Humble Thanks, Hubristic Plans

So if you squint a little over at the twin Followers bars, you’ll note they’ve collectively reached one hundred followers.

I’m really blown away.

Anyone who blogs knows that it’s a bit like playing tennis in a void. You hit the ball, send it sailing past over the vanishing point, and stand there wondering for quite awhile whether you’ve made a complete fool out of yourself.

You might have to wait along while sending out balls in other directions, or in the same one. You hit harder. You try try again.

It’s nothing less then an act of faith.

And then just when you’ve given up, you hear a crack, and that long lost ball comes sailing back at you from some point unknown over the horizon. You are so shocked you don’t know how to react.

I’ve seen that ball fly back at me a hundred times now. And it never gets any less exhilarating.

So thank you. And I mean that as sincerely as I can. Thank you to everyone who has ever taken the time to click that follow button, or leave a comment, or just drop by. I can’t tell you how much it has meant to me. I really can’t.

And now that the humblings out of the way the hubris can begin.

I’m planning a Christopher Nolan Blogothon to run from July 11 to the 17th. Starting with The Following, I will cover every one of his films, culminating with the release of Inception. I hope to get articles from various people and various viewpoints. The articles can cover anything; his career as a whole, a particular film, or just a particular aspect of Nolan.

I know a two month lead time may strike some of you as excessive, but I’m still a relatively small blog and would like to have actual articles to post during the blogothon and have, y’know people actually read them. So I figure with a two month lead people will have time to write some stuff up, set it aside, and get the word out.

As you may recall from my review of The Prestige in which I named it my fourth favorite films of the decade; I think Nolan is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today and utterly unique in his position of power and influence among today’s filmmakers. Are there more interesting filmmakers then Nolan working today? Perhaps. But none with his canvas, and none with his ability to sell a vision as idiosyncratic as his, to a mass audience.

I find him one of the most intriguing filmmakers working today. And with his seventh film his body of work becomes big enough to be looked at as a whole. It seems the perfect time to do it. And I feel like as an event it could be really special.

The only question is, do I have the platform yet?

This is the most ambitious thing I’ve done with this blog. And its entirely possible I’ve bitten off more then I can chew.

As I said, if you clicked that follow button I owe you. Pure and Simple.

But I need to be selfish and ask for your help again. If you have a blog, I’d love for you to participate. If you can’t or aren’t I understand but hope you will post one of my banners anyway. I want to make this work, and with your help I think I can.

"When I started to follow people, specific people, when I selected a person to follow, that's when the trouble started."

"How can I heal if I can't forget?"

"You and I share a secret. We know how easy it is to kill someone. That ultimate taboo. It doesn't exist outside our own minds."

"You traveled the world. Now you must journey inwards. To what you really fear. It's inside you. There is no turning back."

"Mankind's grasp exceeds his imagination."

"You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other."

"What's the most resilient parasite? An Idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules."

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If you could link your banners to the following URL I'd very much appreciate it.

http://thingthatdontsuck.blogspot.com/2010/05/humble-thanks-hubristic-plans.html

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Anyway, whether you’ve pressed one of the follow buttons or not. Whether you, took a banner or not. If you’re reading this that means I have only one thing to say to you.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.