Thursday, May 27, 2010

A Blog-Year in Review

This marks both the 600th post and two-year anniversary of Jhaeman's Detritus, so I thought I'd have a little bit of fun and try a new design. Looking back over previous posts, it's clear that this blog definitely fulfills its intended function: to clear out all the random junk that would otherwise accumulate in my brain's crowded attic. It's all here, in completely unrelated glory: French novels, comic books, law review articles, role-playing games, Buffy, football, Torchwood, Worth Literary Press, and more! Focussing on just one thing would probably increase my readership, but then I'd be in the impossible position of deciding what that one thing should be . . .

If you do like the blog, help a guy out! Link to it on your own site, become a Follower, post comments (think of Tinkerbell needing applause to keep flying), and buy stuff from the Amazon links on the left (I'll get a chunk of whatever money you spend, which I will then turn around and blow on books from Amazon, which I will then review later in the blog--a vicious cycle!).

On the topic of support, here's some of the sites I read everyday that you might really like:

Siskoid's Blog of Geekery This guy is amazingly dedicated, having blogged every single day without fail for a few years now. His mainstay is posts on Star Trek, and he's well on his way to having reviewed every single episode of every single iteration, along with all the comic books and many of the novels. He also talks about some of the other things I talk about here, such as Doctor Who, role-playing games, and the Marvel Universe. He's also bilingual, in a non-show offy way. If I ever become fluent in French, I will be very annoying and show-offy.

HeroPress This is a middle-aged guy living in (from what I can tell) a small English town. He posts a lot of about comics, role-playing, genre t.v., etc., but my favorite is his "The Week in Geek" posts which are a terse summary of all the cool news I would probably otherwise miss . . .

ESPN's AFC North Blog Written by sports correspondent James Walker, this is updated quite frequently and actually has a lot more Browns posts than any of the actual Browns blogs I've found . . .

The Volokh Conspiracy and Concurring Opinions are great general law and politics blogs, frequently updated but American focussed. For my subfield, law and religion, Howard Friedman runs the amazing Religion Clause blog--I have no idea how he manages to post so much every day.

Finally, there's Grognardia--this guy is very traditional when it comes to D&D and other role-playing games, and is one of the movers behind the "Old School Renaissance." He also writes about classic pulp fiction.

Well, I think that's it for now--posting will be a bit spotty here for the next two weeks, as I've trying to finish up a dissertation chapter before heading off to London.

3 comments:

Bal said...

I love the new look. Might just be a look but it really adds to the page and gives it a more "finished" feel...

The Wife said...

I like the layout - agree with Nebraska Steve (Hi Nebraska Steve - hope to meet you someday!)that it looks more polished. However, I don't like the graphic at the top. I think it's too overdone - too teen-age sci-fi twee for me....

Siskoid said...

Just noticed the link back. Thanks!

I've got little to show off about. My second language is English. Everybody speaks that. Hardly an achievement ;).