Happy Halloween, ya hellbent hooligans! · 7:25pm Oct 31st, 2013
Have you ever sat down and thought about how awesome a holiday Halloween is? I'm not talking about the candy; that's a nice bonus, but once you've reached the age where you can just go to the store and buy enough candy to make you sick without having to wait for the year to swing back around again, that aspect loses a little bit of its shine. I'm not talking about the costumes, either, although they're a part of it.
I'm talking about the whole idea of the holiday in the first place. I mean, it's basically a celebration of the emotion of fear. How awesome is that? Other holidays justify their existence with things like 'patriotism,' 'love,' 'end of the year,' or 'a bunch of old religious folks used to do stuff about this time of year, and not many people actually follow those beliefs so much anymore, but we need a holiday about now, so it works.' Okay, so there's a little of that last one in Halloween, but it's still a far cry from most other holidays. What other holidays out there are really built around a negative emotion like that? Can you imagine a holiday about being angry? (Actually, that would also be pretty cool. We could celebrate by hitting things or something.) Depression Day? That Feeling You've Forgotten Something Important, But You Can't Figure Out What Day?
This uniqueness in the motivation of the holiday really shows in how different the celebration is. Let's face it, when you take away the decorations, most holidays ultimately boil down to, "eat something with relatives," "get drunk and light something on fire," or "eat something with relatives and then get drunk and light something on fire." And sure, that can be a good time. But Halloween doesn't go that route. Halloween says, "Screw that noise," puts on a mask, and pounds on the door of a complete stranger, demanding that they give it candy. Holy horse lips, that is awesome.
The existence of at least one day in the year where we all nod our heads and, in theory at least, tacitly acknowledge that we do have emotions rattling around in our brain-cases other than the nice, happy ones that fit well inside greeting cards gives me hope for the human race. Confronting that dark side, even if only in the form of goofy rubber masks and makeup, is an important act for the health of our society. I am glad we have it.
On the note of confronting dark sides, I've got another reading to link you folks to! Disembodied set of vocal chords and part-time French electronica impersonator Deft Funk has once again drizzled his soft, sultry voice all over the mic, this time to the tune of my horror fic, A Toast to Friendship. Seriously, this guy spoils me. You should check out his YouTube channel and tell him how awesome he is.
For those of you not in the know, A Toast to Friendship is a short-to-mid-length fic about Rarity getting her murder on with Fluttershy. It's like a Flarity shipping, except with more poison and knives and less fluff and kisses. In case the [Mature] tag is not warning enough, let me clearly warn you: this story has blood and unhappiness in it. Blood and unhappiness.
Listen to it here, and if you wish, read along here.
Secondly, a bit of unfortunate news. It seems I have stalled for long enough that time constraints are going to force me to postpone the production of Everypony Loves Pie. You may remember it from previous blogs as the one in which I intended to write all of the Pinkie Pie shipping, all at once. I am sorry to disappoint all of the Donny's Boys that were looking forward to seeing it published, but at least twenty percent of the fic depends on assumptions I have made about Twilight's princessiness that are doubtlessly going to be proven wrong when Season Four comes in. Yes, I realize that canon always marches on, and a fic can still be good even if it's based on outdated canon, but the thing is, at the rate I am writing, I'll be about two-thirds the way through it when the new season arrives, and I'll be unable to resist the impulse to correct what I already have in order to fit with the new material. That's a lot of re-writing I don't want to do, so I'm going to set it aside until canon solidifies a little bit, and instead work on projects that aren't quite as likely to get screwed by the season opener.
That's about it from me. Have fun and be safe out there, and if it's anywhere near as cold today where you are as it is here, then for Luna's sake, make sure to wear layers!
Oh, yes, one more thing before I go...
It's coming...
Wait, isn't that what everyone does on Halloween? I can't possibly be the only one who does that.
Happy Halloween! It's my favoritest holiday, even though I tend to not like being scared and cannot at all do horror movies. There's probably something Freudian there.
"I am sorry to disappoint all of the Donny's Boys that were looking forward to seeing it published, but at least twenty percent of the fic depends on assumptions I have made about Twilight's princessiness that are doubtlessly going to be proven wrong when Season Four comes in."
Alas! But I understand. I try to avoid launching big stories before a new season premieres, because of just those reasons. I can be patient, though, if it's still something you wish to write at some point. And if not, then I'll just read whatever you do end up writing.
1469575 No way, that's a [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gRdfX7ut8gw#t=12]!
1470164 Yeah, I'm right there with you. I actually swore off watching horror movies after watching The Grudge, because for a week afterwards I kept hearing that darned groaning noise everywhere.
I appreciate your patience and your faith in me, though. We'll just see if it's misplaced or not.
1471779
When I was youngish, my father allowed me to watch Arachnophobia. Even though I am and always have been intensely arachnophobic. I think that probably ensured that scary movies and I would not ever really become friends.
Believe in the me who believes in yoooou!