RIP John Hughes

You've probably already seen this, but I'm virally spreading it here anyway because I liked it. Here, via Ain't-It-Cool News and YouTube is a montage of clips from movies directed by the late John Hughes set to The Who's Bubba O'Reilly, aptly titled "Teenage Wasteland". Enjoy:



RIP John Hughes

Why Everything Sucks

Genius. watch

HAD TO SHARE...

I've watched this YouTube clip on the Sick and Wrong podcast for two days now (no, not straight- but probably 10 times or so), and it's still funny:



If you hadn't seen it by now it's done by Liam Lynch and it's from his podcast. I'll make it a point to surf the address down and post it as soon as I find it. Accroding to Wikipedia he's tied to Tenacious D and their last film. Personally the guy needs a sketch comedy show on a premium cable channel- if he doesn't already have one. More as I find it-

I still can't get that "9.99 All You Can Eat Lobster" line out of my head.

Wake Up!

Tooting the Flint Comix horn.

According to the CBGXtra site of direct market comics sales figures,(http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2009.html)and taking into account the returns we received on Flint Comix issue #1, our sell through number would land us as the number 153 of the top selling comics for March of 2009, and around 184 of the top sales for April.

Of course, you can't REALLY compare these number accurately, as the direct sales market is totally throughout North America and we only cover Michigan's Genesee County (seriously, not even that as we just put distribution points in some sections of the country with issue 2), and the direct market aims at mainstream comic readers, and not just ALL readers who happen to chance upon our free publication, BUT looking at the direct market, and considering how difficult it is for an independent publication to even be listed in Diamond Distributor's Preview catalog, I'd say we seem to be proving SOMETHING with every issue we produce.

Issue 3 is deadlined for the 15th of June. We're considering upping the print run on #4, as well as adding at least 4 pages to the product- in addition to starting a monthly printing schedule.

Toot, toot.

Sorry, just HAD to let somebody know...

WAKE UP!

RIGHT WING TERRORISM

Sunday there was the assassination of an abortion doctor while he was attending church, and now today we have a deliberately set fire (arson) of a topless coffee house in Maine. Here is a link to the actual article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31086037/?GT1=43001

So, are the two above mentioned occurances coincidence, or is this the start of a bit of homeland terorism by right wing terorists breaking the law for the so-called betterment of their country? With the sickening pllarizing bile spilling forth from so many of the right wing pundits lately you have to admit it's quite a coicidence.

Personally I think what is surprising is the idea that stuff like this hasn't happened before now, or perhaps it has and it just hadn't come out, or is it a trend that is now escalating because of the more liberal climate our country seems to be taking?

Only time will tell.

In case you missed keith Olbermann's remarks about Dr. Tiller's assassination, it is definately worth your consideration:



Might be a trend working here. I'll keep my eyes open. You...

WAKE UP!

FLINT COMIX STATUS: JUNE 1, 2009

Here it is the first of June 2009, and again all I have to report is positive when it comes to Flint Comix. I apologize up front for this being so long of a post, I’ll try to make reports more often and they should be shorter in the future. Here goes:

The last few weeks has seen the release of our second issue, which like #1 had a print run of 10,000 but unlike issue #1 we were losing what I thought were some of our main outlets of distribution. Still, as I type this we are literally looking at a 99.9% distribution with Ted and I in possession of one still bound bundle of 50 each. Add to that the fact that we’ll be doing a couple of display appearances before the next issue premieres, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be looking at a 100% distribution.

Admittedly I was worried about our distribution of #2 because we had a shift in out distribution outlets. We ran an article for the Flint Institute of Arts comic art display and they distributed over 300 copies of the paper on site. Add to that we had lost the major outlets of Kroger and Kmart, as the folks that apparently “owned” the racks wanted 15 bucks a display space to put the papers there and we refused. I was a little worried that printing 10,000 of issue 2 might have been a mistake. Luckily I added another 50 distribution outlets and, with the addition of a few new advertisers we more than blew through our stock down to what we have now.

In distributing #2 we also picked up all the left over #1’s. That gave is a back stock of around 500-600 copies, so that meant we had an initial “sell-through” of around 95% of the #1’s. We are still debating how to distribute those, though I was able to give away well over 100 copies of #1 at The Motor City Comic Con (as well as over 100 copies of #2). I am all for taking bundles of 100 to each of our three big hospitals around here to hand out to patients (in my mind a perfect, almost captive, audience), and keep the remaining copies “in house” to sell as back issues. I have already ran the idea past a few folks about selling back issues for 5 bucks each postage paid -as I am not THAT much of a greedy bastard. It’s my aim to slowly take a page of each issue and turn it into our “huckster page” filled with back issues, subscriptions, and whatever else we can sell of Flint Comix to turn profit.

