A screaming comes across the sky - Note from the Editor
Greetings, and thank you for coming. This website is the culmination of a few things, but it is primarily born of frustration. That might come across as negative, but I look around and see some of the world's greatest accomplishments were brought about by the same feeling.
(Look at him, comparing some amateur website to the assembly line and that one James song. And is that a Thomas Pynchon quote in the header? What a pretentious asshat.)
While the Internet has created a plethora of new opportunities for good writing, it has also opened the floodgates to much more bad writing. Clickbait is a cancer. The word "listicle" exists. Countless websites will let anyone write for their platform, regardless of experience, talent or (especially) tact. The select few that pay their writers understandably pay very little; why spend the bucks when there are hundreds of people willing to crank out barely-literate content for free? But I digress.
I've spent many years contributing to some excellent publications, and I will continue to do so, but the plan is for Blood & Spirit to encompass all of my passions - music, film, literature, food & drink, cars, and other odds & ends - into one outlet. I still believe there is an audience for writing that goes a little more in-depth than glorified press releases and soulless top 10s. There is an opportunity here to create something unique, and I would be remiss to not pursue it.
We live in a world of aggressive tailor-made advertising and marketing algorithms that would make Dr. Zola jealous. The irony of it all is that plenty of us end up left out when our interests are determined to be "not applicable". I like Esquire magazine, but I don't need eight pages of George Clooney in a $5000 suit talking about how much he loves Hillary Clinton. I love heavy metal, but I feel alienated from a good chunk of what people are into right now. Movies are a passion, but I don't need to know anything about the next all-female reboot of a Japanese sequel to a cartoon TV series.
So, much like all the best artists create for themselves first, I'm creating this endeavor to read what I would seek out myself. Stick around and maybe you'll end up feeling the same way.
We launch Monday, September 19.
-Chris
