July 01, 2005
Survey Says!entry, July 1, 2005
The results of Schlock Mercenary Reader Survey I are in, and they're fascinating. But before I link you to them, here's a word from our sponsors!
Do you like the banner ads? I've been running my own ad server (with help from Chalain, of course) for a week now, and I've been pleased with the results. And by "results" I mean "thank you for sending me money." Some of my advertisers have little or no commercial impetus for running banners here. They're just linking you to interesting content. And, since they're paying by the ad impression rather than by the click, I can encourage you readers to click on their ads. I've checked out the sites I'm running ads for, and they're cool.
If you are interested in running an ad here at Schlock Mercenary, the basic details are here.
And now, a movie review! I saw War of the Worlds with my father-in-law Thursday afternoon. Wow. It was powerful. The film takes the perspective of a father who just wants to keep his family safe from the invaders. Rather than following some general around and watching people die as blips on the screen, or as nameless civilian victims, you BECOME a nameless civilian victim. And then you stop being nameless, and the true tragedy of any broad-scope disaster becomes clear.
It should go without saying that Tom Cruise is a much better actor than he is a pitch-man for scientology, but I said it anyway. If you're tired of hearing about how Mr. Cruise is acting like a crazy person in public, see the movie -- he acts well the part of "divorced, middle-aged dock worker with a teenage son and 10-year-old daughter." Hey, he might be marrying a barely-post-teen actress, but he turns 43 on July 3rd (Happy Birthday, Tom!) and it's nice, in this film at least, to see the man acting his age.
Anyway, War of the Worlds had great special effects, excellent acting, and solid character arcs. Also, (MINOR SPOILER ALERT) the resolution has not been changed from the original H.G. Wells novel (END SPOILER). This resulted in some unintended comedy after the credits began to roll. The teenage boy in the row behind me gasped, and said "Man... that is SO retarded." Jerry and I giggled. You kids these days and your conventional military solutions. Gimme a good broad-spectrum biological agent any day (OOPS! NOW END SPOILER).
Okay, okay. You've waited long enough. The survey results are here. I learned lots of neat things about you people (or at least about those of you who fill out surveys), and they're worth sharing. My favorite bits:
- 21% of you get to the comic by typing in the URL.
- 34% of you "discovered" Schlock Mercenary because a friend referred it to you. THAT is what friends are for!
- 38% of you said that Schlock Mercenary is your favorite comic. You like me! You REALLY LIKE ME!
- 61% of you have, at some point or another, spewed something you were drinking onto your keyboard or monitor as a result of reading Schlock Mercenary.
- 22% of you learn slowly enough that you're still drinking when you read, and have spewed four or more times.
- 85% of you are college-educated. This means that at least a third of our slow learners cannot blame a lack of higher education for the splatter-marks on the screen.
- 0.03% of you (yes, YOU) are living in American Samoa. You there! GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO TO THE BEACH! If I'm going to dream of an island paradise, I don't want to imagine living there and being compelled to use the computer, too.
If you participated in the survey, thank you! If you DIDN'T participate, and feel like your particular demographic went unrepresented (if, for instance, you live on Pitcairn Island), the survey is still available here.