Speaking of subscriptions, we offer a subscription as of #3, mainly because it looks like we’re going to be around for awhile and we had a few folks say they’d rather pay to have it mailed to them then have to hunt down copies. In fact the subscription ad I worked up said as much:



To date, we haven’t received any subscriptions, but I’m sure we will eventually. We’ll just keep offering, then when we start charging for back issues it should inspire some folks to take advantage of it. I did have quite a few folks from out of town say they were going to subscribe at the Motor City Con, but again, nothing so far.

Last week we put another advertising salesman in the field. We ARE getting new ads, but they are all from businesses calling us. Usually folks who saw the publication and “had” to be a part of it, now hopefully we’ll have someone out there making cold calls to gather more. I’ll let you know how that goes. The primary worry I had (and still have) with this publication is that the advertisers are our cash flow. We’ve been cutting deals for multiple appearances, (around 25% for our regular, regulars) and that has kept us in the plus column, once we start getting out there a bit more I’m sure it’ll open it up more to advertisers. At present we still have only one restaurant advertising and they are proving to be some of our best distribution outlets.

We are keeping track of our distribution, adding and subtracting issues and drop off points as we go along. I actually had three places refuse to distribute #2 that weren’t Kroger’s and Kmart’s, 2 convenience stores and a used bookstore. The bookstore would not give me a reason, just refused to take more, and the stores said that if it wasn’t making THEM money they didn’t want to carry it. In all cases I gave them a big smile, told them we would take them off our list, and made sure I started 2 new distribution points as close to their business as I could find. One store had what I thought was a bar across the street, but it turned out to be a sweet looking restaurant with a bar attached to it. They’ll move twice as many as the store would.

Like I said above, out best distribution points seem to be family restaurants. Most all of our “returns” of #1 were from convenience stores, with the vast majority of places running totally out and the places where there were leftovers were places that mostly buried the paper underneath the other freebie publications that had come out after us.

I want to take a bit to mention the happy parts I’ve found with doing this paper. MOST of the folks where we distributed #1 were extremely happy to see us deliver #2. I had two restaurants take the papers right out of my hand and tell me they keep them behind to counter and hand them out to folks they think would really appreciate them, and MOST folks are giving the paper surprisingly prime display spots. The warm reception I’ve received from the last two issues has been unbelievable. Frankly, it makes the days (and we distributed about 85 % of the paper in the area in three days btw) of running in and out of businesses VERY rewarding. To me, personally, this is a total change from self-publishing in the comic market where most of the retailers who do not know you personally (as well as the primary distributor) look at you with sheer disdain (like you shoved a turd under their nose), IF they carry you at all. I’m becoming “known” more locally, especially with the business heads, than I ever was working in regular comics.

I kept notes of the places I thought we were moving the fastest in and checked back with them whenever I could. Most of those places I had to restock. Plus we distributed to every laundry matt we could find this time, which also helped to take up the slack of the places we lost. I added another 30 outlets as well, taking our total distribution points to 300 I’m pretty sure. Anyway 300’s my goal for a 10,000 print run.

With #3 we are going monthly, at least through the summer, just to see if we can do it, if the market will bear it, and if we can keep a good profit margin going. With #4 we are looking at adding at least four more pages (making our page count at least 28 if not 32) and upping the print run to probably 12,500. I won’t go past a page count of 32, since if we do we should probably think about going bi-weekly, which I have had 3 or 4 folks ask if we were going there and at present I think it would drive us all insane to do. There is an entertainment paper in Saginaw that is bi-weekly, has a print run of 30,000, boasts a 95% sell-through, and has been printing for 30 years- I look at that as a GOAL and am amazed at just how much they offer in services to generate revenue.

At Motor City I had bites for at least 4 satellite papers to start, of which only one has contacted me further and seems serious about doing it as of this writing. Ted and I are writing up a business model for the paper to see if we can’t franchise it out. It would be easy to do, especially with us having stories prepped, pasted up and ready to go. We are now starting to get our thoughts on paper, which again seems like a good reason for me to keep you updated here.

