July 31, 2007

FOLDING 4 ACES

First off, thanks for the e-mails on the subject. It was nice to get. However, what's done is done. As a good number of you noticed, 4 Aces went down at the start of the month. And not as it's temporarily down. 4 Aces has closed its doors for good.

How can this be? My first website. The one that just celebrated 10 years of existence last year. It was a tough call, but as I weighed all the factors, the decision to fold 4 Aces was made.

4 Aces

Ultimately, here are the two main reasons I did it.

1) In order to make the site what I ultimately wanted, it would have required significantly more time and energy than I was capable of providing it (especially with the DMO United launch). Longtime fans know that the site evolved countless times in look, feel, and focus. But equally as apparent was that it never really had a clear-cut direction. I'm all for being haphazard by design, but not so much because I'm just being sloppy. If my sites are a resume of my work, a neglected site that's uber-stale is no bueno.

2) While the concept of 4 Aces was novel (and possibly innovative), even 5 years ago, with the flooding of the internet with gambling sites and the like, 4 Aces had lost all relevance. I've seen the web-stats; my little site was getting fewer and fewer hits. Once the biggest diamond in the World of Demosthenes crown, 4 Aces saw its sparkle fade. And it's hard to stay ahead of the curve when you factor in Reason #1 above.

So that is, as they say, that. Will 4 Aces every come back? Probably not, as I let the registration for the first domain name I ever owned expire, and fall into the grubby hands of a cybersquatter. Now, that's not to say that the good core content that made the site such a hit in the past won't rise up again. It may find itself as a part of DMO United. But as we re-organize our priorities here at the World of Demosthenes, I had to fold 4 Aces. Man, that's a tough lay down.

July 20, 2007

SMELLS LIKE SILVER

So I'm sitting in the office one day, minding my own business, as I'm apt to do. Then like a melodious fog horn cutting through a thick soup of a fog, Bob Tucker (my boss's boss), rolls into the office and proclaims, "Hey everybody, I've got the Stanley Cup."

WHAAAAA?

Practically leaping over the half wall that cleaves our office in twain, I run to the scene. Bob, along with the Keeper of the Cup (I think his name is Mike?), have just left the Cup on a desk. As everyone on my Ninja Strike Team crowd around to have a photo taken, a prime spot is open next to the Cup, which is promptly filled by my fat ass. Some more photos are snapped. I ask if I can touch it, and the Cup Guardian Guy says, "Sure." If you notice in the picture, Lord Stanley and I are sharing a warm embrace.

SGC Ninja Strike Team and the Cup

I take a deep breath from the Cup. Smells like silver. Smells like history. Smells like all that is right in the world. (ok, that last one was... ah, pushing it a little.)

Sure, I could go into detail on how it really came into my presence, but why ruin the mystery (but let me tell you, my luck has been riding high since Anime Expo. That guitar pick goes with me everywhere). Michelle got to carry the Cup on the elevator ride up, check out Cup Guardian Guy with the white glove treatment.

Oh, and just for kicks, there was a photo shoot also set up for a few of the executives. And guess who walked his way into that. My pose proved to the best of the bunch. Wacky Greek Boy and the Cup

And for your infortainment, some fun facts about Lord Stanley's silverware.

The two places it is not allowed is in strip clubs and casinos.

You might know that each player gets it for 24 hours, but along with the Cup, the Cup Guardian Guy comes along, too. If he's got to crash on your couch, so be it.

The Ducks will have their names inscribed in September on the Cup.

And if you're aren't as lucky as I, you can see the Cup for yourself at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto (where we only got as far as the Gift Shop before it closed on us, when we went).

And one more picture, because I'm a dork...

I'm awesome!

Hockey rules!

July 3, 2007

HOW'S MY HAIR?

