This is funny. From the "New Media Confuses and Frightens Old Media" file:


Look who's hanging out with your kids; This March break Strong Bad will have one million visitors, including your kids. Can marketers be far behind?
Guelph Mercury
Sat 12 Mar 2005
Byline: NAOMI POWELL

Strong Bad is at it again. At the urging of one of his adoring e-mail fans, he's forcing the dimwitted Homestar Runner to cry. Strong Bad holds up a pencil sketch of a sad one-legged puppy named "L'il Brudder." Within seconds, Homestar is sobbing. "There ya go," Strong Bad types into his computer. "Homestar crying. Not a problem."

Make no sense? It does to the scores of kids who spend hours each day on Matt and Mike Chapman's immensely popular Web site, homestarrunner.com. The site's quirky characters and off-beat humour draw more than a million unique visitors per month.

But what makes the site truly original is its creators' refusal to include product placements, contests, or advertisements of any kind. Their one concession to commercialism is the sale of T-shirts featuring characters like Strong Bad and Homestar.

Yup. No advertising confuses the media. That's good for a laugh. You know what elese is good for a laugh? Strong Bad email. I wonder if Naomi can even program a VCR...