Issue 3 is due to press by the fifteenth, our deadline for stuff was today, but nobody seems to pay much attention to the asked for deadline, which makes pasting up the paper especially hectic and deadline heavy (not good for my health). At present I have a quarter of issue 3 pasted up and know how the cover will look. #4 is August where here in Flint we have 3 major events happening, a Festival of Races, a Major Pro Golf tournament, and a huge car cruise that last year brought 25,000 people (I think that was the figure) to the downtown area- which was why we’re looking at upping the print run and page count.

We have more local talent in this issue than last, and even more scheduled for #4. At present we have one new comic feature (The Pope Of Carriage Town by Mike Mahoney)and one new column (by locally based national comedian Bryan McCree), as well as two local articles planned. Our October issue (#6 is all goes according to plan) will be Halloween oriented, and we’re already planning our first anniversary issue (okay, I’m keeping it in the back of my mind at least- that should be issue #11) where we’re thinking of dropping the national columns and strips for an issue and going all local- we’ll see.

We are becoming members of the Flint Visitors and Convention people for issue #3. that will place us inside our local international airport (the #2 fastest growing airport in the country), as well as place us in their "Welcome to Flint" packets for newcomers and potential investors in the Flint community. One of the intentions of doing the paper is to "dig in" into the local community, stay as local as possible and focus on as much local talent as we can.


One thing I can note here is the idea that the paper's contents need to stay a little liquid. I was too late (too busy, too lazy perhaps) to get a Miss Chevious story completed in time for issue 2, so that story's planned for #3, let's see if it makes it- I'm about halfway through it now. I have another story or three that I can use as a back-up IF I have to. my goal is to be at least an issue ahead on content asap- again, let's see if I make it.

I still have a worry that someone will rip-off this idea before I have a chance to make a solid go at it, thus the franchise outlook. It has kept me from going “national” with the idea just yet, as I’ve already turned down a podcast interview and am trying to remain as local as possible with just what we are doing. The first 2 issues have been invaluable, unbelievably rewarding in nearly every sense of the word, and so far still hold up to being exactly what I want to be doing for many decades to come. There are MANY small things we’ve learned already and many trapdoors I can see other folks easily going through that could potentially muck this up for everyone. Again, we’ll see, and I’ll keep you posted.

Wake Up!

And Now...

A man playing a piano with his balls!



Couldn't resist. Had to share.

Wake Up!

SUMMER MOVIE REVIEWS 2009

If you have yet to see Wolverine or Star Trek at the theater this summer you might want to skip this post. There are spoilers- heck, there might be spoilers even if you've seen the films and haven't thought about them much- you've been warned:

WOLVERINE: A prime example of modern comics writing. Pointless action, little if any set up, romance for no real reason, she's in love, she's faking it...no, wait in love, no seriously she was faking it (but actually in love) THEN SHE DIES AND THE HERO GETS SHOT IN THE HEAD TWICE AND TOTALLY FORGETS ABOUT HER. Three quarters of this film was totally pointless, and the guy (kid really) who played Gambit has a really REALLY good agent or negatives of the director with a goat because he sure didn't land that part with his acting ability.

In the end, hero walks off with badly acted buddy to who knows where, just not around the dead chick, the leaking radiation, his brother, or the monster that was sure to reconstitute itself if only he had taken the head with him.

Frankly, I'd bow my head if I was in this movie too.

Plus the villain KNEW that the best he could do was shoot Wolvey in the head with adamantium bullets and make him loose his memory- wait- WHAT??? He would have been better to sneak up behind him and jab a shard of glass into the base of his skull (No, wait, that's the way to immobilize someone with wolvie's powers on Heroes...). Still not sure where the bullets ended up, or exactly how accurate the bad guy's aim had to be to fuck his memories, but hey, that's modern funny books for ya!

Absurd, Pointless, Tasteless, Brainfart. Like I said "Classic Modern Comic Book Writing" These writers will be working for Marvel before you know it.

STAR TREK: I was worried going in, but coming out I was thinking that perhaps I shouldn't dismiss J.J. Abrams as a bad writer after all. Seriously, what else were you going to do with an outdated, bloated over PC'd franchise like this- especially considering how badly off the mark the last two series and four movies were. Hurray for what they did! Nice braincheck movie. DON'T try to over think the plot and be ready to dismiss WAY too many coincidences (Spock's being stranded, Scotty's appearance, a maniacal villain who doesn't need to see the loss on his adversaries face as he blows up his enemy's home planet... you know, logical thinking stuff). Just go and enjoy.




