Sure I’m sitting here, chewing Rolaids as I drink my beer after a long day at the office, but hey man, that’s working life. Sure it’s been busy as hell and I’ve struggled even to get a review up every day, and the thought of the semester beginning (which it does tomorrow, Sept. 2) has horrified me to the point of lost sleep all week, but isn’t that what I signed up for?

Apparently yes, it is. I think about where this site was two months ago, or even one month ago, in that pastoral Vermont space that feels a hundred years away now, and take my solace in the fact that hits are up for the first time since May. And Yahoo‘s quoted 17,435 isn’t much more than July’s 17,053, but I’ll happily take it. Thanks for reading and for coming back.

According to the powers that be (i.e. Google) the site had 22,046 page views from all 50 American states and 112 countries abroad on all six inhabitable continents, including places as far away from my little river valley as Pakistan, Laos and Oman. Thank you all for visiting. I hope you liked what you saw.

If this last month brought tumult (and it did), September is going to be even crazier. Here’s a quick rundown:

The Maple Forum: The Kings Destroy record, titled And the Rest Will Surely Perish, goes to press this month. I’ve listened to the finished album and it’s seriously one of the best records I’ve heard all year. I don’t know what else to say about it than that. I can’t wait for you to dig on this band the way I’ve been digging on them.

In the meantime, I have one copy of Roareth‘s Acts I-VI left available for purchase. Anyone interested can hear and pick it up via this link. Ignore that headline though, because there is in fact only one left, and then my supply is gone.

Podcasting: That the Small Stone podcast was downloaded 57 times in its first two days live I consider a success and thank you for that. I have a theme picked out for October and it’s going to seem completely random when it’s executed, but I’m going to have fun with it and that’s all there is to it.

Facebook: If you have a Facebook page, well, me too. Here’s mine. Hit me up. I’ve gotten some very kind comments on there from people who’ve been reading the site and really, that means more than I can say. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Interviews: Oh, do I still do those? Yes, I do. Yawning Man goes live tomorrow, Friday at the latest, and there’s Man’s Gin and Masters of Reality in the can, plus, I spoke to Bob Pantella of Riotgod/Monster Magnet/The Atomic Bitchwax today, and that ruled, so it’ll be up in the coming weeks as well. Lots of good stuff to come there.

Reviews: Hard to see past my own typing hands as far as this goes, but on the docket are records from Kylesa, Del Rey, Poobah, Dusted Angel, BXI, Hypnos 69, Bibilic Blood, High Watt Electrocutions and more, so stay tuned.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I can think of. If posts are light the next couple days, I apologize. The Aquarian is on early deadline for Labor Day and as I may have mentioned, class starts tomorrow, so please bear with me and understand I’m doing the best I can. The contact form works now. Feel free to get in touch.

Thank you as always, and as we move into the Fall, I’m gladder than ever to call this site my home.

Sincerely,
JJ Koczan
Heaping Potbelly Taskmaster

If you want to get in touch, use the Contact link in the sidebar. Or, if you’re Facebook-inclined, there’s always that. Also, the comments have apparently been broken the last few days. They’re fixed now too. Wonderful thing, this internet. If you want to get in touch to tell me to review your band, please do so.

Click here or on the Facebook logo to go to The Obelisk‘s new page over there. I’m hoping that posts that appear here will be able to show up on the Facebook page, but who knows if that’s actually going to work. Honestly, I’m way out of my league in dealing with this technology. I can’t even handle real-life socializing, let alone internet-type interaction, but I’ll do my best and we’ll all see how it works out.

I still also have the MySpace page, but I don’t really check that either, so now I’ll have two social networking sites to ignore. Maybe if I can get up the gumption I’ll start a Twitter page and complete the unholy trinity.

I figured given the comedown between May and June that there’d be a chance we’d hit 17,000 for the month of July, and sure enough, at the last possible moment, we got there. Nothing like a little suspense to keep things interesting. As usual, I watched the ticker tape roll in at three in the morning, waiting for the final tally. Oh my, it was a thrill.

