Seriously?

  • by Drew

A while back I helped a dude out with a website. He had nothing and wanted a simple presence for his start up business. At the risk of sounding like a king jerk, it is a pretty unestablished gig, facing major hurdles. I wish him the best, with all my heart. No one loves the little guy more than me, but when I offered to help set something up (because that is, after all, what I’ve been doing for 15 years or so) it turned into major problems.

First of all, I was doing this gratis – you’ll recall my love of the little guy statement a moment ago. Nevertheless, this became a major exercise in designing for the customer of discriminating taste. In other words, designing to the subjective tastes of this particular dude.

This is, of course, fine for me. I have a thick skin when it comes to designing for clients. I learned long ago that only their opinion matters in the long run. If I sell them on something I believe is superior, they must then sell everyone else. But if they honestly believe something is great (regardless of how awful and compromised it really is) they will proselytize to their dying day. So… go with it.

But this guy, who was doing nothing, and only got off his bum because I pushed him and did hours and hours of free work suddenly turned into the taskmaster from hell. All the sudden he’s an expert in SEO and is calling for a webhostinghub review and why can’t we have some Flash?

Are you kidding me? This is a guy so technically challenged that I can actually bitch about him on this blog with no fear that he’ll ever come across it. Sheesh.

Winding down

  • by Drew

Winding down the kickstarter project means I have to find time for the next Skateboard Heroes segment. Egads! So many projects to deal with. And still the day job to deal with. Sigh.

sigh sigh sigh.

And coming up I need somebody in a cop suit, somebody in a medical uniform (or thereabouts) and I really have to make sense of my bomb baby. storyline.

Yes, I said it. Bomb baby. You got a problem with that?

Mad Updates

  • by Drew

As in Mad Science The Card Game…

Right now the kickstarter is over 60% and we’ve got 2 weeks left. If you have any interest in this fantastic family card game, please check out the website in progress at mad.popestreet.com, view our tutorials on YouTube, and for goodness sakes, pledge already!

Seriously, a big thank you to everyone who has supported this awesome little project. We’d really like to bring it to you all.

Giving Power

  • by Drew

So we did it. We took a project to Kickstarter. Mad Science The Card Game. All the cool kids will be talking about it any day now. I have to tell you, it’s pretty exciting. We got to 40% funding in two days. That’s pretty sweet.

It’s funny. People tell me all the time that as an independent musician I should love the Internet. Who needs record labels anymore? Well, there is some truth to that – if you’ve already had big success (most likely with the help of a record label) and have a recognizable name. THEN you can go indie and maybe do alright. But when you’re not a name? When you fell off the scene for a few years to start and family and are essentially starting over? Forget it. You’re up against 5 million teenagers with iPads and virtually unlimited free time. The problem with the Internet is the sorting. There’s such a wealth of content, it’s a massive undertaking to sift through all the garbage to find incremental nuggets of yummy.

Sure, you can easily take a gre online practice test or find out from where you recognize that actress on the latest Law and Order franchise spin off, but if you just want to browse artistic creations… often not so easy.

I do love the whole kickstarter concept, though. Funding what you believe in, proof of viability before someone goes out and blows their meager savings on a loser idea.

I just hope nobody think my idea is a loser idea. That would blow.

Mad Science The Card Game!!

  • by Drew

Yo! Yo! Yo! We’ve got a new project. Mad Science The Card Game is on Kickstarter. Check out our video on youtube and think hard about pledging and getting your own copy of this super duper new game!

Hooray.

Codes

  • by Drew

Working on the Pope street redesign, I’ve been playing with those little QR codes a bit. I will probably incorporate some of that into a few pieces I’m working on – most notably the card game, though I can see saving some paper in future CD projects with direct links to lyrics and such from the sleeve. It makes me wonder about the usefulness of UPCs on products. On the one hand, it is helpful for outlets that use a symbol barcode scanner, but the reality of things is that most of my sales are made by hand, for cash. It’s a tough call. I mean, those barcodes cost real money, and while they look somewhat professional, are they really serving a purpose for little old me?

Updates Are Coming…

  • by Drew

As you may have noticed, Pope Street has been returning to roots. In a sense. There was a time before marriage and kids that Pope Street was a micro media empire with multiple genres of music and fiction put forth for your listening and reading pleasure. Then we went blog. For a number of years. Less music, fewer stories of the fictional variety. Lots of nonfiction about awful drivers, though…

Anyway, we’ve been getting back on that old school track with a series of recording projects that will begin to culminate in the next couple months. Of course, you are already checking out Skateboard Heroes (right?!?) and there are other comics in progress. Plus, we’ve got a new interest in card gaming, and any day now we’ll be seeing a new project come to life – Mad Science The Card Game. Trust me, you can’t wait.

Yeah, we got our hands in a lot o’ pies, huh? Not quite to the mobile homes for sale online marketplace just yet, but comics, music and card games… not too shabby, right?

Mini Mega Media Mess

  • by Drew

I’ve got my hand in one or two more pies these days and I think it’s time to officially ressurect the Pope Street Mini Media Empire. We do it all – comics, music, games, books, buttons and handcrafts…everything. EVERYTHING. You name it, we do it.

Okay, maybe not car title loans Texas or candle wax on the nip… Well, you get the idea. Almost everything.

Old School Furnishings

  • by Drew

When I was a kid I thought I’d grow up to have a big old house with big old extra rooms. Maybe it’s all the old black and white movies I watched. But the houses I saw in the back of my head were like World War 2 era brownstones with mahogany libraries and such. In the modern day of computers and all-in-one office machines and wireless routers and Netflix-ready Blu-ray players, I have a question that feels… inevitable.

What the hell would I do with a roll top desk?

Gift Shopping Redux

  • by Drew

I saw lots of electronics on sale this year. TVs up the yin yang, and super-cheap Blu-Ray players leading the charge. Decent prices on lower-end laptops here and there, though I’ve seen a lot better in the past. Some jewelry sales, though the good stuff never seems to waver. Precious metals hold their value no matter what, right? I mean, you can always find bargain basement gems because an occluded yellow diamond was inflated to begin with, but you’ll never see a near-flawless diamond making it into the bargain bins.

Not a lot of booze on sale and flower discounts were almost non-existent – at least in this guy’s circles. Some movies and music on sale, but certainly not across the board. It seems the studios pick a handful of titles to rock out on, and everything else holds steady.

The best toy sales were early. By Black Friday and all the hoopla leading up to the last minute shopping, sales were frequent, but the price dips were rarely that impressive. I say buy early and get a heck of a lot more bang for you buck.

So speaketh the king of clearance.

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