Monday, May 10, 2010

AIEEE!! THEY GOT FRANK!!

So, here's the deal. This is my last (official) post of this blog before my reflection, assuming that I'm ending this thing after our class is finished with these. Seeing as this will contain some of my last words on my topic, and since this blog is, of course, about me, I decided to just give in to intuition and throw caution to the wind. After being inspired by Diemon Daves, I think I can say it; this one is all about me.

Some background. First of all, let's just get this out of the way: Calvin & Hobbes is the greatest comic strip of all time. Hands down. Uncontested. No questions asked. If you disagree with this fact of life, abandon all hopes you had of enjoying this post.

Moving on.

Recently, while scouring the internet in an effort to manifest my love of all things Watterson, I found Cullinan's Great Star of Africa on a website called Progressive Boink (named in honor of the comic itself). Here I found a list of the Top 25 Calvin and Hobbes Strips -- of all time! The authors of the page are adoring as they are sincere, and they truly get what Bill emanated through his work. I've always said my one wish in this world was for Calvin & Hobbes to be republished; however, these boys are convincing in their argument that Bill actually gained by quitting while ahead. Either way, revisiting these twenty-five classics was time well spent.

These cool cats will never be beat.

Firm Hold On Our Ninja Nunchuck'n Handles

I highly advise that you watch the following video before continuing on with this next post. It'll make more sense, and let's be serious, what else have you got to do? Hang out with friends? Hahaha, oh you...



I'll be completely honest with you; during my last post, I was ready to quit. I was two pints of Ben & Jerry's away from throwing in the towel. Not only did I have no idea as to what I would blog about, but I was short on cash and it was Chicken Caesar Wrap Day in the cafeteria for lunch.

Then I found Diemon Daves. Yes.

This master of Kung Fu inspired me to tread onwards in my blogging, to fight off the strife of lonely internet typing and to tackle my obstacles head on. With this renewed dose of strength, I sincerely feel as though I can blog about whatever it is I want to blog about, as long as I "don't go ninja'n nobody don't need ninja'n", of course.

Well, I'll be...

So, I just learned from my 'teach' that we have to have three more posts on this. Here I am thinking I'm finished, exerting all my leftover energy on making a beautifully creative ending to a satirical masterpiece, and then BOOM I have to come up with additional material. Ha! This essentially takes me back to square one. I have no idea what to blog about, thus proving my thesis. Nevertheless, I must continue to receive a good grade. As such, my blog must, and will, go on. Watch here for further advancement.

Wesberry
One Man, One Vote.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Self-Help is Stupid.

So, remember that picture I put at the end of my last post? The teaser that was supposed to make you "tune in next week" to see what all the commotion was about? Well, prepare to be let down, because I'm feeling just like that woman with a big ol' question mark popping straight out of my mind. You see, I followed the link "What Should You Blog About?" in hopes of finding a list of interesting topics or ideas that I could incorporate into a colorful and creative blog filled with ingenuity and insight, only to find complete verbage. I literally sat through the most unnecessarily loquacious and unhelpful answers to the following questions:

1. What kinds of topics/subject should I write about?
This one actually made the suggestion of using Google as a launching pad. I felt used and slightly violated.

2. Should I only write on one topic, or many?
The author reminds me here that I have "freedom of speech" while blogging, but I should always keep in mind my target audience. Focusing too lightly on a certain topic might isolate my readers, and as such, shouldn't be done. This blog is about my followers, not me, remember?

3. Can I change my topic anytime I want?
Once again, I don't want to lose readers because I change my center of attention. So if I chose a topic like, oh say, "What Should I Blog About?", I'm stuck. Sweet.

4. Which topics are better for making money?
Wow, really? So it's all about making money. Now I'm not opposed to making money, per se, but if I wanted to piss off my readers by flooding my page with Google Ads, I would start using...Google Ads.

Besides, the author doesn't even address the main question. At no point are any topics mentioned; however, he reassures me by advising me to a 10 minute break before continuing on to "What Should I Blog About [Part 2]". I took the liberty of indulgence and am currently taking an indefinite break from the entire website.

Conclusion: What have I learned? That taking time out of my day to research topics is stupid and a waste of my time. Stay tuned for later developments.

P.S. I've officially switched back to my beloved search engine.
Screw you, Jeeves.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Ask.com -- Not the world's first ever "Decision Engine"

So, earlier in this here blog, you heard me extol Reference with kudos abounding, a decision I now question fully. It is not that I doubt the excellence of Reference and its wondrously helpful subdomains, I only ponder how such a jewel could descend from such a...lemon. As promised, I searched for answers to my confusion at ask.com, the parent site of Reference. Below is a screenshot of the horrors I found...


Now, the first thing you undoubtedly noticed in this picture was the change in "Jeeves". I'll be completely honest with you; I am like the rest of the world (in the sense that I use Google, of course, what am I, a hippie?), and as such I have absolutely no idea when this new virtual "Jeeves" was created. One thing I do know; however, is that I don't like it one bit, but I digress. Despite this atrocious change in graphical formatting, I implore you to focus on the search query box and to ask yourself, "What is wrong here?"

Well, I'll tell you what's wrong, the autocomplete box is what's wrong. I typed in "what should I blog about" and what is immediately returned to me? "No Search Suggestions Found"

Are you taking this all in?

Even ask.com, a search engine, the backbone of our internetical society, cannot give me the answer to the question I put through the wringer. You must be thinking to yourself, "Keaton, this must be where your journey ends! It must! If the search engines have failed you, there is no way you could possibly go on!"

No says I.

You see, the first webpage returned to me from that once-thought-failed search at ask.com (which, by the way, doesn't have an ''I'm Feeling Lucky" button, so I had to actually do this labor manually) was titled "What Should You Blog About?" Now, you'll have to come back for my next post to see just exactly what content this site contained, but here's a little sneak peak for you...

Oh yes. This looks promising.