NEW YORK PEOPLE and some website thoughts

[teaberryblue]

Who wants to go to a 7:30 showing of Harry Potter on the 16th (Thursday next week) with me and f4l? Times Square at the Regal.

I will walk over and buy tickets tomorrow.



Y'all know that I set up Antagonia.net to be my personal blog of blogtastic stuff, right? So yeah, there is that. But I also have Tumbling-After.net, which I haven't done anything with in a while. Tumbling-After is pretty much just being used as the home for Seas of Erin.

I had set up a Tumbling-After message board using VBulletin while back, intending for it to be a place to discuss writing and roleplaying and also to host roleplaying games-- it's where Bloomsdale was set up!

This is going to sound lame, but I didn't like the admin interface for VBulletin and that made me not really want to use it. Even though it is kind of awesomely customizable.

I tried last year to start a website to talk about books and writing and stuff but it kind of petered out. One of the problems, I think, was that everyone posted all their writings at once and then no one had anything else to post so it got dead.

Here is what I would like to do. I would like to use tumbling-after as a site to run reading/writing discussion but also roleplaying advice and resources for people who do freeform type games like I play in. I have some ideas about how to structure that...with articles, forms, and other resources...including things like blank sprite templates like the ones I use in games, character app forms, naming resources...all the kinds of stuff we used to have up on the Shiver site just for references.

I would also like to have a section for people who would like to work on their writing. This time, though, I think there will be a system, where you must comment on a certain number of people's writing pieces before you get to post one of your own. And then there will be scheduled days for doing that.

There could also be an art section.

I am also thinking about hosting one or two more roleplaying games. I don't think I would play in them, just host them, and I would take applications from people (predominantly people I know) to run games on my site. I am thinking by creating the sort of resource hub, it would help connect games to players and vice-versa.

What do people think? Is this something people would like to do or be interested in? If people have thoughts about how to run any parts of this, that would be great.

Comments

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

I would like to go to the movie!

I'm not good at keeping up with my writing, which I think was part of my problem--and that I just got distracted eventually. I'm bad at sustaining activities for the long term. But I'd give it another go.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Ok! I will get you a ticket!

And yeah, I was thinking that one of the problems was that there wasn't any time structure. I was thinking that if people knew they were posting one thing a month or something like that, it might work better to give people a goal to work to and it would also work for people like you who might only have something once in a while without pressure to post something new constantly. We will see!

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

I think also it was a bit difficult for me to post because I was writing in quite different forms and genres than most everyone else. It's tough to post stuff for critique when that's the case--feels awkward or burdensome, somehow.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

That is understandable. Maybe if I open it up to more people or have different genres in different rotations, something like that would help.

[rattsu.livejournal.com]

I would be interested. A lot. The thing is, that any site like this is gonna take time to start up. I think they say about a year before you even know if you have what the readers want. I have actually been pondering for a long time now if you would be interested in collaborating on a review site or something, because I'd love to have an excuse to write longer and more elaborate reviews of things, Lynettes are hilarious, and I love yours as well. Things like that draws people in as well I think...

But I'd love a place like this. That doesn't make my stomach cringe like some RP sites does, and that has lots of links to interesting stuffs. The writing site you started earlier suffered from two things. Like you said, all posted their old stuff at once, and all of us had busy lives so we didn't write new things often enough. I mean I write a lot now... but it's in swedish *grins*.

If you go through with this, I for one have lots of ideas for articles and stuff.

But... things like this is very much like pushing a big rock up a hill, you never know how far it is to the top when it will start rolling down on its own.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

With the RP stuff, I already have some experience in terms of what works and what I'd like to provide because of Shiver. It is more a question of getting it all up and organized, and I am not too worried about not knowing what it should be.

I wasn't even thinking about book/movie reviews! That would be cool as well. I think this might be a different type of site, more like a magazine. I will think about that.

