By Maddie, Keeper of the Glyphs
There was a time when wandering around the Internet felt a little like exploring a strange neighborhood where every house had been decorated by somebody with completely different tastes. You’d stumble across a website dedicated to an obscure video game, a fan page for a movie nobody remembered, or somebody’s personal collection of wrestling results dating back to 1987. Half the links probably didn’t work, the backgrounds were occasionally painful to look at, and there was a decent chance you’d be greeted by an animated GIF of a flaming skull. But you know what? Those websites had personality, and more importantly, you could tell somebody actually enjoyed making them.
Somewhere along the way, the Internet started looking awfully similar everywhere you went. The same layouts, the same carefully optimized headlines, the same endless feeds designed to keep you scrolling instead of actually discovering anything. There’s nothing inherently wrong with making websites easier to navigate, of course, but I think we lost something when having a little fun with your corner of the Internet became less important than making sure everything looked professional. Not every website needs to be a business, every article doesn’t need to chase a trending topic, and sometimes a ridiculous pixel-art comic about a Greek goddess watching terrible horror movies is reason enough to publish something.
That’s one of the things I love about Titanquisitor. We’ve got a giant Greek warrior who takes video games far too seriously, a movie-loving goddess who occasionally has to remind everyone else that cinema is an art form, another goddess whose definition of cinema is considerably more flexible, and a wrestling correspondent who looks like he might put somebody through a table if they interrupt his analysis. Then there’s Gary, who somehow decided putting all of us under one roof was a good idea, and me, the Keeper of the Glyphs, trying to maintain some semblance of order while preserving the evidence of whatever nonsense happens next. It might not be the most conventional way to run a website, but I wouldn’t trade it for another perfectly polished, completely forgettable corner of the Internet.
So consider this our first official Dispatch From the Halls, a little reminder that the Internet can still be whatever we decide to make it. There are plenty of places to find the latest headlines, reviews, and recommendations, but there ought to be room for the weird little websites that make you smile, too. Around here, we’re going to keep writing about the things we love, digging through forgotten corners of pop culture, and occasionally embarrassing ourselves in pixel art. After all, somebody has to keep the old spirit of the Internet alive, and I happen to know a few people who are stubborn enough to try.
Making Internet Fun Again!
— Maddie, Keeper of the Glyphs
