Lammys 2012 - For your consideration

If you're a movie blogger there is a good chance you are aware of The Large Association of Movie Bloggers aka The LAMB. If you are not, well then you should be.

As any cinephile would know, awards are the lifeline of all movies. We might hate them, love them, like them, despise them, adore them, dream them, but we simply cannot live without them. In fact, be honest, you already have your Oscar speech ready, don't you?

So, the wonderful people at The LAMB have the Lammys every year to acknowledge the bloggers who work day and night and some afternoons as well to bring to you different film related posts and events.

The film blogging community is a helpful group of people who not only support each other but in the time of need I know will even come out and help a little old' Indian boy win a award or two for his efforts in film blogging... Cough... Ahem!!

Seriously though, this is my first time participating in the Lammys and I'm excited about it. So, if you are a member of The LAMB (and if you have a film blog you should be) then please thing about me when you nominate bloggers in the following categories;

The Best Blog- Alright, it's a long shot, but a shot nevertheless. My blog is full of a number of features and I've always tried to incorporate fellow bloggers and friends into it along with reviewing movies. I've also always tried to do different sort of reviews from time to time, just to break the routine and bring about a change for the readers.

The Poor MemorabiliaCollector 

10 Reasons Not ToWatch X-Men First Class 

The Best Community Builder/Networking - If you are on twitter, and you should be, then I sure do hope you are aware of #MTOS (Movie Talk on Sunday) which is an initiative I co-founded with a friend of mine and we have been growing and going strong for the past year. Its sole purpose has been to build upon the film blogging community and I'm happy to say we have been somewhat successful in our endeavors.  

What is #MTOS 

The Story of #MTOSSo Far 

The Most Prolific- So, I might not be a regular poster on my blog, which I run individually, but I do have four blogs with each one taking some time. So between my travel, photography, personal, and film blog it does mean I sacrifice on a number of things, but then it's something I truly enjoy and plan to continue for as long as possible.

Ticker Talks Film

Traveling Ticker

Ticker Prints

Ticker Talks

The Best New Lamb- ummm... a sum of all of the above might be a reason to nominate me for this one.

YOU MAY VOTE HERE

Whether you nominate me or not, I would however like to thank you if you have ever visited my blog and especially if you have ever commented on it. My blogging experience has been great over the last year and a half and seeing the traffic increase has been a real boost, so THANK YOU! 

Movie Thoughts - Does your traffic dictate your blog & your movie watching experience?

Now, this question relates to pretty much all bloggers and not just film bloggers, but honestly speaking have you ever specially gone and seen a movie, or skipped one, because you thought that it would/not appeal to your blog readers?

Although I have never really done this, but often when I write about an Indian film or like right now I am planning to write about two books on Indian films that I have just read, I do wonder how many people will actually read it considering most of my readers are from the western world and not too much into Indian cinema. Moreover the books cater to people who have seen the movies, which I am pretty sure most of my readers have not (although I am always pleased to be proved wrong).

Now, I do go ahead with writing articles and reviews on Indian cinema because I have a personal goal of trying to make it more popular. I also did a recent post on when someone might have had to go watch a movie when they really did not want to, be it to impress a girl or even for their blog. This question is more specific in that knowing who your readers are, and where they are from, or what they like, are you thinking about what you write and maybe even how you write, when you do write?

So far I’ve tried to keep true to myself. I know I have a very basic writing style and I like to write as little or as much as I want to about a movie, but there is always a question in the back of my mind, checking to make sure, if the post will be "popular" amongst my readers.

Have you ever thought about your readers when you stood in the theater deciding on your next film, or has it always been what YOU want first and then the reader?

Let me know... 

The Stylish Blogger Award

I was recently privileged enough to receive the Stylish Blogger Award mention by Leysa
(@love_cinema) from Eternity of Dream.

Keeping up with the tradition, below are 7 facts about me. Further down you will find 7 more bloggers who if they wish can carry on with this fun chain-blog.

1. I prefer to watch Movies/TV late at night when my family is asleep. Most importantly at that hour there is no disturbance (specially from my hyperactive 3-year-old daughter) and also no chance of that awkwardness when a sex scene comes up or extreme foul language is being used.

