A Year Under the Bulb: Our Upgrade Plans
News
The first official year of Somnolescent has had me figuring out little webmaster things I'd previously had no experience with. So far, it's been really good, no doubt helped by our excellent hosting and a little bit of common sense on the part of all the Somnolians.
Nevertheless, we're really only just getting started here. As the world continues to churn around our collective, I've a few major upgrades I'd like to perform on our internal and external server infrastructure going forward. I'll explain more under the cut.
A Year Under the Bulb: Origins
mariteaux
In all the chaos surrounding Somnolescent, lurkers, and people peeking in at our operation, I realized I've never fully told the story of Somnolescent leading up to its formal inception on this day last year. Believe it or not, the name Somnolescent stretches a long, long way back, all the way back to 2011 or so, and it's been a tale of abuse, betrayals, and triumphs ever since. I kinda wish I was joking.
Should I be sharing some of this? Who knows, but I'll do it anyway. If you'll allow me a few paragraphs to ramble, I present the official, messy, canon history of Somnolescent as it well and truly happened.
A Year Under the Bulb: An Ode to DreamHost
mariteaux
As you might be aware, when Somnolescent first got a web presence, it did so under a little site called Neocities. (No link, doesn't deserve it.) As casual web hosting, it's...fine. It's hard to get excited about its lack of features, its style-over-substance presentation, how broken it really is, the abysmal Supporter's plan, and especially its community, but for just getting a website online, it's okay.
For our needs, Neocities wasn't about to satisfy. We needed something sturdier, something with a better featureset, better support, and people who give a shit at the helm. The search didn't last long, and the choice for us was pretty clear: only DreamHost would do. And we love it.
Over the past year, we've had nothing but good things to say about DreamHost. It's been able to support nearly every little venture and idea we've had so far, and we've had many. Frankly, for what we get, it makes Supporter's look like a ripoff. Come, as I rave about getting far more than you pay for.
11/30 - Inspiration (or Self-Defeat)
Recaps
It's been slower around here leading up to the holidays, but still worth getting a small recap out the door before the rush of blog posts lined up in December. Oh, and we gotta talk about that...
End it Someday: Looking Back on With the Lights Out
mariteaux
It's been 25 years, 7 months, and 19 days since the death of Kurt Cobain. You might remember him as the singer and guitarist for Nirvana, who later ended up trying pellet-flavored Pez in his greenhouse. He's pretty much been canonized as the last great rockstar, and eh—I don't care. I love Nirvana, but I don't care.
It's also been 15 years since the release of a little three-CD-one-DVD Nirvana treasure trove of B-sides, live tapes, and rehearsals came into the world. With the Lights Out was the first official look into the home demos and leftovers that went into producing Nirvana's three proper records. It's a fascinating little document with a lot of history—and a lot of flaws.
Join me as I ramble about my history with the boxset, its highs, its lows, and where I think it sits in the Greater Nirvana Canon as a Sacred Text or something.
How the Goldfish Man Changed My Life
mariteaux
My stepmom had a bookshelf CD collection when I was little. Young spergs have active imaginations, and I was no exception; album art was everything to me at 5. I probably spent more time staring at the cracked out, surrealist album covers and being confused, fascinated, and terrified than I did listening to anything at that age. (Redman's Malpractice, whose blobbily-proportioned cover guy is still unsettling to look at, is a prime example of the weirdness I found in there.)
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-6062798-1410104257-3083.jpeg.jpg){kind=link}
Of course, I knew just enough about CDs to know what they were for, and just enough about our family's Athlon-based Windows XP machine to be able to listen to the odd album or two. Somewhere down the line, Counting Crows' This Desert Life fell into my lap. It was bound to catch my attention; it had a man with a fishbowl for a head on the cover, how could it not? What wasn't bound to happen was how important the album would become to me; in fact, it's the first album I ever truly loved.
That album turns 20 today, and I'm feeling sentimental. No one else is looking back on it, so I'm going to.
10/31 - Chunky Soup
Recaps
If you haven't yet noticed, you've had 30 entire days to do so: it's spooky month. This does not in any way call for a recap, but here we are nonetheless. Nowhere near as long as the last one, promise. Come! There's Eevees!
Antigravity Freedom Machine
capy
As of writing this I'm supposed to be asleep, but that's not working out so I'm gonna write some nonsense instead. Sorry Cammy <:3c
Something that interests me quite a bit but I never seem to talk about is animatronics. Just a fascinating thing, the illusion of life right there in front of you. And they can be creepy, for sure, but I think that adds to the charm. They're imperfect, it adds character.
9/9 - Blueberry Milk
Recaps
Two new sites, bios and refs, stories, a little raccoon out on a giant adventure, and I've started playing Cookie Clicker again. This one's gonna be so massive, I've had to split it into sections, so get cozy in the nearest armchair. It's time for a recap.
How the Feed Killed Creation
mariteaux
Let's start with a premise. We have a creator. She's a writer, maybe, or maybe a visual artist. Maybe dabbles in animation. She's got big ideas and the drive to see them to fruition. Might even be months into a grand project right now. Yet, she'll post her stuff online or in a Discord server, and no one gives a shit.
The internet's built on user-generated content, stuff ordinary people (people like you, perhaps!) create. And yet, with all these sites for it, where's the support? Let's talk about the feed and how it's killed independent content.