You thought I wouldn't get it up for today didn't you?
Actually I have a lot to get through here, so I'll get straight to it. I was talking last year about the present. ie; what I've achieved and how my goals for this web presence have evolved over its (almost 3 year) existence.

It all began when my first car blew up, I kid you not, it happened. From here, the blog seemed to develop itself as a leisure diary of sorts, the goal then was so that I had an account of what I did with my time (and even what I ate -- I think the goal there was that if I shared I might improve my diet, in a few weeks I stopped sharing that part) heh ;) I also threw in the occasional "Check this out" post, or a shout to a friend, or reflected on interesting/odd thoughts/conversations that I had. The blog was in essence an array of venting journal entries.

It soon found itself mutating into a large number of "I went to watch this & thought it was.." posts. So I helped it move along and made this part a little formal, (using the word as loosely as possible). I don't claim that 'all' my posts on films are to be interpreted as formal reviews. Actually on the most part, especially a lot of the earlier ones, they are just a captured expression of my afterthoughts of watching the film. Is that not the same thing? No. "I saw Blah-Di-Blah and I feel Bzzzzz" is not the same as a structured review. I think the first proper review I did was Kaal. It took me well over a year to do another decent review. The intermediate period got quite zany, I saw a whole bunch of films, as per usual, but the blog didn't really have a direction. I wasn't blogging all that I was watching & I hadn't set any ground rules for myself.

In Autumn of 2006, I went to my first film festival RD14, it's here that I realised that I should probably use this outlet more wisely, for it has scope to help with my longer term goals. As I gained more focus, posts started gaining more logical sense, rather than just Ram-sense. By the beginning of 2007, I had set myself a goal of getting more involved this year in the film festival circuits, this I achieved. The East End, Sci-fi-London, Cambridge and Raindance were the four I attended, at all of which I left my trademark impact in some way or another. I had also made a point of watching more (yes, it was possible) and ensuring that I wrote up every film that I saw at the cinema. That too I achieved. As well as this, Richard and Marina kindly got me more closely involved with Press Screenings and Junkets. This was a push in the direction I wanted to be going, so thank you both for that.

So the end of 2007 has come came ... and this time round I've decided to share my goals for the year with you beforehand .. so when I have a post of this nature next year, We can share the progression rather than just me gloating to myself. ;)

The film reviews and articles: Well, my posts with regards to my film watching shall continue as per usual. However I've identified in the past that there needs to be some sort of rating system, I've through the art of plagiarism thought up a couple of ideas that I could use, please 'do' comment as we go along on how this makes your reading experience, positive or negative alike. I will also try to do more structured reviews rather than stated snapshot thoughts, but no promises there.

As a number of things that I need to progress over the coming year, being realistic, some shall be achieved, some not. I'll focus clearly on the realistic goals, that way I'd be a total idiot if I fail:

Online Screenplay: I know that I haven't got a problem with doing the work at hand. I have a problem getting my act together and to keep doing it. The lack of motivation is the barrier that I am hoping to overcome here. In order to do this, I will build a screenplay here in front of you all. it will probably be one of my weaker works, but thats for first drafts are for. Did you know M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" had over 10 drafts before the film was actually even begun? Anyway, the main objective is that I complete a first draft within the year. Ofcourse, this won't be the only screenplay I'll be working on, just one I'm willing to have a bit of fun with.

At the end of year -- if you don't find a complete screenplay, with a beginning, middle and end (length: approximately 150 pages) than I have failed. This means around 3 pages each week, which is no real task at all you might think? I agree, but with my lack of complete & sale-able product over the last year, I see that one project being in the public eye will help me getting into the swing of things.

What does this mean for you, the reader?
I'm letting you read a first draft of one of my screenplays as it gets written. From beginning to end (of 1st draft). You'll be able to leave me feedback on what you read. I feel this 'may' have its merits too. I'll not tell you anything about it at this stage except a treatment has been completed, so I know where the story is going & I'm quite excited about it. Each week I shall update a .pdf file located here.

Vocabulary:
Considering my aspirations to sell what I write, I think it only makes sense that I should constantly be improving my vocabulary. As a bare minimum I'm going for 1 word a week. This means at the end of the year, provided I store these words in my RAM then I'll have 52 words more than I do now. Sounds pathetic huh? Only 52? Now imagine what how many I would have learnt if I didn't do this.

I will try to see to it that the words will be things I pickup from conversation, film quotes, or reading. Ideally words that are common but I didn't know. Worst case I'll search one out from Word of the Day but from experience these tend to be words nobody really uses unless they're showing off they're vocabulary.

What does this mean for you, the reader?
Each Wednesday, I shall post about the word I learnt over the last week, so be prepared to amuse yourselves as I name and shame myself into how ignorant I was. This will begin tomorrow. The fact hat I didn't know what this word meant is laughable, really. At least I've learnt now.

Other ongoing objectives that need more work, but may not be as immediate as he above:
The "Koffee with Ram" section is still rather empty. I have a rather adventurous plan for this (again plagiarism at work here) but I'm not sure I'll be able to pull it off, we'll see. The idea being having coffee with random people, to develop personal communication & social skill, as well as an appreciation for different social groups & networks. It's a rather large project and though things are in the works, realistically I'm not certain of its long-term outcome.

The "About Me" section: I know that if somebody wants a simple snapshot over-view of what I'm all about, the only thing they would pick up from an initial browse is that I'm full of myself confident and I have a certain love for films, the Bollywood ones in particular. So a clear and concise page would be a good addition to show what the Ramchandra brand if you can call it that is really all about.

More photos -- Again, Im not very clear as to what I want to get out of this, but firstly I need to work out an optimal way of displaying pictures an a reader-friendly format. I've tried a couple of Photo album style add-ons to the Movable Type package but nothing I've been satisfied with.

The "comic" that I've been promising for ages will still happen but is on the backburner somewhat. It links in slightly with the above, but that's just an excuse to a degree. I have a lot of ideas, characters and even complete strips on paper, but my drawing is terrible and I'm not entirely comfortable with the rough drafts that I've been doing as to be able to share them. An alternative is to do the whole thing in photoshop from scratch, but even there I'm not as well-versed as I'd like to be.

There is also the building of a database-driven look at my film collection, that I'm hoping to progress. The hindrance here is the rumoured API for imdb has yet to be released. I may look into alternative ways of doing this, but I think I have got a fair chunk on my plate considering I have a full-time job doing something else entirely.

Well, there you have it, plans for me, you and 2008.