zwolanerd

It is very weird to me that in about a month and a half this site will have been around for a year. My original intention was to try my hand at it for a month, then two, then see where it went. The next goal should be, what, five years?  I don’t know how goals work.  I’ll save the look back/look forward stuff for the actual anniversary, I just wanted to mention that it’s weird.

There are a couple of site things I wanted to talk about, so there’s no Batman or Q*bert or even cat GIFs today, I’m afraid.

Site Design

From the get-go I intended for the look of the site to have accent colors, a logo, and a different layout. This design is a modified version of a free WordPress theme, the closest one I could find to what was in my head.  It’s fine, but boring. No, it’s okay, I know it is.  There’s nothing here that immediately draws the eye in, and I know that. My problems are two-fold: I don’t know for CSS and web layout, and I can’t transfer the ideas in my head to actual output. It’s like I mentioned with Q*bert yesterday – I can see in my head what I want it to be, but I can’t make the thing I draw look like the thing in my head.  And, since this site doesn’t currently make any money, I can’t really pay anybody to do the things I’d like.  I had to cajole/trade favors with/ask nicely a friend to make the modifications , and even then I felt bad about the two hours it took.

Along with that, I’d like to put some ads on the site. Small ones, probably just text ads, nothing that will ruin your experience. We get enough eyeballs around here that the nickel a month I’d make off that could help pay for a granola bar for some of the staff writers every so often. Oh, and speaking of staff writers…

Staff Writers

Meags has done some great stuff around here already and has been working on another series she’ll be debuting soon. Plus, I think I’ve got her talked into doing a “First time watching The Simpsons” series on top of that. My experience with guest writers this summer while I was away really put the idea in my head that I’d love to turn zwolanerd into a collective of sorts. Not like the Borg necessarily, more like a group of people who have their specific things they like to write about.  If it were like the Borg, we’d all write about the same things at the same time, and, really, there’s no way to prove I’m not a collection of Borgs right now.

We have a guest writer lined up for tomorrow, and it’s my hope that the experience will lead him to be all, “Hey, I want to do this kind of thing more.” No pressure, or anything. If you have an interest in doing something similar, let me know.  I’m open to one-off articles, or a regular series, or what-have-you.

Mondays

After fiddling with the Let’s Watch Something Together Better Off Ted posts, I eventually landed them on Mondays, which worked out pretty well for the most part.  I haven’t figured out the next LWST subject (or if there will be one!), but I’m planning to turn Mondays into “Music Mondays” for the immediate future. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it is alliterative. “Music Wednesdays” sounds weird. Second, it will help give me some more focus (something the overall site lacks, I know). I don’t know if you know this or not (even though it is super evident), but sometimes I’m not entirely sure what to write about. Back before I started the site, I never once thought this would be an issue. “The world of pop culture is so vast!” I thought. “An unending font of amusement awaits!” Well… yes and no. Usually there’s too much and I can’t figure out a focus point. Knowing I needed a Better Off Ted article every week was very helpful, and I’m hoping a “Music Monday” will accomplish that, too.

Now I just need themes for the rest of the week. I could go with the classic vampire method of pronouncing Wednesday as “Vensday” to force the “Videogame Vensday” alliteration, but I have no idea how to get a “Q*bert ____day” thing going.  I’ll work on it.

Video

I’ve had a few ideas for vlog-type things, but haven’t pursued them yet. Are these anything people would want to see?

Suggestions

As always, I am open to your suggestions on series and articles. I have four movies lined up for my long-considered “Second Chance” series, an idea given by a reader. Some ideas I’ve been given are things that wouldn’t work well for me, but have spurred other ideas, so I like to hear your thoughts. As I’ve always said, I don’t mind pandering, I just need to know specific ways to do it.

As always, thanks for reading!  I really appreciate you making zwolanerd a regular part of your balanced Internet meal. Live long and prosper!

 

Tags: meta

Written by: Mark