For the last week i've been using Spotify to listen to music. As ever, i'm late (fashionably so?) to the party, but the premise is simple- download the program, stream the music you want and pay for it every few songs by listening to an advert or promotion, generally only a few seconds long.

Following a mountain of both last.fm and more personal music recommendations over the last few years, Spotify's meant that I can try out new stuff -be it bands or genres- easily with no consequences. Once again there's the issue of digital vs physical music, but what i'm finding more and more especially as of late that i'm not too bothered- I don't care if I own the CD, because chances are, i'll never play or actually use it.

It's been an ongoing triviality, especially for me, but I think Spotify has finally put this argument to rest. Without gushing too much, I have enjoyed listening to music this week more than, well, ever, so it must be doing something right.

A mystery of season finale proportions. No, it's not a castle, no, not a sandpit, and no, it won't be the holding cell of numerous man-eating rabbits. No, it's not a full-size replacement for my Lego addiction.

I love Tumblr, it's a website i've been using for sometime now. I'm sure i've already mentioned it countless times before, but it's an already well-established new (well, to an extent) blogging platform, allowing you to post whatever kind of media you want such as photos, text, music or videos with relatively little hassle. It is, for lack of a better word, fun- instantaneous and random postings of whatever you feel like. Again, for lack of a better description, a scrapbook of sorts.

It's because of this i've been using the service/had a tumblr of my own for sometime now, and is invariably the reason why I don't post here often, or as much as i'd like to. Often by time I feel as if i've got something to genuinely post it's been spilled elsewhere, be it Tumblr, Twitter, or even Flickr -this is something I seriously need to work out at some point...just not today. Anyway, what makes Tumblr so fun, enjoyable and perhaps even addictive is that ease of use, the carefree nature of it, and just the pure expressionism of it all. I'd like to think some of the best websites out there are indeed Tumblr-built or based off the same kind of concept.

Whatever their appeal though or raison d'être, it's something that's currently undergoing a very significant change. A few weeks ago the site rolled out a new feature called Tumblarity, a new development "where you can see cumulative and trending stats about your activity on Tumblr", in addition to "[your Tumblarity being] derived from every blog’s activity and popularity across our network".

Both additions sound interesting on paper, and thanks to a new tagging directory, you can check with ease the most popular or wide reaching tumble logs within a specific area, such as photography or music, something you've always been able to do previously as part of the site's "Staff Picks". The problem that arises from these new additions however is the fact every user and their tumblr page now has a number. Twelve, six, two-hundred and three, this is is your "score" or Tumblarity within the community. It's a ranking, similar to that of Technorati's previously, but it turns the Tumblr community and audience from a collection of interestingly unique users into a massive cloud of repost and republishing- Tumblr is one giant leaderboard.

You can increase your Tumblarity (and thus, rise higher to the top) in several ways, by posting more new content, watching/following other users, and most interestingly, rebloging the content of others. The latter is an idea that has existed from the platform's beginnings- if you like something, you heart it or post it, that's just the way things have always worked. In applying a points system for doing so, Tumblr is no longer a playground of individual expression, but one big repost machine, where no one is unique, and everyone has the same posts as each other.

This is all exaggeration on my part, but a problem that has already begun as users seek to gain points and a higher number by mindlessly copying the content of others. It's all one big popularity contest where the prize is...well, a bigger number, and not satisfaction or general feel-good sharing as may have been the case in the past.

I love Tumblr, and it's a service and platform I hope to continue to use over the next few months/years. Like here and the brain-fart central that is my Twitter, it's an outlet of my inner workings, the things I like and self expression- a catch all of all the positives of blogging but quicker. The Tumblr number game may be there, and more than likely will be there for years to come, but it is not a game I will be playing, at least willingly. Currently I am twelve and ranked #46,886. I post both this figure and the fact that I have a number, regrettably.

One of my unwritten new year resolutions was to avoid entering Lego building competitions, and to try and build more for myself- whatever I wanted, whenever. Already i've won two this year, so it's safe to say that these plans have all gone to hell so far, especially as i'm now entering the 2009 Battles Contest over on Classic Castle. I'm a contest whore, I admit it.

My entry though is something i'm happy with, and is more there as something I wanted to build rather than something I built purely for a contest. As always, the fun of the contest and my inclusion comes not from aspirations of winning, but the community spirit- I like to think this current MOC would be here contest or otherwise.

Widmore II then, is a remake of what I built and entered into the contest last year. It's bigger, better, and a total reworking of the original idea. It's purely for me a chance to compare, contrast, and ultimately see how much better i've gotten at building within the Castle theme. The answer, i'd like to think, is a lot, but even so there's imperfections and faults, and as ludicrous as it sounds, i'm hoping to build the same thing next year again. You know, because I like plunging further into insanity and self-torture. But it'll be fun, really.

More photos are in the gallery here, while photos of the original 2008 Widmore, can be found here.

Plans to further my mission of world domination be the best vegetable-grower-guy are in progress.

Lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, spring onions, sweet corn and now tomatoes are now all being grown. Take that Tesco.

• Yes, I really did count that many individual Lego pieces over the last few days.
• Yes, they are for my Bricklink store.
• Yes, I have far too much spare time- thanks unemployment.