A variety of things that probably only I care about

I have a lot of hobbies, from reading to board games to (listening to) loud music, and one of the things I love is to talk about the things I try out. I don’t know anyone with exactly the same weird mix of hobbies as me, but this blog works as a sort of meta-hobby, where I can review and discuss all of them. Of course, you probably don’t like exactly the same things as I do, either, but it’s easy to skip to the ones you do like when they’re on a webpage. (And if you want to focus only on certain ones, check out the category list at the bottom of this page.)

The term “cult of the new” is usually used in the board gaming community, but I think it applies to me in general. I’m in my mid-thirties, but don’t spend much time looking back on the music or movies I liked when I was young. Of course I have favorite artists, but I’m still always looking for new things. Sometimes that just means “new to me” instead of truly new, though: I split my time in too many directions to really be a completist, so I’m often catching up on things that are a few years old. My rule is that I will only review something if it is new to me since I began the blog, so I have no plans to start talking about my favorite movies from 2000 in order to fill space. (Of course, if I started a major re-watching project, I’d probably talk about it. This is a blog about my hobbies, after all. But it will always be about the things that are taking up my time now, and revisiting the past isn’t a priority for me.)

If I got many questions, these would be the FAQs:

• Yeah, I’m a tough grader. But I do like most things, even those B-s. I wouldn’t keep trying these things if I weren’t usually happy! You can get more details on my Grades page.
• This blog is my hobby, so you can generally assume that everything here was bought, borrowed, shared by a friend, or something else “normal”. If I am actually given something to review, I’ll make that clear in my article.
• However, feel free to let me know if you want me to review your work. But I don’t know if it’s worth your time to try. For the most part, I’ve lost track of the things people have asked me to review in the past, because this is my hobby, and I already have trouble finding time for all the things I’m willing to pay for. Besides, I doubt I can drive many sales your way. If you still want to ask, just remember that I won’t give it any breaks because it was free.

Finally, I publish everything under different categories to make them easy to sort. You can find direct links to each one on the right side of the page. However, there’s no simple widget to put the RSS links along with them, so here are the links if you want to subscribe to a single topic:

• Adventure Games
• Books
• Comics
• Games (Mostly board games)
• iPhone apps (though the games are put in both this and the “Games” category)
• Movies
• Music (All)
  • Just Country Music (but not the modern pop country)
  • Just Pop Music (but again, my tastes are usually out of the mainstream)
  • Just Rock Music (punk, experimental, and other loud stuff)

Or, of course, you can subscribe to the full blog.