Tumbleweed

Right, it’s back in action: http://russl.tumblr.com

For a bit at least, anyway. Recent things involve mention of David Mitchell, Martin Mullaney, Stuart Millard and Tim Sylvia.

Erm… it’s not easy to log out, is it?

Hey lessee what’s goin’ on on this side

Yes yes yes, I am officially crap at blogging nowadays. Sooncome: a catch-up of Fings Wot I Dun since the end of November (there isn’t actually a massive amount), and the finishing of some half-written nonsense about the Shuffleathon CD I made for Ben Swizzle.

In the meantime, an assortment of gubbins:

~ No end-of-year posts, sorry. Unless you really really want them. I was going to do a top 40/50 fightsport matches of 2008, but couldn’t quite manage to get around the barrier of not really being arsed after the initial rush of enthusiasm about the idea (While I’m here, though: Daisuke Nakamura gets my nod for Fighter Of The Year and he should get yours too). There isn’t going to be a Best-Popular-Music-Of-2008 post, either, because practice (if not theory) seems to suggest that I’ve gone off popular music. It’s been a good while since I’ve been more than peripherally bothered with the faff that recorded music entails, obviously, but on top of that I’ve been to sod-all gigs lately (there’ll be two in the aforementioned catch-up, and I’ve only really got two planned up until the end of February. There’s loads of theatre and fightsports on my horizon, though, if that helps).

~ Honestly, You Couldn’t Make It Up when it comes to what’s been happening at work just lately. If I tried to describe it all you wouldn’t believe me.

~ It’s all a-go at Created In East Bromwich. The era of Chr-Chr-Chr-Chr-Chris Uniiiiiiiiitt has ended (or at the very least is in the process of ending), and Kate Spragg of Colour (yet more gigs I haven’t been to, as per above) has assumed the position. On top of that, I am more than delighted to announce that CIB has won ‘Best UK Blog’ at the 2008 Weblog Awards (anyone following my Twitter or Delicious will have seen my small contribution to the larger advocacy/cheerleading campaign). That might not seem particularly consequential, but in doing so it beat Melanie Phillips of The Daily Mail/The Spectator. Disdain for The Mail and love for CIB aside, this is important in two ways:

~ First of all, as P’Ashton points out more eloquently than I’m ever likely to, this is an instance of a community-based idea-sharing blog beating one of those Dittohead/“I didn’t get a hurrumph outta that guy” styled efforts that make up the majority of blogs writing purely about politics and – for many – define the tone of blogging in general. I avoided getting a blog for myself for a long time, believing (wrongly) that these were the only kind of weblogs out there. Any demonstration that we’re not all complete and total tossbags should be applauded.

~ Secondly, it’s only proper that someone who suggests that using a blog to canvas votes for an award constitutes skulduggery (“Black arts”, no less) whilst repeatedly using a blog herself to point out the fact that she’s been nominated for said same award (she’s been nominated, you know. She’s not saying you should vote for her, of course, but she has been nominated. For an award. Nominated. Did she mention that?) should lose. Lose horribly. It’s only a shame that it wasn’t more one-sided.

~ I know I’m years behind everyone else with these, but I’m only just now discovering “Cracker” and “The Wire”. Who knew that cops’n’robbers telly serieseseses could be so good?

~ I really can’t make my mind up about Henderson vs Franklin. Obviously I’d like to see the creationist lose, but I can’t pick it.

~ I finally got around to putting Firefox on this computer (I did have it on the old one, time back) and found it to be so much more of a pain in the arse compared to Internet Explorer. I don’t remember it being like that (time back, as I said) and no, I’m not just trying to sound anti-techy. Should it really be necessary for so many things to require the downloading of a plug-in? It seemed so slow, too. I know that’s contrary to the standard wisdom and so I’m assuming something else I’ve got on’t’puter conflicts with it (any obvious suggestions?), but it was taking forever to do bugger-all. I’m carrying on with IE, even if it is supposedly letting nasty things eat my computer from the inside.

~ Speaking of which (probably only too directly), we had a virus that stopped pretty much everything from working but I managed to do a system restore and get rid of it (well… I think it has). How about that? I’m quite proud of managing to sort it myself. Salutes should go to Woozle’s laptop and next door’s wireless connection for enabling me to look up just exactly what the hell was going on, of course.

