This will be the final graded blog post for my 20% project. I specify the "graded" portion because at the moment I fully intend to continue writing these reviews for future albums. I suppose that since this is the final post and I have not been following any sort of rubric for my posts this year so far, I should at least make an attempt to answer the questions required to be addressed by this post. The first question asked of me asks me (that's a tongue twister) to describe the final outcome of my project in terms of success/failure. I like that. Either the blog is a success or a failure. No grey area. Just how American youth-age sports should be, but aren't. Back on to the topic, I consider my blog to be a success. I met all of the goals that I set in my introduction, got more than a few people to try some music that they would have never listened to (for better or for worse), and I got a lot of good writing practice. As far as the final outcome of my project, I direct you towards the previous twenty-two posts. First off, that will give you a chance to re-read the greatness (failure?) of my reviews. Secondly, that will give you a chance to generate your own impression of my project. In terms of why I was able to succeed, I can honestly answer that the reason is mostly because I care. I enjoy writing and I love music, thus I was willing to put the time and effort into writing these reviews. Each review took well over two hours to write and hyperlink, and if I did not care about what I was doing it would not be worth the effort. I was spending at least eight hours each blog cycle on my reviews and I do not feel arrogant in saying that my hard work shows. These reviews are decently written, informative, lengthy, somewhat entertaining, and organized. If I write something with all of those qualifiers and spend anywhere from eight to ten hours each cycle working on it, you better believe I will consider it a success and the reason for that is not exactly hard to determine.
Personally, this project was beneficial to me. The actual act of sitting and writing for hours on end has helped me greatly in my essay driven classes. Sitting and analyzing music the higher degree necessary to write the reviews has also helped me to develop my listening techniques as well. On a more cynical level, this project has also taught me one major lesson; nobody else cares as much about your passion as you do. Not just with my project, but with others as well, it is obvious that nobody really, truly cares about what you do. On one hand, that is a great, great thing. That means everybody has their own unique set of interests and hobbies. On the other hand, it certainly is annoying to see thoughtless, generic comments from people who I know did not actually read the blog post and are just filling out a comment format in order to get points. In the case of my blog posts, this is understandable. I write a lot and I do not expect everybody to be interested in my weird music. But on other, more accessible blogs this habit is a little saddening. Luckily, I don't work hard for other people. I work hard at these reviews because I enjoy it (and because I love seeing that sweet 14/12 get entered into my grade book and drag my plummeting Honors Anatomy grade into an acceptable range). Luckily, these reviews have gotten enough legitimate views and I have been sent positive feedback over text due to my sending them to my friends and Mr. Man's much appreciated in-class shout-outs.
For part d. of the rubric, I will be writing my response in a question/answer format. I hope that is ok, because that is how I will be doing it. A few questions I have asked myself, as well as their answers:
Q: Should I continue this after the "final blog post?"
A: I should. These reviews are great practice for writing, they allow me to express my opinions, they have been talked about by my peers, they take up some of my downtime, and I enjoy it. With my Channel Orange and Drive North review, I posted links to both on my Twitter. That night I got 132 views on my blog, proving that if I were to continue these reviews they would still get views and exist as more than just a musical diary for myself.
Q: Should I review other forms of media?
A: I should. I wrote a series of film reviews (think: my music reviews but more formal) for an out-of-school elective that are arguably even better than my music reviews. I do not know nearly as much about film, art, video games (yes, video games are art and the public perception that they are not is insulting to the thousands of hours of hard work it takes to make a large budget game, as well as ignoring some of the most incredible pieces of entertainment created in the modern era), and literature as I do about music, but I could make it work.
Q: Can I make money from this?
A: Probably, but not much. Freelance writing for major music publications is quite competitive and pays terribly, but I feel that when I really try I can write nearly as well as anybody being published on most of the major review sites and I am not even out of high school. On top of that, if my blog becomes popular enough, I will be able to sell ad space along the sides of the page for some very minimal monetary compensation. I will never make a living off my writing, but if I can somehow manage to bring in a few dollars each month from it I will be more than happy.
Q: Do people care? Are people still reading this post?
A: No and no.
If I were to take this class for another semester, I am not entirely sure what I would do to improve. I would certainly give myself an easier to achieve goal. Many Friday nights I found myself writing blog posts on my phone during halftime at basketball games instead of talking with my friends or at dinner with my girlfriend (sorry about that, I hope you make it this far into the review when I send you the link later and that you see this). I would also allow myself to be a bit more lenient with my hyperlinks, as those took quite a bit of time and I know nobody was clicking them.
End of Blog Post 6a and the first stage of my blogging experience.
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