We’re still in work hell, a hell, we say. A hell relieved only by an oyster po’ boy at Blue Smoke and last night’s episode of LOST. Oh and Greg Rucka’s LJ, which introduced the headline of the day: Great Tits Cope Well With Warming. Yes we are so punchy that this amuses us.

We have no pithy observations or bon mots, alas. Why? Why? WHY??

BTW is it just us or were most of the covers on HAUNTED designed by madmen?

If you’ve been noticing the paucity of Beat posting of late, you’re not imagining it. We said we were busy and we meant it, alas. All those secret projects. We’re not out of the woods yet, either. Luckily hardly anything is going on! Or is that just because we never read our email any more?

In the meantime, people are still reading comics: Douglas on stuff, Jog on Glamourpuss. Oh and Kristy Valenti does FCBD.

As previously reported, we still haven’t found the blogging software of our dreams. However, Scribefire recently went to 2.0 and it’s sooooo close! More options, better interface, the blockquote tag finally closes. However, they added tabs and instead of adding newly blogged matter to the old tab, it now defaults to a new tab, defeating the entire purpose of being able to just hit “Blog to Scribefire” and save a page to a master entry. Sigh. So near yet so far.

Also, we’re busy as hell here with Secret Project #1 and Secret Project #2. We’re going to try to keep an eye on the big stuff, but we just can’t sweat the small stuff right now.

Technorati Tags: fascinating software

One browser crash and one unexpected Scribefire update later and it’s all gone.

Added note: Pretty quiet around here as everyone is still tuckered out from the big NYCC bash. Even Dirk is sick and tired from ignoring the show.

We’re just easing along ourselves, enjoying the nice weather when we can and gearing up for the return of LOST.

The Beat: I can’t wait until tomorrow!

Future Mr. Beat: Why? What’s happening?

The Beat: Absolutely nothing!

We looked at our RSS reader the other day and had over 400 feeds on it. That’s ridickledockle. Granted we only read about 150 of them on a daily basis but still.

It was then that we realized that NetNewsWire Lite isn’t really cutting it any more. The fact that you can’t search for a feed name was what ticked us off the most. Of course we could pony up $20 for the non-Lite version and that might be the right way to go, but maybe there is something better out there, a great shining light of peace and democracy that will lead the way to the 22nd century.

What RSS readers do y’all do? We’ve tried Google Reader but somehow it just doesn’t cut it. Likewise Feedburner. We would much rather have a web-based RSS reader, but none of the ones we’ve tried have worked out juuuuust riiiiight. Or mayhbe we haven’t tried hard enough.

We have a lot of running around to do today so it will be light posting.

That is the plan. Today we are going through the mailbox and posting newsy bits and PR. Thanks to Mark for helping out while we were on the road, and Ken for taking care of Inky.

We’re over our little bug, but now exhausted from catching up on everything we missed while we had a little bug. Tomorrow we head out to Ultima Thule for a few days for some much needed R&R, but will be posting some stuff along the way.

A couple of notes:

• If you have sent me a link to a .pdf file for a review in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY lately, please resend the links. I’m hopelessly behind in the email department and don’t want such things to fall between the cracks. (Not you, Paul, I did get your reminder!)

• I have really been very very bad about responding to all the links, helpful emails and general notes of encouragement I have been getting. I used to correspond with a “celebrity” who would often answer my emails months after I sent them. I thought this was wack at the time, but now I see how it can happen. Anyway, I’m not going to mess with the past but will try to endeavor to keep up a little better.

• Please keep with the links, helpful emails and general notes of encouragement! I need all the help I can get around here.

(Above illo by the peerless Charles Dana Gibson.)
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Sadly, we’re under the weather and can’t summon the energy to cover the huge Superman/Siegel estate copyright decision. It’s very frustrating because we have a lot to say,but need the energy and clarity to say it. So, apologies.

This has nothing directly to do with comics but this brilliant piece by Eric Alterman in The New Yorker is one of the best things we’ve ever read about the internet, and how internet news is changing not only how the publishing business is run, but how society processes information:

Taking its place, of course, is the Internet, which is about to pass newspapers as a source of political news for American readers. For young people, and for the most politically engaged, it has already done so. As early as May, 2004, newspapers had become the least preferred source for news among younger people. According to “Abandoning the News,” published by the Carnegie Corporation, thirty-nine per cent of respondents under the age of thirty-five told researchers that they expected to use the Internet in the future for news purposes; just eight per cent said that they would rely on a newspaper. It is a point of ironic injustice, perhaps, that when a reader surfs the Web in search of political news he frequently ends up at a site that is merely aggregating journalistic work that originated in a newspaper, but that fact is not likely to save any newspaper jobs or increase papers’ stock valuation.

We have a lot to say about it, but that should await a more suitable venue.

As economic morons, we were also interested in this piece by Peter Dreier in HuffPo which gives a longer historical context for the mortgage mess. We’d imagine a lot of people would disagree with his analysis. Like we said, we barely know how to put pennies in a jar, so it’s all voodoo to us.

