It took many many years and a 64 ounce soda but the Fresno Bee's Mike Osegueda finally visits Dorktown... errr Legit Town. Lots of Fresno-y things were dorked about, stuff like this:
Hey, Fresno's Internets, Happy New Year and all that junk!
So yeah, after about seven or so years of blogging about Fresno in some shape or another, I decided to get a logo. Thanks to some other local Internet nerd named "Bryan" for the help.
No big shits, just saying what's up and stuff. I'd like to be one of those people that say "2012 is going to be so awesome, guys! Can't wait to show you all the new stuff we have in store for you!" Yeah I'd like to but really it's going to be the same crap. We try, at least.
Yep, expect posts about local music happenings - blended with some Dorktowns and random Fresno stuff - to dominate as always.
I wish it was like the old days, before Twitter and Facebook, when blogs ruled and there were more posts here. It's not. And yeah, blaming Twitter and Facebook is a cop-out, but there it is.
It's cool, I still like hanging out here - quiet as it may be. As always, thanks for reading.
In case you haven't seen over at Dumb Drum or The Beehive, the Fresnans from DumbDrum.com and creators of Swede Fest made a Sweded version of the trailer for The Avengers movie and released it before the festival to get some buzz going.
They got it.
It's all over the Internet now (like, the other Internet, not just Fresno's). The video has 70k views and counting and has already appeared on sites like:
We miss blogs and message boards. They were the place to have nice threaded conversations, until Facebook and Twitter came along. Problem with Twitter is good info/convos can go unnoticed if you weren't around at the exact time they're happening. So maybe we're starting a new feature here with "Twitter Threads". Or this may be the first and last. Anyhoo...
There was a good Twitter convo on Wednesday as some news leaked out that ... we'll let some dude's tweets explain:
Yes. It looks as if Fresno PD is "requesting" Tower businesses to "Pay us or else!" Which sounds like...
The Mob. It sounds like something the Mob would do. And something they sorta tried before and it didn't work so well.
Really though? Bravo, Fresno PD. Genius. You gave us a great idea to finally start making some money on The Fresnan. From now on, anytime a venue or band is mentioned in a post, they owe us $16.
That's right, The Bel-Tower, Audie's Olympic, Rademacher, Fierce Creatures, Fulton 55, Strange Vine and so on. Get ready to pay for publicity, bitches!!
Who has been doing cool junk with Fresno's internets over the past year? That's what the Frebby folks are wondering. They would like you to tell them. Like, maybe go so far as to nominate folks for whatever cool thing it is they're doing. So go here and do that.
Tonight (Friday) at midnight is when nominations end so... get drunk and start nominating some crazy ass stuff.
UPDATE: There is now a winner for the pair of tickets to Thursday's event: Angel. His name was drawn out of our Oakland A's hat (for realz), so congrats. And special thanks to all of your email comments, I enjoyed them greatly and I'll be paying my $5 along with you tomorrow.
Our Brothers In Blog, Fresno Beehive, are organizing another one of their Tweetups at The Chuk. It's Thursday and should be good. Highlights for us include a Tweetup goers only Thirsty Thursday booth, and the likelyhood of Barry Zito (and his pretty curveball) making a rehab start that night.
Breakdown of the whats:
WHAT: The third annual Great Fresno Tweetup, a face-to-face meetup for Fresno's local Twitter community. It includes baseball-watching, networking, games, prizes, cheap beer, possible heckling and, of course, lots of Tweeting,
WHEN: 6 p.m. Thursday, 'til whenever the game is over. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m., but our event starts at 6, which is when $1 Thirsty Thursday beers are available. Not a coincidence.
WHERE: Chukchansi Park, downtown Fresno. At the "Tweetdeck," our private party deck overlooking left field.
WHY: Because Fresno's Twitter community is: (a) Awesome, (b) Growing, (c) Full of fun people and (d) Somehow well-behaved enough that we haven't been 86'd from The Chuk after the previous two Tweetups. Also, word is that Barry Zito of the Giants will be pitching on Thursday, so that's pretty rad.
HOW: RSVP on Twitter with @fresnogrizzlies to get your special $5 tickets (which include your first $1 beer). Make sure you're following @fresnobeehive for contests both at the event and leading up to it. Keep an eye on the #GreatFresnoTweetup hashtag to stay current on the all chatter.
Alright. You know what's going on. Now is your chance to win a ticket (plus 1) to the event (courtsey of Fresno Beehive). Just email contest@thefresnan.com saying whatever you want - it could be "The Fresnan sucks ass!" - and you're entered. Easy. Winner will get sent a reply email later Wednesday night.
Call us old or something but we still enjoy a good local radio show. Especially when it's a local program that talks about Fresno a lot. One of those is KFSR 90.7's The Pulse.
It's a weekly show hosted by Dr. Timothy Stearns of the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State. It's a show about "...innovators and entrepreneurs who are reshaping the Central Valley."
Fucking hideous self promotion alert!: Dr. Stearns had Fresno's Town Goob on last weekend. You probably missed it because The Pulse is on at times normal people don't listen to radio. Lucky for us the new fangled Internet lets you you download recordings of such programs so you can listen whenever.
Last weekend's show has a full discussion about Fresno's music scene, a little bit of what it's like blogging against the Big Shots in town and how this whole local blogging thing started.
