Weekly Project Update (August 8 - August 14)

Here's the creative projects I worked on this week (August 8 - August 14):

• Monday - Drawing
• Tuesday - Nothing
• Wednesday - Blogging
• Thursday - Blogging
• Friday - Nothing
• Saturday - Blogging
• Sunday - Nothing

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 138)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we believe, get stuck and colour some magic.

• First, Pomplamoose covered Believe and just makes me really happy. I love that song (and that album) more than I probably should and I love Pomplamoose just as much as I should (which is to say, a lot), so it's a definite ray of sunshine.
• Next the Fruity Ukeladies are Stuck in the Middle with You. And also this post, I guess.
• Finally, Dave Bulmer starts in on the Discworld journey he told us about in the last volume, starting on the first five books.

Weekly Project Update (August 1 - August 7)

Here's the creative projects I worked on this week (August 1 - August 7):

• Monday - Nothing
• Tuesday - Nothing
• Wednesday - Blogging
• Thursday - Blogging
• Friday - Blogging
• Saturday - Nothing
• Sunday - Nothing - And I posted this.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos, (Volume 137)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we share a pizza, get some luggage and go check out our local comic book store!

• First, Dave Bulmer, shares his thoughts about how (and why) to make a good Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. And he does it by breaking down what makes the Ninja Turtles, why the 90s movie worked in the day and what's important when you're trying to tell a story. I think it's also a good point to keep in mind when you're trying to adapt a story from one medium to another.
• Next, Dave unveils his bookshelf series (which eventually became its own channel), talks about why we should talk about the things we're enjoying and embarks on reading through all of the Discworld books. (Don't worry he hasn't gotten that far yet, so now's the perfect time to jump in). I've been kind of delighted since I started reading Discworld in order just before this and it's nice to have someone to read along with.
• Finally, the very awesome Amy Dallen sings about her comic book store (because that's where the books live, but it's also much more!). Also features a bunch of the Geek and Sundry vloggers in their LCBSes (including mine!)

Project 1: The Blog, Season Six

Apparently this is the first time I've actually written the post late, but here we are, I'm writing the "Happy Blog End and Start" post.

So Happy belated Blog End and Start!

I've been happy with the "blog as project" this year and I'm happy to do another year of it.

I think this last year has been pretty good, although it was a lot of "Favourite YouTube Videos". I'm hoping to step up the types of things I blog in the coming year and I'm hoping my new plan of "do one creative thing a day" will help with that. (It will double the number of posts on the blog at least since I'll be posting a creativity update each week.)

On the topic of Favourite YouTube Videos, I'm still really enjoying posting them since it gives me a chance to go back through and rematch all of my old favourites (since the series pulls from my own favourite's list on YouTube, remember when that was a real thing?). It's an interesting journey into two years ago and I think at the moment it's going to stay about that far behind with me posting about three videos a week.

I will also be updating the video games I've played this year. I've managed to keep on keeping track, I just need to put the posts together and I'll try to do that over the next little while. I think that's been an interesting project as well and it's made me think a lot more about what and how I play.

"Monthly" posts on what I've been playing also cut down on the number of "Video Game Thoughts" posts I've been thinking of making. There's a lot of games that I won't (or can't) finish and some that I just don't have that much to say about. So hopefully I can cut down on thinking about things that I don't want to spend too much time thinking about. It will also hopefully open up time for me to come at the games I'm thinking about in a different way (and hey actually maybe get off my ass and start making some too).

I've also had fun with a spreadsheet of my blogging "progress".
You can find a permanent link to the blorgress page here.

So, over all I'm happy, the blog is staying nominal and that's about it until next August.

Thanks for reading if you do.

Oh and I also figured out how the automatic scheduler works, so I'm pretty happy.

Administrativa: I Just Broke a Bunch of Links

Oops.

Sorry about that. I undertook to properly capitalize my labels/tags a couple of months ago aaaand I just realized that any link to those tags is now going to be broken. Tags themselves at the bottom of each post are unaffected, but any link in text will now go to a "there's no page for that".

