Thanks and acknowledgments are due

Here's a few things I need to pass along:

• My Top 10 Thai films 2008 can be viewed as a videocast, thanks to Hong Kong-based journalist Thomas Crampton. The recording was made on New Year's Day in Bangkok at a Twitter meet up (or Tweetup) organized by Bangkok-based journalist Newley Purnell. We were joined by the mind-blowing wandering guru Gregory Lent (he was also interviewed by Thomas on how "Web 2.0 Turns Us All Into Yogis") and Singapore resident @zzkj. I was reluctant to appear on camera for Thomas, but after much arm-twisting by all the guys, I succumbed to peer pressure, and agreed to run down my Top 10 on camera. But then once he was rolling, Thomas doubled-dipped on me, and got me to talk a bit more about "Why You Should Watch Thai Films". I'm not sure I made a convincing case, but it was fun anyway, even if it was all very intimidating, humbling and flattering at the same time. So now my talking head appears on Thomas Crampton's YouTube Channel alongside such other figures as Thaksin Shinawatra, Chris Patten and Shawn Crispin. Really, it was just great to get out in the wild and have some face-to-face social interaction with other bloggers and Twitterers.
• One of my favorite film blogs, House of Self Indulgence, is up for voting in the Total Film Movie Blog Awards 2009. I first started reading Yum-Yum's reviews on the Vine at Rotten Tomatoes, and I was happy to see HoSI reach out to a broader audience by moving to a Blogspot domain. The cult movie blog has helped increase my appreciation of David Cronenberg, '80s and '90s trash cinema, and movies like D.E.B.S. (especially Devon Aoki).
• Also up for voting at Total Film in the Majors category is one of my favorite websites, TwitchFilm.net. Todd Brown and the folks who write for Twitch have been a great source of information and inspiration in the years since I started writing this blog. I appreciate the way they tend to veer away from the day-in-day-out reporting of Hollywood and celeb news -- unless it's something really Earth-shattering, like Keanu Reeves making a live-action Cowboy Bebop. (No, for the love of all that's holy, no! But maybe it'll be good.) They're big supporters of Thai and Southeast Asian cinema and deserve much kudos.
• Guo Shao-Hua, the writer of another blog I enjoy, The Storyboard out of Malaysia, has recently started a supplemental blog called The Storyboard Daily, which is brief links on news in the world of Asian cinema. I've found it helpful. So head on over and bookmark and subscribe.
• Finally, a belated thanks to another of my favorite blogs, Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill, which bestowed me with kudos an embarrassingly long time ago. Kind of like being on video, I feel flattered, intimidated and humbled all at once. The deal is, I'm supposed to pass along similar kudos to eight more bloggers, kind of like a chain letter, but in a good way. It's a daunting responsibility that I'm not sure I can handle. I mean, how can I single out just eight? But I appreciate the kind thoughts. Check out 4DK for Thai-style Kaiju: The Films of Sompote Sands part IX, the latest in an epic series of reviews that constitute a very weird chapter in the history of Thai cinema.
• Last, if you're a blogger and have me on your linkroll, but I don't have you on mine, please give me a shout. Occasionally I'll see inbound traffic from blogs that are new to me, and if I see I'm on their linkroll, I'll add them here. There's probably more out there that I don't know about yet. I read a lot of websites in RSS readers, so I don't often read blogs in their native environment, which means I won't see your linkroll. If you are friendly to me, I will make an effort to be friendly to you.