[Editor’s Note: This site has not posted new content in over a year (as of 5/18/11) and is now considered a dead LAMB. A moment of silence please…]

URL: http://cheerfuld.blogspot.com/
Site Name: Do You Have a Flag?
Categories: Movie Reviews, News, Editorials, General, Images, Monthly columns, Weekly columns
Rating: Somewhere between PG and PG-13

What is the main focus of your site?
My blog focuses primarily on film reviews, but I also post movie news, and some television and theater reviews. Each film review follow a basic format with a rating (represented by the number of tickets). Then thoughts about the film (i.e. plot, technical aspects, characters, overall aesthetic, and sometimes info about the making of process, followed by a short and sweet section, and then favorite quotes at the end. I like to upload a lot film stills to make the blog as visual as possible, and I also like to post s lot of links. On average I see about 6-7 films a week, and often get to see early screenings, courtesy of my job as a development assistant for The Jacob Burns Film Center .

What are your blogging goals, personally and/or professionally? In other words, what, if anything, are you trying to get out your blog?
I started my blog because I wanted to keep my writing skills sharp after college, and because I love film (as evidenced by 300 strong DVD collection). I work in film, I spend a good deal of my free time watching films, and I love reading about films. Creating a blog seemed like the logical next step. I don’t have too much viewership as of yet, but I do have some regular readers from work, friends, and family. Most importantly, I write for me, even if I’m the only reading it. I know that in a few years, I’ll be able to look back over all my posts and remember how I felt at that time. There is real satisfaction that comes out of publishing your writing, and I don’t think that feeling will ever get old.

Do you prefer an interactive ‘community’ for your blog or are you the teacher and your readers are the students?
I would love to have more of an interactive community for my blog. Right now I feel like I don’t have enough readers to really promote that, but in the next month I am launching some more interactive features like polls, and an “create your own narrative” where I’ll post a series of stills from different films in a certain order, and people can write their own ideas of what is going on. It’s a work in progress right now.

How long have you been movie blogging for, and how frequent do you post updates to your site?
I have been blogging for about 4 months, and for the first 2, I was still getting a feel for it so I posted less. But now on average, I post 1-2 times a day.

Name up to three of your favorite movies (and no more).
– Hook
– Marie Antoinette
– Velvet Goldmine

How did you hear about the LAMB?
I saw the LAMB banner on another blogger’s website (Bitchin’ Film Reviews) and I knew I HAD to join!

Any additional comments, or give yourself an interview question that’s not listed above.
So my question to myself would be, “Why do you think people should read your blog specifically?”

Before I write most posts and reviews, I usually try and think about what kinds of things I look for in the blogs I like best. I like clean visuals, where everything is easy to read. I like to be able to navigate a review quickly so that if I need to skim, I can. I like to have links to people and films, and trailers. I like to see film images that maybe I haven’t seen before, and of course I look for quality and originality. Because I think about these things before each post, I think my blog represents everything that I look for as a blog reader, and that others will feel the same way.

Also, I want to add that I now am also a contributing writer to fellow LAMB Cut. Print. Review (#179) doing a weekly movie news/previews column for them.

Tags: dead lambs, Do You Have a Flag