Happy Birthday U, Me and Films !!

About 13 months ago from today, I saw an article in now extinct IMDb Hitlist on Hitchcock and his movies that took me to a blog Riku Writes (now Streams of Unconsciousness). At that time, I was completely oblivious to the concept of a movie blog even though by then, I was already turned into a film buff for quite some time. My friends were referring me as a 'movie guy', they had stopped asking me 'Hey dude, what are you doing ?', it turned into 'So, what are you watching now ?', they were asking me for movie recommendations and my opinion on whether should they watch certain movie or not. But, personally this particular habit of mine was kinda stagnant, going nowhere. So, I was looking for something different to do with it. On personal front, I was done with all the course work for my masters with 3 months of summer just around the corner. Even when the semester would start in the Fall, only thing I had to worry about was my Master's Project which meant that I can pretty much have my own time-table for the whole week except one weekly meeting on Friday. 

With all this in mind, me stumbling onto this blog was quite serendipitous. Wheels started to turn inside my head, contemplating the idea of starting my own blog. I spent some time going through contents of that blog. In the matter of few days, I discovered that there is a whole world of movie bloggers out there which was encouraging. However, not only that I did not have any prior experience of writing anything, much less of writing it in English, I didn't have any formal film education neither to help me. For those who do not know, English is not my second but third language. Up until I was 10 years old, only thing I knew about English was A-Z. My 4 year old niece knows more nursery rhymes than me as no one read them to me when I was kid. So, I took my time not only to decide whether to go ahead or not but also to try and see if I can really write something worth putting out there. I spent a little over a month deliberating, practicing before I finally published my first article exactly year ago from today on 13 June 2011. And that is how U, Me and Films came into existence !!

Journey in this year has been fulfilling to say the least. I would like to believe that my writing has evolved over this year, but to tell you the truth I have no way of judging this. What I do know is my movie tastes have evolved a lot, what I do know is my knowledge, my horizons have widened for certain. I still don't get a lot of pop culture references but even then I at least know what people are talking about. I know that I have written only around 60 posts, but with me being a master procrastinator and with an extremely limited vocabulary that I have, it still takes quite some time for me to write it. I also took it little slow till I graduated at the end of January. I have doubled my speed since then but even then it comes to around 6-7 posts/month. I am still doing my best. However, the most fulfilling experience has been how welcoming and friendly this whole blogging community has been and that has been true especially since I joined LAMB in March. Anywhere you go, first blogging advice you will receive is always blog for yourself, not for anyone else and even though I agree with it completely, it is always great to know few people around you that you can look up to, that can inspire you, that can set example for you. Over this one year, I have been lucky enough to get acquainted with quite a few bloggers through different channels. So, let me take this chance to raise my glass to some of these phenomenal film bloggers that I have come across in last year who have done exactly this to me...

Richard Hourula@Stream of Unconsciousness: Unfortunately, I haven't had any communication with him over the year. But, as I previously stated, his blog has played an instrumental part in conception of this blog and he deserves due credit for it.

Alex@And So It Begins: For being an inspiration to almost half of the posts on this blog with his encyclopedic knowledge of movies, and more than that for being such a great patron with a lot of encouragement. We are eagerly waiting for your film, Earrings !!

Ruth@...Let's be Splendid about This...:  For our mutual Ghibli love and for all the lovely comments over the time and 7x7 Link award which ungratefully I didn't reply to. So, maybe she will forgive me for that.

Scott@Front Room Cinema: For his persistence of commenting on almost every single post. He is being missed in this part of blogosphere but since he is enjoying a rare family time(or that's what he told me), I can't really complain.

Stevee@Cinematic Paradox: For giving U, Me and Films it's 1st ever Blogging award and for maintaining an awesome blog and for her rating system and for her running features. I am sure she will win quite a few Lammies this time around.

Tyler@Southern Vision: For being a great point of reference as far as foreign or art house movies are considered - I have always been in awe of his passion for it and For being go-to guy to find movies on YouTube :D

Nikhat@Being Norma Jeane: A fellow Indian movie blogger, who also writes about English movies in English(unfortunately, I haven't found many of us) and who also has a colorful and beautiful blog.

Sati@Cinematic Corner: For...Have you seen her blog ? You wouldn't ask why if you have. She has Best Design Lammy in her pocket and then she writes something stunning like this as well.

Chris@moviesandsongs365: Even though he hasn't done them in last couple of months due to the health reasons, I loved his eclectic reviews with much more information than just a normal review and his song suggestions are always awesome.

Mette@Lime Reviews and Strawberry Confessions: For being passionate about Indian movies more than lot of us, Indians are. If you look at her site, you will notice she has a lot more Bollywood stuff than me.

Never Too Early for Movie Predictions: He was one of those people who were extremely supportive and welcoming immediately after I joined LAMB and off course, all of us are in awe of his round the year Oscar predictions. You can count on my vote for this !! 

CS@Big Thoughts from a Small Mind: For all the blogging love shared.

Murtaza@A Potpurri of Vestiges: Another fellow Indian movie-blogger who writes a great blog with very detailed reviews.

Some of my favorite pod-casters Reel Insight, Matineecast, French Toast Sunday and off course LAMBCast and they all have phenomenal blogs that I am in constant awe of.

LAMB: Last but probably the most important, for giving the platform to come and talk with fellow movie geeks without feeling like the only person on the earth who cares about something like this.

And in the end, let me raise it to anyone and everyone, who has ever visited this blog or commented on it or who has ever tweeted with me sharing their opinions about movies, please come and join me on this festive occasion. There is a lot of room for you all !! I really do not know how long will I keep blogging. But with such an encouragement, I can only hope I will go on and on !!

HERE IS TO FIRST COMPLETE YEAR AND HOPEFULLY MORE TO COME !!