Halloween 2016. Every year the Halloween season asserts itself to me as my personal time of reflection, similar to what birthdays or work anniversaries do for other people. Halloween and horror movies have been so integral to my life that they provide a rare thread of continuity from youth to present, in the same way my fascination with craft beer provides continuity in my adult life.
I've lived in many places and have had many jobs: editor, gardener, bartender, antique seller, writer, school teacher, adjunct professor, sustainability director, perfume salesman, print shop pre-press operator, factory worker, and more. I've been divorced twice. Continuity, at least that I can tell, has not been huge in my life. Not surprising, then, I launched Fear with Beer.
Fear with Beer has been up for about three months now, a wandering babe in the crowded woods of horror and beer review blogs, and its purpose and focus continues to evolve. My commitment to indie genre filmmakers is solid, and I plan on even more intense promotion, through this site and possibly through a more targeted site, of this energetic area of creativity. Like a robotic human replicant or creature gaining sentience, this site itself is searching for its purpose and goal, a cool thing for me to watch unfold. I'm not one for remaining static.
Behind the veil, of course, is a real person with real bills and responsibilities. I am Mangus, but I also am not: Mangus is a cleansed version of myself, a character that allows me to focus on horror movies and beer as if I don't actually need to earn a living. The truth is, all of us in the horror movie and beer writing communities struggle to do what we love and keep the lights on, even if we adore candlelight. A few rarities among us have made it to where we can do only this, and I applaud you: it's where I also want to go. Most of us, though, hold down day jobs or part-time gigs, writing past midnight. I'd like to think at least one of us out there is independently wealthy, with all my eccentricities but without my financial constraints -- I find that possibility to be a strangely comforting image. That's not me, though, and truth be told, my struggles and varied experiences enrich my ability to write, so there's that.
Recently I needed to travel to D.C. Don't fear, I'm not a politician, but I'm also not going to reveal details of what else I do. There's nothing bad, but a horror blogger has to have a few secrets.
Anyway, I drove from Ohio and stayed at a small hotel in Falls Church, VA, not because I particularly liked the hotel, but because it was literally on the other side of the street of the Mad Fox Brewing Company. The next day, I took the Metro rail into D.C. for a full day of meetings, but you know what I took away as my best accomplishment? Under the anonymity of a pen name, I can admit that it was finding a hotel 28 steps away from an award-winning brewpub so I could mention it on Fear with Beer. See? That's how the Mangus brain works.
I was able to sample a variety of their brews, including their cask ale, which is cask-conditioned and served at cellar temperatures similar to what you would have tasted pre-electric coolers. When I was there the cask ale on tap was their Orange Whip IPA. Additionally, while generally not a fan of kölsch, their unfiltered (and award-winning) Kellerbier Kölsch was amazing. I was in my element.
That's the beer part. The next morning, up early, I made myself the complimentary single-cup coffee from the small coffee maker in the room. Looking at the sugar and creamer packages, I immediately noticed the font reminded me of American Horror Story. I looked at it, and smiled. Need to mention this on the blog, I thought. That's the fear part. That's how the Mangus brain works.
My point is that fear and beer are so much a part of my life that they permeate all aspects of me -- these are my areas of passion and pride. When I first launched the site, I was concerned about talking about beer, not wanting to encourage unhealthy behavior. I don't know if this is truly ironic or not, but as a human being I am committed to working to make the world a better place, and part of doing that is considering my choices for mind and body. I say it might be ironic in that beer and horror movies probably don't leap to mind when you think about healthy living, but to me, they aren't a contradiction, or, more specifically, they are contradictions that absolutely work for me. Like most things, they can be used for construction or destruction, and I generally chose the first.
Movies, all styles of movies but particularly horror, and beer, all styles of beer (but particularly stouts), are part of my essence, For me, these are aspects of not only fascination but community and connection. I don't underestimate the power of community and connection. As cheesy as it sounds, I use horror movies and beer as vehicles for growth, even if stating that comes off as candy-assed. Whatever the case may be, that's who I am, and it's during the Halloween season that I feel it's okay to acknowledge it. For most people, Halloween is about putting on masks. For me, Halloween is about taking them off.
So, from Mangus, I raise my pint glass to you all. Happy Halloween, to my community of horror movie enthusiasts. Happy Halloween to my community of beer lovers. Happy Halloween to the lost souls, schemers, creatives and questioners, may we all touch, even briefly, that illusive flow of connection and meaning, and may we all find our own ways to make things just a little bit better. Happy Halloween to you all.
Cheers.
