Blogging for Horror

One of the courses I’m enrolled in this semester is being taught by Master Blogger Michael Bérubé. (You can check out his blog, “American Airspace”, at

http://www.michaelberube.com ) 

Every couple weeks, the course requires that we post a blog entry on a closed blog about the assigned reading for that week. At first, I stared at the blog text box wondering what in the world to write about regarding a 100+ page reading assignment as well as how to truncate my thoughts into 500 words. 

Eventually, I not only figured out what to say, but I also found the whole blogging experience quite addicting.

So my wife and I decided to start a horror film blog. For someone as low-tech savvy as I am (I try not to venture out of Word, IE, or Premiere), this wound up being a somewhat less daunting task than I had imagined it to be. However, this doesn’t mean that the venture was without obstacles.

The first problem was what to blog about. I love horror films but I haven’t the first clue as to how to organize my thoughts given my lack of time during the semester. 

Obviously, this means that if I didn’t lay out some ground rules quickly, blogging would become a chore as the blinking cursor would stare at me blankly while I ponder, “What do I want to write about…” Having that sort of situation arise everytime I sit down to blog would be a total time drain and a commitment that I simply may not have. 

My wife originally mentioned that she wanted to have a blog simply to collect her thoughts and have a record of her journey from horror newbie to dedicated horror fan. Her idea was perfect. We could blog about films and I could use the notes I collect over time to expand on later if I ever revisit the films in a paper. Perfect! It was decided…we would watch one horror film a day and blog about it.

We just got through week one: http://www.morgueartfilms.wordpress.com

The second problem was how to jazz this thing up. All the blogs I visited on the internet had all sorts of bells and whistles varying from pictures to embedded videos. This seemed like a nightmare to me. I struggled getting text onto an image in Photoshop for the longest time that the idea of including images and embedded video seemed liked a magic trick. Turns out, it’s not. All I had to do was click on a little button in wordpress and voila! Image or video included (with or without caption…that’s right, biatches, I can even caption now!)

The third problem, which I’m still struggling with, is which tags to use. How does one know which tags to include? Do I tag names? Films? Critical theory methods? Anything that comes to mind? Is there a limit on tags? How many tags are too many tags? Eight? Fifteen? How many are too few? 
Overall, I’m convinced that there is an art to this blogging thing and slowly, but surely, I’m picking it up. So if you have the time, check out my blog, and check out the blogs below. And if you have the patience and time commitment, start your own (I use wordpress, but blogspot seems to be the blogging sphere of choice).

As promised, some solid horror blogs worth taking a gander if you’re new:

http://rue-morgue.com/blog/
Rue Morgue’s “Abattoir” is a blog o’ four staffers that tackles anything and everything. My favorite quote from the site thus far: Monster Squad remake + Michael Bay = Big Ball of Suck

http://www.thehorrorblog.com/
A bare bones website that seems to rely largely on Top Ten Lists and roundtable discussions from people within the horror blogosphere. If you’re looking for a quick fix, it’s worth giving a gander.

http://finalgirl.blogspot.com/
Stacie Ponder’s blog has quite possibly one of the best photos on the opening page of any blog I’ve visited. It’s a fun and informative blog that “explores the slasher flicks of the 70s and 80s…whatever else [Stacie] can come up with.

http://www.ilovehorror.net/
Brad McHargue’s website states that his blog is “dedicated to the critical, analytical, and cynical assessment of the horror industry with a specific focus on contemporary horror and why it mostly sucks.” It’s a slick website worth your visit, assuming you don’t mind reading about why everything sucks – though the “critical” approach is a bit overstated.

http://drunkenseveredhead.blogspot.com/
Winner of the Rondo Hatton Award for best blog. One of the more bizarre, witty, and topical blogs out there. My low-tech nature and visual senses are always overwhelmed by the vast array of colors and links on this site. If you’re ever on drugs, bouncing between the horror blog and the drunken severed head may cause vertigo.

http://augustragone.blogspot.com/
The Good, the Bad, and the Godzilla by August Ragone gets a seal of approval from Tim Lucas of Video Watchdog on his website (whose own blog I may as well mention right now:

http://www.videowatchdog.blogspot.com/ ). I plan on getting into more Japanese cinema over the next year or two, so while Ragone’s blog doesn’t have an immediate appeal for me now, it will soon (I shall report back later). But by all means, both blogs are worth your time.

http://www.thehorrorpost.com/heidis-news/
This is Heidi Martinuzzi’s Blog-type thing. It’s not updated on a regular basis, but when she does post, there are some wonderfully clever and angry things which so beautifully encapsulate Heidi’s online persona.