Follow Friday: The Droid You’re Looking For

Welcome to another edition of Follow Friday where each week I feature and interview a fellow blogger and follow their suggestion to another blog to feature next week. I prefer this over a blogroll because it gives each blog their own time to shine, plus I personally rarely click on blogrolls so why would I expect you to? Not only that, but I get the chance to check out some great blogs I might not have found otherwise found, talk to some great people, and share the conversation with you. This week I was directed by Steve over at Anti-Film School to check out The Droid You’re Looking For aka TDYLF which is a great site with a lot of humor along with the movie reviews.

I think I first stopped by TDYLF during the Lammys this year over at the Lamb since it was nominated (and won) for funniest writer this year. It’s an interesting mix of funny lists, random posts, great infographics, and information and reviews of classic movies. Whether it’s The 8 scariest things in the Wizard of Oz, Which Comedy You Should be Watching, or a Re-Watchterpiece Theatre, there’s a lot of good stuff to find over there. But enough from me, let’s hear what the writer John LaRue has to say about it.

Bubbawheat: At least in your recent posts, you have an interesting mix of humorous posts about bodily functions as well as posts about classic movies, how do you decide what you’re going to write about next?

John LaRue: I have two friends that are very hardcore movie-watchers, and quite a few things that I write about comes from discussions with them. Even the two feces articles were a result of a conversation with one of them. My home is a post-it note graveyard and most of those post-it notes have article ideas that I wrote down in bars or in my car at stop lights. As for whether I’ll aim for humor or aim for classics, I try to have a good balance. The humorous stuff really drives traffic, which allows me to write about the other stuff without taking a hit on page views. My tagline is “Come for the Stick Figures, Stay for the Bergman”, and I think that sums it up perfectly. If I feel one or the other aspect has been ignored, I’ll try to balance it out a little.

BW: One feature that I’ve enjoyed the most so far is your flowcharts, do you plan on making more of them?

JLR: The flowcharts are a bit of a double-edged sword. They attract a lot of readers, and I’m as happy with the way they turned out as I am with just about anything else on my site. But they can be time-consuming. I think I’m at a pace now of a flowchart every 3 or 4 months, and I think that’s a good pace. It keeps me from getting bogged down with making them without completely ignoring them. Although answering this question just gave me another idea for one.

BW: What is your favorite post on your site?

JLR: The Edgar Wright infographics that I created last year are my favorite, because Edgar Wright actually offered his feedback to me via Twitter. That blew me away. It still blows me away because he’s one of my very favorite directors working today. Then he tweeted my article, which of course gave me a huge spike in traffic and the ability to say “Hey! Edgar Wright liked my article!”

BW: What’s the worst movie you’ve watched recently?

JLR: It has to be Christmas Evil. I love evil Santa Claus movies as much as the next guy, but Christmas Evil wasn’t even laughably bad. It was dreadful.

BW: What’s your favorite superhero movie?

JLR: I’m sure you get this answer a ton, but it’s The Dark Knight. It was everything I would want out of a superhero movie, and then some. Between TDKR this summer and Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man on the horizon, I may have a different answer in a year or two.

BW: You’re right, I just listed all the responses I got to that question so far this year, and that topped the list. But for good reason. And what blog do you suggest that I follow for next week?

JLR: There are so many great sites out there so I feel bad for narrowing it down to one… but I’ll do it anyway. I’m a huge fan of FrontRoom Cinema. Scott Lawlor speaks straight from the heart. He’s a very sincere writer and I love that. And he has a great team of writers who work with him.

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I’ve stopped by there a handful of times but haven’t done more than poke around there. It seems like a good time since he’s got a temporary Dark Knight Rises redesign for his site at the moment. Sounds like a great choice, and thank you for your time and answers. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.