Neglected No More

God, it's been a while since I've posted here. I'd feel bad about that, if anybody read this. But maybe people will actually read it now, since I've decided to start linking to it as I make my various journeys across the internet.

I haven't stopped loving horror, of course, but I did take a break for about a month and a half. In October, I decided that I wanted to watch one horror movie a day (or average that, at least), and I accomplished that goal. Unfortunately, a lot of the movies I saw were crap. (Thanks, FEARnet!) Thanks to that, I got sick of watching horror movies. Even though I tried to go in with no expectations whatsoever, I still ended disappointed, and often yawning before the movie had even reached the halfway point. So, in October, I watched thirty-one movies, and in November and December combined, I watched six. Bad way to end the year.

I went on a horror comic binge for a while, reading some very good things that I hope to eventually share here, but I got tired of that before too long. I live my life in waves, it seems. Something will intensely hold my interest for a while, but then the tide will pull back, and I'll move on. But the tide always returns, and with it, my devotion. Really, all I can hope to do is not let years go by before I let the tide of horror wash over me again.

My love was rekindled recently by new horror manga translations, thanks to a fellow named Daniel Lau. He scanlated some Junji Ito stuff, and I lapped it up. I've found a fair bit of horror manga out there, but none of it has struck me the way Ito's stuff has. (Except for Fuan no Tane, but there isn't a lot of that, and the author's other works aren't horror.) There's a lot of Ito stuff that isn't available in English, and it looks like Mr. Lau is the best shot we have of getting it.

Inspired by Ito's gruesome work, I've started watching horror movies again, and I'm planning to start reading the horror comics I've had on my computer for the past couple of months. I'm jumping back into the pit. I'll share my thoughts here, so people with similar tastes can be satiated and not have to go through the trouble I do.