ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF...

Continuing with the not-directly-related-to-films posts...

With Kimberly's recent post over at the always wonderful Cinebeats, I've realized there's a certain satisfaction I get out of knowing what the author of whatever I'm reading looks like. It's certainly arbitrary and doesn't affect my reading in the least, but as I'm a visual person, photographic documentation helps me to posit whatever it is that I'm reading at least partially as a dialogue. I guess, more accurately, it helps me to posit the idea that there is a person behind the writing, even though, as Kimberly points out, I also like the writing to speak for itself.

And I also realized that I haven't revealed anything about myself in this blog outside of my blogger profile which simply states, "Photography student with an interest in film, literature, contemporary art, and "underground" culture." True, but also fairly vague. So allow me to indulge in myself for a bit and expand!

As the "About Me" says, I'm currently an undergraduate student in the process of getting my BFA in Photography at Northern Illinois University. I'm also currently minoring in English for the purposes of creative writing. I'm 21 years old and only have a few semesters left before I'll be applying to graduate schools; though for what, I'm not exactly sure yet.

I'd say my interest in film is pretty obvious (I mean, that is what this blog is all about!), but I'll just add that I've been more or less obsessed with films (starting out with American horror flicks) since I was about 13 years old and I got my own TV/VCR combo. I had loved movies before this, but getting a viewing location of my own allowed me to start developing a much more personal taste.

In regards to the all encompassing "literature" that I proclaim my interest in: Aside from film books--that I read religiously (which, I will undoubtedly be posting about my favorite film-related books in the future)-- I am also very into the nouveau roman and new narrative "movements," specifically the authors Alain Robbe-Grillet, Robert Pinget, Marguerite Duras, Camille Roy, Dennis Cooper, and Kathy Acker. Other favorite authors include Georges Bataille (of course!), Peter Sotos, Michel Houellebecq, Pauline Reage (yes yes, I know 'she' has been revealed as Dominique Aury/Anne Desclos, but I refuse to change my associations!), William Burroughs, and many, many more! (Okay, okay, I'll admit it; at least in terms of writing I'm a bit of a Francophile!)

It's also probably fairly apparent that I have an almost obsessive interest in art, with some of my favorite (non-film) artists including John Duncan, Gottfried Helnwein, Marina Abramovic, Hans Bellmer, Thomas Ruff, Félix González-Torres, bookartist Keith Smith, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Gunter Brus, Robert Rauschenberg, Jean-Jacques Lequeu, Guy Bourdin, Robert Flynt, Yves Klein, Gregor Schneider, and Vito Acconci. Of course, this is another list that could be potentially endless, so I'll stop for the moment!

And now that I've endlessly listed my interest, I'll leave it at that. Hello! How are you?