Radosh.net

Fear not, blog friends. The scarcity of posts over the last few days does not only mean that I've been wasting my time on actual paying work. I've also been doing a little straightening up here on Radosh.net.

Most noticably, I've rearranged the left-hand column. Moving the 'recent posts' list up higher made sense, since before you'd only see it after you'd already read all the posts themselves (hypothetically, I mean). But now that the pretty product pictures are lower on the page (more on that in a minute), the top is very text-heavy and a little off-putting, unless I make sure that the lead post always has a gratuitous photo (preferably one this gratuitous). Obviously what I need is some kind of logo to go at the top of that column. As a side benefit, that would also give my listings some sparkle on Kinja. Any ideas?

As for those products -- or shopportunities as I like to think of them -- I've finally admitted to myself that I'm too lazy to constantly (or ever) change them by hand in order to keep the list fresh, so I've switched to Amazon's EZ link system, where the image and everything is stored on their server and all I have to do is cut and paste some HTML. The only problem is that it's ugly. I'm working on making it less so, but at some point it is what it is. I've also re-named these listings "trust me on this," and I'll tell you why.

Because they rock. These are not just any old books, DVDs, and CDs that caught my eye, they're things I really, really love (plus my mom's book, which I'm sure I'll read at some point), that are woefully under-known (is that word?). Take the new entry at the top of the list, The Newsroom. Brand-new to DVD, this is probably the smartest, funniest show that has ever been on television (for point of comparison, I'd rank it with Larry Sanders and The Office), yet almost no one has heard of it (outside of "Canada," I mean). Trust me on this. Hey, Guilfoile, was I right about Ultraviolet, or what? Your satisfaction means more to me than the 15 percent Amazon Associate commission (no refunds).

Anyway, over in the right hand column I've added a few links, and removed a couple that were getting stale. For instance, I de-listed the Jewish blog Protocols, now that Luke Ford has driven it straight off a cliff (I dig Luke when he writes about, you know, porn, but all this Rav So-and-So vs. Rebbi Whothefuckcares is not for me). Fortunately, Protocols elder Steven I. Weiss has started a new J-blog that's better than Protocols ever was. Check out Fiddish.

Also, I've finally updated my writing archive, and made sure that all the links now work, so that those few, lonely people who care enough to seek out my favorite articles are not rewarded with a big ol' 404.

And finally, Kevin Shay has helped me implement a nifty comment filter, because not all of us are so charmed by spamments. (And, no, it doesn't use image recognition, Sam.)

So, let me know: did I miss a spot?

Posted by Daniel Radosh

2:35 PM