Random Musings

It's been nearly a week since I last posted. It's not like I have nothing to say, because I do. It's just that work, school, and family have a way of pushing the blogging aside.

• Apart from the blogs I mentioned two weeks ago, another Bathysphere alum has entered my Google Reader radar. Kiernan Maletsky gives a full rundown of his daily listening habits along with some insight as to what may have led him to such choices. Read All Day Long.
• Speaking of my shout-outs to the local blogosphere, Pete Bland returned the favor via Twitter and Facebook.
• I listened to Wilco (The Album) this week and think they are returning to my good graces; Modest Mouse's new EP made me revisit This Is a Long Drive...; the selection of the opening track for the Monsters of Folk debut is confusing to me; and I got a lot of responses to a Tweet/Facebook status update concerning Nebraska.
• I don't really know what all the hub-bub is over the new Facebook interface. Just jump around between the news feed and the status updates. It's not that hard.
• Geocities closed its "doors" this week. I thought they did that years ago.
• Kids at Paxton-Keeley have been snorting Smarties. Really. I blame hipsters.
• Although I don't really report on the beering at this particular blog anymore, I did brew my third batch this past weekend (yet another reason I'm not blogging). It's a barley wine with bourbon-soaked wood chips for a little oak and vanilla flavoring. It should be good and potent.
• College football rolls on. I will not write about my team until they redeem themselves. Of course, at least they aren't 0-3 in their conference after getting shellacked on their homecoming night. Oh, and I'm predicting everywhere that Iowa will win the national championship. Write it down.
• I spent my first two nights alone with Lucia. We both survived.
• Not only am I not blogging, but I have not been able to attend many happy hours at the 'Tag in recent weeks (and won't make this week's either). Still, you should go and have a Lion Stout for me.
• There was other stuff, but I've already forgotten. I promise to do better.
  

Three Local Blogs You Should Read

I've mentioned some of these folks before, but it's worth mentioning again. COMO has a surprisingly high number of good bloggers. Of course, I mostly pay attention to the music blogs. Three blogs are so good that you should read them before you read this blog when in-search of the music 411.

Cool Dry Place
Although I don't consider this a blog in the truest sense (newspaper-affiliated), I do read Pete Bland's take on all things entertaining. In particular, Pete does an excellent job reporting the most ignored stories in the music scene here or the music insider's perspective. I don't always agree with his tastes, but I appreciate his insight and the use of an actual journalist degree in the blogosphere. Also, Pete does a nice job of keeping up with COMO TV tie-ins and films hitting the 'Tag that may have slipped under the radar. All that and he has the best collection of Western shirts this side of Kansas City.

A Ravenous Horde
I mentioned this blog in a recent post, but figured I give it more props here. Blogger Tina contacted me to let me know lim was now listed on her blogroll. Since that time, I've had a chance to check the blog out and am thoroughly impressed. It's everything I once wanted this blog to be but could never get together. There's a shit-ton of music info there, plus some nice coverage of the upcoming Citizen Jane film fest. It's all there. I just wish I had thought of it first.

Colossal Youth
From the ashes of the mid-MO rock blog Bathysphere, Colossal Youth has risen to provide us with more music geek porn to fill the void. The strengths of the Bath (rock show photography, underground rock immediacy, music-coverage-beyond-borders, etc.) are all here thanks to the efforts of former Bath-contributor Carrie. I'm glad she's carrying the flame as I need these kids to keep me young. In particular, check out the pics from Boomslang.

What are your favorite local blogs? What did I miss?

You scratched my back...

One of my regular reads is South Decola ("South Dakota's Snarkiest Political Blog"). I stumbled upon cartoonist Detroit Lewis' (aka Scott L. Ehrisman) political blog after he posted on a Daniel Johnston show I had also attended. Ever since, his blog has been a daily (sometimes hourly) read of mine.

Today, he gave me a shout-out. And for that I am grateful. So, you too should check out his blog. There's a ton of social and political commentary along with some cool art.

And the comoprozac family expands...

Blogroll, Links, and Networks

Over the last year and a half, I have received some great support on this blog from friends and random people I've found or who have found me on these here internets. Fellow bloggers have been very generous with their comments and periodical hyperlinks. I've felt a lot of blove (blog love) in Misery.

The reason I say all this is not to say that the blog is no more, rather it's just to call your attention to my blogrolls and links to the right. If you are a regular reader and I have somehow missed you, please don't take offense. If I put your blog in the wrong category, don't quit reading my blog.

Just let me know that you read this blog and want your blog mentioned in my blogroll.

Thanks.

I'm Still Alive

I'm sure some of you were wondering what happened to me the last couple of days. Well, I'm in Tampa Bay or St. Petersburg or something. Anyway, there's a gulf (of Mexico) just outside and I have some sun burn on the one spot on my arm where I missed with the sunscreen.

Anyway, I would write more, but I just thought I'd let you all know that I'm still alive and blogging.

