Thank you!

Wow - so many new followers! I saw last night that Ebert mentioned my blog on his Facebook page (thanks so much, Roger!), and I was so touched by all of the nice comments that were posted. :) It pretty much made my weekend that he mentioned my little project, and to see how positively so many people responded to it. Ebert has definitely been a huge inspiration in my life - he changed the way I think about film, and I always have admired his writing. It's really exciting that he found my blog, and so meaningful that he likes it enough to share it with others. I feel so lucky!

I've been working on this project since December, and sometimes I've wondered if anyone was reading my posts, especially when I first started out. I often felt like I was just babbling to myself. It was sometimes difficult to keep working on this. I had to watch a lot of movies by myself, and sometimes I missed out on going out and all those sorts of things as a result. It's hard to find time during holidays or when relatives were in town to sneak off and watch a whole movie and write about it. I can't think of how many times I had to tell my friends I couldn't come out because I had a long movie to watch on a Saturday night. I'd ask them to come and join me for my film, but it's not like a lot of 20-somethings are jumping at the chance to watch French New Wave or whatever. At one point, one of my friends offered to join me for an old, silent movie I had to watch. "I'll be tired, though," he said, "so I probably would just sleep during it."

I'm starting a new full-time job on Monday, and I know that it's going to be a lot more challenging to work on my project now. I was worried about how difficult it might be, but reading so many supportive comments today (and over the last few weeks) has really made me determined to finish this, no matter what! I really appreciate all the kind words and interesting comments that you guys leave - it's so fun to read everyone's thoughts on all these wonderful movies. It also really motivates me to write, and it definitely keeps the project fun to work on. It can be easy to want to give up at times, when this project becomes frustrating, but knowing you guys are out there reading and watching keeps me going. Not to mention I don't want to let down Ebert :)