About Me (Long Version) & About this Blog

About Me

My real name is Christianne Benedict. (You didn't think my parents actually named me "Vulnavia," did you?) The nom de plume, "Vulnavia Morbius," is conflated from Forbidden Planet, obviously, and The Abominable Dr. Phibes. All writers conjure monsters from the id, so it seemed appropriate at the time.

Most of the biographies I write about myself on the net read something like: "I'm currently building a race of atomic supermen in my basement in order to conquer the world. Failing that, if they'll serve drinks, it will be a success." Or, to paraphrase Robert Bloch: "I have the heart of a small child. I keep it in a jar on my desk." I grew up on monsters and horror movies and fifties sci-fi. It creeps into my worldview.

In some ways, I'm kind of an exotic. Over the course of my scandalous career, I've been a grave digger, an arms merchant, an artist, and an entrepreneur, among other even more colorful pursuits. In my spare time, I'm an activist. I try not to let all of that into my writing about movies and pop culture except where it's appropriate, but sometimes, I can't keep it out.

But the truth of the matter is that I'm not as exotic as I let on. By day, I'm a lowly graphic designer. By night, I'm a movie addict. The one feeds the other. Oh, there's more than that, but on a day to day basis, I wake up, I go to work, I go home, I go to sleep. Repeat. I have a house and a couple of dogs and a partner I love. It's pretty boring, really.

About this Blog

I've been writing about movies on the internet since 1997. This blog is an outgrowth of my old stand-alone site (which is still up). I write about all kinds of movies. Horror movies are my first love--and they have pride of place on this blog, especially during the month of October--but horror movies were a gateway drug into all kinds of other movies.  Beyond horror movies, I love film noir, Westerns, Musicals, kung-fu movies, gangster movies, silents, melodramas, obscure art movies, shorts, cartoons, you name it. The movie monkey on my back is the size of King Kong.

I also occasionally write about other varieties of pop culture, including books, comics, television, and other kinds of art. My background is in art and I grew up wanting to be a cartoonist. I have a strong rooting interest.

My individual posts are rarely finished products. Grammatical errors, factual errors, and the occasional awkward sentence are par for the course. I DO go back and edit material that I've already posted when I notice something wrong, especially if it's an embarrassing error. I haven't marked this blog for objectionable content, but I do engage in salty sailor talk from time to time. I also have no qualms about posting screen caps featuring nudity and gore. While I moderate my comments, I do that more to weed out spammers than anything else. Salty sailor talk in the comments does not bother me, so feel free. I write from the left and from a queer feminist point of view. I'm also an atheist. I used to think of myself as a moderate once upon a time, but those days are long over. If you have a problem with my political views, that is your prerogative. I don't moderate comments for politics. I WILL moderate for ad-hominem attacks, blatant sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and general assholery. So far, this hasn't been a problem, so let's continue to play nice.

I used to be socially networked to the gills, but I've pared that back a bit. You can find me elsewhere on the web in the following places:

My art blog
Tumblr
Goodreads
Blue Sky

You can contact me by email at archaeopterxy_wtw at yahoo dot com.

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