Latest Excuse: The Article
I logged onto IRC last week after updating the Fanfic section with a particularly long edition of Latest Excuse, my weekly random rant column. I've used it before to talk about everything from my life to video games to movies, usually with some connection between these things and the timing of my update. Last week, I put together a long review of a Pokemon movie; there was some stuff relating it to SM.Net and my update, but mostly it was one big Pokemon review. So I'm on IRC and DarthAndonuts says to me:
"You could have updated in the time it took you to write some of your Latest Excuses."
The thing is, I like writing LE... it's what distinguishes my section from all those other sections. I figure that people are just as likely to read fanfics as they are to go look at flukes or art or whatever. And art/flukes/comics have an advantage over me; they're flashier and easier on the eyes and the watch. A lot of fanfics are long and serious, so they don't quite appeal to all those quick-fix kids of the new millenium. LE is just a draw for my section, like those Pearl Jam quotes were supposed to be; something to get people interested and spend more time with the 'fics.
I relax when I write. I wrote this in my secret binder as I was lying in bed, as I was about to fall asleep. Writing LE is kinda like that. It's my way of just letting loose with whatever I feel like saying. You'll notice I don't archive them. Very rarely do I ever discuss them with anyone (if I ever have). Heck, the whole thing started as a joke; I was trying to build the image that I updated every Friday, and I figured I'd need an excuse every week because all the other staffers seemed to update late too.
I already know Tomato doesn't really like LE because it routinely has little EB content. But where else am I gonna put my random stories about renting Kevin Smith movies or driving to Kingston? Falcon wouldn't ever put them up as articles. I guess I could put them on some Geocities site, but then nobody would ever see them and they wouldn't serve as a draw for the section.
The more I think about it, the more this article sounds like a defence to a concern nobody raised.. but hey, I like to get my self-defence in early. See you on Friday.
I logged onto IRC last week after updating the Fanfic section with a particularly long edition of Latest Excuse, my weekly random rant column. I've used it before to talk about everything from my life to video games to movies, usually with some connection between these things and the timing of my update. Last week, I put together a long review of a Pokemon movie; there was some stuff relating it to SM.Net and my update, but mostly it was one big Pokemon review. So I'm on IRC and DarthAndonuts says to me:
"You could have updated in the time it took you to write some of your Latest Excuses."
The thing is, I like writing LE... it's what distinguishes my section from all those other sections. I figure that people are just as likely to read fanfics as they are to go look at flukes or art or whatever. And art/flukes/comics have an advantage over me; they're flashier and easier on the eyes and the watch. A lot of fanfics are long and serious, so they don't quite appeal to all those quick-fix kids of the new millenium. LE is just a draw for my section, like those Pearl Jam quotes were supposed to be; something to get people interested and spend more time with the 'fics.
I relax when I write. I wrote this in my secret binder as I was lying in bed, as I was about to fall asleep. Writing LE is kinda like that. It's my way of just letting loose with whatever I feel like saying. You'll notice I don't archive them. Very rarely do I ever discuss them with anyone (if I ever have). Heck, the whole thing started as a joke; I was trying to build the image that I updated every Friday, and I figured I'd need an excuse every week because all the other staffers seemed to update late too.
I already know Tomato doesn't really like LE because it routinely has little EB content. But where else am I gonna put my random stories about renting Kevin Smith movies or driving to Kingston? Falcon wouldn't ever put them up as articles. I guess I could put them on some Geocities site, but then nobody would ever see them and they wouldn't serve as a draw for the section.
The more I think about it, the more this article sounds like a defence to a concern nobody raised.. but hey, I like to get my self-defence in early. See you on Friday.