2. One of my favorite quotes is “Bad Spellers of the World Untie”. My spellings are atrocious. So, Spell Check = Life Saver.

3. Neon Lights have pretty much the same effect on me they have on mosquitoes. I’m drawn towards them and they bring a smile to my face. Luckily they do not lead me to my doom. Glittering street signs are wonderful. Backlight is simply AWESOME!

4. I’m a proud Sagittarian and an even prouder Dad. I can never have enough of my daughter because Pure Joy = Saanvi.

5. I love twist endings in movies. A movie can be the worst movie ever to be made, but if it has a twist ending that I did not see coming, I’m SOLD!

6. My dislike for 3D probably equals my dislike towards my daughter’s future boyfriend. I hate wearing glasses and especially the fact that I have to wear them on top of my prescription glasses. I cannot understand the hoopla around the whole technology. And Yes! I cannot understand the big deal about Avatar.

7. Lastly, Travel and Photography are my other two passions that I enjoy a lot.

Now for 7 bloggers who deserve to receive the Stylish Blogger Award. I would like to mention that some of my twitter friends I am aware have already received the said award and thus I have not mentioned you.

Scott Lawlor (@FrontRoomCinema) with his blog Front Room Cinema

Peter Brainbridge (@mothpete) and his words on Moth Rust

Sofia Teixeira (@MSofiaTeixeira) blogging away on Shut the Door. Have a Seat

Hannah Megill (@purplecow17) writes on Unpublished for a Reason

Phil Edwards (@Live_for_Films) and his blog Live for Films

Danie Ware (@Danacea) blogging away on Confessions

Dan Stephens (@Top10Films) lists away on Top 10 Films

Thank you

Raghav

Location:Gurgaon, India

Tron Legacy - "I-can't-help-it. It's-so-beautiful."

I did a lot for this movie. I walked through freezing cold to the theatre. I avoid 3D as much as I can (till they come out of affordable prescription 3D glasses ... Well apparently there are clip on 3D glasses now for 4 eyes like me 8-) but I still went for this movie. I had a sore throat and a slight fever and still I went... In freezing cold! Lastly, I paid that extra £2,- to watch a 3D movie. Was it worth it? It most certainly was, and here is why.



See the thing about me is that I'm mad about neon and black lights. There is something about them that brings a smile to my face and turns me into a kid. This little infatuation I have always reminds me of a joke from the movie "A Bugs Life" that goes like this;

Mosquito #1: Harry, no! Don't look at the light!
Mosquito#2: I-can't-help-it. It's-so-beautiful.



So with light cycles and what not there was no way I was going to miss out on the Legacy of Tron. Then, Daft Punk's music has always been something I enjoyed and I had heard good things about what they did in this film. The music from the very beginning was mesmerizing. It has a futuristic feel to it, but it pulls you in the movie. You know, just by listening to the music, that there is something visually spectacular on the screen. The complete look of the film is simply a pleasure to feast your eyes on. The sets, the lights, the clothes, the lights, the music ... did I mention the lights? Everything simply makes our everyday world look bland and boring.



Now to move on to the other thing that make a movie ... The Story! I think the movie takes a step backwards here. The original Tron had a purpose and it made a statement. Tron Legacy has it's heart in the right place and starts off with making a statement that technology should be shared and made available and affordable to everyone, but then shifts to a totally different viewpoint of a fight between good and evil. There is a much deeper philosophy that underlines the movie, but I feel it doesn't have such a great impact on the viewer. Having a philosophy based movie also means that there are long intervals of no action and all talk that do take its toll after a while on the audience. I personally could have done with a few more action sequences. I also disliked the way the title character of Tron was dealt with. His character was completely underdeveloped and it would have been nicer to see more of him playing a more prominent part (he is the title character after all). The actors including Jeff Bridges, Computer generated Younger Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde (Sigh!... Oops did I just write that?), Bruce Boxleitmer and the charismatic Michael Sheen all do a wonderful acting job. I'm not going to go into the story of the film because firstly I strongly recommend watching the original Tron before watching this one which will make the whole experience easier to watch and understand. Secondly, it's an escape movie at heart with a deeper philosophical soul, but one should see and decipher this philosophy on his/her own.



