Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Why Being A Cinephile (and blogger) Matters

Piper over at Lazy Eye Theatre recently tagged me for one of these crazy memes going around. The question, initially posed at Cinema Styles is why does being a cinephile matter? Not a Democrat, or Republican, or liberal... but the only thing that really seems to give me calm these days- a lover of movies. A few things I've learned in the past 3 years since starting this humble little word space:

1. My love for movies like "Laws of Gravity" or "Wonderland" continues to grow each and every time I recommend it to someone on a blog.

2. The world is a supremely connected place. I've communicated with friends far and wide.... been given previously unavailable movies out of the goodness of a cinephile's own heart.... and discovered a few titles here and there. Conversely, my Netflix queue will probably never get below 200.

3. I love the Pandora's box that opens up through blogs. One site leads to another... and another that invests its time only in obscure 70's VHS box covers... and another dedicated solely to reviewing spy films.... and yet another that features an interview with some obscure 60's character actor. The universe is endless with possibilities.

4. Sometimes, a blogger says (and means) more in 100 words than any film critic with 2000 words can muster.

5. And, most importantly, its just nice to connect with so many people on a basic level of shared enthusiasm and divergent viewpoints. Whether the blogs go the way of the old newsboards or not, I don't know. But for right now, they're here and they matter to me.

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