skywalker in J.J. Abrams latest and final film in the 9 entry saga, “The Rise of Skywalker”. Jay has a similar passion for movies as many of the other Cinemasters as well as that zest for life that makes us all a decidedly fun group of moviegoers you can really enjoy listening to or watching on the Youtube. Fortunately Jay’s fandom is not limited to the wars amongst the stars and we are actively looking for ways to bring him back into the fold on future episodes to pick from his illustrious film ridden brain and have a great deal more bawdy entanglement in Movie Mad Libs, a Coming Attraction segment we debuted on Jay’s inaugural appointment as a Cinemaster. If I’m keeping with the core Avengers here, its not hard to see whose precision aim Jay brings to the table. He’s definitely our Hawkeye.
This leaves me with our most recent recruit into the Cinemasters, Matt Mercer. For a good while now, Ron and I have talked about doing our tribute to a man who has enthralled us for decades, Mr. Kevin Smith. And in talking about beefing up our roster in 2020 I could think of none more worthy to discuss Silent Bob than Mr. Mercer. Not only have I known of his View Askew passion first hand in attending a Q&A of the not-so-fatman-on-Batman with him, but its been a topic of conversation for years at this point. So when it came time to give ol Kevin Smith his props on our podcast, the realms aligned and Mercer cut his teeth as a Cinemaster just this month. He came loaded to the brim with facts and figures and stories of his own Smith-ian past. He provided a sounding board that added some interesting depth at times to even contradict some of our own feelings on the films of Jay and Silent Bob. It was by far our longest podcast we’ve done yet and Ron’s most triumphant trivia test we’ve endured to this point. Mercer’s baptism as a Cinemaster was certainly one for the ages and we had a great deal of fun putting it all together. Much like all the other Cinemasters, we are looking forward to including Matt in more episodes to come. Perhaps he will be there to help us break down some other director profiles in the future as well. It was clear that Matt filled our Asgardian shaped hole as the Cinemaster equivalent of Thor. And yeah, I’m really milking the Marvel thing for all I can. If you’ve watched ANY of episodes you’d know I’m a big, BIG fan.
So I guess that brings us back to me, the author of this unauthorized biography, Adam Peterson, but you have to call me Nighthawk. Once upon a time, Ron and I used to sit and simply dream of a world filled with our inane ramblings about all the movies we loved to watch. It was a place rich in people who probably loved our jokes and all the interesting things we would say about all the films we would watch and go on and on about for hours on end. Then one day, when the world truly needed us we were there, ready to be the heroes it deserved but more than anything, the heroes it was going to have to settle for because really we’re just a couple of white broads. Between the two of us we’ve seen all the Karate Kid movies and most of the Neverending Story flicks. Even the one with Jonathan Brandis. Its with this working knowledge of all things cinematic that we set out to provide the world with the kind of content that we felt like was missing. That little spark that comes from our shared love of movies and the ridiculous things we say and do so that people will feel just a little bit more entertained than they were before the Cinemasters burst onto the scene is what makes us special. I have been tremendously blessed to work with Ron and all the other members of our team as we continue to grow and as long as Hollywood keeps cranking out blockbusters, reboots, shitty sequels and indie darlings, we will keep talking about them. Rounding out our team, I think you can probably guess the largest hole we are missing. While I might not have quite the anger issues that Bruce Banner does, I certainly have charming anxiety and sheepishly coy delivery of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk. (Though we all really know that I’m clearly the Deadpool of the group. I’m just not as devilishly handsome as that Ryan Reynolds.
So that’s our intro in a nutshell. Like I said, I don’t actually know most of these people all that well so I’m grossly unqualified to write about them. But I hope each of our Cinemasters will take some time to add to this blog when they see fit so you do get to know them outside of our podcast. This will be a blog that can hopefully showcase the kinds of movies we are watching in real time both new releases and classics that have been on the shelf for years. It’s my hope that we can provide continuous content outside of the podcast on movie news and reviews of any and everything we can get our hands on, even if it’s in standard definition. If nothing else, I’m going to do my best to provide some kind of content on a weekly basis of the things I’m watching for whatever benefit that is to the world around me. We’re always open to any suggestions or requests on things you’d like to see from us. However “eat shit and die” isn’t quite as forward thinking in regards to content we can produce so we’d like to try and keep things more positive if we can. That doesn’t mean all our Cinemasters will agree on everything but it is our diverse perspectives on the silver screen that provide us the best chance to meet you where you are in your movie watching habits and needs. So I think that’s all I’ve got to offer for our first blog post here. Hopefully I’ve firmly planted the Cinemasters in your list of content to follow in whatever medium we can be followed. If my first impression was clunky but endearing, then that’s what I was aiming to do. If it wasn’t, then read this blog again until you get to that charming part. Its there. I promise.
