365 Days Later...

Yes, this day, 21st October in 2009, I started this blog, for no particular reason at all. Okay, well, I did start it because I had a genius idea to watch a movie a day until the end of November. I did so, and even after that ended, I continued to post my rather juvenile reviews on here. Looking back on the past year, I have done things which I never really expected to do when I opened this blog. So, naturally, I am pretty excited about my first blog birthday!

Anyway, here is a list of major achievements and things I have learnt in this past year (I like lists...maybe this might be useful for some other budding bloggies!):

-It all started with Let the Right One In. I remember watching this film (actually on 18th October, it just took me a while to post a review) and thinking, 'I must write something about that...it was really beautiful'. I wrote something about it, and I must admit, my whole style has changed alot since then. See how short the review was? Moral of the story is: you ain't gonna be great from the very beginning. Some of the posts I have are really crap, but when you get the right time and the right movie, great things happen.

-A review on The Proposal changed things. Okay, I'm over-dramatizing that. A month into this blog, with some advice from a few teachers, I decided to show the local paper what I could do. Turns out, I was very good at writing movie reviews, and I got my own column in the paper for my reviews (starting with The Proposal), every Monday. Now I have people recognizing me in the supermarket praising my work, and apparently people buy paper's specially on Monday coz I am in there. I am personally very proud of that, and I love the way people react when they find out that Dannevirke News' movie reviewer is only 15 years old.
Here's a clipping from the paper:


-I was excited about Inception on January 31st.

-God, I remember this day. Sometimes I go off track, but I tend not to treat this blog as a diary. But then again, sometimes I just wanna let you know what's going on in my life, which I think is okay. Seriously, there aren't any rules to blogging. If I feel like shit, I might just post about it. But usually I try to keep it all movie related. You do what you want with your blog; I can guarantee you that somebody will read it.

-My off month was pretty much May. I know exactly why this was, too. I was preoccupied by other things which I don't feel the need to discuss on the interweb...*grins*. I think I stress too much about how often I am posting, because sometimes I get really pissed when some of my favourite blogs don't post in ages. I don't know if I'm anyone's favourite blog, but I'm sorry to anyone who missed me in May, I couldn't help it!

-This post put me on the map. In the blogosphere, so to speak. One night I decided to vent about the Let the Right One In remake, Let Me In. I mean, considering this was the first movie I reviewed, it had a special spot in my heart. I do take some of my harshness back, because I see that Let Me In has been getting great reviews...but there wasn't any need to remake it. However, this post got linked on Encore's World of Film & TV, which is a pretty well respected blog (and one of my favourites). I was so excited, it was the first time I had ever been linked!

-Christopher 'God' Nolan became one of my favourite people to talk about on June 17th. Which was ironic because by then, I had only seen The Dark Knight and The Prestige. Roll on forward a few months and I am proud to say I have watched (and loved) every single one. Trust me, every time I see the name 'Christopher Nolan', I go all gooey and almost fanboy-like inside.
*I enjoy talking about Leonardo DiCaprio too.

-It was clear that I was pretty excited for Inception by June's end. I dedicated an entire post to the three trailers, which is apparently the most popular post I have ever done. So it should be, too, I spent five hours on it (I was pretty tired after the production had ended though...so that's why it took me so long).

-I became the 613th LAMB! Your movie blog ain't a movie blog until you are a LAMB!


-And then I finally got to see Inception. It soon became my second favourite movie of all time. The first time I walked out of the cinemas in tears from it's greatness (yes, it was strange, but I couldn't help it!). The second time (three days later) I still cried and managed to wow some of my friends in a way they hadn't been wowed before. The third time I went with more friends (for my birthday, I mean how often do I get to watch do two of my favourite things--watch a movie at the cinemas and watch a Christopher Nolan movie--for my birthday?!). Turns out, that was one of the best days of my life.

-I hate Nic Cage, but this post based around his hair has to be one of the favourite I have ever done. A real highlight in my blog life.

-Most of all, I found out that blogging is fun. Being part of this blogosphere has made me feel...special? I don't know, yet, it means a lot to me. The fact that I still watch three movies in one night even though I have study for important exams just so I can give you my opinion on a movie you would have seen months ago...it adds a lot of fun to my life. Knowing that I am good at something and I always want to better myself gives me something to strive for. This all sounds as cliched as Letters to Juliet but it is true. Blogging pretty much completes me.

So if you are a new bloggy, take some advice from me: your blog won't be perfect from the start. You might not have heaps of followers, but they come. Just keep getting better and better, tweaking things to just the way you want them, and the people will come. Also, don't make plans for the future of your blog. If you let everything just fall into place, then you will have one of the reminiscing moments and you will see how far you have come. I mean, this ain't bad for a thing I started as an online diary about movies.

Time to thank a few people:

My friends. Especially you, Maxine, you are always on here. Seriously, everytime I hear you guys have seen my blog, it makes me extremely happy.

The people on Facebook who go to my school and read my blog. It's really surprising when people say 'I've been on your blog and it's awesome', even though they are in a completely different year group and I barely know them! I guess I should be thanking Mark Zuckerberg now, too...

Film Intel I keep finding my quotes on some of the reviews. It makes me insanely happy! Great blog too, definitely check it out.

Any other blog I follow which has inspired me in some way or another.

You, my follower, my reader, the person who makes my day.

My parents for buying me a laptop so it's easier for me to blog all the time (okay, that wasn't the reason they bought it for me...but anyway...)

Lastly, Blockbuster Dannevirke. For all those times I have got movies out. I am seriously lucky I don't have to pay for them...

Oh well, that's a lengthy birthday post from me. Sorry if it bored you, but I'm just amazed at how far I have come. Here's to my first blog-birthday, and hopefully a few more to come!