New logo wallpaper
We updated the logo, but we didn’t update the wallpapers. Oops. No problem, says our pal Aeshir — we were busy making music, so he made the wallpapers for us. Check them on the Freebies page and give Aeshir a virtual high-five.
We has a New Song: “Learn to Spell”
You saw the logo. You saw the shirts. (Thank you — some of you have already bought one!) Now, you can finally download our newest parody song “Learn to Spell” from our Songs page. It’s a version of “Gives You Hell” by The All-American Rejects, and it’s dedicated to anybody who posts like English is not a second language, but a distant third or fourth. Seriously — typos are one thing, but simply not caring enough to learn how to communicate with the rest of the world is something else. It’s a pet peeve, and it makes gamers look bad. So next time you see someone doing it, drop a link to this song into that discussion and run.
Full lyrics and special credits after the jump.
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We has a merch
In addition to kind words about our so-called “business” cards, we’ve gotten some very nice compliments on our songs, and occasionally, they come with comments like “I would buy your songs if you sold them” or “I’d like to support you guys in some small financial way, but there’s nothing on the site to that effect.” Hmm.
We don’t sell the songs. For one, that’s not why we do it. For two, even though we believe we are legally safe under parody laws, we figure we are flying under the radar by giving it away for free. We considered one of those PayPal button things, but that seemed…uninspired. And all we really want is for you to tell your friends about us.
Hey, I know…t-shirts!
Armed with the new toon ninjas and the fresh 3D logo, Kat whipped up a few designs that we thought you might not be embarassed to wear. Zazzle is cool because you can change it around — if you want a different color or style of shirt, you can customize it until it’s something you would want to buy. Like for instance, Dan decided he wanted to do the 3D logo in Scorpion yellow but on a maroon shirt. And the moment he put it on, he was struck with creative inspiration, as you can see:
So, successful closed beta. That works.
Right now, there’s the four colors of the 3D logo, a variation on the toon ninjas, and a special shirt with some of the “Halo” lyrics on the back, in dark or light. (Plus the prerequisite mousepad, for people who do not wear clothing.) If you’re feeling really spendy, we made an embroidered hoodie, but that was basically for ourselves and we don’t expect anybody else to buy it (but if you do, use the coupon SPRINGZAZZLE for $5 off orders of $45 or more until the end of June). We’re skipping crap like aprons and tote bags, but if there are other items you would actually like to buy with our logo on it or variations on the existing designs, just let us know. (A new shirt will unlock shortly after the new song appears this week.)
We think this solves the “support” problem nicely. We make a (very) tiny bit of cash on each shirt sold through Zazzle. More importantly, with you as our walking billboard, it gets the word out at LAN parties and comic book stores across the country. So by getting a shirt, you are supporting us twice — once by buying it, once by wearing it.
And if you don’t wanna do either, well, the songs are still free and we still love you.
We has an interview
This past weekend, Dan agreed to a 20-minute interview with The Overseas Connection at The Couch Mercenaries and, naturally, talked for an hour. Half the interview is about Palette-Swap Ninja; the rest is about OXM, the future of print, and all that stuff he always talks about. But you’ll hear the fascinating story of how Dan and Jude met, plus the meaning of the name and a bunch of other things that may not be awesome but they will help your daily commute fly by a little quicker. Also, Dan was still sick, so you get to hear him cough in stereo. It starts at around the 85-minute mark, but why wouldn’t you find the whole thing interesting?
We has a logo
Please divert thine eyes to the top of the page and peep our lucious new logo. We had this custom-created by our friend Brett Foster, and it serves several purposes. One, since the ninja are holding our proper favorite instruments (a Line 6 Variax 500 and a Lync LN-4 keytar), it more accurately represents us. B, it’s less infringe-y. And the other thing is that we can do…things with it. The first thing we did with it is we asked Kat to make us little business cards.
Well, they’re not really business cards because they don’t have anybody’s name or phone number or title on them. I guess that means they’re just sort of…cards. But the band comes up in conversation a lot, and we thought, “Gee, it would be nice to have something with the URL on it that we could give to someone when they politely feign interest.” And now we do. Thanks, Brett Foster. Thanks, Kat.
Tune in tomorrow for another little snippet of surprise.