The Versatile Blogger Award

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13 July 2010 10 Comments

It is always nice to get recognition for your efforts from fellow writers. I recently discovered the sites of Peter Eramo (Magic Lantern Film Blog) and Ruth Maramis (FlixChatter) and have followed their updates ever since. These two kind-hearted souls saw it fit to nominate Top10Films for the Versatile Blogger Award (which you will all know about because you’ve probably been nominated yourself). As is protocol with these sorts of things I have to nominate several sites myself. Had Ruth and Peter not been the givers of said prize I would have certainly nominated them.

And the rules are:
1- Thank the person who gave you this award
2- Share 7 things about yourself
3- Pass the award along to 15 who you think fantastic for whatever reasons! (if not 15, as many as you can)
4- Contact the blogs you picked and let them know about the award.

Another request of the award is to post 7 things about yourself that you think will be of interest to others. No. 1 – I’m not very interesting so that makes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 very tough indeed.

But I could tell you my earliest memory of being in a cinema was when I was six years old. The only way I can tell I was six years old is because I was born in 1983, and the film I was watching – “Back To The Future Part 2” – was released in 1989! It’s become my way of working out when I first saw certain movies during my childhood – little memories that help determine the time and date. I remember seeing “Back To The Future Part 2” in the theatre so distinctly – it was in an old two-screen theatre in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. The theatre is gone now – replaced by a bar and club. The last film I saw there was 1993 when my mum, sister, and grandma went to see “Jurassic Park”. That film scared Nana particularly badly, if I recall correctly.

But speaking of memories determining when I saw particular films, case in point would be James Cameron’s “Aliens”. I was seven when I first saw it. I know this because me and mum watched it in our living room, sitting on our settee that was covered in a dust sheet because the cushions were in the process of being recovered. A few days later the guy who was re-covering the settee asked my mum out on a date and they were together for the next decade.

How many ‘interesting’ things is that?

Anyway, I’ve started reading so many new and long-running blogs it’s difficult to choose just a few to nominate for the award. That said, I think 15 is probably too many. Most of my favourite sites already know how brilliant they are (and have probably had multiple nominations). A few quick honourable mentions to Anomalous Material (the best film-based community blog out there), M. Carter at the Movies (The Lamby-winning best film critic), RossvRoss, Nevermind Pop Film, Cut The Crap Movie Reviews, Encore’s World of Film and TV, Heather and the Movie Mobsters, Alex the Film Forager, Darren’s The Movie Blog, Olive’s Movie News First, Paragraph Film Reviews, Natsukashi, and Will’s Silver Emulsion.

But my nominations go to the four best sites I’ve recently discovered:

James Ewing’s Cinema Sights
Sasha James’s The Final Girl Project
Ronan Wright’s Filmplicity
Caitlin’s 1,416 and Counting

10 Comments »

Ronan said:

Thanks for the nod Dan, it’s much appreciated. I’ll refer you to a previous acceptance post I did for an earlier versatile blogger award. http://filmplicity.com/2010/06/waffley-versatile/ Thanks again Dan.

# 13 July 2010 at 4:58 pm

Sasha said:

You’re a sweetheart. Thanks for the mention.

# 13 July 2010 at 5:02 pm

Heather said:

Hooray you versatile blogger!

I can see how Aliens would bring people together. teehee.

# 13 July 2010 at 6:41 pm

Caitlin said:

Thank you so much! Very cool to be on the list.

# 14 July 2010 at 12:44 am

Shubhajit Lahiri said:

Congrats!!!

# 14 July 2010 at 2:26 pm

Castor said:

Thanks for the tag Dan. We already have been tagged multiple times and have unfortunately run out of 7 movie facts about ourselves lol

# 15 July 2010 at 7:51 am

Dan said:

@Ronan: No problem Ronan, keep up the good work!

@Sasha: Love the site Sasha. Just hope you will give Rosemary’s Baby another chance to impress!

@Heather: Yeah, Aliens has so many qualities as we know so well. Of course, not many know that it’s also a great date movie! Haha!

@Caitlin: No problem. Enjoyed your recent podcast – keep them coming.

@Shubhajit: Thank you. I should have mentioned above. Shubhajit’s site is also an excellent read – crisp, to the point, and well-informed reviews. Check it out at: http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/

@Castor: I thought you had! By the way Castor, it was nice learning about the background to AM on Marshall’s Origins interview. Very surprised the site has been fully film orientated for just six months. For someone visiting the site for the first time you’d think it had been film-related all its life!

# 15 July 2010 at 11:09 am

rtm said:

Thanks for doing this, Dan, you versatile blogger you!

That’s cool that you see Jurassic Park with your family. Boy, my grannie would’ve been scared of that too! Good thing you didn’t take ‘em to Aliens though, she might’ve fainted!

# 15 July 2010 at 3:53 pm

Dan said:

@rtm: Oh yeah, she would have hated Aliens! My Nana’s favourite movies were Sound of Music and Titanic – she definitely didn’t like horror. But, she did watch Jaws many times when she looked after me and my sister as children because we were too afraid to see the film alone.

# 15 July 2010 at 4:05 pm