Feature Article
The G-POP Experience
by The G-POP.net Staff
On June 18, 2005, a new website was born. The creators of the website promised that they would bring you ALL things entertainment. They promised you the mainsteam and the independent. They promised to report on forms of entertainment that many of its readers may not have even thought of. Over the past year, the creators and writers of G-POP.net worked hard to stick to their goal. In doing so, they brought their readers stories of entertainment industry hopefuls, mainstream media, conventions, vacation spots, craft shows, and much, much more. As G-POP.net celebrates one full year as an entertainment site, let’s hear from the creators and writers about their G-POP Experience.
THE CREATORS OF G-POP.NET
Jon Minners: I remember when the idea came up for G-Pop. I owned YBFREE.com, but I had broken up with my girlfriend and partner at the time, not thinking about the business consequences that came with the breakup. The site was five-plus years old and I had developed so many contacts over the years. I didn't want to lose them. I was in the same predicament that I was in when I left my college arts publication, the Asylum, another creation of mine. Plus, I had been writing The Minners Commentary Corner for close to eight years. I didn't just want to see it die.
At the same time, my sisters had been writing very actively for the site, creating much of our content and making my life a lot easier, as I had been the sole writer, pumping out story after story. They, too, felt that need to continue writing and so, when we all assembled for our very first Thanksgiving feast as a family, I began thinking of a new site. They sent me out for cranberry sauce and I think best when alone, walking, so I toyed with ideas and thinking of J Pop, the popular Japanese music genre, I created G-Pop, for Global Pop, which was intended to cover everything and anything in the world of music, movies, books, games and what have you. It also sounded like G Spot, which just excited me. So, I rushed back home, mentioned the idea and the site was unofficially born.
So, some time later, a year from this date, Justine created the template for our site, with new drop down menus and topics to cover. The Minners Commentary Corner and Badseed's Bottomline were reborn. Melissa pushed forth one story after another. All three of us became machines and we received help along the way, most notably from Ismael, who really is the controller of the universe and a perfect compliment to my commentary style. We appear to be getting new writers, a consistent flow of content and we have joined Myspace, which just provides us with an endless opportunity to get the word out.
I am excited. I love G-Pop. It is our baby and over the next year we want to see that baby grow, whether it be from creating business cards, media packets, going to more concerts, writing more stores, getting new writers; year two should be bigger and better than year one. It just has to be. So, here's to a year of G-Pop. May it change the face of pop culture forever. Click!! That would be me toasting. Drink up!!!
Justine Manzano: It doesn’t feel as though it’s been a year since we started G-Pop. The very first G-Pop meeting was at a diner table between Melissa Minners, Jon Minners and myself—siblings of varying ages and interests, except we all love the web and we all love entertainment. We were thinking of how we could best make this website into what we wanted—a site that ignored convention and embraced things that are overlooked far too often. We wanted to be the arts & entertainment site for both the bands we would see, selling their CD’s on the subway, and the ones that can be found easily at a Tower Records. We wanted to look at the neighborhood productions, the little known artists, the conventions no mainstream arts & entertainment magazine features, like the craft shows. We wanted to create a new outlet, and so we began plotting what we wanted G-Pop to be.
The hardest part of working on this site, for me, would have to be the actual design of the website. When Melissa, Jon and I assembled, we divided up the different jobs the site would entail. I became the web designer. The three of us worked hard to compile the list of pages and the general idea of the layout, but when it got down to writing HTML, I was a lone ranger. After reading many “For Dummies” books (because I felt like a dummy for the entire time I was building the site) and numerous “Crap! Now I’ve got to do it all over again!” moments, I somehow managed to make this site look decent. Now, G-Pop probably looks like an Atari game when compared with some of the sites out there, but when you consider the fact that we have been learning this entire time and that we’re still learning every day, I have to take pride in it’s growing popularity.
Still, it’s clearly not the site’s design that keeps our audience coming back. It’s the people. Whether it be my cutting wit and intolerance for incompetence, Melissa’s intelligent and sharp criticism, Jon’s neighborhood connections and wacky social observations, staff writer Ismael Manzano’s offbeat way of looking at the world or the powerful contributions of guest writers like Rowena Kemp, Dorothy Doremus, Annia Ortiz, Walter Mercado, Drayven’s Crow, Kristy Caruso, John Minners or any of the other amazing writer’s who have graced us with their presence, it can not be denied that G-Pop’s take on arts and entertainment is original. It will continue to be original—if it doesn’t, we aren’t doing our jobs correctly!
It’s been a long, hard road. Between our day jobs, our pursuit of degrees and life in general, this site was a labor of love squeezed from any spare moment of our lives and handed on to you, the readers, because we love you and appreciate your love for this site. And, to my G-Pop co-owners—despite the bickering, lack of time and exhaustion that came with this site, I have learned something. They say you should never do business with family, and while I know it sometimes felt true, this site proves otherwise. I can’t imagine building a site more attractive, fun and creative with anybody else. Love to those who work with us and love to the audience. Here’s to another fantastic year of the Global Pop Network!
Melissa Minners: I remember how the idea for G-POP.net came about. My brother had been toying with the idea of an e-zine with a different format from the one he was already a part of at the time. I had recently left that e-zine and was looking for a place to showcase my writing – some place where I had more control over my content and where I would have more of a say as to format, subject matter, etc. My sister had also just recently left the e-zine she was working for and was thinking along the same lines.
Thanksgiving 2004 was the beginning of a dream come true. As we all sat around the table, my brother started to discuss a different type of e-zine. We all started pitching ideas at one another and agreed, then and there, to start a joint venture. We wanted our site to be different from all of the other entertainment sites out there and had a few ideas as to how to achieve such a lofty goal. We wanted to cover every possible form of entertainment – things people ordinarily wouldn’t think of like craft shows, HAM radio, conventions, fireworks shows, vacation spots and more. We wanted a healthy blend of mainstream and independent media. We wanted a creative writing section, because we felt that writing was a terrific source of entertainment to us, whether it was fiction, non-fiction, poetry or haiku. We wanted the site to be interactive with its readers and so there would be a message boards where folks could sound off about articles or columns or just point us in the direction of items we should be reviewing. The site should be updated frequently with a decent amount of articles to choose from each week. Most importantly, we wanted a site that would stand out – that would “POP” off the page.
It took us a little while to get things started. There was of course the money issue – or lack there of. Folks don’t always seem to realize just how much money it takes to start a site up, keep it going, and advertise it. Of course, with the money we were spending on all of the site upkeep, there was little to be spent on reporters. Luckily, we were able to find some writers who were willing to submit stories out of the goodness of their hearts with the promise that some day there will be pay. And let’s not forget the biggest issue of all – time! Time constraints, what with our busy work schedules and all, made things a tad bit interesting when trying to schedule a meeting or even work on site creation. And of course, there was some bickering, but there is always bound to be some bickering when three people who are very creative but have very different styles get together on a project. But with hard work, perseverance, and a little biting of the tongue, we eventually turned an idea into a reality.
On June 18, 2005, we posted our very first issue of G-POP.net and we have continued to produce a new issue each week. The creation of G-POP.net has been quite an adventure for me – getting to meet new and hopeful artists and getting to chat with well-known and well-established ones. It was also a boon for me in that I was able to showcase more than my ability to write reviews, but also to write rants and poetry and soon original fiction. It has been challenging in a way that is fun and addictive – I actually challenge myself each week to find something new to discuss that is not considered your everyday source of entertainment by most e-zines. I also challenge myself to write more articles with greater content, thus improving my writing skills with each article. In the future, we hope to have even more content, bring in more writers, cover more events and turn G-POP into a household name. Being a G-POP co-creator/writer has been one hell of an exciting adventure and one I hope continues for a long time to come!
THE REGULAR STAFF
(OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE INSANE ONE)
Ismael Manzano: Well, it’s been a full year now since this little web site known as g-pop was born, and six months since my last writing for g-pop rant. A lot has changed since the inception of our arts and entertainment site. We’ve gained several members, racked up several hundred hits per day, have made dozens of loyal contacts between the four of us, and managed to recruit a few guest writers. Oh, and I’ve been promoted from one of those guest writers to COMLETE, UNDISPUTED MASTER OF THIS SITE!!.
Don’t believe me? Have you seen the front page? Have you seen my visage, smack-dab in the center of the top of the page, my gaping maw wide open, as if to say, “I eat popular culture and crap out reviews for your amusement?”
But in all seriousness, I feel that writing for g-pop has been a rewarding experience, replete with opportunities to make contacts with new writers, old writers, established writers, and anyone in between. I’ve managed to hone my writing skills a tad and add a little bit of my own flare and personality to each review—something which I never thought I could do effectively.
Though there is a down side to my tenure at g-pop. The pay sucks and honestly, writing for the site has severely eaten into my recreational time. I can’t read a book anymore just to read it, I can’t watch a movie just to watch it or go to a play, event or picnic just for the hell of it. No. Everything is a review in the making. Everything has to be looked at with a critical—or humorous—eye, to weed out any potential for another slot on the front page. Between the site, school and my work, I’m surprised I’ve been able to produce the masterpieces of the modern era that I have done for so long.
