Reel Time vs Real Time

Though some people might laugh at this post of mine, I think I do need to make one. One reason is that I think, perhaps the first time, this blog might be out on the open with respect to my extended family. Hey, it’s not always that you get to see someone known personally on your city's main newspaper, albeit in a convoluted way. This post is mainly for their benefit and for all those who might land up here looking for stuff that might not be in here in the form that they seek.

Were you, by chance, were pointed to this blog by The Hindu's article titled Reel-Time blogs? If your answer is yes, thanks for visiting. But I think you might be slightly disappointed (or relieved, if you are my mom!).

Contrary to what the url for this blog might indicate, this blog is not all about movies. Well, I am a die -hard Thalaivar fan, but movies just form an, on again, off again part of my life. Speaking of life, I spent four years in the hostel during my undergrad years and after spending one year back at home, I have spent the last four years out again. And I have picked up quite a large circle of friends and as it happens, a wider circle of interests as well. At college, I started watching movies with much more frequency than I used to in school. Staying in the hostel does give you some "bad" habits (to perhaps quote my mom), but this is the only one I picked up. I think I picked this one up from my father, who is reputed to have been a part of several night-show escapades from his hostel in Palakkad. But movies jostle for space in my life (by this my free time) with books, music, cricket, other sports and lately this blog. I write when I have time to think of things other than the pressing thing(s) that I have been facing over the last couple of years.

Hey, I am digressing. So, if you came here to see what you could find about movies on this blog, I don't think you will find much. I have done some movies reviews on and off, ranging from Michael Madana Kamarajan, Kaakkha Kaakkha and the latest being Raam. I have done some music reviews (Kadhal Konden, Chandramukhi etc.), but those would definitely reflect what I am, a musical novice who can perhaps hold a tune, but can't figure out how one tune differs from the other. I just talk of how things affect me and not how they are. Believe me, there is a difference between these things.

Btw, Teakada was misspelled on the article, at least in the online version. Also I think I should certainly point out some other people who never cease to amaze me with their astute view points. I am not mentioning anyone who has already been mentioned in the article, but these people would have been better choices to make that list any day over me.

1. Anand - I am letting him stay anonymous at the moment, but you might just find out you know him from somewhere. His posts might slight look academic in nature, but thats to be expected from a student of film making.
2. George Thomas - a hardcore RDB fan from Pune who mostly talks about Hindi movies, and their music. He sometimes talks of really obscure movies, which he watches solely for time pass. I can't imagine sitting through a B-Grade Mithun Chakraborty movie, but he seems to do that for fun. God save him...
3. Samanth - a freelance journo who reviews movies for fun and for money and also discusses movies with his friend Baradwaj Rangan on Reel Two
4. Sudish Kamath - another journo, who is currently into a special celluloid experience. He might have just made me a star if I had been in Chennai, not that we even talked about it. But I am just not there in the geographical vicinity, which makes all talk of me starring in a Tamil movie as much irrelevant as a protest against sand quarrying in the Saharan wasteland.
5. Bharath - An acquaintance who is as opinionated as me and whose interests in movies cannot be measured by the number of posts on movies on his blog. He gets on here because I hope to see him do more posts on his movie watching experiences.

But I do have to say one thing. Don't treat these people as sources of information on movies. Their blogs are not like your average Cinesouth.com (I should do a post specifically on Cinesouth in the future). Well, you could, sometimes. But mostly, it’s their opinions. Lazy Geek (one of the bloggers interviewed for the article) once posted something that boomeranged into at least a hundred comments from readers, a number of email exchanges, for and against posts from other bloggers, all arguing who was the better director, Mani Ratnam or Bala. Recently another post on Kamalhassan boomeranged into a discussion on what could be termed plagiarism. What do we get from all this? Nothing directly, but who knows about tomorrow? You could just be in a job interview where you might be asked about plagiarism and you might just be able to use this info. That's what all this is. There is no point in what I talk about here on this blog, not at this very moment. But we bloggers would like to think that we would make a difference in society with our viewpoints. Idealistic it might be, but this is one ideal case scenario that has prospects.

Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night! - Truman Burbank (Truman Show, 1998, starring Jim Carey)