Updates & Changes In: Blogging (May 2018)

Over the course of my Hibernation Period I had a lot of thoughts and ideas running around my head regarding Okay! Musume Time and its future. It took a while to figure out a clear direction for myself, and I have a few plans and ideas for this space, but it's uncertain if all of them will ever be implemented in the future. As of right now, I am simply testing the waters, but I wanted to make you all aware of anything that will change here.

Like anything, not all of these practices will stick, and some may never be implemented in the long run. It's all a work in progress at this point, and nothing more. But like any other blog, themes and practices change over the course of time. Okay! Musume Time will never immune to this, and I am aware that over the course of 7 or more years, I have dropped and adopted ideas, created series and strayed from them in a certain amount of time. Some things are constant whilst others are temporary. In order to keep this blog tuned into my personal interests however, change is necessary.

Here I will list a few of the things that are going to change, ideas that will stick, and future plans I have that I hope to test out, but can't say for sure I will attempt just yet. There are some I have tried out already, and others that I'm in the process of attempting. Furthermore, there may be an increase or decrease in certain types of posts.

I'm rambling. So, without further ado, here is a list (and some explanation) on any changes and plans that will happen for the future of Okay! Musume Time. I hope I don't bore you.

Beep Beep!

Returns and Changes

• Pic Spams

I love creating these silly, picture heavy reviews, and I'm going to continue doing them, however, I will be lessening my focus on them from here on out. It's no lie that these take up a lot of my time - they can take around 5 hours to a full day, depending on the review I'm doing - and it's because of time related reasons that I am going to slowly but surely cut down on this style of review.

I am also doing this because I want a heavier focus on something else on here. I still love doing pic spams - they're fun, light-hearted and entertaining to create - but I want to give greater focus to other things.

This isn't the end, I promise. There are a lot of PV's I want to take millions of screen caps of, but it's just going to be a lot less frequent than before.

• PV Reviews

In keeping with my desire to distance myself from Pic Spams, I want to try and introduce more in-depth PV reviews here. Though my Pic Spams are in fact reviews as well, those posts are more of a light-hearted focus on what I enjoy, as opposed to a balanced review about what is good, bad or absolutely amazing about a music video. So, I want to tackle myself further with this type of in-depth post, both because it's what interests me, and also because I want to return to analytical reviews, similar to the ones I undertook in college and university. This also works in-line with my interest in reviewing videos on Youtube at the moment, and also, I just enjoy it more right now. It makes me feel excited!

So, I want to go a little less light-hearted, and a little more serious. Damn, is my age finally settling in? Urgh, maturity sucks sometimes.

• Single & Album Reviews
• Change to Rating System
• Reader Participation

These are staying. In fact, I want to provide a bigger focus on Single and Album reviews, because I genuinely adore doing them. I find that I focus more on PV's and Pic Spams here, but as of late I've really come to adore writing about songs and what they make me think or feel, so I'd like to give this sort of post a bigger presence. I know that it'll make me seem like every other blog out there, but whatever. It's what I'm interested in right now.

In regards to the Rating System, I originally used a star rating to rank how much the album or single appealed to me. Now, I'll be using GIFs, because I think it's funny. Nothing much else, really. This system has already been implemented, and I like it a lot. It'll also give variety to how I 'react' to a release overall, don't you think?

Also, another change to consider: I would like more of a Reader Participation deal with this. So instead of picking and choosing what I should review, I want to be open to suggestions or even create polls where you can list singles and albums for me to review. I want to include you guys if I can, and I really like this idea, especially if it introduces me to groups and music I haven't heard of before. I've already tried this on Facebook with my friends list, and it went down really well! So, if you want to suggest anything, please feel free to! It would make me really happy, and it will set this idea rolling!

• Music & PV Selections † 

I want to apologise to those who liked this kind of post, but I'm scrapping this one. I don't know how else to say, but for the time being, I will be ending my Selection posts, at least until I find a way to update them or re-implement them into my blog, because despite being a monthly deal, I honestly hated doing (one of) these posts more than I enjoyed writing them.

