Focus Features

Tell us about your blog.

On my blog I announce to visitors that Cinebeats "chronicles one woman's love affair with '60s & '70s era cinema" and that's really encapsulates what my blog is all about. I started writing it purely out of love for the films I enjoy and I wanted to share my enthusiasm and appreciation for many older neglected and forgotten movies with other film fans.

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

My readers seem to be an extremely diverse bunch. They range in age from 16 to 65 and come from all types of backgrounds. I have a large international readership since I write about foreign films a lot and I really appreciate that. I've heard from readers located in countries as diverse as India, Japan, France, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Britain and from all over the U.S. which has really surprised me. I enjoy chatting with other film fans about movies so I try to respond to every comment I receive at Cinebeats but that's not always possible.

Tell us how and why you started your blog?

I've been a film lover for as long as I can remember. I've also always enjoyed writing and researching topics I'm interested in. When I was a teenager I wrote for my school newspaper and as I got older I started writing for zines and small publications. Blogging seemed like an easy way to combine my love for movies, research and writing. I first began blogging using livejournal in 2001 and I started a horror film community there a year or two later. I met some nice people there but I don't really care for chat boards or livejournal's blogging system so I left livejournal in 2005 and moved over to Blogsome a few years ago after hunting around online for free blogging services that allowed users to customize the look of their blog. Since I'm also interested in graphic design and occasionally dabble in visual arts myself I wanted to be able to give my blog a look that visitors might remember. For someone like myself who sort of grew up writing for and publishing zines, blogging was really the next natural step for me to take and I think the web is a great tool for self-publishing. I love the idea that anyone with a little ingenuity and the urge to write can start a blog.

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

I don't really have a regular blog day since I'm currently writing for myself mostly as a hobby so I tend to surf the web and write blog posts whenever I can find some free time. I've suffered from insomnia my entire life so I'm often writing my blog posts at 2am in my pajamas or on weekends and my days off when I like to lounge around my apartment in socks, sweatpants and old t-shirts.

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

I write first and foremost for myself and I hope that potential readers might find my posts interesting. I have readers who only enjoy reading about the horror films I write about and Asian film fans who only enjoy reading about the Japanese films I've covered and I'm sure they find my other blog posts rather boring. My own tastes are rather eclectic and that's reflected in the films I choose to write about at Cinebeats. I never suffer from a lack of ideas. There are hundreds of movies I'd love to write about and directors and actors I'd like to cover but finding the free time and focus needed to write worthwhile posts can be tough.

What is your favorite blog entry?

I'm not sure that I have a favorite single post. I always enjoy writing about films that haven't been covered much and have often gone overlooked or under-appreciated over the years. Recently I wrote about Joseph Losey's much maligned and misunderstood Boom!, which generated some interesting feedback. Since Losey is one of my favorite directors I enjoyed writing about that film a lot.

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Tell us about your blog.

On my blog I announce to visitors that Cinebeats "chronicles one woman's love affair with '60s & '70s era cinema" and that's really encapsulates what my blog is all about. I started writing it purely out of love for the films I enjoy and I wanted to share my enthusiasm and appreciation for many older neglected and forgotten movies with other film fans.

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

My readers seem to be an extremely diverse bunch. They range in age from 16 to 65 and come from all types of backgrounds. I have a large international readership since I write about foreign films a lot and I really appreciate that. I've heard from readers located in countries as diverse as India, Japan, France, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Britain and from all over the U.S. which has really surprised me. I enjoy chatting with other film fans about movies so I try to respond to every comment I receive at Cinebeats but that's not always possible.

Tell us how and why you started your blog?

I've been a film lover for as long as I can remember. I've also always enjoyed writing and researching topics I'm interested in. When I was a teenager I wrote for my school newspaper and as I got older I started writing for zines and small publications. Blogging seemed like an easy way to combine my love for movies, research and writing. I first began blogging using livejournal in 2001 and I started a horror film community there a year or two later. I met some nice people there but I don't really care for chat boards or livejournal's blogging system so I left livejournal in 2005 and moved over to Blogsome a few years ago after hunting around online for free blogging services that allowed users to customize the look of their blog. Since I'm also interested in graphic design and occasionally dabble in visual arts myself I wanted to be able to give my blog a look that visitors might remember. For someone like myself who sort of grew up writing for and publishing zines, blogging was really the next natural step for me to take and I think the web is a great tool for self-publishing. I love the idea that anyone with a little ingenuity and the urge to write can start a blog.

