Gatlin

well if you search around via his real name Wesley H. you could probably find it written somewhere

ahhh english majors the worst

he also has a really funny personal backstory I've heard from someone who knows him, but that story is not site appropriate

He's very obsessed with punctuality. Pretty much all of his fans laugh at it [except not directly on his site otherwise he FREAKS out, he is an overly defensive person, which is also funny].

Hard to pick for me, I'd have to go with Peanut/Fox/Max/King/ and Res, even though he was only around for a little while.

That is what I love about Rick though is that he actually is a loyal comic maker, I find his "late notices" funny.

Fido/King/Fox = my favz

and yeah rick is always good about getting those updates in, and when he's late (like tonight) he makes a news post giving an ETA, he's so deadline crazy lol

I'm a strong proponent of "Dance In The Dark is a terrible song".

I would have like ones for Fido and Fox.

saw your edit!

housepets valentines cards are cute

rick does a good job

born this way sounds most like dance in the dark when it comes to other gaga songs; but unlike dance in the dark it doesn't sounds like overproduced outdated album filler garbage!

lol my bad, posted on my own wall, haha.

I never really cared for MGMT with their previous album. It was like, Kids was good but Time To Pretend was boring. Then this CD came out and I downloaded it on a whim, listened through it once and wasn't impressed. Revisited it maybe once a month for a few months. Then eventually it was "oh this is decent, maybe I'll pay attention to the individual tracks and chart them" and I've really enjoyed it. Sometimes I like weird songs, like XXXO by M.I.A. went #1 on my chart too.

Never bothered watching the music video for Flash Delirium until you pointed it out, so I went and did and it's alright.

I was prepared for Lady Gaga's new song; that is: I hadn't charted any of her songs since May of last year and came in with very low expectations. Whereas with Britney I came in with very high expectations for Hold It Against Me. I think both songs are probably about as good, but I'm able to enjoy Born This Way a lot more than Hold It Against Me. The difference is I set a high mark for Britney, which she didn't meet and thus I couldn't like it. I set a low mark for Gaga, which she easily met and thus I ended up liking it. Hype matters sometimes (silly psychology). I've tried to like Hold It Against Me, but I just usually end up skipping it when it comes on because I get bored a minute in. Neither song is really anything special though.

Good luck with the chart, it'll be fun to look at.

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Good luck with that!

To help explain things, my charts are dated as following (I'll just use all my charts from this year that I've shown you):
01.01.11 -> Represents listening week of "12.26.10, 12.27.10, 12.28.10, 12.29.10, 12.30.10, 12.31.10, 01.01.11"
01.08.11 -> Represents listening week of "01.02.11...01.08.11"
01.15.11 -> Represents listening week of "01.09.11...01.15.11"
01.22.11 -> Represents listening week of "01.16.11...01.22.11"
01.29.11 -> Represents listening week of "01.23.11...01.29.11"
02.05.11 -> Represents listening week of "01.30.11...02.05.11"

Probably didn't need to say them all, but just wanted to make sure it's clear.

yeah, the 'most listened to' usually isn't a good factor imo; mainly because of the whole 'active listening' vs. 'passive listening' thing that happens to everyone

I pretty much have a list of 50 songs; move them up and down throughout the week; toss in new songs throughout the week, remove ones I'm tired of & whatever its at at the end of the week is the raw & then I do some points stuff [since I can't really say I enjoyed my #1 50x more than my #50 song & I can't say I enjoyed my #1 song of the week of March 3rd the exact same amount I enjoyed the #1 song of October 6th. ]

I don't use playcounts as a determining factor.

lemme just copy a FAQ from another site real quick:


----------
So what's this "personal chart" thing you guys do?
A personal chart is a list of a person's favorite songs over a certain time period. Almost all personal charts are done on a weekly basis, like national radio and sales charts are done. However, they can also be done daily, monthly, biweekly, etc., whatever a person is comfortable with. I think the best way to describe a personal chart is that it's kinda like an RPG game you might find on a forum. Except rather than being based on a video game or book or something like that, it's based on music.

Are they based on iTunes spins or something like that?
Not exactly. Almost all charts are simply arbitrary lists based on the whims of whoever's compiling it. However, some people like to use the "Most Played" lists on their MP3 players or computers as their chart. And I'm sure others probably refer to them to see how to move certain songs, or whatever way a person wants to use it to influence their chart.

Do they have to be done a certain way?
As the first two questions have alluded, not at all. That's the beauty of a personal chart. It's totally in your control. You determine how songs will move, how many positions the chart will have, if you want songs removed after a certain point, whatever you want.

This all seems really complicated. How long does it usually take to do this?
Generally, not too long, although it all depends on the length of your chart, and if you think about it ahead of time. I'd say for me, it usually takes about 15-20 minutes a week to compile my top 40 chart. Of course, like with any personal chart, it all depends on the individual.

Do I have to have only current singles on my chart?
Not if you don't want to. Most charts done here tend to include only current singles, but some people like to include album cuts or any other songs that strike their fancy. You can even include an entire album of songs on your chart if you want to. But no, songs don't necessarily have to be released singles if you wish to include them on your chart.
----------

just ctrl+N & name it the chart date it's representing

tis k :king:

yeah I think a big thing in music is connectivity & repeatability in addition to just being enjoyable. i mean, yeah something might seem really 'artistic' and such, but if most people really don't understand/connect/relate to the song then yeah, it's not gonna stick with people. some people might criticize lyrics to popular songs, but those are the lyrics that people can actually understand/relate to, which is usually what people want in addition to being enjoyable

yeah I can answer any questions you have about making them

and I edited your profile so your VMs should be working fine now

Animal Collective is okay, nothing really special imo. I know a lot of people who like/have liked them. But yeah the people who abandon them just because more people like them is always silly. When I like something I'm always rooting for it to become more popular, mainly because I feel the artist deserves it. And yeah, things have some similarities, and sometimes they are carbon copies of each other; but its not really common.

