2000

I spent last night surrounded by about a dozen friends, watching a classic film I’d never heard of before. After about twenty minutes, it was clear that this film was going to stick with me for a long time, and that everyone in the room was feeling the same way I was.

This is why I never tire of film.

As much as it’s an insular experience and a passive form of entertainment and recreation, it has the ability to inspire and delight. It has the ability to bring people together.

For me personally, film has inspired, delighted, and brought me together with some great people for quite some time now: two thousand posts worth! (Yeah, I was surprised too)

That’s right folks – tomorrow will mark the 2000th post I write here at The Matinee.

I’m not going to do a whole lot of waxing poetic about where this site has come from and what it means to me now. I got to do enough of that last autumn when I passed five years of writing and my 1000th post in a row within a span of about six weeks. What I do want to do is take a moment to express how fortunate I am to have met the people I have.

Keeping up this site has brought so many people into my orbit. Some of them are professionals that push me, some are personal friends that inspire and support me. Some of them have spent terabytes worth of IM”s, DM’s, emails and the like arguing and discussing films we individually love and hate. Others have spent hours and countless pints of alcohol getting into good-natured arguments about what is good and bad about the films we see. There have been dvd’s traded back and forth, gifts given, movie tickets handed over, and above all countless hours spent in the company of people who make me happy.

As it happens, I was emailing one of them yesterday in anticipation of this post. This person (who shall remain nameless) used the phrase “internet friend”. It struck a chord, because I know I’ve used the term “film-going friend” myself. However, yesterday I pointed out to this person the true blessing in meeting so many “film-going” people and “internet” people. The blessing is that several times over now, I have spent so much time with some of these people, that the adjective gets dropped. While I have amassed an influx of film-going friends and internet friends through running this site, I’ve been lucky enough to make a handful of friends.

There’s a saying out there that you don’t make a whole lot of new friends in life after you get out of school…so to have found myself so many in the last five years makes me a truly lucky person.

That’s the true reward for sitting down as often as I do to write about what I’ve watched, should have watched, want to watch, loved watching, hated watching, or think you should watch again, or should have watched a long time ago.

The reward is the people I have met. Some are at my home so often they might as well own a key, some I haven’t been face-to-face with, some I might never meet due to geographical limits, some of them make my workday much more enjoyable, and some I happily bump into anytime I’m frequenting a movie theatre of choice. They make me happier than I can express in this space, and have taught me the meaning of true community.

So, in honour of clicking “publish” for the 2000th time, I want to thank my friends. They encourage me, they make every day a joy, they point me towards great things, they tell me when I’m wrong (which is often), and they never tire of sitting around in the dark for two-hour blocks to watch flickering lights.

Thank-you – I’m a better person for having met you.

And so – as has been the tradition around these parts, when a milestone is celebrated, a film must be chosen in its honour. This time around, in honour of the people who have inspired me, I’ve decided to go with a movie that likewise inspires me.

So one last time, thanks for getting me to 1999 posts, and please come back tomorrow to read about a special selection for my 2000th entry.

21 Replies to “Long Road: Reflecting on 2000 Posts”

  4. Lovely post Ryan, and congrats! I’m also continually grateful for the amazing people I’ve been able to converse with and sometimes physically meet due to my blog and twitter. I say “internet friend” and I wonder if it’s too forward to switch some of those people to just “friend”, then I realize some of these other bloggers are people I’ve been chatting with online for several years! So “friend” seems appropriate.

    Looking forward to your special post tomorrow!

  7. Happy 2000! That’s funny you mention the term “internet friend.” When I was tweeting during the Oscars, someone asked me who I was talking too, and I was going to say internet friends, but I paused and said “film friends” instead. That way it doesn’t sound like we found eachother in some creepy chatroom in the dark corner of the net or something. lol

  8. This very topic came up last night as I spent time in the company of Sean & Maureen Wraight. Sean handed me a beautifully crafted collection of burned CDs & DVDs that comprise his selection of “Best of 2011” music. Along with his blog, it’s his passion as much as film is yours, and I commented on that, the passion for art that propels people to spread the word, however best they can. It manifests differently for everyone. Your contribution to the world of film is a daily insight that few can hold a candle to.

    And Sean asked me if this is all you do, if this is a paid job, and I said “no, he does it for the pure love of film”. And he admires your daily devotion. As do I. There’s not many that have that stamina or passion.

    Congratulations on getting to 2000.

  10. You are as modest ever in thanking those who have encouraged and inspired you. On behalf of those you have encouraged and inspired, I count myself among them, I would like to thank you.

  14. Congratulations my internet friend! So many true words here! Meeting new people, making friends, at your or my age is certainly rare and a blessing. Here’s to many more posts to come! Cheers!

  15. Hmmm. To me, “internet friend” has a more bittersweet connotation because it means that even though I consider this person a friend, I’ve never met them in real life. And since I don’t travel as much as I used to, chances are I may never meet them. Still, I like the way you’re able to see the positive in the phrase.

    I just posted my 600th post today and I consider that an effort in itself, so I bow to your superior blogging skills.

  20. Congrats on the achievement! I’m curious about this classic film you watched that’s going to stick with you for a long time…

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