6 Blogs & 1 Podcast You Should Follow If You Enjoy My Content
As I continue to grow this blog, it’s clear that it wants to focus on the stories I read and the authors I interact with, which is interesting because it was never originally intended to be just about writing. Sure, I wanted to share some of the stuff I wrote, but that would require that I actually write and publish work and we all know how difficult actually doing things is! This blog was also supposed to be a place to share my opinions on the various media I consumed and, in rare instances, keep people up to date with what’s going on in my life. Like Facebook, only without family drama. Like Twitter, only without getting banned for having an anti-nazi banner as a header. Yes, that’s a thing that actually happened to someone I knew.
Of course, I haven’t been using it for that purpose much lately. Part of this is just plain lack of time. Time to enjoy things, time to reflect on them, time to write about them. That may be changing soon.
In the meantime, I’ve been networking a bit. I tripped, fell, and landed into a den of some pretty cool people, one or two of which I don’t absolutely hate! From there, I’ve been seeing how they do their blogs, enjoying the sort of content they share, and generally getting an idea of what does and doesn’t grab attention and views. I figured I’d share 6 of those blogs. There’s also a podcast I’ve been following as it sporadically updates and it just keeps getting better and better; I figured I’d share it here too.
In no particular order:
I’d consider Leth (as he’s known online) to be a good friend, even if I know little about him. I asked him if he was Scottish or Irish, and he replied Scottish, but I’m not sure so I’m just gonna call him British and that way I’ll know I’m pissing him off. He’s just a few years younger than I am, married, works in quality control in the IT field, pretty respectable guy. And then you see the sort of crazy people he surrounds himself with and you realize too late oh no he’s a god damned serial killer.
His blog runs the gamut of the things he is interested in. From his weird obsession with Sword Art Online (the anime with all the incest and the overpowered Gary Stu main character) to weird musical groups no one cares about because they aren’t pop, Leth does a great job of sharing what makes the things he enjoys tick in a hope that maybe you, the reader, will enjoy them too. His style is straightforward and educational and I appreciate that.
Nana is one of Leth’s friends, but instead of living in the country of Scotland Nana lives in the country of London. His big thing is that he doesn’t just enjoy games and Japanese cartoons, he actually develops games from time to time. He created a game called Ball Chaser which is surprisingly a lot less lewd than it sounds. Nana also enjoys anime and has opinions on that as well, which seems to be a running theme of a lot of the people I’m talking with these days. Don’t ask me what the hell is going on with that RedBubble store, I’m only one man.
Don’t ask me why this kid chose the nickname he did. It’s not just offensive, it’s misleading. I’m reasonably sure he’s a virgin. I don’t hate him, though, honest. I’m just disappointed. That’s all. F-Boi posts a lot of opinion pieces. Some of them are benign like “These are my favorite Youtubers.” Some of them are much more questionable, like “These are my favorite ships.” He means “this are the two fictional characters I pair together even though they aren’t canon and sometimes aren’t even in the same franchise,” by the way. I appreciate he’s willing to try new topics that others might feel taboo or unusual, and while I don’t always agree with him there’s always a good conversation to be had there.
A Piece of Anime is the personal blog of Skyler “Videogamep” Allen, who was a former features writer for the streaming service CrunchyRoll. These days, when he’s not busy studying law, he’s writing pieces on Japanese cartoons because of course he is. He’s done some really solid editorial pieces, exploring things like Attack On Titan’s Troubled Relationship With the Holocaust. He’s been blogging for over four years now, and has a lot of solid material to read as a result.
This is an Atelier franchise fan blog that has spun off into personal pieces written by its author, who identifies only as “Al” or “Alice.” Her writing style is pleasant and positive, and the reader of the blog can expect anything here to be generally uplifting and knowledgeable. The blog has only been going for a few months but it’s going strong, and definitely worth a read, especially if you’re a fan of the newly release Atelier Ryza game.
If there’s two things we all can agree are trash, it’s the Moe genre of Japanese Cartoons and the Gamer subculture. Pete Davison has done an amazing job of combining the two into a website I’d hardly call wholesome or family friendly, yet one I’d definitely call entertaining. Pete is absolutely prolific, and covers everything from his favorite anime & manga to retro reviews and playthroughs of Atari games to long-winded think pieces on naked girls in videos games. I will never be as good as Pete and frankly that’s disappointing.
Jon Spencer is a guy. He reviews stuff. No, seriously, that’s his thing. You’d never guess this from the title. He’s been blogging for almost 5 years now, and especially over the last year has focused on his “Creator Showcase” which hopefully I can start participating in soon. Jon is an enigma, but his opinions on things like board games and films are not. Jon Spencer is probably the alias of a dark god luring its prey into a sense of a false security.
Bonus Podcast! Violet Wanderers
I can’t help but catch every one of these damn podcasts because the hosts are so engaging. The premise is that you have two individuals, Alexis and Ian, and each episode they have a guest (or two), a theme related to the guest, and some shenanigans that ensue. Along the way, the listener won’t just be entertained, they’ll probably learn a thing. The chemistry between the couple is rock solid, and even on the rare instances where things didn’t go as planned it felt like that chaos was part of the experience. They’ve just done their 62nd podcast; I’m concerned about what they have 7 podcasts from now. It’s probably going to be inappropriate.
One Comment
Leth
I appreciate the shoutout my dude!