Holidays Are the Clocks That Really Matter

  The Blair Witch Project | Rotten Tomatoes

The year 1999 was a big year in my life. It represented my transition from high school to college. It was that magical year when I was suddenly an adult. It was also the year of some pretty darn good movies! Don't believe me? Here's a quick list of the many brilliant movies that came out in 1999, starting with the feature movie for this October-themed blog: The Blair Witch Project:

  • The Matrix
  • Gattaca 
  • Fight Club
  • Being John Maclkovich 
  • Eyes Wide Shut 
  • Sleepy Hallow 
  • Office Space 

You can also research it for yourself!

I'm here to write about Blair Witch, though. This was our second night watching a horror movie in our ritual of one horror movie for every night in October. As I'm watching this movie for the hundredth-or-so-time, it hits me kind of hard that 1999 was a long time ago. For me, it doesn't seem like that, of course. I can still visualize clearly that last year of high school and that first year of attending college in my hometown of Dickinson, ND. Dickinson State University's campus inspired me down a path of reading and writing and loving literature and movies. But I cannot escape the fact that 1999 was so long ago. This movie is a reminder of that for me. It's not a bad reminder. It's just a reminder. I think about my favorite upcoming holiday of Halloween and I'm struck with the realization that holidays are the clocks that really matter. They force us to ponder our progression in life like few other moments can. We regularly ignore the hands on the clock that click by every second, but we cannot ignore the passing of another holiday. 

Yeah, this post is about the Blair Witch. I will offer that this is my favorite horror movie--ever. I value an original idea more than anything. This movie had that idea with its conception. As I work on my own first novel, I am reminded to push hard to find that original idea. The Blair Witch is a bar that all artists should aspire to reach. Don't turn something out until you have that original idea as your base.  

  

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