Random Thoughts and Vents Now That I'm Back · 8:39pm Nov 25th, 2015
(placed below cut due to length.)
I finally clicked my feed (the globe button). After digesting 750 alerts (and opening a bunch up in other windows to read in greater detail at my leisure), I realized a thing.
- Favorite types of blog posts: The ones that talk about the posters' lives, or other fandoms, or hobbies, or just jokey stuff in general. Because you're all awesome.
- Least favorite types of blogposts: Episode reviews. Because you're all wrong. 
Upon getting paid for my latest book project, I renewed my cellphone contract, and ended up getting an iPhone 6S to replace my 5c (Lesser of two evils; sorry, I loathe Android; I may be stuck with it on a tablet, but not my phone, dangit). I love everything about it: the better form factor, the thinness, and the bigger screen makes it better for watching videos, looking at email, jotting stuff down in GDocs and even looking at Fimfic.
There's just one problem. I can't hold the damn thing.
I'm the center one. Zoom to 100% and then try to put your hand around it.
Somewhere along the line, companies and the masses forgot that phones are convenience devices. 5c was the perfect size. I could hold it in one hand and my thumb ruled everything. Storage is fine, it's just using it that's a massive hassle. Trying to hold a rectangular 5 inches in one hand results in becoming the most butterfingered person ever. And your thumb can't go everywhere. And Reachability is a joooooooooooooooooooooooooooooke. I have no idea how people with massive Samsung phablets have managed. What, do you hold phones with two hands? That's a computer at that point!
I Amazon'ed one of those ring things that you attach to the back of your phone and put your finger through to see if it solves the problem. I hope so, because I really don't want to take this thing back. I want to keep this otherwise glorious phone wih the bigger brighter screen and better build and the ability to put the best Lemon Zest picture as my Lock screen and more viability for Skype and Docs and fimfic and stuff... but this one thing manages to negate all of that.
...so yeah, I've already gone into Settings and named this thing "Tantabus."
I realized something the other day: as much as I really like "Slice of Life" and think the people who are ravenously against it are making a big fuss over positively nothing... pretty much every character/pairing/theme/subject touched upon within it is something I don't care to write fanfic of. At all. And never will. Nor are they things I enjoy seeing in fandom in general (outside of Steven Magnet, I'll never not love that guy). I'll probably expound on this later.
I have way too many story ideas and not enough time to do them all. Also, the ratio is like 60/40 EQG/pony. I'm really just waiting for people to get wise, and then the mass unfollowing can begin.
Is there merit to posting a story that updates regularly in installments? I finally have a few things in the planning stages that could stand to go by that format, but I have a penchant for posting complete stories. Do people stick around even after that feature box presence/capability is gone? Me, I know I prefer to binge series and seasons once they're done instead of tuning in every week and aving to wait to find out what happens next, but maybe others are different.
Want to make my holiday? Point me to a Coco Pommel plushie for sale that gets everything right. You don't need to buy it. Just find it for me. 
Whew! That was fun. Now I go to the supermarket to buy things to cook for Thanksgiving dinner. Later, all!
~B
this show is a hundred times better than it has any right to be
Good to have you back!
I already did that. :V
Except for me, right? RIGHT?!?
3568110
That plushie got some things right. But it's a far cry from, say, this.
I want complate and total perfection is what I'm trying to say here
3568115 Yes, but what can your wallet afford :P
3568116
Right now?
Complete and total perfection.
Are you excited for the finale, Bookish?
Actually, that IS kind of true, seeing as episode quality is actually subjective, despite the fact that several episodes have the majority of viewers feel the same way about it.
3568122
Immensely.
Which kind of sucks because I'm usually able to go into these things with zero expectations. Expectations are terrible things.
But for the first time in series history we have a villain I'm actually invested in and I'm too afraid the show's going to not do what I want with her.
3568118 Do it, filly.
Also, can I has perfection of Spitfire plush, pls? *adorable smug changeling eyes*
At this rate, the new phones will soon become as large as the ones they used to make.
i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm374/mauther/boat%20bottle/cel1.jpg~original
Yeah, mobile phones are getting rather large again, though the earliest ones were comically colossal.
Anyway, I wish you all the best!
Multiple Youtube comments prefer that Jimmy Hart version of the '87 TMNT theme to the real thing.
Yep, I'm officially out of touch.
Pff. Like anyone else is writing non-Sunset/Siren focused EG fics.
That's what tracking's for, so I can be compelled to refresh FF more times per day than is rational to see if the number has ticked up from 0.
