Hey guys, you'll probably notice that we're updating a lot of old episodes of our shows. There are a lot of changes we need to make as a result of updates to the site infrastructure. These changes should ultimately help improve the site dramatically, and are all part of the “Plan.”

Just please bear with us as we flood the recent page with these changes!

ttyl

--Alex

So, to make up (a little) for our horrible prank yesterday, I've launched a major new feature on the site.

I'm still calling it “Beta,” but you should now be able to easily jump from episode to episode in any one of our features: Malex Minute, Contradictionary, Splicky Missions, and The Unlikely Adventures of Malex and Icepunk.

When viewing any episode from any feature: You will find a convenient navigation bar at the top and bottom. You will see a list of the most recent five episodes on the left.

And, if you click the “More...” link, you can view a complete archive of episodes from every show - all on one page!

There's more work to be done to get this completely polished, but all the important features should be working and I'd love your feedback.

This is all part of the “Plan” and I'm excited to see it finally starting to come together!

ttyl

--Alex

Hey everybody! Just a quick note to reassure you, we are still working on the site! I've been pretty much pouring every spare moment into something related to MalexMedia.Net,® including all of Saturday and Sunday this past weekend.

I won't say what I worked on this past weekend, but I will say this:

1) I'm very excited. This will be a big improvement to the site that I've been wanting to make for a long time!

2) I can say with some confidence that I'll be rolling out this change within the next two weeks.

ttyl!

--Alex

Don't forget: Shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, check the site for something new and exciting!

Less than two days remain!

ttyl

--Alex

MalexMinute.com is now gone. I have removed it from the server entirely. Please use MalexMedia.Net for all your Malex Minute needs.

Actually, something of a funny story… MalexMinute.com worked by automatically exporting the Malex Minute channel from MalexMedia.Net and updating itself using the information contained within. Every week, as we added more Malex Minute episodes, that channel got bigger and heavier and more unwieldy. I knew it was going to eventually be a problem, but I had been kidding myself into thinking it wouldn't happen for a long time.

Well, on Friday evening, when the new Malex Minute episode was posted, MalexMinute.com finally buckled. Less than twelve hours after I announced the site would be going away, it died without my intervention. So now I've taken the twisted, smoking wreckage offline and we can all move on with our lives!

Hold on to your hats, Gallery is next…

ttyl

--Alex

Jump for joy!

For so many years I've wistfully longed for this day, although I never thought it would really come to pass. But now it's washing over me like a flood, and I can hardly contain my joy!

For the first time in my (admittedly short) life, I am officially in a dating relationship with a girl. And what a girl!

We've actually known each other for about ten years. (I'll never forget finally amassing the courage – at age 13 – to tell her she was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.) Since we met, we've gone through many seasons of life; some together, some separately, and some when we seemed very far apart. But even then she remained special to my heart.

Though really, 'special' doesn't cover it, this girl is precious to me. She is the girl of my dreams, she is my childhood sweetheart, she is my best friend, and I'm overwhelmed by God's goodness in bringing us back together.

Maybe this is all a little much for a blog entry, but I can't contain myself. I was romantically crippled for so many years I had given up all hope. Suddenly I find myself healed and no one will restrain me from walking, leaping, and praising God!

ttyl!

--Alex Markley

P.S. You may be interested to know that the girl in question has a cameo near the end of tomorrow's Malex Minute. Listen and bask in her beautiful voice!

I'm probably going to get lynched for this, but here goes anyway: I believe there are certain circumstances where a person, despite being eligible, should not vote.

Now don't get me wrong, I love democracy. And if you have strong opinions on an issue, I'd encourage you to vote – even if you're voting opposite my own views. However, it disturbs me to see people blindly encouraging one another to “just vote.” The media encourages us to vote. College professors encourage us to vote. Books and bloggers and websites and posters all encourage us to vote.

Everybody and their brother holds to this misguided notion that it's your solemn and sacred duty to vote. I challenge that notion here. It is not your responsibility to vote. It is your responsibility to vote responsibly.

Before you vote, stop and ask yourself why you're voting the way you're planning to vote. Then stop and ask yourself again, because your first answer was probably wrong. Why should you bother to ask? Because if you can't explain, in depth, why your opinion is best for the country in the long run, you will honestly do more damage by voting than by abstaining.

I know it's hard to find the time to do research! I know it's hard to cut through all the media garbage and see the issues for what they are. I know I was almost too busy to really find time to dig in and understand all the issues, but I did my best.

But even though I did my best, I simply can't claim to know everything that's at stake. So how many of you can honestly claim to be voting responsibly? Maybe you've got the ‘voting’ part down. Congratulations, you know how to operate a touchscreen. But are you really shouldering the burden of the responsibility?

When asked what kind of government our “new country” would have, Benjamin Franklin said, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Well, sorry Ben, but the republic slipped through our fingers long ago. As for the democracy we've got left, that's not indestructible either. In fact, it's fragile, and careless voting will quickly destroy it.

So, all that said, get out and vote. But only after you've done your homework! (There will be a test.)

ttyl!

--Alex Markley

Remember the old email mailing list we used to have? The one that I was forced to tearfully rip out of the site because it was too expensive to keep around?

Well it's back! Thanks to the incredible services put together by the FeedBurner team, we're able to offer a mailing list again! If you opt in, the new mailing list will send you MalexMedia.Net® updates in a ‘digest’ email which will be sent out no more than once a day. These emails mirror our RSS/Atom feed, which means we don't have to do any extra work to provide this service to you. It doesn't even cost us anything! (Or you for that matter. No ads in feeds!)

Note that we still don't have a mailing list just for Announcements the way we used to. The new Mailing list (and RSS/Atom feed) only shows things from the MalexMedia.Net® front page. I don't think we really need an ‘Announcement’ mailing list anymore, but feel free to let me know if you disagree.

Please also note that, for your privacy, we have not imported any subscribers from our old mailing lists. If you were subscribed to our previous mailing lists and you want to receive further updates, you will need to manually subscribe again!

To subscribe to either our mailing list or our RSS/Atom feed, please see our page about staying in the loop.

ttyl!

--Alex

I've finally gone off the deep end, folks. All comments on the site are now being displayed in a flat, strictly chronological manner.

After much council, deliberation, and thought, we all decided this was the best way to go. The old method of threading comments was far too confusing (it even threw me for a loop at times) and it often caused unexpected problems. (Why is there a 'new' comment halfway up the page? Why are the comment boxes squished against the right side?)

Those problems are gone now. All new comments will be bunched together at the bottom of the page, and all the comment boxes are the same width.

Now, as for comment threads, two things apply:

» Comment threads can still be viewed and explored using the little “View Thread” link beside every comment. (There are still a few minor bugs with this view, but we're working on them, and it's perfectly useful as it is right now.)

» Please remember to click ‘reply’ or ‘quote’ directly on the comment you're planning on replying to or quoting! This will preserve the conversation thread and keep Peter and me from having to tear our hair out. (This is the great responsibility mentioned above. We're really hoping the comment threads don't go “out of mind” just because they're “out of sight.”)

So that's my latest wave of insanity. Let us know what you think in the comments!

ttyl

--Alex

So I got an automated email from Podfeed.net today claiming that not one, but two people had reviewed The Malex Minute. Naturally, I had to check it out.

Have we been getting favorable reviews? See for yourself!

ttyl

--Alex