Pimp your blog

[Dog Pants]

I already follow a couple of blogs (Cliffsk, Notch), but I'd also like to see what you 5punkers are writing after Joose's recent re-blogging. Anyone else have one? If so, announce your updates here so we don't have to keep checking and then inevitably forget because we're 5punkers and never stick at anything.

Anery/Dog Pants
Joose

[Dr. kitteny berk]

http://geekfood.co.uk/

Need to update more, just been flat out recently.

[FatherJack]

http://blog.fatherjack.net/

mostly stuff I've posted here though, I've changed the design more often than I've posted. I'm also playing around with some CMS tools which may end up hosting it.

[deject]

I hate blogs.

[Joose]

I hate blogs.

That's because you are American. It's ok though, we forgive you.

[Mr. Johnson]

Dude, I think he called you faaabulous.

[Sol]

D'ya like blags?

Not really a blog, but i do have a tumblr

[Grimmie]

I sort of started on http://gamebar.tumblr.com/ for a bit, but then like most things got disinterested.

I really have to horse myself to write these things. Ugh.

[spoodie]

This is my embryonic blog: http://www.spoodie.com/blog
I'm quite proud of the name, been trying to use that for a while. It's from a song. The blog itself is mostly for me, to record the films I've seen and my opinion at the time. I watch so many films I tend to forget them.

[Joose]

Oh look, I've done another post. Look at it. With your eyes.

[Roman Totale]

Oh look, I've done another post. Look at it. With your eyes.

Funnily enough I have the same problem with TEEF that you have with BEEF - I feel that my lack of unlocks makes me incredibly inferior (though in all honesty it's probably that I'm just not very good).

Completely agree about the unlock system. Someone who has been playing for days on end is already good enough to kill me without having to give them vastly superior weapons.

Re Spoodie, I was reading up on Submarine the other day. Sounds very indie. I also never realised that Richard Ayoade directed an episode of Community.

[Dog Pants]

You guys all do good blogs. Sol's directed me to a Rubber bandits video I hadn't seen, Grimmie's reminded me of the Denham/Shatner loop at the beard-bash, Spoodie reviews films I've never head of (which is how I find good films I've never heard of), and Joose's makes me want to talk about BF Vs TF. Which I will.

I'm of the same opinion as Roman. I'll add the caveat right now that it is, of course, a matter of personal preference. But I can't get enthusiastic about TF2, even when I'm the top player (which incidentally has never happened yet in BF3). See, I never feel that BF3 is unfair because of guns because they all kill people if you shoot them with one. I gave up comparing stats and went on feel, and I actually can't really tell any difference. I get a new gun, I use it, it feels shit, I get better, I like it, I get a new gun, I repeat the process. Of course I get the rage moments when someone dicks me by sniping me or shooting me in the back, but I also get glee moments when I dick someone else (especially 5punkers). Of course if you're getting many more rages than glees then you're bound to get pissed off. By comparison, for me TF2 feels somewhat pointless (yes I know, they all are). I don't really give a shit whether I win or lose, I just hope that next time I meet that bunny-hopping scout or cowering demoman I get enough rounds into them that they die before I do. And the majority of the time I do, but I feel no sense of achievement really.

Like I say, personal preference, and I'm reminded of the old school division of Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament. In case anyone couldn't guess, I always preferred the latter.

[buzzmong]

Like I say, personal preference, and I'm reminded of the old school division of Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament. In case anyone couldn't guess, I always preferred the latter.

UT:GOTY was a masterpiece though. It still plays well even now.

[Roman Totale]

Sol's directed me to a Rubber bandits video I hadn't seen

The album is good, especially the song about Danny Dyer and the prank call about a ride on lawnmower - alas neither are well represented on YouTube.

[spoodie]

Re Spoodie, I was reading up on Submarine the other day. Sounds very indie. I also never realised that Richard Ayoade directed an episode of Community.

I'm certainly going to keep an eye on his output. While I didn't enjoy Submarine much, it's not a bad film and still made me laugh despite the unpleasant central characters.

