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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.

[21 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Ginban Kaleidoscope: I blame Lolikitsune for this one

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

Yep, you have Lolikit to blame for this post. Like, totally. It was an interesting exercise in watching something outside of my own comfort zone, at least - after all, ‘Canadian ghost figure skating animu’ is a bit outside my usual viewing, as is any sort of TV entertainment centred around sports. Of course, the concept behind Ginban Kaleidoscope isn’t just about ice skating: it’s about the ghost of a Canadian stunt pilot who possesses the body of an ice skater. Yeah.

I’m not sure why but Tazusa looks so cute in this pose

To be fair the premise is possibly the most left-field and odd that I’ve had the fortune to come across so far, which makes it both interesting and potentially offputting. Would I have watched it as it aired, knowing how the story starts? I’ll admit that I probably wouldn’t have. Which is a bit of a shame because once I got past the initial “You what?!” reaction at the initial setup, it was quite a lot of fun. Admittedly there are one or two things that drag it down from the heights of greatness, but in terms of light-hearted disposable entertainment I was genuinely pleasantly surprised. Not bad for a semi-serious exchange of smart-ass comments on IRC, I think you’ll agree.

[12 Comments]

[Site Announcements]

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

[8 Comments]

[Specials]

I can’t be arsed to write a proper post so read these blogs instead

Posted by Martin  [Tags: community]

There are a number of things I could do as a reaction to burn-out (if that’s what I have) but I think recommending new additions to my own feedreader is the most constructive. My answer to everything at the moment is “I can’t be arsed.” Do that post on Kurenai I promised to write? Can’t be arsed. Reply to a week’s worth of other blog posts that I promised myself I reply to after reading them? Can’t be arsed. Mow the lawn? Can’t be arsed. You get the idea.

The QFT-ness of the subtitles speak for themselves

Since I Can’t Be Arsed to write a proper blog post I’ll instead point you in the direction of other blogs who still CAN be arsed. They’re on my blogroll and/or feedreader but since they’re 1. new and 2. especially good I think they deserve a special mention. The support of the Empire of Britannia in these recommendations is purely coincidental, honestly.

[7 Comments]

[Editorials]

Anime elitism: why I’m cooler than you and why that doesn’t matter (shockingly delayed editorial #2)

Posted by Martin  [Tags: community, Random thoughts, Rants]

Maybe it’s the nature of the Internet that ‘elitist’ behaviour and views are so widespread, no matter how much they are derided. I believe that a contributing factor to the perception of elitism among anime fans though is that the fandom is a niche community: simultaneously small enough to have a sense of ‘us’ versus ‘everyone else’ yet large enough to contain cliques, lingo and who knows what else. Within this relatively small group of individuals there still seem to be borders in our minds that separate each of us, including those who are in our eyes, or consider themselves to be, ‘elite’.

Walking the line of good taste without falling into the trap of ignorance and arrogance is walking on a knife edge, like our hero here

Unfortunately, the assumption of elite groups implies superiority and inferiority, so I think the ‘elitist’ term is inaccurate and should be used only for reasons of convenience (which is why I’m resorting to using it in this post). What I’m examining here are the people who are seen as ‘top of the heap’ and how that manifests itself; furthermore I’m questioning how their position may not be a ‘horizontal’ separation of superior and inferior…using my elitist self as an example because I rule (sarcasm intentional).

[18 Comments]

[Site Announcements]

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:

[18 Comments]