As accustomed as I am to cranking these out on vacations and dark times I approach this set with a certain sense of melancholia and foreboding.
For the truth is that while sometimes I can wave my magic wand and make amazing things happen I am not the blogger I was 8 years ago and I no longer anticipate with glee the prospect of working like a dog until midnight and then bouncing up at 8:20 am to do it all over again.
In the first place, that's not all there is to it. After TDS/TCR TheMomCat and I generally have our story meeting while she works on Punting the Pundits. Depending on how much material there is already posted these can last until 2 am while we develop new ideas to make sure the pages of The Stars Hollow Gazette and DocuDharma are full.
Then there is the physical process of doing the promotions which when things aren't being cranky is about 10 minutes per story. Nothing you say? At six pieces a day it takes an hour to decide, do it, and check that it's done. Fortunately I can multitask this in good times with lots of material in the hopper waiting.
No rest for the wicked. Cheers and Jeers goes up at 8:20 am, but you have to be concious enough to find the keyboard so awake by 8. What's Happening is at 8:30 am and I leave those windows open as I complete the rest of the morning routine.
I check the promotions I was able to make to ensure they haven't gone all hinky (it happens). I locate and post the Cartnoon which is also a time and date stamp for DocuDharma. I generally hang with C&J until 10 am or I've given 100 tips, whichever comes first, and I start hunting for content.
On a good day I only have to do 1 or 2 diaries, on a bad day 4 or 5. Those take... whatever. I write until the pages are full or I can't see the screen anymore, just the insides of my eyelids.
Then I nap. How long depends on what needs to be done in meatspace, but never later than 7 pm because I have to prepare the next day's digests for posting in Evening Blues.
Now when I'm not doing TDS/TCR I get another nap until about 10:30 pm, but when I am I usually start writing at 8 pm because on particularly frustrating days when there isn't a good guest or even a show at all it can take that long to cobble something together.
Not that anyone ever reads it anyway. It's a public service. The friendliest place on dK. The Sausage Grinder of Snark where you can say what you think provided it's funny and not disputatious (and remember, any joke you have to explain is not as funny as you think it is). I never hide behind the fig leaf of "community" because if you want to pick a fight with me, well... you've got the wrong person. I don't care what you think. Like Tia however, picking fights with the customers is out of bounds and will get you bounced. Leave it out there, don't drag it in here. I won't tolerate it.
Those are just my customary, every day responsibilities and while they may seem grinding and soul destroying to you it's just the rock I roll.
What makes this time of year special (and specially difficult) is that it is the time of which every young person dreams and makes old people young again.
I am talking about Baseball Playoffs of course.
Even tonight we have the Play-In between the inoffensive Rays and the loathsome W (for steroids) and that is just the beginning. Between now and the time we have a new World Champion I'll pretty much be live blogging a game or 4 a day in addition to the diary writing time.
