Assimilating the Sea Slugs blogging method
...where 100% Dark Stripey Vampires prey on lolis and blogs
Regular readers would know that the Holy Hontounia Empire's WordPress backend tends to follow the lead of the technological machinations inside the Sea Slugs! Triumvirate; some might have also noticed how my method has become isomorphic, since Bakemonogatari, of Kabitzin's blogging method.
Two paragraphs of summaries followed by two paragraphs of reactions, with a selection of screencaps forming up a trio of header images and a light scattering within the text itself, is its basic form. It is much more difficult to reproduce its feel though as this is derived from Kabitzin's unique sense of humour - when applied to an episodic post, is most enjoyable when read with full knowledge of what's happened in an episode and can even sometimes fundamentally change the way readers view a series or character. In practical terms, just breaking up and delimiting each section gives a predictable structure that can be useful to a blogger (and readers!) who are pressed for time.
Summary Trials
The horror of a series' summaries left unfinished!
Writing my own summaries has been fun though it was more difficult to keep it under two paragraphs, around 250 words, than I thought. I get the impression that Kabitzin takes notes as he watches and adopting that practice has helped me save some time in the blogging process - I used to only write up a post after watching an episode which usually entailed at least a partial rewatch. I've also picked up on the way he writes about characters using their given names, previously I had used the way the other characters referred to her or him; this seems to have given me a better grip on who's who.
Looking back now, the presence of the summaries (and I suspect the act of writing itself) helps me recall stuff better, particularly in contextualizing why I had a particular reaction to an episode at that point in time.
N2 Reactions
We try to do the same with words
Stripey once told me that he got into weekly episodic blogging in the beginning because it was fun being carried by the momentum of a series, along with episodic bloggers, kind of like everyone in a rollercoaster ride screaming, yelling and hollering with its ups and downs. And that it was the reactions, rather than the summaries, that he most looked forward to reading. I agreed with him at the time, though now I tend to think of summaries as basic research and reactions/episodic editorials as applied research - they occupy different parts of the value chain and hierarchy but can complement each other well if employed effectively.
I have to confess that I haven't quite gotten the hang of the Reaction part of the post yet. At present it still feels somewhat random in contrast to the way that Kabitzin is able to pick up on certain themes and motifs that he then applies across episodes like a meme. I have the most fun with yuri delusion and chara delusion but series that can be subjected to this kind of treatment don't turn up every season.
Tapping Into The Conversation
You light my fire~ Come on and teach me all of your philosophy
One major mod-addition I've made to this evolving assimilation is to add a "What Are Others Saying" section to the post; I guess too many years of grad school has hardwired the literature review into me. It's not meant to provide even half-comprehensive coverage of what other bloggers have said about the episode in question but it's been a useful device to record reflections inspired by others, acknowledge those sources and consolidate them in one place. Though I will still comment on other blogs simply because I love the image of nibbling on their souls in the course of doing so.
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October 15th, 2009 - 00:25
Yea, Kabitzin’s craft is not easy to replicate, and I seem to have the same problems you do. I’ve found that as an episodic blogger, you don’t have to write every single detail, or post a million pics, because most likely the viewer has already seen the episode. It’s also very unlikely that someone who hasn’t seen the episode will comment, because (obviously) they haven’t seen the episode. I try to take my posts more towards those who have seen the ep, but I also want non-viewers to laugh at my random screen-caps.
But yea, I hate how I want to read a “summary” of the episode but it turns out to be the episode in whole! =(
October 15th, 2009 - 09:05
Agreed but sometimes blow-by-blow accounts are great especially when there are no subs and the raw episodic blogger really has got the JPLT1 – you can just zoom in on the parts which were totally moonspeak and gain enlightment.
October 15th, 2009 - 13:40
I used to do that when Totali was around =(…
*cries a river* <—A-Sure-A-Cryin'
*BA DUM PSH*… yea…
▼ Show
October 15th, 2009 - 14:13
Yeah, I miss Totali too. T_T (If you’re reading this, Totali, the requested material will be on its way in a few weeks time. Thanks for your patience.)
Huzzah! Glad you like it – new combined banner up (can’t solve the lack of rotation so went for a gattai) and Pretty In Pink banner explanation is up, nested under About Zyl.