Meanwhile, we had a nice time at the COMIC FOUNDRY party last night, and the new issues looks amaz-o! We didn’t take any pictures, but plenty o’ other folk did and hopefully they will be showing up online. Seen around, Yuku Shimizu, Ben Trinh of Rabid Rabbit, Rocketship’s Alex Cox, DC’s Alex Segura, Virgin Comics’ Michelle Gomes, Valerie D’Orazio, irrepressible Torsten Adair, and of course the stars of the night, Tim Leong and Laura Hudson. We surely are forgetting many people because our throat is sore from yapping too much.

Otherwise, we’re kinda tuckered out again and it’s a quiet week. In other news we’ve upgraded to the beta of Firefox 3, but it’s in beta and bookmarks behave oddly. Plus no “Copy as a Link.” We also started a Tumblog, but its not ready for public unveiling yet.

Plus, we decided we really like Hugo Montenegro.

We’ve been tinkering with our blogging set-up a bit. Ecto 3 still doesn’t cut it for features, so we’re still using the now unsupported but still peerless Ecto 2. But we’ve discovered that we can now clip via Google notebook and import the html via Google Docs. It adds a bit of unnecessary code as far as we’re concerned (we blog in html mode not rich text) but seems clean enough and adds a bit of flexibility that the promising but still weak Scribefire doesn’t. Does this mean that Google is learning more and more of our precious secrets? Absolutely.

Now if only we could perfect that drag and drop calendar technique we’ve been tinkering with. We really love our blogging shortcuts and timesavers. This may look easy but blogging with a cat on your lap and a show about catching giant alligator gars on the TV means we need all the help we can get.

If any of the above actually interests you, you are truly a wonk.

Technorati Tags: fascinating software

We’ve been delayed today by Barack Obama and now a conference call on the very important Cheese Rolling Festival that we’re consulting on. We’ll be posting this afternoon, and apologize for the delays.

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In case no one has noticed, The Beat is having some server hiccups. We moved servers last week and the process has been underway for a while, hence the lack of ads, which are hosted elsewhere, as near as I can make out.

For whatever reason there has been a RASH OF DOUBLE POSTING on the Beat. Please try to be patient and not hit send again. The server is taking a long time to process stuff. Be patient and you won’t look silly.

I’m also trying to figure out a way to get comments editable or at least deletable by someone other than myself. Anyone have recommendations for a WordPress plug-in that would upgrade the comments?

Thanks to every who voted in our little poll yesterday. The results were pretty much what we expected, although everyone who wants gossip, please be prepared to buy us lunch because if we did that, we’d never ever get invited anywhere cool ever again. Very few of you wanted guests or columnists, which is interesting. The Beat, Comics Reporter and Journalista are very rare among successful blogs these days in that they are still solo nearly solo outings. Almost all the big time blogs — Boing Boing, Gizmodo, Huffington Post — are group efforts. Blog@Newsarama is the top comics group blog, with the best line-up of bloggers, but is somewhat hampered by the fact that it can’t compete with the front page of the “mothership.”

What that does show is that the “cult of personality” blog still cuts through the fog of RSS war. The reality, as we alluded to yesterday, is that no one person can do it alone any more, unless — apparently– you live in the desert like Tom and Dirk. We’re not willing to go that extra mile, sadly. We are willing to get an intern to help us out one of these days, however.

EDIT: Both the Beat and Comics Reporter do have guest posts and columnists, and of course we do have Mark Coale lending a much needed helping hand here and there (and esp. on Thursdays.)

Because we get bored, and because The Beat can never be good enough, don’t say we never turn to YOU our harshest critics and dearest supporters. What do you want to see more of? What do you want to see less of? Don’t say typos, because we all hate those and we’re working on it.

The reality is, here at Stately Beat Manor we’re being increasingly called on to help with behind the scenes matters everywhere. Yes, The Beat is an much-indemand consultant for many organization and events: Monkeys for Burundi, for instance, and the 119th Annual Cheese Carving contest over in Bird-in-Hand, PA. As we’re called on more and more, we must use our precious precious minutes to their utmost.

In all honesty, there is just too much going on to keep track of any more! Whereas once we could hit the major news in manga, webcomics, indies, publishing, movies, superheroes and Bruce Campbell with some sense of comprehensiveness, now there is so much going on on a daily basis it makes everyone’s head spin. We still try to hit the high points, but people’s interpretations of the same will vary widely. Should we fine tune, or just continue to spray buckshot like Dick Cheney at a duck hunting tourney? Oh noes! Head spinning again!

Ack! Software glitches caused some stored drafts to get accidentally posted last night. Many apologies and those responsible are being sacked.

We’re so excited we made a special glitter logo! Squee!

The comics industry was first shocked, then stunned and then just gobsmacked as news leaked out this week of the engagement of The Beat and writer Ben McCool, of Birmingham, UK.

