As you can see, things look a little different around here. And it's been a pain in the ass. I still might not be done, but I'm gonna leave it alone until at least next week. Let's see how things work out.
Why did I make the change? I don't know really. I think I've wanted to change things around for a while, but I just haven't been inspired enough to do it. I also like the way that most of the Wordpress blogs look. In fact, I started a
beer blog on Wordpress.com just to see if I liked it enough to switch this over. It's okay, but I am more comfortable on Blogger for daily posting. So here I stay.
What did I change? Well, let's take a look...
My Avatar - This is from a stained glass window by an artist named Dan Beal out of
Paul Lucker Designs studio in West Yorkshire. The mythology and artwork depicting the
Green Man has always fascinated me. And ever since seeing the original
Wicker Man, I've always wanted to open my own pub and name it The Green Man just like the inn/pub in the film. Dunno why, but it has always spoken to me. Maybe I'm just a pagan at heart. So instead of a new pub, I'll use it as my new avatar. Ta da! For those of you that get my avatar through Gravatar, I used just one of The Green Man's eyes. Just because I thought that was kinda cool.
The Verdant Dude - That's the new name of the old Bug-Eyed Blog. It was an easy leap from The Green Man to The Verdant Dude. Verdant = Green and Dude = Man. And Dude =
something else that I am obsessed with. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Plus I hated having the word "blog" in the title of my blog. Seemed silly to me. Works for some blogs, but I just didn't want it in mine.
The Template - I went with a Wordpress-style template that seemed to fit with the whole Green Man theme. I tried a couple over the weekend, but this is the one that I like the best. So far. I may find a new one sometime in the near future that I like better. But this is it for now. Plus it was time to give
Max Cannon his trademarked bug-eyed freak back. I had borrowed it for long enough. Not changing my name though. Still B.E. Earl. Always B.E. Earl.
More Template stuff - Since it was a Wordpress-style template, I wanted to get rid of the Blogger navigation bar at the top of the page. But I also wanted a direct link to my Blogger dashboard on the front page, so I picked a template with a menu on top of the header. I also added links to my
Trivia Quiz (
have you played yet?), the
movie review blog I contribute to (
go check out my review of Neil Marshall's Doomsday) and my
beer blog that I promise to start updating more often in the New Year (
you can start with my review of Smuttynose Winter Ale). I like that menu bar much better than the Blogger nav bar. What do you think?
What else? Hmm...I can't think of anything. Everything else works pretty much the way it did before hand. I have a few widgets I need to add to my sidebar, but honestly I forget what I had on the old template. I think I'll let it just grow organically. I didn't change my url because that could be a pain in the ass for you, my fair readers. See? I'm always thinking of you.
Feedback on these changes is always appreciated. Doesn't mean I'm gonna listen to any criticism, but it's always appreciated. I know some of you miss the little bug-eyed freak, but that one is a permanent change. I'm going with The Green Man from here on out. Deal with it, bitches!
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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Even though the times are a changin', all the cool kids are still doing it.