It's amazing what some people do for luck. Me personally, I'm not much of a superstitious guy. However, during my weekend covering Anime Expo 2007 for AX Backstage, I did two things "for luck." I carried around a guitar pick that I got at the Funimation Booth (it was a gimmick to promote the new Beck series), and before the first shot of each segment, I'd ask, "How's my hair?" Ironic really, given that I could care less about my hair. It's thinning up front, and graying on the sides, and I'm doing little to stop either. But how did it affect my luck?

For starters, on Day One, I was originally scheduled for 2 segments, but it got bumped to three. However, the ORESKABAND interview got rescheduled, but we filmed an impromptu segment at night which turned into a pretty good piece. A fourth spur-of-the-moment piece, was filmed, but not edited and uploaded to the website. So far, so good. Wanna see my segments from that day, click on http://www2.axbackstage.org/?q=day-one and my segments are "AX Survival 101," "Pop Shock Masquerade," and "AX After Dark." Yes, that's a picture of me, interviewing a guy in a Gundam suit.

Day Two, my luck went through the roof. As we were going around filming another piece ("Laws of the Land"), a lady walks up to us and asks, "Hey, what outfit are you with?" I pipe up with, "We're with AX Backstage, the official Anime Expo video production team." "Cool. Hey, we got Vic Mignogna here, and he's finishing up. Would you like to interview him?" HELLS YA! For those that don't know, he's a voice actor on my favorite anime Fullmetal Alchemist. Not just any voice actor. No, he's Edward Elric. This young lass pipes up with, "Ok, can you wait here for a second?" For this "get," I was willing to wait. In a matter of 30 seconds, she brings him to us, and we do an impromptu interview. Wanna see it? Click here.

But Day Two really started out great when it was confirmed that I would land the interview with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Who's that you ask? You might know her from a little show called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex where she plays Major Motoko Kusanagi. The best part about the interview is at the end, when I tell her that I spend most of my Saturday nights watching her, much to the chagrin of my wife (not really, as I give Val her "anime backrub" while it's on, but it was a good line at the time), and she apologizes to Val on camera. The interview was about 15+ minutes long, but was edited down for time on the website. Click here to view. I tried to be a professional, but I was a total fanboy, and she was as delightful as one could hope.

Interesting sidenote, later that evening, circa 12 midnight (maybe 12:30 a.m.), a group of us (by us, I mean me and 20 other convention-goers) board the elevator to get to our rooms. We pile in, and I feel a tapping on my back. I turn around, and it's Mary. I was actually stunned to see her (my thought being, "Why are you staying at the Hyatt?" But since that's the closest hotel to the convention center, I realized that would have been a stupid question to ask, and stopped myself.). She asks what my shoots for tomorrow are and I tell her we're shooting a voice acting workshop at 9 a.m. She pipes up with, "That's the one I'll be at." Ok, see you there. Later on Sunday, I would go to an autograph session to have a poster signed (sure, I could have asked her at the interview, but I didn't want to be too fanboyish). She spots me and says, "24/7? We can't get away from each other." I think we're on each other Christmas Card list now.

I was supposed to have the ORESKABAND interview right after that (literally 30 minutes later in the same studio, but I was pulled off that for three reasons: 1) I needed to finish shooting the segment that was pushed back due to the impromptu Vic interview; 2) They didn't want to tire me out with all the segments we had planned and done; and 3) it was becoming apparent that I was dominating the segments. There were 4 of us to split up the hosting duties, but my crew just kept filming as we went, creating more segments on the fly (the aforementioned unedited 4th segment from Day One, for example). So other segments got reassigned, and I was totally cool with that. It's only fair. Besides, if I keep asking, "How's my hair?" it's going to stop being effective.

I encourage you to go to axbackstage.org and click on "Videos." There you can see all the segments our teams produced. And click on "About Us" to find out more about the other hosts that covered the event.

So I guess it really doesn't hurt to carry around a guitar pick and ask about your hair. Kinda worked for me, as I ended up with a fair amount of luck (in fact, we ran into Vic during the Voice Acting workshop, and when I asked my crew how my hair was, Vic came up behind me to mess up my hair). Go figure.