“MacDonald’s constant posting about ‘DDGB’ always makes me chuckle,” said DC publisher Paul Levitz. “I hope that isn’t going to stop.”

“When The Beat runs all those beefcake pictures of Marvel movie stars, box office is guaranteed,” echoed Marvel e-i-c- Joe Quesada. “This could mean a real blow to our bottom line.”

Industry concerns over the removal of these and other popular Beat Fave Hotties regularly featured on the site were allayed somewhat when news of a prenup spread. “The Beat will not change,” a close friend of the couple revealed. “She will continue to post just as much silly crap as before.

“The only big change is that The Beat is now required by law to support Aston Villa,” the pal continued.

As for Beat regulars, Gerard Butler and Clive Owen, neither could be reached for comment.

Friends of Butler, say the 300 star has been in seclusion. “He’s completely gutted and has been driven to take a role as a widowed father of 7 who must chase a kitten through a zoo in order to win the heart of Sarah Jessica Parker,” said one insider.

Owen is said to be similarly distraught, and has vowed to devote his now-empty life to playing hard boiled tough guys who never smile or miss a shot.

McCool’s only comment was “Go Villa!”

As you may have heard, yesterday Reed Elsevier announced they were selling off RBI, the b2b publishing end of their operation, including Variety, Broadcasting and Cable, and, yes, Publishers Weekly, the home of this very blog. The reason given was that the cycle-driven profit structure of magazines supported by advertising didn’t fit in with the Dutch parent company’s business plans. Lots of scuttlebutt going around, but whoever wants the whole caboodle will need a spare $2-2.4 billion, which could take a while–or no time at all. Certainly Variety alone could have a number of suitors.

We really have no idea what any of this means but we’ll keep on blogging until they tell us to stop. One bit of fall-out that is known: the Reed Exhibitions group that puts together the BEA, New York Comic-Con and New York Anime Fest will not be sold off, so that’s one less conflict of interest on our plate.

Running very late as you all can see. Ironically,this is due to our revamped body clock which entails getting up at 9ish and going to sleep at 1-2ish, unlike our old up at noon, asleep at 5 am routine.That is great for blogging but bad for everything else. We’ll try to figure out a way to get The Beat with morning coffee again.

Technorati Tags: scheduling

Back online, a little sunburned and keeping more normal hours, which should be the entire point of a vacation. Thanks as always to Mark Coale for keeping an eye on things while we were away. We’re sorry we couldn’t give you more of a blow by blow account of our weekend, but the internet connection at our hotel was slow as molasses.

We’ll be posting through the day, catching you up on Toy Fair, and other news.

The signing was a huge success from all accounts — ironically, we didn’t actually get to attend because of personal matters. However, big big ups to Steve Henderlong of Sci-Fi City for his fantastic hospitality over the last five days. We took some pictures of his tremendous store which we’ll be posting soon. Big thanks also to Jim Lee for letting us tag along. Jim is, as always, a gentleman and one of the best ambassadors that comics could have.

We’ve seen and done a lot in five days…it’s really all a blur, but we’ll have a small pictorial later in the week…or the day as the case may be.

UPDATE 1 pm: Hm, many many very thoughtp[rovoking things going on. Rather than rush our analysis, we’ll just wade in slowly.

A very slow internet connection has foiled our attempts to stay current. Right now we are racing off in a limo to pick up Jim Lee from the airport before his big signing at SciFi City tomorrow. It’s been a good few days of alligator hunting and sight seeing here in Florida. More later. palos home verdes loan california companyhome california company loan valenciadown programs loan payment assistance homehome loan interest calculatorhome loan loveland mortgage refinancehome down no loan paymentprograms loan maine homeloan reviews home Map

What are the odds that in the ONE WEEK that the city is pelted with freezing temps and continued slushy snow, we would have planned–over five months ago–a trip to Florida?

Really now.

We’ll try to post a bit from the road, but don’t count on it.

Three out of three people we surveyed today agree that Dunkin’ Donuts coffee now tastes like complete swill.

Did you know Portishead is putting out its first album in 10 years? We thought that was a long break. But the B-52s are putting out their first new album in…16 years! It’s called FUNPLEX. Perhaps we are showing our own age, but we always liked anything that ended in -plex. We also always liked BOUNCING OFF THE SATELLITES, but no one else did. What’s that on your head? A wig!

Anyway…The Beat is going to be very distracted over the next couple of weeks by travel, tax returns, the ongoing clean-up at Stately Beat Manor and other personal matters. We’re doing a big vast catch-up day at the Beat, trying to close some of those tabs, as they say. It will be random and ugly and no one will be able to make sense of it. But we’ll all be stronger and wiser when we come out of it.

Speaking of the clean-up, this weekend we did something we never did before…we just threw out a big bag of comics. Threw them out. Put them in a Duane Reade bag and left them in the hall. DCs, Marvels, Image, you name it.

No one took them.

Technorati Tags: Wacky old covers, The big clean up