Very much enjoying the uptick in posting from John Esquivel over at Religious Appeal. Keeping us updated on RA shows and sometimes giving us an insider's look at some of the shows he puts on or attends. Like the New Year's Eve show at the house/DIY venue "The Ranch", with a special re-uniting of one our favorite local bands of all-time: Elmo Marconi.
Video of that is below and it looks like a damn fine time. The kind of fun that eveybody should have, like, every weekend of their lives:
The Fresno bloghistoric site, Fresno Famous, got a remodel on Tuesday. We approve. It's a nice mix of its original conception as a online magazine, and its most recent version as a community blogsite. Folks on its main rival, The Beehive, even seem to like to the change.
For those new to Fresno's blog history, Fresno Famous was Fresno's first cool website. It was started by Jarah Euston who was frustrated by not being able to find out about the good stuff going on in Fresno's creative scene. So she made a site about just that. It soon became Fresno's beacon for hipness, community involvement, blog wars, started Fresno's first podcast and even spawned a Modesto Famous.
Eventually Jarah sold the site to the Fresno Bee. Ironically about the time that the Fresno Beehive sorta took the reins as Fresno's go to website. The Beehive's rise along with Facebook's world domination, more Fresno-y blogsites thinning the waters, and Fresno Famous was in danger of becoming irrelevant.
Luckly Famous Whitewater never gave up his post as resident blogger, keeping Famous' heart beating. That commitment may be finally paying off as the new version of Famous could get the site back in the blogosphere's higher conscience again.
Yeah, she never really left, but we're glad to have the old gal back.
*Disclosure: We're a featured blogger on Fresno Famous and think Joshua "Famous Whitewater" Tehee is one cool dude.
"Life has been absolutely crazy. I’ve had very little time for anything outside of school and work. This past weekend, I remembered what it was like to have fun. I forgot all of my stress and worries and just acted like a kid. The above picture shows some of the people I have met through shows and whatnot. We are a minority. We’re a bunch of kids who don’t really give a fuck about how old we really are. We party through our love of music and good people…who cares about the rest."
Well said. If we catch a little bit of lighting in a bottle at this year's F.u.S.E. Fest, like this show did, we've done our job.
It's pretty likely you've seen the whole Starline being shut down for the under 21 crowd, thing. And you probably have also seen that, come to find out, it was local promoter, Rick Mirsnitchian, pulling Starline's Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and alerting local authorities that Starline (and some other places that have dancing like Rick's clubs do) may be technically pushing the boundaries of their permits.
We say bravo to Mirsnitchian. That's capitalism (or something). Get in good with local officials then, you know, maybe, politely point out some things your competition is doing that may be questionable. Concerned citizen. How nice and civic.
So then we're thinking "how do we incorporate this business model to the local blogging world? How do WE handcuff our blogging competition?"
Step one: Get in good with local government. Well, we're totally Ashley Swearengin's friend on Facebook and there's this one time we met Councilman Henry T, so we're in. Step two: Open up the books on all our blogging competitors and point out to our government-y friends, the violations we see:
Edward Stewart: The dude blatantly ignores all rules of capitalization. Been doing it FOR YEARS. [re: fresno blogger code 11.a]
Fresno Famous: Ad-post-to-real-post ratio is way off. You can't let every douchebag post their crap on your site and not be taxed or in violation. Also, there's not nearly enough cussing on there and we need to see a return of Marylin. [RE: Back In The Day Fresno Blog Code 1.a]
Dumb Drum: For a blog that's all things nerd, there is far too little Star Wars related posts. That's not living up to their Conditional Use Permit, for sure. [RE: THX1138 Code]
Fresno Beehive: Far too many posts about TV shows that don't relate to Fresno. [RE: Rick Bentley Code 22]
This Is Conlan: Writes way too well and is too sharp to be a local blogger. It's frustrating. [RE: Don't Be Smart Code 18.b]
Central Valley Moms: Moms only blog. That can't be right. What about daddy? Okay there was that one douche but there hasn't been a post recently. [RE: Reverse Title 9 Code 1.B]
There's plenty more but that ought to keep Mayor Swear' and Chief Dome busy for a bit. Looking forward to having less competition for original posts around here.
Maybe nobody cares and it's taking the fun out, or maybe we just suck, or maybe local blogs are in a rut... probably the middle one. At any rate, haven't been feelin' fired up with this feature or segment or whatever. So, yeah, maybe there will be something else posted at 1:01 am on Saturday nights for a while. Or maybe just nothin'. Maybe we just need to get our shit straight.
The Fresnan is kinda on a bloggy vacation. Meaning a vacation from blogs, not some magic get-a-way with free WiFi, laptops and endless fodder for posts. Point is, we're not real sure if something cool happened on the Fresno blogs or not. But we did notice that Picture Fresno is up and running. Okay, it's not a blog, but it's a local website, so there. Check it out, see if you've got the picture takin' skillz the Picture Fresno Overlords would find worthy.
And hey, if you have a pick for Bloggiest Moment Of The Week, help us out and leave it in the comments - we'd like to know what the hell went on.
The Fresnan is a blog drunk on Fresno's sweet sweet booze.
We like posting about local music and random Fresno culture junk. We like Downtown, tri-tip, South of Shaw battles, tamales and remembering when there was a fig orchard at Herndon & Palm. We like to occasionally go to River Park but tell people we never go there.
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