I'll work on fixing this as I can, but it's going to be a while. I'm going to start on recent posts and work backwards.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 136)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we go to a concert, chill in Sweden and get lost in people's dreams.

• First, Hank talks about the 13 things you need to know about being cool at concerts.
• Next, Mr. Smooth McGroove takes us to Sweden and gives me all the nostalgia and feels for Minecraft.
• Finally, Brentalfloss shares his first ever composition with us and it's pretty damn cool.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 135)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we get invaded, get help and get dressed up.

• First, on Tested, Adam Savage gets rid of a Zeebler and we get to look at Marty Cooper's animation.
• Next, The Fruity Ukuladies get by with a little help from their friends.
• Finally, Dodger walks through all the links between cosplay and theatre and argues that theatre and cosplay are two fields that should be going hand in hand.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 134)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we think about sex, wander a mountain and then fly off into the sky.

• First, from Sexplanations,  Dr. Lindsay Doe takes a look at how we figure out what sex we are.
• Next, Kristina Horner and Eia Waltzer show off their "Frozen" cosplay on a frozen mountain.
• Finally, Laura Shigihara lifts our spirits covering "Where No One Goes" from "How to Train Your Dragon 2".

Project Update: July 2016

So the last few months have been a pretty busy time for me. I taught a full course for the first time (by which I mean a full-half course, because my University is funny) and it took over my life pretty heavily. Beyond that I still have a lot of things that need doing for my PhD and I'd like to get that wrapped up sooner rather than late.

Can't say for sure that I feel excited, but I certainly would like to get the PhD made.

Projects have definitely fallen aside (include the blog-as-blog), but given the other things I've had to do I'm not that disappointed. Even if it's now taken me a really long time to write a few hundred words.

I'm at a point now that I'm going to get some free time. The keyword being some. I have quite a bit of work to do on my PhD and I've accepted another teaching gig for the fall (which will need to be done without me grinding to a halt on my PhD).  So given that I have some free time I'd like to get back to getting something creative done.

I also seem to have a problem where in I don't work on a project because I "should" work on another project, but I can't, or don't want to, work on that project so in the end, I do nothing. I'd like to get a handle on that if I can. Previously this is why I tried to have a lot of projects "open,"  but it's basically the same problem I tried to address in January by cutting back on the number of projects I was working on at one time.

So I'm going to try to reorganize a little bit again. My thought now is that at the beginning of each month I'll make a list of things I'd like to work on and then each day I'm going to try to do "one creative thing" that might or might not have anything to do with what's on the list. Each week I'll post an update to see how things have gone and what I've worked on. And I'll still keep the project updates to look at projects over all.

The goal is to get things done without stressing myself out and to keep working on things even if it's only a little bit each day.

Here's to getting excited and making things.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 133)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we get excited and watch Dodger build a table.

• We've seen Dodger build a couple of things in the past, but this time she decided to go big and built a table out of a pallet and wood burned the logo from Monster Hunter Tri into top. 
• The first video is focused on building the table top out of an old pallet.
• Next they age steel pipe to make the legs out of.
• Then it's time to burn the tabletop with the logo. (Over head projectors are your friends!)
• Finally, It's time to build the table all together.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 132)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we try not to die in space, get a little angry and then drive off down a rainbow road.

• First, Belated Media talks about Alien and Aliens and the (very different) ways in which they're both excellent. I like Alien better (it has more SPACE in it), but rewatching this video I just want to watch them both again.
• Next, Pomplamoose is too mad to watch 30 Rock tonight. But they just need a little time to cool down.
• Finally, let's end by sailing off into the skies with Mr. Smooth McGroove singing the Mario Kart 64 Rainbow Road Theme a capella. This is one of those songs with a really specific association in my head, of a sleep over with a friend and racing on this course when we were super tired and falling a sleep. Definitely a great song to relax to (but maybe not drive to, if you're going to fall asleep).