Look for a new post possibly on music (The Kills or whatever arrives in the mail from Insound), our little vacation with the in-laws, or the NCAA tournament (of which I'm doing OK) Wednesday night or sometime Thursday. In the meantime, check some of the new blogs I've been reading like 95total, Doubletakes, Photo Basement, and What I Listened to on My Way to Work Today.

Later.

The Hipsters Have It

The hipsters have spoken. They want Obama, and Obama they shall have...

Well, actually, the last time I checked, Clinton and Obama were splitting delegates like Chuck Norris splits heads (when he's not stumping for Huckabee, that is). But, if anyone has the hipster vote, it's Obama.

Look at all the indie rockers backing the Senator from Illinois. Conor Oberst put on an impromptu concert in Iowa the night before Obama's caucus win. Win Butler writes in Obama cheers to Arcade Fire set lists between "Neighborhoods #1 and 3". M Ward has recently joined Oberst on the Obama campaign trail. People are reading Pitchfork for political updates instead of the Times.

Then, there's American Apparel. My friend, Kristen, tipped me off on the new AA ad on their homepage. Apparently, the ultra-hipster-outfitting, no-sweatshop-employing clothier has returned to its political roots and come out in support of Obama (and McCain) due to his take on immigration.

Go to any Obama rally or watch the stump speeches on CNN. You could play Hipster Bingo all night long. I always knew that hipsters were loaded with white guilt, but geesh. (Of course, this could be my problem. I would be the "over 30 hipster" on your bingo boards.)

Whatever it is, I still hope Barack can pull this thing out. Clinton may get the NASCAR dads and security moms, but Obama owns the white guilt hipsters. Now that's a demographic to contend with.

My Miserable Readership

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed that I've added a counter at the bottom of this page. (Of course, who would ever scroll down to the bottom of the page where there's just a huge version of my logo and now a counter.) The number (which was 26 at last sighting) represents how many new visitors have navigated to living in misery. It only ticks when a reader visits the first time. I've tested it out.

Like I mentioned before, my blog has had about 26 readers in the past 24 hours. One of those viewers is me. So, that really means that there are 25 of you out there that check in to see what it's like in Misery.

I am now going to attempt to identify those 25 readers (in no particular order) based on comments on previous posts, conversations in the real world, and a little thing I'm calling "blinstinct".

#1 - R, my partner, or at least I hope that she reads this. Of course, she has to hear all this crap as I try it out on her when she has real writing to get done.

#2 - My mom is a regular. What kind of mother would she be if she didn't read my blog?

#3 & 4- ATR and his partner, Monkey, have left COMO, but they like to keep up with the goings on in Misery.

#5 & 6 - JR and JER are new colleagues of R's and avid bloggers and their initials are very similar. (FYI-I'm not counting Vered. When she's walking, talking, and truly blogging, then she will be counted. Call it ageism. I don't care. I have to have standards.)

#7 - Raymond Cummings found my Pavement blog which eventually led him here. He's at least one actual journalist who reads my work.

#8 & 9 - Sven (formerly Mike C) and Lovey (formerly Karen) got me drunk over this whole blog thing. (Did I just give you two up?)

#10 - R's boss has made some comments as if she's read the blog. So, I'll count her.

#11- The Bathysphere's Zach somehow found me out and sent me his direction. I don't think that the two other guys at Bath read this blog, but Zach did recognize me at the Arcade Fire show the other night.

#12 - Filthy Renditions might get the award for furthest distance. He hails from Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

#13 - At least one person in the English department at MU reads my blog and tells all the others what I'm doing. Someone's always commenting on my blog at those get-togethers.

#14 - KR of post-december has left her COMO family only to frequent our blogs. That makes at least two readers from Pennsylvania. (Raymond Cummings is the other.)

#15 & 16 - Donna and Chuck (I don't know if they use online pseudonyms.) These are more colleagues of R's.

#17 & 18 - Illiac and Ashley visited our house a few weekends ago for lots of smoked stuff and sometimes visit my blog.

(This is getting difficult.)

#19 - Clyde Bentley of the Missourian has read my blog at least three times...I believe. There was the post where he discovered lim, the Paris Hilton post that made the paper, and the breakfast piece that also made the Weekender free paper thing. It must've been my elegance with the English language that impressed him enough to publish me on dead trees.

#20 - My sister reads this blog, I think. She's left me a couple of comments that had nothing to do with my posts. Why won't she just email or call?

#21 - The NSA has surely picked up on some of my more unpatriotic posts.

#22 - That one J-school grad student who told me that she hates bloggers at the Wilco show.

#23 - R's colleague, Elisa, reads this blog and worries that I'm going to off myself. (Don't worry. It's all an act. I just like the "misery" pun.)

#24 - I'll reserve this spot for the many, many people that I've told to read my blog either in person or on MySpace and actually have. Of course, there are probably more than the 25 on this list who have never bothered to type in "http://www.in-misery.blogspot.com" but said they would.

#25 - Some guy I don't even know has been reading my blog religiously since he discovered it last winter when he Googled a band name or forgot the space between "como" and "prozac". Either way, he's a valuable reader, and I don't want to lose him.

