New Year’s Resolutions For 2013 – Follow Your Dreams

Welcome to my last post of the year.

2012 has been a very good year for me. My blog has grown in terms of views, recognition and content. It reflects the completion of the resolutions I made last year.

Here were my resolutions for 2012:

My resolutions for 2012

• In 2012, I’ll watch Eiichi Kudo’s 13 Assassins! – as suggested by m from Wildgrounds in my last post,
• In 2012, I’ll try and formalise my review structure – there have been different variations and my early reviews didn’t even have scores (gasp),
• In 2012, I’ll start a chanbara season (a bit of a no-brainer and an excuse to watch my DVD of Gohatto more than once),
• In 2012, I’ll spotlight directors, films and film distributors and try and bring a much more rigorous approach to reviews,
• In 2012, I’ll get more involved with film culture by going to festivals,
• In the first week of 2012, I will pick the Spring season anime I will watch and finish them quickly instead of dragging them out over a year,
• In 2012, I’ll practice writing my Kanji every day and not once a week,
• In 2012, I’ll try not to bore you… and I’ll try to get a handle on commas…

I got nearly all of them done!

This shows me that I am less lackadaisical and becoming much more organised much like Kondo from Key of Life!

I have organised a review format which I believe works well. I have focussed on directors and films with my seasons dedicated to Shinya Tsukamoto, and two for Sion Sono and a number for Korean films and Christmas. On top of covering film festivals I also went to the 56^th BFI London Film Festival. All of these things have been fun to do and have allowed me to meet new people. I also practiced Kanji every day and the results showed in a test where I aced the Kanji section! Since change is always inevitable I have also done other things… While blogging I have got into the habit of updating quite a lot – adding extra trailers and pictures and making sure they are still there. I have updated various parts of the blog including my Top Ten Films, Notable Director and Film Review Archives, but there are still some ancient areas such as my About page which may be changed.

I am happy with the progress that has been made, especially on the film front as I feel that I am watching great films and informing the world about them in my own little way. This has allowed me to meet all sorts of people and that has been a lot of fun.

That there are always changes that can be made goes without saying and they will be made. I really need to make something of my podcast and I should be a lot more adventurous with the way I present things. I may also drop the number of times I post a week. Towards the end of the year I found it a bit much having to write six times a week and I want to maintain quality.

I would like to thank everyone who has visited my blog and commented on it and I hope you continue to come back.

Anyway, part of 2013 will be continuing on past resolutions. Indeed, you could say that part of the battle will be just to continue that future.

Now we come to the most important bit:

My resolutions for 2013

• In 2013, I will go to Japan and blog from there (like Sadako’s Movie Shack!),
• In 2013, I will have a season dedicated to Hideo Nakata, Takashi Shimizu and Beat Takeshi,
• In 2013, I will review some older Japanese films,
• In 2013, I will write articles in different styles than the usual format,
• In 2013, I will speak Japanese and write Japanese every day and try and hook up with more Japanese friends to practice my conversational skills,
• In 2013, I will review more anime,
• In 2013, I will submit more reviews to the Korean blogathon,
• In 2013, I will attend more film festivals,
• In 2013, I will try not to bore you.

 

Happy New Year!