"Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, hipsters and hackers of the world. My name is Andrew and I welcome you to a new blog Maroon Mondays. Here I bring you all opinions of all I have opinions of. Pop culture, world news, my life and the occasional talk about why everything isn't up roses for me (it may never will). Also I can accept your opinion on topics and my blog itself (as long as you can spell and not type like a borderline psycho.) I'll be ready for anything and will not hold back anything. I hope you will too."
And with this post, a new blog was born.
Hello, everyone. Its me, Andrew. And yes, this new blog is still here, alive and kicking, ten years later. Welcome back to Maroon Mondays.
Okay so, usually when a media concept or the like reaches a certain milestone in their history, they make a post revealing their origin story, and so here I am to take part in it. And honestly, it's not much of a story to tell about anything, let alone how I began a website.
So, 2012. I've graduated from high school, I didn't go to college -- despite a small scholarship and many years of dreaming to attend (or the indoctrination by the previous generations of society and decades of TV show parents demanding their kids go and won't settle for anything else -- whichever one makes the most sense), and couldn't get a job if I tried. So from graduation to Christmas, I had literally nothing to do but wasting the dawn of my adult life on absolutely nothing but sitting on my broke ass and watching TV so I decided to take whatever talents I have and put them into (somewhat) good use.
So one day a few months before launch, I read an article by Deadline about Orange Wednesdays -- a two-for-one movie ticket-based promotion owned by British communications company Orange (later rebranded as EE in 2015). And I loved that name so much that I decided to name a blog based on it...'s naming convention. And that's where Maroon Mondays was born. (Also, the fact that this name highly similar to the program of the University of is strictly and highly a coincidence. My apologies to them.)
On December 21, 2012 Maroon Mondays launched (although the first post (my review of the newest incarnation of 106 & Park was published on January 13, 2013). When I began Maroon Mondays, I had absolutely no idea about how to run a blog what I'd like to cover. TV, music, headline news, opinion, etc.; my writing style and humor were a mess that I had to improve on my own as time went on; I was just making things up as I go, and threw whatever I could at the wall and whatever stuck was what you read (punctuation and proofreading be damned). As time passes, I would reach my focus and drive, finding my niche in opinion pieces about the big news stories (with Serious Post) and reviewing TV shows -- short-lived (with One Season Wonder) and animated (with Andrew's Animation Audibles [fka Toony Tuesday and started out as A Surprise Review]). Sometimes, I also review music with Short/Long Music Review. Other segments include Tweeter in My Mouth (where I spotlight famous people posting controversial and ridiculous tweets on Twitter and give my thoughts against them), and Andrew's ... Saturday! Show (in which I review Saturday Morning Cartoons [and it will be back between January 6 with my review of Schoolhouse Rock]. I finally found a good voice to amplify with my website, and honestly, it became a lot of fun.
Sometimes, though, it wasn't fun to create new ideas and not see them though. As you all know, sometimes I take time off from the blog (sometimes for a few months; sometimes for much longer) and not announce my absence. Doing it gave me time to recharge, reflect and re-energize, and i font regrets about that. However, I could've just said something brief on Twitter and take my time off, and not doing so is a huge regret. To that, I apologize.
However, what I won't apologize for what I write on this site. What I publish is of my opinion and while I do my absolute best to be open-minded, respectful and inclusive as possible in my posts, I may say something that may not be so. So if you'd like to call me out for such, let me know in the comments section.
Oh and about me? I've since got a great job with great pay and Healthcare, I've gone to therapy to be a better, happier person, , I feel much more comfortable with myself to get out there and out of my shell. I've went to some amazing places (comic-cons, concerts, traveling etc.), much more willing to go out and have fun and let go of whatever that's made me empty inside and embrace my true self.
Other than the time I announced that I'd leave Blogger for WordPress, I'm not going anywhere, and I have things planned for the site next year and beyond. So I'd like to thank everyone who have worked with me on select posts -- Virginia Anne Hubbard (for my collaboration review of season one of Gravity Falls) (I had tons of fun on that hope we can do season two very soon) and Hayden Silverman (on our joint discussion on the Fine Bros. REACT controversy) (He also made the current logo, which still looks fantastic. Thank you for that, dear sir).
And most importantly, I'd like to thank all of you, my loyal and dedicated readers. When I began this site, I didn't expect much and would've appreciated tens of views per post. However, more and more of you came from the woodwork and found my work worth your time and entertainment. I can't thank you all individually (because you don't want to know who I am behind the computer and I don't know where you've been, and that's okay), but I will say I'm blessed to be a place you can come to for someone else's opinion to agree with or at least be enthused by. Thank you and I love you.
I'm still ready to post about almost anything and if you're willing to suggest anything to me to discuss, I'm right here.