Showbits

Just a brief post to indicate that Showbits updates will be scarce this week, as I am leaving in a few minutes for KansasFest, the annual Apple II expo held in Kansas City, Missouri. I'm on the convention's planning board, which is a conflict of interest that prevents me from covering the event for most publications, but I hope to blog about it elsewhere.

Also, I've added some new, minor functionality to Showbits. When reading individual posts, look near the bottom of the post (just above the comments) for a link that says "[print_link]" to get a printer-friendly version of the page, or or "[email_link]" to send the page to a friend. Voila!

I first became a sysop 14 years ago on Washington's Birthday — so today seemed appropriate to reflect on various aspects of this new domain, Showbits:

I've upgraded the site's blogging software to WordPress v2.1. Numerous bug fixes and enhancements exist primarily on the administrative side — but let me take this opportunity to ask, what changes or features would you like to see? I've disabled the unused "Rate this post!" feature, which I'd hoped would provide some feedback on the kinds of posts you most wanted to see. So let me ask directly for your thoughts on Showbits style, content, presentation, and mechanisms — by either leaving a comment here, or sending a private email.

Speaking of which, here's some reader feedback. First, from Dayton Ward:

I enjoyed your piece about going to see the re-issued Star Wars in '97. I went to those, too, but I'm also old enough to have seen the original SW in '77. (Yes, I do feel old.)

And some (unintentionally?) double-edged commentary from an old friend, fearhubris:

I'm gonna bookmark these and read some of your stuff, it sounds intelligent yet I can tell it's yours.

If I've not been writing much to appeal to those readers lately, it's partly because I've been acclimating to a new workplace, which has granted me yet another blog. Fortunately, I have plenty of movie material for this week. Stay tuned!