It has been a while since I made a post that was actually a log of things I'd found online lately.  Not nearly as long as it has been since that act coined the term "weblog".  But here are cool things!  And questions!

• I'm looking for podcasts about game design and the game industry.  Recommendations go far with me-- my flist is the editorial board of the firehose of internet content.  I've found the Gamasutra podcast, the Indie Game Developer's Podcast, The DigiPen Podclass, The Bungie Studios Podcast.  Any others?  Are any of those worthless?
• This movie about Prince Vladimir looks awesome, and I need to get my hands on it, even if it does turn out to be a Russian Orthodox proselytization tool.
• My alma mater has a new president, who has written quite an essay on meaning, purpose, and holistic education.  It's quite dense, but parts of it are very eloquent about some points that I think very salient for current discussion of good pedagogy, civic education, and our current educational institutions.
• Have you played my new game yet?  You should, if you're into game design. (And if you can run Flash 10, sorry N.) It's fun.
• The Harry Potter Septet ... not quite wizard rock.  I've got to check this out, and poke my high school friend, the pianist, about it.
• A rant about digital comics, as a digital comic.  Much has been made of this in a few places, but I think he's missed the point. I unfortunately can't rant about this myself, here, because it's getting late, but since it has been sitting on my desktop for a week, I'd better get it out.  The core of my frustration: no one discussing digital comics, including this guy, seems to me to have stepped back to think about what it is that computers really do that print media don't.  Folks have considered "interaction", and that's valid, but the conclusion seems to be that anything that incorporates interaction meaningfully starts to feel more like a game than a comic. (Penny Arcade Adventures...?)  Another answer is "process" or "procedural response", which is a way of burrowing into "interaction" as a term.  This guy considers neither of those very well, and so seems to me to be beating a dead horse, or a straw man.
• Video game developers don't get racism any more than Hollywood does.  Seriously, the arguments happening in both places on both sides, are SHOCKINGLY similar.  I am embarrassed for my industry, AND glad that some people are doing what they can to open eyes and minds.  Those links are to really, really good and clear arguments about what the problem is.

Hey, Team LJ, I've got a question for you.

I used to keep a blog at textuality.org, you can still see it there.  I built it myself with Tinderbox, some software that's spiffy but which takes a fair bit of maintenance and offers features that I don't really need.  I'd like to wake the blog back up again, repurpose it, and I'd like your thoughts on engines.  These feel like my options:

1. Fix the Tinderbox system.  Pros: it's custom, has some nice linking options, looks custom.  Cons: would require serious fixing; never really did work quite right; can only be posted to from my computer, or a Mac.  If I wanted any new features, I'd have to build them myself.

 

2. Use TypePad on Pair.  Pair, my webhost, offers TypePad Personal for $3/mo.  If I downgraded my domain to a cheaper hosting plan, and added that, I'd actually save a dollar a month.  Pros: TypePad... how is it?  Flexible and full-featured.  Would include comments, I think.  Pair would support it and update it. I could post to it from anywhere.  Cons: $3/mo.  I'd have to migrate my old content over, though that wouldn't take too long.

 

3. Use Sandvox.  I've already got a website builder that I use for the rest of my site because it's ridiculously easy to use, and I value "not having to think about it" in my personal site maintenance.  Sandvox can do a blog reasonably well.  Pros: flexible; free; looks good.  Cons: not as full-featured as TypePad, no comments w/o third-party software (though they support that well); Mac only.

 

4. Just use LiveJournal!  I could open a new journal and just use that.  I know LJ ... but I also have yet to see a really professional blog built in it.  Pros: Trivially easy; I know LJ.  Cons: Less professional, it seems; it would remain "in LJ", not wholly in my domain.

 

5. Install something free somewhere else.  I have friends with servers, so I might install MoveableType (or some other blog tool that you think is way cooler) on one of their servers.  Pros: Free; full-featured.  Cons: would have to set up myself; don't know about uptime, though uptime isn't terribly key here.
    

What do you think?  I've never used TypePad, so I don't know it well.  I'm not against porting my content over from the old system, but want to do it right the first time.  I could put whatever plan I choose into action this weekend, so ... PLEASE ADVISE.