Welcome to this week’s Moviesite Spotlight. For those who wonder what this is:
Every week I read a lot of great movie related blogs and I thought it was time to give the ones I visit regularly a chance to shine in the spotlight, by interviewing its writers.
This week’s interview is with Ruth, writer of FlixChatter.
What is the history of your site, why did you start it?
Well my site actually got started on a whim, even though I’ve been toying w/ the idea of blogging for a while. I was doing an assignment to create a blog design for my client so I was doing some research on it and decided to just start one so I can learn about it. I talked about movies all the time with one of my co-workers at the time and he said I should just start a blog so I don’t have to email him movie news or comments all the time. I haven’t really had a venue to channel my love for writing (other than my ‘novel’ that I started writing 2 yrs before I started the blog) so combining that with my love for movies just seemed like a wonderful idea.
What makes your movie blog different from the ones out there?
Well, it’s different because it’s MY views of movies. FIlm-watching is such a personal thing, everyone is going to get something different from the same film. Plus my blog encompasses all kinds of different aspects of films, i.e. movie music, editing, posters, opening titles, and of course, the actors. I also vary my posts from reviews, top ten lists, featured trailers/posters, featured actors, etc. just to keep it interesting.
What do you enjoy most about your site and what’s the reason you keep doing it?
I REALLY enjoy the blogging part itself but the more I blog, I find that the most enjoyable aspect is the community aspect. Getting comments and ‘meeting’ fellow film lovers, whether they also have a blog or not, is so rewarding. I must admit, my eyes always light up when I see a new comment on my email! I love the joy of connecting with people who share my love of a particular film or actor and I also enjoy reading others’ posts and learning about different kinds of films I otherwise wouldn’t know about. Truthfully, I don’t think I can live without blogging now, even when I’m on vacation, I miss blogging a lot!
In which ways has your blogging changed the way you watch movies? Do you watch more of them, do you view them differently?
I don’t think blogging change the way I watch movies in drastic way. If anything, it perhaps make me view them with a more ‘critical’ eye as I’d have to review them later. It made me pay attention to them more whilst before I probably didn’t notice as much details when I watch a movie.
What’s your favorite article you’ve written?
Well, I don’t know if I can point to just one. I think I’m proud to all the posts I wrote on this list that generated a lot of comments and were featured on IMDb. But if I had to pick just one, I guess it’d be my first pitch I did for Castor’s blog, the Hearts Want romantic thriller. I spent a ton of time on it, developing the story, the characters, researching location, etc. and I really think it’d make a pretty compelling movie.
Could you name five of your all time favourite movies?
Sense & Sensibility
Roman Holiday
Gladiator
Ben-Hur
Batman Begins
Do you own any movie-related items that you are proud of?
I received TWO autographed photos from Christopher Reeve when I was in high school, one is him as Superman and the other one in a Tweed suit. You can view them both here. The other item I cherish is the autographed picture that Gerry Butler signed right before my eyes after I met him at TIFF in 2005. I wish I could get an autographed item from Gregory Peck, alas he’s already passed 🙁
Anything else you want to tell us about yourself?
I just want to let everyone know that I started a tumblr » flixchatter.tumblr.com For now it’s all Gregory Peck stuff, but somewhere down the line I’ll expand it to be a Classic Hollywood tumblr.
So special to see one of my greatest blogging friends featured here! Love visiting Flixchatter. Definitely made me laugh on your comment about still blogging even when on vacation! I can absolutely relate to that! 🙂
I must admit that during my last big holiday I blogged as well. The internet connection in our little house didn’t work so I remember driving my car to the restaurant and sitting outside using the wifi to put up a new article. Next time I’m planning to schedule them all…hopefully will manage to do so 😉
Hey thanks T! Ahah I think we all blog during vacation don’t we? I feel like my life isn’t complete if I’m not blogging, ahah.
AWWWW Ruth!!!
Flixy was the first site I commented on and then also replied to one of my posts. THE nicest Movie blogger on the web… END OF!!
I love her dearly and is in a small handful of bloggers I call true friends.
XX
I didn’t know that this site suddenly turned into a place for love letters 😉
Awwwwwww… well the feeling is mutual matey. I’m so verklempt now 😀
Ruth ROCKS!!!!
End of Message.
Well you too, Jack… your knowledge of films put me to shame, really! Thanks man.
I love your blog, Ruth! So many knowledge in it, the topics are specific and like you said, not just about movies but the aspects too. And I do love how you always take time to comment all your visitor’s comment (which are a LOT), that’s just so great. Now I know I’m normal since I tend to miss my blog a lot too 😉
Your favorites have lots of classics, you know I love Roman Holiday.
Great job, Nostra!
Thank you, thank you… very sweet of you to say Andina. I do LOVE responding to comments, and really what’s sweeter than that for a movie blogger. So yeah I do take the time and it’s so worth it.
Thanks Nostra for featuring me… this just goes to show why I call you the King of all blog series, ahah. I love getting to know more about my blogging friends, so THANK YOU for taking the time to organize this, you rock man!
Btw Nostra, I think the link to the autographed pics for Christopher Reeve is missing, here it is: http://flixchatter.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/chrisreeveautographedpics.jpg in case anyone is interested 😀
I still think it’s the coolest title I’ve ever been given. I don’t care about the IMDB hitlist, king of all blog series is way cooler 😉
Yay Ruth … Nice interview girl!!
Thanks Raghav!
Nice one! Another blog I hadn’t come across!
I haven’t heard of yours either, Pete, so thanks Nostra for ‘introducing’ us to each other 🙂
Sweeeeet. FlixChatter is awesome! One of the best movie blogs around, no doubt, and Ruth is a pretty terrific person as well. Great feature!
Why thanks Eric, your blog ain’t too shabby yourself, man 🙂
One of the great movie blogs in this world! Not enough can be said of what Ruth was able to do over at FlixChatter: Great community, well-written content and exciting topics to discuss!
Keep up the good fight Ruth 😀
Horay for Ruth 🙂
Have I told you that you are the one that made me apart of movie bloggers community? After finding your post on Irish actors, I got to know more great movie bloggers out there. Thank you Ruth 🙂
Hear hear!! me too!!
Maybe you can get his autograph from someone’s collection 😉
I’m sorry I’m late to the party but I agree with all of the above: FlixChatter is a very well written, interesting and informative blog that I love reading 😀
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