[calicomask.livejournal.com]

Oo, a review site sounds awesome. If you go for some kind of collab thing like that, I'd love to do some comic or games reviews for it. I've thought about doing something like that on my own blog, but there's not much point as I keep it locked up.

[fannyanns.livejournal.com]

hi! I wish I could go to HP6 with you. sadly, I do not live in nyc anymore.... woe.

and, ah.... totally clueless re: the website stuff. sorry I can't be more help...

[justatailor.livejournal.com]

would you mind me tagging along to see Harry Potter? I keep forgetting it's coming out so soon and it's been a long time since I've gone with people that were hardcore fans.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Oh, feel free! Would you like me to buy your ticket or would you like to buy your own? I live a 5 minute walk from the theater so I usually buy in advance and don't have to pay a handling fee.

[justatailor.livejournal.com]

would you mind picking up one for me? lemme know how much it ends up being and I will come, cash in hand, lol.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Sure, no problem! I am excited, we will have a little posse!

[justatailor.livejournal.com]

fantastic! I was worried I was going to have to see this one alone.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

NEVER!

[blueboats.livejournal.com]

I would probably join some RP games, although I don't think I would like to run any. I miss Shiver/St. Dymphna's, and you should know that it was the best RPG I've been involved with to date!

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And cool! I will keep you posted!

[koshkabegemot.livejournal.com]

I can't believe the new HP movie is coming out next week. I need to call up my cousin & see when she wants to go see it wit me. :D

Also, I need your advice. Eating plain yogurt first thing in the morning is really really bitter and not good. I've tried chopping up some strawberries & mixing in cane sugar and whatnot, but it's just not cutting it for me. I need some yogurt suggestions along with where I can find them (Trader Joe's, other mainstream-ish health food shops -- Lakewood is kind of sucky when it comes to stuff like that, though I know there's a Whole Foods out by my birthmom & another one west of me somewhere).

There was some Greek one you posted about a few weeks ago, but I can't remember the name of it at all.

Re: your website -- sankuri and I have been tossing around the idea for about a month or so of starting up a new website a la the now-defunct Burning Dumpster where we could go and make fun of bad character bios (because I'm sure people on BRPS are tired of seeing them posted all the time, and some of them do deserve their own website). I'm not sure if that's something you'd want to include on the site, but I do know that sankuri and I would love to contribute if you did.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Oh I can totally do yogurt advice! I don't have a Trader Joe's and I go to the teeny non-chain health food store here but there are a few brands I have found at regular plain ol' grocery stores:

Fage. Fage is always plain yogurt but it comes with the mix-ins. It comes in whole milk, lowfat, and 0%.
Oikos is a Greek yogurt made by Stonyfield Farms, which is a regular grocery store brand and should be easier to get. It comes in a bunch of flavors.
Chobani is another Greek-style yogurt that I have seen in regular grocery stores from time to time. I know I got both Oikos and Chobani in the Shaw's, which is the regular big chain grocery store in New England, and they have Fage there, too.

My favorite favorite yogurt is Liberte Mediterranee, which I rarely, but sometimes, see in grocery stores. It is amazing.

I think most of the ones I listed above should be find-able and all come in plain or flavors. None of them are really icky sour, either, although I think the Oikos is a little more sour than the others.

As for the Burning Dumpster idea, I would TOTALLY do that. Right now I am looking at running the site on Drupal, so I could probably even set you guys up with your own section and mod privileges to keep an archive, post blog posts, whatever. I will keep you in the loop as I figure out exactly how I'm organizing the site.

[koshkabegemot.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the yogurt advice -- I'm probably going to finish the two tubs of plain yogurt that I have right now, but yeah, eating that stuff first thing in the morning with breakfast burns. Now that I think of it, I have seen Oikos at the Giant Eagle near me (large grocery food chain in OH). If it's not there, well, I'll check out Whole Foods or Trader Joes.

Please let me know if sankuri and I can have our own Burning Dumpster-esque blog! That would be really awesome.