It Never Happens The Way You Wish It Will
I’ve worked through some shit in 2023.
You know how every year, you promise yourself that everything is gonna change and the upcoming year is gonna be your year? Well, it kind of happened to me. Not quite on Dead End Follies and not at all in the way I intended everything to come together for me, but it did anyway. You could argue that it wasn't all that great of a year if I listed you everything that happened, but it was still one of the best years of my life: I became a full-time journalist, I been going to shows again and I'm working through long-buried trauma.
For the first time in forty-one years of existence, I don't feel like a supporting character in someone else's story and I kind of like it. There wasn’t much novelty on Dead End Follies in 2023 and it was by design. I focused on making an effort to cover new voices, using the knowledge I've gained working with an editor on a daily basis to fine tune my reviews and curating my content with a more razor-sharp purpose than ever and…. it worked beautifully again. You don't break up something that works, do you?
It's gonna be 15 years, for f*ck's sake
Written criticism might be going out of style, but I'll say it for the 1000th time: I’m the one who benefits the most from Dead End Follies. Although I'm glad you guys are reading me and reacting to my ever dwindling number of social media posts, this is primarily a space for self-expression. My thoughts on culture define who I am more clearly than anything else I could ever do and by engaging with my reviews, you're engaging with me. Writing is what I do best, so written criticism is gonna live for as long as this site does.
On September of 2024, Dead End Follies will celebrate its 15th anniversary. Can you believe this? It had so many faces over the years, but I'm proud of what it is now and I don't plan to stop anytime soon. It's a pirate ship that plunders cultural history for meaning and greater understanding at a slow, but steady pace. It is a self-defeating middle finger at the way content is produced now, waiting to be found instead of screaming at your face. I'm good with that. I try to focus on being good rather than being seen.
The satisfaction of work well-done is enough for me.
One of the many skills I've learned in 2023 is video editing, so the ever elusive YouTube/TikTok channel might be closer than ever. We'll see how it evolves. In the meantime, it you wish to support the site, here are the two main ways you can do it:
Subscribing to my monthly newsletter (and getting exclusive content)
Following me on Instagram (and getting even more exclusive content)
Also…
Metalheads will find one exclusive written review a month on Vox & Hops' website
I've been shitposting again on blue sky social
I've been phasing out Facebook since it's been useless, but here it is anyway
Whoever reads this: thank you for being here. Thank you for your time and passion and concern about the weird, edgier stuff. I’ll try my best to live up to it. See you all in 2024!
