Hiya, folks.
Story time: Years ago Jason had considered starting a second blog called The Mash-Up. It would’ve been a more abstract, less rigidly structured and more freeform blog focusing on whatever was going through our minds at the time. I dismissed the idea because I felt it was unnecessary, that there was no need, that nothing could be better than what we were doing on Twinsanity at the time.
I was wrong.
Before I go any further, I just to assure you all that Twinsanity 2.0 is still our long term goal for this site. We haven’t thrown in the towel on that, nor have we given up the dream. The Razzle Dazzle Show and webtoons are still this site’s future, that hasn’t changed, but Twinsanity 2.0 has proven to be such a huge undertaking that we’ve had to move the goal posts back a bit. The process and preparation for the videos and webtoons is taking a little longer than we anticipated, and I don’t want to do nothing in the meantime. For a long time, I just wasn’t inspired to do anything, but in recent weeks and months I’ve seen things, shows, ideas and concepts that I’d like to express my thoughts and opinions on, and I’d rather not have to wait until Twinsanity 2.0 is ready to roll to get them out there; you’ve got to strike while the iron is hot and all that. Long story short, I/we may be putting up some new blog posts in the upcoming weeks and months. These will not be Twinsanity 2.0, nor will they be made instead of Twinsanity 2.0; just something to tide you (and us) over until Twinsanity 2.0 is ready to roll.
However, these new posts come with a slew of caveats; it’s not going to be a continuation of what we’ve been doing up to the point where we left off. Real life, my current schedule and energy levels just won’t allow that, plus I just plain don’t want to work at that pace or continue the kinds of posts we were making then. Going back to what I said at the top, this new slew of posts will follow a different formula: they’ll be done in the Mash-Up format.
“What does that entail?” I’m pretending to hear you ask. I’ll tell you:
For one thing, the pace of the output will be greatly reduced and much more relaxed. I used to make lists of everything that I was planning to do per month. Those days are over. One of the reasons I got out of blogging was that it was starting feel like a job, I was working myself to death trying to put out content. No longer. Starting now I’m only going to pour my attention in a single post at a time, and once that’s done, I’ll move on to something else. I’m only going to make a post when I have something to post, and I’m only going to put something up when I have something worth posting. It doesn’t matter if I only make 2 posts in 6 months as long as those 2 posts are good and entertaining. Quality over quantity. I don’t want to be a posting machine; those days are over.
The upcoming posts will also follow a much looser structure than before. It’s not going to be like before when I would tell myself “I have to do a new Talkin’ Nerdy or TV Special Showdown because I haven’t done one in a while”. I don’t wish to be beholden to all of these fancy categories we created; if something fits into one of the little boxed we’ve created, then I’ll check off said box, but that’s no longer a requirement for a post. It’s a pretty simple formula, really:
I’m going to post what I want to post.
I’m no longer going to feel compelled to make a Retro Bin or a Cartoon Couch or a Talkin’ Nerdy or a Beyond the Background just to fulfill some imaginary quota. I’m going to post whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want. (Sidebar: I won’t be continuing the Animal Jam Pop Dream right now; I’m just not feeling it at the moment. I may get back to it one day, but right now it’s just not on my mind. It’s way too much work to be making something you’re not even into. End sidebar.)
Third, expect less snark posts and more general geeking out on stuff we like, and definitely less review-type stuff. I never wanted to a reviewer; that’s just not where I’m at. I don’t want to be known for snark. I like cartoons. I like to make jokes. I like to have fun. The blog posts were starting to not be fun for me, that’s why I stopped, so these new ones are going to be of a more lighthearted nature. I don’t care if it’s something only I know or care about; if it makes my happy or I’m really interested in it, then I’ll make a post about it. I also plan to reduce the amount of fact-checking and research, because that also became a drag for me. Of course I’m not going to post something that’s just plain factually wrong (like saying that Wally Gator was a champion surfer and railroad tycoon who married Jennifer Lopez), I’m still going to keep my facts straight, but I’d much rather joke around and have fun than write up an essay.
Finally, there’s no minimum requirement for the length of these new posts; they’re going to be as long or as short as they need to be. A post can be a lengthy bombastic diatribe or it can be a quick bite no longer than a couple of sentences. We don’t need to be anchored to one specific structure; I likes muh freedom!
So keep an eye out for some new stuff coming soon. You’ll see the new posts, whenever they happen.
Twin Images 
My 2 Cents:
You don’t tear down your old house before you find a new place to live. You don’t quit your job if you don’t have a new job lined up. The stuff that you’re going to see here in the coming weeks and months isn’t Twinsanity 2.0. It’s just a little something-something to tide you (and us) over while we’re setting up Twinsanity 2.0. The process of getting the videos and webtoons set up is talking longer than we originally anticipated and we don’t want to just do nothing in the meantime. When you get that itch, you’ve got to scratch it.
To reiterate what Damon wrote above, starting now, we’re just going to write about whatever we want, whenever we have something to write about and have the desire to write about it. Two of my favorite segment to do were/are Cartoon Country and Brain Candy. I enjoy doing those because I can just write what’s on my brain at the time. They can be as long or as short as I want them to be. Also, those aren’t done in the review format, which is good because I never wanted to be a reviewer. I don’t want to be an “angry critic”. I never wanted that to be my identity. I much more prefer the likes of YouTubers such as Digi Valentine, David Ganselle (doggans), Jon Jafari (JonTron) and Charlie Callahan (Theme Snark). Don’t get me wrong. Snarking on something and ripping it apart can be enjoyable and even therapeutic, but I never want to do just that and nothing else. Since Damon and I joined Tumblr, I’ve learned to enjoy the freestyle type of blogging that we generally do over there, so the Twinsanity stiff here going forward will be more of that nature. There will no longer be the pressure of having to do so many posts per month or “I have to do X segment because there hasn’t been one of those in a while!” I have an idea for a segment in a particular category, then I’ll do it that way. If what I want to write about doesn’t fall into any of those set categories, then I’ll still do it. Part of the appeal of the Mash-Up (that second blog that I proposed for us some time ago) was that there were no rules, which is not to say that we’ll be disregarding the categories from now on. We won’t. We’re just going to be more flexible about it. We’re the ones who make the rules. They can always be revised. We do this because we enjoy it. It’s not supposed to be work. When this starts to feel like a job, then I know we’ve done something wrong.
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