State of the Midnight Address: Vol. 2 - The Horror Community, Goals, and Lists of Buckets of Blood

The above image, found through a simple Google Images search of the word "horror", is one of the internet's newly popular "demotivators" - jokes designed by the most cynical and sarcastic minds out there. It comes from a site named "101 Reasons to Stop Writing", which appears to be aimed at writers of fiction. However, ask any horror blogger if they've ever come to a point where they've considered shutting their cyberdoors, and most of the time they're quick to recall moments of despair. Last time I did one of these posts, I shared how I stopped writing due to frustrations in early 2009, and I've heard many other bloggers, even some of the most respected bloggers I know, share similar stories. It's a fact of life for those of us who're trying to share our passion, and I personally have had enough of people trying to rain on our parade.

When I started writing, I never intended to be part of the horror blogging community. For starters, I didn't plan to write primarily on horror (though I was sure I'd skew that way). But I also, to be honest, really had no idea there was such an active horror blogging community out there. I've always took pride in my independence as a fan of cinema, and when I started writing this site my goal was simply to throw my opinions out into the abyss and see what happened. It was soon after that I realized - what I was saying didn't matter. This wasn't because I was wrong, or because I was bad at what I was doing (though I'm sure some found it that way, but hey, that's their opinion). It was because I wasn't connected to anything. I had about five readers who checked in once in a while, and I had NO clue where I could go with this blog - let alone where I wanted to go.

After months of inactivity with my focus on other venues, a moment came last fall when I suddenly was looking at my free time in a fresh light. And when I started to ponder what I really wanted to be doing with my time, writing and talking about the movies I loved was the best thing I could think of. Thankfully, I had made a few acquaintances that opened the door to the horror fan world for me...and things escalated quickly. Through the people I've met in the horror blogging community, and despite the drama that occasionally sidetracks them, I've been reminded of how much I really love sharing my thoughts with others.

To anyone out there who's trying to get a similar feeling, I urge you to find a way to get involved in the horror community. It's a huge heap of folks, and there are always some people you simply won't mesh with, but we're the only thing that can keep each other relevant. Through the people I've read from and conversed with I've acquired countless ideas for my blog, formed new opinions on old favorites, and found new favorites I may never have come across. Each of us have our own set of goals, but we need to realize that a little help from a like-minded soul is never a bad thing. Personally, I'm more than willing to offer any help to someone who's seeking it, because, like Cat Stevens said, "baby, baby, it's a wild web -and it's hard to get by just upon a smile."

That said, a recent trend in the blogosphere has been the creating of a "Blood Bucket List" (see these folks for details). From my understanding, it's a list of things you hope to accomplish before your blog shrivels up and you become an accountant. Since I've been talking about my goals at FMWL, I'm gonna offer up a few short (since I've already spouted five paragraphs of drivel) items that would be on my list, the first of which I've already covered - I'd like to help members of the horror community support their peers' goals (while staying true to my lone-wolfish ideals). After that, I've got the following things on my list.1) I want to attend Blobfest in Phoenixville, PA. If you've been around this blog much, you know how I feel about Blobs (I'm for them). The original The Blob was one of my first horror loves, and I want to visit the town and theater it was filmed in and see the film on the big screen while experiencing Blobamania. I had planned to go this summer, but I'm not sure I'm going to be financially able to pull it off. Regardless, I'll be there someday.
2) I want to host something. Or at least, do a commentary or two. I would love, love, love the opportunity to be able to present a movie I really love. Quite honestly, that's what my primary focus is here, especially with my Midnight Movie of the Week series. I want to shout from the mountains and let everyone know that I LOVE THIS MOVIE AND I WANT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU ALL! And while writing is a blast, I'd love to do it through spoken word too.
3) I want to write a book detailing everything I've ever thought about Halloween....and its sequels/remakes. I love John Carpenter's Halloween more than I love most anything. I've gone off on tangents about it at random times in random places for random reasons, and someday I want to put all my ramblings together in one coherent place. And yes, I'd cover the rest of the series, from the first moment of doom (the sister subplot being introduced in the sequel) to Rob Zombie's urinal cake-ish remakes.4) I want to be viewed as someone whose opinion on these films is valid....even if I do overuse '80s slang and run-on-sentences and parentheses. I don't care if people agree with me, I'll be the first to admit that I ramble and occasionally entirely miss the point of a movie, or that I simply don't find a movie gripping for stupid reasons at times. And yeah, I'm gonna say totally and awesome a lot. But I want people to be able to look through my convoluted words and respect that I am someone who deeply cares about what I'm doing and strives to improve their output one day at a time. Because if I didn't believe I could do it, I wouldn't be doing it.

That's it. Until next time, my fellow midnight explorers, I urge you all to hold strong to your beliefs and goals, and don't stop searching for the things you'd like to cross off your Blood Bucket List. Peace, I'm outta here.