General: Why do I blog?

I was recently asked the question: "Mike, why do you bother writing a blog? Nobody reads it anyway".

Let me deal with the latter statement first. Nobody reads it? Look at the 3000 pageviews per month. I can tell by the search terms used that find my blog that a lot of people are searching for downloads of films, not reviews, but I'm still confident that at least half of the hits are from people who really want to read my blog.

Now to the actual question. I have a few answers. One is that I like to discuss films. It's very enjoyable to watch a film with someone else, then sit and talk about it afterwards. Unfortunately I have very little opportunity to do so. I live with my daughter, but the last time we sat and watched a film together was six months ago. My original intention in writing a blog was to get feedback from my readers and start online discussions. This aim has been unsuccessful, I get very few comments.

I want to point out new films to my readers. Most people have their preferences, and they don't look much further. Some people only watch new films, i.e. what's in the cinema now. Others only watch action films, while others only watch romances. I like to show people that there are other films out there. There are many good foreign films, especially German. There are high quality pornographic films, good enough for people to overcome their prejudices.

But one big reason for this blog is that I like to think of it as a "footprint in the sand". One day I shall be dead, and all the people who knew me will be dead. I shall be gone and there will be no evidence that I ever existed. If I had lived 100 years ago there would have been no way to avoid this. Today we live in the information age. Whatever I write is stored. As time goes by the amount of data will grow exponentially and whatever I've written will disappear into archives. But it will still exist, and the chances are that one day 500 years from now a historian will find my words at random while researching. He will see my footprint in the sand, and even though he knows nothing about me my words will leave an impression.