MuseBlog

All caught up, for now!

The Fan Page maintains a list of contents of back issues of Muse. We’ve let it fall ‘way behind, though, because blogging is so time-consuming (and, to be honest, a lot more fun).

Last summer, in response to a call for help, some stalwart MBers pitched in and recorded the contents of all issues up to July/August 2006. We’ll be posting those soon (honest!). Meanwhile, we’ve slipped behind again and need your help in recording the following issues for Muserly posterity:

September 2006 [thanks, Davidude!]
October 2006 [Davidude again]
November/December 2006 [Davidude yet again]
January 2007 [also Davidude]
February 2007 [looks like an all-DD series]
March 2007 [yep!]
April 2007 (coming soon!)

Wheelbarrows full of hot-pink-bunny points to any and all who come to our aid.

Many thanks,

Your disorganized GAPAs

(In case you have trouble reading the second one on your monitor, here’s what it says.)

1. Because everyone would get free pies.
2. Because everyone would have to be stick figures.
3. Because everyone would have to shave their head except for 6 black hairs.
4. Because there would be free pie throwing contests every day.
5. Because his head would look so cool on a coin.
6. Because he would give up all nuclear weaponry in favor of pies.
7. Because it would be funny to see who he’d choose as a first lady (Aeiou? Mimi? URANIA?)
8. Because he would make sure that music programs weren’t cut from schools.
9. Because he’s black, a cartoon character, and skinny. Minorities, people!
10. Because I said so.

Made by Cat’s Meow.

Sometimes spelled “Ko-konspiracy,” with an optional hyphen. By special request of kt the gr8.

Multimedia MuseBloggers Purple Panda and Taiwan Hippo Fan have unleashed their March podcast. You can find it by browsing in the “kids” section of iTunes (look for “MuseCasts” instead of “MuseCast”), or play the blog’s MP3 version by clicking here.

Korrora’s project, described as follows:

I’m starting a Muse Calender with all the things we celebrate on it. Things like pi day, towel day, famous peoples b-days… If people know when things are (towel day etc…) would it be possible to post the date (on this thread or other designated thread)?

We thought there was a calendar right here on the blog, but apparently K. has something else in mind. As requested, here’s a thread for it.

New on the blog? Confused? Step right in. Veteran MuseBloggers will do their best to make you feel at home.

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

This discussion threatens to derandomize the random thread. Here’s a place to conduct it, for those who want to.

We’re not sure what’s going on — some glitch with the servers at our host company. For whatever reason, MuseBlog has been only intermittently available today, and it’s not clear that we’re out of the woods yet. Sorry!

By now, several of you have become proud (we hope) possessors of items from Musery Loves Company. We’re curious. When you wear your Musewear in public, do you get any…you know, reactions? Comments? Funny looks? (More than usual, we mean.) What does it feel like to be the public face of the Kokonspiracy?

Some of the older MBers are starting to turn 18. (Amazing, isn’t it?) On the Rules page, we announce that anyone on the blog aged 18 years and up must use his or her real name in order to be identified as an adult. Some veteran MBers, however, say they would rather go on using their blognames when the time comes — partly out of concern for privacy, partly because they and everyone else are used to them.

The Administrators have discussed this matter and, as usual, have decided on a compromise. Here’s the revised policy:

(1) Newcomers 18 years old and older must identify themselves as adults and use their real names.

(2) Established MuseBloggers who turn 18 may continue posting under blognames. The “Who’s Here” page will mark them as post-high-schoolers by placing plus signs (+) next to their names.

Fair enough?

MuseBlog’s irrepressible podcasters, Purple Panda and Taiwan Hippo Phan, have done it again. The February edition of MuseCast includes segments about Antarctica (sort of), a choral invocation of the Muses, wungs, and Antarctica again (sort of).

You can find it by browsing in the “kids” section of iTunes, or listen to it on the blog by clicking here.

Help newcomers and others ferret out the hidden delights of threads of yore.

(Translation: Some old threads on the blog were pretty good, but once they scroll off the main page they become hard to find. Here’s a place to post some of your favorites. Tell what it is and paste in the URL, or use HTML to make a highlighted link.)

Step right up to receive your welcome pie and ask the old hands what’s going on around here. First, though, please read The Rules. You might also glance at The HG2MB (Hitchhiker’s Guide to MuseBlog).

The blog’s online boutique, Musery Loves Company, did a brisk business in December and January. Muse– and MuseBlog-related products from CafePress are now at large, bedazzling and bewildering an unsuspecting world. Most popular single item: the “Classic Bunny” Junior Hoodie.

If you haven’t visited the store lately, you might want to check out Rebecca Lasley’s latest additions to the lineup, including Muse Academy bumper stickers and a “MuseBlog signature edition” Mostly Harmless mug. If you’re new and haven’t visited Musery at all yet, all we can say is that there’s really nothing quite like it. See for yourself.

Blog administrator Rebecca Lasley has supplied a startling image of the Washington, D.C., Metro (subway system) in the aftermath of the Million Muser March:

What? You’ve never heard of the Million Muser March? Well, no, of course not: it hasn’t happened yet. But when it does, this is what the results will look like. Resistance is Museless!

We’re back, having converted the file to MP3 format. Let’s see if that works better. Now, where were we? Oh, yes…

Not content with soap sculpture, Purple Panda and Taiwan Hippo Fan, with the help of Kiki the Great, have turned their talents to audio production. With luck, you’ll be able to listen to a sound file of their MuseCast by clicking here.

Step right up to receive your welcome pie and ask the old hands what’s going on around here. First, though, please read The Rules. You might also glance at The HG2MB (Hitchhiker’s Guide to MuseBlog).

You can find them at “Musery Loves Company” (http://www.cafepress.com/musery).

Let us know if we missed any that you can’t live without. We can easily add items to the online catalog.

Muse turned out to be a tiny place, one of those towns that people describe as “a wide spot in the road.” It’s not far off the beaten track, but you probably wouldn’t stumble across it if you weren’t looking for it.

It has a smattering of wooden houses,

two lodge halls (Kokonventioneers take note!), a church or two, a beauty salon, a day school that appears to double as a general store, a post office (see above), an elementary school,

and not much else.

Cell-phone photos taken on a gray, drizzly day in late December probably don’t do it justice. All the same, it’s probably never exactly picturesque.

In other words, it’s absolutely bursting with potential.

Some MBers have asked Rebecca and Robert to create CafePress shirts with their signatures on them. We think that’s a great idea. Send your signatures in electronic form (scanned or created with a tablet or a drawing program) to gapa@musefanpage.com, and we’ll compile them all into a big file and slap them on the backs of various items of Musewear. The deadline is blog closedown* on Wednesday, December 20. No last names on the signatures, please–blognames and/or first name plus last initial only.

(If you don’t know what “Musewear” is, you can see some examples at http://www.cafepress.com/musery .)

*No, the blog isn’t shutting down. That just means whenever the last Administrator goes to bed.

The only Muse-themed online boutique in the known universe is ready to accept orders. Its instigators, blog moderators Robert Coontz and Rebecca Lasley, will be happy to answer questions.

One tip: we’ve found that shipments can take twice as long as CafePress says they do, so don’t wait until the last minute to order holiday presents.