Okay, maybe not with the ticker and all that, but I am stoked at the fact that people still come here and check out what’s going on. It’s wild. Especially this month, when I wasn’t really around as much, what with the Vermont trip and focusing on other writing and whatnot. I’m still here, actually, in the Ludlow, Vermont, public library. The Patient Mrs. and I are set to leave on Saturday, allowing plenty of time for me to get to check out Earthride and Valkyrie at Ace of Clubs. Gonna be a blast.

It’s been a good, productive month, which was the point in coming here in the first place. Still, there’s a lot of news for August coming up, so let’s do a quick rundown:

Interviews: I’m just about caught up, which means I need to do some more, but I’ve still got Against Nature and Yawning Man in the can waiting to be transcribed, so look for those in the next couple of weeks. Both were really interesting conversations and I’m looking forward to bringing them to you.

Real Life: As I alluded to the other day, I’ve had a change in my life situation, and by that I mean I got a job. Actually, I got my old job. Starting August 16 (also the day my second nephew is due to be born), I’ll be working day-to-day as the Managing Editor of The Aquarian Weekly, where I was previously tenured from 2004-2007. Kind of nuts to be going back, and I know it’s going to be shaky balancing that, this site and school, but I can do it. I never liked sleeping much anyway.

The Maple Forum: I’ll have a big announcement this week about The Maple Forum‘s second release. It’s not slated to be out until October, so if you think it’s soon, it’s not really all that soon, and it’s the last one I’m planning for 2010, so there you go. It’s killer though and I’m crazy stoked to be working with this band, so definitely stay tuned.

Roareth: Acts I-VI has been a huge success. I’ve only got 11 copies left — if you want one, click here — and so far the response has been really positive. I’m going to put the whole album up this week for free streaming, so if you’re the type of person who likes to hear stuff before they buy it, you’ll have your chance. I’m glad I got my copy.

Where to Start: If you have a question about a band or a scene and you’re looking to find out where to start, leave a comment and let me know. I’m glad to see those posts are among the most popular on the site, since I take that to mean people are finding them useful. I certainly hope that’s the case, anyway. More to come there.

Podcasting: The August podcast seems to have been pretty well received, which I’m glad for. I already know what I’m doing for September, but if anyone has any suggestions for themes or requests for what they want to hear, again, leave a comment and let me know. I’m more than happy to oblige to the best of my ability. The way I see it, I owe you guys pretty huge.

I feel good going into August, which I know is going to be a turbulent month. But hell, they all are, one way or another. In any case, thank you as always for coming along on this trip. It’s been a killer ride so far.

Sincerely,
JJ Koczan
Hopping Philistine Taskmaster

So June wasn’t so great. At least not as compared to May. And the gradual upward trend that I saw as the march to 30,000 hits a month pretty much hit a wall. Okay, fair enough. Keeps me humble, reminds me that at the end of the day I’m just an irrelevant dude sitting in front of a computer all afternoon writing reviews and talking up bands. Hey, that’s pretty much what I signed up for when I created that WordPress account.

Still got to 20,000, which is great as far as I’m concerned and still more than I thought I’d ever get, so that’s a plus. Still visits from every state in the US and 108 countries around the world. And it’s summer, just because I’m not doesn’t mean other people aren’t outside, actually doing things. Yeah, that’s the ticket. When the site’s kicking ass, it’s because I rule and understand this music better than anyone in the world, and when it’s down it’s because people have just decided to enjoy the weather. Totally. That makes sense, right?

