The Third Anniversary of Chorus.fm

Jason Tate Apr 1, 2019

Today marks the official third anniversary of launching this website.

This year was another great one for the community. There were quite a few new features added to the website, and we saw good growth in pretty much every metric that matters to me. One of my goals for the year was to start writing a whole lot more, and that morphed into a weekly newsletter that is now regularly over 1,500 words a week. I didn’t podcast nearly as much as I wanted to, but the episodes we did release I’m really proud of. My goals for 2019 are to try and figure out a way to make regular podcasting a thing I can do again, continue my weekly Liner Notes, add some new features to the forums that have been on my to-do list for a while now, and start re-thinking what a redesign of the main website could look like and what it would take to write that code and implement it.

I’m able to do these things because of the support of so many of you. I can’t thank those of you have become supporting members of the website enough. That this number, specifically, keeps increasing is why I know I can keep doing this website for another year. It’s because of your support that this website can exist and I can work on it each day. If you’re not a supporting member yet but enjoy visiting and reading, I’d love if you’d think about signing up. We’re getting so very close to this being the only job I have to have, and I’m getting excited thinking about the possibility of diving into a significant code re-write and re-design and not having to worry about needing to stop and take a freelance job in the middle.

I always find it fun to look back on the past year and evaluate everything that has taken place, over the past twelve months we’ve seen:

3,684 new articles posted on the main site. (13,086 total)
1,912,545 words have been published all time.1
802,906 new forum posts were made. (2,700,066 total)
11,381 new registered accounts. (93,338 total)
1,367,965 likes given out since last April.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that visits this website each day. It’s been an incredible journey from AbsolutePunk.net to Chorus.fm and beyond. I feel extremely lucky that I get to do something I love and care about each day and it’s a true pleasure to be able to talk about music, pop-culture, entertainment, and technology with so many of you.

1,053,621 written by me.↩

DC Comics Celebrates Batman’s 80th Anniversary

Deanna Chapman Apr 1, 2019

DC Comics hosted a Batman panel at WonderCon on Friday, March 29th to celebrate the character turning 80. The panel was moderated by Sam Humphries, and the panelists included Greg Capullo, Peter Tomasi, Joëlle Jones, Becky Cloonan, Scott Snyder, and Tom King. They shared their experiences with the character and even had a couple of big announcements.

The first announcement was the changing of the Detective Comics logo. The second was a new comic from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, Batman: Last Knight on Earth. The panel gave attendees a sneak peek at some of Capullo’s artwork on the title and its safe to say that I’m excited for this one. While I’m not entirely caught up on the work that the two have done since New 52, I’ve seen enough to know that I’m in for the long haul with both creators.

Liner Notes (March 29th, 2019)

Jason Tate Mar 29, 2019

I can’t believe it’s the end of March already.

In this week’s newsletter, I share some early thoughts on the new Bad Religion album and go through some of the albums and songs out this week that I enjoyed. I also go through my usual media diet and share a playlist of ten songs I loved this week. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (March 22nd, 2019)

Jason Tate Mar 22, 2019

It’s a lot harder to write when basketball games are going on.

In this week’s roundup, I look at the music I listened to and enjoyed last week, go through my usual thoughts on entertainment, and share a playlist of ten songs I loved. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (March 16th, 2019)

Jason Tate Mar 15, 2019

It’s with a heavy heart that I write this week’s newsletter. The news out of New Zealand is absolutely heartbreaking, and I can’t stop thinking about the direction our world is going in. So much hate and anger cheered on by the worst people. My thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.

My birthday is on Monday (gah, I’m getting older) so I’ve decided to make this edition free for everyone to read this week. A little celebratory gift, from me to you. If you like it, please think about becoming a supporting member of the website, the support from readers makes up the lion’s share of my income, and it’s how I get to keep running this website, and writing things like this, each week.

This week’s newsletter contains first impressions on upcoming albums from The Maine and Charly Bliss, as well as thoughts on other music I listened to this week. It has my usual media diet rundown from the past week, ten songs I loved, and a list of music I sent my sister when she asked about stuff to check out after not paying attention to new music for a few years. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (March 8th, 2019)

Jason Tate Mar 8, 2019

Another week down.

In this week’s roundup I share my thoughts on new music out this week, and what I’ve been listening to (Maren Morris, Sigrid, The Get Up Kids), and go through the various movies and TV shows I watched this week (Aquaman, If Beale Street Could Talk, Shoplifters). There’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved this week and a recap of various website improvements I made this week. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (March 1st, 2019)

Jason Tate Mar 1, 2019

Oh, hi March.

This week’s roundup looks at what I worked on around the website this week, goes through my thoughts on music (including Marianas Trench, Japanese House, and the new Carly Rae Jepsen songs), and has my usual media diet from the last week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved this week, and the supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (February 22nd, 2019)

Jason Tate Feb 22, 2019

In this week’s roundup I talk about tackling tweet embedding in the forums, share my thoughts on Into the Spider-Verse during my weekly media diet rundown, and it was a pretty music heavy week this week, so there’s a lot of singles and new albums to discuss. I also share a playlist of ten songs I loved this week and rant about the NCAA. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (February 15th, 2019)

Jason Tate Feb 15, 2019

This week sure went by fast.

In this week’s roundup I talk about launching our new Giphy feature and what’s next on my forum to-do list, give some thoughts that have been swirling around in my head about the entire Ryan Adams situation, and then go through quite a bit new music. I tackle how surprised I was by the new Set It Off album, and offer brief thoughts on new records from Betty Who, One Ok Rock, Tyler Hilton, Stand Atlantic, Millencolin, SWMRS, and more. Then I go through my usual weekly media diet (basically two documentaries I loved this week), share ten songs I loved this week, and share my sadness at a brewery I love closing down. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Most Anticipated of 2019

Jason Tate Feb 11, 2019

Last month we shared our favorite albums of 2018, now we’re back and looking at what we are most anticipating through 2019. What records do we think we’re going to fall in love with over the next few months? What albums can we just not wait to hear? A bunch of contributors have written up blurbs about the albums and artists we’re most excited about, and we’d love to hear what’s on your most anticipated list as well.

Read More “Most Anticipated of 2019”

Liner Notes (February 8th, 2019)

Jason Tate Feb 8, 2019

For some reason something is messed up with the login system on the main website right now, so, I’m going to make this version of Liner Notes available for everyone while I try and sort out what’s going on. This week’s roundup includes updates on what I’ve been working on around the website, some thoughts on albums and singles released this week, my usual media diet recap, and a playlist of ten songs I loved this week.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I’ll be bundled up by the fire trying to avoid the predicted snow storm. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (February 1st, 2019)

Jason Tate Feb 1, 2019

The first day of February is here.

In this week’s roundup, I talk about the process of starting to think about a Chorus.fm homepage redesign and the tools I’ve been using to brainstorm. I share another AppleScript service I use a lot and rant about Instagram ads that feel especially exploitative. Then I go through some music I listened to this week and share my thoughts after a very Star Trek heavy media diet. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved this week, and the supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (January 25th, 2019)

Jason Tate Jan 25, 2019

All of the news today made it much harder to focus and write this.

In this week’s edition, I talk about switching finance apps, share a little “link to” service I use on the Mac, offer thoughts on the new Mark Hoppus/Alex Gaskarth song, revisit So Long, Astoria, and give some first impressions of the new Better Oblivion Community Center album. Then I go through my usual media diet from the past week and share ten songs I loved. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (January 18th, 2019)

Jason Tate Jan 18, 2019

I cut the tip of my finger while cooking dinner the night before I sit down and type the most I do all week. That was some brilliant work on my part. In this week’s roundup, I offer brief early thoughts on the new PUP record, pontificate about Blink-182 working with The Chainsmokers, re-listen to The Ataris and Zebrahead, and go through the rest of my musical diet from the past week. The entertainment roundup is mostly thoughts on more Batman comic books and needing a little break from overly dramatic movies after last week. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (January 11th, 2019)

Jason Tate Jan 11, 2019

In this week’s newsletter I write about my search for the best Mac Last.fm scrobbling app, Linea Sketch, two Shortcuts I really loved this week, being known as “that AbsolutePunk.net guy,” the new album from FIDLAR, Tarakany!, and listening to stuff from our staff “best of 2018” list. I also run through my usual media diet from the past week, including a lot of depressing (but good!) movies (like Minding the Gap), and give my thoughts on the final two trades in Scott Snyder’s Batman run. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved this week and my usual sarcasm.

The supporter Q&A post can be found here.