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Brandon Harris

Tell us about your blog.

I created Cinema Echo Chamber on January 1st, 2006 and for most of that year I rarely posted at all. Through a variety of different opportunities I had the chance to consume new movies more easily and access to filmmakers. In 2007, I began to devote the blog to incisive reviews (hopefully), festival coverage, the occasional interview with intriguing, underexposed filmmakers, and when provoked, more penetrating, broader cultural criticism, especially as it pertains to film.

How would you describe your readers? Do you have much contact with the people who read you?

I wouldn't begin to know how to describe my readers in great detail. Something about the anonymousness of a readership appeals to a certain part of me. Certainly I know that my closest friends, other bloggers, filmmakers, the occasional irate family member, all read my blog from time to time. Perhaps some readers just come across it on a search engine. We don't do a tremendous amount of traffic and I certainly don't cater my site too the broadest audience. It's nice to occasionally run into someone or receive an email, usually from a filmmaker or someone who thinks about film seriously, and have them respond to a piece I've written or just offer general words of encouragement.

Tell us how – and why – you started your blog?

I used Blogger. It was relatively easy and I, at least initially (and still to some degree), wasn't overly concerned with the aesthetic of the site, so much as the written content. I'd studied and written criticism of cinema and theatre for most of the decade. I knew I wanted a venue to write about cinema frequently, with less academic rigor and greater panache than I had previously. But I was preoccupied with transitioning out of academia, finishing and exhibiting my most recent short film and finding work where I could. I started it because of the desire to express my myriad feelings about films, how they effect me, how they effect us, what they mean. Sometimes I don't know how I really feel about a film, or any subject for that matter, until I write about it.

Describe your blog day – do you work at home? Go to a café? Sit in an office?

I don't have a "blog day" really. I don't blog everyday. I blog when I can, in a variety of different circumstances, often depending on what I'm writing about or what mood I'm in. I've blogged while sitting in my underpants, at cafes, in offices, hotel rooms, lobbies, airplanes, terminals, and the occasional restaurant.

How do you find things to blog about and how do you decide that an entry is worth being in your blog?

A lot of the reviews that end up on my blog are assignments I get from the National Board of Review. They awarded my short Happiness is no fun with a student grant a few years ago. I'm currently a member of their screening group. Many of the reviews that appear on my site ultimately appear on their site as well. Other stuff just comes to me — if I see a provocative film, especially one that hasn't been written about to my knowledge, I write about it. If I meet a filmmaker whose work I find particularly interesting, I might ask to interview them. Yet, I'm constantly asking myself that question, what is worth being on my blog?

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What is your favorite blog entry?

After Antonioni died last year, I wrote a piece on his career that I'm fond of, I suppose. It's a riff on a paper I wrote a few years ago. It pays special attention to his representations of blackness throughout his career and specifically in Zabriskie Point, while positing The Passenger as a corrective of the earlier film's fascinating if boneheaded vision of radical politics.

What was your most popular/controversial blog entry?

I don't think I've started any controversies yet, but a lot of people seemed to appreciate my review of Evening.

Is blogging the new path to fame and fortune?

Absolutely not. Or, if it is, someone has yet to inform me of how.

What separates journalism from blogging?

Increasingly, very little, as journalistic standards have plummeted and the resourcefulness and seriousness of a number of bloggers has lent them credibility. It would be nice to have an attentive editor for everything I write though, one of the things that "real" journalism offers. Also, who likes reading on a computer screen all the time?

Who are the bloggers that you read religiously?

Got to give the man his props, David Hudson's Greencine Daily tops the charts. One day someone will make a biopic about him called The Aggregator. I know this is starting to sound redundant, but the buck really does stop there first. Michaels Tully & Atkinson's blogs are fun, informative and appropriately personal. The House Next Door is terrific, especially the depth of their TV criticism. The Reeler is essential, as is David Carr's annual Carpetbagger blog. I check out Spoutblog to make sure the new sincerity is still alive and poisoning many of us, although despite the editorial emphasis, the writing and many of the gags are terrific for sure. Esotica Erotica Psychotica catches my eye from time to time. I always plan to get around to reading blogs by folks as disparate as Mark Cuban, Glenn Kenny, Scott Kirsner and David Bordwell but never seem to, however much I like what I do end up reading on their sites every once in awhile.

How has your life changed because of your blog? Has it gone in any new directions because of your newfound prominence?

Not much at all. I still have the same joys, concerns, and desires I did as before. It's nice to know I have a small audience for some of my thoughts. I do find that comforting somehow, but beyond that, it's business as usual.