(Even) More about the blog

It's been really helpful to read the other posts this week to help me get some thoughts together about this. So here's my take on the blog right now:

When I'd mentioned a one person posting a week idea, I'd thought that it'd be one post for that week, so we'd each post once a month. But after reading your comments and thinking about it, I realize that could make each of us lazy - and then, if someone forgets their post, that means no post for that entire week! (also, it might be hard to keep track of which week we're blogging). So I'm pretty down for keeping the day schedule and finding someone to replace Kaity if she's no longer interested.

Sarah made a good point when she talked about us figuring out why there are problems with posting. For me, it's three-fold; I've abruptly started working many more hours at work so I have trouble keeping up with the posts throughout the week and/or writing mine ahead of time, I've been visiting my family and long-distance boyfriend on the weekends - which means leaving for work early, working all day, then going straight to somewhere else - and have trouble remembering to post in all of that, and, finally, as has been mentioned before, the themes lately haven't particularly sparked my interest and imagination.

Two of those things will start to get better as I adjust to my work schedule, and after this month with lots of birthday celebrations for me (turning 21, whooo!) my weekend trips will die down a lot. The theme issue seems to be big though, and it's been mentioned in all the posts so far.

Themes both need to be thought-provoking, as well as decided on far enough ahead of time that there's time to ponder what we're going to write and put out something deserving of the Nerdfighteria label.

One idea might be to spend an entire week brainstorming theme ideas, keep a running list in the sidebar, and each week at the end of our posts/in the comments decide on another theme so that we're always quite a way ahead (and if need be, can write posts ahead of time if we're going to be gone - this would be really helpful for me). This also helps spark some conversation in the comments to get us engaged.

What do you guys think?

To get the theme train rolling, I'm going to blurt out a few that come to mind as I reflect on my day and look around my room and read through these prompts:

How would you classify art? (and no fair using the famous porn quip of "I can't define it but I know it when I see it!)

What's your "happy place" - the place that makes you feel warm and comfortable inside, that you go to when you need to relax, and always look forward to visiting?

If you could have any mythical or made up creature, what would it be? What problems might arise? (training a minotaur, anyone?)

How do you differentiate between a nerd and a geek?

Choose a period of your life that was the hardest/most uncomfortable or awkward. If you could write a letter to yourself from then, what would you say?

What are you passionate about?

What single superpower would you choose?

What's the most meaningful media you've ever consumed? (book, video game, graphic novel, film, painting, video, etc)

Choose one opinion you hold that's unpopular and talk about why you came to that conclusion (this could be anything from "I hate the character Harry Potter" to critiques of politics and morality, as long as we're all civil)

Time to laugh at ourselves! Tell an embarrassing story.

What's one thing you'd really like to accomplish in the next year?

It seems like in many people's stories there seem to be some sort of "hinge" times or events - things that may have seemed small or insignificant but steered that life in a different direction. Look back on the story in your life - do you see any "hinges"? If so, what are they?

How do you recharge after a long day (or week, or month...)?

What's an opinion you've changed over time? How and why did that happen?

Who's someone you don't see much (or at all) anymore? What's your favorite memory of them?

What are you most proud of about yourself? What one thing do you wish you could change?

Who is/are your role model(s)?

How would you describe yourself? How do you think the people closest to you would? How about an enemy? (maybe "enemy" is a strong word, but I hope you get what I mean)

You know that feeling of being speechless in the moment and figuring out a really good comeback later? Time to let the zingers out! What would you have said if you had the chance?

How's that for a start? :)

More about the blog

First off, I would like to apologise for my lack of posts, I think because it's summer I have lost track of the days, only a couple of minutes ago I realised that today was Wednesday.

I guess that is part of this weeks theme. I really hate that I've forgotten a couple of times about this blog because I really use to enjoy writing my blogs for here but think lately we've all gotten a bit lazy because this isn't as new and exciting as it was before when we started.

I'm not sure on the idea of a different posting system, I think it make us more lazy. If the one person posting a week is, that one person posting everyday that may make it a bit hard for that person. I'm not sure if that's what you mean though. I think the way we have things the now works well. I do think that we may need someone to replace Kaity, I haven't spoke to her in while either, and maybe having someone new to the blog may be the motivation we need to get back in to this and write more. I would say that if we are going to get someone new for the blog that we invite someone from somewhere other that North America, I feel like I'm the only outsider in this blog.

As for themes, I think we really need to think of one way before the start of the next week, it seems really unfair to leave it to the last minute for Sarah to pick. I think what we really need is more interesting themes, topics that make us think more. Perhaps things that are happening in the world now, get every ones views on these things.

As for what Kaite said about us interacting more, I agree, I think it would help if we commented more and got to know each other better. I feel that commenting motivates us, it feels good to know that someone has read what we've spent time on writing, and that they have something to say about it. Maybe we should make it a rule to try and find something to comment on each blog, but there's no punishment of you don't.

