Your famous blue Lateshift was torn at the shoulder...

23:59 / 18.08.07

That's very true, Stoats. Barbelith isn't, for me, the functionality, it's the content, and that's come from the cool people who post here. If the Barbexodus cometh I'll certainly be up for a move.

When people are saying Barbelith is dying I wonder if they could actually point to a specific thread or post that sums it up for them. I've got a feeling that some of it is down to certain fave-or-long-time-posters leaving.

I've just stopped making beans on toast, after getting the bread, beans and plate out, because I realised I wasn't hungry at all - I just tend to make it before bedtime. Course of habit?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

00:03 / 19.08.07

I've got an urge for a new ficsuit name too. Any ideas? I did quite like Bizarro Bad Touch a little while ago.

00:04 / 19.08.07

Sounds like a good habit to me, really...

...anyhoo, I'm going to bed now. If I stay awake much longer I'll HAVE to play Bioshock, and I'd rather discover its joys while at least vaguely sober.

(Got a promo of it... and seriously, it's EVERY BIT AS GOOD as everyone says. It's actually barely believable how good it is... imagine a three-way between The Shining, Titanic and City Of Lost Children... and then imagine it as a fucking first-person shooter... it's one of those games that they actually INVENTED GAMES FOR. THAT good. SRSLY).

Anyway, goodnight all...

00:08 / 19.08.07

Lack of activity across huge swathes of the board. Head Shop, Lab, Switchboard? Deserted. AF&D? Dead for a long time. G&G? Pointless.

It's not just about people leaving - for me, it's not about that at all.

00:16 / 19.08.07

Sorry, I think I killed the thread with a drive-by.

But also, I'd imagine that the Barbelith experince is significantly different if you're a regular to Late Shift threads. It's just that I kind of wish that the sheer amount of activity in these could be spread across the rest if the board sometimes.

00:17 / 19.08.07

Hey, Randy.

Haven't the more analytical parts of the board always been slower, though? I know AF&D has been incredibly slow-going since when I joined back in, what, 2004? Different forums have their own pace.

Your value judgement of G&G is warranted, though, hence why I'm working on two threads for that forum now.

I don't want to derail the Lateshift (if that's possible), or drag commentary from an existing thread in Policy, but my two-penneth is that, perhaps, Barbelith has shifted focus from political/social commentary (Head Shop/Lab/Switchboard) to entertainment. Perhaps it's always been weighted that way and now Charlie, the gold and the coach have finally toppled over the cliff.

00:25 / 19.08.07

But, I'll just add before I forget; when it comes to G&G less activity is to be expected. Buy a comic, two quid, 10 minutes to read and, if it's decent, a fair bit to chew on on it's own and it adds to a larger narrative.

Games cost a fair whack new and still £10+ if you're buying them second hand. Then you have to find the hours to play them. Whereas you can post about each episode of an anime series or comic, keeping the activity of the forum up, how does that work for games? Do you post about each level? What about open-ended games like Animal Crossing or The Sims? A slower tack in G&G is natural, I think. The quality of the posting that does go on, though, is a bit poor (I'm not exactly innocent here).

00:27 / 19.08.07

Oh, AF&D's always been a crawl, I agree. But the others - I dunoo, it might just be me misremembering this, but I'm positive that HS and Switchboard were full of activity for a good few years. Lab less so.

Yeah, the focus definitely shifted. And that doesn't have to be a bad thing, of course, but... Arg, it's difficult to say this without sounding like a complete cock, but I'm not convinced that even the really active areas are as interesting as they were.

More likely, though, it's just that my interests in those areas don't currently match up with those of the majority of other people in the way that they once did. That's why it's a difficult one to call - it could simply be something as personal as that. FTV&T holds my attention purely for the anime threads, if I'm being totally honest about it.

00:32 / 19.08.07

With G&G specifically - Christ, I'm going to sound like a stuck record here - I'd like to think that the relative lack of activity is down to people still not really knowing *how* to talk about games, rather than not being interested or bothered enough to do it.

Which'd be weird if true, because I'm not sure I understand why anybody who has no trouble getting involved in an interesting and entertaining discussion about film, say, should find it that much more difficult to do the same where videogames are concerned.

01:19 / 19.08.07

You know, it might be worth posting, as someone who's paid to talk games, a primer thread to G&G about how to gab about videogames. I'd certainly be interested by that from someone with games mag experience.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

01:28 / 19.08.07

In fact, what do you, Randy (or anyone) come here to talk about? Personally, I'm here to chat bollocks about comics and telly and for the sense of random community I feel from the convo.

02:12 / 19.08.07

I've got stacks of old bagless comics on floors in various rooms around the house -- lots of various and "valueless" stuff, which are fun to read but not "eternal greats" like the Ostrander/Close Wasteland books, Delano Animal Man, tons of stacks of old sub-par superhero stuff.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

02:14 / 19.08.07

I just replied to something from Page One, I think. Tired.

01:06 / 20.08.07

It's still nice-looking outside but it's getting on the hours. I'm finished dinner and contemplating dessert. I wrote a blog entry I like and I'm in the middle of that rewrite now. Any other Barbenauts braving the deep, watery trenches of the lateshift?

01:13 / 20.08.07

It's past 3 a.m over here, and I'm not sure I can sleep, I've just had the ever-loving shit scared out of me by Serial Experiments: Lain.

01:18 / 20.08.07

Scary movies? Aw. What's it about?

01:25 / 20.08.07

It's an anime series about virtual reality and such, creepy as all fuck normally, but episode 8 had a guest appearence by a major phobi of mine. Stil freaking out majorly, just woke my fiance up with a calm down phone-call, sat on the chair, with a duvet wrapped around me.

My last posts in the thread in FTV&T pretty much sum it up.

01:25 / 20.08.07

Not quite making sense yet am I?

01:34 / 20.08.07

Is everyone else OK?

01:36 / 20.08.07

I'm fine. About to get some ice cream. Feel a bit better yet?

01:37 / 20.08.07

Calming down. Feeling better. Yes.

OOOOH, Ice Cream, what kind?

OOOOOOHHHHH I have lemon sorbet in the freezer!

01:38 / 20.08.07

You should have some. I'm eating Neopolitan.

01:39 / 20.08.07

And now I'm wondering if it's time that *I* change my ficsuit name.

01:40 / 20.08.07

You're falling behind, everyone else changed their's yesterday.

01:45 / 20.08.07

I know, I know.

01:47 / 20.08.07

Are you thinking about sticking with the papers "legacy"? Or going rogue and being all brand-new and sparkly?

01:48 / 20.08.07

Probably keep some Papers in there.

I was thinking "Papers & the world of tomorrow," but you never know how a name that long will look when you post.

01:52 / 20.08.07

If you don't love it enough to risk everything, then it isn't the name for you.

01:54 / 20.08.07

I'll probably just stick with plain old "Papers" for now.

Have you gotten your sorbet?

01:58 / 20.08.07

No. I decided against it. It is downstairs, there may be aliens down there.

Which does mean that I'll have plenty for when I get home from work tomorrow, so it isn't all that bad.

02:01 / 20.08.07

Oh god, I'm supposed to be an adult.

02:06 / 20.08.07

I was in a similar state after watching Lost Highway, if it makes you feel better.

02:07 / 20.08.07

Hmm, I could watch that tomorrow...