Friday, July 20, 2007

Are You the Rabbit? I thought I'd present this update in point form. ~_^ Ticket Ordeal! Last week was a big headache for me. On Friday morning I made sure I was up in time to buy Marilyn Manson tickets (he's coming to Melbourne in October) and I wanted to make sure to get good seats. The thing is, my two sisters and one of their boyfriends is coming with me and we wanted to sit together. So it was necessary to buy all the tickets at once. But what an ordeal! The Ticketmaster site wasn't working properly (which cost valuable time) so I had to book by phone, but I didn't have enough money on my credit card to buy four tickets (although ironically I could have bought three...*sigh*) So luckily they held our place in the queue and we had to drive down there and buy the tickets with cash. Bleh. Manson is performing at Festival Hall, which is an odd choice. Melbourne is known for its many entertainment venues and Festival Hall isn't really one of the better ones. At one point I believe it actually burned down and has been re-built (a fact that is evident when you drive up to it and see it in the flesh). It's also in a really odd part of the city - sort of an industrial area with not much else going on. I suppose the good part is that the venue is relatively small compared to the bigger/newer places in the city. So the intimacy will be good. Jungle Beat As a bit of a random purchase, I recently bought DK Jungle Beat. I didn't buy it when it came out because it cost more than a regular game (due to the bongo controller) and I'd heard it was fairly short. But I picked it up for quite a bit less (it was a bargain actually) and I had a go last night - played it on the Wii. I have to say, this game is really brilliant. Funnily enough the whole idea behind it is kind of like a clue as to what Wii would eventually introduce. It can really get your pulse racing - it's surprising how tiring frequent drumming and clapping can get! All-in-all I'm very impressed though. DK Jungle Beat was designed by the same team as Super Mario Galaxy...and if Jungle Beat is even a slight indication, SMG will be amazing. DK Jungle beat is truly impressive; I'm amazed that controlling DK with a bongo drum is actually so intuitive and fun. Paypal Finally got Paypal up and running. I did a small test transfer and it went through (even though it took several days). So I'm about to put more money across soon. That'll be great for a variety of reasons - should make things a lot easier in terms of online development. Adam: Oh no, don't misunderstand me; I am not referring to blogs. I'm just talking about registered myOtaku users. Sorry for the confusion, haha. I think the blogging aspect is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If it's compelling, users will be drawn to it. If it's not, they won't. As it stands, myO's blog system definitely gets the job done but it's nowhere near what it could potentially be. It's a shame we had to scrap those really ambitious plans for the blogging system, but I do understand why it was necessary. It's just one of those things that hits the cutting room floor. SunfallE: Wow, I didn't even realize that you were a Moderator here too! Silly me. If they're hiring my staff here as well, I must be doing something right. ~_^ I can't even imagine how complex it must be to moderate myOtaku/theOtaku these days. I remember ages to when art submissions began, I had to moderate while Adam was away. Even then, there was like...50 submissions to moderate each day. It was crazy! Charlie Bin Drinkin': You bet your ass. I don't mess around! Crystia: It's cool, I really appreciate your input. I always like to know what people think and I'm always looking for new ideas as well...the only thing I don't like is the more unnecessary stuff (i.e. when people get into massive arguments about trivial issues). Funnily enough though I think a lot of people learned lessons out of some of those recent threads. The mood and atmosphere has dramatically improved lately, which is good. People are just getting back to having fun and contributing...as it should be! Sesshomarufan: Yeah you know, I don't use mySpace...but my siblings do. And I've sat with them and tried to get them to explain it. I still don't understand the attraction. Apart from the fact that there isn't a whole lot to do there (other than comment and upload pictures), the actual interface is kind of annoying. Still, I suppose it also proves that you don't need a fancy service to attract members. Quite often the simplest ideas are the best! And I agree - a million users will put an even bigger smile on our collective faces. ~_^ Aaryanna: Yeah I do think people underestimate the value of simplicity. When it comes to myOtaku, there isn't a whole lot I'd change - I'd probably just adjust the layout and make the site easier to use. But this doesn't imply that I'd want to add a whole ton of new features. I've had quite a few people over the years complain and tell me that myOtaku doesn't offer enough. But you know, our aim shouldn't be to copy whatever else is out there - people who want sophisticated blogging systems will find them and use them. That isn't the audience we're interested in, I don't think. I'd venture to say that a lot of the bloggers here are people who want something very simple and user friendly, without the need for a million options. So we'll see how it goes. I like to think that myOtaku's blogging system can evolve to the point where we have a really elegant backroom with a ridiculously simple updating system (even simpler than what we have now). I'm sure we'll get there.

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