Whatever. You have to move past it. July is busy as hell. I’ll be in the studio with Kings Destroy this weekend as they record their debut full-length with Sanford Parker in Hoboken, and we’ll have interviews with Zoroaster, Gozu, Against Nature, Yakuza and Hawkwind — that’s right, Dave Brock spoke to my irrelevant ass. Takest thou that, disbelievers. Here’s more:

Adventure: As a way to get writing done, The Patient Mrs. and I have rented a cabin in the woods of Vermont for July 7 through August 7. If you’re thinking that all I ever do is write anyway, you’re correct, but I’m thinking story-type writing, stuff for school and whatnot. What that means for The Obelisk is a reshuffling of my priorities. I’ll still be posting every day throughout July, but it might be one or two posts instead of five or six. Or three, or five. I don’t know yet, but I have a shitload of work that needs to get done and I’m going to make the time to do it one way or another. I’ll probably take some pictures and write about it on here as well.

Where to Start: This is, in fact, going to be a regular feature. There may even be a new one today if I can find the time, since I love that they seem to really spark a discussion in the way regular reviews don’t. Any requests for Where to Start pieces, leave a comment.

The Maple Forum: As of Tuesday, the manufacturing process on the Roareth CDs has begun. I can’t imagine they’ll be here before I leave for Vermont, but I’ll be back in the valley a couple times over the course of the month for shows and whathaveyou, so I’ll have them up for sale as soon as possible.

Podcast: The all-Brit podcast leaves the top page spot today. This week it was downloaded a whopping 42 times. If anyone knows a way to stream it in the sidebar, I’d be eager to know about it. I’d like to have the audio more immediately available to anyone who wants to listen.

Thanks for reading and being a part of this ongoing experiment.

Sincerely,
Helcoid Probleminious Taskmaster
JJ Koczan

Thanks to everyone who checked in over the weekend. It came down to the wire, but yesterday morning, we passed April’s total to wind up with 22,457 page views for the month of May. I know that’s not so much more than April, but if you think about it, April was action-fucking-packed, with travel to San Francisco and The Netherlands, whereas May was pretty much just the normal day-to-day. Beating April’s numbers even with nothing really out of the norm means more to me than it otherwise might. Thank you.

According to Google, which I’m using for everything but the actual numbers at this point (though I should use theirs, since they’re higher than Yahoo‘s), The Obelisk had visits between May 1 and 31 from every state in the US and over 110 other countries around the world — even Bangladesh! Hello, Dhaka!

Not sure what’s up with Central Africa, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Burma not showing up. Come on guys, get with the program! It’s not like there’s anything devastating to humanity going on in those areas or anything…

I’ll try and keep this short (and probably fail, as usual). There are a lot of good things coming up for June. I’ll have interviews with Fatso Jetson — it happened — Stone Axe, Eyehategod, The Melvins and more, and I’m in a perpetual state of being behind on reviews, so there’s going to be a shit-ton of those as well. Here’s the updates:

Shirts: I’m getting tired of saying “I’m on it” every month and then doing nothing, which is a good sign. As of right now, I’m slated to go to New Brunswick on Thursday and I’ll talk to the printer then.

Roareth: Yeah, so you know how The Maple Forum‘s first release was set to be out in May? Heh. So much for that. Roareth, following an injury to their vocalist that delayed the recording, are in the mixing stage now. On my agenda for the day is to email Aaron for an update, so I should hopefully have that by tomorrow.

audiObelisk: I’m glad so many of you downloaded and hopefully enjoyed the Dio-cast. That was really great. If you didn’t see it, the June podcast is up, and it’s the Man’s Ruin tribute. If anyone knows Frank Kozik, please forward it along. I haven’t been brave enough to email him and ask for an interview yet. To anyone who voted for the British-only podcast, that’ll be coming later this month as the July transmission.

On the Radar: It’s starting to feel a little stale to me. If you dig the On the Radar section, please speak up. I like finding new bands, but MySpace tracks always sound like shit and are hard to review. If you think it’s worth it, I’ll keep it going, but I’d just as soon find another way to explore unheard acts. If you have a suggestion for how I might do that (short of hosting demos, which I don’t have the bandwidth to do), please let me know. I have some ideas.

