See, do I lie? When I promise something legendary I freaking deliver. For the first time in this history of the school, Illinois went on the road and beat the number one team in the nation. On Senior Day no less. We couldn’t pull this off when we had Red Grange and Dick Butkus (well, not at the same time). It’s great to be able to talk about Illini Football without having the main focus being “are you getting rid of the guy dancing at halftime or not?”
It’s tough to explain what this win means if you haven’t followed the team through the years. This win gives Illinois as many wins this season as they have had in the past four years combined. We’re still not a top team but we have returned to being a respectable team. I now just hope that we can remain a consistent Top 25 team. There really is no reason why that can’t be the case. Still, running all over an Ohio State defense anchored by the son of Road Warrior Animal was quite a sight to see. I tried to start a riot in KC but no one could figure out why I was wearing orange since hunting season ended last week.
Anyway, on to the really big news…
Battling the Current is three years old! Yes, it was on November 10, 2004 that I made my first post where I promised to try to recreate the experience of sitting next to me at the bar on a Wednesday night. I’m pretty sure that I have succeeded on that front as I have been able to continue to rant and rave and philosophize in this space for three years. My goal has always been for this space to be 25% pop culture analysis, 25% music reviews, 25% philosophy and 25% making fun of Kansas and while I haven’t kept the percentages I still hit all of those categories on a regular basis. (I’m not sure what percentage is now related to My Beloved Lindsay).
Here are some stats over the past three years. I have written a total of 772 posts and I’m north of 500,000 words. That’s the equivalent of about seven or eight novels. I can’t believe that I’ve written that much. For three years I’ve sat down for five nights a week and have written just whatever happened to be on my mind and that turns into half a million words. My word document for this year is nearly three hundred pages long. When I think about writing a novel at least I know that I can sit down at a computer and write that much material.
I’ve also had more than 400 comments posted over the years and I thank everyone who has ever added their thoughts to the blog. It really is one of the reasons that I write this, to see what responses I can get from those who check this out on a regular basis. Even bigger thanks to those who have posted without ever having met me. I still can’t believe that I’ve had comments from other countries. As always, never be afraid to click on the comment link. If you can prove to me that you are not a robot intent on either a) taking over the world or b) placing Viagra ads on my page your opinion is always welcome.
So what are my goals for the next year? I’d like to keep up with the multimedia component and maybe grow it out a bit more. Music videos are awesome but at some point I should try to provide my own content there. I’d like to increase the readership a little more, which is something I have been saying that I would try for years but haven’t really attempted. And while my quality of writing has improved over the past few months (I feel that the Pick Up Artist reviews were some of the best things that I’ve written in ages) I also want to up the level of my writing. This might mean a little more philosophy and a lot more humor. Probably the same bad grammar though as I still do not have an editor. (For those who wonder, I almost never proofread what I write. I just want to get my thoughts out there no matter what the grammar police might say.) And I’ll be keeping this place ad free since, seriously, do you even want to think what contextual ads Google might try to put in this space?
As this is cause for celebration I am happy to announce that I am putting together Battling the Current Volume 3. For those new to the Battling the Current series, this is a compilation CD featuring all of the music that I love and you may have never heard of. I’ll be posting the track listing and cover art later this week but it should be great. Just drop me an email and I’ll make sure you get a copy (and feel free to request copies of volumes 1 and 2 as well). More on all of this later.
Again, thanks to everyone who has read this. I really do look forward to sitting down and writing every night. It doesn’t feel like work or an obligation and I think it is a great way for me to step outside of my stressful life and just be with my thoughts for a moment. Someone asked me how long I was going to keep this up and I answered four years or whenever I ran out of material. Right now I see myself going a lot longer than four years. Quo Vadimus.
