The Pivot

Updates galore, plus an exciting new project

Eric Pierce

Jan 14, 2026

Link in case you can’t hear this pic. Image: NBC

I’m back from my long convalescence, feeling much better than last we met. More on that in a minute.

This update is packed with info. I've included headers to act as helpful waypoints.

Skim at your leisure, but please get to update #5 for news I’m dying to share.

Update 1: My health situation

I’ve been tested and scanned, and have not been found wanting in any unusual ways. With that albatross off my neck, I feel okay sharing details.

I’ve been suffering from a sharp uptick in headaches the past year, which steadily ramped up in both frequency and fervency. Migraines, yes, but did you know they also come in the ocular variety?

Back in October I was watching Running Man (1987) while riding a stationary bike. All at once I realized I couldn’t see Arnold’s face. I looked away and noticed electric-looking jagged lines obscuring my vision. I’ve had floaters. This was not that.

Google diagnosed the issue as an ocular migraine and said it would pass in 20 minutes. It did, but shortly after my ears started ringing. (They’ve yet to stop, nearly 4 months later.) That led to 6 weeks of migraines. The headaches and the ringing compromised my sleep, exacerbating the headaches.

I’ve been to the eye doctor, my doctor, had blood tests, and a MRI. Thus far, the medical opinion is a shrug. I have follow-ups with an ENT and a neurologist.

Day-to-day I feel fine, a development that can perhaps be attributed to a regular, proactive intake of vitamins—I now have a weekly pill planner, one of the four horsemen of getting old. But that hasn’t resolved anything. I have a persistent low-grade headache that threatens to flare into something unpleasant at the slightest provocation. This must be how Bruce Banner feels all the time.

Before the MRI—around the time I put this site on ice—I was convinced I had a brain tumor. I’m generally an optimist until health stuff comes up, then I immediately jump to worse case scenario. My daughter has been to the ER after midnight at least twice because I was convinced she was going to die. I’m not the guy you rely on in an emergency; I’m Bill Paxton telling everyone it’s game over.

I used the break productively. I wrote some fiction and spent time thinking about my goals. Which leads us to the next point.

Update 2: I’m rebranding this site

I’ve wanted to rebrand for a long time.

All the Fanfare was born of misguided intent and a desire to piggyback off the Fanfare publication I run on Medium, insofar as I could reuse a logo I paid for. It was a short-sighted decision.

Stepping away gave me the space to clarify my purpose and find a name that aligned.

Introducing: Extended Cut

placeholder logo I threw together, final tbd

The rebrand aligns with my tendency to chase movies down rabbit holes, and is also broad enough to cover other interests.

I’ll still primarily write about movies because I can’t not write about movies. And Timothy Olyphant. But I wanted leeway to write other things, including fiction. The unifying element is that it’s all me.

The new url is: extended-cut.com

Update 3: Substack vs Ghost

I’ve been running All the Fanfare on two different platforms since the beginning. allthefanfare.com was on Ghost, newsletter.allthefanfare.com was on Substack. My thinking was it allowed me to use the strengths of both. Ghost is a far superior web platform, Substack has a better network. I thought I could use Substack as a funnel to Ghost, my main site.

That didn’t really work.

Initially I sent more newslettery updates via Substack, and actual articles were posted on Ghost. Over time, I started double posting everything because putting my best stuff exclusively on Ghost limited my growth. In a month, I get probably 50 new subscribers on Substack, and maybe 1 on Ghost.

Writing isn’t a numbers game, but if your site isn’t growing, it’s dying.

But even though double posting is an annoyance, and using Ghost costs me $300 a year, I can’t quit Ghost. Here’s why:

The look and feel of a website is a form of individualism. Substack websites are all the same; they’re the office cubicles of the web. But I get so much more traction on Substack. So I’m going to continue with one foot in both platforms, but will make the demarcation more permanent.

extended-cut.com is hosted on Substack and will be my main thing.

allthefanfare.com will remain on Ghost. It will exclusively offer movie/pop culture stuff, all of it syndicated from Extended Cut.

This is probably interesting to nobody but me. Either way, this is the last you’ll hear of All the Fanfare here.

Update 4: Lifetime memberships

Subscription fatigue is real. I get it. I’d rather pay a one-time fee and never again. This is for people who feel the same.

The lifetime tier is $99. Ignore what it says about 99/year, that’s boilerplate Substack lingo. I’ll manually convert the subscription to lifetime access.

If you paid for an annual plan recently (the last 6 months) and want to upgrade to lifetime, send me a note. I’ll charge you the difference.

Update 5: I co-created a webcomic

The last 6 months have been spent toiling in secret on a new project that melds my favorite things: The Office, D&D, and making my friends laugh. Our efforts have born hilarious fruit. It’s time to pull back the curtain.

Apart from some friends and family, you guys are the first to hear about this. Consider this another perk of following me, like sitting ringside for my strange obsessions.

Introducing: The Dungeon

Art sample. Copyright: Gray Wizard Studios

The Dungeon is 3-panel comic strip of absurdist fantasy humor. If you read me because you think I’m funny, you’ll love the comic because my friends are even funnier. But don’t take my word for it—go look for yourself! The first 3 strips are hot off the press and yearning for eyeballs and, if you’re inclined, likes and comments.

New comics release every other week. The comic is free, so smash that subscribe button.

thedungeoncomic.com

We’re also releasing a weekly serialized story set in the same world called Deephouse. It’s the warehouse from The Office, but make it dwarfy. Posts are short and punchy, prose versions of the comic because Eric can’t draw.

The first 6 issues of Deephouse are free. After that, it’ll be exclusive to paid supporters.

I don’t think it’s right for you to pay to read me here and also there, so paid supporters will be grandfathered in. Once you subscribe to read The Dungeon, I’ll get your access squared away.

Update 6: Stuff I’m working on

Rapid fire because this is getting long.

Coming this week: A piece about toys and nostalgia, brought about after I binged The Toys That Made Us on Netflix.
Coming next: Stranger Things through the lens of D&D and nostalgia.
A retrospective / rewatch piece about The Force Awakens, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in December.
The long-delayed next post on Deadwood. I got super into my own head on this one. Previous posts were so thorough and, if I may be so bold, awesome, I psyched myself out and gave myself writers block.
Other things I’ve seen recently that may result in articles: Over the Top, Stargate, World War Z, the Chris Pines D&D movie, James Gunn’s Superman, and Troy.