Whoops...Another Month Went By....

It's been over a month since I last blogged on Weekend Fat. Weekend Fat has become something like a plant to me. I know it's there, and I see it, and I like it. I like how it adds to the environment and how it lifts my mood. And on my way out the door, I think...I need to water that. But I'm on my way out the door. And it's just a plant, it's resourceful, it will find a way. Except that then a month goes by and I realize the soil is all cracked, the leaves have turned yellow, and I can pour all the water I want on it, but it's probably not coming back. So I don't pour water on it. I sit in my chair and keep watching TV or keep going out to eat with friends, or reading at Starbucks, because ultimately those things bring me more joy now than the plant once did.

Weekend Fat was great for me during my stay in China. It gave me something to do daily in a place where I had NOTHING to do. It kept me connected and kept me writing and meeting "deadlines." But life is happening now, and it's a good life. And even though I think about Weekend Fat daily, multiple times even...when I sit down to write, I'm overwhelmed. There's just too much to tackle!

Do I talk about Bates' Motel and how prequels are some of the only territory left to explore on TV. (I bet even Walking Dead will do a season or begin flashbacks soon as to how the zombies came to be.)  Or maybe I talk about the fact that the "Strangers on a Train" storyline has shown up on every crime drama on TV in the last month! Do I discuss just how adorable Adam Levine is and confess that I can't stop looking at those pics of him online...you know the ones. Or do I tell you to NEVER WASTE YOUR TIME on the movie LAWLESS even though it has some of the best actors ever in it. Or maybe I could just start a countdown to the Great Gatsby release.

But it's TOM HARDY and JESSICA CHASTAIN!

See!!! Too much. And you know what makes it worse? I feel defeated. I have a thought about what to write, and I fail to act on it in that very moment, and I swear to you, within 12 hours, my FB newsfeed is full of Jezebel, AWL, Huffington Post articles discussing THE VERY THOUGHTS I JUST HAD. But by the time I get to writing them, they've been written. I don't want to be redundant.

What I won't say is that I'm busy. Anyone who knows me and has ever allowed me to lecture them (thanks friends) knows that I cannot stand the words Busy and Tired. Those are excuses. Busy is something we create to make ourselves feel important and to put people off. So I will not tell you I am too busy for Weekend Fat. I am not. At All. I could find lots of hours in my week to keep the blog going...but the truth is that it's no longer a priority for me. That's the real truth of busy-ness people. It's a prioritizing thing. We make time for what we want to make time for. And the honest to god truth of it is that, I just don't want to make time for this at the moment. Now, call me and let's TALK about Lawless (or let's don't) and we can enjoy a wonderful conversation. If China taught me one thing, it's that actual access to actual people is better than any "audience." Social networks and the internet have their role, they just tend to take a backseat to face to face connection for me at the moment.

I will lecture you about the problem with "Tired" some other day.

So unless something brilliant or bothersome pushes me into blogging again, I gotta say for now, I'm just not that into it. Of course it's still getting hits and some attention. As of this post the blog has had almost 100,000 individual viewers. That's in less than a year. The posts between myself and my friend Julie about Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie remain the most popular posts (meaning people are Googling about them all the time) though Anne Hathaway is in 3rd place with her recent "popularity/infamy." The most shared post was about Magic Mike. The most widely read posts mention The Walking Dead.

Thanks for your support and attention to Weekend Fat over this last year. We will just have to wait and see where it leads in time....

Amber

P.S. In case you were wondering, Melancholia is still haunting me.

Ch-Ch-Changes!

If you're a Weekend Fatty and keep up with this blog on a regular basis, you've probably noticed we have some repeat offenders, er, bloggers. I think it's time to introduce them and to let you know about a few changes here at Weekend Fat.

Amber (For those of you who don't know, that's me.)

