The deadline for nominating “web logs” in any of the Anime Blog Awards’ fifteen categories is next Tuesday, April 22nd, and I figured I’d write a post about it to remind any stragglers to submit their suggestions for the short lists. I’m also writing this under the situation that I haven’t been nominated once so far in any category. I’m not trying to be egotistical but come on, NOT ONE?!? *coughs* Perhaps I should chide myself a little for not making frequent posts or for not developing a substantial gimmick or personality with which I could market my blog. I would certainly agree I haven’t done anything particularly spectacular to warrant internet recognition through a group of my peers.

However, I feel kind of excluded from the field because of the categories themselves. I don’t follow series episode-by-episode; I barely cover manga and don’t even mention figurines; I don’t seem to have very much influence within the ani-blogosphere (that’s right, I drudged that back from the 2007 Fanime panel!); I’m fairly tame so I don’t get myself involved in the at-times petty dorama; I’m not a rookie blogger (coming up on a two-year anniversary); I don’t write hilarious stuff (sarcasm doesn’t seem to translate well to the written typed word); I don’t focus on a particular seiyuu, although I do have my favorites (Chiwa Saito?); and I can’t draw worth much even though I have been practicing sketching things once in a while.

Imagine Konata is Nelson Muntz and you’ll get the joke.

The only categories I believe I could fairly be nominated for are Best Editorial Blog and Most Thought-Provoking Blog but I know there are writers who pen more cogent and deep pieces while I am sometimes just grasping at straws. I seem to write a bunch about dubs and the American market so if that plays into something, then cool, nominate me for that one. Otherwise, I will take as many pity votes as I can get.

Another aspect of the awards that plays on my weaknesses is that I don’t really keep up with the blogs as I probably should using Google Reader or another feed reader. Rather, I just write up, link and post what I think is interesting and hope that other people find it interesting and occasionally check out what’s popping on the aggregators. That’s why I still haven’t really nominated anyone – a task I might do later tonight. The fact that there have already a bunch of submissions in each category has made more inclined to wait for the lists of finalists to emerge than do a bunch of research for not much return, as I can easily divine the nominees in select categories such as Best Blog-related Comic, which seems to only have three main contenders and two minor ones. Hmm, with such low numbers, maybe I could actually compete next year if I start now…

It’s not in my nature to bring attention to myself (so this post itself is out of the ordinary) but I often get the sneaking suspicion that no one’s really paying attention, particularly when there are no comments. It’s even worse for the solo podcast I do, Amateur Otaku Radio, which I am actively considering recruiting co-hosts for and moving it off Talkshoe. I am planning to record an episode tonight at 7:30PM PST/10:30PM EST so feel free to listen in but what I would really like are suggestions and questions that I can discuss on the show and imbue it with some variety. (You can also email me at the address on the AOR page.) Another host would better help break the disinteresting aspect of myself rambling for 30-60 minutes but this might suffice in the short-term.

So if you’ve read down this far, thanks a lot and please leave a comment. It’ll help my self-esteem and provide me with a sense that I’m not writing total crap and wasting my time.

P.S. I’ve had issues uploading images since upgrading to WP 2.5 so today I installed a plugin called No Flash Uploader that seems to do the trick. The new gallery interface still frustrates me, though.