Monday Spotlight: Why Was There No Sunday Spotlight?

- I got halfway through writing the post and never returned to it after leaving the house to run errands

- I was trying to finish recording that video of Space Quest 0 I've been talking about so I could write about it, but ran out of time and energy

- I ended up spending more time responding to e-mails and YouTube comments than expected

- I started nodding off while watching anime and took an impromptu 1.5-hour nap that completely threw off the flow of my evening

- I miscalculated the amount of time I'd have to write, and would prefer to go to bed at a normal hour than stay up late rushing to finish a post I'd rather take my time on

- Ninjas kidnapped the President, and I was a bad enough dude to dedicate my day to saving him instead

A Productive Evening

Here is what a productive evening looks like (well, to me, at least):

- Visit the hardware store

- Pick up milk

- Swing by the ATM

- Watch an early episode of Saturday Night Live over dinner with the wife

- Record more commentary for my upcoming YouTube playthrough of Space Quest 0: Replicated

- Clean the bathroom, inspired by the janitorial heroics of Roger Wilco

- Add search page thumbnail pictures to more of the articles deep in the GameCola archive

- Confirm that GameFAQs did indeed accept my screenshots from Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge

- Finish the Dragon Warrior IV music ripping project I started months ago, finally adding the soundtrack to my collection and deleting the folder that's been sitting on my desktop all this time

- Write the blog post I'd originally planned to write during lunch (except I got sidetracked with writing a blurb for this month's Q&AmeCola, and was also catching up on the Two Guys from Andromeda's talkthrough of Space Quest III)

- Probably play video games or something before going to bed at a reasonable hour

Well, hot dog! I think I like this flexible new posting model.

And Then the Weekend Happened ... Kinda

Yep. I forgot to have a post ready for today. And, now that it's 3:30 ... well, you know how it goes. I have a pretty decent excuse this time, though.

I ... did not have a weekend this weekend. Instead, I worked straight through, and got home Monday morning at 2:00 AM. Sound crazy? Sure it does, because it is.

My next couple of weeks are going to be in a similar vein of crazy, and the points Nathaniel brought up the other day about the issues we're having keeping on point here are especially valid.

For the record, I do not want to stop the blog. And, if we can at all manage it, I'd love to keep a daily schedule. Now, you know full well what's coming next, don't ya? For the first time since we started all this, I'm getting the feeling that we may not be able to keep up that pace anymore.

My schedule is always changing, and, honestly, being able to sit down and write a blog post every other day just isn't feasible for the near future. Once I get through these next couple of weeks, maybe things will lighten up, but I just don't think so.

Personally, if the choice is to stop blogging or to blog at a decent rate, when we have time (and something to write about), I'd much rather post up something of substance instead of something fluffy.

Though, to be honest, sometimes fluffy is good.

I really can't imagine not having the blog, so I'm not even going to think about that. For now, Nathaniel and I will try to figure out what we're gonna do. Hang tight, Exfanders. We're working on it! 

Oops.

Somebody was supposed to post today...

Go Have Some Pie

Borrowed from Serious Eats: Pie of the Week: Mallomar Pie. Sounds delish.

Worse Blogger

We are apparently not off to a spectacular start with posting this month. At least when Alex resorts to a quick filler post, there's some substance that still makes it worth a look. I just come up with a sorry three-sentence fluff post that accomplishes nothing other than meeting our posting quota for the day.

Sunday Spotlight: R&R

After concluding my massive D&D story with yesterday's post, I think I need a day off.

Friday Insanity

I hate Fridays.

Somehow, my Fridays are BY FAR the craziest day of my week, and this week is certainly no different. So, in order to free up all available time to do work...I'm officially cheating with today's post.

Instead of something insightful, here's an episode of the YouTube show that I'm currently helping to write. Enjoy!

Waiting for Wednesday, Volume 4, Issue 21

Well, it's Wednesday again, and that means one thing--new comics! Actually, it also means that Alex has four meetings in a row and hasn't spent more than ten minutes at a time at his computer.

