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Looking ahead to 2009, and my new blog

Posted by Martin  [Tags: blogsturbation, First Impressions and Retrospectives]

The wheels are set in motion: this is the last post for this blog before I launch my new one proper. Everyone who has read, commented or lurked over the past two and a half years has my deepest thanks; all I ask is update your RSS feed subscriptions to those of my new one when I’ve published some more posts and the RSS plugin’s cache straightens itself out and updates. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be taking a short break from posting to spend time relaxing with my family over christmas and work on the old viewing backlog; I’ll probably still lurk around on other people’s blogs and AB IRC but while the posts here won’t be deleted or anything, there won’t be any more updates here.

Time to sit back and take a quick break

There are already several good reasons to come back to blogging next month, not least some really interesting things recently announced that I think are well worth looking forward to, and will give plenty to write about. I can’t not write it seems, so here are some of the things that will kick the latest bout of Hiatus Disease out into the ether where it belongs.

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Hiatus Disease: prevention is better than cure?

Posted by Martin  [Tags: 9rules, blogsturbation, community]

Hiatus Disease is one of the biggest causes of blog death although there is a great deal of contention regarding the best course of treatment. Personally I think it’s more important to address the underlying causes and put them right before they get to become a problem: getting your blogging mojo back is harder than trying to stop losing it in the first place. I’ve been watching a lot of anime recently and I’ve also been packing in a fair amount of overtime at work (I have a sizeable overdraft and some important things to save up for) so writing the sort of post that appears here is becoming more difficult than ever.

I believe the caption reads “pulling another all-nighter”, which is something I really can’t do any more

It might seem a bit out of the blue to say “I might stop posting on my regular blog,” in the same way that a couple’s divorce is unexpected when they never seemed to row about anything. This isn’t really inspired by other bloggers’ bouts of hiatus disease either as far as I can tell - it’s mostly spurred on by my own reasons. There are of course some sad cases that make me worried though…realising your own mortality I guess. KT, Jeff Lawson and IKnight, three of my favourite bloggers, have experienced burnout and plenty of others have fallen by the wayside too. I’m now at a bit of a crossroads where I need to do something before something disasterous happens to my blogging too.

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Hello, 9Rules!

Posted by Martin  [Tags: 9rules, blogsturbation, community]

I don’t like to blow my own trumpet and make a filler post about making posts but this month saw an historic moment in my blogging career. As of September 2008, this blog is a member of the 9Rules network.

Invading the Internet, one site at a time: I promise I won’t let this go to my head

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The End of the World: two years old today

Posted by Martin  [Tags: blogsturbation, community, Self-indulgent nostalgia]

Two years. TWO YEARS I’ve been doing this. From my first post waxing lyrical about Monster, through the gender-bending Kashimashi, my stubborn refusal to fanboy about Haruhi and my stubborn refusal to not fanboy about Mushishi, right up to the move to Wordpress, the ABC dorama and beyond, it’s been fun. I cautiously dipped my toes into a whole subculture of aggregators, IRC humour, editorials, episode summaries and Wordpress upgrades precisely 731 days ago today and I haven’t regretted it one bit. Okay, it’s very tsun-tsun of me to say so but sometimes I get a bit baffled and exasperated at the aniblogosphere and your antics, but what can you do?

Happy birthday to me…

Actually, the precise date is probably lost in the mists of time since I arbitrarily set the timestamp of the first post to April 1 when I did the move to WP, but it’s as good a day as any. According to my stats this blog, when updated regularly, gets upwards of 500 hits daily. Admittedly this is way more than I expected or deserve but it’s all thanks to you, the reader. I write because I feel like it but the motivation to keep going has come from the comments, trackbacks, e-mails and other words of constructive criticism and encouragement from everyone who’s visited, commented, flamed and helped in some other way. You have my heartfelt thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you. Actually, I possibly could, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as awesome. You get the picture.

As for the other big blogosphere event today, I only have this to say:

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The customary in-between updates post

Posted by Martin  [Tags: blogsturbation, First Impressions and Retrospectives, Random thoughts]

In accordance with Hidoshi’s dislike for the term ‘meta-blogging’ used when writing a blog post about blog posts, I declare this to be a blogsturbatory one instead, in memory of the appropriately-titled but apparently deceased Epic Win. The spectre of Real Life loomed, I learned that magnolia wall emulsion and black denim didn’t go well together and I was reunited with the belongings that had been placed in self-store, awaiting my new hikikomori refuge house. It’s good to be back in my own place but sadly I have to wait another two days for my landline to be connected before I can install a new net connection. Hiatus diease ain’t funny folks.</digression>

So cute and artsy, I don’t really need a reason…beyond stating that I’ve just discovered Danbooru and amongst the NSFW garbage there’s some really cool stuff…

Since this temporary connection seems to be working, I’ll post a few brief viewing updates. Ghost Hound continues to be baffling, challenging but at times utterly awesome - the bigger picture is starting to emerge. And Taro is in love. Perhaps. Aww. <3 Persona: Trinity Soul was supposed to be on my watchlist but is already in Backlog Hell and might well wind up in the On Hold list indefinitely. There just isn’t that special something about it to make me watch it. Kaiji on the other hand has kept my attention throughout, and with the end in sight I’m looking forward to seeing the Mulleted One triumph at last. Unless there’s a second season planned to finish things off, which won’t surprise me actually. Spice and Wolf ought to be, by rights, the dull one I’d drop but the show as a whole is saved by the dynamic that exists between Lawrence and Horo. The reader comments seem to echo my own thoughts that even if they sit around in a bar chatting, that alone is entertaining enough.

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