I'll read stories in either format. Sometimes serials taper off and never finish, and sometimes they wind up being too complex or taking too long between chapters such that I start forgetting details, but a steady drip feed of updating stories has its charms all the same. If something's good enough, I can live with the anticipation, and it's nice to be surprised by another chapter of something I enjoy appearing out of the blue, or to know with certainty that my Sundays will be brightened by a few thousand words more of rollicking piratey adventure. Granted, if a story is both good and done, I'll just binge the whole thing.
You just need bigger hands; I use my wife's 7'' tablet with just one (she gets jealous and makes a scrunchy-face every time,
)
Does that new Turtles show follow the story from the original comics at all? There was one back in like 2003 or 2004 that did a great job of staying true to the original plotlines but I never finished watching it,
Any AppleDash in there? ;D
I've discarded phones in favor of communicating through telepathy and dreamsharing. Much more convenient, although the karmic payment plan is tough. Actually, I'm still using my phone from 2008. It does what I need it for, which is call people, receive messages, keep time, and have a cool pony background. And I can drop it a dozen times and it still works perfectly.
On the subject of serial releases... well, a lot of people do it, obviously, and it works. I'm afraid that if I do it, I'll end up including a specific fact in one chapter that will contradict things later, and it'll look bad if I have to go back and change it after the fact. I don't want to "paint myself into the corner", as it were. I released my latest (and only) multi-chapter story over the course of a few weeks solely to build up suspense and encourage some speculation, but I had everything finished already. That said, I'm considering releasing the first chappy of my next story early, because I'm dry on inspiration for what will happen next, but the start is probably just fine. I guess it's up to personal preferences how you want to do things. I know I still track stories that only update once a year or so.
(And I watch every episode weekly, because if I don't I'll get spoiled anyway.)
Good to see you're breathing. Enjoy your cooking. Me, I'mma play Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. The Amethyst Mines are... kinda brutal.
3568135
Not unless I get a perfect Amethyst and/or Blossomforth plushie :V
3568325
I had dibs, bitch :V
3568355
But Amy plushie ;~;
I don't think I'd ever use one of the new phones without a coat of armor around it. When the wife and kid got their iPhone 6, the blessed thing shot out of my hands while being unboxed like it was a watermelon seed or something. Putting it into an Otterbox made it a HECK of a lot easier to hold, and getting a slightly oversized belt carrier for it (to fit the otterbox and give some space) made it useful. I did have to cut off the little protective tab that Otterboxes have over the charging cord, because when I want to plug it in, I don't want to wrestle.
3568362 I know, bby. She's adorable.
3568395 This. Can we have a law passed mandating that all phones come with one of these modern miracles?
3568111
Everyone.
3568395
Preach. That's always the first thing I get whenever I buy one of those things. I don't think my armor's an Otterbox brand, but it looks like everyone's grabbed that design these days. :D
But the phone itself is still too big.
My favorites are my own, but I'm biased as all hell.
Took me a few moments to realize you were talking about the episode and not the story tag. I was all set to get all outraged 'n' stuff...
Ermahgerd, that Coco is adorable!
3568198
My hands are actually large enough to grasp it comfortably--just only if I don't want my thumb to be able to reach the top.
The new TMNT is an amalgamated remix of every single piece of canon that's come before it (save for Archie comics stuff so far, I believe). And if a character or storyline isn't reimagined awesomely, then it's referenced hilariously*. In the end, it becomes its own thing with a great modern sense of humor and progressive thinking at most points. I like to call it the FiM of TMNT, but I can't say that to anyone else because it gets really hard to explain.
*Once you encounter the Next Mutation reference/homage, you can't unsee it.
3568469 I know that feel with the phone. I have the one on the left, even. Just happened to go into the store for my contract renewal the day the Droid II Turbo released. android4lyfe My right hand thumb can juuuuust barely reach the left side of the unlock pattern screen... to the point of risking dropping the phone or having to try the pattern 4 times.
My oldest daughter (20 now) is a huuuuuge TMNT freak. Varying opinions on the differing incarnations of the show, but does enjoy this current one running on nick. Though regrettably she wants nothing to do with FiM/EQG. Sorry folks.
Really happy to hear you're finally getting to enjoy the fruit from all that labor.
3568439
nooooooooooooooo! My extremely-fragile sense of self has been completely shattered!!!
oh well, at least this 3568469 is the best summary i've yet seen of why TMNT 2012 works so well, so there's that. <3
Eh, I'm just gonna keep making Episode Review blogposts anyway.
