Archive for December, 2007

Las December I put together this Squidoo lens on the Christmas novelty song, I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas. Dad and my cousin Mike had just introduced it to me last year, and I made the lens as a way to gather whatever I could find on the album. After a few months, I basically forgot about it.

Once Black Friday hit, though, I noticed the lens was started to generate some affiliate sales. I thought that was pretty neat… but it’s been a few weeks now, and so far that one lens has led to 44 sales and over $20 going to Blood:Water Mission.

The best part is that it isn’t even Christmas yet.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Last month DC Comics launched their indy/webcomics venture, Zuda Comics. Each month (I think) they have a competition with reader ballots and everything, and winning creators get to see their comics in print.

This month I’m excited, though, because Araknid Kid, by Josh Alves (a buddy of mine and part of the Christian comics scene) is in the running! Where most of the other offerings are moody or offensive, Araknid Kid is full of a fun kind of energy that works great without alienating young readers.

Go check out Zuda… set up an account and see all the comics in the running this month. Right now Araknid Kid is in 8th place (out of 10). Josh needs your vote! …and 30-50 of your friends’ votes, too, if he’s going to break into the top 3 at this point. So get your free Zuda account and vote for Araknid Kid!

Popularity: 8% [?]

…I hear they got it from some tainted spam.

Still, it’d be a better idea to have a company blog where you update your clients about stuff like this, rather than removing your “Live Chat” button and turning off the 24/7 phone support lines. That would only be a good idea if you wanted to scare your clients.

(This also means that if you’ve gotten any errors sending email to us lately—us being any webseitler.com or sugarplumpaperie.com e-mail address—hopefully those problems will clear up before the weekend.)

Popularity: 3% [?]

I’d like to just come right out and say it: I’ve never watched a single episode of Speed Racer, so I don’t know how faithful this adaptation is. That said, something tells me the Wachowski Bros. are going a little overboard here. This looks like it’s going to be another Batman and Robin, or maybe two hours’ worth of the virtual reality sequences in Spy Kids 3.

Don’t get me wrong—it looks like it’ll be fun. I just think films like this (that try to make the real world look cartoony) and films like Beowulf (that try and make cartoons look ultra-realistic) ultimately aren’t able to hold the viewer’s suspension of disbelief. At least, not long enough to deliver an engaging story. If it’s just about being a popcorn flick, then fine… but these days it’s getting harder and harder to justify paying movie theater prices. As of right now, Speed Racer is on my “rent on DVD” list. We’ll see how things progress as the film develops. (A pun! Get it?)

But hey, don’t take my word for it! You can see the teaser trailer for yourself at Yahoo! Movies.

On a mostly unrelated note, LOST fans will he happy to know that even this trailer has a “Jackface” contribution (Matthew Fox is playing Racer X):

Popularity: 7% [?]

• Prince Caspian reaches out to the White Witch?
• Susan has to break the enchantment?
• Waitaminit… Susan’s not back at the bridge with Aslan?
• Um… eagles? Are the kids coming to rescue Gandalf from the top of Orthanc? (Oh, sorry—wrong Inkling.)

Katie and I just finished reading Prince Caspian a few weeks ago, so the book’s still fresh in my mind. I hope they don’t screw around with it too much… but it irks me that, while “book Caspian” was definitely repulsed by the idea of working with Jadis:

“So that is you plan, Nikabrik! Black sorcery and the calling up of an accursed ghost. And I see who your companions are—a Hag and a Wer-Wolf!”

…in the film it seems Caspian X’s nursemaid and Doctor Cornelius gave him a more tolerant education on Old Narnia. Why do filmmakers insist on taking successful books and messing with them, to the point of changing main characters’ motivations?

I guess I should just be glad Aslan wasn’t changed into a 2007 Camaro.

Popularity: 10% [?]