MuseBlog

Take a look. “Musery Loves Company” (http://www.cafepress.com/musery).

If you don’t see what you want, let us know. CaféPress has expanded their product line to include many more t-shirt colors, v-necks, and other items, and we’re still adding them to the line up.

Take a look before we upload it to CaféPress.

Note there have been some minor edits for clarity and space. Mostly, that means I cut out words that would be too tiny to read and removed solid black backgrounds because they didn’t harmonize well with the other signatures.

The above has been updated to include the corrected version of RtH’s signature and some minor rearrangements.

First they trained their desserts on each other in classic pie-ing stance:

…but then their attention turned toward the photographer:

Purple Panda and Taiwan Hippo Fan’s latest effort has been on the Web for weeks, but we’ve just found time to upload it onto the blog. Here ’tis.

Also on the blog are MuseCast 1, MuseCast 2, and MuseCast 3.

Now more than ever.

Continued from v. 2007.1.

If you’ve just arrived on MuseBlog, please make this thread your first port of call. We’ll help you find your way around and maybe even give you a surprise or two.

Please read The Rules. You might also glance at The HG2MB (Hitchhiker’s Guide to MuseBlog).

No, we’re not taking Muse on the road like the Wiggles. But some of the Administrators have acted in plays from time to time, including a few when we were Muser-age. Pictures below.
Read more »

World conquest (or konquest) made easy, continued. Remember: you can’t spell “kokonspiracy” without “piracy.”

The GAPAs have been conferring amongst themselves. In typically all-embracing GAPA style, we’ve decided to hold two Kokonventions: a big one on August 15, and a smaller one on August 10 for those who can’t make the other one.

We’re still working on a program of events for each. Right now, the main difference is the August 10 will have three GAPAs present (Rosanne, Robert, and Rebecca), whereas August 15 will have just two (no Rosanne, alas).

So… roll call, please. Who’s still interested?

Here’s the current list:

Friday, August 10
Julieb
curious and questioning
Shadowkat
Lady Visala of Reverie
Midnight Fiddler

Wednesday, August 15
kt the gr8
Glassboro

Both Dates (?!?)
Quintessentia
Capricious
Green Qween
Red-tailed HAWK
Purple Panda & Taiwan Hippo Fan

Not Sure Which, but Interested

West Coast MBers Yearning for a Kokonvention of Their Own
E2MB
Alice
emmatheduck

We’re not sure whether anyone on the blog gets the New York Times, but there was a Muse connection in last Sunday’s book-review section. You can see it here.

And speaking of reviews, did anyone see Pollyhymnia’s review of the upcoming Nancy Drew movie?

(Pollyhymnia, a.k.a. Polly Shulman, is a Y.A. writer and reviewer who pops up on MuseBlog occasionally. We’ve had a series of threads about her novel, Enthusiasm.)

Alice
Anata ChinTsu
Beavo the Great
Capricious
Cat’s Meow
Cinnamon Moon
Curious + questioning/Dodecahedron
dark duke of darkness
Donaldo the supercoolio awesome nerd
Dotty-kay
e~a
Ebeth
emmatheduck
E2MB
Glassboro
grnqween2011
Jadestone
Julieb
Kiki the Great
kt the gr8
Margaret
NatTheCat
Paul
Penty
Piggy
Potato Chip
purplefinch
Purple Panda
Red-tailed HAWK
Rebecca
Robert
Rosanne
Shadowkat
SuperSaiyan424
SupremeMuser2000
Sweet Melpomene
THF
T.N.Ö. Lilbro
The Skipper Nancy
Traggle
Vendaval
wingnut

The artwork will be posted as soon as possible — probably sometime this weekend — before we upload it to CaféPress so we can be sure we have all the correct signatures.

Oh, why not?

The history of this thread is a bit tangled, as is the numbering of previous MM threads. To see what has already been posted, go to

www.musefanpage.com/blog/?p=171 [Never mind.]
www.musefanpage.com/blog/?p=205
www.musefanpage.com/blog/?p=383
www.musefanpage.com/blog/?p=450
www.musefanpage.com/blog/?p=545

Clueless newbies, step right up! We’ll make you feel at home, with a hearty virtual handshake and a warm virtual pie smack-dab in the middle of your physiognomy. (Don’t ask why. It is our way.)

Please read The Rules. You might also glance at The HG2MB (Hitchhiker’s Guide to MuseBlog).

Here’s how to participate:

1. Create your signature, using whatever “natural” or digital media you like.
2. Scan the results, if necessary (preferably at 200 or 300 dpi)
3. Send by email to gapa @ musefanpage.com (except without the spaces)
OR if you have no way of scanning your signature, you may send it by U.S. mail to Rebecca Lasley c/o P. O. Box 3, Jamestown NC 27282.

The deadline is end of blogging day, May 15 (that is, it should be there by the time we check the mail the next morning.)

No last names on the signatures, please–blognames and/or first name plus last initial only. Plain or embellished, as you prefer. Take a look at the first edition to get the idea (see comment #8 below).

You will also notice some show up better than others. Here are some tips:

LINE WIDTH: the graphics will print best if the lines are not too thin or light. For drawing with natural media, something at least as thick as a “fine” Sharpie (not “ultra fine”) is perfect, though you may have to write larger letters than you’re used to. Pencil and fine point pens will simply get lost, especially when reduced to fit on items smaller than shirts. For digital, use a medium or large brush (at least 5 pixels, 10 or more is better, for those programs which allow you to specify).

