WAR!
WHAT WAS IT GOOD FOR!?
Absolutely nothing.
The year 2003 was dominated by war. Lots of war.. George W. Bush repeatedly addressing a divided nation, urging war in Iraq.. toppling a dictator.. And changing history for years to come.
It was a divisive year.. The HORROR REPORT took a position–clearly one that was wrong. It supported the war and believed Bush’s plan for Iraq was sound. Little did anyone know how bad the so called professionals like Rumsfeld, Cheney, and all the like would botch up the post-war.. It began by disbanding the entire Iraqi government.. firing everyone, even public servants who had no liking for Saddam Hussein. Also immediate: The stolen relics of history. Antiquities were taken from historic locations and sold on the black market–ancient times looted by a misguided foreign policy searching for weapons of mass destruction that did not exist–at least not since the United States gave them to Iraq in the 1980s during their decade long war against Iran.
Another problem: Iraq’s Hussein stabilized the region. Regardless of his cruelty, his leadership made neighbors worry constantly. With him gone, the chess board was wrecked and all of the post World War I history of kingdoms and rulers implanted by the UK was undone..
A lot became undone in 2003.
This screen cap from March 2003 shows how the HORROR REPORT covered the initial night of ‘shock and awe’ .. what was not reported the day after were the amounts of civilians killed in the strikes–we know now how many have died since 2003..
The HORROR REPORT was critical of George Clooney, who commented that the United States could not win wars.. Perhaps he was right. I was also critical of the Dixie Chicks. But now I love their message .. They were right. My pro war stance also almost got the HORROR REPORT sued by Jeneane Garofalo. Her photographer threatened to take legal action against the HORROR REPORT after using a less than attractive photo of her in an article about her anti-war stance.
By year’s end, the United States efforts in Iraq yielded one success: The capture of Saddam Hussein. This is how the HORROR REPORT looked that December 14th morning:
2003 was the year of Avril Lavinge. She scored hits on the radio, and her fame grew exponentially.. She was the Sk8ter girl, after all. In 2003, she tried her hand at social commentary, backing the Canadian prime minster for being critical of the Iraq war, and performing at Toronto’s Skydome to help try to stop the tourism bleeding that occurred after SARS broke out. Remember SARS? Heck.. remember Avril?
Of course it’s always possible that I covered Avril heavily that year because, at the age of 23, I was like all other men my age: Having a crush on her for some unknown and unexplained reason..
In horror that year, FREDDY VS JASON was the anticipated film. Little did people know just how wretched it would turn out..
The movie THE VILLAGE was delayed because after an unusual period of warmth in 2003, leaves just did not change colors in time for M. Night..
Also SCARY MOVIE 3 was released..amazing to visualize this movie already being so many years old..
RETURN OF THE KING, however, dominated all competition at the box office in 2003. The movie scored big numbers at theaters.. it was heralded by many, including the HORROR REPORT, as the movie of the year.
The HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES was also released. It made history. I recall going to this movie with friends and sitting in front of a group of people who were chained together–by choice. After the movie, we went to Perkins to eat but sat in silence for 15 minutes to recover from the disturbing film we had just seen.. Rob Zombie changed the course of horror for a decade with this film.
Critics noted the weird and odd display of young male flesh in Victor Salva’s JEEPERS CREEPERS 2.
The HORROR REPORT was also slammed in 2003 for inaccurate reporting about a horror film named MALEVOLENCE. I printed the full email to the site about it.. But that year, an AINT IT COOL review of the movie hurt the filmmaker’s chances of scoring a larger audience..
The HORROR REPORT also created a message board. It was never updated or shared.. funny enough, it still exists here.
In 2003, the HORROR REPORT chose ‘war’ as the biggest story of 2003. By the end of 2003, my support for the Iraq war had already been waning quickly.. I wrote this in December, “The ‘weapons of mass destruction’ debate will not soon end, either. They have not been found yet, while many expected them to be located quickly. Now debate exists as to whether or not they were ever really there. “
I picked my mother as the hero of the year, weathering a number of funerals and having to endure many family crises over her years..
I said that FINDING NEMO would be the movie that year which would have the most staying power. It’s amazing that my son, now age 3 and a half at the time this is written, still knows who NEMO is.
The HORROR REPORT addressed the ‘new world of IMing’ in 2003. For those too young to know, instant messaging was the rage in ’03. Advancements since then make things seem laughable, but at the time we wrote this,
The brave new world…may be brave, may be new. But it sure doesn’t change from the frightened old world…
“Flirting with colleagues, scheming against the boss and gossiping about co-workers are among the most common Instant Messenges around offices according to a new survey…
In 2003, the HORROR REPORT celebrated two years. At 23, I thought ‘2 years’ actually meant something. Little did I know how fast time would go after this..I wrote this on my very youthful anniversary: “
Comingattractions came…CreatureCornerChud chugged along….ReallyScary in the UndertakersLounge at the MovieGeekCity during the FangoriaConvention while Buried.Com interviewed those that ComingSoon wouldn’t….It’s all full circle. Cinescape reporting today…But they are just re-reporting what another site said, who is
just re-re-reporting what someone else said they heard somewhere that re-re-re-reported an ‘exclusive’ that they copied from another site that reported something that was re-reported from the HollywoodReporter, where gossip becomes fact. And Variety, where the HollywoodReporter gets information…And then the wires and AP and Reuters and AFP and all others re-re-re-re-report….Where does it all come from??The HORROR-REPORT is celebrating the 2nd year online with the thousands of other sides that re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-rere-re-re-re-rere-re-re-re-rere-re-re-re-report the news of the day…
I just hope we’re interesting.
My immaturity level was obvious at times in 2003:
By year’s end, the government designated the Christmas color as “orange.” People too young may not recall the Tom Ridge color code scheme to indicate what terror warning of the time we were on.. that Christmas was an orange alert, not red.. not yellow. The HORROR REPORT wrote an article concerning that, featuring a re-do of classic Christmas songs:
I’m dreaming of an orange Christmas,
Just likes ones I never knew..
Where fear’s tears glisten,
And Aschcroft listens
To hear, the chatter on the globeWatching for terror across the land
In the meadow we watch for strange vans
Airplanes, trains, and trucks,Oh little town of Washington,
Where all this fear does brew
They’ve warned us thrice with no attacks
But this one may be true…CIA, are you listening,
In Iraq, guns are glistening,
Are you cautious tonight, the century’s fight
Hopefully less war in ‘04
It is always interesting to back years to see what my perspective was then vs now.. then, a carefree man who yet did not meet his wife to be.. did not have a child.. This ‘Christmas wish’ written in December 2003 sums up my thoughts from the year of war that was. In part, I wrote:
Personally, I’ve been alone not for quite some time. Not alone in the sense that I have no friends or family, that is quite the opposite. I have very good friends, a great friend, and a wonderful family always willing and able to help. But the quest for love has been fruitless. As moments pass by it becomes harder to find that magic I used to be able to find.
I found love eventually. And it was not Avril Lavinge. Or that woman in my sexually charged Christmas logo pictured above.