Hello loyal readers. As it's been 12 days without a post from me (and nothing on the way!), I wanted to touch base with an update. During my latest post, regarding The Turning Point and Steel Magnolias casting trivia, I ran into a bit of a speed bump. You'll note that the screencaps for Point are sharp and clear while the ones for Magnolias vary in quality (and are less "moment specific" than is my usual approach.) The reason for this is that - quite suddenly - I can no longer access the site from which I draw 80% of my material! I have visited the site in question hundreds of times in the last few years and have been blessed to watch probably 40-50 "bucket list" movies that otherwise I didn't think would ever come my way. But now I cannot see a THING. And... I even registered and still cannot view anything. This is yet one more setback when it comes to deriving visuals and information for Poseidon's Underworld and is surely one of the last few nails in the coffin. I'm not saying the blog is finished yet, but the bells are tolling.
In August, this site will turn 15 years-old and, as I type, this is the 990th entry! I've been considering ending my tenure with the blog on either its 1000th post or on its 15th birthday. I recall when Barbara Walters decided to retire and leave The View, a show she helped create (and which jumped the shark about the time Meredith Viera departed way back when), she was asked on air, "Why?" Her response stuck with me ever since... She had a couple of nominal reasons, but the main one was, "I'm tired." Ha ha! I'm not tired of the movies or of TV or of the associations I get through this blog, but I am tired of the pressure to come up with topics and support visuals, all while trying to balance work and life. And when situations that make it harder and harder (like losing the use of my laptop and now this key website) come along, it only adds to the frustration.
I confess I'm a bit beaten up (down?) right this moment because two weekends ago, mechanics messed up my car and it completely shut down on me while driving 70 mph on a busy interstate during rush hour and led to a myriad of issues. And then this past weekend, I was walking furiously to get in shape for the summer and took a bad fall when my foot missed the path and hit the edge instead. (Today I can only hobble and one typing finger barely works!) So I don't want to let these challenges lead me to anything rash.
One thing I can say for certain is that as we head along from this point, I will not be attempting to meet any sort of quota. (I always wanted to put about 8 posts a month up, but it more often wound up being 4 or perhaps as many as 6.) The average to date for the life of the blog is 5.6 posts/month. I've watched as many blogs that inspired me have closed up shop entirely or dissipated in their output and I wanted to keep going, but after a time, it's just not feasible. And, let's face it... I've already covered the better part of every person and project who ever truly spoke to me as a viewer!
So, anyway, I cannot thank everyone enough for their kind words, comments, compliments and added information for all these years. And I will be putting posts up every so often! But I wanted to make all of you aware that the output is going to be less frequent from here on. I'll do my best, but I am freeing myself from the obligation to shoot for a certain number or frequency of musings. In the meantime, best wishes and love to you all! I'll be back asap.
15 comments:
so sorry you're not feeling well-i have ALWAYS enjoyed all your columns and do hope you won't stop entirely-BUT your health is most important-take good care of yourself and however little you write will still be a joy to read-God bless you!
Thank you for providing so much entertainment (and knowledge) over these many years!! Take care of you!!
Self Care, Poseidon! Thanks for all the fun and I'll continue to check in. Rest & Re-Set!
Hope you're better soon, sorry you're having a run of lousy luck.
Agree with jjh, taking care of yourself should be your primary concern.
Truly enjoy your posts--had no idea you had a quota--thought you posted after you watched/read!
Completely understandable posting as you feel inspired.
SO MUCH content out here, less is more these days and we have lots of wonderful previous posts to visit/revisit.
Cheers <3
Hey Poseidon, sometimes real life gets in the way! And it sounds like we're on the same path to hell trying to keep up. I took a tumble this winter letting my dogs out and completely screwed up my left knee. PT starts tomorrow!
Also, I hear you regarding sources drying up. I used to post my blogs to many places on FB film pages and FB accounted for half of my blog traffic. In the last year or two, every big FB movie page seems all about monetizing, so I'm no longer welcome. And FB itself sent a troll message saying I was being "slowed down" by them because I post too much.
And while I've been able to scan most of my own pics,sometimes I need to get one off FB images. Well, that too has been monetized and watermarked to death.
I too love posting (I try for two to three posts a month) but sometimes I wonder why I'm beating my head on the Internet wall. My 8th anniversary is coming up and I will have hit 1 million views, with 250 plus posts. And I too will be reconsidering what comes next.
I also have noticed that big name entertainment bloggers have slowed down or shut down shop. I am not stopping either, but need to come up with a new plan.
You were one of several bloggers who have inspired me to write a movie blog. Often times, if I see that you have already written about a movie I'm considering, I usually move on, because you have already covered it so thoroughly!
Write when you can, when you like, and we'll all still appreciate you!