So, a visually stunning piece of cinema with a great soundtrack that lacks a strong story but has it's heart in the right place. I wanted to give it a 3.5/5 but will fall prey to my liking of neon/black lights and give it a 4/5.


Raghav

Location:Gurgaon, India

Bloggers Dilemma - Where Should I Blog?

So something has been bothering me since yesterday. While reading a post by one of the people I follow on twitter I was pretty much shocked when I learned that apparently people take you seriously depending on where you blog is.The person in question had a rather nice blog entry informing readers on changes that should be made in order to make a blog more popular and accessible. Unfortunately, while the remainder of the content was helpful, the very first point he stated was extremely disappointing.

What he said was that you need to "Go Self Hosted". So basically have your own blog with your own domain name rather than using say Blogspot. Now, normally I would be okay with that since you can do a whole lot more with lesser restrictions when you have your own domain, but what really upset me was when he stated "I don’t know about other blogging communities, but in this one, you really aren’t going to get much respect till you go that way...". The "blogging community" he is referring to is with regards to the Travel Blogging Community.


So is this what we have come down to now? I mean we live in a world where everyday people are fighting for their rights and fighting so that we do not discriminate based on race, location, or color of the skin. Now apparently your blog web address also matters in you getting respect. So will it be okay if I, who has no interest in making money off my blog, starts to take people less seriously who do. I mean I may state that since they are in to make money off their blog, they are not really bloggers, but it's more of a business for them. That their whole philosophy of travel is sad since they probably travel thinking what to blog and get traffic so they can earn from the blog. Or worse, what if the blog is not written from the heart, but keeping in mind the readers and thus the advertisers. Although personally I am all for it. If you can make money out of something you love, then go for it, because that is so the right thing to do.

Moving forward, I get the point that if you were focused on making money you have a self hosted site. Maybe it gives you more credibility, not respect, but credibility just like having your own business email address compared to say a Yahoo or a Gmail. But to me, if you feel that society will respect you or judge you not on the content of your blog, but on the fact that you have blogspot somewhere in your blog address, then you have lost any respect that you had in the first place.



If the above stated comment is true and we are being judged then the "travel community" is a whole lot different in their mindset to the "movie community" which I am a part of as well. I started interacting with @reviwer about movies initially on twitter and shortly afterwards with @love_cinema. @reviwer has always had a self hosted website (which I recommend), but never till date in having conversations with him have I felt that I was not taken seriously. I think he gave me the same amount of respect as I did to him. @love_cinema who also writes on blogspot has an awesome following and reading her interactions on twitter, again no one, be it a self hosted blogger or not have ever judged her or anyone. It was wonderful initial interactions with these two that led me to be more active on twitter and I can proudly say that of the120 odd followers I have, 100 are unknown but mentally stimulating people with whom I love to interact about different topics. Each and every member of the "movie community" has pretty strong opinions and things do get heated when we talk about movies, but never ever have I come across anyone who has judged me or my blog based on its address. So if the whole "movie community" can look past the address of my blog and focus on its content, why is so hard for any other community to do the same.

I will not generalize based on the comments of a few people, but it is my humble request to anyone in any community, please do not discriminate based on something simple like a web address. The last thing we want is for people to suggest that just because they travel with a backpack roughing it out, they are the "real" travelers and not someone who might travel with LV Luggage (I don't, but would love to afford one ;-). Whatever the case may be in real life, I feel it is on to us to look past these small things and look at the big picture. If people are discriminating based on web addresses, then it is up to us to change that.

One thing positive did come out of this interaction. I have decided that no matter what I will not leave Blogspot. It is not about the money and never was, rather I feel if I can afford to travel I can afford to pay for a self-hosted site. It's about ethics. Also, now it has become important for me to not change or move because I am expected to. I strongly believe that over time, if my blog posts are good enough, people will read them no matter my blog address. So please please please... judge me, but judge me on my posts, on my experiences, on what I write, but don't judge me just because I have Blogspot in my blog address.