[FatherJack]

I write a bit, which since it's entirely separate from my basically reposted-from-here normalblog articles, I've created a new blog for.

It is at http://fiction.fatherjack.net and since I am not quite ready to inflict my creative genius on the world, instead choosing to inflict it on you, it's passworded. 6667 will get you in to the articles.

It rather embarrassingly seems to be using the same design template as Joose's blog, which I will fix at some point, but I rather like HOW IT CAPITALISES THE FIRST LINE OF STUFF like it's a proper book.

It's new, so I haven't really fleshed out the site structure or intro yet, but it's basically gobbets of stuff I've written and plan to expand upon later. I like writing sci-fi and stuff about undead particularly and a bunch of my ideas will eventually appear there, but for now there are a few snippets of works-in-progress.

http://fiction.fatherjack.net/phobia/ is a brief essay which was a "homework" assignment for a writing course I took in early 2010, where I was tasked to describe a phobia. You may remember I asked for input from a number of 5punkers on this topic, so this is a kind of fictionalised version of that feedback, so I include it to show you guys what I did with that info.

http://fiction.fatherjack.net/springtime-on-mars/ is the intro to an idea I had for a story based in the near-future. Not exactly hard sci-fi, but kind of a nod to it after having read the Commonwealth Saga. Having since read rather more epic works such as Anathem and House of Suns, I became a little discouraged, but have become enthused again after reading earlier works from those authors and remembering that everyone has to start somewhere.

Sophie (not yet posted) is a story I've been working on regarding one of the less-popularised undead -the Ghoul. I think only Jennifer's Body has touched on them lately. It's the project I've probably been most active on and have four scenes drafted, with another three bouncing around in my head. It's something I think about often, without actually putting words down, so I intend to rectify this.

http://fiction.fatherjack.net/the-gift/ started as a one-off to kind of just show I could portray the slightly undead/supernatural in a very unthreatening, nice tone - but rather surprised me both at how much fun it was to write, plus how overwhelmingly positive feedback on it has been from readers not normally into that sort of thing.

[Dog Pants]

I really enjoyed those FJ. I was surprised by how short they were - I get bored reading even good fan fiction on my monitor while sat in my front room with all the distractions that entails, and fan-fic is rarely longer than a chapter. Surely it's a skill in itself to paint such a vivid picture with less than a thousand words (at a guess)? And the subject matter was interesting without exception. I'm genuinely impressed, and I'd love to read more.

I read published novels and wonder what the criteria are which publishers use, because some are awful. Sometimes I think I could easily do better, and I certainly think that what you have there indicates better writing than some professional stuff I've read and on a par with a lot of it. I wonder if the biggest thing stopping many creative people writing is just finishing a novel, because I've tried writing and find it difficult to get past the first chapter.

[Joose]

I read published novels and wonder what the criteria are which publishers use, because some are awful.

I imagine "can we sell this and make a profit" is the only criteria publishers are interested in, and stuff doesnt have to be well written to sell, especially if its particularly of the moment in some way.

I wonder if the biggest thing stopping many creative people writing is just finishing a novel, because I've tried writing and find it difficult to get past the first chapter.

Having read a few things by experienced novel writers, that certainly seems to be the biggest hurdle, especially when you are starting out. Even if you can keep yourself going there is that feeling you get where it's hard to tell if something you are making is good or bad, so it's easy to fall into the trap of presuming it is terrible, and wanting to give up. Self doubt is a bitch, and I'm sure a lot of writers (and other kinds of artists, I imagine) suffer from it to start with. Probably why so many of them thank people for the rather generic "support": reassuring you that what you have done so far is not shit.

[Dog Pants]

Yes, I expect your first point is exactly right. One writer who stands out in my mind is Connor McCarthy. His writing style frustrates me because the grammar is terrible, but the content of the stories is very compelling. I still don't know if he deliberately writes like that or is published despite it.

[Dog Pants]

I did a words; Buying Blind: The (de)evolution of the demo.

http://www.geekinpublic.com/?p=246