Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: I absolutely hate the Boston Bruins. . .

I absolutely hate the Boston Bruins. . .

Yeah, they beat us 4-2 last night, though the Habs played better than anyone thought until the midway point of the third period.

But as much as I despise that hockey team, this commercial cracks me up!:-)

19 commentaires:

Aidan Moher said...: It must suck being a Habs fan.

How's 'Jim' Carey Price holding up for you? Hopefully his golf game's better than his goaltending.

~Aidan; 3:36 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Ooh, I think I just heard something.....

Vos 2009 Champions de Stanley Cup, les Bruins Bostonien!; 4:30 PM
Anonymous said...: @Pat: Would you say that you "Habs"-solutely hate the bruins?; 5:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Less Youtube videos, giweaways, quotes of the day, NYTimes bestsellers and other similar uninteresting crap. More book reviews, thank you!; 8:14 PM
Aidan Moher said...: Anonymous,

There are many other great blogs that aren't bogged down by Pat's eccentricities and chock full of great interviews/reviews/articles/news/etc....

You should check some of them out.

~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink; 8:16 PM
The Amazing Buttcrack said...: Anonymous: More reviews? The guy comes up with an average of a review a week. This gig is a hobby, you know. Pat has a life, a job, a family, etc. He's running the most popular SFF book-reviewing blog out there, so I'm surprised he even has that much to read as many novels as he does. Christ, he reads more than me...

Aiden: Eccentricities!?! Now sue the guy for having a personality! No disrespect to most bloggers out there, but a majority of SFF blogs feel so "artificial." Pat keeps things lively and informative. He's someone I'd gladly sit down and have a few beers with!; 11:04 PM
Aidan Moher said...: The Amazing Buttcrack,

That's cool. Do you read my blog?

~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink; 12:47 AM
The Amazing Buttcrack said...: Aidan: Yeah, I do, from time to time. I make it a point to go through Pat's blogroll every once in a while.

And if you say that his blog is bogged down by eccentricities, I would say that yours is bogged down by a lot of pointless discussions and exploration of topics that hold little appeal to most casual readers. Stuff like urban fantasy vs epic fantasy, etc.

Of all the SFF bloggers, I think you might be the one who reviews the least amount of books (could be wrong, so no offense). Pat tends to have the most user's friendly and interesting content. He probably has the best connections out there, so when you hear the news here you know it's the real dope. Most posts or articles are SFF related, be them NYT bestsellers, book covers, etc.

As for the rest, musical interludes, quotes of the day, and the occasional joke, they're too few to "bog down" this site and that's cool with me.

I've been reading the blog for more than 3 years now and I don't have anything to really complain about. I think Pat tried to keep things fun and interesting and in my book he does a very good job.

That's my two cents.; 10:55 AM
Aidan Moher said...: You're not wrong when you say that my reviews are few and far between. I think, in the end, you and I simply look for different things from SFF blogs, and there ain't nothin' wrong with that!

Thanks for the feedback.

~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink; 11:34 AM
Anonymous said...: Aidan,

I'm kind of wondering what's so different about your own blog. You say that Pat's is bogged down by his eccentricities. But the absence of book reviews on yours only means that it's more or less made of of filler material like book covers and related SFF news (very much like Pat does), as well as links to posts on other blogs (Shawn said this, John came up with that, etc).

Jimmy; 1:11 PM
Aidan Moher said...: Jimmy,

I don't really think this is the place for me to try and define the differences between my blog and Pat's. We both do our thing, I try to keep my content fantasy-related and Pat's okay with stepping outside the box. Where Pat fills his blog with giveaways and NYT Bestsellers lists, I fill mine with news relevant to the industry and whatever I find interesting. We both pull in a fair number of visitors each day, so there's obviously some worth in both.

In my opinion, Pat creates very little content of his own. The front page of this blog consists of one review, some hockey posts, a youtube video, some giveaways, an excerpt and a small smattering of news. Only one of those items was actually created by Pat. On the front page of my blog, at the moment, I have a few cover art posts, a few news bits from other sites, a link to a free Hugo-nominated audiobook but also an interview, an article and a review, all written or conducted by myself. For me, quantity does not equal quality when it comes to blogs.

No, I don't post a lot of reviews. But that's simply because, to me, I don't read blogs solely for reviews. I think an example of a blog that successfully represents what I want is Speculative Horizons. James doesn't write a lot of reviews, doesn't conduct a ton of interviews, in fact his ratio of original content to news is similar to mine, but each of his posts crackles with personality and wit. If I'm going to get news, and perspective on a matter in the SFF world, I usually like it to come from James, whether I agree with him or not.

