The Blog Shuffle

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

Earlier today, the blog description I'd used for years caught my eye: "St. Mary's, Hofstra, Queens College...That Gerald So"

First thing: Without a period, it wasn't a sentence. Second: If I mean it to be a sentence that trails off and picks up, shouldn't "That" be "that?"

How to resolve these issues? Title the blog THAT GERALD SO and make its description a sentence that ends with an ellipsis.

So Much to Talk About

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

I wanted to make a minor change to my review blog SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT, but I wasn't seeing the change take effect, so I did a larger overhaul of the blog's elements and look, much like I did here last month.

Click over there for details of Putnam Books' publication schedule change for the next Robert B. Parker continuation titles, and for my advance review of Mike Lupica's November 25 third Spenser, ROBERT B. PARKER'S SHOWDOWN.

Now You See It

Posted 5:30 AM by Gerald So

As I've learned digital art the past few months, I've looked into things like pleasant color combinations and optimal fonts, sizes, and colors for blogs. As a first step, I've changed and enlarged the font here. Next I'll choose a background color to complement my cartoon head.

Heads Up

Posted 3:30 PM by Gerald So

How do you like my cartoon avatar behind the Home tab? A crop of my avatar is the blog's favicon. For recognizability I'm using the same avatar and tagline—"St. Mary's, Hofstra, Queens College...That Gerald So"—for my Mastodon and Bluesky profiles.

Updated

Posted 8:30 AM by Gerald So

I've updated the blog's ARCHIVES page with yearly and monthly links to the entries from 2019 to 2024. Also notice I've rearranged, renamed, and bolded the blog's main menu tabs.

Tweet No More

© by Gerald So | 4:30 AM

In January I blogged about leaving Twitter. I did turn my attention to Mastodon and other things, but only yesterday did I deactivate Twitter. Its remaining appeal was the chance to reach the largest audience among similar apps. In reality, though, its algorithm makes a list of VIPs more visible than everyone else. Goodbye.

I'm grateful for the friendships I maintained on Twitter. I hope they continue elsewhere. If you're considering Mastodon, learning how to use it takes longer than Twitter, but it offers a lot in return. Some of my favorite features:

• Verify your account for free by adding a referring link to your personal website(s) and then adding your website link(s) to your account profile;
• 500-character limit on each post;
• You can edit, delete, and/or re-draft published posts;
• "CW" button toggles a blank warning label you can fill in to hide the post body in case of triggers or spoilers;
• There's no algorithm. You can control the flow of other users' posts to you, for example categorize your total follows into private lists so you don't have to be bombarded by all Mastodon users posting at any given moment;
• You can follow hashtags instead of people, so you only see when someone mentions a topic you're interested in, not everything else they post.
• Hashtagging your own posts lets you more easily look them up later.

Knowing that people pay for, administer, and moderate the instance that hosts my account, I mind the load I put on the server. I use the features to create a calmer, less time-consuming experience than I let Twitter become. If you're looking for that, too, pro tip: Skip following breaking-news accounts. Go to news websites to stay as informed as you like.

Also note a couple of changes to this blog: The front page shows my latest three posts. The sidebar has a Mastodon widget, a contact form, and a blog search box.

Everything in Its Place

© by Gerald So | 3:00 AM

You can access the RSS feed for any Mastodon account by adding ".rss" to the account address, letting me add an RSS blog widget showing my toots, another reason I chose Mastodon over other Twitter alternatives. In years past, I had a Twitter blog widget but ran into lag and other issues and removed it.

Speaking of social media, here's a tip to prevent them becoming time-sucks: Don't follow news-breaking accounts. That way you won't need to get news via social media. You can go to the source and get news at your own pace.

3-2-1 Contact

© by Gerald So | 2:30 A.M.

After two years with a serene yogini background photo, I've changed the look of this blog to take advantage of Blogger's contact form. With the form in the sidebar, I can leave my email address off the blog's pages and posts, closing those windows to spambots.

Pirates!

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com

Once upon a web search dreary, I discovered a post I wrote and posted to this blog pirated in its entirety, without attribution, on an otherwise Spanish language blog featuring risque ads.

It's not enough to make me quit blogging, but I'm looking to make my posts recognizable as mine. I've added a byline that pirate bots may not bother to delete, and I, Gerald So, may refer to myself in the third person once per entry as another way of putting my stamp on things.

Blazing New Trails

Happy new year, everyone. I hope my first blog background of 2014 encourages you to set out for new territory. Good luck to us all.

New Look, Same Blog

The new background reflects New York's first heat wave of the year. While I was at it, I flipped and shortened the sidebar to make the yoga practitioner visible. I still visit many sites no longer in the sidebar, but I doubt you scrolled my entire blog to find them. As always, if a site catches my eye, I'll link to it in a post. Any site I visit regularly will make the Links page.

Scenery

Returning readers to this blog will notice I haven't gone back to the pre-holiday stack of books background. I thought of changing with the seasons instead.

In Keeping with Tradition

I've decorated my blog for year's end. Come in, grab a drink, and prepare for karaoke. Happy holidays to all.

Same Blog, Different Name

Yes, I figured I'd switch from "If you want to know about my life...", a catchphrase I used in college, to something that would grab anyone scanning a blogroll. How'd I do?

If You Want to Know...

I've updated the former Writing Sample page of this blog to My Latest Stuff, highlighting reviews, blog posts, and tweets along with my creative work. I've also revised the About Me page. Have a look.

Quick Change

Earlier today I tried to add Google's Share buttons to this blog, as I'd done to The 5-2 and Chatterrific. A long-forgotten tweak prevented the buttons from showing in my previous template, so I switched to this one. New York's unseasonably warm weather ended the other day. I guess it's only natural my blog return from its sunny vacation.

New Look at Chatterrific

I decided to revamp my author chat blog, Chatterrific, this weekend. I'm going for a comfortable coffeehouse experience that lends itself to chat. Have a look.

Coming soon, interviews with Brian Thornton, editor of West Coast Crime Wave, and Colleen Collins, Colorado private investigator and co-author of How to Write a Dick.

I'm open to talking anything related to fiction, poetry, film, or TV. If you're interested, we can chat by e-mail, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, or Skype.

A Change of Scene

The old faithful orange creamsicle may return after the holidays. For now, I invite your mind's eye to join mine in warmer climes.

New at The 5-2

To make reading The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly as intuitive as possible, I've made some layout changes. Comments welcome.

Poetic Justice Press's New Home

Poetic Justice Press is the banner under which Patrick Shawn Bagley, Richie Narvaez, and Anthony Rainone began publishing The Lineup: Poems on Crime in 2008. We've been blogging about The Lineup all this time, but I wasn't satisfied updating the blog for our upcoming fourth issue until I turned it into a larger platform for Poetic Justice Press.

The change reflects that the blog isn't an online reprint of The Lineup. We thought to do The Lineup online in the beginning, but ultimately decided on print. It's our goal to keep the magazine affordable for ourselves and readers while keeping it in print. We are looking to duplicate the print Lineup in eBook format, but print comes first. I welcome anyone who'd like to help.