Awards and Rules, FWF-style

A few weeks back my blogging pal Michele (of The Girl Who Loves Horror fame) bestowed an award on my blog, and a few days ago, my pal Jimmy (of Dr. Terror's Blog of Horrors) granted me the same accolade.  I know a lot of people balk at blog awards but I am always thankful that people read my blog and appreciate it enough to recommend it to others.  So to Michele and Jimmy, I say thank you so much. I read and love both your blogs, and am happy to see this thing through.... 

Rule Number One: Tell everyone something that no one else knows about you.

 Right off the bat that's a tough one.  I'm private, but I'm not that obscure. I could tell you all that I was reading at a ninth grade level when I was in the fourth grade and that I was in a special class for reading and spelling but not for the reasons you think.  It was because there were only four of us in the class that were reading and spelling at that level. Yeah, that's boring. SO. I'll tell you (and this is really no secret to those close to me) that I am an avid  erm...crazed...um...passionate oh hell...OBSESSED fan of thoroughbred horse racing. Running a very close second to horror is my extreme devotion to the sport of kings.  It probably came from my dad, with whom I remember watching the likes of Seattle Slew (my favorite horse and my namesake for emails and online names) and Affirmed win the Triple Crown in '77 and '78.  I love it for the horses, more than anything.  I'm not much of a gambler, truth be told.  I'm too cheap to really bet a lot.  I did, however, win almost $400 last fall at the Breeders' Cup and spent only $6 to do it.  And I've hit my share of Derby winners, some 50-1 long shots, which is always nice. I watch racing year round, and plan my schedule around the big races.  No one... I REPEAT... no one, interrupts or bothers me on the first Saturday in May. And no one would expect me to be present at any event they would have on that day or any of the Triple Crown races or on Breeders' Cup day. When my grandfather died in mid-May several years ago, I came home in between funeral home visiting hours to watch Smarty Jones win the Preakness Stakes (and I truly believe my grandpap would have understood!) See, I'm so passionate I can't quit talking about it....

Rule Number Two:  Link to one of the posts that you personally think best fits the following categories:
 
1. Most Beautiful Piece: 

When writing a horror blog, it's kind of hard to call things beautiful.  But this can be taken two ways.. for some, gore is beautiful, so for those folks, I say check out my on-going series "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
For me though, beauty is passion - and I don't think I've written more passionately than when I wrote "From VHS To Netflix: My Journey With Horror Rentals". It's nothing extraordinary - just a look back at my own roots of horror, and my experience from my teens to current with getting my hands on the films that shape my love of the genre.  Readers seemed to like this one.  Me too.

2. Most Helpful Piece: 

 "Halloween Festival Of Lists:  October 22:  Twenty-Two Non-Fiction Tomes Of Terror".  These lists from last fall just about killed me to write, it got overwhelming at the end.  But this particular list is an awesome checklist of superb books that cover nearly all aspects of the horror genre, from ghosts to monsters to horror movie survival guides.  You're bound to find something on there of interest.

3. Most Popular Piece:  

 Based on page-views, it would be "A Decade of Debauchery: My Favorite Films of the 2000's."  I've always done a lot of lists, but this one proved insanely popular.  It's gotten over 23,000 hits alone. That seems like a fair amount for this lowly blog.  I didn't list them chronologically, I went at it categorically, as in 'favorite monster film', 'favorite gore-fest', 'favorite anthology', etc. 


4. Most Controversial Piece

 Actually, I removed my most controversial piece.  There was this whole blow-out a few years back about a "Ms. Horror Blogosphere" contest. A fellow blogger had come up with the idea and it was all in fun but was taken waaay too seriously.  Things were taken out of context and people got hurt and blamed and pissed...and the post was my feelings on the matter.  I don't even recall what I wrote, but I defended my fellow female bloggers that were part of the "competition" and retained my position and eventually the whole thing blew over.  But holy hell. 
If you don't count what is no longer here, I'd have to say I was close to drumming up controversy with my post "Apparently, Dracula Is Losing To Twilight: Ranting On The Current State Of Youth & Genre Fiction", but everyone tended to agree with me, so there's that.

5. Most Surprisingly Successful Piece:


"Going Out On A Limb: Trees In Horror": My blog stats list this unbelievably high, and I'm not sure why.  While it's a decent list - creative even - it's nothing truly special. It took me all of a half hour to write it. You never know, do you?

6. Most Underrated Piece:

'Argento Films 101: An Interview With Author James Gracey":  This interview was posted in the middle of "Women in Horror Month" and that was a mistake because I think it lost the momentum it truly deserved.  It is a fascinating and lengthy look inside the films of Dario Argento and gave a sneak peak of Gracey's (now published) book. It's in-depth, intriguing, and informative. It was done craftily, since James lives in Northern Ireland and myself here in the states, and it took a while to come together. It also forged a friendship of like minds and kindred souls, so I'm most thankful for that. If you even remotely like Argento, read this post.

7. Most Pride-Worthy Piece

"Dancing Dwarfs And Damn Fine Coffee: Twin Peaks' 20th Anniversary" : This is probably my favorite post of everything I've written so far.  I was a huge, obsessive fan of TP, and still am.  This article took me a long time to write, but only because I savored in the memory of all things Peaks. It has twenty reasons to love the series, which means there are twenty reasons you should click on that link! 

 Rule Number Three: Pass this award on to seven other bloggers.I'm not much for pushing people into continuing these types of posts, so I will just list the blogs that I have on favorites on my iPod - which means I can check them at any time, on the go or wherever.
Whether or not they want to continue is up to them, so here goes:

Behind the Couch

The Horror Digest

Kindertrauma

From Midnight, With Love

Day of the Woman

The Deadly Doll's House of Horror Nonsense

The Lightning Bug's Lair

And two to grow on: 

Planet of Terror

Chuck Norris Ate My Baby