Anyway that's all I really have to say, I hope it helps some.

About the blog

So as Rachel pointed out on the Facebook group, the blog has been in sort of sad shape lately, so here are my main thoughts about the blog.

There have been a lot of missed posts lately and I think before we decide what we're going to do about it we need to figure out why it's happening.  Is it just because it's summer and everyone would rather be off having exciting summer adventures and enjoying the nice weather, rather than sitting inside writing blog posts?  Is it because we don't have enough time to write every week?  Is it because we're not hitting on themes that we find inspiring enough?  Is it something else entirely?

For me, I've only missed one post lately, and that was because I was sick.  Since I'm living at home for the summer and only two of my friends live near me right now, I just have no life and nothing better to do than write blog posts, haha, so that's my story.  I don't mind that the rest of you are missing posts, I'm just curious as to why, so that we can figure out a better system to meet our blogging needs!

I guess some suggestions on solutions are to move to a different posting system.  We could do one person each week, or we could move to a biweekly system, though it could be a little difficult to remember whether it's a blogging week or not.  Also I think if we end up sticking to any sort of 'days of the week' system, we should figure something out for Thursday; either get Kaity back on board, or if she's not interested, we can try to find someone new (it looks as though there are a few people in the YP thread that showed up late and didn't end up getting a group, so we could try to recruit one of them)

Even though I'm managing to keep up with posts, they're usually not up to the quality that I would like them to be.  I think the issue for me is that we always choose themes at the last minute - usually either Sunday or Monday, which gives me at most two days to think about it, figure out what I want to say, write a post, edit it, etc. and I find it's not really enough time to produce something that I'm happy with posting.  If we could figure out something where we know the theme maybe a week ahead of time, or even a few extra days, that would be really helpful.  I find the longer I can know the topic and have it mulling over in the back of my mind, the more time there is for ideas to pop into my head, haha.  Also, 'free' weeks are good sometimes, because it's nice to share what's going on in our lives and get to know each other a little better that way, and it gives an opportunity to talk about something you're passionate about/interested in/whatever that might not necessarily apply to everyone and therefore not be a good theme.  But again, it's good to have some notice on that so we can think about what to write, rather than saying on Sunday "well we haven't chosen a theme so let's just do a free week."  Maybe we could set up some sort of system where we take turns choosing a theme, and either do a free week after everyone's had a turn before we repeat, or in between each person, or something.  I don't know, just an idea.

Other than that, I think the only other thing I would say about the blog is that it would be nice if we interacted a little more, in terms of leaving to comments and responding to each other's posts and stuff.  Sometimes it feels like since we've been doing this for five months now (FIVE MONTHS, I can't even believe it's been that long, it feels like maybe two or three, haha), we should know each other a little better than we do.  I don't know, maybe that's just me.  And I know that even though this is a thing I would like to change, I don't make much of an effort at it, but now that I've written it down for the rest of you to see, maybe I will feel more motivated to actually do it.  There are definitely some weeks/posts where this happens and is great, but then there are other times when it doesn't (like now... it's been three weeks since anyone commented on anyone else!  And I know there have been fewer posts than usual in the past three weeks, but still!  Even the month before that, comments were pretty sparse).

Okay, those are all my thoughts, I am done now!  I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of you are thinking, and whether or not we're all on the same page.

Pet Peeves in Movies

I wasn't sure what we were doing for a theme this week so I decided to just carry on with picking one of the ones that had been suggested like we've been doing the last few weeks.  Also, we're starting to run out of those...

I can't really think of very many pet peeves I have in movies, but I think the worst one is when there are twist endings that don't really fit at all with the rest of the movie.  The worst example of this that I can think of is the movie Knowing.  SPOILERS if you haven't seen it, but it was actually a pretty decent movie up until the end.  It's about this girl who was psychic and predicted all these catastrophes and put a list of them in a school's time capsule, and then it was dug up just before the last one happened, which was a solar flare that killed everyone.  Then at the end aliens showed up to save some kids from the solar flares, and it was the aliens who "sent a message" to the girl so she could predict these things.  So, yeah.  Aliens showing up out of nowhere at the end of a movie for no reason is something that bothers me.

That's actually really the only one that I can think of right now, so I guess this will be a short post.

DFTBA!

Dizzy and Confused

Okay so I'm not sure what exactly was going to happen for a theme this week so I'm just going to... do something. I guess the continuation of choose-your-own.

Maybe I'll do books? Sorry if I'm doing this wrong, guys.

Harry Potter I love that series, there are also lots of other people who love it. I love it for the story and the magic, the characters are all so real, fun, lovable, hate-able and connected with each other despite being fictional. I can't count how many times it's made me laugh, cry or smile.

