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Tommy Edison

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Tommy Edison
Personal information
Born
Thomas Edison

(1963-07-17) July 17, 1963 (age 61)
Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Websitehttp://blindfilmcritic.com/
YouTube information
Channel
Genre(s)Comedy, Review, Life Stories
Subscribers692,000[1]
(August 2020)
Total views91 Million[1]
(August 2020)
100,000 subscribers2013
Alma materUniversity of Bridgeport
Last updated: August 2020

Thomas Edison (born July 17, 1963) is an American YouTuber, radio presenter and film critic known for his blindness and self-deprecating sense of humor in his internet presence.[2] From 1994 until 2013 he worked as a traffic reporter for the station Star 99.9 in Bridgeport, Connecticut,[3]

Although he had never driven a car or seen a traffic jam, as a traffic reporter he used what he heard about traffic on police scanners and in calls with listeners on the road.[4]

Motivated to review films by his frustration with their visual language,[2] he started a YouTube channel called Blind Film Critic with his friend Ben Churchill in 2011. His reviews focus on script, music and sound effects.[5] The first film he reviewed was Scream 4;[6] his favorites include Hugo, Goodfellas, Clerks and American Hustle.[2] In 2013, audio description allowed him to watch his first silent film, which he joked was "eye-opening"—however, he does not use it when preparing his reviews.[2] He was endorsed by Roger Ebert in 2011, and has been featured on The Howard Stern Show and CNN.[2] He also made videos answering viewers' questions about blindness on another channel entitled The Tommy Edison Experience, and has covered topics such as dreams,[4] colors,[7] Braille[8] and assistive technology.[9]

Early life and career

Edison has been blind since birth, and was born with an underdeveloped optic nerve.[2] He was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended Canterbury School and the University of Bridgeport, where he studied music.[3] He has credited his parents for treating him the same as his sighted sisters during his upbringing.[10] His mother went to great lengths to make sure Tommy was put into a normal class rather than the school recommended special education class, stating "Tommy has a normal Cognitive Function, He is normal just like the other students, he just so happens to be blind." [11] After developing an interest in local and New York radio stations, he was hired as a disc jockey for the station WJAZ in Stamford, Connecticut in 1987, becoming its traffic reporter two years later.[3]

In 2016 he and his producer Ben Churchill moved to the Los Angeles area and began the next phase in his career as a public figure.

On April 13, 2018, Tommy in a pinned comment in the comments of his last video, explained new video uploads to his channel have finally come to an end, citing "allowing us time to work on new projects and we hope you’ll be there when the time comes".[12]

On July 16, 2019, Tommy returned to YouTube with a video titled “Greetings From Edison”.

References

  1. ^ a b "About TommyEdisonXP". YouTube.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Buckmaster, Luke (December 3, 2014). "No spoilers: meet the film critic who's never watched a single film". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Weizel, Richard (September 28, 1997). "Connecticut Q&A: Tommy Edison; On the Air About Traffic, and Blind". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Painter, Kim (May 23, 2012). "Blind movie critic Tommy Edison educates the masses". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  5. ^ Bunbury, Stephanie (December 3, 2014). "Meet Tommy Edison, the blind film critic". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  6. ^ Gibson, Megan (May 19, 2011). "Q&A: Tommy Edison, The Blind Film Critic With a Big YouTube Following". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  7. ^ Dahl, Melissa (July 2, 2014). "Could You Describe 'Red' to a Blind Person?". New York Magazine. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  8. ^ von Baldegg, Kasia Cieplak-Mayr (May 7, 2012). "How Tommy Edison, the 'Blind Film Critic,' Became a YouTube Sensation". The Atlantic. Atlantic Media. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  9. ^ Ellcessor, Elizabeth (2016). Restricted Access: Media, Disability, and the Politics of Participation. New York University Press. p. 157. ISBN 9781479867431.
  10. ^ McCurley, Mark (August 20, 2011). "Don't miss it: Milford blind film critic's website a must-see hit (video)". New Haven Register. Digital First Media. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  11. ^ The Tommy Edison Experience (2017-09-13), Going To School As A Blind Person, retrieved 2018-01-27
  12. ^ The Tommy Edison Experience (2017-12-13), You Were Never Supposed To See This - Must Watch (Not Clickbait), retrieved 2018-04-24
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