"Whale of a Writer" is a new feature at Gordon and the Whale in which our very own Editor-in-Chief, Chase Whale, picks the minds, souls, and keyboard-clenched fingers of other writers in the movie blogging industry. Each new WoaW interview will be uniquely tailored for its subject, with fresh questions each time around, questions that aim their harpoon right for the heart of what makes each subject special and what makes each of their contributions unique, interesting, and informative.

I've been aware of Eric D. Snider and his work for a few years now, but it wasn't until Sundance 2010 that I officially met him. Snider is one of those guys who's very easy to strike up a conversation with - he's friendly and knows how to throw a good joke into the conversation (most of the time). I remember first chatting with him in the "Internet Cafe" at the Yarrow hotel; Rusty (Gordon) asked him to read over his most recent review and, sure enough, Snider did. At that time, nobody really knew who we were, just a couple of misfits who got a chance to attend Sundance, so it was nice to get beneficial feedback from someone Rusty and I had both admired for some time.

With all of that, I thought it was appropriate to have Snider on as my second guest for this experiment. Also, if I fucked up, he would laugh, make a joke of it, and I'd beat myself in the chest like Mark Wahlberg did in FEAR. (Thanks for not laughing at my questions, Eric.)

In this interview, Managing Editor Kate Erbland confesses her love for Snider via me, we dive into Snider's life growing up as a journalist, and how he first started getting paid to write (which I found extremely interesting). We also discuss how he balances comedy and information in his reviews without going overboard. Oh, there are some other fun questions asked, too. Listen to the full interview after the break!

For awesome and hilarious updates about Snider's journalistic life, follow him on the Twitter!