The night of my first assignment for Scenestr magazine 21MAR207. Copyright Karen Marken.
Last Friday I reached a milestone with Scenestr magazine, I have now had 100 posts published with them online or in their printed copies on the street. This all started with a review I submitted to them of Hidden Figures that Karen had won tickets to see. The review was published 23 February, 2017.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Best film of 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The first film I reviewed on assignment for Scenestr magazine. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At New Farm for the first screening I attended where I needed to sign a review embargo agreement. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Within a couple of months I realised if I wanted to make the most of my opportunities there I would have to put my hand up to do interviews. Despite having done this in the past at university I was still quite nervous when I did my first interview with the stars of Grease: The Arena Spectacular Meghan O’Shea and Drew Weston almost two years ago. Knowing it scared me made me confident it would be truly rewarding and that turned out to be true.
In 2018 there were 50 posts published online of my work, it is doubtful I will match that output moving forward, there are things I am currently pursuing away from Scenestr but I am grateful to continue my work for the biggest street press magazine in the country.
At the Queensland Maritime Museum to see Act/React’s ‘Kiss of the Vampire Squad’. This was performed on HMAS Diamantina as part of the Anywhere Theatre Festival 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Outside Crete Street Theatre following the great Beenleigh Theatre Production of ‘Lord of the Flies’ 19JAN2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
About to see Tom Gleeson at Brisbane Comedy Festival 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Myer Centre Cinemas in Brisbane CBD for ‘Captain Marvel’ 05MAR2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas December 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Director of ‘Celeste’ Ben Hackworth talking about his film with BIFF Artistic Director Amanda Slack-Smith. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BIFF 2018! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Byron Bay 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
‘Uncle Vanya’ 18AUG2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Blue Room Cinebar for the first time to attend a critics’ screening of ‘The Breaker Upperers’ 03JUL2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At Chermisde for ‘Godzilla II: King of the Monsters’ 29MAY2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Italian Film Festival Opening Night 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Brisbane Comedy Festival 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Hedda by the Queensland Theatre company 15NOV2018.. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Warm-up act for Cher 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Young Australian Filmmakers Awards 14OCT2017as part of Byron Bay Film Festival 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
All the people coming to see Cher in 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Shakespeare Double Bill at Spring Hil Reservoir. 10OCT2018 Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BCF 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
After Hellboy at Chermside cinemas10APR2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The Purple Cinema at New Farm Cinemas the night I went to them for the first time to see Valerian 08AUG2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
BCF 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The delicious menu from SABA at the Cine Latino Film Festival Opening Night 2017.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At Brunsick Heads 07OCT2017 for the Byron Bay Film Festival 2017 to see the excellent film The Go-Betweens: Right Here. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Outside Metro Arts night of seeing Lord of the Thrones in 2017.
CHER! Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas December 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At QPAC for the Queensland Symphony Orchrestra 12MAY2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At QPAC for Circa in DEC2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Italian Film Festival Opening Night 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinemas after seeing ‘Wonder Wheel’ 04DEC2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
19AUG2017 ‘Lord of the Thrones’. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Pretty neat having my own Media pass at Byron Bay Film Festival 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The opportunity Scenestr gives writers and how that flows onto the rest of the print industry is extraordinary. I hope to be working for them for a long time yet.
Of the 100 posts published, 10% were reviews of stand-up comedians and their shows, 29% were theatre reviews, 28% were film reviews, 32% were interviews and 1% were reviews of Cher concerts.
The first time on assignment at Brisbane Powerhouse for ‘The Soldier’s Wife’ 10JUN2017 as part of the Queensland Cabaret Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
If you’re been along with me for part of the journey I hope you have enjoyed the ride, I thank you for your support and I hope to continue with you by my side. Two years ago this milestone seemed very distant if even possible and it has been one of the great joys of my life to have had this happen to me at 36 when I was feeling that life was kind of passing me by. I feel very grateful to my editors for their support and knowledge and to all our readers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
-Lloyd Marken
About to see Bad Moms 2 in 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen arriving at the 2017 Bryon Bay Film Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At BRISFEST 2018 for ‘Ode to Man’. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen in City Hall for Tom Gleeson during the 2018 Brisbane Comedy Festival. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
At the Spring Hill Reservoir to check out some Shakespeare in 2018. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen about to see ‘What Rhymes WIth Cars and Girls’ in 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
My sister and I on her wedding day. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Five years on from my very first post and how time flies. I’m very grateful for my blogging community which has grown my confidence and given me an outlet I desperately needed in my life. As is customary I am doing a quick recap at the end of the year. In 2018 a lot of old posts proved more popular than my new posts. The new posts for the most part act as links to where I am published elsewhere occasionally offering some behind the scenes info in a more informal manner. I will only be listing posts published this year.
America is still No.1 in terms of readership, Australia has retaken No.2 from the UK and Canada remains in fourth place as always. Cracking the Top 5 this year is India with newcomer Hong Kong making a strong showing in the latter half of 2018 and reaching No. 6. Germany which had a grip on N.5 for most of the year slips to No. 7 and Japan, New Zealand and Malaysia leave the Top 10. In No. 8 France returns to the Top 10, the Philippines makes if for the first time in No. 9 and holding on to a Top 10 position is Indonesia as the country with the tenth most views. Overall there were less views from the U.K. and Canada but more views from the rest of the Top 10 countries with all 10 cracking triple digits in number of views. Which I guess makes for a more diverse readership.