That's okay, since I have a whole buncha stuff due in the next couple hours and I still have two more afternoon meetings to attend.

Plus, lunch, and possibly squeeze in a trip to the comics shop.

So, instead of talking at length here about...well, anything, really...I think I'm gonna cop out totally this afternoon and just encourage you all to go buy some comics today. And, if comics aren't your thing, then go to a local bookstore (preferably not one of the big ones) and buy a book by an author you've never before read.

Or, hey! If you haven't yet seen The Avengers in theaters, go do that. It's two hours of (nearly) mindless fun. But, boy, is it fun! Great characterization, cool plot, and everything that should blow up real good most definitely blows up real good!

I'm gonna go see it again this weekend, which is something I very rarely do. Actually, I think the only movie I've ever seen in theaters more than once is The Dark Knight. And, while The Avengers is not Dark Knight (my opinion, anyway), Joss Whedon's epic is well worth your time and attention.

So, yeah.

Go do one of those things. Before you do, though...what are you Waiting for?

Waiting for Wednesday, Volume 4, Issue 20

Ya know, I don’t think I ever really understood the term “my fever broke” until last night, when I alternated between being freezing cold—literally teeth-chatteringly cold—and ridiculously hot. I had a couple of very strange dreams, which someone later pointed out were likely fever dreams.

Again, another term that until last night meant very little to me.

One of those fever dream things was particularly interesting, as for a little while there, I pretty vividly dreamt that I was a character in Game of Thrones, warding off a Lannister attack while riding on the kingsroad on my way back to Winterfell.

Aside from demonstrating how utterly clueless I am about a wide variety of things, my fever-induced insomnia last night made me realize that apparently even my fever dreams are dorky, which made me laugh.

Which then made me swoon a bit before laying back down.

Anyway, after the weird dreaming and teeth-chattering coldness of the night, I actually started to feel human again sometime around 4:00 in the morning.

Not to fear, though, because not only did I make it to work this morning—I was even about an hour early. Probably because I was still shaking off the effects of whatever the heck plague I caught last night was.

All this is basically to say that I won’t be posting much today about comic books.

You know, because of the weird fever.

Lost in the Archives

I'm not sure if you ever do this, but I find myself getting caught up in extraneous research sometimes when writing. It'll start off with a quick date confirmation on Wikipedia, or a peek at a previous post or article I've written to ensure continuity and prevent unnecessary repetition. Then my productivity grinds to a halt. Such was the case when I went back through the Exfanding archives to find posts I should link to when discussing my recent resurgence of interest in Star Wars.

Instead of trying to condense my thoughts into a short blurb before my lunch break ends, I'm going to use today as a chance for longtime readers to have a refresher and new readers to have a first glimpse of my (often unpopular) opinions about this fandom I claim to like. The links below are to three different posts I've written about Star Wars that showcase the kind of thinking I tend to do about both the prequels and the original trilogy. These should provide some worthwhile background for later in the week, when I plan to discuss my experiences with the Star Wars novels and video games, focusing on one book in particular that's allowed me to finally understand why disdain for the prequels runs so deep.

On that note, please allow me to link to three posts that are really more even-handed than their titles suggest:

- Sorry, I Like the Prequels Better

- Repairing Star Wars

- What If the Empire Never Struck Back?

Writing, Ironically

There’s a strange irony about being paid to write things for a living and not having any time to write things outside of work. As with most things in my life, irony is pretty much old hat for me, so I’ve come to accept the fact that, once I became a “professional” “writer” I pretty much abandoned all outside writing.

Which kinda stinks, because writing about whatever I want to write about is pretty much my favorite thing in the world.

My “off” days are spent writing about the things I couldn’t finish writing on my on-days, so when I finally have a few moments when something’s not due, or something’s not about to be due, I prefer to stare at a wall, blankly.

And, really, is there any other way to stare at a wall? Not for my money, there’s not.

Not for my money.

