Got Your Ticket?

It's time to ride my train of thought again! Hold on, even I don't know if it's a one way or a circuitous clover leaf of madness. Caution, Do Not Read! Contains heavy content as well as flippant. feel free to skip to parts that take your interest. You have been warned.


"Feelings . . . thing about . . . uninspired inspiration."
I was having trouble trying to develop a coherent post for you guys. And, after consuming some new and old art (i.e. music, shows) I was reminded of a mind set I have often spoken in theatre. "To hell with the audience, this is for us." Now don't get me wrong, as of right now and from the start, I love you guys. As far as I can tell the bulk of you guys are friends or people who found me interesting and stuck around, I very much appreciate that and hold that interest close to my heart, thank you. But before I get all mushy, I'm going to get to my point. Wait, no I'm not. I say "from the start until now" because I wait with bated breath for my first trolls and critiques, and though I may not like them, I am . . . preparing myself, for brutal opinions and criticism.
Now for the point. As with many things in life, dominantly art, but also in science, labor and spirituality. It's best, most powerful. when you do it for yourself. When the goal is fulfillment, enrichment, or plain honest work.
Hence the crazy dense random post. I'm writing because I want this blog to be excellent because it's an outlet for me and I wish to share the amalgamation that is my brain, because I like to tell stories, share my brain AND it would seem many people have expressed a desire to receive that. So, to the lovers and the haters, thanks for reading, thanks for thinking. Oh, and PLEASE don't stop thinking.

Other thing I wanted to gab about.

Pathfinder/D&D character build.
(Warning: I'm just going to blab about a build or two I'm cooking up and most likely not going to explain too much or link to anything, I'm just going to assume you know exactly what the hell I'm blathering about OR, you can look it up yourself.)
I'm cooking up a build for a roguish, rakish, dual wielding, dashing, snarky bastard only out for himself. He's a Dansin, which means he needs to be able to detect magic, because all Dansin's interact with the arcane through olfactory senses. In 3.5 I could always burn my human feat on Insightful to give me detect magic, read magic &/or mage hand. However, as of this posting I can't find any feats that give me this sort of thing. I did think that perhaps I could take Minor Magic rogue talent, but, you don't get rogue talents till level 2. So, seeing as there are no restrictions on multiclassing, I thought maybe taking my first level in Bard. Why bard and not sorcerer or something, because I also had the idea that since he's a brash jerk he might take Dazzling Display to intimidate his opponents.
More specifically, I have this vision of him standing over dandies who challenged him to single combat whom he then destroyed, wooing women along the way. Glorious, right (slight sarcasm, but tell me if the concept doesn't have some . . . romance)?
But! Then I also kind of wanted to take Weapon Specialist variant because I intend for him to dual wield a Brace (or 'Case')" of rapiers. I would have to take 4 levels of  Wep. Spec. to get to the first perk, then 2 more levels of Two weapon fighter, THEN, 2-5 levels of Rogue with Rake variant, ON TOP of a level in Bard to get my Dansin traits. Pathfinder Society play only goes up to level 12. Ive almost maxed out levels just trying to get to the full build of my awesome character concept. Is it to broken?
AND, there are no rules anywhere, so far, for a Brace of Rapiers AANNDD I kind of want it to be a trick set where you can actually carry it on one side and without a good perception check most people will think it's a single rapier. So, I'll have to convince my DM's to use special rules I've been cooking up using the Dual Katana Staff, Rapier, cane sword, and weapon damage charts to come up with a good presentation.
Baring that, I may have to keep two sets of gold tallies if a DM says No, and I have to go traditional Two rapiers, or Rapier & short sword, or some such.
And as a note, I WORE two rapiers just last Sunday, it's not that uncomfortable, so I could totally do that, I don't actually think it looked that goofy.

I had another build or two planned, maybe even confess I FINALLY watched Firefly all the way through, but then again maybe not. should be able to cook up some sort of 3rd for th3 nerd before the end of the month. now it's just rambling, less rant/idea sharing. I'll call it now, as it's been 12 hours since I started this post and I think I'm good. Hopefully things will continue to not get worse. Wish me a swift recovery as I AM sick as of the writing of this post. Night, H47ites!