I'm not interesting enough to do life posts, or clever enough to make funny ones.
...but I can talk about why I liked or didn't like something! ...except when I can't.
Eh, we all know my Port of Call is the comments section anyway... it sure as heck ain't Getting Off My Butt and Actually Writing Something.
3568202
I could certainly find time to explore their friendship. I'm not much for writing inter-M6 romances, though. You'll notice the only times I ever have, there's always been some kind of gimmick to 'em.
Now I feel guilty about not writing amusing things about my life
but I always think, "gosh, it's a Pony site: no one is going to be interested in anything but Pony." Besides, any of my Facebook followers could tell you that everything is interspaced with "oh, yes, and declawing is bad," or pictures of my cat wearing a bow tie.
3568615 That's fair! :D and hey, sometimes gimmicks can sell the ship in a fic. Nothing wrong with that. (See the latest AppleDash contest, even. It's a bit gimmicky.)
Though I wouldn't mind seeing the appledash in the Northstar setting~
but I somehow doubt you'd be able to fit it in there!
3568124
This is true. Episode opinions are completely subjective. It's just also true that my opinions are right and everyone else's are wrong.
(With occasional mild exceptions. Sometimes Cryosite or Fahrenheit get lucky.
)
3568147
I miss those. They looked like Speak N' Spells.
3568135
You do realize I have zero investment in non-transformed changelings whatsoever.
3568717 Now, now, no one can have correct episode opinions except for the writers themselves. After all, they get paid to do this.
3568170
Thanks for the answer--that's exactly what I wanted to know. I think I just work in a different ecosystem than the primarily-readers on this site. But I have a couple stories in the works that would make for some nice heart-twisting serials, and I want to get back to trying those after being scared off of them a couple years back.
Well, there's me and... um... three other people? Maybe? Ugh, you're right. I can't even think of anyone writing EQG that isn't writing mostly Orange Waifu or Dagi's Angels. :\ And out of those, the only one I can think of who's doing so with any quality behind it is scoots.
I liked them in the movie, but somehow I alone avoided the urge to write tons of Siren fics. Holy crap, what a depressing monopoly to have.
Is it wrong that I think both of them kick equal amounts of royal ass? Because I do. I cried heresy at first but two listens of the 2012 remix completely had me.
3568729 But just look at how adorable my profile pic is.
3568732
Give me five years ten years time
3568743
Looks like some kind of smug bastard to me.
Hey, you wanna talk about Rainbow Dash for a while?
3568744 The sad truth is that it's likely that by the time you'll be able to get paid, the show will be over.
3568469
Is the *real* Shredder still an alien blob living inside a robot's stomach?
3568747 Sure! I have a RainCo idea I know you'll love!
3568779
Well fucking get on it, then! The more people writing tolerable Rainbow Dash, the less work there is for me!
3568761
I'm not telling.
3568802
3568799 Aye aye.
3568741
I've been quite fond* of CommissarAJ's A New Sun Rises as far as Sunset fics go.
Siren fics are right out, though, and beyond that, yeah, largely a wasteland. Usually fandoms are plagued with people reinterpreting the series as a high school, so seeing the inverse happen and go largely ignored is kind of funny. I guess HiE consumed that audience early on.
*I'd like to think I've got decent taste in ponyfics, but then I've never had to justify that to anyone before.
I thought the expository rap theme song trend had died out with the aughties. And I was happy.
3568854
Oooh, I hadn't heard of this fic. Added to the queue.
The weird thing is I usually loathe high school AUs. What sucked me into EQG was that fact that it was a more tech-based world, and a more urban one, and it was billed as an actual canonical alternate universe, and they were kind of-sortof asking the Sliders-style questions that come with it. I had no chance. But now I want to explore absolutely everybody, and that world, period.
Except the Sirens, cause everyone else seems to have that one covered.
...want a taco?
I'm actually a sucker for 'em ;_;
If I love a story, yes. If I merely like it, usually not.
3568884
That one's... okay. Ish. Sorta. It has at least some sense of style, which puts it ahead of the pack, but most cartoons/kids shows just do rap so very wrong, and it's even worse when it's a franchise like TMNT or MMPR that has a legitimately awesome legacy theme song to compare to (see also: every Inspector Gadget revival, most Batman series, most Scooby series).
I assume if I just say "Insert Freakazoid's NO rant here" that you know what I'm talking about
(RIP Sliders)
Stories posted in pieces over a long period have a tendency to get views, yes. Look at anything by Steel Resolve, JapaneseTeeth, DarthLink42, etc.