-------
And what is in my pint glass that I literally raised? Well of course, as a Clevelander, you shouldn't have to ask. Great Lakes Brewing Nosferatu Imperial Red Ale.
Obviously.
I've lived in many places and have had many jobs: editor, gardener, bartender, antique seller, writer, school teacher, adjunct professor, sustainability director, perfume salesman, print shop pre-press operator, factory worker, and more. I've been divorced twice. Continuity, at least that I can tell, has not been huge in my life. Not surprising, then, I launched Fear with Beer.
Fear with Beer has been up for about three months now, a wandering babe in the crowded woods of horror and beer review blogs, and its purpose and focus continues to evolve. My commitment to indie genre filmmakers is solid, and I plan on even more intense promotion, through this site and possibly through a more targeted site, of this energetic area of creativity. Like a robotic human replicant or creature gaining sentience, this site itself is searching for its purpose and goal, a cool thing for me to watch unfold. I'm not one for remaining static.
Behind the veil, of course, is a real person with real bills and responsibilities. I am Mangus, but I also am not: Mangus is a cleansed version of myself, a character that allows me to focus on horror movies and beer as if I don't actually need to earn a living. The truth is, all of us in the horror movie and beer writing communities struggle to do what we love and keep the lights on, even if we adore candlelight. A few rarities among us have made it to where we can do only this, and I applaud you: it's where I also want to go. Most of us, though, hold down day jobs or part-time gigs, writing past midnight. I'd like to think at least one of us out there is independently wealthy, with all my eccentricities but without my financial constraints -- I find that possibility to be a strangely comforting image. That's not me, though, and truth be told, my struggles and varied experiences enrich my ability to write, so there's that.
Recently I needed to travel to D.C. Don't fear, I'm not a politician, but I'm also not going to reveal details of what else I do. There's nothing bad, but a horror blogger has to have a few secrets.
Anyway, I drove from Ohio and stayed at a small hotel in Falls Church, VA, not because I particularly liked the hotel, but because it was literally on the other side of the street of the Mad Fox Brewing Company. The next day, I took the Metro rail into D.C. for a full day of meetings, but you know what I took away as my best accomplishment? Under the anonymity of a pen name, I can admit that it was finding a hotel 28 steps away from an award-winning brewpub so I could mention it on Fear with Beer. See? That's how the Mangus brain works.
I was able to sample a variety of their brews, including their cask ale, which is cask-conditioned and served at cellar temperatures similar to what you would have tasted pre-electric coolers. When I was there the cask ale on tap was their Orange Whip IPA. Additionally, while generally not a fan of kölsch, their unfiltered (and award-winning) Kellerbier Kölsch was amazing. I was in my element.
That's the beer part. The next morning, up early, I made myself the complimentary single-cup coffee from the small coffee maker in the room. Looking at the sugar and creamer packages, I immediately noticed the font reminded me of American Horror Story. I looked at it, and smiled. Need to mention this on the blog, I thought. That's the fear part. That's how the Mangus brain works.
My point is that fear and beer are so much a part of my life that they permeate all aspects of me -- these are my areas of passion and pride. When I first launched the site, I was concerned about talking about beer, not wanting to encourage unhealthy behavior. I don't know if this is truly ironic or not, but as a human being I am committed to working to make the world a better place, and part of doing that is considering my choices for mind and body. I say it might be ironic in that beer and horror movies probably don't leap to mind when you think about healthy living, but to me, they aren't a contradiction, or, more specifically, they are contradictions that absolutely work for me. Like most things, they can be used for construction or destruction, and I generally chose the first.
Movies, all styles of movies but particularly horror, and beer, all styles of beer (but particularly stouts), are part of my essence, For me, these are aspects of not only fascination but community and connection. I don't underestimate the power of community and connection. As cheesy as it sounds, I use horror movies and beer as vehicles for growth, even if stating that comes off as candy-assed. Whatever the case may be, that's who I am, and it's during the Halloween season that I feel it's okay to acknowledge it. For most people, Halloween is about putting on masks. For me, Halloween is about taking them off.
So, from Mangus, I raise my pint glass to you all. Happy Halloween, to my community of horror movie enthusiasts. Happy Halloween to my community of beer lovers. Happy Halloween to the lost souls, schemers, creatives and questioners, may we all touch, even briefly, that illusive flow of connection and meaning, and may we all find our own ways to make things just a little bit better. Happy Halloween to you all.
Cheers.
-------
And what is in my pint glass that I literally raised? Well of course, as a Clevelander, you shouldn't have to ask. Great Lakes Brewing Nosferatu Imperial Red Ale.
Obviously.