Oh, and of course, I need to give "mad props" (as the kids say) to the DHP crew: Paz, Adrian, Ray-gun, El Jeffe, Addy, and Doffo. They brought this Wacky Greek Boy along for the ride and WE KICKED ASS!

June 26, 2007

LIVE FROM LONG BEACH

This weekend, everyone's favorite Demosthenes will be at the Long Beach Convention Center, serving as an on-camera host for the Anime Expo 2007. Word on the street tells me that the Expo never produced it own coverage of the event, and given the less-than-stellar quality of personal videos of past events, AX (that's the hip name for the Anime Expo) has given birth to AX Backstage which will be responsible for producing professional video pieces that will be available for viewing during the event.

So how did the Prince of Laughter get reined into this? Well, if you go to the People I Like page, you'll see The Paz, owner of Divine Hype Productions. She a super-cool producer who happens to be a friend of mine (although, I've flaked on two social gatherings at her place... bad Demosthenes). She was tapped to help pull this little project together. As we have done some golden material together on Cast TV, she asked me if I was interested. As I do like the anime, I jumped at the chance (not really, as I was sitting down at my desk, and jumping wouldn't have worked well).

I'll give you more info as it comes along. In the meantime, I'll see you at the con (but leave your zapaktow at the door. No weapons this year at the AX).

June 16, 2007

HEF IN THE HOUSE

Last month, we did something different by having a themed Quote o' the Week all month long. All quotes came from everyone's favorite playboy, Hugh Hefner. It was the first time we did anything like that, and it was well received.

Though I don't usually archive previous Weekly Goods, I did receive requests to list all the quotes from Hef. As I like to give the fans what they want, here in it's entirety, the "All Hef, All May" event.

"Tell her that you love her as soon as you think it's true. There's nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve." - April 30th

"There's no question that it's possible to be in love with two women at the same time. I've been there." - May 7th

"If she lives someplace else, it's a good idea to let her know that you're thinking about her with, say, a card, and unexpected phone call, or flowers. I've always favored roses. A single long-stemmed rose can made a surprisingly amorous statement." - May 14th

"You have to calculate the odds before taking risks. But if you don't take chances on the things you really want, then you'll never know. Rational risk is part of what life is all about. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for?" - May 14th Bonus

All Hef, All May

"We all fail from time to time, and that's not a bad thing. There are going to be women who say no. The possibility of failure adds something to it. If every woman found you desirable, that would be pathetic. If it were a certainity, how boring life would be. It's the adventure that makes it worthwhile." - May 21st

"If you don't see the humor in sex, you don't see the humanity in it. They go hand in hand." - May 21st Bonus

"If you don't swing. don't ring." - May 28th

"Part of my life has been a testing of the outer boundaries of sexuality, stretching the limits of what you can do and still consider yourself moral. Morality is not defined by numbers of partners. You can have sex with just one person and this can be a very immoral relationship." - May 28th Bonus

If you're interested in finding out more about Mr. Hugh Marston Hefner, you can pick up his autobiographical book, Hef's Little Black Book. Judging by the relative success of this promotion, I may have to look at other themed Weekly Goods in the future.

June 13, 2007

HELL HATH NO FURY...

I got sent a link to a story on the BBC News website. Now, I peruse BBC News when I check my the news websites in the morning, but I guess I missed this one.

Let me give you the Cliff's Notes version:

If you want to read the full story from BBC News, click here.

I'm sure some of you are expecting some sort of witty one-liner from me about this point in the issue. However, I think we really need to take a serious look at this. If you're going to piss off a woman, for the love of God, man, guard your junk!

April 17, 2007

TIME TRAVEL, RICK ASTLEY,
& RANDOM SLICES OF PIZZA

I Will Discover Time Travel!!!
How can I make such a bold statement. It's the only plausible reason as to why the state of Missouri says I died in St. Louis in January 1946.

Evidence? Click here and scroll down until you see my name. It's in the S's.

