I, too, would like a chance to have my work be rejected by MefiMag

March 15, 2012 8:16 AM

What's the deal with MefiMag?

After missing the January deadline, I was looking forward to submitting to the next issue whenever submissions came open... but now it's mid-March and there's been nary a word about it. Can we get a status update on the upcoming issue and on when submissions might open again?

posted by showbiz_liz to MetaFilter-Related at 8:16 AM (55 comments total)

Those of us here at MeFi HQ don't have an answer for this one. MeFi Mag is an unofficial side project.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:57 AM on March 15, 2012

I believe Brandon Blatcher might be able to shed some light on it.
posted by timsteil at 9:08 AM on March 15, 2012

MeFi HQ

I alternate between imagining this as the Batcave or the Massive Dynamics headquarters.
posted by desjardins at 9:24 AM on March 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

I believe Brandon Blatcher might be able to shed some light on it.

Except he has disabled his MeMail, so a MeTa post is the only option for asking him.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:26 AM on March 15, 2012

(Confused) Couldn't you e-mail him via the e-mail on his profile?
posted by Jahaza at 9:34 AM on March 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

and by "you" I mean "one".
posted by Jahaza at 9:35 AM on March 15, 2012

(Confused) Couldn't you e-mail him via the e-mail on his profile?

Oh. Didn't see that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:35 AM on March 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

MeFi HQ

I alternate between imagining this as the Batcave or the Massive Dynamics headquarters.

Neither. It's an old Pizza Hut, so even though the sign outside says MeFi HQ, people still drive by and go, "oh, look, it's an old Pizza Hut."
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 9:42 AM on March 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's a combination Pizza Hut and MeFi HQ.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:43 AM on March 15, 2012 [24 favorites]

Just don't eat the sausage. Mefi doesn't do sausage well.
posted by Think_Long at 9:48 AM on March 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

Does Pizza Hut still suck? There's one a few blocks away from our house, and in two years we've never been there.
posted by desjardins at 9:54 AM on March 15, 2012

I'm at the Pizza Hut. pb's at the Mefi HQ. I'm at the cooooombination Pizza Hut and Mefi HQ.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:55 AM on March 15, 2012

Mefi doesn't do sausage well.

*cries*
posted by Melismata at 9:55 AM on March 15, 2012

desjardins: Your digestive system appreciates you.
posted by ODiV at 9:56 AM on March 15, 2012

Can we get a status update on the upcoming issue and on when submissions might open again?

Submissions are always open, at this link. The next issue's theme is "Nerds", with "Music" and "Travel" on the horizon. Seriously, go submit something, right now. It'll be on file and we'll put it on the schedule, depending on the theme and space and who wins the wrestling match Klang and I.

Yeah, we've slowed down dramatically since November, Klang got busy, I got busy and probably a certain amount of exhaustion was there, after putting 8 issues back to back (more or less), on top of having jobs and lives.

But Klang emailed me last week about getting things going again, so we're moving, but definitely slower than before. More updates when we have firm details, but tentatively, some time in April for the Nerds issue.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:01 AM on March 15, 2012 [6 favorites]

Awesome! If you want people to keep submitting, any chance you could change it so it doesn't say January 20th is the deadline? I hadn't bothered working on a nerd-themed article because I thought submissions were closed.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:08 AM on March 15, 2012

I have to say I was at restless_nomad's place last week and she has all the print copies of MeFi Mag. I had read them all online but if anyone gets a chance to actually get themselves the print copies, they are a thing of beauty.

Also, Pizza Hut around where I am (New England, not Vermont) delivers and some of their stuff is pretty tasty. We could do worse than a Pizza Hut HQ.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:24 AM on March 15, 2012

so we're moving, but definitely slower than before

This is excellent to hear, I had assumed it was gone forever.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:27 AM on March 15, 2012

MefizzaHulter?
posted by nevercalm at 10:29 AM on March 15, 2012

if anyone gets a chance to actually get themselves the print copies, they are a thing of beauty.