Now, if you like to read this blog and feel you've been wronged in any way by my neglect, leave a comment. I'll rectify the situation. Just don't stop reading. Please don't take it personally. It's hard for me to imagine that 25 people really like to read this here blog, especially after reading in the Times that most blogs have a readership of one to three.

I like that I have a readership. It motivates me to write because I know someone is checking her Google Reader or flipping through the blogs on his del.icio.us account in order to read what I've written. Thank you. Again, keep reading.

Note: While I was typing this and adding links, someone else has read my blog. That means I definitely skipped someone. Sorry.

#100

To commemorate my 100th post, I have decided to countdown the top five moments of living in misery history.

5. My First (Real) Comments - When I first started this blog, I thought that you posted some writing and people from all ends of the world wide web would somehow Google their way to your blog and leave amazing comments about what an insightful writer and modern-day Socrates you are. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, I got SPAM on my comments. I soon learned that you have to (1) set the security on your comments section, (2) read other people's blogs, (3) comment on those blogs, and (4) promote yourself endlessly. Eventually, bloggers and laypeople alike began posting their comments on this here blog, now 100 posts old.

4. Local Celebrity Status - One day in early June, I received this random email that included the following...

I ran across you on Flickr and then linked to your blog. I like what you are doing and hope you will share with the rest of us. We can list your blog under “local blogs” on our site and even take posts from it to feature in MyMissourian. Right now, I am looking for photographers willing to share their perspective on the Twilight Festival. No rules, just perspectives. Interested?

To make a long story short, I said that I was interested. Since then, the Missourian has run at least two posts and I've earned a mention in the Vox. I know that ain't much, but I'll take it.

3. Honorable Mentions - Thanks to all the networking and the blove (blog love), I have had some nice shout-outs from my fellow bloggers. The networking continues as a friend is planning on having me conference electronically with his college class to discuss blogging, web 2.0, and citizen journalism. I sometimes feel isolated here in Misery, but blogging has helped fill some of that void.

2. Spin-offs/Life-changing Effects - This one is odd. I recently started and ended a rather controversial blog about a local radio personality (and NPR in general) that ended in one friend being asked to leave and helping to create an untenable working environment. It certainly helped to change their lives and it affected me as well.

I've also begun other blogs with less-disastrous effects. My oeuvre blog dedicated to Pavement earned a mention on Fluxblog and is linked to several other oeuvre blogs. While it won't change any lives, it has given me a chance to write only about my favorite band in the world, Pavement.

1. 100 - #1 is lame, but I am kinda proud that I've made it this far. I've come a long way since my first post in August of last year and I plan to continue...as long as I can find time outside of my real job.

Shout Outs

It's time for a few shout outs. Awhile back, I mentioned a couple of blogs that liked my stuff and briefly name-checked a few others. Today, I'd like to share a few of the blogs I check out daily.

Bath, a local COMO music blog, has revealed itself to me recently. The Bathysphere consists of three contributors: Zach, Kiernan, and Ziman. These three indie-geeks-in-the-know post all the upcoming releases at local fav Slackers while also giving info on all the upcoming shows in KC, St. Louis, Lawrence, and COMO. I just finished filling out my Google calendar with key dates for Spoon, The Thermals (!), Low, and White Rabbits. This site will be a regular in my daily blog roll, that's for sure. (One reason COMO ain't so bad...)

My second shout out goes to ATR at Central Standard. He used to corrupt young minds here in COMO, but now he's doing the same in Lincoln, NE. Similarly to my situation, ATR was forced to leave due to his partner's annoying habit of wanting to further her career (just kidding). His blog is more of a daily journal style with some commentary and odd nicknames. My favorite part of his blog is a new feature with a link to what he's listening to right now. So, here's a shout-out to Central Standard. (There, now we're even.)

There seems to be a strong contingent of bloggers in town (or formerly of COMO, like ATR).

KR's post-december shares life after COMO in Phila (or is it Camden now?) as a grad student in the sciences. She found me, but I've been reading her posts ever since. Depressing, funny, and ironic all at once describe this blog to a T.

Mike C brings us Hardcore Blog Fisting Action which is arguably the best blog name ever. This blog is all over the place and can be somewhat shocking. What brings me back is that Mike C has been incredibly generous in sharing COMO insights and opinions on my blogs.

Bringing around the third piece of the COMO trifecta is CouponWhore by Karen. This blog is irreverent, funny, and the second best name for a blog. I think there's something going on with Mike C and Karen, but I'm not sure.

Just outside the trifecta is a local that's featured on MyMissourian.com's blogroll with lim. Driving Miss Boyer by Miss Boyer (of course) follows the blogger as she takes the bus from one end of COMO to the other. Her most recent posts showcase her new tattoo, inspiring me to get a third.

Sorry for the boring post all, but I've put my energies into work and my other blogs, Mr.E, Get Hellweged!, and I Can't Sing It Strong Enough. Coming soon: a point-by-point comparison of old home (Columbus, OH) and new home (COMO).

Author's Note: Get Hellweged! has been taken down.