Kevin & Johna .com

One of my goals with Netcot this year is to really take advantage of the renewed success that its seen in the last couple of years. For those of you who don’t know, it was actually one of the very first Disney fan sites on the internet and for a period of time considered to be one of the Big 5. As more sites came on-line, we tried to differentiate from the rest of them as much as possible.

Netcot quickly became the opposite of everyone else. If other sites put watermarks on pictures to prevent you from re-using them on your own website or computer - we put up twice as many in higher quality without any watermarks. If other sites banned people, we encouraged people to speak their mind and be constructively critical about EXACTLY what they thought of Disney-stuff. The format worked. People found Netcot to be a refreshing change … except other sites, who seemed to see us as an enemy. To this day, I don’t understand why we couldn’t just all get along.

We then hand the brilliant idea to massively redo the site with a new design that was unlike anything else out there. It was an ambitious idea… and it didn’t work. The site eventually launched (on our 4th design concept) 3 years later than expected. We came back on-line and found that only a small group of core fans were still there waiting for us. (There was also a whole “legal” incident related to a misunderstanding of our satirical approach on ride reviews - but I’ll save that for another day).

We regrouped, retooled and restarted.

The latest generation of Netcot started a little over 2 years ago when we launched the Netcot podcast. Since then, Netcot has become bigger than ever! The podcast has been one of the featured iTunes Music Store podcasts (on iTunes & AppleTVs) for 26 months in a row (”Kids & Family” category)! Tens of thousands of people download the show each month. Our first-ever video podcast episode also continues to attract attention over at YouTube.com.

Last June, we launched the newest version of Netcot.com, this time determined to be one of the best sites to find the biggest and most interesting Disney news. In the last 6 months, well over a million people visited Netcot.com and the numbers continue to grow every week. Google’s news site polls Netcot.com frequently and often uses Netcot as a news source in their Google Alerts system. We’ve even been told that some radio station DJ’s have mentioned Netcot as their source of a Disney-related story.

We’ve even attracted the attention (in this case, GOOD attention) of Disney themselves, who recently wrote us to clarify confusion of Netcot visitors over details of a press release we covered. We got advanced notice of these corrections a full day in advance of the press release being corrected and re-issued to the media!

There are a number of people that have also stepped forward and offered to help at Netcot. We have 5 people on “staff” that donate their time to helping out with the site writing editorial articles, covering news stories and publishing original artwork for the site. We have a number of sponsorship deals in the works, including one with an upcoming book publisher. And today, our first full page ad hit a targeted magazine audience…

The site continues to grow in popularity and I continue to be amazed and thankful to everyone who follows it, listens to the weekly podcast and participates in the message boards. Their passion for Netcot fuels my late nights of keeping the site updated and cranking out a podcast. Long after Johna and Kyler have been asleep, I can be found in the “studio” working on last minute editing before that week’s show is launched.

I’m thrilled about where the site is now and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here…

It continues to amaze me how popular my Netcot.com site continues to get! Its now being accessed by Google’s news.google.com as a source of news and its been featured in the iTunes music store (under the “Kids & Family” podcast category) for over a year now!

It amazes me that people continue to find the site and podcast. It amazes me that they tell their friends and family. But what really, totally, completely amazes me is when people send me a picture of themselves wearing a “Netcot” t-shirt in the parks or listening to the podcast while in the park (shown - a listener is listening to the podcast on her iPod while infront of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland).

This kind of stuff inspires me to keep the site and podcast going. I make little-to-no money off of it and it requires a lot of time to write, record and produce. But its pictures like this that keep me going with the whole thing.

I’ve been a fan of YouTube for a long time. From the time my parents bought their first VHS camcorder (weighing in at the weight of a small toddler), I’ve always been interested in recording stuff to video. When I got to high school, I suddenly had access to equipment where I could edit the videos, which was amazing.

Today, kids have Macs and $100 worth of software that allows them to make videos that look phenomenally better than anything I ever created. What’s more, kids have the ability to send their creations to a world-wide audience via the internet and sites like YouTube.

Its never too late to start taking advantage of that, right?

During our last trip to Disney World, my sister and I decided to do our own version of the in-room TV special on the “Top 7 Must See’s” at Disney World. This is a 30 minute show that plays continuously and features an over-excited host that talks about nearly every attraction on the resort’s property. We set out to do a parody of it and broadcast it as an episode of the Netcot Podcast and also post it on YouTube.

This weekend we finally purchased some furniture for the baby’s room. And not a moment too soon since it won’t be in until the end of July!

This weekend at everyone’s favorite bullseye boutique, I found the funniest thing while wandering around:

There you have it: My First Wifebeater!

Last weekend, Johna’s dad and I went to see Cars. Hilarious! I think you’ll get the most out of it if you’re up on your NASCAR racing, which I am not (as much as you’d expect anyway). Lots of funny jokes in this one. Its cool to see a world from a car’s perspective (especially the end sequences during the credits … if you go, be sure to stay for that).

This weekend Johna and I saw The Lakehouse. Since it had Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, I assumed it would involve the two of them being trapped in a house on the lake that can’t go below 50MPH or it will explode. Apparently, those two can be in a movie without speed… as long as the space-time continium is involved. Here’s a synopsis, guy style:

Keanu buys a house on the lake that’s uber cool. Looks like something that was pulled out of Main Street at Disneyland and put on stilts. He drinks beer and is too cool to give any attention to the mild hottie at work who’s interested in him.

Sandi B. also buys the house, but two years later (2006). She leaves to sell out and be a doctor in Chicago. She writes a note to the new home owner and leaves it in the mailbox out front.

The mailbox happens to sit within a hole in the fabric of space-time (the only explaination I can think of for how this movie “works”). They discover they are able to send messages to one another through this whole and romance ensues.

Some may have a problem with this saying that it goes beyond normally accepted cinematic suspension of disbelief. I say “yes” but not because of the “mailbox in a hole in the fabric of space-time” thing… because this movie asks us to believe that mailmen (or women) do not exist in either 2004 or 2006… since you never see one picking up the mail that is left there for the other person! … Hollywood: you’re on notice.

Normal space-time rules apply here: (a) doing something in the past can change the future  (b) something from the future can be sent back to the past.

So, while this is largely a chick-flick, and while Keanu is quickly becoming an actor who is painful to watch, it is a good movie. I’d encourage other guys reading this to do what I did… call it a “date night” and say you’re up for a chick-flick … and tell yourself you’re going to watch something along the lines of “Back to the Future” or “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (they go back in time in that one). That’ll get you in the door, once the movie starts you’ll see, it’s really not bad at all!

Fox TV network has some of my favorite shows on it right now. But I don’t get what they’re doing with characters other than, well, killing or getting rid of them. For example:

theOC: Marissa is dead. They killed her. Quickly. Why?! She’s one of the core characters to the show. I firmly believe that their best season was Season 1 and they haven’t been able to re-caputre the X-factor that season had, but that’s no reason to start killing characters.

American Idol: Chris Daughtry, the person with the most talent was voted off. I “get” that its the American public that did that, I just don’t believe it.
24: David Palmer (the ex-Pres.), Tony Almeda and Michelle Dessler and a host of other key characters were all killed in that show within the first few episodes of this season. — Oddly enough, Chloe is still there.

So apparently, Fox hates good characters. Well, then I can’t wait to tune in next season to see who else they kill off.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, my mom-in-law, and any other mom’s that are out there looking at my blog. To all-ya’all, I’d like to offer this video full of mother’s day cheer (which, by the way, was forwarded on to me by my mom).

Enjoy. Remember, there’s more where this came from.