What the–?!?
That was my reaction last night when I returned home from a 12-mile run. (Columbus Marathon, I am coming to whip your ass on October 16th.) Before I left to train 75 minutes earlier, I checked up on the site numbers and Facebook page, and thought to myself, It would be nice to crack 100 Facebook fans by the end of the year. I was at 85.
When I got back, Facebook was at 112 (and has climbed further, nearly doubling my morning total). Let’s face it, that’s small potatoes. (Want to know what’s big potatoes? The athlete trying to get more fans than Justin Bieber.) But to be honest, it doesn’t matter how many followers, fans or whatever there are, because so long as there is one person who says, “Hey, these food things you make are pretty cool,” I’m happy. Even if someone takes the time to leave a negative comment, it’s almost a backhanded compliment, because the whole point of art is to elicit a reaction. So if SOMEONE reacts to my art, mission accomplished. But obviously, the more then merrier. And if I’m going to be perfectly honest about it, when I go out, for some reason chicks dig that I’m weird, so this screwy website/project is like a virtual wingman.
As of 11:12 PM Friday.
7:15 AM
Anyway, I thought the numbers were a mistake, even when I saw a major spike in the site hits. As it turns out, the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Facebook Page shared my Ninja Pizza – something I had posted on their site a few weeks back – with all their fans. I was hesitant to look at the comments, because the Internet is filled with idiots who have nothing better to do than spew hate for no reason.
Surprisingly, the reaction was unanimously positive, and continued to grow throughout the night. (I think the most negative thing I read was that I must be really bored to take the time to make that, and that’s really more of a valid point than any kind of cheap shot.) This is both incredibly humbling and inexplicable to me.
These numbers, already outdated 30 minutes after taking this screenshot, boggle my mind. I’m so sincerely flattered.
It goes to show, children of the 80s LOVE the 80s. I am one of those. Oh, and Bo Jangles has the best comment I read.
So, thank you to the TMNT Facebook folk for lending all their turtle power to give my work some major exposure, and to all the people who took the time to click the LIKE button or leave a comment.
In addition to the cloud nine smiles I got from the feedback, some of the comments were downright hilarious. I recommend you check them out for yourself. To the guy who wants to marry the pizza: I’ll make you another, but you’re picking this ish up yourself. I don’t deliver to Peoria.
To all the newbies who plan on sticking around for a bit, welcome aboard a weird site of food logos where I occasionally digress into chatter about comics, hockey, pro wrestling, movies and other random pop culture notes. Acquaint yourself with the new, ever-expanding FAQ page. And please, feel free to chime in with your ideas, critiques and suggestions. I would love nothing more than for Foogos to become a place where people can share their thoughts and get away from the BS of adulthood (so overrated!) to spend a minute of simply enjoyment looking at something bizarrely fun like… I don’t know, a Double Dare logo made of oatmeal and maple syrup. (Brainstorm!)
And as always, you can keep track of Foogos here, or on any of these other social networking platforms: