Blog Building: A Renovative State Of Mind

I contemplate the rhythm with a hunch

Today is Easter Sunday. If you think we were celebrating, that's a worldwide lie. T.R.O.Y. don't believe in none of that shit - ya facts is backwards. But everyone regardless of religion can get down with the concepts of rejuvenation, rebirth and what have you. So in the spirit of the season, we've been doing a fair amount of spring cleaning around here. The sidebars in particular look very different these days and we hope you'll find the changes useful.

The top spot in the upper sidebar goes to Sounds Like The 90s, because you need to stop sleeping. Below that, crucial blog info. In addition our mission statement, email address, the link to the forums, and RSS items, we provide you with reminders to check out our ongoing Gang Starr Month coverage and the Guide To Our Best Posts (for the new jacks). Directly below is a new widget that'll keep you up to date on Steady Bloggin', our a-alike blog from another mother that covers contemporary rap, jazz/funk/soul, film, books, and lots more.

The lower sidebar is substantially rearranged. We have a slick new sign up form for Skypager, our email list/googlegroup. We have 120+ heads repping Skypager already, and they have exclusive access to downloads and news items that do not appear on the blog. You gotta get involved.

Now, in celebration of our recently achieving 500 posts, let's move on to the sidebar items that deal with navigation. Ever been frustrated trying to find something on this blog? We hear ya. The week by week archives widget is now a drop-down menu . The label cloud has been trimmed and now only includes labels that are attached to ten or more posts. To better supplement your searches, we added a drop-down menu of all labels listed alphabetically. This is a godsend for anyone who wants to search our archives efficiently. There's also a search box for keyword searches.

Then comes the section that deals with our interactions with you. This is where your most recent coments and polls results are displayed. You'll notice that our new poll for this week is up. Last week the video for Mass Appeal was a clear winner, and in keeping with the Gang Starr month festivities, you'll notice that we have a new, sparkly Vizu-powered poll up and running. Vote or die. Finally, we have our Web 2.0 links and the new and improved All Eye Seeing (shared google reader items).

Other than these sideshow items, expect more of the same. Except different. Stop and smell the blue flowers.