Best of 120 Minutes: If I ever start podcasting, this will be the theme song. If Hard Harry could use Everybody Knows I can use 21st Century Digital Boy
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Handsome Family “Through the Trees”
2) Cowboy Junkies “At the End of Paths Taken”
3) Damien Rice “9”
4) Monte Warden “A Stranger To Me Now”
5) Saw Doctors “Songs from Sun Street”
It’s tough to explain what this win means if you haven’t followed the team through the years. This win gives Illinois as many wins this season as they have had in the past four years combined. We’re still not a top team but we have returned to being a respectable team. I now just hope that we can remain a consistent Top 25 team. There really is no reason why that can’t be the case. Still, running all over an Ohio State defense anchored by the son of Road Warrior Animal was quite a sight to see. I tried to start a riot in KC but no one could figure out why I was wearing orange since hunting season ended last week.
Anyway, on to the really big news…
Battling the Current is three years old! Yes, it was on November 10, 2004 that I made my first post where I promised to try to recreate the experience of sitting next to me at the bar on a Wednesday night. I’m pretty sure that I have succeeded on that front as I have been able to continue to rant and rave and philosophize in this space for three years. My goal has always been for this space to be 25% pop culture analysis, 25% music reviews, 25% philosophy and 25% making fun of Kansas and while I haven’t kept the percentages I still hit all of those categories on a regular basis. (I’m not sure what percentage is now related to My Beloved Lindsay).
Here are some stats over the past three years. I have written a total of 772 posts and I’m north of 500,000 words. That’s the equivalent of about seven or eight novels. I can’t believe that I’ve written that much. For three years I’ve sat down for five nights a week and have written just whatever happened to be on my mind and that turns into half a million words. My word document for this year is nearly three hundred pages long. When I think about writing a novel at least I know that I can sit down at a computer and write that much material.
I’ve also had more than 400 comments posted over the years and I thank everyone who has ever added their thoughts to the blog. It really is one of the reasons that I write this, to see what responses I can get from those who check this out on a regular basis. Even bigger thanks to those who have posted without ever having met me. I still can’t believe that I’ve had comments from other countries. As always, never be afraid to click on the comment link. If you can prove to me that you are not a robot intent on either a) taking over the world or b) placing Viagra ads on my page your opinion is always welcome.
So what are my goals for the next year? I’d like to keep up with the multimedia component and maybe grow it out a bit more. Music videos are awesome but at some point I should try to provide my own content there. I’d like to increase the readership a little more, which is something I have been saying that I would try for years but haven’t really attempted. And while my quality of writing has improved over the past few months (I feel that the Pick Up Artist reviews were some of the best things that I’ve written in ages) I also want to up the level of my writing. This might mean a little more philosophy and a lot more humor. Probably the same bad grammar though as I still do not have an editor. (For those who wonder, I almost never proofread what I write. I just want to get my thoughts out there no matter what the grammar police might say.) And I’ll be keeping this place ad free since, seriously, do you even want to think what contextual ads Google might try to put in this space?
As this is cause for celebration I am happy to announce that I am putting together Battling the Current Volume 3. For those new to the Battling the Current series, this is a compilation CD featuring all of the music that I love and you may have never heard of. I’ll be posting the track listing and cover art later this week but it should be great. Just drop me an email and I’ll make sure you get a copy (and feel free to request copies of volumes 1 and 2 as well). More on all of this later.
Again, thanks to everyone who has read this. I really do look forward to sitting down and writing every night. It doesn’t feel like work or an obligation and I think it is a great way for me to step outside of my stressful life and just be with my thoughts for a moment. Someone asked me how long I was going to keep this up and I answered four years or whenever I ran out of material. Right now I see myself going a lot longer than four years. Quo Vadimus.
Best of 120 Minutes: If I ever start podcasting, this will be the theme song. If Hard Harry could use Everybody Knows I can use 21st Century Digital Boy
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Handsome Family “Through the Trees”
2) Cowboy Junkies “At the End of Paths Taken”
3) Damien Rice “9”
4) Monte Warden “A Stranger To Me Now”
5) Saw Doctors “Songs from Sun Street”
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"TALK HARD!"
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