For a good near-carbon copy spree listen to the instrumentals of: TiK ToK, California Gurls, We R Who We R, Who Dat Girl, and Kick Us Out. Especially the beginning of each. But oh well, it happens when 4/5 of them are Dr. Luke songs.

Have fun with the personal chart making, you can always ask me/steel/firus if you need any tips on setting it up.

Haha, nah it was a good babblefest, I like a lot of those views. A lot of people just have weird opinions on music. I was talking to someone once who wanted to look at my personal chart or whatever and he was like "I don't understand how I can agree with you on so many viewpoints and yet you listen to music that I'd expect only the mindless masses to." On his own he listened to some of the songs, he said he liked one but felt bad for liking it and didn't let himself enjoy it because there wasn't like some deeper meaning or something. People should just listen to what they enjoy and not forcing standards upon themselves (or others) like that.

The charts are just made via setting up playlists in iTunes, screencapping, and some basic image editing in MSPaint.

And yeah, there will always be people doing music charts. I know people who have been doing them for decades and can reference their personal charts from like the 1980s. It's not uncommon for people who really enjoy music to want to keep track of what they liked. Makes me just wish I had started earlier myself. And I've met people whose personal charts are typical mainstream, country, rythmic/urban, heavy metal, techno/dance, etc... And they are always still interesting to follow. People who make charts for different genres are usually a lot less close-minded than people who don't when it comes to genres they don't like and are usually a lot more interesting to talk to and more knowledgeable than people who don't. That's not a rule though, there are always exceptions for both sides of the field.

Well the people who dropped Linkin Park were the people who were more on the Active Rock side of things (as opposed to Alternative Rock). It reflects on radio as well. Active Rock stations don't play Linkin Park music anymore, while Alternative Rock stations do spin Linkin Park very heavily. CHR & Hot AC also are giving Linkin Park some spins, albeit not much, but pretty good rotation for a rock band. Active Rock has really moved on anyway more towards Indie music anyway. It's how bands like MGMT and Vampire Weekend actually get airplay and good album sales. Regardless, the thing that annoys me most is when people say they don't like Linkin Park's new music because they 'sold out' instead of just admitting that they personally don't like it. ATS is not radio friendly for any format really. The structure for WFTE is completely off base of anything that could be 'formulaic' and when that is one of the most radio-friendly songs on your album, it isn't because you 'sold-out to get hits on mainstream radio'. I would have been bored with Linkin Park long ago if every album they put out was a Hybrid Theory repeat like some people want. But luckily LP is awesome enough to not care and just do what they what instead.

And yes, those are weekly personal charts. There are people here who do do them, and I did make the group in hopes of seeing if anyone on SWF would be interested. But ultimately it didn't really catch on here; so I just stuck to actual music sites where personal charts & global charts are common. The crowd on SWF doesn't seem to be hardcore stat-tracking type, and especially not when it comes to music.

Well if you care to look through, this pretty much sums up this year thus far in music for me:

[collapse=2011][collapse=01.01.11][/collapse][collapse=01.08.11][IMG][/collapse][collapse=01.15.11][IMG][/collapse][collapse=01.22.11][IMG][/collapse][collapse=01.29.11][IMG][/collapse][collapse=01.05.11][IMG][/collapse][/collapse]

So we'd probably get along in most regards on the music subject I'd assume. ;)

Especially the Linkin Park comment. Have been, are, and always will be my favourite band. I can never really say that I have a favourite artist, but for bands and music altogether if I could only pick one music act to listen to for the rest of forever, it'd be them. Haven't had an album I don't like (whereas most people who were Linkin Park fans tend to say they hate the new stuff, which saddens me).

Haha, I used to be the moderator of the Fox boards. Always one of the worst boards, good luck getting in there!

I'm open to most things, I can be pretty phasic sometimes though; and definitely have gone through quite a few music phases in my life. I particularly enjoy where I am now with it.

dGames constantly has a sign-up thread where there are always 2 games taking sign-ups [1 large & 1 small] if you're wanting to get in, you can always go in there and just go "/in next small" or "/in next large"

Yeah those rooms I'm not really in touch with and never really have been, but I know people who frequent them so I know they're good.

listen to music mainly

sup gatlin, where do you post on the boards anyway, too lazy to stalk your post history haha

haha, you'll learn his update schedule, he tries so hard to keep up with it

The comments are fun to read through! :D

He updates 1AM EST on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. ;D

wait until you see Res!

haha looks like you've settled on :king:

he's actually the most-afraid-of-ever-being-late-with-an-update webcomic author ever

like every other webcomic authors might randomly miss some or be late and not make it a big deal; rick on the other hand will update the front page being all "sorry the comic is going to be like 10 minutes late tonight!" or something; he's dreadfully concerned about being late as if he's on a deadline for his own webcomic or something, it's funny

it's a very easy-to-read webcomic; there are a healthy balance of arcs and one-shots that allows for there to be some plot/character development without becoming to focused on the plot and deviating from its true fun webcomic-ness

I just copy a comic into paint if I like the expression and crop the face for an avi.

it generally gets better as his art improves

they aren't reserved lol

thanks yo