It will be easy because I just sit on my ass all day long-
The Stars Hollow Gazette/DocuDharma Digest
Friday 9/27
* On This Day In History September 27 by: TheMomCat
* Economic Populist: Consol Bonds are the Debt Ceiling Walk Off Home Run by: BruceMcF
* Punting the Pundits by: TheMomCat
* "A Naked Declaration of Imperialism" by: TheMomCat
* The US Roll in the Nairobi Mall Attack by: TheMomCat
* Friday Night at the Movies by: ek hornbeck
Saturday 9/28
* On This Day In History September 28 by: TheMomCat
* US Demands India Block Production Of Low-Cost Generic Drugs by: TheMomCat
* Punting the Pundits by: TheMomCat
* Health and Fitness News by: TheMomCat
* Random Japan by: mishima
* Saturday Night Movie by: ek hornbeck
Sunday 9/29
* Six In The Morning by: mishima
* Punting the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition by: TheMomCat
* Three Things On The Internet by: TheMomCat
* On This Day In History September 29 by: TheMomCat
* Rant of the Week: Bill Maher's New Rules by: TheMomCat
* Sunday Movie Showcase by: ek hornbeck
* The 34th America's Cup by: ek hornbeck
Monday 9/30
* On This Day In History September 30 by: TheMomCat
* Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Yet another windy response to "What is Capitalism" by Annieli by: Anti-Capitalist Meetup
* Punting the Pundits by: TheMomCat
* Sunday Train: Unleashing the Political Power of Bio-Coal by: BruceMcF
* Grand Bargain Circus - Red Clowns Gone Wild! by: joe shikspack
* 2013 Junior League Play-In Game: Rays @ Rangers by: ek hornbeck
The Stars Hollow Gazette
Friday 9/27
* Late Night Karaoke by: mishima
* Muse in the Morning by: Robyn
* On This Day In History September 27 by: TheMomCat
* The First Thing We Do, Fire All the Liars by: TheMomCat
* Cartnoon by: ek hornbeck
* Iran: Giant Steps and Baby Steps by: TheMomCat
* Crossfire by: ek hornbeck
* Assumptions by: Robyn
* Friday Night at the Movies by: ek hornbeck
* Random Japan by: mishima
Saturday 9/28
* On This Day In History September 28 by: TheMomCat
* US Demands India Block Production Of Low-Cost Generic Drugs by: TheMomCat
* Cartnoon by: ek hornbeck
* Health and Fitness News by: TheMomCat
* The Impossible Budget by: ek hornbeck
* Saturday Night Movie by: ek hornbeck
Sunday 9/29
* Late Night Karaoke by: mishima
* Six In The Morning by: mishima
* On This Day In History September 29 by: TheMomCat
* Three Things On The Internet by: TheMomCat
* Cartnoon by: ek hornbeck
* Sunday Movie Showcase by: ek hornbeck
* The 34th America's Cup by: ek hornbeck
Monday 9/30
* Late Night Karaoke by: mishima
* Muse in the Morning by: Robyn
* On This Day In History September 30 by: TheMomCat
* Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Yet another windy response to "What is Capitalism" by Annieli by: Anti-Capitalist Meetup
* Cartnoon by: ek hornbeck
* The US Roll in the Nairobi Mall Attack by: TheMomCat
* "A Naked Declaration of Imperialism" by: TheMomCat
* 2013 Junior League Play-In Game: Rays @ Rangers by: ek hornbeck
DocuDharma
Yeah. Like that.
Really, I'm exhausted and I can't think of a worse time of year which is why I put forward my modest proposal.
A Modest Proposal
I've worked on group diaries like Overnight News Digest where we had a few contributors who were each responsible for 1 day of the week and that's the model I'd like TDS/TCR to follow going forward.
I'll take Monday so everyone has a chance to get organized and I can provide you with lists like this-
John
* Mo 9/30: Bill O'Reilly
* Tu 10/1: David Mitchell
* We 10/2: Sandra Bullock
* Th 10/3: Kerry Washington
Stephen
* Mo 9/30: Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad)
* Tu 10/1: Daniel Radcliffe
* We 10/2: Chris Matthews
* Th 10/3: David Finkel
to get you started.
Now the diary doesn't have to be elaborate (and goodness knows for the rest of the week it won't be) but occasionally you'll spot a target so ripe it deserves a spanking.
Take Pappa Bear for instance.
You see, God called him to write a book, about how Jesus died to free the Jews from taxation.
There's actually a credible if Randian (which would give her a kick because she was just as stony cold an atheist as I am) argument to be made if you view Roman taxes as a tribute to Jupiter, but BillO is just so totally ignorant about basic economics I doubt very much if he raised it (a YouTube with bad audio examining the Zanio segment here).
But maybe he's just pissed at Pope Francis.
See how easy that was? I bet you could do it too much better than I can.
So some exercises in minimalism coming up (except for Tweety, I just can't help myself) to give you the basic elements of your successful TDS/TCR diary.
The essentials are that it be on time (10:55 pm), have TDS/TCR in the title, and be tagged Sausage Grinder of Snark.