Cheers, Rick
O mighty Poseidon! I am so sorry to hear about the injury and hope you get better quick. I am deeply grateful for all of the information on this site and the very hard work you have done over the years and years. Life changes and we change. This blog was my salvation 15 years ago when I was sitting at a desk with a lot of downtime, I found this portal, a camp of camp and it kept me entertained. I am so much busier now but never fail to get an adrenaline rush when I see a new post. The content and then the comments were always fascinating. So much trash and treasure. I look forward to any time you might get something up but in the meantime just know you created something really fun and really informative. Bless you for it.
You must take good care of yourself. Much as we enjoy your blog it's your own health, enjoyment and wellbeing that must come first.
Thanks for all the entertainment over the years.
Mark
get well. you have a great blog
well...I am one of the many who visits here regularly and would like to thank you for the work you have put on it...I really hope you reconsider and continue with it...I would suggest you that you post when you feel like it...and not allow it as something you NEED to do !!! ....there should be no pressure to post but instead keep it more as a hobby and put something on your page when and if you can !! :) Dennis
Do whatever's best for you.
Hi Poseidon!
Sorry to hear you're going through a rough patch and quite bereft that you are considering closing down shop completely!! I certainly understand the desire to pull back, especially with the (hopefully temporary) loss of a main source of information but as others have said I hope you chose to just post when inspiration strikes rather than feel that it's something you HAVE to do.
Whatever your decision thank you for all the wonderful and entertaining posts to this point. You hard work is most appreciated.
Hello friends! I cannot thank you enough for the various words of encouragement and positive remarks about this site. As you may know, I usually address each commenter personally, but I am going to forego that this time. I will say that, as much as I deeply appreciate those of you who comment frequently, it did my heart good to see some less-familiar folks who visit, but participate in the discussions/reactions only rarely, take the opportunity to leave word here. It means a lot. As it happens, work slowed down dramatically as Memorial Day weekend approaches and I was left with time to work on a post! And the next opportunity I get to do so again, I will. Love and many thanks to you all.
Poseidon, I'm sorry to hear how many setbacks you've been hit with all at one time! I hope things sort themselves out again soon.
Even without the "perfect sh!tstorm" you been dealing with, I can understand how years of regular, frequent blogging must eventually take a toll on your enthusiasm for doing it. And I can also understand the growing feeling of having already covered everything you wanted to write about.
But as much as I love this site and will miss it when you call it quits, you've got to blog only because *YOU* still get pleasure from doing it.
You've already given us an *incredible* body of work, with hundreds of fun posts that hold up to being revisited-- it's like an online version of one of those awesome movie books, like BAD MOVIES WE *LOVE*-- and I hope that when you do stop adding new posts, the site will stay up as long as it keeps getting traffic. (Assuming, of course, that it doesn't cost you anything to keep it online.)
One other thing: you didn't name the site in question, but you said you seem to have been mysteriously blocked from the place you'd been dependent on for the bulk of the material you cover, even though you'd registered with the site.
I wonder if it's possible that what you're using to access the site is the problem? I'm using an HP Chromebox that I bought in 2015, and it stopped getting supported and updated by Chrome years ago.
Which means that increasingly, there's things online that I *used* to be able to access easily that I can no longer do with this box-- like read old magazines posted on Internet Archive. (The items still pull up the window with the cover, but I can't make the pages turn.) And sometimes, forms that I have to fill out online suddenly don't display properly on my box. I mostly work around this by using my partner's computer and my work computer whenever I get shut out of something.
Also, the VIZIO "smart TV" we watch most of our viewing on got outdated pretty quickly-- we suddenly lost YouTube access and couldn't get a couple of newer apps that had become available since we bought it. We bought a ROKU box and not only solved the access problems we were having, but gained a huge amount of free programming to boot! (And if the box we got develops any problems or gets outdated, it's a fairly cheap, easy replacement.)
Hopefully, your access problems might be resolved by changing the way you access the site in question. That's got to be a HUGE frustration even if you aren't trying to come up with blogging material.
And let me again thank you, Poseidon, for all that you've given us on this site! You're a wonderful person! Love to all, and be safe and well, everyone!
Good luck resolving your site access problem--that sounds quite frustrating. Perhaps consulting online forums, YouTube, or Geek Squad could help...
hsc, I am still going to try to keep swinging with the blog, but posts will likely be fewer than we'd like. I have to confess, with almost 1000 posts, even I can't recall them all and sometimes go back and re-read one or two and chuckle at what's being covered. The site in question is ok.ru Not sure what happened. I cannot access it at work or at home on any browser. One minute I could instantly bring up anything and then the next it won't go further than search results (with varying degrees of visuals on screen, depending on which browser I'm on.) Mystifying. It was like an endless trove for me to find an exact moment in a movie and present it to you (often in high-def) and now... zippo. As I say, even AFTER I registered there! BTW, I recently bought a new Vizio smartTV and my YT also disappeared, but I was able to search within the apps on screen and restore it. (I just don't use it very much... only a casual fan of that site.)
Thank you, Christopher. I seem to attract technological distress. The other day, my ability to voice text on my phone also disappeared! LOL No microphone showing where it always was and I can NOT get it back. So bizarre. I dread automated "updates" now because stuff like this happens. (But I am resistant to change in general.) Take care.
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