FFL Reborn

It's odd, but I don't think I ever really talked about the Fantasy Film League on this blog.

The FFL was a site run by some friends that I first got involved with in around 2001 or 2002. I'm not sure exactly when, my memory is fuzzy. It was an online game, something like a fantasy sports league, where you pick a team (in this instance, a director and some actors) and their 'performance' (i.e. appearance in the box office ratings) would earn you virtual money. At the end of a season the winner of the league won a huge bunch of kudos.

It was Mr Birch and Mr Smith's big idea. Mr Wilson and Mr Estall helped them run it and after a while I came on board to help write articles and film reviews and to get up at 4am every few Saturdays to take part in Online Tonight, a San Francisco-based radio show hosted by David Lawrence (now best known as The Puppeteer in Heroes).

I love movies, but I've never been a real film geek and I certainly don't go often enough, but it was great fun writing DVD reviews and talking about the UK and US box office top ten on a nationally syndicated US radio show.

It all died in May 2006 when everyone's work commitments made it impossible to continue. I think that some tinkering with the format of the game also alienated some of the fans.

Well, now the FFL is being resurrected. The site is back up (along with a presence on Facebook and Twitter) and Mr Smith is working on a new, faster, shinier and (most importantly) more automated game engine. All the old team are back on board. I've already written a review which is up on the (as yet unfinished) site, and Mr Birch and I have recorded an inaugural podcast - very much a dry-run, pilot sort of affair. Hopefully, November's podcast will be available to the world on iTunes.

If nothing else this should act as a push to force me to go to the cinema more often; something that MLYW and I have been trying to do for ages.