Milestone, Marketing, Miscellany
8 Comments Published by Prasad Venkat on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 10:59 AM.
Time to indulge -
- Yesterday, my hit count crossed 30,000. Now, that's just peanuts for a lot of movie sites, which on an average have as many visitors everyday. But these peanuts are special to me; baby steps no doubt, but ScreenArt is moving forward.
- Many thanks to the few regular visitors - Varaha, Suresh, Shreeja, Randramble... sorry if I've missed any other names - I don't know you unless you comment here. (My feedburner says that there are 25 subscribers as of today).
- My review of Babel is the biggest puller. I estimate that somewhere around 3K visits were from search results for variations of Babel. My pieces of Tamil comedy artistes comes next to Babel.
- If you've read my review of Babel & those three pieces, you'll know that they stand out in the crowd of posts I've made - they really took some writing energy and it has showed off in the results.
- I was initially drawn towards James Berardinelli's movie site: http://reelviews.net. He's my Drona, but it's been a while since I visited him - I haven't grown tired, but I find his reviews very objective. I have also learnt/absorbed a lot from Roger Ebert of Chicago SunTimes and Stanley Kauffman of TNR.
- I only critic that I find amusing all the time is Stephen Hunter of Washington Post - he's funny, sharp, ignores conventional reviewing and creates his own style.
- I wouldn't regret if some bug were to clean all of my entries written before a year. I can see a forced tone in many of those reviews. The only purpose they serve is to remind me of my growth and integrity.
- Before I invested time and energy into ScreenArt, I was quite frequently about non-movies stuff. With this milestone, I wish to spend some of my time consistently on ScreenAct too, my other blog where I ramble about anything but movies.
- Though I can't reply to all the comments I receive, I read all of them and try to reply.
- Long time readers will know that I still haven't written reviews for two of my favourite movies - Schindler's List and Michael Madana Kama Rajan. I fear that I haven't grown as a writer to do justice to these movies. But there's no point in dilly-dallying, I'll write them soon and may be after a few years I will read them with disdain.
- I received an offer from Behindwood's editorial desk. After seeing that their style and mine clash, we had to let it go.
- Just to generate traffic, I tried some stunts: include images, come up with top 10 lists, write a piece on the happening thing, etc. I just couldn't keep myself at it... I just have one top 10 favourite scenes list in my blog and I squirm whenever I read it. I tried including a picture of Rajini in a 'masala' piece, but later took it down.
- I don't promise that I won't come up with lists in the future or include images, but only I find myself completely convinced of the need. I'm currently compiling a short list of Ilayaraja's melodies. That should be out shortly. I have also thought about a top 10 movies list every year - but the problem is that I don't see many of the blockbusters, which essentially rules me out.
Great going....Keep writing....
I am always eager to read your reviews...
I appreciate it.
Best wishes Prasad. This is a memorable moment.
Cheers
Varaha
ezhuthunga.. thotarnthu ezuthunga
Varaha - Thanks much.
Prakash - Mikka nandri.
Best wishes to you Prasad; Great writers like you never go unnoticed.
Looking forward to more of ScreenAct :D
Shreeja,
Thanks. 'Great' is a gross exaggeration... but the idea is to constantly improve so that someday I'm in the vicinity of such superlatives.
Sure, will work on ScreenAct - I'm starting with a post/week goal from this week. Let's see how it goes.
Exaggeration is sometimes the main idea behind compliments, Prasad.