Timewaster's Guide Archive

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAand it just occurred to me that I should probably have a photo gallery feature in there too... Maybe I'l ljust go back to bed.

i've actually started writing specs. I'm pretty sure I don't want to write a forum, so I'm going to start with simple machines forum and use their user table to base things off of.
I want to put down EVERYTHING I"LL EVER WANT before I write any code though, so I don't have to rewrite anything.

SO I'm once again considering writing my own CMS/forums... what is wrong with me?

I just want my blog and my webcomics to be managed separately, and I want users across those and my forums to be synced, and I want new posts to the blog or comic pages to generate new threads on the forum....

The thing is, FPM uses a program I wrote that I call Galactibase. It isn't complete (it lacks a forum plug in and/or comments), but it manages and displays the comic in the only way I've found acceptable. I want to add in a couple features, like displaying 5, and I want to fix up the database (i'm using more tables than I need to).

So.. I'm thinking I'll build on that. It really only took me a week.

Anyone want a PHP/MySQL project and like to work hard?

write me a sample column and I'll let you know if I think it will fit. Your friend's column sounds good.

Fell thinks he'll be writing some occasional content, so I think we might have enough. I just need to figure out what I'm going to  be doing and organize myself so I can be sure we'll be updating. Then we're good to go.

I'll check it tomorrow.  Gonna try to write myself in my remaining conscious time tonight.  But yeah, get me a solid idea and we'll get you set up.

ok, I was laid off a couple weeks ago. I've been through several gallons of Häagen-Dazs and cried sufficiently that I'm more or less over it. And I've put in several hundred resumes (ok, several dozen, but still) and that's getting pretty tedious. I'm pretty much moved beyond the other things that were keeping me busy in all my spare time (read: "I have escaped the succulent embrace of MMOs") and I need something productive to do that will throw me into some relief of my boredom. There are a few things this will consist of:

1) regular novel writing (you won't get to see this!)
2) revivification of The Fantastic Plastic Men
and... I wonder if anyone is interested in 3

3 is the renewal of TWG as more than a host site for author's forums. I am not in anyway suggesting that we will do anything at all to harm Sanderson's (or anyone else's) author sections. What I am suggesting is that we restart the regular features on the front page -- what this site used to be all about.

There are problems with that, however. First and foremost being that I no longer get any free stuff. Well, Loony Labs does. And I actually owe them two reviews. Soonish, so I can get a copy of Chrononauts without feeling guilty. I would need to branch into other areas. more on that below.

Secondly, this site NEVER worked when only one person was writing all the content. I will need volunteers who will be able to promise regular contributions. If I don't get enough, I won't try putting the effort back in as Editor (a title I still hold administratively and claim on my resumes).

So, what could you volunteer to do? I'm glad you asked!

• One of our most popular features, after the EUOLogies, was the Guide to being a Geek Girl. I'm not suggesting trying to take this over. After all, if MsFish wants it, I'm ecstatic to let her have it back. It'd be awesome. But you can become a columnist! something about sf, fantasy, horror, supers, games (video, card, rpg, or whatever). I believe we'd post these as "blogs" now, but same diff.
• Reviews. Traditionally, video games and RPGs were our strongest draws. We had a really solid tradition of web comics for a while, and more recently, an excellent stream of movies. Book reviews got big too. We never had a lot of music, but I don't see why. Honestly, if it's related to entertainment, particularly entertainment of a geeky nature, we want it. Want to review a web site? That's what the Tower of Cheapness was for!
• Commentary. Something of a nerdly persuasion that you need to point out? Well, we have a tradition of that too. I wrote a number of articles that were about idiosyncrasies of roleplaying that weren't part of a regular column. We do those too. And they can be on music, movies, games, whatever.
• Amateur writer without aspirations to go pro? Have an idea for a web comic? If you're good, we'll run your short story or serial as a feature. Just remember that this site grew out of a literary magazine. In terms of fiction, we can be snobby. But I'm willing to consider it.

So, let me know. Who would be interested in a relaunch of this site? We won't destroy anything, we'll just start adding non-forum content again.  But only if ya'll are gonna read it and help us produce it.

Let me know!

And you thought we didn't do reviews anymore!

Read it here:
http://www.timewastersguide.com/review/1693/The-LEGO-Digital-Designer

Hrm.. I'm a big seeker of new music, but this thread isn't doing it for me. I need a description of what something sounds like. "Electronica" and "Indie" are still big umbrellas.

See, I listen to EVERYTHING. My playlist has rap, alternative, indie, electronica, classical, baroque, opera, classic rock, psychedelic, folk, filk, blues, bebop, swing, big band, small band, marches, oldies, do-wop, even a country song.

But I don't listen to everything WITHIN everything. Bob Dylan, Richie Havens = good. Some other folk, including most Neil Young, not so much. Ataris, yes, Jimmy Eat World, yes. Other emo? much less so. The Ramones, Rancid, and NOFX all yes. Green Day no.

The best source of new listening for me has consistently been The Onion's AV club. And less the reviews than the "upcoming events." They talk about what the artist is doing on the album, what the sound is. There's some comparison to other bands, but more often talk about the performance itself.

The best find I've had from them wasn't anythign approaching a review. They did "Random Rules" with the front man of Robbers on High Street. Just announcing the first 8 songs his iPod came up with on shuffle. The combo was so appealing I had to try what came from a musician with that playlist. True love.

Here's the review that got me to listen to Art Brut (a decision made only recently and which I will not regret, ever)

Once upon a time, Eddie Argos promised not to sing about the things he likes to sing about. “No more songs about sex and drugs and rock ’n’ roll,” he blustered on 2006’s Bang Bang Rock & Roll. “It’s boooring.” Context helps: He was ribbing The Velvet Underground for glamorizing all of the above. Or he was kidding, because Argos almost exclusively writes songs about sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll; he just never sounds glamorous.
 
That’s especially true on Art Brut’s Frank Black-produced third album, in which hangovers, blackouts, and regrettable hookups populate a good chunk of Argos’ hilarious, blurted narratives. (Sample nerd-satisfying zinger: “I fought the floor and the floor won.”) If those sound like traditional Art Brut fascinations, look closer: Argos has shifted his focus from thrill-seeking to its consequences—and more pointedly, its motives. That’s almost what he did on 2007’s It’s A Bit Complicated¸ but then he seemed more interested in generalizing about his awkward, reckless life than understanding it or making it all that humorous. And while it’s misleading to call an album “mature” when it plunders rock history for riffs and features an ode to comic books, Argos has done some growing up. The flipside of debauchery is a classic brew of loneliness, insecurity, mortality, and hope—all of which, Argos increasingly realizes, can be pretty funny.

and the blurb converting me to Kings of Leon:

Nashville three-bothers-and-a-cousin outfit Kings Of Leon was originally pegged as the “Southern Strokes,” but with the growth of their sound, the new handle seems to be the “Southern U2.” Whether or not you consider that an upgrade doesn’t really matter, because KOL’s 2008 album Only By The Night and lead single “Sex On Fire” blasted out of the gates; the band has since earned a headlining spot at Lollapalooza and made promises of a more blues-influenced, slide-guitar anchored album on the way.

In all my time writing for TWG, I tried, and largely failed, to come close to the revelation that comes with an Onion AV Club or Decider description, only with RPG instead of music and stage.