Actually, Valerie is the physicist in the family, and she's working on that kind of stuff, so in actuality, it'll be the Mrs. who discovers time travel. But still, if I know I'm dying in St. Louis in the 1940's, doesn't that create a temporal paradox as I'll probably won't go there now?

A Rick Astley Moment

So there is song called "Rehab" that I catch bits and pieces of on the radio. Catchy tune that sounds like it sung by a black woman. But after watching the Brit Awards on BBC America, I discover it's sung by a white girl from Britain named Amy Winehouse. I turned to Val with that discovery and said, "Wow, I just had a Rick Astley moment."

Russell Brand, the host of the show, nailed it right on the head though when he said she had a wonderful voice... when singing. When talking she sounds like a cabbie. Later in the night, when she was presenting an award, that assessment proved to be spot on.

Silver Medal Hoozahs
For the third year in a row, I guide a team to the fantasy hockey playoffs, only to lose in the Cup Finals. Man, that pisses me off. I'm turning into the Buffalo Bills of the fantasy hockey world.

On the 'Roids
Last Sunday was the first game of the new softball league season. I started 0-3 with a strikeout... and it's slow-pitch softball. Oh, the shame. Maybe the Jose Canseco Brand nutritional supplement I'm taking needs some time to take effect.

Mmmm... Local Flavor
In our area, there are hundreds of little hole-in-the-wall, mom-and-pop, specialty, novelty, dining and shopping establishments. To be honest, for many years, we would only frequent name brand locations. Not because we were snooty, but they were trusted and familiar. After a couple of years of driving by these places to get to other places, we decided to try these places out (we figured that if they were still open, they had to at least be decent). We've discovered some nice surprises.

Our current favorite pizza place is Haus of Pizza. Located at 12912 Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove, it serves up pizza, pasta, and sandwiches. We know go there for pizza over places like Domino's, Pizza Hut, or Papa John's. And you can have them put meatballs on your pizza. Mmmm, that's good pie.

Up the road a bit is an ice cream joint called Joe's Italian Ice. Located at 12302 Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove, it offers Italian Ices (think of it as a way better sno-cone) in a variety of flavors. Plus, it has ice cream, and a spunky orange sherbet which is my personal fave.

We just found a cheese shop not too far from us. It's called Frog's Breath Cheese Store and is located at 143 N. Glassell Street in Orange (website: www.frogsbreathcheese.com). It caters to the gourmand as it has a cheese case, a nice wine selection, high-end oils, teas, and mustards, and other random gourmet goodies. We got a couple of cheeses, a Tinturn and a Cotswald, so we'll see how that pays off.

Our favorite Mexican restaurant is a place called Los Sanchez. It's original location was in Anaheim, but moved 2 miles south and is now at 1906 Garden Grove Boulevard in Garden Grove (website: www.lossanchez.com). This place is way better than Acapulco or El Torito. Huge food that's reasonable priced. I'm in.

The last stop of this culinary hit parade is Watson's Soda Fountain. Located at 116 E. Chapman Avenue in Orange, there is actually a working pharmacy in it, but the claim to fame is the lunch counter. It's a local landmarks and famous across Orange County. It has your standard diner food, but it's so good. We'll be eating there again.

So let this be a lesson to everyone out there. Don't be afraid to stray into a new place you've never tried (or heard of) before. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised and treated to wonderful food.

That's a Nice Piece of Lawn
So we're channel surfing, and stumble across the Liverpool vs. Manchester City (not to be confused with Manchester United) match on FSC. And for the next 5 minutes, me and the Mrs. do nothing but praise the pitch at City of Manchester Stadium (again, not to be confused with Old Trafford). I mean, it was an well-manicured piece of grass. The groundskeeper earned his pay for the week You'd really have to see it.

Pop Pop Pop
I think I'm going to start popping my own popcorn on the stove top. My microwave has a bad habit of over-nuking the popcorn and giving it that nice black, smoky flavor, and we all know that burnt popcorn is NO BUENO!

I Miss Bob Uecker
We need more of Mr. Baseball on the telly. Somebody, make it happen.