I've just been stealing high-res full-color print-outs of the PDFs from work (still rather beautiful, I'll say), because I don't really like paying money for the mag if none of it is going to the people who put it together. How much are print copies? Cheap, right? And all of that goes to the printing service? Pfft, funk that.

So double the price, eds take your cut, and count me in.
posted by carsonb at 10:36 AM on March 15, 2012

I haven't submitted anything new so clearly they're not yet ready to publish.


CLEARLY
posted by The Whelk at 10:39 AM on March 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

Yeah, we're working on it.

One thing that I'll say is that you can ALWAYS SUBMIT. Don't worry about themes or anything — part of the reason that we've slowed is because submissions to the hopper slowed, so we've gotta solicit all new stuff instead of jiggering with stuff we already have to fit a loose theme.

Anyway, I'm glad people like the MeFiMag, and I'm trying to schedule interviews with nerds I know right now, so if any of y'all know a nerd, feel free to interview them about their nerdery (and don't get hobbled by thinking it's only for stereotypical nerdery — you can be nerdy about just about any topic).
posted by klangklangston at 10:42 AM on March 15, 2012

If you want people to keep submitting, any chance you could change it so it doesn't say January 20th is the deadline?

Done, thanks for the reminder!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:50 AM on March 15, 2012

Yes, we do not jigger.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:51 AM on March 15, 2012

I read the MeFi HQ as the MeFi DQ. A MeFi DQ as the HQ would be awesome!
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:58 AM on March 15, 2012

Does Pizza Hut still suck? There's one a few blocks away from our house, and in two years we've never been there.


It's passable, I guess. The sauce is too sweet and the dough is too bready, but it's not bad. The thing is, it's pizza, so unless you live somewhere really isolated, with a little effort you can find a much better local pizzeria to patronize.

/pizzanerd
posted by Rock Steady at 10:59 AM on March 15, 2012

I read the MeFi HQ as the MeFi DQ. A MeFi DQ as the HQ would be awesome!

Grary Queen?
posted by Rock Steady at 11:00 AM on March 15, 2012

Neither. It's an old Pizza Hut, so even though the sign outside says MeFi HQ, people still drive by and go, "oh, look, it's an old Pizza Hut."

There's lots of those out there, but my all-time favorite is People's Pizza, on Route 38 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Obvious Pizza Hut shape, but big blue sign outside announcing "PEOPLE'S PIZZA". I love how it looks like capitalism failed, the proletariat rose up, they seized a Pizza Hut, and now here we are in a glorious post-revolutionary wonderland that has seized the means of Pizza Production.
posted by Greg Nog at 11:06 AM on March 15, 2012 [16 favorites]

THE PIZZA, DIVIDED, WILL NEVER BE RE-HEATED.
posted by The Whelk at 11:10 AM on March 15, 2012 [4 favorites]

The rise of the People's Pizza is a historical inevitability, as each man will have each slice according to need.
posted by The Whelk at 11:12 AM on March 15, 2012

actually considering how cheap basic pizza is to make I wonder if you could make a pay-what-you-want-worker-owned pizza place... We can call it RED SLICE
posted by The Whelk at 11:15 AM on March 15, 2012 [6 favorites]

I tell you, we have a local pizza place that makes their own sausage and overdoses on the (quality) Parmesan, and I love them like crazy. All I have to do is say, "Calzones?" and half an hour later my husband will walk in the door while my eyes grow wide like a little girrrrrl.

But I'll be damned if I ever give up the Pizza Hut pan pepperoni pizza, where the pepperoni bakes into little cups that are crunchy on the tips and hold little reservoirs of buttery, additive-filled fantasticness.

