Links & Labels And Such

Those of you who read these entries via feeds, please just bear with me here. There will be something for you, too.

Last year, I set up a series of labels on this blog to make it easier to find which posts were on which topics. All well and good, but as we've gone forward, it's become increasingly obvious that portions of the labeling system just weren't working the way I'd intended. This week, I took some steps to remedy that problem.

The following labels are unchanged in this transition : comic books, music, blogging, life. I don't think anything changed in those four categories.

The following labels have been discarded : cartoons, movies/TV, reading, special guest star. The first three simply didn't get a lot of use here, and sometimes fell into vague "I'm not sure" zones with other labels. As for "special guest star", my friends are no less special than when this was in place, but the original intent behind its creation fell by the wayside long ago. Its use was frequently a judgment call, and not one I care to continue making.

The following labels are new : captain satellite, return of jetman. Honestly, this is way overdue. I've discussed ROJ a lot here, and while it has been dormant recently, don't expect it to stay that way. The "Captain Satellite" project has been getting a lot of play lately, and while there isn't anything set in stone with those characters, I expect they will continue to have a role on this blog.

The following labels have been shuffled around : general nonsense, quotes, tokusatsu, works. It stands to reason that, with some new categories added and some old categories retired, there would be some that see changes. "Works" is mostly the same, except that it now excludes ROJ website updates that do not include written material by me and Captain Satellite material created by folks other than me. You can find that stuff in their respective categories. "Tokusatsu" now excludes all ROJ content unless it specifically discusses authentic Japanese material. However, this label now includes Japanese-related material like anime and non-SF Japanese productions. I realize this isn't technically correct, but it's my blog and I just don't feel like changing the name of the label! "Quotes" didn't lose any posts, but it gained a few that quote friends of mine that were originally filed under "special guest star". And "general nonsense"? It's still the "everything else" category, but that's defined a little more broadly than it used to be.

Hopefully, this new label system will work better for my needs, and enable people to find what they're looking for when they visit my blog.

In other blogging news, I've dropped the sidebar links other than my "Friends of OWARI" blogroll. It's not that I have anything against any of the sites formerly listed there. Rather, I'm trying to be more streamlined, and I seriously doubt those links got much use anyway. However, I still support all of those sites. In fact, here is a list of all of them for the record. All are still recommended!


Big Bang Comics : Fun retro comics. I hope they make a comeback someday.

Blue Öyster Cult : One of my favorite bands ever.

Dilbert : A comic strip I read because I genuinely enjoy it.

Generation Kikaida : Japanese superhero nostalgia from the great state of Hawaii.

Grand Comic Database : One of the best resources for comics fans. If you love comics, this should be one your bookmarks, pronto.

A profile & tribute to comics writer Bob Haney : Touching.

Hembeck.com : Cartoonist Fred Hembeck is super-talented, and a classy guy to boot.

Paper Heroes : Your source for a wide variety of hobby needs in Lake Charles, LA, and the surrounding area.

Super Sentai.net : The official site for the long-running Japanese superhero series.


Lest anyone think this was all about trimming down, I did add a new link to the blogroll. JR The Monsterboy has done work for me in the past, and I consider him one of the best artists I know. Check out his sketch blog (and also his pin-up blog, not linked here) and see what he's capable of doing strictly by hand. I think you'll be impressed.

That's all for housecleaning matters. Tune in Monday for the beginning of five consecutive days of entries covering the Captain Satellite characters!