Online Bill Pay Must Cutting Into Profits
Just in case you didn't know, United States Postal Stamps are going up in prices to 41 cents on May 14th.

But in other Postal related news, it seems that the U.S. Postal Service is shacking up with Star Wars and letting fans vote on which Star Wars design will be a new stamp. For all the goodies, click over to www.uspsjedimaster.com.

And to top it off, some mail boxes are being painted to look like everyone's favorite droid, R2-D2. 400 boxes will get the new look, but please, don't be tempted to steal one. That would be a federal offense.

February 24, 2007

IRON CHEF VS. IRON CHEF AMERICA

I was rummaging through the internet looking for Iron Chef photos to plaster on the Iron Chef Drinking Game here at the new DMO United. I found three things along the way which were very interesting.
1) There isn't any real good pictures around of the Iron Chefs from the original Japanese version (and equally as few for Iron Chef America).
2) There are more hardcore fans of Iron Chef that even I realized.
3) Said fans of Iron Chef are not big fans of Iron Chef America.

Interesting. And it was quite intriguing to find that many people were sharing that sentiment. Nobody flat out said they hated Iron Chef America, but it wasn't keeping their interest like the Original. No one really went into great detail as to why (some even said they didn't know why), People who haven't seen the original Iron Chef, but have tuned in to Iron Chef America, find ICA an enjoyable program, from what I've read online. However, those who are familiar with both, a healthy majority in fact, find ICA pales in comparison the Original.

As I sat there and thought about it, almost in disbelief that the hardcore fans didn't or wouldn't latch onto ICA, I found myself kind of agreeing with them. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Iron Chef America, but it's obviously no Iron Chef Original. When the Original come on TV, I would park myself on the couch and enjoy a nice hour. When ICA is on, I can pull myself away, leave it on in the background and do other things.

Empowered by this revelation, I decided to take it upon myself to determine why Iron Chef America has lost the favor of the fans of the Original Iron Chef. My findings are surprising, and of course, completely subjective. For your consideration, a brief list of what's wrong with Iron Chef America (and of course, handy solutions to fix it).

Problem: Too Much Alton Brown. What is this blasphemy? How could a devout follower who prays at the temple of Good Eats say that there is too much AB? Well, as much as it pains me to say this, it's true. Consider this: Alton's role on ICA, was handled by no less than FOUR people on the Original. AB gives us the background of the challenger (which was handled by Chairman Kaga in the Original - more on this below), acts as the main play-by-play guy (done by Fukai), gives us expert color commentary (handled by Doc Hattori), and silly outbursts for comedy (courtesy of, what the online fans call, the CDJ [coquette du jour], the pretty face o' the day).

What this results in is AB yapping constantly, and in a hurried pace. With the 3 man broadcast team in Japan, there was an even and light pace in the commentary. A festive and relaxed banter between Fukai-san, Doc and the CDJ gave us a sense of awe and surprise (even when Doc would occasionally pipe up with, "Oh, I recognize that.") With Alton, he tries to call the action, provide humor, give us the "foodie" point of view, and shove a little Good Eats infotainment in there as well. It ends us coming across as more hectic and chaotic than it should be.

The Solution: Give Alton Brown a partner. Normally, AB is a strong enough presence to go solo, but he needs someone in the booth to give him a sense of pacing. And maybe, more than anything, to act as a foil for AB. I'm reminded of the Feasting on Asphalt episode where there are at the graveside of Duncan Hines, and Jean Claude says to Alton, "I smell pork." That was pure television gold. Ideally, AB would handle the Fukai and Doc Hattori roles, but maybe he can partnered with a judge in the booth to bring a spark, while possibly slowing the pace down. Oh, and he needs to lose the role of challenger introductions. That brings us to....