SIZE: make it big. Probably bigger than you think. There are so many variables, it’s hard to be specific, but if the file size is smaller than 80k, it’s likely too small. Most of those that proved easiest to work with last time ran from 150k up to 1 MB. No one has ever sent anything too big. It’s much easier for us to reduce a graphic cleanly than it is to enlarge one that is too small. If you can, print a copy to see how it looks.

FILE FORMAT: Most graphics programs will support the following: jpg, bmp, png, or gif. (When you save the file, look for “save as” or “export” in the file menu). If you use Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Corel Painter, or Paint Shop Pro, you can send a file in its native format. PDFs are also fine. Ask if you have something else.

IF THESE INSTRUCTIONS DON’T MAKE SENSE TO YOU, DON’T WORRY. Just do what you can and send it in. We’ve learned a trick or two since last time and will find a way to make it work.

Our perennial promise: to answer entertainingly, or not at all.

Continued from Ask the GAPAs, No. 2.

Robert says:

I’ve had a request by e-mail for a more organized and, well, educational program for a D.C. Kokonvention. So far, all I’d been planning to do was a quickish tour of my magazine (Science). But I can add other things if there’s a demand for them. I have other science-writer friends who can give tours, and of course there are loads of museums and things in Washington. I’d need a bit of advance notice, though, and it probably wouldn’t be worth planning anything for a group of fewer than four people.

So assuming something is going to happen this summer, when will it happen, and who is likely to be there?

More plotting and planning.

We’re having trouble keeping track of everybody. If you change your name and want other MBs to know about it, post a notice here. If you spot someone else’s new alias and think others should know about it, tell them here. We’ll update the Who’s Here page eventually, but there’s never enough time for everything, you know?

We haven’t been following all the backs and forths and ins and outs. Is it going to happen on Thursday the 5th? Staff members in Chicago have been alerted and are ready to show you around. Just say the word.

NOTE: Anyone organizing a tour should get in touch directly with Muse‘s intern Myra Awodey (mawodey@uchicago.edu) as soon as possible.

Some unexplained bloggish anomaly has closed down many of the older threads. We’re reopening them as fast as we can, but it’s a time-consuming task. Please let us know of any favorites you’d like us to single out for extra-fast treatment.

Thanks,

The Management

If you’ve just arrived and are feeling bewildered, here’s your haven. Step inside for a warm MuseBlog welcome and a virtual pie (in the face–don’t be alarmed, it’s the custom here).

Please read The Rules. You might also glance at The HG2MB (Hitchhiker’s Guide to MuseBlog).

ADVENTURES IN THE MUSIVERSE
Chronicles of Museica, Part the Fourth (recommended by Glassboro)
Pie Isle, Part 2 (Dotty-Kay)

WRITING
RRR 2006.1, Part 4 [the original] (Penty)
RRR, v. 2007.2 (Science-fiction) – Part 3 (E2MB)
RRR, v. 2007.3 (Capt. Pye & Co.) (Alice)
RRR, v. 2007.4 [fractured fairy tale]) (Alice)
RRR, v. 2007.5 (spirits/evil things) (Glassboro)
TERRA formed, Part 1: The Edit (E2MB)
Books in Progress, v. 2007.2 (Alice)
Poems & Songs (Penty)

SILLY FUN
Alliteration (E2MB)
SSSS [“Stupid Senseless Smiley Stories”] (Lady Moonstar)
Random Factoids, v. 2007.1 (E2MB)
The Polling Place, v. 2007.1 (Purple Panda)
Living History (Alice)
Pie War 2007, Part 4 (agagabagabag)
Riddles, Part 2 (Alice)
Muse RPG, v. 2007.1 (agagabagabag)
Alter Ego Thread, v. 2007.2 (agagabagabag)

OTHER THINGS WE LIKE
Harry Potter, v. 2007.1 (grnqween2011)
Manga, Anime, and Graphic Novels, v. 2007.2 (Axa)
Music, v. 2007.2 (Jadestone)
Questioning the ‘Net (RavenHawk)
Song Lyrics (Red-tailed HAWK)
Español (Glassboro)
Quotations 2007.1 (Green Qween)
Books and Reading, Part 4 (widdershins (e~a))

CLEVER BUNNYBLOGGERS THINK OF NEW THREADS TO GLORIFY GLORIOUS BUNNIES

It’s been more than a year since we started the first “Ask the GAPAs” thread. Since then the number of Administrators on the blog has doubled, and we’re sure your questions have more than kept pace. So fire away. As before, we promise to answer entertainingly, or not at all.

MuseBlog does not encourage non-virtual meetings. If you’re going to organize them, be careful. The best way to plan them is for your parents to communicate with one another by e-mail. We’ll put them in touch with one another if they will e-mail us (gapa @ musefanpage.com). Meanwhile, you can use this thread for headcounts and other preliminary planning.

Chicagoland crowd: We’ve asked people at Muse headquarters about a possible tour for you. Stay tuned…Sorry–not this spring break!

GOOD NEWS! The people at Carus Publishing say they can give a tour. If you stop by on Tuesday or Thursday after 10 and before 4, you can meet the magazine’s art director and designer. If you come in the morning, the photo researcher will be there, too. Just let us know if and when, and we’ll pass the word on to them.