Pat, and his eccentricities, has a lot of fans and staunch defenders. But just because I'm not necessarily among their numbers, doesn't mean I'm trying to undermine Pat or his blog. I post comments, meaning I obviously still follow the blog and enjoy the commentary, regardless of how I feel it differs from mine.

In the end, I think my point is that there's room for all sorts of blogs out there. Some keep it more formal (like Larry), some are off the cuff (like Pat), some are places for opinion on the industry (like James's). I'm certainly not trying to pit my blog against Pat's in a cage fight (I'd get creamed, afterall!)

I think it's important for us bloggers to constantly consider our blogs and what makes them special, so thanks for bringing this up. Also, I hope I was able to answer your question.

~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink; 3:23 PM
Anonymous said...: Aidan,

Don't feel like you need to get defensive. You are among friends, after all. I do like your blog, as I like many others on the WWW.

But since you post content pretty similar to what Pat does, I was curious.

Yes, as Pat mentioned quite a few times if memory serves me right, there are many blogs out there and there's something for everyone.

Jimmy; 5:02 PM
Aidan Moher said...: Jimmy,

No worries. I wasn't trying to sound defensive, more just rambling out loud after your comment got me thinking. It's so hard to convey tone on the Internet!

Bugger.

Like I said, I hope I was able to answer your question. It's always nice to hear from the readers, as we bloggers can be a rather secular circle jerk sometimes.

~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink; 6:23 PM
Aidan Moher said...: How was the game tonight, Pat? I missed it.

;)

~Aidan; 11:39 PM
Dream Girlzzz said...: "In my opinion, Pat creates very little content of his own. The front page of this blog consists of one review, some hockey posts, a youtube video, some giveaways, an excerpt and a small smattering of news. Only one of those items was actually created by Pat. On the front page of my blog, at the moment, I have a few cover art posts, a few news bits from other sites, a link to a free Hugo-nominated audiobook but also an interview, an article and a review, all written or conducted by myself. For me, quantity does not equal quality when it comes to blogs."

Aidan, I don't mean to sound pissant or anything. But how does what you term content so different from what Pat is posting? Minus the musical bits and the hockey stuff, mind you.

You're just posting links for the most part, so how is that stuff "written or conducted by myself?" To be frank, that's a bit of a stretch. Just so you know, I like your blog and I check it out a couple of times a week. But it does sound a little strange when you are guilty of the same accusations you level against Pat. Shouldn't you practice what you preach? Just saying. . .

You have five book reviews so far in 2009. Add to that two interviews. The rest is made up of various news bits and links to other sites.

By the way, loved that commercial! But fuck the Bruins!!!; 9:18 PM
Aidan Moher said...: DG,

Sorry, I should have been more clear. In terms of content written by myself, I was referring to the reviews, interviews and articles. Not the rest of it. Also, I was mostly comparing the front pages of the two blogs – but perhaps it would have behooved me to look at a longer period of time, as you did.

Also, just for the record, my intention was never to turn this into a debate comparing my blog to Pat's, but rather to point out that there are tons of other blogs out there that people should check out, instead of berating Pat through anonymous messages.

Thanks for the support. I hope you continue to come by the blog!

~Aidan
A Dribble of InkP.S. Go Canucks, Go!; 12:30 AM
Mulluane said...: I am going to weigh in on this one but not to take sides. I want to explain a few blogging facts for those of you who do not blog.

Now I have 2 blogs. On blog one I do nothing but reviews. The only fluff I have is on the sidebars which almost nobody ever sees because they subscribe in readers. The ONLY reason why this works for me is that I am a voracious reader with no life. I can (barely) put out reviews fast enough to keep my readers interested.

On blog 2 I have fluff, link round ups, giveaway lists, author fan info, the rare single review, this and that. The key here is that I needed a place to do reviews that fell outside the realm of blog one. Those reviews are very very rare.

Fact of the matter is, you need fluff to keep readers on a typical book review blog. If I only did one review a month on blog 2, nobody would ever read it. So I must find something to keep you moderately entertained between the odd rare review.

Even the blogging "experts" suggest that this is how it must be. If you post once a month, nobody will pay attention and will easily forget you ever existed. If the experts had their way, you'd post something, anything, every day just to keep yourself on the reader's radar.

So next time you see fluff, keep in mind that it served its purpose, you came, you read, you may have been disappointed but the blog is still "in your face" so the post did its job and likely you'll be back for the content you really want to see.; 11:55 AM
Aidan Moher said...: Thanks for the more level-headed response, Mull.

~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink; 2:42 PM