Problem: Not enough Chairman. In the Original, it was hard to say who was the real star of the show, the Iron Chefs or Chairman Kaga. Without a doubt, Kaga was the "reason" for the show's existence. He was the cornerstone that the show revolved around, and the linchpin that kept the concept of the "Gourmet Academy" together. Kaga's role was to give us some insight into the challenger, ask who he wanted to face, do the reveal of the secret ingredient, maybe engage in a little chit-chat during judgement, and announce the winner.

The Chairman for Iron Chef America, who remains nameless (psst, it's Mark Dacascos), is presented as Kaga's nephew, but has had his role diminished greatly. Alton Brown introduces the challenger now, so all the Chairman does is asked the challenger who he wants to face, reveal the ingredient and announce the winner. The Chairman has been reduced to an afterthought, and this is evident on Food Network's Iron Chef America page where the focus is on AB and the 4 Iron Chefs.

The Solution: More Chairman! I like the Chairman. And it looks like he's grown into the role. He's got a smarminess about him that's great for the Chairman role. Give him back the challenger introduction and expand on it. Right now, they breeze through the intros and ingredient reveal and start cooking just 3 minutes in. On the Original, the introduction took 10 minutes, as we were treated to an relatively in-depth background of the challenger. This was great because that made us want to care about the challenger. Chairman Mark should do this.

Problem: Iron Chef What? In the Original, we had Iron Chefs Japanese, French, Chinese, and later, Italian. In ICA, you don't have any defined cooking styles. Hell, even in the short-lived Iron Chef USA special, you had Iron Chefs French, Italian, Asian, and American (sadly, I've never managed to see IC: USA, even on repeats. It featured William Shatner as the Chairman, but according to most, that was the sole highlight. But alas, I digress). The big plus of having genres is that you could bill the battle as a contest between two French chefs, or an inter-style battle between Japanese and Italian. If a chef stepped out of genre to create a dish, it would often score bonus points.

When Food Network tried its hand on launching an Americanized Iron Chef, it used three of its in-house celebrity chefs: Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, and Wolfgang Puck. Ok, Batali is obviously a candidate for Iron Chef Italian, but what about Flay and Puck. They specialties are fusion and progressive styles. Not really genre specific. And calling Flay "Iron Chef Southwest" and Puck "Iron Chef California" just doesn't jive. The result is that now you have two chefs battling and you really don't know what to expect (which gets old real quick).

The Solution: Not sure if I have one. I would say name the chefs. Flay = Iron Chef American, Batali = Iron Chef Italian, Morimoto = Iron Chef Japanese, and Cora = Iron Chef Greek. But this doesn't work for two reason. 1) No one sticks within their specialties, and 2) the challengers are often doing progressive and multi-ethnic cuisine themselves. Truth be told, this "Problem" may not be a real problem, but it irks me and I'm the one writing this.

Problem: Kevin Brasch. Kevin is the floor reporter, and I'll just say it, he's no Shinichiro Ohta. Ohta had a team of assistants that gave him answers on a moment's notice. When the crew in the booth had a question, Ohta would pipe up with, "Fukai-san." Fukai would say, "Go ahead," at which point Ohta would give the crew and the viewers the information (often the ingredients) of what we were looking at. Brasch is often out of place and seems hesitant in his floor reporting (and according to the Mrs., he mispronounces everything). There have been many times when Alton has asked Kevin for what went into something, and Kevin never knew, and he had to go ask.

The Solution: Give Kevin Brasch a better team around him. I've already seen improvements, but more is still needed. Kevin needs to be a little more assertive in the broadcast and he has to have the info given to him to report more promptly. Some episodes, I think they are just screwing with him and making him look like an idiot. I really don't have a problem with Kevin Brasch, but he just needs a little fine tuning (although, in a recent episode, he wore a suit jacket instead of usual fare, which looks like a zippy hoodie, and his respectability shot up).

Those are the 4 big things I think are "wrong" with Iron Chef America. Obviously, it hasn't stopped me from watching, and I still consider myself a fan. But if Iron Chef America want to bring back the hardcore fans of the Original Iron Chef, maybe they can look at these items and make a few changes. Remember, the reason I'm bringing these things to everyone's attention is that I want to make sure that this program has a nice, long life. The Original Iron Chef lasted 6 years and aired almost 300 episodes. Maybe Iron Chef America can match it.

February 6, 2007

WITH A LITTLE DEMOSTHENES, WE ARE ALL UNITED

You've seen the teasers.

You've heard the grumblings.

You've wondered, "What's the deal?"

And you've waited.

Demosthenes Online XL

Now, the anticipation ends.

Demosthenes Online has gone big. I mean real big. We're talking EXTRA LARGE.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's alive. The new Demosthenes Online XL can now be found exclusively at its new home:
DMOunited.com

It's the same Demosthenes Online that's been a good friend to you in the past (and willing to be your friend if you're new to it), but now with more to love as DMO United. New, are the Demosthenes Atomic Download Workshop, where you can download Demosthenes right onto your desktop or cellphone, and the unbelievable DMO Store. Now, wear some Demosthenes with pride and be the envy of the fashion world.

Come and enjoy the new DMOunited.com. And remember, with a little Demosthenes, we are all UNITED.

Nickel and Dime Tour
So what's so fascinating about the new extra large Demosthenes Online? Let me map it out for you in this handy dandy laundry list.

NEWS

What's Up!: The Official Newspaper of the World of Demosthenes. It's where I let you all peek inside my head with commentary, editorials, interviews, and other randomness. If it's happening in the World of Demosthenes, you'll hear about it here first.

Chocolate Reviews: Me & the Mrs. locate, eat, and critique chocolate. From the exotic to the mundane, this could quite frankly be the most unique thing on the internet.

Next VII: It's where I predict 7 things that will happen in the coming year. On hiatus for the time being. May bring it back for the second half of the year.

Instant History: A little background on the name, "Demosthenes." Here's a clue, you're probably mistaken.

TEAM DEMOSTHENES
Come see the new team, colloquially known as, "Me, the Mrs., and the pig." We're keeping the world safe, one laugh at a time.

WEEKLY GOODS
The Weekly Goods are bits of comedy and information for your consumption and enjoyment. Really, it's just a ploy to have you guys visit the site on a regular basis.

MAIN STREET DEMOSTHENES
In my various lines of work, it's important to know where information is. Here is an organized area of links for whatever I'm looking for, as it saves time trying to Google around for something. I find it handy. You might as well. D's Pub seems to be the big hit.

FAN CLUB
The Fan Club is dormant at the moment. But that could change at a moment's notice. The whims of a worldwide fan base must be heeded.

D: EXTRA
The original home of the Demosthenes Museum before it went big. But still the home of the highly popular Iron Chef Drinking Game. This is where I put things that can't fit anywhere else.

DOWNLOADS
A new feature on Demosthenes Online. Now you can put a little Demosthenes on your desktop, your AIM, and your cell phone.

THE DMO STORE
Another new feature of Demosthenes Online. Get your official Demosthenes merchandise at the home of the Original DMO Brand. Believe it or not, the feedback for the wildly popular DMO Brand is what prompted me to expand Demosthenes Online and created the store. I say again, the whims of a worldwide fan base must be heeded.

MUSEUM
Re-opening on February 12. The Demosthenes Museum is home to original museum exhibit as well as new collection of photography from two-thirds of Team Demosthenes (the pig's preferred form of art is interpretive dance).

So if you're new to the site, or this is your second home, poke around and explore. You never know what surprises you might find. And we'll always be adding stuff all over the site (this IS Demosthenes Online XL) to make this as fresh as possible. Thanks for joining the new DMO United family, and welcome home.

What's Up Archive
August 2006 - December 2006
March 2006 - July 2006
September 2005 - February 2006
February 2005 - August 2005
September 2004 - January 2005
April 2004 - August 2004
January 2004 - March 2004
August 2003 - December 2003
February 2003 - July 2003
September 2002 - January 2003
April 2002 - August 2002
November 2001 - March 2002

Return to the current issue of What's Up!

Return to Demosthenes Online