Looking Forward and Back

To officially mark the occasion, it was one year ago today that I dived off the proverbial cliff and finally started my own blog. I can’t remember exactly when and why I decided to give it one of the more ludicrous names imaginable. There are days when I wish I had given it a more normal moniker, like “Talking About Film” or whatever, but then there are times that I’m a little proud it has a name that no one else on the planet except for me would give to a blog. It’s mine. So it remains.

On occasion I’ve considered that the one-year mark would be the day I would sign off and stop writing for this thing. Seemed like a nice round number in terms of finding a good time to reach a point of completion. But I finally decided that I didn’t want to stop just yet. There have been times when I needed to be able to write this blog. And I guess I still need to be able to write it. For starters, there are a lot of things that I still haven’t written about. I can’t believe I haven’t spent more time on the James Bond films, to name one thing. And I still need this outlet to express myself to try to examine some of the movies that interest me and maybe try to begin to figure out why they do. Maybe there are times when I should use my energy to write what I should be working on, but the honest truth is that when it comes to ways to procrastinate, this can be one of the best.

When I first began writing Mr. Peel’s Sardine Liqueur I didn’t tell anyone I knew for nearly a month. It seemed like a good way to give myself an easy out, in case I got bored or was bad at it. It was also liberating to write something and post it, with no worries what anyone would have to say about it. I was also unsure how much I would be spending on films at that early stage. With a few exceptions, I focused on what really interested me pretty quickly. And when people did begin to learn of it, the reactions would mostly be positive and I felt compelled to keep going. I’m glad I did and I hope I’m a better writer now as a result.

There are so many films these days that go against the grain of what I will ever be interested in that it can be a joy to write about things like Mario Bava and DANGER:DIABOLIK. GRINDHOUSE, Elliott Gould, Blake Edwards, THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE. Too many others to name. Films and people that represent a lot of what I love about cinema. And just the other night I was watching some of THE LIVES OF OTHERS on DVD, an example of something so stunningly good that just a few minutes of it sent that sort of charge through me that I always find myself looking for, but you don’t often find. It’s that power which the best movies can have and it makes me continue to want to care.

If Tiki Ti wasn’t on vacation, I’d go down there tonight and treat myself to a celebratory cocktail. Since that’ll have to wait, for now I’ll relax and look forward to what I’m going to write about next. I have no idea if in the future I’m going to be writing this blog more often, less often, or exactly the same. But I look forward to it. To everyone who is reading this and has offered me encouraging words, either in person or through cyberspace, I thank you. And Mrs. Peel thanks you as well.