- I’m pretty annoyed – correct that, I’m ripshit - that Google Reader is being closed down. Seriously, I live and die by that thing. I check it constantly all day. It’s how I find out what’s new at ItsAllTrue, Battlegrip, Doomkick, Nerditis, DASH, MWC, MCC – everyone! How do you think I find out about all stuff I post here on Odds ‘n Ends? I understand GR’s problem was probably that it wasn’t generating money, but that’s Google’s fault for not capitalizing on it. Google could have found out way more about what I like from Google Reader than it ever could from my emails and my neglected Google+ profile. I’ve started checking out alternatives – Feedly and The Old Reader are the frontrunners – but none of them are quite like Google Reader. Bleh. For the record, I’d be willing to pay, say, $25 a year for Google Reader to stay as-is.
- That said, it did get me wondering about how people get to this site. A lot of the talk around Google Reader’s closing has been that people are discovering content via sources like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc. (Side note: I find Reddit incredibly ugly and confusing, and that makes me think I’m already an old fuddy-duddy when it comes to this newfangled Internet.) One article described the plight of writers today as having to write something, send it out there and pray someone reads it. Another guy wrote that his young son “gets all his news from Youtube.” Another claimed blogs were declining anyway (I’d argue they’re simply being culled to the good ones, but I digress). I find all that both a little scary and counter-intuitive – the obsessive collectors I know (myself included) would never just wait until they happen to see someone tweet about the latest announcement of Transformers figures or whatever. Anyway, I put up a poll on the sidebar asking how people come to this site. If you end up picking “Other,” I’d be curious to know in the comments how you do find out about new posts.
- I’m working on an interview with the folks behind Armarauders. If you have any questions for them, let me know in the comments.
- The creator of Castle Grayskullman, Daniel Benedict, has created a digital comic featuring the character.
- Some Four Horsemen news: the “Infinity Edition of Outer Space Men Wave 5, including the large deluxe figure Cyclops, are now in-stock at Store Horsemen. The 4H also gave an update on the long-rumored Kickstarter campaign for the Ravens from Gothitropolis. The Kickstarter campaign hasn’t started quite yet, but they have tons of pics of proposed variants (the Phoenix and Quetzalcoatl are my favorites).
- The “official” announcement of the server change will be coming soon, along with a minor site redesign (mostly aesthetic, some new graphics to reflect the new server and a slight change in focus for the blog).
- This is a terrible idea. Stop touching yourself, Hollywood.
- Last week, over the course of a single day, I received twice as many hits as usual from people doing image searches for “faceless one.” It happened the day of the Pope announcement so some people thought they could be related, but in retrospect I think it was probably something to do with World of Warcraft. Anyone have any guesses as to why this happened? Was there some big WoW announcement or something…?
- Reviews of note: Dynamite Action Gaiking (CollectionDX); Hank and Dean Venture (Michael Crawford); Fizzitors (Nerditis); Batman Unlimited DKR Batman (Pixel Dan); Kenner Lava Planet Predator (Dinosaur Dracula); Beast Hunters Voyager Shockwave (Shortpacked); Predator Jungle Extraction Dutch (Preternia); Jurassic Park Dino Showdown (Kastor’s Korner)
Tekwych
I use NetNewsWire to sync all my news feeds across all y devices. While they use GT as a back end Black Pixel, the development company, is looking into taking over GR. I'm also a big backer at KS (and use their RSS feed to keep up)
ridureyu
Phoenix and Quetzacouatl are my favorites, too, And maybe that chicken for the hilarity factor.
Also, I find this site by manually typing in the URL as I browse. I know, I'm old-fashioned like that.
AgentRavage
Faceless Ones are a lovecraftian influenced species from the Warcraft mythos. No idea if the pope is one though, C’thulhu works in mysterious ways….
Andy
I use a Action Figure list on Twitter to see when PG has a new post.
@michaelmpatti
In Firefox I have a bookmark folder for RSS feeds of sites I like (including this one) and every morning I browse the headlines and see the articles that interest me.
Jay
I site-hop; I usually come here from Battlegrip (& initially came here from OAFE) & then use your sidebar list to jump to my other regular stops.
Barbecue17
I just get my news the old fashioned away- skimming a select few blogs and sites.
That Faceless one search is interesting. I was skimming through our hits from search results and found "Saddam Hussein action figures." !!! Not sure where that came from.
Corey Tincher
I just wanted to second the disappointment/disgust of Google Reader. I live and die by it for toy news.
Neil
I use Google Reader almost exclusively for skimming my news. If I find an article that really interests me, then i click through to give the page view and read the comments.
Kevin
Yeah, I'm old-fashioned. I just have regular sites I visit daily. This is one of them, and I think I originally found it through Topless Robot.
Bigbot
That Kickstarter either needs to happen already, or the 4H need to lay out pricing so I can plan accordingly.
I have a list of sites I visit daily, and that's how I get my news. I didn't even know Google Reader existed until the news was everywhere that Google was shutting it down.
Misterbigbo
I am eagerly anticipating the Kickstarter for the Ravens, and wonder how the offer tiers will be handled. I picked up most of the Scarabus variants (Scarabi?), but was glad I didn't have to buy all of them, given the cost. Many of the Raven variants are great, but like the previous Gothitropolis set, there are some I have no desire for. Time will tell, I 'spose.