Oh and the worst, most distracting element for me in the entire movie was the Cloverfield monster suddenly chasing Kirk. Talk about an impractical alien life form to fit its' environment- C'MON!!!

So far:

Wolverine: 2 and a half

Trek: 3

Next to see: Terminator and Transformers.

Last two days I have seen two movies from last year, Hancock and Next, and despite the obvious flaws in those films I kind of enjoyed both of them a little more than Wolvie and Trek- but that could just be me...

WAKE UP!

WTF?? Sunday Catch Up

Been three weeks, but it's been a good two weeks. Lots to do, Motor City to attend, papers to distribute, news to decipher. Let's see if I can cover it all quick enough so you don't get to bored.

Actually going to save the Flint Comix report for another day since there's so much little things to cover here- sorry, but that report WILL take awhile, and I'm shocked to say it is practically all good things. I will say that issue 2 is out and OUT OF PRINT and go on from there.

I wanted to discuss the recent movies as well, and I have some opinions on Trek and Wolverine to share, but I'll leave them to another separate post as soon as I see Terminator:Salvation. The word I have been reading online of the reviews for that film warrant me seeing it, just to see who I agree with.

Local news overrunning most everything current seems to be the fact that our local paper, as well as most of the papers in the state for that matter, are all knocking down to three days a week- that's a cutback of 4/7th of their output, though they insist that it's a GREAT thing- I would show you the local spin from one of the editors, but for whatever reason it won't load up on blogger. Instead, here is the addy, and you can check it for yourself:

Executive Editor John Hiner addresses coming changes.

http://www.mlive.com/flintforward/

Or not. The video clip is about halfway down the page.

Sounds way too good to be true doesn't it? Plus I have yet to read how they'll be treating their comics section- just their assurance that there WILL be one in every edition- whether they'll catch up from their off days seems to still be in question.

I worry for all the daily strips out there. If most of the papers abandon the daily strips it might mean the end of them. Yet another format for comics that will be kicked in the balls when they're already down. Typical.

The newspaper business was a hot topic of discussion at The Motor City Con last weekend. It was the consensus that it would mean the decline of all local investigative journalism or not- time will only tell I guess- but seriously, hard investigative reports are hardly the forte' of blogs- at least for the most part. This from a "blog" yet.

The convention was great BTW, and I apologize for not taking my camera with me and taking a few shots. Here's a quick video report, via YouTube, from think Twice News:



Saw the upfronts for the Network TV fall line-up, and here are some random thought about that:

If Leno is successful @ 10pm, then I expect all the networks to follow their lead, solely on the thought that they are all cheap executive bastards.

Don't expect too much from Flash Forward (Lost Lite) and Vampire Diaries (Twilight Lite-er), while both V and Human Target look okay, both of those shows are set of Summer.

Dollhouse got more than it deserved by being renewed. So did Chuck and Heroes.

Smallville, now in it's final season for the fourth season running, has been shown to be the "red headed step child" that it's original producers always said it was in the CW evec's eyes. They had stuck it in a Friday night deathslot to rot away until it dies. Too bad it's still doing better than 7/8 of the CW's other shows and yet CW refuses to do a spin off or concentrate any more time on it. Typical executive stoopidity. Last season has it's severe ups and downs, with it ending on a horrible "down" that I'm sure will be an "Imaginary Tale" Expect a whiplash effect for the timeline to correct itself by the end of the season, if not by the end of the next episode.


Sci-Fi Channel will soon be "Sy-Fy" so they can copyright the name, as well as to get the channel's name better in line with their ever limpy-ing line of programming. It's gone from "The Science Fiction Channel" the "The Sci-Fi Channel" to now being "Sy-Fy". I wonder if those execs are doing it consciously as their programming goes in the same progression- from serious to limp wispy- to WTF.

Flint Comix update coming asap. Movie thoughts as soon as I see this Terminator. See you then and remember to:

WAKE UP!

WTF??

You KNOW that it's exactly this kind of spectacular video that YouTube was made for!

Via Fark and YouTube I bring you what you've always wanted to see; A big burly man fighting a stuffed Giraffe on his snowy porch while smoking a cig and listening to Afternoon Delight! It's the payoff at the end that sets it off for me- I still can't watch this without giggling, then bursting out in dead laughter. Enjoy!



Wake Up!