~ Not for the first time, I find myself thinking that Amazon.co.uk is an edifice constructed entirely from Kafka’s nightmares. More on this when I figure out just what the hell is going on (I’m not entirely sure at present, but it doesn’t seem ideal).

~ There hasn’t been a LOTTSADITWM post for a couple of months and there won’t be for February, either. March, hopefully. Maybe.

So there we go. Be On Your Way.

The ‘One True Russ’ laws are flouted yet again/The perils of vanity-searching

“How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”

I’d just like to clarify the fact that this ‘Russ L’ is not the real Russ L that you get here, nor is this one. I’m nothing to do with Laurie L. King, either.

There might be another proper post soon. Stranger things have been known to happen. It’ll probably be some catch-up nonsense, obviously.

Blogging as a cure for delirium

I haven’t been posting much for ages (Have I mentioned that on here before? Because, you know, I haven’t been. Posting, that is. Much, that is. Did I mention that?), but just recently I’ve had an excuse. The Lovely Louise has entered my life and made me as happy as I’ve ever been. If not more so.

Russ L’s handy labour-saving comment-creation device

(Copy and paste into the comments box then delete as applicable)

– Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw, how sweet.

– Ye Gods, pass the bucket.

There has been other stuff, of course. Chiefmost would be Supersonic; this year the best yet, I think. I’ve had some vague notes and uncoordinated bits of waffle written about it for a couple of weeks now, which I’ll try and press together into some sort of literary masterpiece at some point in the near future (pwomise). The Lovely Louise and I went to see Tercunquinto’s “I Am What I Am” at Ikon Eastside and found it to be what might most politely be described as “half-baked”. Still, we had fun (EDIT: Also, this. We couldn’t find/see a blurb at all, but perhaps that’s for the best given what’s a-written there…). I went to see Butthole Surfers at the Civic Hall Bar and they were enjoyable in a ‘really good grooving rock band’ sort of way. Not quite the mad-arsed blowing-your-brains-out-of-your-ears you’re-a-mentalist-smell-my-cheese psycho-tomfoolery experience you want from the Butthole Surfers, but enjoyable stuff nevertheless. Thai Edge on Brindley Place was very nice if not all-out amazing in any respect.

So, there you go.

I’m such a happy bunny.

Being and Nothing

I’m sure anyone likely to be reading this encounters a lot of blogging-about-blogging (socialicus medius) as they safari across the internet savanna in search of fluffy little zebras to shoot, but I ain’t down with that. As the observant may have noticed, lately I’ve mostly been blogging-about-not-blogging (needlessius apologia). This is a newstyle and I get the feeling it’ll catch on. I am a pioneer. As in so many other instances, in a few years time you’ll see celebrities doing exactly what I did a few years ago. Or now, rather. I am currently doing what they will have once done. In the future they will find themselves having done what I did prior to them doing it. Or something.

Friction sparks a-fly as I return to the point – I apologise to anyone who might want to be apologised to about the current dearth of posting ( “No-one”, I suspect). I think I’m going to try to smash everything together into a few themed digest posts to get everything written about soon (hopefully before Supersonic). These will, of course, be crap, but obviously I don’t want to risk never-having-existed like all those people who are foolish enough not to document their lives on the internet.

To keep you amused in the meantime, have a bit of Swells:

“The scam that is the music industry is being gang-raped in every orifice by millions of baggy-trousered cybermonkeys. Economists reckon that by the year 2013 these stripey-jumpered virtual burglars will have stolen all our money back and spent it on lap dances and sweets. This is undoubtedly a good thing. But what about all the slack arsed chancers who blagged their way into the music industry and are now facing the screaming fucking nightmare of having to get real jobs?”

Catch you on the flipside, dudemeisters.