I wish I could say that my work here has propelled me into the stratosphere of the writing world, but unfortunately, it has not. What it has done, however, is help me to see mistakes of other writers, plot-holes in stories, and underdeveloped characters. What it has done is help me to judge my own work with a little more objectivity. And while it will take some time for me to incorporate what I’ve learn with how I write, I know that I am a better writer because of my affiliation with this site, and—bull#*$% and all—I wouldn’t trade a moment of it for anything…except for maybe a published manuscript.
So to recap, one year and eighty-five reviews later, I’m slowly inching my way into TOTAL DOMINATION OF THIS SITE!!!......cue evil laughter and lightening crackle.
G-POP.NET GUEST WRITERS
John Minners: Several months ago the Webmasters of G-POP.net asked me to write an article for their E-zine regarding my hobby. The hobby in question was, and still is, Amateur (HAM) Radio. At first I was a bit reluctant because I felt the site was geared more towards the younger generation and their views of music and video media. After visiting the site on numerous occasions I realized that while my first opinion was true, it also provided a means of communications. A way to reach out and touch people whom I, as a baby boomer, might never get the opportunity to speak to. Ham Radio is nothing if not a means of communications and so I wrote the article and submitted it. It was placed on the site almost immediately and was, in every way, editorially (I don't think there is such a word) correct. The process of writing for and working with the sites key figures was easy and I would certainly do it again if I could think of another topic to write about.
Rowena Kemp: When I heard about g-pop from a good friend of mine I was excited both for her, her sister and bro. I got even more excited when I was asked to write an article for G-pop. I have to admit, I was giddy like a school girl when I saw my article on the site that Monday. I have always just written fiction and I’ve often thought about writing articles but the furthest I ever got was a letter to a newspaper. Now, because of G-pop, I have found another channel to direct my writing towards, and you know what? I have a ball doing it. Not only do I get to read, watch and play, but I get to tell other peeps what I thought about it on a great website. G-pop has a great aim and what I like about is that it’s not just directed towards a certain generation, but a lot more if not all. I’ve been exposed to new authors, anime, manga, films I wouldn’t have watched, had I not read the review here at g-pop. The people at g-pop are a great bunch as well, I enjoy Talon Karrde’s reviews, Justine’s views on television series, Jon’s “Minners Commentry corner”, and the newly installed column, “Random Acts of Ismael.” Happy Birthday G-pop, may many, many more readers grace your pages and learn like I have!
DrayvensCrow: Well, it's been a year since G-POP has opened its doors and just look at the diverse topics discussed here. I am actually surprised that some of my articles have made the monthly top ten lists! Who'd have thought that Pro Wrestling reviews would be that interesting?! But more importantly, the fact that we've been able to carry on discussions here in a civil tone, unlike other websites, over the various topics is the one thing that keeps me submitting reviews when I can. Who'd have thought that The Badseed, Dray and DocMidnite could keep the decerning Wrestling public THAT entertained?! LOL Well, thanks to everyone who read my reviews and here's to even more in the up-coming year!
Dorothy Doremus: I am grateful that a site like G-POP exists. Sites usually restrict the creativity of the writer and don't let you express unpopular ideals, here that was not the case. I was able to write three stories this year for the site and I am hoping in the future to write many more. Congratulations on the first year G-POP and I can't wait to see what is in store in the coming year.
Walter Mercado: I had seen the work of a couple of the good folks here elswhere on the 'net before, so imagine my elation at knowing that this project was getting off the ground, where their talents would find a permanent home. I felt honored to be asked to participate and be in on the ground floor of an undertaking such as this. And to actually have some crap that I wrote displayed under the G-POP banner was nothing short of surreal, and a little bit exciting. Hell of a deal, that. I thank them again for giving me that chance. G-POP is the one and only place you need to be! It's a nice little corner of the web, where pop culture and entertainment news, and anything ELSE this place has to offer, is not bogged down with semantics or cookie-cutter HollyWEIRD content. These are real people writing and reporting for real people. Yep, they keep it real here, kids. Real and loose and FUN. Now there's a collective concept I can live with. What more can I say except a big and hearty CONGRATULATIONS to all concerned on G-POP's Year One anniversary! May bigger and better things happen for The POP over this next year.
Annia Ortiz: G-POP.net is a great site to express your opinions and to also hear those of others. I enjoy the articles and also the opinions on pop-culture. It's refreshing to hear that people think and feel the same way you do. So happy 1 Year Anniversary G-POP.net
Kristy Caruso: Most websites stick to certain rules, leaving something to be desired by their viewers. G-Pop.net is different.
I've only discovered G-Pop recently, and it's great to find a place on the web that "keeps it real." I gave up writing for awhile-too many restrictions took away from my creativity. G-Pop has given me the freedom to write what I want--and provides the outlet necessary to do so. I'm looking forward to their continued growth and success--Congratulations on 1 year, G-Pop.net!
For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at g-pop@g-pop.net.