It’s gotten to the point where things like this happen. See, when I started writing this post, oh, about five minutes ago I’d say, I knew where it was going. The general direction was in place, and I had a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Now, though? Nope. Completely forgot what I was trying to accomplish with this.

So, instead, I’ll link out to a really interesting interview with Grant Morrison about Batman. And how, in Morrison’s words, “Gayness is built into Batman.” Go check it out here. It’s definitely worth a read.

Also, just to chime in on the matter, I completely despise this new Blogger. It's annoying, non-functional, and certainly not user-friendly. Other than that, though? It's a fantastic achievement in...[insert something snarky here].

Waiting for Wednesday, Volume 4, Issue 17

Yeeaaah.

Not gonna have the time today to write up a proper Waiting for Wednesday, so instead I’ll make it short, sweet, and to the point.

It’s Wednesday, it’s a beautiful day out there, and comics shops have new product just waiting for you to go out and pick up. So today, take a little field trip on your lunch break and venture out to your nearest comic book proprietor.

And while you’re there, pick up the latest issue of The Goon, from Dark Horse Comics and Eric Powell. Also, today's a good day to jump onto Wolverine from Marvel, as a new creative team takes over with an all-new storyline.

Sorry, folks. I'm not gonna be much more of a help than that. I'll be back tomorrow with a real post.

Promise.

 In the meantime, what are you Waiting for?

Sunday Spotlight: Free Time

Yeah, don't seem to have much of it this week.

Sunday Spotlight: Cadbury Creme Eggs

They're good, but I don't think I like them as much as I used to.

Go Outside, Or Something

Haha, so I have to write a post for today. I had it in my mind that a GameCola recap was in order, followed by our Month in Review the next day to cap off the month, but apparently there's an extra day left before I can do all that.

So...posting, huh.

I've been totally disconnected from any substantial creative output this week. I haven't posted since Sunday, I haven't touched anything GameCola-related, and my focus on YouTube has been fairly minimal. I've been recharging from a fun and busy weekend of Dungeons & Dragons (which I hope to write about next week) and a L'Arc-en-Ciel concert (which I hope to con someone into guest posting about), and especially after the lousy Wednesday I had, I've been in a mindset to veg out.

What have I been doing with my spare time instead of writing and recording? Same thing I do every week, just more of it--movies, TV, and video games. I may also have glanced at the cover of a book once or twice. It's been relaxing to thin out my Netflix Instant Queue and to cruise the crime-ridden streets of Lytton in Police Quest III...but it hasn't been as satisfying as usual. I keep feeling this drive to get out of the house and do something if I'm not pursuing my creative endeavors indoors, but I have yet to determine what, specifically, that something might be.

Rejoining a choir? Volunteer work? Maybe just going out for a walk? I'm open to suggestions.

So I promised you a guest post...

...but, obviously, this is not it. Go enjoy your Saturday; we'll be back tomorrow with something, we promise.

And this is a promise I can keep, because it's already been written and scheduled.

Deadline Week

It's, like, deadline week here. Complete this huge project for work by 10 AM. Post by 11 AM. Clean up the apartment before weekend plans begin. Watch these movies in our Netflix Instant Queue before their licenses expire next week. Finish this review of Out There Somewhere while it's still relevant (though, in my defense, nearly a week of technical setbacks kept me from finishing the review in time for the game's release).

Alex and I have both been in a rush. You can tell from the topics of our posts this week. You can tell from the lengths of our posts--we're never this concise, this consistently. Not to worry, though; we're starting to structure ourselves again: I've solicited a guest post for Saturday, and I'm rolling out a new column on Sunday, so hopefully we'll be in good shape going into next week.

Top 10 Food-Based Movies

I'm a sucker for puns, so I figured I'd share this link with you. Courtesy of random.access, the website of fellow GameCola staff writer Jeff Day and "resident female visionary" Beverly Anger, comes the...

Top 10 Food-Based Movies

For Today's Post...

...you will get nothing and like it.