Internet Exploring

1) RSS Feeds – This continues on from this post, I suppose. RSS feeds have indeed now found a place in my life. It’s mostly of use when it comes to blogs that I don’t look at all that often, and that use is mainly the fact that I can see straight away when they’ve been updated. When it comes to ones I look at regularly, I haven’t really changed my behaviour. Maybe I will over time. What I’m a-wondering about now is whether or not this will affect my Blogroll down the side there. That’s long needed a bit of thinking about (it doesn’t list all of the blogs I read, and isn’t necessarily even my favourite ones) and a subsequent re-organisation when I’ve decided on a philosophy for it, though.

It’s slight annoying that they don’t display as the original webpages would (is that feed-readers in general, or just Bloglines?), but even that’s not all bad – it’s a positive blessing if the original site has music or videos or whatever-have-you that start to play automatically (I hate all that malarkey). There seem to be a few blogs that just won’t update in the feed-reader (irrespective of which of their feeds I add to it), but I suppose I can live with that.

Ultimately – yes, I like RSS. I haven’t yet found it to be the revolution in internet useage that it’s often described as, but it’s quite handy.

2) Twitter – “if I’m not careful I’ll find myself on effing Twitter or something next” I remarked in that abovelinked post. Turns out I was already signed up to it. I was looking at Jez’ Twitter page and realised that he was following one RussL. After one of those lovely edge-of-desk-gripping knuckles-whitening whattheforksgoingonhere justaminutenowholdup bursts of paranoia that I do so well, I remembered (I genuinely had forgotten) that I’d previously signed up to Twitter for Live Birmingham updates (something that never really took off, sadly).

I decided to have a bit of play with it. For me, Twitter has become the place for ‘little bits that don’t justify a blog post’. I have a vague compulsion to document most of my life (in my saner moments I realize that I probably shouldn’t be encouraged. World At Large: please don’t invent anything else along these lines), but I’m usually sensible enough not to actually make a post on the blog for something like “Just ordered my chicken, lamb & prawn Madras (+ sundries) from The Rowley Village. I’ve been looking forward to this so much”. I can now stick it on Twitter. Other than that, it’s just been replying to other people’s Tweets.

I don’t have other people’s messages sent to my mobile telephone; I find receiving a text message that wasn’t directed specifically to me a strangely invasive experience. Plus there’s the fact that my mobile often sits unchecked in my coat pocket for long lengths of time (and I never turn the sound on) – I’d fish it out to find about 381 out-of-date tweets to have to delete. I have set it up so that I can post messages by text (it took me a few attempts but I got there), but that’ll only happen in a month where I have free ones (every second or third, generally). I can’t imagine spending credit on this, even if it is quite fun.

There you are, then – I’m either a twit or a tweetie-bird. My Twitter page is here, or you can see the last however-many down there in the sidebar.

I can’t believe you get spam ‘followers’ on the bloody thing, though. I mean… what?

I am experimenting with RSS feeds

I’m still can’t really see how it’s supposed to be any was more convenient than just clicking down my blogroll on the right there, but since I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about RSS I’ll have a go (with Bloglines – is that the right way to go about it?). I suppose that this way I am told when there’s something new appearing, but there are some blogs I habitually visit frequently and some I’m only likely to check every now and then. I already find myself there in time to see everything new or new-ish with the former, and more than happy to receive the lot in one go with the latter. I’m not sure that the new method will make a fat lot of difference to me.

The backgrounds of the pages don’t display as they do in real internets. I don’t like that. I may be doing something wrong, though.

‘Ark at ‘er, getting all technological. Changing the blog’s template, playing with RSS… if I’m not careful I’ll find myself on effing Twitter or something next.

~ Russ L

EDIT: My feed-reader doesn’t seem to be keeping up-to-date with the actual blogs. Ho hum.

I’m playing with a new theme

I’m not convinced, though. I will have to think about this.

(EDIT: By ‘theme’ I mean ‘template for the visual design of this blog’, of course)

What? I mean… What?

Apparently this blog has been indexed on something called BlogShares.com and someone called Pat Bateman has bet on me.

I’m not entirely convinced I like the sound of this.

Pingbacks/trackbacks

What is the etiquette to be followed when one appears in your comments box?

I usually leave them there for a little while before deleting them. No particular reason, it’s just that I know that they can appear confusing to someone who doesn’t know what they are (I was baffled beyond belief the first couple of times I saw one). Should I be leaving them permanently, though?

Thoughts would be appreciated.