I am building for this website a single column very basic design since it serves as a home for all my little crappy/nostalgic/strange pet projects. Since this place is going to be stripped down I’ve been looking at the option of turning the whole ‘kit-and-kaboodle’ as my mother would sort of oddly say into a Wordpress MU smorgasbord so that absolutely everything can be updated in the most reduced way possible. I just need to decide if this is too heavy… I don’t think it is? I don’t know, there are all these little websites I’ve had since about 16 my pack rat self cannot bring herself to junk.

Any ways, I am looking into options that will bring updating everything to a central location and therefore give me no excuse for not updating things. Also, despite pretending I’m done with fanlistings applied to snake the Umbreon one since Nayru told me she might be adopting it out. Shame on me, shame on me.

For the past, say, six or seven months I’ve been at a bit of a web crossroads. I’ve been fairly self concious about my websites, my blogging style and all that. All the little projects I throw together and then ignore, fanlistings coming to mind, and basically all the experimental little things that clog Empty Cage. I’m an ideas person and when a good one comes along I jump on top of it and have been known to find the follow through difficult.

Any ways, recently I agreed to do some contract work with my friend’s website company since we being fellow philosophers like to complain about things like real jobs when he asked if there was any of my stuff that he could see, and I realized I was a bit bashful to show him anything since it’s all pitched together in thirty minutes for shits and giggles. It’s kind of gone down hill since Europe, hee hee. And so that’s when I decided it was time to divorce these two parts of my brain.

What will the split entail? Well, MadHattery is going to be taking my blog insofar as I am not talking about updating websites or learning strange new things about Enth3. It’ll have more ‘polished’ writing than EC ever suffered. I’m using polished here in a loose sense, it is still going to be my usual tongue-in-cheek self. It’ll also look really nice and be sort of a ‘resume type thing’ Basically Hattery is taking all my eloquence.

In return EC gets all of my fun, it’ll be what it’s always been. A bunch of hack-job websites that I update sporadically but love to pieces when I do. All old blogs will stay here and I plan on keeping this place pretty frequently updated with all the strangeness that grows on my brain. I’m actually looking forward to this split.

Basically, if you’ve never read one of my updates in the “internet” category and you actually have me bookmarked for that rare yet comical interlude I’m going to urge you to change your bookmarks to MadHattery. If you’re really here to see me build a character fansite that flops a few hours later stick around, more of that to come.

So this is not goodbye or anything like that, in fact, if anything I suspect this place is going to pick up.

I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to make of this film. On one hand, I’m a secret Tim Burton fan (secret because I have this phobia of being one of those gloomy emo kids). Yes, I USED to come pretty close to that classification in the good old day (though, for the record I was pretty sure I was a goth and never wore skinny jeans), but I like to think I’ve cheered up a bit. Inversely, his dark-artistic-goodness never fails to please the part of me that still wears black boots that lace up to my knees. And I know I know, ‘all his movies are the same thing’ its so full of ‘dark side gimmicks’ it makes you a bit ill, but damnit, I like Alice and I like darkness so why am I not allowed to enjoy the hell out of this film?

I’ve been saving watching the trailer of this movie for quite awhile now. I wanted it to be at the perfect time. I still haven’t seen it, but I’m starting to think that waiting is going to build it up as something more than a clip reel of the only scenes worth watching. I will fucking cry if this movie sucks, just a warning. Like actually cry, in the open. And I know, Tim Burton, don’t get hopes up… but really. I want for it to be good so badly.

Unfortunately I don’t know many people who are as excited about all things Alice as I am. But one of them has been plotting an Alice website with me for awhile, and I think now would be the time to make it if ever we are going to. And Cheshire Cat fanlisting should get a facelift.

Oh, what shall I do if this movie is crap?

I’m also feeling webmistressy tonight, so maybe I’ll get fanupdate and codesort on my fanlistings as well as may some fresh layouts. I got approved for Sick Boy, but might not make it any more. I don’t know, I want to, I might send TFL an e-mail. I shall muse on it.

Cheshire Cat Fanlist and Magical Mystery Tour get first dibs on my designing.

In other, more OMFGEPIX Amber, my beloved hostee got approved for the Moi dix Mois Fanlisting, which is amazing to the supreme. I shall be hosting it, and she shall be getting a domain which I shall be hosting. So keep your eyes open for that.