How do you Blog?

On The Topic of Bloggery, one might wonder, where I get my input and research as far as technique, tips, and layout.

The truth?

I learn all my tricks from webcomics.

Yup, I blame the fact that I have been reading them for nearly a decade longer than blogs, as well as T1nk & I have been working on the project of a joint webcomic for several years now. So, all the panels I attend, all the research I do, all the input I process, is from the internet sequential artists.

I have been trying to see what other "successful;" blogs do and identify what I enjoy in blogs, but I think there are some parallels when it comes to sites that continually "produce content."

If the idea is that your traffic comes for something new from your brain each update then you can rely on certain techniques to continue satisfaction, and possibly bring in more traffic.

I also think it has something to do with the geek subculture. we all speak with a certain "web accent" that includes a semi-formal language of "nerd." I love it.

Regaining focus, yeah, Update regularly. It kind of matters HOW regularly, but as long as your readers KNOW you're at least consistent, you can maintain a readership and have a chance to increase traffic.

Filler works as long as you stay consistent . . . for a while.

Let your readers know you're not dead, they appreciate that, unless that's all you do, then you will lose traffic.

Its fascinating to me, I've mentioned in the past how many other blogs inspire me for countless, varied reasons. I guess I should give a nod to Penny Arcade,(originally, I was NOT going to put that link there as EVERYONE who comes here BETTER know who that is, but then, I thought in horror, what if they . . DONT!?!?! GO! NOW!! KNOW!!) because they are "the bar" in my eyes. They are my super stars, my "Super Bowl Quarterback" that I look to and think "Fuck yeah, I want that." The funny thing to me though, is that, I want that lifestyle, not to be THEM, but to even be PART of that operation. I've talked about going home, and every time I watch their PATV episodes, it's ALWAYS, AALLLWWAAYYS an inspiration to me to keep going, to NEVER stop being geeky and pushing forward as an artist. It's amazing to me how these real, tangible (Sort of) Normal people, have created something so incredible and be aware of it, and continue to . . . create and never take it for granted.

So what have I learned after two years of placing my musings up into the aether? Thank the PA's & Topless Robots, & Jenny Breeden's of the world for NEVER stopping and always producing. But also thank, in equal measure, The Megatokyo's, the Chugworth Academy's, & the Vanishing's, for trying, and trying, and not always succeeding, but still being brilliant and amazing, Thank you. I will continue to check in with you, always waiting with bated breath, for that next flurry of output, or that final fair well, when you leave to focus on something more important, I will continue to check your site, even years from now, when your last post STILL reads "may '08," I will give your site a hit, in hope.

Bliggity bliggity blog bluh blaow!

Ladies & others, I have been at this Blog thing for a very short time, barely almost two years at this time. In this time I have done some research into what a Blog is, what it's purpose is and how it can be successful spiritually as well as maybe financially.

I've found it very rewarding and slowly but surely my readership has grown. Many of my friends will bring up what I've written in conversation, and as I intended with the Meme-Orables, I have a place on the Intarwebs I can go and quickly grab whatever I want to show someone.

But, what do I look for in a blog?
Below are a few of the blogs I currently read and why.

Topless Robot

This site is a powerhouse. Updating multiple times a day, all work week long, there is never a want of content on this sight. With regular lists and a weekly, terror article(FFF) I've even seen memes born from this site. Although I don't read every single post, I get a lot of my nerd news from this site that I otherwise would have never sought out.

Islands In The Sky

The blog site for a very fun, very well drawn, comic. They update semi-regularly, at LEAST once every two months with how far along they are in their process, what cons they will be at, the Con reports, and any other events they might be involved with.

Hanzi-Smatter

It's a site run by a couple people who speak several asian languages. They receive all sorts of crazy media with different asian calligraphy and then decode them for what the meanings ACTUALLY are. Brilliant.

Frost is The New Black / Steampanku

These two blogs are run by the same author, Krizzlybear, "Frost" is a Wow centered, specifically, Frost mage-centric, and he updates semi-regularly whenever he has a strats or something goofy to put up. As well as Steampanku, which is his blog for his love of Asia-centric Steampunk. I have personally found it fairly informative as far as what Steampunk literature entails as well as exploring facets of a far east flavor to the genre. It hasn't been updated recently, but his past posts are still a source point for much of my own research.