Whilst it was never a bi-weekly thing, I found that the PV Selection Posts specifically were more of a pain to create than anything. The sheer amount of MV's I included meant there would be a lot of lagging, and sometimes finding or commenting on the videos took up too much time that could be better spent elsewhere. Of course I'm glad I had implemented this when I did, but by the point I was ready for Hibernation, I was also ready to stop this series altogether. In fact, the plan was to never include the Selection series in my blog for 2018. I wanted to dissolve it, and with my Hibernation I was able to reflect on how much I detested this series I had created. I will, however, miss the Music Selection portion. That part was actually fun.

The sad part is that I won't have a place to check what songs or PV's I liked, because it was a good little library system, if anything.

I may bring this back - I'm pretty sure I will - but with a better format, and perhaps a new name. Who knows? I need to work out the kinks first, do a trial run, and update it as I go. If you have any ideas though, please do throw them my way. It would be mighty helpful.

• Graduation Appreciation Posts

Of course I'm keeping these! I love doing my Graduation Appreciation posts, because they allow me to adopt an open-letter style to members, whilst also giving me a bit more time to appreciate them before they depart from the industry our Idols are a part of.

It's going nowhere, don't worry. I love my Appreciation posts too much to ever scrap them.

• Week With... Posts

I adore these posts, so I'm keeping them on the blog. Whether it's a week with a Graduating member, or a week with a group I don't know about, I want to keep up with these posts because of how much they allow me to learn about a group. So, yeah, much like the Appreciation posts, these ones aren't going anywhere. Thank goodness.

Plans and Uncertainties

• I-Candy

Okay, I've not done a lot of these anyway, and right now, the plans for this series is undetermined. I don't know if I will continue it, or if it will simply become a once-in-a-blue-moon type deal. Best bet is, this will come around whenever I find any gravure I like, or a PB I want to share with everyone. Worst deal? It won't return.

I will never say never, though.

• List Themed Posts

I don't actually do a lot of these anyway, but it would be nice to try and bring these into the blog more. People seem to like lists, and so do I (not a surprise), so I would like to implement them as a regular thing, if I can. Whether it's a Top PV's or Top Smiles post, or something silly like that, I hope I can introduce this to the blog.

I am honestly unsure if I will see this one through, but I hope I do. This blog needs a few more lists.

• Reflection Posts

This one would be a more personal series type deal, and will be based more around self-reflection than anything. I already have a post planned for this, but I don't know if it will go further than this. I find it a bit big-headed to do, however a friend of mine encouraged me to try it out (as they personally enjoy this style of post). I think it will depend on how I personally feel towards doing more, and your own reaction to it. So for now this is an uncertainty, but it's a plan in progress as well.

• Editorials

I really, really want to do these, but these are the kinds of posts that will take a lot of time and dedication. I've wanted to try serious articles for a while now, things that are based on heavy research as well as my own personal views, and I know that it would help me to be seen as a more serious writer, but the time part is what rocks the boat for me.

This is something that's a plan in progress and an uncertainty. I want to attempt it, and I hope I can bring something out by the end of the year that will fit this idea of a serious editorial. For now, however, it's a pipe dream.

. . .

In short, I'm just doing what I've been doing for so many years. There's going to be very little change I believe, aside from the general vibe I would like to create.

I essentially want a more serious feel for Okay! Musume Time. I want to present ideas and thoughts that challenge your own views on videos and music, and I want to become a better reviewer in the process of this blogs change. This does not mean I want to completely take away my light-hearted, silly nature - I don't - but I would like to focus on having a more mature, well-rounded style of writing that can help you to understand music and video themes better.

I'm not abandoning some of my favourite things, I am simply adapting and changing things slightly to fit my current style of blogging and writing. It will be weird to focus a lot less on Pic Spams, but I anticipate fuller reviews with better research, and much more focus on themes and theories. Hopefully, this will allow my love for Idols and writing to grow even more, and I hope even more that it will let this blog grow more than it already has.

I am sure I will think of other things to introduce to this blog in the long run, tbut for now, these are the things I have contemplated and felt were necessary topics to discuss or bring up. I look forward to working on some better quality reviews for you guys, and I further look forward to introducing some polls and the like for future album and single reviews that you can vote on!

Until next time everyone, thank you for reading and supporting the blog, as well as myself. I truly appreciate it!

Take care, love your Idols and rest well.

Aurevoir until the next post,
Chiima