This is why I'm fat.
posted by Madamina at 11:16 AM on March 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Pizzalovers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your figures!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:17 AM on March 15, 2012

BREAD AND ROSSO VINO


PEACE, BREAD, AND YOUR CHOICE OF TWO FREE TOPPINGS
posted by The Whelk at 11:25 AM on March 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Speaking of, what's up with Domino's pizza these days? It's not like it was fantastic before, but the seems like their brilliant "new taste" was to drizzle HFCS all over the pizza.
posted by P.o.B. at 11:34 AM on March 15, 2012

People's Pizza with black olives is anarcho syndicalist
posted by The Whelk at 11:49 AM on March 15, 2012

PEOPLE'S PIZZA is pretty good but I'd advise against drinking the Flavor-Aid.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 11:55 AM on March 15, 2012 [4 favorites]

Ex-Pizza Huts are always identifiable, but not as identifiable as ex-International Houses of Pancakes. For a while, I was banking at a former International House of Pancakes but I changed banks because it was just too weird (and I always feared I'd request boysenberry syrup on my cashback).

Also I hate you all because gluten-free pizza is uniformly crap.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:11 PM on March 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

"One thing that I'll say is that you can ALWAYS SUBMIT."

Reeeeeal subtle, formaldehyde-face.
posted by Eideteker at 12:17 PM on March 15, 2012

Also I hate you all because gluten-free pizza is uniformly crap.

Amen, sister. Although the gluten-free pizza we had at the meetup last weekend was surprisingly unterrible. Possibly the best I've had yet. (Of course they actually put the normal amount of cheese on it, unlike my local shop which appears to think that people only order gluten-free pizza because they hate themselves and feel like they deserve to suffer.)
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 12:25 PM on March 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

so if any of y'all know a nerd, feel free to interview them about their nerdery

Oh yeah, I already interviewed FishBike, so hands off.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:48 PM on March 15, 2012

The rise of the People's Pizza is a historical inevitability, as each man will have each slice according to need.

I might actually get involved in politics if a Pizza Party existed.
posted by mannequito at 1:23 PM on March 15, 2012

You wanna know how to get a pizza? They pull a slice, you pull a pan. New York makes one of theirs 'thick crust,' you send one of your own that's a bread and cheese pie. That's the Chicago way!
posted by shakespeherian at 1:30 PM on March 15, 2012

My favorite oddly shaped, reused building is actually down the street from the Pizza Hut in my hometown. It had formerly been a tire place and had a big circular showroom with glass windows, like an auto dealership, but for tires. It sat unrented for, gees, a couple years, maybe, until the perfect business came along to rent it.

The Bagel Market. It's pretty brilliant. Looks like it must have always been a bagel place. I've never been, but the Yelp reviews seem reasonable.

Note: I was suddenly doubting my memory of this and put the question to Facebook. My former high school classmates answered in AskMe worthy speed: 32 seconds to confirmation.
posted by maryr at 1:36 PM on March 15, 2012

The Bagel Market clearly used to be a Stan Mikita's Donuts.
posted by Madamina at 2:27 PM on March 15, 2012

Mefi doesn't do sausage well.

Sausage parties, on the other hand....
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:31 PM on March 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

I worked for a little while at a Mexican restaurant that had been an A & W root beer, with the weird pointy roof. The feng shui was all wrong.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:32 PM on March 15, 2012

This Starbucks was originally built as a Taco Bell. They flattened the front facade, but you can still see the resemblance to this picture of another Taco Bell store.
posted by Jahaza at 5:08 PM on March 15, 2012

The feng shui was all wrong.

As long as it's fly cooked you should be fine. Eat it.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:10 PM on March 15, 2012

or cooked by sad, sexually unsatisfied drunken flies.
posted by The Whelk at 6:13 PM on March 15, 2012

Have some more gin, John.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:36 PM on March 15, 2012

Except he has disabled his MeMail, so a MeTa post is the only option for asking him.

Why in spouse's name would he do that?
posted by grog at 7:42 PM on March 15, 2012

I know! MeMail is great!
posted by maryr at 7:59 PM on March 15, 2012

If ya'll send me links to nerdy comments from the sites, I'll contact the authors and see about including them in the issue. They would be usual as typographic art paired with photos or by themselves.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:48 AM on March 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

(and don't get hobbled by thinking it's only for stereotypical nerdery — you can be nerdy about just about any topic). -klangklangston

I have always said that hipsters are just nerds about being cool.
posted by bibliogrrl at 10:40 AM on March 17, 2012 [2 favorites]