Thursday, February 22, 2007

Belated Happy New Year & Happy 100,000 visitors!

Okay, this picture doesn't have much to do with this post except for the reference to holiday, but I just like looking at her.

In my apparently never-ending quest to drive people away from the blog, I haven't posted anything for a while. That was totally unintentional. I didn't have access to an online connection over the Christmas vacation, so the last time I posted something was before Christmas. Well, I had intended to post something after the new year, but I spent the first week or two of 2007 just getting caught up on the Requests Post. Then, after that, I was sick for a good part of January (well, not really a good part so much as a terrible part). And then at some point, it was getting easier not to come in. The more you have to catch up on, it seems the less you want to do it. So, here we are.

Hope everybody is having a better year so far than I am. And I didn't get a chance to before, but I wanted to commemorate the passing of the 100,000 mark on the blog! Thanks to all the great readers out there who have visited so often!! (Or maybe the 3 people who visited 33,333 times each) I think by the time of this writing, it's getting closer to 150,000, but amazingly those extra 50,000 visits don't make it any less impressive.

Frankly, I'm shocked that there were 1,000 visits, let alone 150,000, but grateful to everybody nonetheless. I had something special planned for the occasion and thought that I could finish it over the holiday, but it turned out to be such a massive project that I wasn't even able to put a dent in it. So, maybe it'll be ready for the 1 millionth visit (some time in 2011). Instead, as a meager offering until that one shows up, I thought I'd post a couple of new volumes of Orphaned Film Song compilations (see the posts below). Hope you enjoy them and that it kicks off the new year right!!

And here's to posting some great things in 2007!

You know, it does get a bit trickier to think of things to post with the Request Post and so many blogs out there posting great material. Just in the soundtrack link list alone there must be over 40 blogs! When I started this blog, there were maybe only 3 or 4 blogs sharing soundtracks, and now, there's been this amazing explosion. From a consumer's point of view, I love it; from a producer's point of view, I still love it, but it really narrows the number of things you can post.

But I don't much care as long as someone is sharing it. It only makes it a bit more challenging to post things that I get excited about that haven't already shown up somewhere else. Between other blogs and the Requests Post here, there must be literally 70 or more items that I was thinking of posting that have already been posted. That cuts down on about 3 months worth of blogging.

It's one of the reasons I don't post more lounge albums. So many blogs cover that area so well that they've posted most of the things I have that aren't as commercially available. Same holds true of other musical genres I occasionally feel like posting.

As I've mentioned before, one of the reasons I started the blog was that after a year of surfing great blogs, I kept waiting for someone to post certain kinds of music or compilations, but they still seemed to be missing from the blogosphere. You'd see blogs with great mixes, for example, but they were usually DJ-type mixes with more recent music or speciality compilations for Halloween or Christmas. I still didn't see themed compilations of the kinds you see here though (probably because most people still aren't that interested in them!). And I wish I had been more aware of A Taste of Vinyl (now Licorice Pizza) back then.......Or later on, PixelMutt, et al.

And for TV music, it would've been nice to have an XYZ CosmoBlog or Mondo Daddykin back then too. And there still don't seem to be any blogs that share things like cast albums (though it's probably for the same reasons that I don't get around to sharing more of those here!........among other reasons, they seem to go in and out of print like the tide - hard to know what's available.).

Or when it came to soundtracks, there seemed to be only a few like ScoreBaby Annex, Dust To Dust, or Lounge Tracks (which now, come to think of it, have all effectively stopped posting......I take that back - Lounge Tracks is back......Hooray! Well, when I originally wrote this, he wasn't back.) that were sharing a concentration of full albums. And except for Dust To Dust, they all started around the same time in May of 2006. That was around the time I started the blog, but didn't get the posts ready until the beginning of June. And there were precious few like the Score Blog that had been around much longer that were sharing individual tracks as well. Not to mention the occasional soundtrack that other blogs would post. Usually though, these were either more recent albums or ones that fit certain genres or composers. It always makes me wonder if there were a lot of them out there and I just didn't know about it, but it seems like they would've surfaced in people's link lists or on Blog or Google searches (though search results from those are still pretty iffy).

If there had been a lot of these types of blogs back then, I probably wouldn't have started this one. I would've been pretty satisfied enjoying all of their material. I still wonder what caused this explosion now though. I really wish it would've happened last year (well, 2005, that is) when I had more time to visit and download. I guess everybody felt the same way at the same time. We were all probably waiting!