Top 10 Most Views by Country
The United States of America 9,519 Views
Australia 1,898 Views
The United Kingdom 1,714 Views
Canada 685 Views
India 361 Views
Hong Kong SAR China 200 Views
Germany 188 Views
France 113 Views
Philippines 108 Views
Indonesia 106 Views
Out of the 108 posts published for the year the following 25 got the most views. In 2015 the blog started to grow with 1,609 views, 333 visitors, 23 Likes and 30 comments. In 2016 the blog received 5,673 views, 3,206 visitors, 546 Likes and 751 comments. In 2017 this grew to 16,767 views (more than a third of which were for The Founder Review), 11,891 visitors, 1,240 Likes and 1,707 comments. In 2018 much to my surprise we stayed steady at 16,706 views and 12,185 visitors with the site receiving 1,091 likes and 1,046 comments. There has been a slight downtick in liking and commenting of posts which makes sense since my focus is less intense on growing my blogging community and some fellow bloggers have given the game away. One thing about the results strongly supports an idea I have of where to put my energies next. Overall I just want to say again how much it means to me to have my core group and how much I appreciate anybody who reads and enjoys the blog.
Karen and I with the cast of Aladdin. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
It has been very nice to see some of the posts that were enjoyed the most were ones that were very personal including about travelling to attend my sister’s wedding overseas and recollections of the Brisbane International Film Festival. I’m also glad that everybody seems to enjoy my list for the best films of the year and look forward to doing another one for 2018 around Oscar time. Also blogging about my first cover story for Scenestr has proven the most popular post on my blog for 2018 which is very gratifying. It was a lot of fun and a real privilege to do the interview with Jascha Boyce.
For Your Consideration
So here is the point where I urge you to consider some of the posts I’m most proud of. Most are already listed and have proven popular like my Rocket Man posts and review of Cher’s concert. I would ask you to consider my review for the movie First Man over at Scenestr which is perhaps my favourite of the film reviews I wrote this year. Any of the Scenestr cover stories I would highly recommend which included a profile on Chuck Norris, an interview with outgoing Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director Ali McGregor, with SNL star and stand-up Michael Che and with Jascha Boyce.
Well that’s it for another year so thank you so much to everybody who reads my humble blog and I would like to take this moment to thank my fellow bloggers for their continued support Pete, Cindy, GP, Don, Vinnie, Jay, Sean, Paul, Allen, John K, Michael, Jet, Eddie, Alex, Paol, Jordon, John R, SJS, DB, Emma, Jersey Dreaming, Robin, Eric and anybody else who takes the time to read these posts. It would be helluva lot less fun without you all.
-Lloyd Marken
Rosie and I on Opening Night of BIFF 2018 on assignment for Scenestr magazine. Copyright of BIFF from their 2018 Facebook site.
At the end of last year I was blessed to have a run of assignments with Scenestr including a week where I saw five performances and one film. At the end of that week a last minute opportunity came which I was lucky enough to be able to seize. I’ve reached another milestone with Scenestr by completing an interview that went on the cover of their Western Australia December edition. On Wednesday night I saw contemporary circus group Circa perform in Brisbane and believed it to one of the best shows I saw last year. A top 5 would include Queensland Ballet’s Raw, Tim Crouch’s England, Circa, Randy Writes A Novel.
Having just been thrilled by Circa‘s performance it seemed appropriate to now get to interview an actual performer. Gravity and Other Myths are Adelaide based and perform around the world. I interviewed Jascha Boyce as part of press for their upcoming performances in Perth as part of Fringe World. It was fascinating to hear from Jascha how as one of the founding members they have sought to maintain a close family dynamic in the group and her own history as a performer. I couldn’t have asked for a more interesting and patient interviewee as she went through her craft, her fellow performers and their priorities in the world. There is a courage and a vulnerability in circus performers as they perform for us putting their bodies on the line but also risking failure and yet maintaining such disciplines and nerves of steel that they always seem to nail it. You can read my interview here http://scenestr.com.au/arts/a-simple-space-filled-by-circus-company-gravity-other-myths
There were 3 more interviews I did before 2018 for Scenestr which will feature soon. This was the last thing to be published in 2017 though and was a real thrill for me to cap off the year in this way with a cover story. I really can’t believe my luck, I feel so grateful for this. I went to the offices to wish the team Merry Christmas a couple of weeks ago and feel so grateful to contribute to what is an amazing group of talented individuals. It is one helluva thing to produce a street press magazine in 2017 in the Australian market and keep it viable and grow it online in other mediums but this is what these guys do and there’s no shortage of what I could learn from them. Bring on a 2018 where I hopefully continue to contribute to and get so much from the awesome gang at Scenestr.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr. is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. With over twenty years of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane every month. You can read see a digital version of the printed Western Australia edition here http://scenestr.com.au/read/WA/2017/9-WA/scenestr-WA-09.html where Gravity and Other Myths are featured on the cover and my interview with Jascha takes up page 10 and 11. The Western Australia edition only started up in May 2017 and only with such an expansion I guess could such an opportunity had been made possible. If you’re into music they’re a great read but they do cover all of the arts including festivals, stand-up comics, fashion, theatre and film. I feel very fortunate to get to write for them.
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