Well, it's not long at all until it will once again be Blaugust, the time of year that the Leaflocker editorial team leaps into action and actually tries to produce some interesting content each day, despite all historical evidence pointing to the distinct likelihood that this is impossible.
The idea of Blaugust (as imagined here in the A-town, anyway) is to set a goal of regular content for a month (the month of August, in case you're wondering) and see how close you can get to meeting that goal. It doesn't have to be every day, or even every week, just aim for what you're comfortable with doing (and let us know in the comments what you're up to, so that we can watch). We've been doing this here for a few years now, and it's consistently been a lot of good clean fun. We'd love you to join us on your own blog, too.
As you may be aware, the Leaflocker is in the process of relocating to the Green and Pleasant, and this Blaugust will be our last month in the Wide Bown. We're yet to decide if this is a boon to the blauging project in that it is providing content and a certain amount of sleeplessness that can be turned into productive writing time, or a bane that will mean we explode from the mounting stress, but we'll find out by the end of the month, so at least tune in now and then to find the answer.
At the moment, an approximate plan for the month here at the Leaflocker will follow a weekly schedule that looks like this:
Weekend Wesnoth
Inexplicably our most popular feature from Blaugust 2014, the Wesnoth videos (an item I expected to be the Leaflocker equivalent College Football post) will be returning each Saturday in Blaugust. I'll be reprising my role as the incapable gamer in the world of Orbivm, and we may even touch on a few other games if the fancy takes us.
Sunday Sermon
In the wake of the release of this video, Leaflocker Associate PsephologyKid has been hard at work on a little project he calls the Up Goer God Book. Since it's riotously funny and isn't really appropriate content for his own blog, he's graciously allowed us to host his ongoing progress here. As hardworking but kind of lazy editors, we hope this is the first of many instances of readers donating us content here at the Leaflocker.
Monday Cartoons
Since the original hosting has died a quiet death, we'll be re-posting and annotating our first webcomic and some of the rest of the collection of cartoons that have been collecting dust at Leaflocker HQ, and trying to excuse whatever apparently passed for humour in our adolescent years. If nothing else, it will be a reminder of how far we've come in the last decade or so.
The Great Conversation
Tuesdays will see the return of our plan to read the Great Books of the Western World. Prepare to be astounded and amazed by the lack of progress since we last visited the worlds of Lolita, Les Miserables and Hard Times in September...
Wednesday Quiz
If the Leaflocker can be said to be about anything, then it's about trivia, so of course we'll see the return of the Wednesday Quiz, our weekly exercise routine for the depths of our readers brains. The topics, as always, are secret for now, but we're pretty confident that Art History and Classical Music won't be coming up.
Thursday Braindump
We'll be leaving this one for whatever nonsense falls out of the air when we're groping around madly for content on Wednesday night. The state of International Cricket, whetever is currently outraging Twitter, partly-baked ideas for political reform...we'll wait and see, but the plan will be to practice putting together an informed and reasonable argument on whatever topic springs to mind.
Friday Ties and Stuff
The tie project has had a good run and will be quietly replaced, but in its place we'll be providing a running commentary on the process of packing a whole house into two suitcases and travelling across the world. Given our somewhat esoteric approach to packing, ties are still expected to feature heavily.
There you have it, dear reader. Time will tell if the plan survives contact with the enemy. If you'd care to join us in the Blaugust madness, (and how could you not?), do let us know in the comments so that we can read along.
If you can't wait until Blaugust to get a dose of Blaug or two, let me share a few of the things that I've been reading on the internet of late:
Maybe the best thing to come out of Blaugust last year was the return of young Pichy to the world of blogging, something he's been able to keep up on a regular basis since. I'm not into fighting games that aren't exclusively about Mexican Wrestling Chefs, but Pichy is engaging and accessible, and his enthusiasm for beating people up digitally is catching. Well worth a read if you've got any interest in the mechanics of video-game design at all.
Spiritual Blogmother of the Leaflocker, Michael5000 produces good stuff on a regular basis, and he's been doing it for years. I come and go from the readership of the Infinite Art Tournament, as art isn't really my thing, but now that the weekly Monday History Quiz is back on, I have been back visiting more regularly. I'm on a good run at the moment, so maybe we could do with some more competitors?
The Other Mother is currently tripping around Europe, and when she gets a chance, she's dropping a thought or two to her blog (which she began last Blaugust) as well. I don't think she's quite got the hang on spellcheck on her tablet, but hey, I'm amazed she can find the time to post at all. Most of the photos appear to be of orienteering maps or terrain, for some reason, but I'll take what I can get.
The Mumderful uses her blog for somewhat more serious purposes, serving as it does as the launching pad for her long-awaited career as a "real" author. It's always good to drop by now and then and see what's on her mind, what she's been working on and what's been happening in the garden, something I'm sure that I'm going to appreciate even more when I'm on the other side of the world and the plants and seasons are all topsy-turvy.
There you go. That should keep you busy. Talk to you in Blaugust.