Buried Treasure: At some point, after the UK podcast, I’m going to do a “Best of Buried Treasure” compilation of tracks from purchases I’ve made over the last year-plus. I’m looking forward to that. I’ll also be staying in Vermont for most of the month of July, so if anyone knows any good stores up that way, I’d love to visit a couple shops while I’m there. More on that later.

Alright, I think that’s about it. Thanks again to everyone who checked in during May. I love the forward momentum this site has. I know it’s summer now and people are going to go outside and not necessarily spend their entire day on the internet (though I have no idea why they’d do such a thing), but I’ll be here, so please keep The Obelisk in mind as you go about your business or whathaveyou.

Humbled as ever,
JJ Koczan
Happenstance Pituitary Taskmaster

I’ve posted on this site one thousand times — and in no way is that depressing.

Just a quick note to say thanks for making the first 1,000 so special. Here’s looking forward to the next…

April was pure American hedonism. It was what my life would be like all the time if I was endowed with the kind of immortal wealth our culture seems to promise to everyone and only transfer from old white men to other old white men. I traveled, I spent ridiculous amounts of money, I had great times, saw great shows, and genuinely felt the music I love as an extension of my person. That doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s fucking magical when it does.

As you can see from the number above (the big 22,035, in case you missed it), that’s even more than March’s numbers were. This is thanks to Roadburn. When my posts about the festival and the shenanigans being stuck in Europe and the UK for as long as I was got posted over on Roadburn‘s site, I got 1,290 hits in a single day, and that’s the most ever. Thanks to them for that. It was an amazing experience and if you’ve never been to Tilburg, well, go.

San Francisco early in the month and Michigan this past weekend were killer as well, though the latter has left my travel-weary immune system with a vicious cough/sore throat combo that’s more or less got me on my ass. Won’t affect the site any, so it’s not really a concern, but it has kept me (and The Patient Mrs.) up nights, so there’s that. Still, no regrets.

Here are a couple quick notes for the next month:

T-Shirts: The design is done and it rules. I’m going to the printer Thursday. Hopefully in the next week or two you’ll be able to buy them. It’s not gonna be anything fancy, just a Paypal link, but it should get the job done. And since I know the plight of the larger dude, plus sizes will be available.

audiObelisk: The April podcast was a huge success and has renewed my faith in the endeavor of podcasting. The next one should be coming this weekend. If that’s not the case, I’ll let you know.

The Maple Forum: Roareth hit the studio this weekend with Tad Doyle to record Acts I-VI and the rough mixes I’ve heard are pretty damn heavy. Looking forward to getting the discs manufactured and posting the finished product. Like the t-shirt, you’ll be able to buy it here and directly from the band.

Contests: Anyone interested in winning free shit? I’ve been kicking around the idea for a while. It would require me hitting up labels and/or bands for free shit to give away, but if you think you’d be into the idea of contests (would probably be a trivia question or something like that), let me know and I’ll see what I can put together.

I think beyond that, we’re back to business as usual for May. Later today I hope to post the Primordial interview, so look out for that, and still on the docket are Phil Anselmo and Barren Earth, and I’m hoping to confirm plenty more in the next couple weeks once I’m caught up, so keep an eye out.

You know, the one thing from the Pentagram interview that’s really stuck with me (aside from all the hilarious parts) was when Bobby Liebling talked about knowing why he’s blessed. For anyone who missed it, he’s blessed because he’s alive and has a hot wife less than half his age. But it made me think about my own situation and I’ve come to realize that, at this moment, things are fucking great.

What I know about the good times is they don’t last (and according to Orange Goblin, the bad times can get you high), but with life, work and school, this site, The Patient Mrs., everything seems to be heading in the right direction and I couldn’t feel better about it if I tried. No, I really couldn’t. It’s a cap and trade system.

The point I’m making — as usual — is thanks. I’ll stop rambling now and get back to work.

Cheers from the valley,
JJ Koczan
Hoodie Phobia Taskmaster

Yeah, I have business cards now. 13 minutes of graphic design work on my part paid off. The Patient Mrs. had them printed up yesterday. I’m not quite sure how they ended up so yellow and black, but screw it, hardly anyone knows Stryper anymore, so I should be safe. Just thought it was funny and figured I’d share. Plus, anyone looking for my email address because the contact form sucks ass, there it is.

Simply put, March’s numbers are the kind I never thought The Obelisk would see when I started it up. To think, just 13 months after going live with this site, we broke 20,000 page views in a single month. With no advertising, no paid promotion. And sure, we didn’t break 20,000 by much, but what the fuck. I’m not about to rain on my own parade here. This is fucking incredible and I can’t thank you enough for the support you’ve shown this endeavor. 20,000. Shit. I’m gonna have to start paying attention to my spelling.

Or, more likely, not.

Of course, numbers like these wouldn’t have been possible without the Bobby Liebling interview, which aside from upsetting some ex-members of the band, also resulted in the biggest single-day digits The Obelisk has ever seen, and the premiere of “Za Gamman” from Solace‘s new album, A.D., which did not too shabby either in that regard. I hope some of those who showed up first to catch either of those stick around, but the internet is fickle and we’ll see how it goes.

Big things in store for April, though. Interviews with Brant Bjork, Cathedral‘s Lee Dorrian, Barren Earth, Sasquatch, Phased and several others are already done and just waiting to be posted. And don’t forget Roadburn, which will be covered here and on the festival’s blog. I’m hoping to work in some killer multimedia-type stuff, but don’t want to give too much away until it’s confirmed. In the meantime, here’s what else is in store:

The Maple Forum: Yeah, that’s right, I’ve got a label now. The focus is short-run, limited, collectible releases that I’m passionate about, and most likely — since I don’t see this as being something that I’ll ever break even on — they’ll be few and far between. Basically, the dudes from Seattle‘s Roareth asked me to help them put out their upcoming record and touched on my “I’ve always wanted to start a label” nerve. The disc will be out in May (hopefully — you never know), and will be sold here and, with any luck, a few other places around these crazy internets. You’ll see a label page linked in the sidebar shortly.

audiObelisk: Since I’m currently in San Francisco, the podcast is going to have to wait until next week, and even more likely, next weekend. But that’s more timely for what I want to do anyway, so I’m looking at it as a good thing. I think you’ll dig what’s coming though.

Merch: The t-shirt design should be finalized hopefully within the next week, and then it’ll be delivered into the capable hands of The Patient Mrs., who will take it in for screenprinting. If you didn’t see the rough sketch, check it out here. Needless to say, I’m ridiculously stoked on how it looks and can’t wait to get the finished thing in my hands.

Other than that, I’m just gonna keep doing what I’ve been doing. I can’t remember the last time I did something Monday to Friday for over a year straight with no real break and enjoyed it as much as I’ve been enjoying this, so maybe this is what I should be doing. Fuck it, dude. Who needs income anyway?

Thank you all again for the support, the kind words in the comments (and periodic fact corrections). I don’t know where all this is going, but so far I’m having a blast finding out.

Cheers from San Fran,
JJ Koczan
Hot Potato Taskmaster

Of course, it needs to be finalized (and yes, in the finished version the wizard will have a beard), but below you can check out the basic design sketch of what will hopefully sooner than later become The Obelisk‘s first t-shirt. As promised, it features a wizard fighting a grizzly bear. If there is anything cooler in the world that can go on a t-shirt, I’d love to hear what it is.

There will be an Obelisk logo atop the image like the one in the header of this page, and of course it will all be inked and finished looking and whatnot, but that’s the basic idea. Note the obelisk sticking up in the background at the top left. Fucking awesome. Special thanks to Ryan Lesser of the band Megasus (review, interview) for the design work. Life is awesome sometimes.

Special thanks goes to out Blabbermouth for posting snippets of the Bobby Liebling interview below. With their support (and the support of the sundry news sites that feed from them like birds on the backs of rhinos), The Obelisk was able yesterday to surpass 1,000 page views in a single day for the first time. That’s even more than when I interviewed Dave Chandler from Saint Vitus. The final tally was 1,182 for the day.

According to Google, we had visits from 50 countries, including as far away from the valley as Morocco, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, India, The Philippines, and New Zealand. And hey to the one dude in Panama who checked in too.

Many thanks to all who stopped by. Hope one or two of you dug it enough the first time to come back and see this. Doom on.

Goodness gracious. The upward trend that’s been going since September of last year continued in February, with 14,968 page views. I was holding my breath last night to see if we’d get over 15,000, but since 14,000 was my goal for the month — and it seemed an unrealistic one at that, since it was a shorter month — I was thrilled to see the numbers land where they did. 14,968. Wow.

There were a lot of small changes put in effect over the last month, from the advertising thing to the line spacing and other tiny tweaks, but if anyone’s objected, I haven’t heard about it. Overall, I look at The Obelisk today and think of where it was a year ago and can’t believe how it’s evolved and level of interest that it’s been given. Unreal. Just imagine where we’ll be a year from now.

A couple quick notes to run down:

Merch: The shirt design that I thought was coming hadn’t begun yet, so it’s going to be a while more. Typical stoner rock miscommunication. For me, that’s the stuff of life at this point. But anyway, we should be back on track now and getting things moving. Yes, the shirt will feature a wizard fighting a grizzly bear. No, I have no idea what that will look like yet.

Podcasting: The February podcast (“An Ode to Fuzz”) did considerably worse than its predecessor in terms of downloads and all that. I don’t have a way to track streaming activity, so I can only get a sense through comments and download numbers (which is why I’m always asking for comments on the podcasts). I’ll be keeping an eye on the March one — in my opinion, the best of the bunch — and deciding whether it’s worth my time to continue podcasting based on that and probably next month’s.

Roadburn: After much back and forth with The Patient Mrs., she finally got drunk enough to buy me a plane ticket to The Netherlands, which means I’ll once again be covering the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg. Goatsnake, Los Natas, Garcia Plays Kyuss, YOB (twice), House of Broken Promises, Samsara Blues Experiment and about a million more. I am stoked beyond belief, and all the more so, because the kind folks behind the festival have asked me to do my reporting for their very own blog in addition to The Obelisk. Tickets are sold out, but if you’re going, I’d love to meet you there. I’ll be the fat American dude with the beard. Oh yeah, and I’ll have a black t-shirt on.

Review and interview-wise, there’s a lot of great stuff coming up. Later today I’ll be knee-deep in some surprisingly killer space rock from Virginia, but hopefully in the next week or so albums from Johnny Cash, Demontage and Lair of the Minotaur will also be tackled. Maybe I’ll even get to that High on Fire record one of these days. I’ll be introducing you to my favorite unsigned band in the country, and (again, hopefully) nailing down interviews with The Wounded Kings, Sasquatch, The Brought Low, Phased, Asteroid (just waiting on them to return the email questions), Cathedral and maybe even a certain legendary Maryland doomer known as much for his lifestyle off-stage as for his James Brown impression on it. All tentative (well, the reviews are pretty much a lock), but that’s just a sampling of why it’s worth sticking around for March.

In fact, why doesn’t everyone just stay here and click refresh every seven seconds or so? You’re bound to run into something awesome sooner or later.

I’ll cut it here and just say thanks again for helping make this site what it is. I’m looking forward to seeing where we go next.

Covered in fuzz,
JJ Koczan
Hock Ptooey Taskmaster

…I know that’s pretty much the lamest Sabbath song ever, but at least it’s appropriate. Observant attendees will note a couple changes around here from over the weekend, which were alluded to in the anniversary update. Here’s a quick rundown:

First: The ads. Yeah, they’re over there. They exist. I tried to make them as minimally invasive as possible, and I hope it worked. A big thank you to Patrick Slevin of The Aquarian Weekly for helping me do what I know there’s no way I would have been able to accomplish on my own in putting that all together.

Second: The line-spacing in between lines of text was widened just a bit. Hopefully this makes The Obelisk look a little less compressed and more readable. If that’s not the case, please let me know. More likely, I’m the only person who’s ever thought about it one way or the other.

Third: The category headings in the sidebar are bigger, and there’s a “What People Dig” heading. That just shows the most popular posts people have been viewing. The bigger headings hopefully make it easier to navigate around here. Thanks again to Slevin for that.

Fourth: The contact page has a new email form which should make it more efficient for anyone who wants to get in touch. The future is now. Actually, the future is like five years ago, but it takes me a while to catch up. Why not drop me an email and tell me how behind the times I am?

Of course, you can always leave a comment to that effect too. I read those pretty regularly.

Thanks for your patience and for reading. Here’s a live Monster Magnet video of them doing “Zodiac Lung” and “Negasonic Teenage Warhead” from 1995, just because:

Well, it’s been a year now since I launched The Obelisk. I’ve been wracking my brain for something to say other than “thanks” for the whole weekend and continue to come up empty, so I’ll stick with that. Thanks.

January 2010 was our best month yet, with 13,574 hits in 31 days. Pretty powerful stuff, and the upward trend continues to astound me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. If you missed the January podcast, please feel free to check it out here, and as I seem to say every month, there’s more great stuff to come, so stick around. On the immediate docket are interviews with Floor, Dead Meadow, Droids Attack, Asteroid and, coming later today, Saint Vitus. So yeah, good things are happening.

I had no idea last year when I began putting this site together that it would be received the way it has, and while I know it’s far from the end-all-be-all of internet popularity, the consistent and loyal readership/commentship/etc. has helped me really understand the point in doing all this in the first place. It was a crazy year, but I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be, doing what I should be, and for ending up in such a position I feel incredibly lucky.

I’ve alluded to changes down the pike, and I feel like it’s time to discuss a few of them briefly, just so everything’s in the open going forward:

Advertising: I’ve signed up for Google AdSense, and as soon as I can get the code up and integrate it with Analytics, there will be ads on this site. That is the way it has to be if I’m to continue the kind of posting I’ve been doing. Please know that probably more money than I’ll ever make from ads will be spent on CDs for review and Buried Treasure purposes, and if you find the ads intrusive, understand that I’ve tried to make them as minimally so as possible. As for banner ads and things like that, I’m not there yet.

Podcasting: Will now be a regular, monthly thing as best as possible. If I slip one month, don’t hold it against me, but to the best of my abilities, there should be a new one right around the middle of each month. We’ll see how it goes.

Merch: I have a t-shirt design coming, and I don’t want to give too much away, but it might just feature a wizard fighting a grizzly bear. More on that soon.

Graphics: One of the things I like best about this site is that the look of it isn’t intrusive and reading the pages doesn’t give me a headache. Keeping that in mind there are small improvements design-wise I’m going to see if I can’t pull together. I’m not a graphic artist by any stretch, but I’m not going for anything too fancy anyway. If something looks slightly tweaked, don’t be surprised.

Suggestions: I know I’ve said this before, but I really want to make it clear. If there’s something you want to see that I’m not doing (and that it makes any sense for me to do), please let me know at jj (atsign) theobelisk (dot) net.

That’s all I can think of in the immediate, but if there’s anything else, I’ll let you know. Thank you again for your support of The Obelisk in its first year. I hope this note finds you well, and that whatever you’re doing, you’re enjoying it as much as I’m enjoying this. If you run into me at the bar, next round’s on me.

In riffs,
JJ Koczan
Humble Pie Taskmaster