My mind is quite scattered today. I spent my unusually long commute this morning (thanks, construction season) pondering Great Truths of Our Time, such as “Dunkin’ Donuts has better coffee than McDonald’s,” and “Those who ignore ‘yield’ signs are douchebags,” and since then I’ve encountered quite a bit of online conversation that has caused me to develop Deep Thoughts. First, some comments in Michelle’s blog got me thinking about my futile struggle with assigning grades in reviews, followed by an e-mail exchange that gave me a few new thoughts on yaoi (and wow, reading that old post, I’m struck with how much clearer a perspective I have on the subject now). Finally there came Lissa Pattillo’s post about Twitter which inspired some reflections on my own tweeting experience. In the end, however, here I am at lunchtime with no real direction to speak of. So I put it to you, dear readers (poll after the jump):
Please, save me from my own lack of focus while also answering the very important question: “Does this poll generating plugin really work?” Oh, the suspense is killing me!
jansong@livejournal says
April 22, 2009 at 12:27 pmLook at all of the even voting. :) I picked the Twitter one, because it might be most relevant to my life. :)
Melinda Beasi says
April 22, 2009 at 1:00 pmCould be I’ll end up talking about *all* of these things.
Ed Sizemore says
April 22, 2009 at 12:43 pmSo did I. I don’t Twitter and want someone to help me understand the phenomena better.
Melinda Beasi says
April 22, 2009 at 1:01 pmI was just saying to my mom above that I may end up talking about each of these things. I’ll keep in mind that both of you are interested in discussing Twitter, though. :) I think you both might get extra points added to your votes for voting *and* commenting. :D
Ed Sizemore says
April 22, 2009 at 1:43 pmI’d like to hear what you have to say on all three. But, IF I HAD to pick one, then Twitter is the first on my list :-) Sorry, to add to your writing stack.
Melinda Beasi says
April 22, 2009 at 1:56 pmI enjoy writing, or I wouldn’t maintain this blog! :)
jacicita says
April 22, 2009 at 1:13 pmi want to know why anyone would get coffee at dunkin donuts or mcdonalds in the first place. of course, i live in seattle. also, we don’t have dunkin donuts in washington. all of the franchises reverted to mom n pop donut places. which is kind of amazing when you think about it.
Melinda Beasi says
April 22, 2009 at 1:17 pmAh, because this is what is available on the drive that does not require putting oneself in a situation that requires making an impossible left turn after the fact. :) There is a Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters on the left side of the street, but I’d never, ever get out of there once I got in.
Deanna Gauthier says
April 22, 2009 at 3:23 pmRereading your other post on yaoi and the comments that follow it, I was surprised (well I guess not terribly surprised) to see Wild Adapter in the list of reccommendations. Whether this is fair or not, I do not like to see Wild Adapter put in the same category as Yaoi or BL because 1) In spite of the fact that yes, I end up rooting for Kubota and Tokito as a pair (which is enough to qualify it as BL, I suppose) I don’t see it as BL/Yaoi at all. But really I don’t give a frak if Kubota and Tokito ever get it on because the rest of their relationship and the rest of the story is waaay more fascinating and thought-provoking. 2) It is sooo much better than -any- series calling itself BL/Yaoi I have ever read (and I can now say I have read a LOT and can speak from a more informed perspective). 3) In my head I group Wild Adapter with Banana Fish. So I guess that would make it shojo? As much as Banana Fish is shojo anyway. eh.
hmm. Was that a bit ranty? If you have not read Wild Adapter yet, I am sending you my copies to read. Pronto.
Melinda Beasi says
April 23, 2009 at 9:15 amIt is true that I haven’ to read Wild Adapter, so I can’t necessarily agree or disagree, except I think I agree anyway. :D This brings up a question, though, of what makes something BL? I guess maybe just being published as such? People have recommended Antique Bakery too, and I wouldn’t consider that BL.
Also, rant all you want. :)
Michelle Smith says
April 22, 2009 at 5:03 pmI voted for your thoughts on yaoi because I’d like to see a follow-up now that you’ve read more of it and loved at least some. :)
Melinda Beasi says
April 23, 2009 at 9:15 amThis has gotten the most votes, so it’ll probably be the thing I talk about first, though I’m thinking now I’ll post on all of them over the next week or so. :D
Grace says
April 22, 2009 at 8:21 pmI’m interested in all topics! :)
I am pretty satsfied with my rating system, which corresponds pretty much to Ysabet’s “A=amazing, B=enjoyable, C=meh, D=ugh, F=Worst Thing Ever”, except that I use 1-5/5 instead of letter grades. Although my 3 is more “liked it fairly well” than “meh”. (And while I don’t use half points for fic, I do for books and manga, since I have them on librarything and it allows half points.)
Melinda Beasi says
April 23, 2009 at 9:16 amI’m glad, because I will probably end up writing about them all! :D
Yeah, I thought about your points system, and how that fits in. Somehow it works better for me, I think because I don’t associate it with academic grades.
Grace says
April 23, 2009 at 9:23 amYeah, as much as C is said to be average, it doesn’t *seem* like average. It seems bad. Numbers don’t have the same sort of baggage.
Melinda Beasi says
April 23, 2009 at 9:26 amYes, exactly. C feels like failure, or close to it.
gossymer says
April 22, 2009 at 10:48 pmI’ve had people try to explain twitter and utimately I just came to the decision that it just doesn’t click personally. However, that would be the thing I’d be most interested in after yaoi (there’s always the hope that someday, I’ll really *get* it)
But loudtwitter//twitter logs posted onto LJ? I WILL NEVER GET THAT. Uh, this might be something that always comes to mind in regards to Twitter >_>
But yes, yaoi. Always a sure thing :)
Melinda Beasi says
April 23, 2009 at 9:18 amI probably will post about both, so yay! :D I’m definitely looking forward to the Twitter one, because my experience there has been completely different than what I expected.
Heh, ga, I totally understand about the logs. I don’t necessarily *mind* them (I prefer the summary logs for a day over individual tweets being reproduces on LJ), but I’m not sure I understand the point.