October 15th, 2009 - 02:10
Yeah, I’ll be honest, I never read summaries for shows. Even if I haven’t watched them, I like to keep myself mostly in the dark until I watch it and just get the general feel/opinion. Usually I use this to judge whether I want to pick up something or not, but I’ll also use it for shows I’m somewhat actively following but not really keeping up with the moment they get released. This lets me make a decision as to whether it’s worth it to watch the episode as soon as I get the chance or whether I can wait.
I kinda like the “What Others Are Saying” bit, because the blogs I frequent these days is shrinking somewhat, so it’s nice to see what I’m missing out on. But I’d never be able to do it with my own posts, as it’d just take more time and effort than I’m willing to put in.
October 15th, 2009 - 09:08
I only absolutely do not to read summaries for series that I haven’t watched but am seriously considering watching to avoid spoiling myself. Otherwise most of the time I like to sample summaries for stuff I’ve already watched (esp if there’s something that I didn’t quite get e.g. Phantom ending) or just to get the gist of what everyone else is talking about (a popular series that I just couldn’t be bothered to watch).
October 15th, 2009 - 02:41
Naturally I really enjoyed this post, but for more than just my own narcissism =3. I’m glad you see a lot of the things that I try to do with my posts, since I do put thought into my format (so that I can then mindlessly churn out smiling production copies to zerg Asuka).
This is definitely one of the goals of my format structure. I know when reading other posts, sometimes a post is just too long to digest immediately and then I forget to go back and read it when I have more time.
I have two windows up on my screen when I watch; one Zoomplayer window to watch the episode and one Notepad window to type in. I am one of those annoying people who like to talk during an episode, so I basically text-talk through the entire episode while I watch it. I just write down quick notes about anything interesting that happened, take down everyone’s names so I can copy-paste later, and write (in all caps for cruise control awesome) any jokes I want to work into my post.
So true. I have trouble with it, too (well, depending on the series). Keeping notes really helps. It’s great for keeping track of names, and I often refer back to my own summaries for writing reviews. I always try to refer to characters by their first name, although the practice of using surnames for unfamiliar characters is really an obstacle. I usually deal, except with Natsume Yuri in Cannan, because we didn’t learn that Natsume was her family name until nearly the end of the show (but what a first name!).
But when it does show up, it’s so rewarding =3. /inserts Mugi image in corner
BTW, I love this feature. I liked it when a few other people did as full posts, but I like it even better as a short sub-section of a post that also has a summary and a reaction.
Oh yeah, and don’t forget to bring quicktags back so that I don’t have to type in blockquote and link tags manually =D.
October 15th, 2009 - 08:18
Interesting stuff. I always like reading the behind the scenes info about how other people go about writing their posts, honing their craft, etc.,
October 15th, 2009 - 09:17
Thanks for sharing more insights into your working method – it brings me to an evermore closer immaculate imitation of the SS!AB method. Wa~ha~ha~
I used to like Zoomplayer but it kept getting a floating point error if I stopped and tried to resume play or jumped around. Maybe I just need to use a newer version. Crap I can’t even find an About on it now.
Glad you and Naz like the WOAS section; maybe it’s the Ani Nouto influence though (like Kabitzin’s particular style) Author’s style is hard to completely assimilate.
Also thanks for the note on Quicktags – discovered that for Lightword, it needs to be implemented twice. Once for logged in view and another for normal view. I’ve gotten so used to having that plugin (and AJAX WP Comment Edit) that, if they’re not there, I actually find it a bother to write a comment.
October 15th, 2009 - 10:11
Zoomplayer fixed that HORRIBLE bug in the latest few versions.
October 15th, 2009 - 10:59
I wish screencapping on ZP was easier though.
October 15th, 2009 - 13:32
Interesting, that is one of the reasons I like ZP. Alt + F takes screencaps, though it’s a bit slow, but at least (unlike VLC) you can jog through frames very easily to get that perfect shot. I actually use the PrtScn button and paste it into Photoshop, since I clean the images up a bit (thankfully simplified into one button push with a macro).
October 15th, 2009 - 14:10
DOH!!
I’ve been using the Grab function under FFD Show for ZP screencapping but ALT-F makes my life so much easier! Thanks for the pro tip!! I can stop using Media Player Classic – it’s ok but tends to jump frames when taking screencaps.