I started this blog back in May for a few reasons:

1. I am living in China this year and found myself with a MASSIVE amount of free time. 

2. I am a pop-culture junkie and found myself wanting to start conversations about things I was reading. 3. I noticed that the things I wanted to talk about were being written about on other blogs, sometimes with the exact same angles I had in mind. I didn't want to stand on the sidelines anymore.

4. I have another blog that's more personal, more about me and my life. I noticed when I blogged about Glee or music or Helen Mirren, the readers for those posts were TOTALLY different than the ones who normally read. Market discovered.

5. My friend Meredith gave me a boost of encouragement one weekend that inspired me to stop talking about it and just do it.

It's been 6 months and I gotta say, I am very pleased with the results so far. The average post gets about 90 readers. The most read (my friend Julie's rebuttal/defense to me about Jennifer Aniston) has over 400 hits. The next few most popular (ringing in at over 300 hits) were the ones about Magic Mike and Honey Boo Boo. The total number of individual readers that have come into contact with the blog and stayed for at least a minute, is around 12,000 from what I can tell, though I think it's safe to say that we have a steady following of about 250. Considering I only have about 750 Facebook friends, I think it's safe to say that the Google machine is putting Weekend Fat "on the map." Of course, the world of pop-culture is big, and while I will never run out of topics, I know (hope) that my schedule will change once I go back to America. 

In preparation for that, I will be cutting down to 3 posts a week. But my friends will be contributing, and you, are more than welcomed to do the same. Just email me your post (or ideas!) at catidwell222@gmail.com and we will go from there.

Now...here's who you might see blogging in the future:

Vicky

Vicky-Timing is everything, and I met Vicky through an awesome organization back in Auburn, Alabama that we both got to be a part of, The Layman Group, before it disbanded. We hit it off. Vicky is a theater junkie and super talented with all things related to it. She and her husband now live in Tallahassee, Florida. In my mind, Vicky likes pretty things and laughing a lot. 

Julie

Julie-I met Julie through The Layman Group too, though when I was working at Starbucks in Auburn, she was a regular, so it's hard to know how we actually became friends. In all honesty, she reminded me of someone (no clue who) so it felt like we'd been friends for a while. Julie is a brilliant event planner who has an appreciation for all things Jennifer Aniston, fashion, and Greyhounds. The dogs, not the bus. I cannot imagine Julie on a bus. You can find her blog here.

Sandi

Sandi-I met Sandi in New Orleans when she was 12, but now she lives in Boone, North Carolina and works as a nanny while finishing her degree in Child Development. Sandi devours a lot of really thick books and TV, her greatest fault is that she doesn't like scary things. Her take on pop-culture is fresh and transparent. She is just as likely to be seen watching Game of Thrones as she is Ina Garten. I'm not sure how she'd do in a sword fight, but I know she's a great cook.

Carmen

Carmen-I met Carmen while working at a camp in my teenage years, and though we might be as opposite in personality as two people can be, I liked her snark, her honesty, and the way her hair was always perfect. Now she lives in North Alabama and we have shared pop-culture interests for well over 10 years, including the summer we spent in Montana speaking in movie quotes over long distance calls across the state. She is quite possibly the biggest Veronica Mars fan on the planet, but I have heard her perfectly quote entire episodes of Friends. I pick on her about liking Kristen Stewart, but she does make a convincing case. And that's the thing about Carmen, she can always defend, justify, and explain in detail her reason for liking whatever is that she likes. 

Romelle

Romelle-Romelle is a fellow blogger/wanna be writer who lives in North Carolina. She would want you to know that she has 6 children (one who was married in May and one who will be married in a few weeks) leaving her 4 at home that she Home Schools. She errs on the conservative side of life, loves British drama, hates Anne Hathaway and other shallow ridiculous things, and is probably one of the most quickly clever people I have ever met. We are currently in a stand off about my never having watched Freaks and Geeks. (I will get to it!) You can find her blog here.

Vanessa

Vanessa-Vanessa lives in Fresno, California and is the youngest contributor to Weekend Fat. Since graduating from high school last year, she has been working like crazy on her photography. She has a brilliant eye, and I am convinced she has potential to be the next Annie Leibovitz or National Geographic photographer. You can find her photography on her Facebook page, Vanessa D. Photography. Her pop-culture tastes are black and white, meaning she either loves things or hates them. She is a huge HIMYM fan, and recently called me crying at 2am because she finally finished Six Feet Under. 

Meredith

Meredith-I met Meredith when I worked at Starbucks in Auburn, Alabama, she was a fellow Barista, relocated from New York. She was also heavily involved in The Layman Group. I knew instantly that we would be friends, but she was slower on the uptake. Eventually we found ourselves making the shifts at the 'Bucks' fly, by talking non-stop about pop-culture. She's got a unique perspective on pop-culture, usually laser focused on what she likes, but unpredictable all the same. Though she hasn't written an actual guest post yet, she promises me that there's one (or more) coming. Even if it never materializes, she gives me lots of my ideas for posts and positive feedback that keep this blog going. You can read some of her insights at Verge Pipe Media's blog.

Um, first of all, aren't my friends supermodels? Yeah, I think so too.

Ok, so from here on out, you'll be hearing from me, mixed in a little more with these gals (and possibly even my mother!). I will put a "By" line in the subject when anyone other than me writes, and they will also be tagged in the labels so you can find more of their writing if you like what you see. And trust me, you WILL like what you see.

Thanks for reading, it's been a super fun 6 months. I'm looking forward to many more!

Amber

How Weekend Fat Gets Fed

It's been almost 3 months since the birth of Weekend Fat, and I must say, I am pretty excited at the way it has taken off. Of course it's had some low points, but for the most part readership has been consistent and has even spiked a few times! I have never claimed to be an expert on pop-culture, but it certainly is fun to hash out all of my opinions and explore the little threads of synchronicity that run through my favorite entertainment and real life. 


I thought I'd share with you just a few of my favorite sources for information and inspiration. It's only fair to give credit where credit is due. You might want to start reading some of these blogs, just don't stop reading mine!

Funny stuff!

Jezebel is a little risque, but it's super clever and fun. It's liberal but written by and for women, and has some really hilarious writing most of the time.


Of course, I use IMDB and Wikipedia to research dates and titles and double check connections. I would love to say that all of that is just planted in my brain, but my brain is full of song lyrics, converting time zones, and lines from 30 Rock. 


The Awl is another site that is full of creative stuff related to culture and more. From time to time they write "serious" articles about how people handle money or what mothers are doing to ruin kids these days. But they also sprinkle in a good portion of meaningless TV stuff. The Hairpin, Splitsider, and a few others are all related and all offer the same type of posts, but I highly recommend them all. 


My good friend Meredith works at Verge Pipe Media, and her blogs/resources have taught me a lot about blogging and how to promote my writing without driving everyone crazy. (I hope it's working!) The stuff you find here is more practical, but if you or someone you know is looking for a way to put your blog, business, organization on the map, contact them...they know their stuff. And the blog is rich with great facts about social media, generational differences, and branding.


Brainpickings is maybe one of the greatest websites in existence today. Maria Popova runs the site. In this world of blogging, there are curators and there are bloggers. The Brainpicker is more of a curator, but the things that she finds and shares are fabulous. Her curations are more on the intellectual side of things, but we can't all be TV junkies. 

From Suri's Burn Book.

And lastly, if you aren't reading the blog, Suri's Burn Book, you are seriously missing out! Shout out to my friend Julie for being super aware of all things fashionable and bringing this little gem to my attention! Also, check out Julie's blog. She's an incredibly talented and professional event planner at Invision Events. The blog doesn't have pop-culture in it, but for those of you who love to daydream about weddings, take a look, she's fabulous!

I'm sure you have your favorites too. 

What blogs do you follow? 

What should Weekend Fat be paying attention to?