Toy Unfair? Did toy companies do right by fan sites?
As comic-cons become bigger and bigger, pop culture events one things is true: Media members like to complain about things. Nasty publicists, poor access, no Wi-Fi, crappy coffee in the press room. The same is true of the toy sphere, and at this year's Toy Fair, the toy media felt they got the short end of the pogo stick. It was definitely an odd situation. As big companies rely on fan media to get the word out about their products to the lucrative collector markets, the way they do it is being constantly reinvented.
Continue ReadingComicsbeat is One this week!
Although we've been at the Beat blogging game since 2004, this is the first time we've had our own "creator-owned" website at our very own not-gonna-change url. Making it a year has had a few roller coaster moments, but it's been a year of vast learning and satisfaction. Oh, there have been a few pesky problems along the way, and the front page looks wack (because Team Beat hasn't been able to fix the image resizing script yet) but overall we're just happy to be here and incredibly grateful for all the support we've had from creators, publishers, advertisers and of course, readers.
Continue ReadingSeparated at birth?
"Your feeble skills are no match for the dark side!" -- Patriots coach Bill Belicheck channels his inner Palpatine.
Continue ReadingThe History of The Beat, WordPress, and Media Temple
Be forewarned: Unless you are interested in nitty gritty web crap stuff, this post is NOT for you. Although this is going to be as nerdy as shit, in the hopes that others who find themselves faced with the same challenges as I have met may google this and find some guidance. For those who don't want to wade through it, there are two lessons to be learned: 1) OWN AS MUCH OF YOUR CONTENT AS YOU CAN. 2) DON'T BE AFRAID TO LEARN
Continue ReadingAnd so, the adventure ends
Today's the big day when I make one more attempt to get home. This has been a long two-week adventure -- by far the longest that I've ever been away from home and not blogging. The weather disasters that bracketed my trip are hopefully a once in a lifetime event, but I don't think I'll be traveling at Christmas for a year, at the very least.
Continue ReadingThe vacation continues
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet Rather expectedly, my flight this morning to snowbound NYC was canceled. Unexpectedly, I can’t get another flight home until Friday. Oops. I had a bunch of things I was working on for this week, but I foolishly neglected to upload them to the server and they’re all sitting on my home [...]
Continue ReadingThe long strange trip
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet I know you don’t come here to see my vacation photos, but if there was ever a Man Against Weather post, it’s been my Christmas trip to the UK. My arrival last weekend — with a connecting flight in Paris — got caught up in the ongoing European travel crisis — [...]
Continue ReadingIt’s beginning to look a lot like Krampus
Things are winding down for the holidays. The Beat is no exception. We'll be on holiday starting next week, and this time we really mean it. Almost no internet. We'll have a few elves looking in, but posting will be pretty perfunctory through Christmas. We will be posting some holiday art for the next few days so send us links or JPGs...but only through Friday. After that we're gone, baby, gone. Looking forward, we'd like to note that we're already booking advertisements into 2011. The top banner is sold out until April, and there are only scattered openings after that.
Continue ReadingAdventures in coding
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet Hey there! The Beat is back! The Beat never really left, but we figured that what with the server overload it was best to just lie low over the holiday, and get ready for the sprint to the finish line. We’ll have a future post with all the gory technical details [...]
Continue ReadingPlease stand by…
As many of you have noticed, the recent server shuffle has resulted in a loss of visual images. The Beatrix herself is spearheading our crack team of technological troubleshooters, and we hope to restore normalcy soon. Normally, in situations such as this, we would run "classic" columns from before the advent of the World Wide Web. Unfortunately, our tape archive was mistakenly recorded over with the 67th Academy Awards. So instead, we have reverted to ASCII mode.
Continue ReadingUnder construction
Share this link on Facebook!TweetWe’re still kicking the tires and adding air here at Stately Beat Manor with our new server. Unfortunately, The Beat is a large, complex, dynamic website and it takes up a lot of web resources, so we haven’t found the right level of power yet — or the images. Developing. In [...]
Continue ReadingNew day, new server
The Beat will be moving servers tonight, from the insanely expensive one to a slightly less expensive one. There will be no posting until our Operatives give the go-ahead and there might be some wonkiness in the morning, as well. As soon as everything is safe and sound in the new spot, we'll give you an earful on our hosting advice.
Continue ReadingGive yourself a present: Email amnesty
Share this link on Facebook!Tweet It’s my birthday, and I’m giving myself a present. No, not a Longstreth style beard. Email escape amnesty. After looking at the thousands of piled up emails, Facebook requests and so on, I’m going to start fresh. Yes yes, there are some urgent emails regarding advertising, internships, and previews that I [...]
Continue ReadingCredo
In the early days of The Beat I used to start many days with a "meta" post about my doings and very important thoughts, but that kind of personal stuff jumped the shark long ago, it seems. No one really cares about me seeing a blue lobster anymore...or rather, that's really what Twitter and Facebook are for. There's a social network for every ephemeral thought, and I now spend hours each day sharing the ephemeral thoughts of thousands of my close personal friends. In a way, it's too bad. Those were some of my most favorite posts to write -- like the time I went shopping for a mop. I guess you had to be there.
Continue ReadingPSA: Marc-Oliver Frisch is alive and well
Just a quick note -- DC sales figures for August are, as you have seen, VERY late this month due to actual work for Marc-Oliver. He assures me he IS working on it, however, and we're hoping to have it finished imminently. Thank you for your patience.
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