And yet it took me a month to write about it. Well, it’s been a busy month, but we wanted to thank the kind folks at Change.org – namely Nathaniel Whittemore – for this great review of Breadpig.

(Thanks, Nathaniel!)

Here’s my favorite quote from the piece:

So, what to take away from all of this? First, even transgenomic pigs can be a great brand if people associate it with cool things. Second, social entrepreneurship looks and sounds different in different places, but continues to grow as a hallmark of this generation. Third, trying crazy ideas beats bottling them up.

We’ll do our best to keep the crazy ideas flowing!

Did you hear? The Internet was buzzing yesterday about the New York Times’ announcement of xkcd’s book deal. The breadpig couldn’t have been more pleased. Now we need get those books ready for the summer. Thanks to all of you who helped spread the word, left encouraging comments, or already started trying to place orders. There’s a mailing list if you’d like to be notified on the day they’re for sale.

We also had a number of independent booksellers contact us to get the xkcd book on their shelves; we’re happy to supply you!

And now for a buzz recap:

The story ran on the front pages of reddit (OK, not a huge surprise there), digg, and Hacker News.

Longtime breadpig loyalist, Scott Beale shared some linklove, as well as Cory “I sometimes wear a cape and goggles” Doctorow, who first convinced Randy to publish under a CC license (yes, the book will be under it, too). And our close friends at Wired wrote that we were promising summertime laughs with this dead tree edition of xkcd.

Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources included a link to the article in a roundup — we’ll see you all at Comic-Ccon, I’m sure.

The breadpig never expected to grace Gawker’s frontpage, but there it is. What was Gawker’s response to their first breadpig encounter?

“Randall Munroe, creator of the awesome (and popular) Web comic xkcd, skipped past the overtures of large publishers when it came time to publish his work on paper. Instead he’s working with “breadpig.” WTF?”

Hug.

The book is out – get it here!

Here’s the New York Times article.

The breadpig is thrilled to be working with xkcd on this venture and we’re expecting the book to hit the virtual shelves of the xkcd store this summer.

If you’d like to be notified, sign up for the breadpig mailing list (your information will not be sold, bartered, or used for any kind of evil). We’re not a traditional publisher, but this isn’t a traditional book — the majority of the profits from each sale will go directly to the artist (xkcd).

As for the rest (as with all breadpig projects) our profits will be donated; for this project, the non-profit recipient Room to Read, a splendid organization committed to bringing quality education to children worldwide (with books!).

2008 was a great first year for breadpig, with LOLmagnetz generating a solid $15,000 for the SF SPCA and shirts selling well throughout the year. ROFLDNA got 09 off to a good start and we’re all very excited about the xkcd book.

To celebrate Katee Sackoff’s 29th birthday yesterday, TCritic did a BSG shirt rundown. Props to Bo for the shoutout in the comments.

Got nothing to give that special skinjob in your life? I think you know what to do.

Cat’s sinister mustache not photoshopped

Back in April, when we were assembling the first order of LOLmagnetz, breadpig had to rush together some cover art for the sticker adorning the case. My cat back home looked much too sinister for such a joyful product. (See picture on right.)

Time was one thing we didn’t have, so I turned to a Flickr search for Creative Commons licensed photos of ‘funny cat,’ or something like that.

And that’s how we found the lovely Roslyn, who had exactly the expression demanded for a case of LOLmagnetz.

I tried sending a message to the photographer, ocean yamaha, with a note and the promise of a free kit of magnets. This either didn’t go through or I’d smoked too much catnip and dreamed the whole thing up.

Either way, an email showed up from the photographer asking about attribution. I assured him that he was credited both in every kit and on the website.

He (and presumably also Roslyn) was quite pleased to be associated with a product helping so many orphaned dogs and cats. I sent them a pair of kits with one small request: to photograph Roslyn sitting beside a kit of LOLmagnetz.

Well, Ocean Yamaha went above and beyond, providing not only the photos I requested…

view original

view original

but also this:

admire the greatness of the original

Truly awesome. The entire breadpig legion collectively salutes you.

This was the first post-Christmas LOLmagnetz tweet and the breadpig thought it worthy to mention. It appears cbartlett’s stocking was stuffed with some extra LOL this year, proving yet again that pigs with breadwings can fit through chimneys better than a fat man.

In the spirit of giving, we do hope you’ll share your LOLmasterpieces with everyone at LOLmagnetz.com. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Kinda like the flu, only more fun.

Larsz, a proud LOLmagnetz owner and flickr photographer, uploaded this evidence of his LOLfridge. Click on to see the full image, it’s worth it. Breadpig loves it, Larsz, now you just need to LOLify that “I love you!” note. That will show her/him just how much you care.

Remember mySimon? One of their holiday recommendations is our magnetic LOLpoetry.

Ebisucho, a kaboodle user, decided she needed a kit of LOLmagnetz for her future home — right after the hidden wall safe. We like those priorities.

Lastly, Toysgadget.com enjoys some LOL and isn’t ashamed of it.

Time to start chugging the eggnog, folks. Breadpig is already wearing its tacky holiday sweater (the one with the snowmen dancing with Christmas trees).

We’re proud to report that LOLmagnetz made another holiday must-have list, this one of Odd and Bizarre Christmas Gifts & Gadgets. The kit is proudly situated between an “Electrolux reverse scan toaster” and “Nose gel dispenser.” Stiff competition indeed.

This $20 pack of fridge magnets contains 384 LOL-speak words for you to arrange as you please. Y3S, WE CAN ALL HAS BUCKET!!1

Part of the breadpig manifesto is an indifference to what the “cool kids” are doing. That’s just one of the luxuries of being a superhero pig with bread wings. Nonetheless, when TheCoolCrowd.net praises LOLmagnetz, we’re happy to give them a trotter up.

Since they’re magnetic, you can use them to hold pictures of cats and other equally cute animals in place on the fridge and other metal surfaces while outfitting them with appropriate captions. With a little forethought and some creativity, you can have your own LOLcat ensemble prominently displayed across your home ready to remind you of how much a waste of time your day has been.

Remember, it’s not a waste of time if you submit a photo of your LOL-masterpiece to LOLmagnetz.com to share with fellow LOL-connoisseurs.

LOLmagnetz made someone’s Wishroll, though I’m not entirely sure what that means.

University of California, Irvine’s Louise Lao trumpets Nifty Gifts on a College Budget:

ThinkGeek also has some obscure gifts that could entertain your zaniest friends [...] For the ultimate useless present enthusiast, order a box of LOLMagnetz to make captions for your very own “Lolcat,” cat images juxtaposed with humorous statements in broken, Internet slang ($19.99). I can has?

Though I would contest that LOLMagnetz are anything but a ‘useless present’ — they’re actually the ultimate present, so you’re kinda right. But you even took the time to reblog it as lovely rubbish and thus the breadpig salutes you.

The magnetz made shinyshiny’s 20 unique holiday gifts list. Thanks, shinyshiny, the breadpig applauds your finefine taste in holiday gifts, even non-shiny ones!

And coming in with a lump of coal is ProbablySucks.com, who mistook LOLmagnetz as “an attempt to make magnets cool again”. Silly ProbablySucks, magnets were never cool.

Fortunately, I’d be happy to send you a complementary kit of LOLmagnetz just to convince you of the awesomeness of magneticLOL, just email your mailing address to feedback at breadpig.com

Happy holidays everyone, get those stockings stuffed! And if you haven’t got one of these antiquated devices, the breadpig has 3 to spare (one for each trotter).