Thank You!

Comments, Suggestions, Opinions are always welcomed and appreciated.


Raghav

Location:Gurgaon, India

ZombiNation!

“Move over Vampires, there is a new Sheriff in town”, or so would be the tag line of this blog entry were it a movie. Right then, so what's interesting about back from the dead guys and girls who walk slow, smell, look repulsive and pretty much want only one thing from you. No, not for you to understand them and give them love, all they want is a taste of your BRAINS. Kind of like a non thinking Hannibal Lector with less talk and more groaning.

The whole zombie genre is nothing new. There have been numerous zombie movies, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, etc. in the past and it's one of those things that will continue once this fad grows old...again. What is new though is the sudden interest in all things zombie across different aspects of entertainment.

Before we get deeper into this it's important to know what started this. Till a few years back zombie movies were pure horror. They were categorized as horror, were always part of fright/horror festivals, and had a following that consisted mainly of horror fans. You would have the occasional non-horror fan dress up as a zombie for Halloween, but that was it. Then we had Shaun of the Dead. What it brilliantly did was make people realize that zombies can be a lot of fun. Yes! They are definitely after your brain, but that very fact makes killing them all the more entertaining. I mean they are dead already and you can't technically kill someone who is already dead. So there is that guilty pleasure in there somewhere. It opened up the whole genre to a new group of people. I was one of them. No longer were zombie movies only categorized under horror. This Zom-Com aspect was then further strengthened by the movie Zombieland.

A little before Shaun of the Dead changed everything, there was the much publicized and much stylized Resident Evil, which was based on a computer game. This one had style, action ... in slow motion, and was simply beautiful to look at. Okay the last part is due to Milla Jovovich. Mind you, the serious horror zombie flicks still continued to churn out with Dead Snow, Diary of the Dead, and the like. There were also the occasional Semi-Zoms, like I am Legend, which dealt with a post-apocalyptic world similar other zombie flicks like 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later.

Switching the entertainment medium from movies to TV, The Walking Dead based on a comic book is the latest to add fuel to the zombie craze. The comic has long been a success, but once again limited to a select few. With the start of the TV series a couple of weeks back, once again the genre has been thrown out to a wider audience. If numbers are to be believed the show is a success after just two episodes and has already been rewarded with the full 12 part season go ahead. Let's also not forget that this zombie craze is big enough to have ace director like Frank Darabont take interest as he developed The Walking Dead for TV.

So while Vampires have had their day, or rather night, it's time for the zombies to take over. The good thing about zombies (bad for humans) is that they can move around during day as well whereas Vampires are creatures of the night. Although, it is much easier to get rid of a Zombies 'cause all it takes is a blow to the head. Zombies after all are a simple race. It's simply all about the brains when it comes to zombies. They want yours and you want theirs knocked-out / damaged / blown / shot / badgered / harpooned... In fact maybe we will have an amalgamation of both the genres and soon will have a Vampires Vs Zombies movie (if one has not already been made?).

The one thing that has really triggered off this new trend is that zombies are no longer limited to the movies. There were apparently more people than ever who dressed up in characters from Shaun of the Dead this Halloween. Where Vampires only had maybe one game on Facebook that I came across and none others that I know of, zombies are taking over the gaming world slowly and steadily. Two games that I play on the iPad are so popular that one of them, Plants Vs Zombies, is under talks of being made into a movie. The other, Age of Zombies, has full potential of being made into a movie with a time travelling, zombie killing, badass hero as its central character. Of course the proof that this might happen is there with the recent release of Resident Evil 4: Afterlife. In fact zombies have taken over so much that my 3-year-old daughter wanted to go as a zombie for her school fancy dress party. We went with police officer this year. Figured we might get complaints from the school if a blood (Read: Red Color) dripping zombie walked in between a bunch of easily scared 3 year olds.

So there you have it. Zombies definitely are the flavor of the season. With a bunch of Zombie-esq movies soon to be released (Pride, Prejudice and Zombies – being one of the most sort after ones) we sure are seeing the re-birth of ZombiNation!