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

I don't really have a regular blog day since I'm currently writing for myself mostly as a hobby so I tend to surf the web and write blog posts whenever I can find some free time. I've suffered from insomnia my entire life so I'm often writing my blog posts at 2am in my pajamas or on weekends and my days off when I like to lounge around my apartment in socks, sweatpants and old t-shirts.

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

I write first and foremost for myself and I hope that potential readers might find my posts interesting. I have readers who only enjoy reading about the horror films I write about and Asian film fans who only enjoy reading about the Japanese films I've covered and I'm sure they find my other blog posts rather boring. My own tastes are rather eclectic and that's reflected in the films I choose to write about at Cinebeats. I never suffer from a lack of ideas. There are hundreds of movies I'd love to write about and directors and actors I'd like to cover but finding the free time and focus needed to write worthwhile posts can be tough.

What is your favorite blog entry?

I'm not sure that I have a favorite single post. I always enjoy writing about films that haven't been covered much and have often gone overlooked or under-appreciated over the years. Recently I wrote about Joseph Losey's much maligned and misunderstood Boom!, which generated some interesting feedback. Since Losey is one of my favorite directors I enjoyed writing about that film a lot.

What was your most popular/controversial blog entry?

My most popular entry was one I wrote about Pinky Violence last year. The most controversial post I've written was probably my brief appreciation of the Italian actress Edwige Fenech. In that post I mentioned that I was looking forward to seeing Eli Roth's film Hostel Part II, which she appeared in. The discussion that started on my blog was carried over to other blogs and I still occasionally get nasty emails or backhanded comments from people who seem to loath Eli Roth and his Hostel films. I personally don't understand the negative response to Roth's Hostel films since I've been a horror film fan my entire life and there's nothing new in Roth's Hostel films that I haven't seen before and executed in a much more graphic fashion.

Is blogging the new path to fame and fortune?

In my experience fame and fortune are usually the result of your family name, who you know, how many asses you've kissed and pure luck. I'm sure there are probably bloggers that currently are or will become famous and wealthy, but at the moment I'm not one of them.

What separates journalism from blogging?

I've always seen blogging as the evolution of the zine culture that really blossomed in the 80s'. Many of my favorite film related publications throughout the years started life as zines such as Psychotronic, Video Watchdog and Asian Trash Cinema. I enjoyed them because they were independent publications and they covered films and movie genres rarely mentioned in more established film magazines. The differences between journalists and bloggers seem to be diminishing and I think that's partly due to the fact that a lot of the general public has lost trust in corporate owned and operated publications. Many people are finally realizing that they're not as trustworthy or knowledgeable as they may have appeared to be in the past so they're looking for their news and film reviews elsewhere. Professional journalists have to deal with the good and bad aspects of editors and deadlines, as well as the expectations of advertisers and regular readers. On the other hand, a lot of blogs seem to be turning into group efforts and hopefully they're able to offer editorial help to one another. I know I often wish I had another set of eyes to help me spell check my posts and correct my grammar and punctuation mistakes or fact check a few of the pieces I've written. A lot of blogs also seem to be filling space with ads and many bloggers seem extremely concerned with their audience or reader expectations, which seems kind of strange to me personally but that's probably because I approach my own blog like a personal zine. I think as time goes by the differences between professional journalists and bloggers will diminish even more.

Who are the bloggers that you read religiously?

I have a hard time keeping up with all the film related blogs I enjoy reading but some of them include the Greencine Daily, Video Watchblog, Esotika Erotica Psychocotica, I'm in a Jess Franco State of Mind, Scanners, Girish, Moon in the Gutter, Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, Cinema Styles, Arbogast on Film, Cinedelica, Cinema Retro, Impossible Funky, The Horror Blog, Flickhead, The Evening Class, Hell on Frisco Bay and Coffee, Coffee and More Coffee. There aren't many female bloggers currently writing about films but I also try to regularly keep up with my fellow female bloggers such as Final Girl, Ferdy on Films, Sunset Gun and The Self-Styled Siren.

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

I don't consider myself a prominent figure in the blogging community but I'm really grateful that you recognize me in that capacity. I take my writing more seriously now that I'm blogging regularly and it's helped me hone my varied interests a bit. I've also met some really nice people thanks to my blog and I appreciate that. I've been thrilled to discover Cinebeats mentioned by publications such as The Guardian in the U.K. and The Boston Globe, but my favorite moments since starting my blog have been when I hear from a director I admire such as Peter Whitehead or Stuart Cooper after writing about their work. Or when I celebrate an actor or actress I really like such as Ingrid Pitt and she takes the time to send me a note of thanks. And lastly, exchanging notes with film critics and writers I admire like Adrian Martin and Tim Lucas is always a thrill and I'm very grateful that they've taken the time to respond to some of the things I've written.