Any frequent blogfly of this site has probably noticed, far down on the sidebar (where blogflies are apt to wander uncontrolled) for the past couple of years, a list of about 250 to 300 films in alphabetical order. It was a list called Leave Me Alone! I Have to Watch These Again… and Again…
The list was basically a picture-window view onto my DVD collection, in at least 75% of the cases, representing to some degree a list of my very favorite films. Once I constructed my first version of it, I discovered that there were very few films from about 1990 onward, so subconsciously intent was I to make it a true glimpse into my influences that I negated the impact that current film was having. So then I would sometimes add recent films that had made a particular impression upon me, and I would sporadically survey the list and wonder why such-and-such wasn’t on there and such-and-such was. It became tiring. By and large, though, it was pretty much the sum total of what I would consider my "canon." All genres, all periods, all styles... just my favorite films. It was intended as an easy way for the wayward traveler to get to know me. (How convenient of me, I know… that’s the kind of guy I actually am not...)
And now that list is gone, a victim of my need to futz about with everything on the Pylon. Recent events at work have allowed me to experiment with a new template not of my own vested interest, and with it, I have become emboldened to try out new features that have popped up on Blogger in recent months which had left me personally fearful for my own site’s life. Trying them out on a new, barely considered site is apparently no problem for me, and with each small success grew the desire to begin mixing things up for myself on the Pylon.
Honestly, the film list had to go. It was hard to keep up, hard to add to the way it was set up, and so far out of the way to do no good at all. Especially because no one ever saw it or cared about it. The chief reason, though, was that it was time, for my own purposes, to begin properly using the Labels function in Blogger. I had added the little demons to posts rather infrequently through the years on here, but was always confused as to why I was using them, since they never showed up properly on the site. I swear – though I am sure someone will tell me I am dead wrong – that the sidebar gadget I ran into the other day which allows their use openly on the sites was not there the last time I looked into it a year or so back. Or maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right place.
The latter is probably the case (or was it guitar?), and it is all academic now: the labels are finally live and in place of where the film list once oozed. The problem is that I now have to go back through four years of posting and start adding appropriate labels to everything. This is going to take almost as much time as it did to write and post the damn pieces in the first place. I guess we create our own hells – I'm sorry, we call that “fun” around here.
Also finally added is a subscription service, now that I have actually opened up a live feed through Feedburner. Along with that, a box featuring all two – count ‘em – TWO, GODDAMNIT!!! – of my faithful followers. Brothers and sisters, lend me those “follow” fingers of yours! Look, I’m your pal here. It’s not like I have added a ridiculous, unwarranted “donate” button to the page, and it’s not like I cram any ads onto the page (because what would I earn? Six cents a month?) All I ask is for the same amount of loyalty I would pay in return. Occasionally comment on my blogs and I will occasionally comment on yours. Follow my Twitter page, and I follow you in return (oh, yeah… another feature I enabled on here). Subscribe to me, and I you. That’s all I ask.
Not a lot of changes, actually, but enough to make the place seem different somehow. It's one of those "did you move the sofa?" moments. Yes, I did, and hopefully getting a better view of the rug will help tie the whole place together better. At least until someone decides to wizz on it...
The list was basically a picture-window view onto my DVD collection, in at least 75% of the cases, representing to some degree a list of my very favorite films. Once I constructed my first version of it, I discovered that there were very few films from about 1990 onward, so subconsciously intent was I to make it a true glimpse into my influences that I negated the impact that current film was having. So then I would sometimes add recent films that had made a particular impression upon me, and I would sporadically survey the list and wonder why such-and-such wasn’t on there and such-and-such was. It became tiring. By and large, though, it was pretty much the sum total of what I would consider my "canon." All genres, all periods, all styles... just my favorite films. It was intended as an easy way for the wayward traveler to get to know me. (How convenient of me, I know… that’s the kind of guy I actually am not...)
And now that list is gone, a victim of my need to futz about with everything on the Pylon. Recent events at work have allowed me to experiment with a new template not of my own vested interest, and with it, I have become emboldened to try out new features that have popped up on Blogger in recent months which had left me personally fearful for my own site’s life. Trying them out on a new, barely considered site is apparently no problem for me, and with each small success grew the desire to begin mixing things up for myself on the Pylon.
Honestly, the film list had to go. It was hard to keep up, hard to add to the way it was set up, and so far out of the way to do no good at all. Especially because no one ever saw it or cared about it. The chief reason, though, was that it was time, for my own purposes, to begin properly using the Labels function in Blogger. I had added the little demons to posts rather infrequently through the years on here, but was always confused as to why I was using them, since they never showed up properly on the site. I swear – though I am sure someone will tell me I am dead wrong – that the sidebar gadget I ran into the other day which allows their use openly on the sites was not there the last time I looked into it a year or so back. Or maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right place.
The latter is probably the case (or was it guitar?), and it is all academic now: the labels are finally live and in place of where the film list once oozed. The problem is that I now have to go back through four years of posting and start adding appropriate labels to everything. This is going to take almost as much time as it did to write and post the damn pieces in the first place. I guess we create our own hells – I'm sorry, we call that “fun” around here.
Also finally added is a subscription service, now that I have actually opened up a live feed through Feedburner. Along with that, a box featuring all two – count ‘em – TWO, GODDAMNIT!!! – of my faithful followers. Brothers and sisters, lend me those “follow” fingers of yours! Look, I’m your pal here. It’s not like I have added a ridiculous, unwarranted “donate” button to the page, and it’s not like I cram any ads onto the page (because what would I earn? Six cents a month?) All I ask is for the same amount of loyalty I would pay in return. Occasionally comment on my blogs and I will occasionally comment on yours. Follow my Twitter page, and I follow you in return (oh, yeah… another feature I enabled on here). Subscribe to me, and I you. That’s all I ask.
Not a lot of changes, actually, but enough to make the place seem different somehow. It's one of those "did you move the sofa?" moments. Yes, I did, and hopefully getting a better view of the rug will help tie the whole place together better. At least until someone decides to wizz on it...
3 comments:
Nice... I was just listening to Monopuff earlier today at work.
Cohen? You saw Cohen? Could it possibly be as good as the reviews?
I'm way tempted to see him myself.
So, I was correct: you DID you moved the sofa.
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