Empowered Fire

Chicks play WoW too, they are very vocal, and they may not like being called chicks, now that I think about it. A couple fire/arcane Magesses, they constantly discuss and explore many topics pertaining to the fem-WoW community, everything from why "rape" is not an acceptable verb outside describing a terrible sex act, to how the new patch changes will effect vanity pets and how "pretty" an avatar is. (Don't even begin to delude yourself, most guys are VERY concerned with how their toons look, I'm looking at you, fire festival ensemble, guy.) Haven't updated in a while, well thought out posts.

A little Bark, A Little Bite

My Guildie! A stalwart druid, great raider, better friend, she has been playing WoW for a long while, and been blogging about it for slightly less time but is still entertaining to read. Semi-regular updates from simple screenshots, to strats, to personal reflections on the drama and social aspect of Azzeroth.

Tails From the Con / All the World's A Stage

My lovely and talented Fiancé's blogs, one is the adventures of T1nk, the Con Fairy, dispensing hygiene products and sarcasm in equal measure on the con floor. She's been quiet due to con season being over, but should be picking back up come next spring. "Stage" is her theatre blog as she has restarted her passion for stage, updates constantly with casting calls and various events throughout the South Bay, as well as reflections and experiences of her own.

Slice, Dice, & Dish

Mr. "Steve" Wes O'Leary's Blog which features three of his passions, food, table top gaming & weaponry. He hasn't updated in a while, and I'm still waiting for a guest spot from him detailing a Pathfinder game he ran at S.G.I.S.Con IV, but it's all good. The stuff he has up there right now is still worth a read.

Playing D&D With Porn Stars
This is one of the most entertaining and resource rich gaming blogs I read. With a video tie in to The Escapist's I Hit It With My Axe, Zak is constantly throwing out ideas, concepts, commentary, and tables, oh boy, does he love him some tables. As well as, yes, his gaming group (as well as himself) are comprised of people in the adult entertainment industry, and they are all cool. Update: "I Hit It . . ." was dropped from the escapist but they are still gaming maniacs, we just have to hear about it through Zak now.

The Art of Manliness
My Man-Buddy/Lost Boy Homie Gilliam introduced me to this Blog a few years back and I have been a devoted follower ever since. Constantly updating about many manly topics not only does it ask the question "what is it to be a man?" It looks at the many concepts of "man" and how to be a gentle man as well as a manly man, great articles, many great guest posts.

Gnome Stew

AND yet another Gaming Blog I follow, mostly focused on the Game Master aspect of gaming, has won several awards for gaming resource as well as blog quality. I love the Gnome community, always striving to better and enrich the gaming universe.

Wolf Gnards

A fantastically Nerdy Blog. Mr. Gnards is a blogger for you if you enjoy my sense of humor but wished for more graphs and more 80's retro references. His fixation with werewolves & rufio keep his nerd cred strong, and his sense of awareness of the Geek culture are constantly being displayed over at "Gnards."

There are a few more, but this is a big dent.

The ones that update all day everyday inspire me, the ones that only update weekly, inspire me, and those that update, maybe, every . . month(s) . . ish? inspire me! They give me a clear guide of what a readership will tolerate as far as update schedules and content length. And which blogs, regardless, I will return to again and again because of content of the blog.
I would like to thank, all bloggers I've come across for being the inspiration and examples, for better and worse, that help keep me spewing my mind across this intarweb.

Meme-Orable: Memesical thea . . .V, Blogs?

Neil Patrick Harris! Joss Whedon! Nathan Fillion! Felicia Day! HOLY SHIT ITS A GEEKTASTIC SUPER NOVA OF PREFORMING AWESOME! WHAT COULD IT BE!?!?!?



Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Yes, the musical comedy starring a fledgling super Villain with a geek credential and pedigree as long as a super star destroyer!

I don't care how you do it, if you enjoy any of the above artists, anything they've ever been associated with, musicals, comic characters, or breathing, find a way to watch this entire show. You owe it to yourself and your children, born or otherwise.

Lastly, I will leave you with this: