May 31, 2018

Honorable Mention: Day Blogs

I don't know what it is about Blogger that allures people so fiercely for such a short amount of time, but I have seen so many blogs that were started and never lasted longer than a day. I thought I would mention a few here. Most of them look promising if you don't think about the fact that the only post is years old.


1. Angels Fall, Darling (http://midnightazia.blogspot.com/)
For a thirteen year-old, this youngling is a brilliant poet. It seems like she just wanted to post some poetry late one January evening.


2. Wednesdays and Rain (http://anotherboringwednesday.blogspot.com/)
Although this isn't technically a day blog, it shares many similarities with the previous blogger, so I wanted to include this week-blog in the list. The blog centers around a high-school girl named Wednesday. Yet another youngling that had enough emotions to merit posting on the web. As a note, her blog theme appears to be somewhat glitched. It's probably out of date.


3. Gubble Bum (http://gubblebumlove123.blogspot.com/)
I'm beginning to see a pattern in the age/sex of those who make day-blogs. This thirteen year-old girl created her blog not too long ago, compared to most of the other blogs I've seen. Glad to know blogging culture isn't dead.


4. Xox_bRiiT_xoX  (http://brittanylovescorey.blogspot.com/)
I have referenced this blog before in one of my posts, and it is one of the older blogs in my collection. It looked promising.


5. My Better Life (http://intro-lizzo.blogspot.com/)
This blog fascinated me for reasons I won't go into. But suffice to say, it's another day blog. This one does break the pattern of day-bloggers being minors, though.


Before actually compiling this list, I didn't notice any patterns. However, looking on it now it seems that most of the day-blogs I've seen are by women, most of whom were young.


If you know of any interesting day-blogs, feel free to drop links in the comments. Already this blog has lasted longer than these other blogs did. I hope that's a good sign.


Long live the Prince

May 28, 2018

Simple Subtraction: Ainsblog-Blog=Ainsley

I really don't have much to say about this, but I thought it warranted mention: There once was a gal named Ainsly. She had a blog with posts dating back several years (http://ainsblog1.blogspot.com/). It wasn't an amazing blog, but it was well-written and personal. She began her blogging pursuits in November of 2010 and had her final post in October of 2017. Without warning, she deleted-or drafted-all the content on her blog about five months after her latest post, leaving it blank in late April of 2018. There really isn't anything else I can say about the matter, but I thought it would be good to have a written record of a blog disappearance. I followed her blog at the time, when one day I checked on it and it was devoid of posts. I guess you could say it was another Blogger mystery...


Long live the Prince

May 17, 2018

The Infamous War Child

ATTENTION: Part one is a draft I wrote a while ago. Part two is an update. Something brilliant happened. Enjoy.


PART ONE:


I have been meaning to talk about the War Child for quite some time now. Hers was among the first lands I visited. The War Child's name was Skyclad, (sometimes referred to as Skyclad-Niall, Morphine Malaise, or Goth Girl). Here is her story as best I can decipher:


Skyclad is an author. She penned three separate blogs, my favorite being War Child (http://warchild-skyclad.blogspot.com/). In this blog she posted many short stories, poems, and revelations. It was obvious by the archives I found that hers was a soul birthed from battle and feud. It was clear that she had seen many things that no child ought to, and her written works make beautiful the hardships she had experienced.


In an effort to escape, Skyclad fled to a mysterious land called "Pan Historia" (http://www.panhistoria.com/). Pan Historia is such a curious place that I think it deserves its own blog post. With that in mind, I will keep the summary brief. Pan Historia is a site dedicated to collaborative fiction and roleplay writing. It was here that Skyclad wrote many works and dedicated many hours.


The difficulty in all this is that those who dwell at Pan Historia are incredibly difficult to track. The use of pseudonyms is employed as well as keeping any personal writing in character. Though I am an expert tracker, I was still unable to uncover the identity of the mysterious War Child. I was able to triangulate her location to Ontario, Canada. The trail went cold after that.


Skyclad's writing is some of the most brilliant I've seen. She began her journey in 2008 and mysteriously disappeared in 2011. I've been tempted to electronically mail her and inquire as to whether she is still writing, but I figured that would be ill-advised as her blog is a sliver of who she once was, and is not representative of whom she is now.


"You can't open up the story of my life, turn to page 738, and think you know me." -Arin Hanson


I encourage you to read up on the writings of the War Child. I'm sure you will find it an enriching experience. And if any of you know her identity, please send her my best wishes.


PART TWO:


Something absolutely brilliant happened. While part one was sitting in my drafts, I was assembling another draft titled, "Authors of Dead Blogs Whom I Have Considered Contacting". (It was simply a list of dead-blog authors and any contact information I managed to find. Please let me know if you would be interested in having that list published, by the way.) I had the great War Child at the top of the list and decided to revisit her Pan Historia account for curiosities sake.


After careful navigation of her many works, I found that two of her accounts had both been accessed within the last month, leading me to believe that she was still present on the site. In the name of art, culture, and curiosity, I infiltrated Pan Historia and made an account of my own. Miraculously, I was able to make contact with her Skyclad Niall account. I thanked her for her wondrous written-works and asked her if she was still actively writing. This was her reply:


"I am still writing actively. *S* Use the name Sky here of late. True, my blogger account has long been inactive. *S*"


The great bard is still at large, and the kingdom can rejoice. Thank you for joining me on this little journey of intrigue. If you wish to see Skyclad's work on the odd world of Pan Historia, here are the links to her various characters (in ascending order of activity).


http://www.panhistoria.com/Stacks/Novels/Character_Homes/home.php?CharID=1227
http://www.panhistoria.com/Stacks/Novels/Character_Homes/home.php?CharID=1397
http://www.panhistoria.com/Stacks/Novels/Character_Homes/home.php?CharID=6097
http://www.panhistoria.com/Stacks/Novels/Character_Homes/home.php?CharID=7902


Long live the Prince

May 10, 2018

Windows are Eyes to the Soul (Another Blogger Mystery)

This is perhaps one of the greatest Blogger mysteries to date. I have been cross-referencing countless blogs to gather the data and the pieces still aren't quite in place. It boggles the mind how many players in this crazed game there are!


I seem to have jumped the gun. Allow me to start at the beginning: This post is about Aurora, author of the blog "A Window Apart" (http://awindowapart.blogspot.com/). Here is her story as best I can decipher:


Aurora, (also known as Aurora-CW), is a young woman belonging to a family of five; her mom, dad, and two sisters--of which she was the proverbial blacksheep. Her family belongs to Romanian aristocracy, and her family moved from Romania to Hollywood when she was fairly young. Her large mansion in Romania is where she grew up, and she was initially quite distraught upon moving to Hollywood. She was active on Blogger for only 7 months, (September 2009-April 2010), during which her content consisted of photography, poetry, and beautifully woven illustrations about her life and the discontentment therein.


In her posts, she detailed many aspects of her life. Her family was incredibly wealthy, but she had no affinity for the well-to-do. Her father was kind, but her mother was typically overbearing. Her sisters were the picture-perfect children that made their parents proud while Aurora embarrassed them at all their fancy dinner parties with her antics and lack of class. She had two best friends named Andrei and Catalena. They met in Hollywood, California and had been friends for a long time. Andrei helped Aurora produce music under the name Bird Brigade. The music is on her MySpace account, but the audio files seem to be presently unavailable. There are many other things that Aurora details, but that is the bulk of definitive facts. Aurora's last post was on April 7, 2010. In the post, she communicates that she has been sent back to Romania against her will. It is unknown whether she was sent there on her own or if her family collectively moved.


Now you may be thinking, "Your Highness, this just sounds like another dead blog. What makes this so much more mysterious?". A valid question, loyal subject. Allow me to expound; Aurora's blog was not the only one of its kind. Under her blog's list of "The Fabulous", she links 14 blogs of whom she is affiliated/friends with. Five of those blogs no longer exist, and eight of the remaining nine were active and silent around the same time as Aurora's. Most of the blogs had a similar tone. Many of them were rich, depressed, and hedonistic Hollywood girls who hated life and portrayed their suicidal pessimism in poetic ways. All of them were artistic existentialists who also had an affinity for fashion and designer clothes.


Many seemed to be friends either through life or through Blogger. And if you visit the various blogs and the blogs that they link, it forms a massive web of blogs that are all alike. It's mind-boggling how deep this web goes, and even more confusing how or why they seemed to have been born and killed around the same times. Most of them started around 2009 and died around 2011 without any warning. One of her blog friends, Victoria, from "Belle de Hiver" (http://belledehiver.blogspot.com/) ended on the exact same day as "A Window Apart".


Aurora could still be in Romania for all we know, and all these other blogs that have been deleted, privated, or abandoned still pose a great mystery. How could a web so massive with so many similar parts die all of a sudden? The very existence of this web is a mystery, let alone its corpse. I encourage you all to dive down the rabbit hole and see what you can infer. It is quite a curious conundrum and I will certainly be preoccupied with it for years to come. If any of you are able to track down any members of this tangled web, I would be quite grateful. Almost every link these people provided are dead or unavailable with no clues as to how/why this interlacing network formed. Your best bet is likely the only active member of this labyrinth that remains: (http://mymotherfuckedmickjagger.blogspot.com/). Thank you.


Long live the Prince



May 9, 2018

Shoutout to all the Emo Kids

As Prince of the realm, I would like to officially present awards to the top three Emo/Goth/Grunge personal blogs on the internet.


In first place we have Creature Of The Night with her blog "Rain, Trust, and Loyalty" (http://trustrainloyalty.blogspot.com/). Her blog décor, depressing illustrations, and lack of hope have landed her in first place!


In second place we have T.A.R. from the blog "Hear My Voice" (http://listen-to-me-hear-me.blogspot.com/). Both her URL and blog title have such an esoterically emo vibe. She also has earned top marks for her blog's decorum. It was her lack of posts that hindered her from first place, but she is still second by a nose!


And finally, in third place we have Kaitlin from the "My Psychotic Thoughts Unhinged" blog (http://mypsychoticthoughtsunhinged.blogspot.com/). Her blog's aesthetic-though somber-was not edgy enough to take her to second place. However, her exquisite content and nihilist attitude has succeeded in landing her a spot in our top three picks!


Thank you to all the emo/goth teens of the internet and the early 2010's for making this possible. Were there any runner-ups we missed? Leave them in the comments below to nominate them for next year's awards! Until next time!


Long live the Prince

May 2, 2018

A Most Curious Conundrum: Murder

A short while ago, I stumbled across a profound mystery. I found an odd little place called "Person" (http://kittysworld.blogspot.com/). This place was conceived in August of 2002. There are but seven, (technically six), posts on this sparse site, and they are ambiguous at best. The only content of note is a post that hosts a dead link.


Through searching the royal archives I was able to find a snapshot of the intended content. It was a brief article describing the mysterious death of singer Dave Williams of the band Drowning Pool. I don't recall the bard from personal experience, but he seems to have been quite popular in his time. The blog author shared this link on the day she created the blog, eleven days after Dave William's death. Though the cause of his death is unverified to this day, it was established that he died in the band's tour bus from heart failure. His heart failure was believed to have been caused by undiagnosed Cardiomyopathy, but nobody is certain.


I think Alicia, the author of the blog, killed David Williams. Now, bear with me for the sake of the fallen bard. Alicia's blog subtitle reads "I love Manson and guys with long hair." Dave Williams had long hair (by male standards). Perhaps she wanted to experience it in person and things went a bit too far. Alicia was only active on Blogger for seven days, and all she appeared to post was the article about William's death and inquires as to why nobody reacted to her posts. Every genius craves an audience for their brilliance; and that goes double for clever killers. She wanted people to see the intelligence required to kill the singer untraceably. Moreover, this "Alicia" character is virtually untraceable.


As you may know, your prince is an expert tracker. Upon stumbling across a little blog from 2006 by a sixteen year old girl who posted only once, (http://brittanylovescorey.blogspot.com/), I managed to find the author's identity within minutes. Not only that, but in the process of finding her identity I found her address and phone number too. (Those were completely accidental.) [As a disclaimer, I'm not a stalker; just a hopeless romantic. I wanted to find this girl because she was smitten with a boy at the time of her post and I wanted to see what became of them. As it turns out, the two are presently married. It's all dreadfully romantic. *SIGH* Ah, to be young and in love again.]


So knowing the expert tracker that I am, please realize now how difficult it is to track down the mysterious "Alicia". She has given virtually no information about herself, her title could be an alias, and her blog has gone these 16 years virtually unnoticed.


So if any of you possess the skills and the gumption required for tracking Alicia, please find her so she can be brought to justice. The kingdom needs your help closing another case. Anyone who can track this potential murderer will be rewarded with a royal bounty. The prince thanks you for your assistance. Rest in peace, Dave Williams.


Long live the Prince