First Blog Entry

I’ll be honest with you. For the most part, I don’t like blogs. Blogs are usually the type of thing where a blogger is going through an Oprah/Dr. Phil self-analysis. Once the self-analysis is done, they inflict their “Woe is me” stories onto the poor reader. Well, I don’t deny I have problems but you the reader doesn’t need to hear them. I can save that for the therapy couch, thank you.

Having said that, there are great blogs out there. However all the blogs I read happen to be political. They range the entire political spectrum. So, starting from right to left, I read: Right Wing News, James Bowman, Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Greenwald, Progressive Daily Beacon, Counterpunch. I don’t agree with everyone’s opinion, (Greenwald may be the one I agree with the most) but I know good writing when I see it. As for me contributing to the political arena, I couldn’t come close to any of these guys when it comes to political writing. Plus, with a lot comments on the recent Obama victory, I really don’t think anyone needs to hear one more opinion about it.

So given my dislike of traditional blogs and my lack of talent in political blogs, it would seem that blogs would be a no-no for me.

However, that all changed this past weekend. I was in Texas. I was down for a horror film convention and to meet someone from work. (I had spoken to her over the phone for over a year now but never met her in person till this past Saturday.) The horror film convention’s theme was a 23 year old reunion of Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning. A good deal of the cast and crew were there. One of the persons I met was the director of Friday the 13th Part V, Danny Steinmann. Danny and I hit it off well and we talked at great length. In the middle of our conversation, Danny was impressed with my knowledge of film and asked me if I ever thought of writing a book on what I knew about film. I told him I had written some fictional stuff, like screenplays or short stories, but nothing like what he was suggesting. I also didn’t know the first thing about getting a book published in the marketplace, but I did know how to publish my writing on the net and that was by blogging. I then asked Danny if he would agree to an interview for the blog. He agreed.

And right there, I thought of Stone Cold Crazy, the blog. The name Stone Cold Crazy comes from the title of a Queen song, Stone Cold Crazy. Plus, I think you got to be a little Stone Cold Crazy to have all this knowledge that I do about film. Not to mention, you got to be a little Stone Cold Crazy to watch some of the films that will be talked about on this blog as well as listen to some of the music that will be talked about on this blog. The blog will focus on obscure films as well as obscure rock. My feeling is enough has been written about movies as Citizen Kane, Psycho, Gone With The Wind and as well as rockers as Zeppelin, Beatles, and Nirvana. You don’t really need to read more about them. But not enough has been written about films as Crimes Of Passion, Scarecrow, and Inserts. And who has read about rockers as Bloodrock, Stories, and Leaf Hound? Its time for all these lost pieces of art to hit the spotlight and give them as much as exposure as I can.

But because Stone Cold Crazy would not exist without that conversation with Danny Steinmann, it only makes sense that the first real entry should be an interview with him. There may not be many interviews on Stone Cold Crazy, but it does fit with the purpose of the blog. Again, I’m taking a director not many people know about (just as many don’t know about the films or music I will be talking about in the blogs) and trying to give him a little more exposure. Not to mention, Danny gave me some extra confidence in my own writing abilities. I mean, I’ve gotten praise from family, friends and a writing teacher about my writing and I am flattered when that happens. But to hear encouragement from an actual filmmaker, well, that’s a whole different level together. Its like getting praise from a whole new planet.

So, sit tight, over the next couple of days, I will interview Danny Steinmann over the phone, make an MP3 and transcript of our interview.

–Jeff

Update #1– Just got off the phone with Danny tonight this Thursday. We agreed to next Friday, so you’ll have to wait till then. It has to be a weekend day because we have a lot to discuss from his days in the 60s to 80s and possibly now.