A Love Letter to Book and Movie Blog Reviewers

Dear book and movie review bloggers,

As previously mentioned, I hate book reviews. But I love books. And movies. I find myself searching out movie reviews after watching each random film Netflix or Amazon Prime or my parents' borrowed Comcast Xfinity sucks me into, an observer of conversations that took place long ago.  Some people seem to feel like there's a glut of opinions online, like Rotten Tomatoes' offering of "regular folks" opinions via blog is an unnecessary addition to the professional reviews which precede them. But. If you're watching a random movie from fifteen years ago, the regular media has dumped those links that promise reviews. It's nothing but 404 messages ad infinitum.  

Bloggers aren't constrained by the concerns of the regular media. Their reviews shine brightly years and years after they first appeared. So, by extension, I would like to extend my hand to book reviewers. Although not as subject to turnover as film, the splashing out of opinion about books is a gift to one who wants to listen to a conversation about a book she just finished at 2 a.m. 

What did I do before all this? As a child of the '90s, this constant access to information is something that has bricked over the past. I swim easily in the sea, forgetting how I used to do things. So what was different? I saw more movies with other people. Watching VHS or DVD releases was a thing. It's still a thing, and a much more accessible one, with Redboxes outside every WalMart. 

Happy New Year: Questions for the Future

(Image courtesy of dullhunk)

Happy New Year! In thinking about 2011, I’m struck by all  the long standing questions that were answered.  For example, will Muammar Gaddafi ever lose power? (Yes, and his life, too). Will Osama Bin Laden ever be found? (Yup, and killed, too. I’m sensing a theme here). Other answers were to more personal questions, like will I ever write (and by that I mean finish) a novel? Yes!  And no one died in the process!

Ever since I was a little kid, one of the things that’s fascinated me about the concept of the future is the things that might happen that I don’t know about yet. I wondered what I would be when I grew up, whether I would get married or have children, and where I would live. I knew that my future self would have the answers to these questions.  

I don’t believe that anything is destined or meant to be, so I knew that the actions I took would generate the answers. But I still really wanted to be able to know the things that my future selves would know. Some of my childhood questions have been definitively answered for me.  The answers to other have shifted over the years, so that the only response possible is like the one that comes out of the Magic 8 Ball—ask again later.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.  So instead of sharing a list of things I want to do in 2012, I’m going to be sharing the questions that I’d love to see answered this new year.  They'll be spread them out over the weeks. Some are questions related to interests of mine, like books, true crime, and pop culture. Others are more general. A few are personal.

I'm also going to share my predicted answers. At the end of the year, I’ll tally up which of the questions have been answered, and whether my present self was right. It feels a little like a competition between the me of 1/1/2011 and the me of 1/1/2012, and I have no idea who to bet on. Creepy.

The Questions:

Would Emily Dickinson have blogged?

 I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!

How public – like a Frog –

To tell one's name – the livelong June –

To an admiring Bog!

Now, I’m not trying to compare myself to Emily Dickinson.  But the big question is, can you be on the interwebs and still be a Nobody? After all, a blogger has to pose as a Somebody who others should read. 

Even more frightening is the idea that in transitioning from a Nobody to a Somebody, my half-baked thoughts will be preserved online. I’m envisioning the quarantine amber of Fringe here:

Image courtesy of MochaShakaKhan at http://fringe.wikia.com/wiki/Amber

As they say, the internet is forever.

So, I’m taking a leap of faith, and shedding invisibility.  I’m Tarah Dunn—writer, mom, reader, and pop culture junkie—and this is my blog.