Now, from a consumer's point of view, I'm in hog heaven. As a producer though, occasionally I do feel superfluous. But there is so much great music out there to post that I'll just have to think a little harder to come up with material.

And I'll probably post a few duplicates along the way. Following so many different blogs, I've always found it a little embarassing when I see people posting duplicates on blogs. It seems particularly bad when the blogger thinks that he/she's the first one who has ever posted it when you've already seen it on 2 or 3 other blogs. I think that's why I always try to avoid posting things that I've seen elsewhere. Nobody really needs me to post it for the umpteenth time. It's also a little embarassing when people request material that's available on 3 different blogs. Or especially embarassing when they request stuff that's already on this blog. That's when you know people haven't gone back far enough into the archives.

But, over time, I've come to realize that with so many different blogs out there (not to mention the sites, forums, and the other various venues), that it's just plain hard to follow what's out there. And there's enough material on this blog now that's it getting hard for people to keep track of what's here too (I still have a hard time thinking of it that way......it always feels like I've barely posted anything). So, I've really softened on the whole duplicates thing. People just don't have time to follow 90 or 100 blogs and look through all of their archives, so I think it's probably a good thing that people post duplicates. It gives people many chances to download something especially if the link or blog goes dead somewhere else. And it saves people the trouble of hunting around all over the place for things when they can get it in one spot. So, I think this year, I'll try to post more duplicates if I can. Still, it really goes against my instincts. After all, how many times can someone post the Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street soundtracks? Or the same Blaxploitation or James Bond scores? Or the soundtrack to Rambo or The Omen? But it's all good stuff, so why not, I guess? (I probably won't be posting those particular ones though, by the way. It's also probably why my blog's not the best. I end up avoiding some of the best material ever recorded just because it's already been posted. And I think it's safe to say people would rather have the Rambo or Shaft soundtracks, even if it's for the 4th time, over say, the soundtrack to Sylvia or Krakatoa, East of Java. Still, it's hard to change your ways.)

It's also why you see more comedies and dramas on the blog, I guess. Not only because they're among my favorites, but I guess if everybody was posting those, I would be posting all the stuff people post now like the action, horror and jazz scores. It ends up being the leftover blog, I suppose, but I still like it.

And with the Requests Post now, I really do feel fairly superfluous. When people can post things so much faster and easier than I can in great quantities, I do sometimes question my role as a blogger. That may be another reason why I haven't posted anything in a while. That compulsion to post something because it doesn't seem to be available anywhere has really diminished because if I wait long enough somebody somewhere will post it. That niche has really been filled and in spades (which is a good thing).

And when it takes twice as much effort on my part to post something as somebody else (transferring or ripping, tagging, zipping, burning onto a CD-RW, taking it to another computer, transferring it to another hard drive, uploading, writing, posting, etc.....I get exhausted just thinking about it), I do question sometimes why I bother. You can sort of see why posting something that somebody else posts in the meantime or has previously posted somewhere else is a little bit more frustrating for me than it would be for someone else. I occasionally think from the reactions I get when I talk about it that people forget why it would bother me a little bit more when that happens. There's probably a certain resistance on my part to go to all that trouble and then by the time I post it, five other people have already done it. In the past, I didn't really think about the effort involved much; it wasn't a big deal. I only started noticing it when that effort seemed to go to waste a lot more. How many times have I prepared to post something or dug it out of the archives only to find somebody already posted it by the time I got online again? Countless, at this point. But, even though it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not. It's really just more of an explanation for why I post a little less often, I suppose.

And I didn't get a chance to before, but I wanted to repost something that appeared on Telstar Ted's blog, the L.S. Bumblebee, in December. Ignore the parts that praise my blog (thank you again, Ted, for all the nice things you said! I was really blown away by it and really appreciate it more than you can know!!); I wanted to repost it to highlight what he said about the fine readers of this blog.................

====================================================

From Ted's blog, The L.S. Bumblebee:


'How to blog' (the rulebook!)

There are literally thousands of music/sharity blogs out there..
you can shoot and not miss for at least one download from 90% of the
blogs you meet..they all have something you could have or want..

Any type of music share blog appears to have been created...they are
all there, if you search hard enough...Porn music?...Blues?..old 45's..hell
even old 78's!!

Now!

