They should get some props for scooping the Planet

December 21, 2010 4:45 AM

Hmm, I can't quite believe I'm the first person to link to this, but the New York Times has a fun little tongue-in-cheek piece about Law and the Multiverse (previously).
posted by Diablevert to MetaFilter-Related at 4:45 AM (20 comments total)

Is this in the wrong place?
posted by OmieWise at 4:47 AM on December 21, 2010

Oh cool! I missed both the Projects and the Metafilter post.
posted by vacapinta at 4:50 AM on December 21, 2010

So when is the book deal? :)
posted by empath at 5:41 AM on December 21, 2010

We're working on that, actually.
posted by valkyryn at 6:10 AM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh, I see now.
posted by OmieWise at 6:15 AM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

What I'd do is have you guys write a Law & Order-style procedural in the Marvel or DC universe in comic book form.
posted by empath at 6:19 AM on December 21, 2010

We've been contacted by several regular publishers (and a couple of movie studios), but no comic book publishers, actually.

In a bit of a MeFi tie-in, we were pointed to this fun short story by John Scalzi, which is in the same vein as the blog except a) first and b) funnier.

And thanks again to The Whelk for creating our logo.
posted by jedicus at 6:45 AM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh hey, so yeah I've been telling this story for a few days now.

So I'm checking out projects and I see Law And Multiverse and I *like* it so I post it to the blue.

Around the same time it gets picked up by a bunch of other comics/mainstream blogs and hits explode. Jedicus gets contacted by the times saying they want to run a little story on it. That's great! But the site looks a little drab, so he asks me for create a banner for them. I do. Times reporter sees the banner and says "Oh that's wonderful can we use it in the article?"

So I've been trying for like 10 years to get an illustration and in the Times and now I have, albeit in the most haphazard, circuitous way possible.
posted by The Whelk at 7:18 AM on December 21, 2010 [9 favorites]

"Metafilter, a collaborative site where people hash out projects"
Awesome
posted by prefpara at 7:25 AM on December 21, 2010

"Metafilter, a collaborative site where people hash out projects"

I just knew I'd been doing this wrong.
posted by marxchivist at 7:44 AM on December 21, 2010

"Metafilter, a collaborative site where people hash out projects"
posted by The Whelk at 7:45 AM on December 21, 2010

Dude, I haven't been able to get good hash for, like, yeeeears.
posted by slogger at 7:51 AM on December 21, 2010

Congratulations! What an awesome idea. Do you take questions?
posted by mattdidthat at 8:59 AM on December 21, 2010

We do take questions, and a few of our posts have been inspired by questions. We try to remember to credit the source. Probably the best thing is to email us at [e-mail] and [e-mail].
posted by jedicus at 9:01 AM on December 21, 2010

"Metafilter, an ARGUMENTATIVE site where people hash out THEIR DIFFERENCES"
posted by philip-random at 10:47 AM on December 21, 2010

Cool beans!

Also, I'd like my hash smothered 'n covered. Thx.
posted by cavalier at 10:57 AM on December 21, 2010

Stop bogeying the awesome people sheesh.
posted by gomichild at 2:36 PM on December 21, 2010

So I've been trying for like 10 years to get an illustration and in the Times and now I have, albeit in the most haphazard, circuitous way possible.

Ha. That's great.
posted by mediareport at 3:16 PM on December 21, 2010

An Ohio lawyer named Robert Ingersoll did something like this back in the 80s and 90s. He tried to revive it in or around 2003, but it didn't take. I've often hoped that someone would pick up the slack.
posted by Clay201 at 9:09 PM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Metafilter is mentioned as where the creators met in this new interview.

James: I joined Metafilter in 2005 so I had been on there for quite a long time and had known Ryan (who joined in 2008) through the site at least through a year. We had talked briefly on other occasions before the idea of the blog came out.

posted by artlung at 12:53 PM on January 20, 2011