I, Robot It's a bunch of short stories, but it's also the only Isaac Asimov book I have so far finished. Caves of Steel, I swear, one day I will find you in the mess that is my bookshelf and finish you. I love the stories surrounding the three laws of robotics and how they explain so much about the universe they take place in. Also, sci-fi books in general, I really like them.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy These books are amazing, I haven't finished them, but I try to read them whenever I need something to make me laugh.

Like Water for Chocolate The only book I've ever been forced to read and liked. It's a sappy love story told through cooking recipes and takes place during the Mexican Revolution, and it's got a lot of magical realism in it. I try not to admit I kind of like romance stories, most definitely not Romeo and Juliet or trashy books, but some love stories are okay.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland I remember finishing that book a lot more quickly than I expected, though I haven't finished Through the Looking Glass yet. I've memorized the "Lobster Quadrille" (do you use quotations?) and like to sing it to myself sometimes.

I'm looking around my room and I'm seeing a lot of comic books. But I know I've read so many real (text) books. There was Goosebumps, Chronicles of Narnia, The Edge on the Sword, Howl's Moving Castle and so many others that I wish I could remember because I really liked them.

That's all I have on books I like.

Movie/TV Pet Peeve

You know those pet peeves that just make you facepalm (or worse) whenever you see them?

One of my big ones is centered around media, and TV shows and movies seem to be the biggest offenders.

I hate the easy out of tying up plot lines by revealing that everything has been a dream/hallucination/some other thing that changes the entire story. If it wasn't used so much it might still be original, but now I just roll my eyes when it shows up in something.

I wrote a long, rambly bit about the latest season finale of House, but I think instead I'll sum it up this way: sometimes, this cliche works. There have been hints throughout, or if it's a drug overdose induced hallucination (hence the House reference), it's in character and we've seen the signs that this might be coming.

But when used as a quick fix because a) the writers tried to solve everything because they thought they were getting cancelled, but then got renewed, b) the story's been written into a corner, or c) everything needs to be tied up quickly, the sloppiness shows. It's hard to use this twist well, and it will probably remain a pet peeve of mine.

Tunes

Favourite things are really easy to write about.  Hey look, music!  Bands!  Yeahhh!  Here are a few of my favourites:

The Decemberists are probably my favourite band.  A lot of my favourite songs are by bands that aren't The Decemberists, but I think they probably have the highest percentage of songs that I really like and one of the lowest of songs I don't like.  My favourite of their albums are The Crane Wife and The Hazards of Love, and I really can't choose between the two because they're such completely different things that it isn't even fair to compare them.

The Weepies are also really great.  Like the Decemberists, they have a very high percentage of songs that I like.  For some reason I tend to listen to them when I'm sad, even though there music isn't necessarily sad, but that just seems to be the way it works out.  I guess it's fitting, though, given their name!  I especially love their first full album, Say I am You, and their mos recent one, Be My Thrill.


Ingrid Michaelson has a very very beautiful voice and I absolutely love her music and there's really not much more to say about her than that.


Great Lake Swimmers have been amongst my favourites for a long, long time.  They came to Halifax last fall and I didn't get to see them because they sold out too fast and I was pretty much devastated.  They are super-duper mellow and their music is really good for quiet sleepy cold winter indoor days.


The Trews are a fairly local band, although they've made a name for themselves at least in Canada.  They were on Radio Free Roscoe once if any of you ever watched that show :P  They're the kind of band that just reminds me of friends and home and happy times and I always get really nostalgic if I listen to them too much.


Hey Ocean! are my new favourite band.  They're from Vancouver and I just saw them play in Halifax on Canada Day.  The lead singer's voice is amazing and their songs are just so catchy and I love their lyrics.  Plus they looked like they were having so much fun on stage that it was hard not to like them.

Moist von Lipwig

I'm a reaaaally big fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. It spans almost 40 books at this point, but I love that you can hop in at basically any point. I happen to get most of the books from the library, and I love that as I go along when I see mentions of other characters I get to be like "ooh! ooh! I know them!".

I also really like that while the entire series parodies a whole bunch of topics, it's still original. It's not like the Scary Movie franchise or other comparable parodies where people just yank scenes from well-known books/movies, mash them all together, throw in some curse words and yell "look! It's funny!"

There are many recurring characters, loosely compiled into their affiliations either with the country witches (who do more psychology than witchcraft) or the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork, who can be no less slimy than the people they arrest.

I just finished a story arc about a relatively new character, Moist von Lipwig; a con artist who is hung under his alias, but the (benevolent?) dictator Vetinari uses a trap door to keep him alive. In both Going Postal and Making Money Moist is commissioned to take over defunct and poorly running government offices - the Post Office and Royal Bank, respectively. Moist is different from the other characters we've met, with a taste for adrenaline and flair for the ridiculous, and all sorts of shenanigans ensue.

I would say more, but I don't want to give spoilers :)

It's been great reading about all of your guys' favorite books this week!