This is why the blog world is a tough one to stamp your mark..as an
individual blog...as anyone can create a blog and share their recent CD
collection...simple but not very inspiring...

..It's not rocket science..

The trick is to get out of the 'in-crowd' and make it..abit special

So we come to the following blog..its rare a blog is so
interactive as to make it so different from the others..
but this is the shining example...

Uploads made from those that comment...and real
rare uploads at that...a blog based on Soundtracks aswell..

If ever a blog showed how to share music for the sheer
love of it...and thats the main aim?...this is the one

Hell one of their posts had circa 500 comments !!! I shit
you not!

All members/participants of it should be very proud

Listen! ..
You don't have to visit...but you'd be feckin' barmy not to...

youdonthavetovisit

Don't say you never knew!!!
TED BOW'S IN SHEER ADMIRATION !!!

===============================================

And back to me (nomwl1, or some fascimile thereof) ...................................

And you all should be very proud!! Ted was so right when he praised the amazing readers of this blog for their generosity and spirit of sharing (and like I said, just ignore the parts about the blog.....I wasn't trying to be self-serving). Not only do you have Ted's bow of sheer admiration, add mine too!!

And now that I think about it, when I directed people to go to Ted's blog some posts back, it was before I realized that he had written such nice things about the blog, just in case anybody thought that was the reason I did it!

Again, you should all pat yourselves on the back for helping to make the blog more fun and interactive with your magnamimous attitude and your enthusiastic interest and I just wanted to thank all of you again for visiting the blog more than I could have ever imagined. Have a wonderful 2007 and most importantly, enjoy!!



Comments:
When I discovered Score Baby had started posting soundtracks on his annex I was thrilled. Then discovered so many others through his list of links.
One was an early effort by Cosmo and his friend Slothy. I invented Isbum as a cousin of Slothy's who wanted nothing more than to share his music by giving it to special people who would appreciate it.

I told Score Baby aka Kris that if he didn't mind, I would place links to music of a simular vein in the comments of his posts. Sold it as an "easter egg" type thing that DVD's were dong at the time.
He loved it!

But Isbum had not found his Cosmo until I started reading your blog.

Your enthusiasm for film music and quirky sense of humor made me want to make a friend out of you.

I think Slothy would be proud...
if he only knew. ;)
 
Hi Isbum!

And you know the same goes for you too! Your enthusiasm for film music and this blog and your sense of humor gave us an instant connection. (I knew anyone who requested Fitzwilly and King Kong Lives had to be my friend!).

Your Easter Eggs are always a treat and you've added so much to so many blogs in the blogosphere (not the least of which mine). I kind of selfishly like to think of you as only frequenting this blog, but since I know that's not true, I just like to pretend. Who else would stick with this blog even though I haven't posted anything new since Christmas and be the first (and only so far) to comment on this post? Most people probably have ignored it since they don't realize anything's changed. Or all the people who have downloaded the files below this one didn't really have anything to comment about on this post. But you are a champ, Isbum! (Too faint of praise? Well, my thesaurus doesn't do justice to you, my friend!......and now that I've made everyone else reading this sick, I'll stop now. :)))
 
It's funny to read back to the original requests post where this all began.
Right off the bat we were posting comments at the very same time!
Ha haa ..nostalga for October 5 of last year. But it is like a diary of events and all the people who have passed through.
Some of it reads like a movie.

"When Mel Met Sallie"
Now playing at the MGM Grand Theater!
 
Hi Isbum!

It is weird to think how little time ago that was! It seems like a century. Well, a century of blurry-eyed comments. :))
 
The Dust IS back... just keeping a lower profile than before.
 
I'm glad to hear it!! :))
 
Belated congratulations on your milestone. Bravo. Keep up the good work and beware of trolls. My best to you. BTW I don't watch television just rented the DVD's of a show called 24. Great soundtrack. Do you know if this is commercially available. or have you seen it around the share blogs? Timbo
 
Hi Timbo!

So glad to hear from you again, my friend. Thanks for the kind words about the milestone!

I think there are a couple of different releases for 24, but I'll keep an eye out!

Again, so nice to have you drop by, buddy! :))
 
nomwl1, Always a pleasure to be here. Thanks so much for the link. Modern OST Crime Jazz at it's finest. Again congrats on the 100k hit. Keep it up. Timbo
 
Hi Timbo!

And my great pleasure to have you here! You're welcome for the link and thanks so much for the congrats, good buddy! :))
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?