Words and Lyrics

  I recently attended the West Virginia Book Festival, which featured an outstanding line-up of guest speakers. Author R.L. Stine, creator of the popular Goosebumps series for kids, was the final speaker of the day last Saturday, and he did not disappoint. Mr. Stine talked about how he first became involved in writing scary books for children after focusing on funny stories early in his career. His editor at Scholastic Books asked him to take over a book project that was not going anywhere with another author. Stine wrote and completed Blind Date , which became an instant bestseller. After his second novel was also a hit, he realized the implications for his career. "Forget the humor -- I'm going for the scary stuff," he said. One of the highlights of Mr. Stine's presentation involved him reading letters that his young fans have sent him over the years. As one might expect, these letters are often written in ways that are hilarious and unfiltered. Here are a few exam...

  During the weekend, I spent a decent amount of time at Isla Bonita, home of my Words and Lyrics office. I met David_E_MD and had a nice conversation with him about Ladybug Mountain, the very first neighborhood on there.com. David showed me its original location -an area he paid a substantial sum to acquire back in the day. I enjoy hearing these stories about old there and stuff that was going on before I joined in 2009. Speaking of neighborhoods, I have also visited Crystal Beach a few times. This hood has been steadily growing of late, and I'm glad it's located on a beach instead of a lake. lol Horror movies and shows are my central topic today, especially those of the found-footage variety. I remember watching The Blair Witch Projec t in 1999 and leaving the theater with a bad headache. I thought the movie was okay, but not as scary as some of my friends and acquaintances had made it out to be. Found-footage movies continue to be a staple of the horror genre, and many of o...

  During the month of October, I have decided to focus on things that frighten us in popular culture. First and foremost are horror movies, of course. While growing up in the 1970s, I was fortunate to see movies like The Exorcist , Jaws , and The Amityville Horror on the big screen. Actually, I was WAY too young for The Exorcist , but my brother and I somehow talked our mom into seeing it with her. BIG mistake. LOL While browsing movie reviews online recently, I came across a blog that I remembered from years past -- "Horror Movie a Day." I was amazed that the reviewer, Brian Collins, watched at least one horror movie per day for YEARS on end. Over a six-year period, he viewed and reviewed thousands of them, with a peak year of 553 horror movies in 2007. Although Brian's movie-reviewing output has dropped since then, he still regularly reviews scary films. And since I have my own blog now, I decided to contact Brian and ask for an interview. He graciously complied, and t...