Friday, December 14, 2001

New anime MP3 on the sidebar: “Wings.” A nice, upbeat song to lift one’s spirits on a drizzly day.

Brennen‘s entry for yesterday illustrates the exact reason why I hit his site every day. It’s fascinating stuff. And yes, Bren, I did scan the whole music listing.

I have two comments to make in response, though. First, Brennen says, in response to the Piro whining debate:

“I don’t think it’s realistic to expect Piro’s actual performance to change. Megatokyo’s probably going to continue to progress at its current rate, filler and all. That’s the nature of such projects.”

I disagree. There are plenty of other webcomics that are regularly posted on time: User Friendly, Ozy and Millie, Kevin and Kell, 1/0, Sinfest…even comics in the same style, like the Jar, Exploitation Now, and Okashina Okashi (which does get behind occasionally, but rarely for more than a day, and not nearly as often as MegaTokyo).

I contend that it is possible to regularly update a site, whether it’s a weblog, or a comic, or whatever. Yeah, a lot of sites aren’t updated regularly, but those that promise to be updated regularly, should be. Piro has repeatedly committed to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. He doesn’t maintain that pace, but he also refuses to change his promise. Something’s wrong there.

My second comment was sparked by an offhand comment of Brennen’s, that he’s a tech geek.

I’ve been thinking lately about geekdom, and I came to a conclusion: I don’t like being considered a geek. No matter what positive spin the computing community has placed on the term, I don’t really like the label.

So, I thought about my qualifications for geekdom. I garden. I’m quite religious. I write documentation for a living. I listen to classical music. I read “How to Think Like a CEO” books. Doesn’t sound like geek activities, do they?

On the other hand, I check my e-mail at least three times a day. I spent almost all evening, every weekday evening, on the computer. Those times when I’m not on the computer, I’m either watching anime or out of the house. I code for fun.

I’m a geek. But I don’t really want to be a geek. I don’t want to “embrace my inner geek.” Perhaps I am obssessed with technology, but I don’t want to be.

So what does this mean? Perhaps I should push the chair away from my computer and towards the bookcase more often. Perhaps I should limit my computer usage to specific duties, at least for a little while. Perhaps I should stop typing this and get on with life.

I’m not going to be downloaded into a computer and spend my life flying through digital sunsets any time soon. I’d better get used to that fact.

…And that would have been the perfect ending to this entry, except that I need to mention that I finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban two days ago. I really enjoyed it. I was extremely impressed both at the plotting and the good old-fashioned juvenile adventure vibe of this volume. Thumbs up.

And here’s some random anime linkage, to Eversummer Eve, an anime webcomic that’s actually got a plot. As in, it’s all plot. Pretty much a comic book, posted to the web. And very cleanly drawn.

Also check out Unlike Minerva for pretty furry art. And if you think that’s pretty, look at the Disney-quality artwork on Faux Pas. The archives are worth perusing.