Return of the Merch

For those who missed my flurry of tweets concerning this late last week, I ordered some new Hipster, please! swag. More specifically, I ordered some 1" buttons… or badges… or pinbacks depending upon your personal preference and country of origin.

I actually sprung for 50 each of two different designs. The first combines the tattoo flash my friend Denika put together for me "back in the day" – the one that is even now, in a slightly altered form, etched into my arm flesh – and the TSR-style logo Dave the Knave used on the 20-Sided Rhymes album art. The second is a takeoff on the old school DC Comics logo. I made this one myself. Which means it took exponentially longer than it rightly should've.

I've already had a couple of folks ask what I plan to do with them. I have responded to these queries by shrugging my shoulders and knitting my eyebrows together comically.

The original idea was to take them to Nerdapalooza, and that was about as far as I got in my dastardly plan. Once there I suppose I'll give 'em away. Or sell 'em. Or maybe try and trade 'em for beer. I seriously have no idea.

In the meantime, though, if you aren't gonna be all up ins NAP 2011 and simply must have a set, just let me know. I am sure we can work something out.

Bumper Stickers, Pokemon, Podcasts & You

Earlier this year I talked a bit about trying to bring a stronger visual element to Hipster, please!, to include more images and videos and eye candy to help mellow the acerbic cocktail that is my writing. And while this is all well and good, it occurs to me that I also need to expand in another direction.

I'm talking community here, people. Interactivity.

You nerds have been supporting me for at least as long I've been supporting you, so I'm desperately trying to, y'know, put myself out there. To kick our little exchanges up a notch.

To that end I have a trio of (hopefully) interesting points I'd like to touch on. If, of course, you'll be so kind as to indulge me.

Who Wants Stuff?

First and foremost, I have – at the urgings of at least a couple of you – ordered some more bumper stickers. I don't really do merch, as such. I find it a little distasteful for someone who provides such a paltry service as me to pimp wares, but I know some of y'all like this stuff, so here it is.

This time around, the "Nerd music. Nerd culture. Nerd life." has instead been replaced with my newest semi-ironic battle cry "Geek is something you do. Nerd is something you live."

Does this mean that I've given up my previous position on the geek = nerd argument? Not in the slightest. It simply means that, as my buddy Glenn pointed out, I love to bastardize quotes from the great KRS-One.

You may procure some of these stickers in the traditional manner: just use the Paypal donate button to your right to send me as much or as little scratch as you feel led to take the sting out of shipping and/or support the site. (And, as I am never one to overlook the downtrodden, if you're too broke to donate feel free to holler at me anyway.)

And just like last time, once these things are gone, they're gone. I might eventually print more stickers, but they won't boast this particular smart-ass phrasing.

Defeat Your Inner Snorlax

With the shilling out of the way, I'd also like to invite those of you with a freshly opened copy of Pokemon HeartGold or SoulSilver to participate in a little fitness experiment with me.

The Pokewalker Fitness Challenge is a crazy idea I had while following John Kovalic's #geekestloser Twitter trend, but rather than attempt to motivate nerds to lose weight it is instead focused on forcing us to get out of our cubes and do a little bit of walking.

Using the Pokewalker's pedometer function, the PFC challenges participants to clock in a certain number of steps per day. This number grows gradually over a course of weeks until all but one player has grown to weary (or bored) to continue. What will this champion of locomotion win? Not sure. If the participants are willing, maybe everyone will throw 5 or 6 bucks in a pot to go to our final winner. Otherwise there's, y'know, bragging rights.

The Challenge will begin in earnest next week, when players will be asked to establish their base level of activity (i.e.: just see how much they walk around over the course of an average week.) We'll move on from there, and hopefully manage to have a fun time doing it.

Do My Job for Me

Lastly, I can't help but notice that April is just around the corner. With that in mind, I'm hoping to bring last April Fools' Day Podswap back for another round. For those who missed it, the Podswap encourages podcasters to switch shit up in their shows, to let someone unexpected host.

Last year the idea was to trade episodes with a fellow podcasting crew – I presented a primer episode of Brilliant Gameologists and they shared a Radio Free Hipster highlight show – but this year I'm thinking of maybe just letting someone else record and assemble an ep. of RFH outright.

I've already had offers from Selfhelp, funky49, int eighty, Beefy and my boy Church (and his lady friend the GF) to host in my stead, but I'm still totally open for ideas.

Is there a reader, fan or artist you'd love to hear helm a special edition of Radio Free Hipster?

Is there another podcast you'd like to hear me host?

Is this just a horrible idea that I should put to bed?

Just lemme know, okay? It's all about the sharing.

Paper or Plastic?

The time has come for a meeting of the Hipster, please! Board of Directors. Yeah, that means you. Typically, I make decisions unilaterally – not to mention arbitrarily – but I figured I'd toss this one out there into the ether and see what came back.

It's a matter of swag, dear readers, so it requires your input.

As I've said numerous times before, Hipster, please! is not exactly a revenue generating endeavor. Of course, it isn't exactly a costly project either. Still, in addition to sapping my free time, it does require the occasional investment to maintain the domain, keep my laptop in a functional state and (rarely) upgrade my podcasting rig.

Thankfully, many of you, through the magic of the Paypal "donate" button, have been more than willing to chip in to help me keep the ship afloat. I don't exactly feel comfortable asking you guys for money, and it's certainly not expected. Still, it's a heartwarming gesture, and though I still don't know if the site warrants merch, as such, I do like to keep some chotskies on hand to send out the folks who donate.

Think of me as public television; if you send me a donation, I respond with a (totally undervalued) incentive.

But unlike public TV, I don't hand out the same lame shit year after year. No, my lame shit is limited edition.

Originally, I was slinging "nerd music. nerd culture. nerd life." stickers, but, after a year, those are no more. I was prepared to simply put in an order for an alternate design – see the above image for a pair of possible candidates – but then it occurred to me that y'all might wanna have a say in this.

As I said, my first inclination was to order stickers. I mean, people like stickers, right? You can stick them to stuff for fuck's sake! How awesome is that? That being said, the old design is gone forever. Like your childhood pet or your late uncle. And it ain't never comin' back. But the potential follow-up designs are endless.

Or I could kick shit even more punk rock and get some pinbacks made. If so, they would probably incorporate the Radio Free Hipster logo. Because it is awesome. And also perfectly-sized to fit on a 1" button.

There's also the possibility that I could employ Jason Rockstar to help me work up some sort of patch, a la his merit badges, for the site. I don't have a mock-up for that, as it's just some crazy idea he and I had kicked around at some point, and I just realized I never followed up on it... Because I am a consummate professional.

So, back to the question at hand, what kinda swag would you guys like to see?

Speak up, now. Don't be shy.