On Saturday I got to sleep in as my first volunteer shift was to start at 12:30. I actually slept through the keynote at 10am, which was probably a mistake. I got to the con at around 11am, just as the keynote was ending. The next panel was “Making it Big.” It included Michael and Matthew Chapman of Homestar Runner, Burnie Burns of Red vs. Blue. I have seen both of these and instantly recognize that they have certainly made it big. There were also two groups I’d never heard of Brad Neely (othercriteria’s photo) of Super Deluxe, and three of four guys from Cyanide & Happiness. This was surprisingly the best (of the two) panels I was able to attend. It was all about how and how long it took each of them to reach the monetary break even point. And then how much longer for them to quit their jobs, if they have been able to do that. There were a wide variety of interesting answers, that I can’t detail.
There were some interesting details about the memes themselves that were revealed:
- Homestar Runner does not suffer from down syndrome.
- They actually still make new Homestar Runner episodes.
- A Homestar Runner game for the Wii is in the making.
- Red vs. Blue’s sound was based on the quality of the overseas telephone signal one of the voice actors had to use in the early days.
- Burnie Burns is a staunch defender of Homestar Runner.
- Brad Nealy doesn’t know anything about the internet or the other memes.
The firefox asked all the panelists about their use of open standards, which received a lackluster response. One of the Homestar Runner guys espoused the joys of firefox use, but did not address the fact that their medium, Flash, is not an open standard. The other panelists, some of whom, produce videos using closed standards as well did not comment. This disappointed the firefox.