| As it happens, TSAT #33 was the April/May 2004 issue, which 'cover date' includes April Fool's Day. So we -- that's Michael Bard and Quentin 'Cubist' Long, TSAT's tyrannical overlords and Co-Editors For Life -- decided to do something in honor of the occasion.
We decided that our prank should revolve around TSAT's impending conversion to, in effect, an online repository for Harlequin novels. Co-editor Bard had previously discovered a webpage that included an automated JavaScript 'romance generator'; webmaster Long used a tweaked version of that code to create the opening paragraphs of 200 different romance stories. Long also created a logo for TSAT's 'new format'...
...and an intro page for that logo to appear on. Finally, as the pièce de résistance, the update announcement* for #33 went on about how Bard and Long were terminally discouraged by the complete and utter lack of reader response, and therefore had given up on TSAT. And those intrepid readers who surfed on over to the zine anyway found this page staring at them from out of their browser window... *Said announcement contained the single, solitary aspect of this prank that Bard and Long regret: A mock-complaint about TSAT contributor/columnist Phil Geusz' alleged lack of professionalism. The problem is that Geusz believed it was a serious complaint, as opposed to just being part of the gag! In reality... all kidding aside... this guy is about as professional as they come, and whatever level of quality TSAT may have achieved, Geusz deserves a non-trivial portion of the credit. |