That’s about all I have to say, most of my recent design adventures have been for other people and oh boy, do my websites need a little work…

• Get my hands on a guitar tuner — they’re only like $10 so procrastinating is not really worth it
• Call, or get mum to call the guy about my summer job
• Revamps on the following websites in the following order:
  • Finish off the last little bits of the Tim Fanlisting (Codes, About, fix mistakes)
  • Do the ShadowRO website
  • Do Empty Cage, new layout, put the focus on the blog aspect
• Move mum’s domain from Network Solutions to be hosted on my hosting plan, as well as make a new layout for her site
• Study for Math
• Get money order for room next year

I actually did some work on my own websites lately making a less crappy layout for the Timothy McGee (NCIS) Fanlisting. The layout is strongly based on all the stuff I did on the UPSA/AENP website, but it actually doesn’t look too terrible. I’m afraid I’m becoming a gradient addict though, which I must halt. I have a few more things I need to do before I can leave Timmy alone for awhile. Including, getting some codes for him (I’m having some problems with moving outlined text on the Gimp which is a hassle, I’m tempted to start booting my Windows Drive, spend a day making codes for all my fanlistings, zipping them, uploading them, and getting this shit DONE!) That and for some reason that beats the shit out of me the images for my affiliates are not showing up. I’m going to talk to Amber about it though, because she seems to have them working, and she is my most beloved hostee.

Speaking of hostees, I am about to start hosting my mom’s bookstore’s website, so if things get a bit traumatic over here in the next little while it’s because I’m trying to move her over. Currently she runs a wordpress install, but I feel like she should be on something else. Like, I can’t find a gallery script that is condusive to her technopeasantry, and according to her that is very important. Not sure why as she never updates. But perhaps one day this will be made clear to me. I’m not sure I really remember how to point her domain at a subdomain over here, but I’ll try. (Plus if I’m hosting her she’ll pay for my hosting package and all I need to pay for is my domain =D…)

I’m starting to actually feel like web design again. Which is completely unheard of, I’m writing notes for a Battle Royale site, I have bits and pieces of my Miroku site ready to be built up again. This cannot be a bad thing.

As some closing remarks on internet affairs, I plan on pulling ECNET apart a bit in the next little while. Basically, I’m going to make it more geared towards blogging and wigets (Twitter, Last.fm, etc.) and put less focus on the pages (that I don’t even really have to be honest). I hope to get some information hacked out soon, such as some reviews of the Linux Apps I’ve been using as well as some writing I’ve been doing. I plan on posting a few essays and stuff I’ve written (even if they’re for school if I find the subject matter interesting I’ll post it) but I think EC is going to be more of a spring board than any sort of use by itself. That’s kind of how it already is, but like, make it so you know that’s what it’s going to be and not expect something more. And it will validate strict… I promise myself. Hahahah. I love my domain so much, and it has never really… fit.

In other news, school, blargh. Well, sort of blargh, maybe like, half blargh. Because I decided to make my minor Computer Science I have to take Math. Which was one of those really terrible ideas I once had. The course is soundly kicking my ass into next month. And the final for it is on the last possible day, that would be April 30th! Which is pretty sucky. The worst part being that I have no idea what is going on in this class. I can only assume it is something appallingly difficult and leave it at that. For fear of my sanity.

I have more to say I think, but I should really be doing some school readings. Later.

In other web news, I finished the Timothy McGee (NCIS) Fanlist… finally… it looks like asses because I threw it together in one hell of a rush, a few hours before they removed it from the list. I need to start finishing these things before the last possible second, eh? Maybe not, then ones I don’t have the attention span for get dropped and no one gets hurt.

In life news I have been seriously considering getting back into cosplay. God yes, my inner nerd is shifting uncomfortably, she has been restrained too long. That and I’m hoping to spend more than just a day or two in Hanoverland this summer and that always gets me into geeking out. The problem remains that I cannot sew, and that I am easily distracted by shiny things.

I hope to get Cursed fully redone soon, it’s my only “proper” character fansite to date and I pulled it apart to fix it and never put it back together again. I need like a giant uber site CMS, where you, like, select select the site from a drop down and then get a page manager/ update manager thing. Maybe I’ll write it hahahaha.

Anyways, I have totally lost my train of thought to CSI: New York. Later.

For me, the tactile act of actually writing my notes out makes me way more likely to remember what I’m writing, whereas typing means I might actually be able to read them again one day. I have yet to find a Linux app to take notes the way I want to though, so, my quest continues. I’ve tried a few different things, like Tomboy Notes, and am playing with NoteCase, so we’ll see what happens.

The problem I’ve been having with good old Linux is there are lots of apps, and they all seem to do little bits of what I want, but none of them do exactly what I want them to. I ran into this same problem with music players, and even now I’m not settled on one, rather I’m using Rhythmbox until Songbird supports my music player — though I’ve been going to war with Banshee it’s just not going to do what I want.

All of my webprojects seem to have grinded to a halt for whatever reason. No creativity left in my brain to speak of. I’m hoping to finish turning the Regulus Black Fanlisting into a character fansite within the week. I plan on doing this to all of my fanlistings, because I figure it would be nice to start a trend of having Fanlistings that actually have a purpose. I have two on deck right now, Felix the Cat and Timothy McGee (NCIS), but I’m feeling design challenged right now.

Thanks to Amber and Crystal for the comments, sometimes being mean feels fun. =)

An internet craze which seems to have yet to die, despite being around for several years is the Fanlistings, and their insane (but charming) sibling the Anime Fanlistings. (And all of their bastard children, like the Hatelistings, Physical Fanlistings, Taboolistings, and others too numerous and cumbersome to mention). Unless you are a webdesigner living under a proverbial rock you have probably at least heard of a fanlistings, and may indeed own one. (I personally own several).

A fanlisting is basically what it sounds like, an internet list of fans listed in one of the aforementioned directories. They are predated by the internet clique which went out of fashion, then the way of the dinosaurs after the fanlistings really took off. To normal and sane people this doesn’t sound to exciting, I mean, it’s a great way to show people you love a topic, it’s a great way to get a few superficial hits. And if you join a few you can put some shiny banners on your site. A fanlisting owner that doesn’t update their listing risks having it kicked out of the network, so a “bigger fan” can have it. It’s all good fun. Or so it would seem.

The thing is, The Fanlistings put in a rule, a seemingly innocent rule, but a rule that turns sweet innocent Fanlisting building and maintaining into a nightmare. Only one person can own an ‘official’ and ‘listed’ Fanlisting at a time. I’m sure we can all see where this is going.

Suddenly Fanlistings are serious business and people get ultra-competitive to own the really big ones (Like the obvious Harry Potter, for the cute Baby Goths The Nightmare Before Christmas, and whatever Anime is #1 at the moment of writing). Every day people threaten to Quit The Internet™ if they don’t get the coveted listing. And to be perfectly honest it really pisses me off. As one of those webmistresses who plays ‘now you see me, now you don’t’ on the internet, I only get approved for Fanlistings that no one else wants (also because I take a hell of a long time in the design phase). If I Quit The Internet™ every time I was rejected, I might actually do something useful.

But, while not mentioning any names (and changing all of the listings she mentions– I’ve bolded my changes, the rest are as-is) you stumble across blogs like this:

21 December 2008. – I got 1 low blow and a high five, both in the same day. I got rejected, yes, fucking rejected (I’m very very sorry, but I’ve passed from depressed to angry) for *****, yes *****. The one fanlisting Joeblow said “If they don’t give it to you my faith in manking would totally be lost” the one fanlisting I longed to own since I can remember, the one I was so desperate to have an answer for, yes, Some Actor. So I’m quiting anime fanlistings. I have not decided yet what to do with An Anime Series, I’ll probably keep it but I’m not sure and I’m definitly keeping An Anime Episode, because that fanlisting means a lot to me, it was my first fanlisting so yeah. I don’t know what to do with “Another Series!” I don’t want to close it but I don’t want to keep it but I lost the stupid members list so bah. That’s it. If I don’t get T… that book I’m waiting the response of, I’ll die. But anyway, I was trying not to die alive when I recived the most sacred email ever, Someone’s response over the adoption of Another Actor, yes, the one who used to be in my top wishlist and now is on my other wishlist, yes, my Actor, my love <3 I’m adopting him!. So, thank you so much Someone, you helped me a lot today.

I mean you’ll have to excuse my insensitivity, as this truly is the end of the entire universe.

The first thing that popped into my mind is my favourite “I’m quitting forever, you guys suck! Except, you know, I’m not” which is such a common thing on the internet. It goes back to my attention whoring, which I rant about ad nauseum. It’s just too freaking CRAZY for me.

I mean, I’m sure the girl who wrote that is perfectly sane and rational. In fact, I’ll bet she’s a perfectly sweet person. But you read that and immediately think she is out of her mind and way too dramatic for her own good. This rilled up about a website to list fans…