Tim League discusses the origins and growth of the Alamo Drafthouse

Tim League recently spoke to Google about the origins and growth of the Alamo Drafthouse. Lots of failure before success. (The Mondo poster series gets a brief mention 33 minutes in.) Via.

*Buy Mondo posters at eBay.

Link roundup

1. "An undercover police officer 'chased himself round the streets' for 20 minutes after a CCTV operator mistook him for suspect." Via.

2. Mark Cuban's always a great interview. Some advice:

Never follow your dreams. Follow your effort. It’s not about what you can dream of. That’s easy. It’s about whether or not it’s important enough to you to do the work to be ready to be successful in that business.

3. Gawker on news of big government resignations in Romania:

The resignations come after some very unpopular budget cuts that were made to comply with IMF demands so that Romania could secure a loan and continue to pay government workers. The IMF is, of course, the International Monetary Fund, which is a fund with international money in it.

4. New Spider-Man promotional site. Via.

Medicine lollipop

When your child won't take his medicine, make a medicine lollipop. You can buy lollipop molds at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Christoph Niemann is going to give away art prints on Monday.

2. Secret Restaurant from the people behind Secret Cinema.

3. Win some Thundercats goods.

4. "How Darcie Chan Used Paid Reviews & Banner Ads to Make a Self Published Bestseller."

Link roundup

1. "Master of horror John Carpenter presents Blockhead’s Revenge — a 'gritty, sexy, scary' Peanuts reboot starring the cast of MTV’s Teen Wolf."

2. How to build a relationship with a blogger before asking for a review.

3. Grantland:

ex-Cleveland Brown and Minnesota Viking LeRoy Hoard — a physical, bruising former running back — famously (though perhaps apocryphally) described his running style as the antithesis of the space player: "If you need one yard, I'll get you three yards. If you need five yards, I'll get you three yards."

Link roundup

1. Tips for fighting bullies.

2. Smart Football:

I can think of really only one example of a guy whose arm now seems significantly stronger than it did earlier in his career as a college player and rookie, and that’s Tom Brady. And, well, Tom Brady is Tom Brady. But it does seem like this is generally true, at least at the higher levels once a quarterback is physically mature: There are almost no examples of guys whose arms went from “popgun” to bazooka through discipline and training, not matter how tall they are or how many weights they lift.

Also, Buddy Ryan's insidious defensive tactic.

3. Weird to see so much anticipation for new comics in the Watchmen universe - - the whole point of Watchmen is that the characters were just knockoffs of other characters. The genius of Moore and Gibbons is what made them special.

4. Lackluster review for the new Deus Ex downloadable content.

New rules of work posters

New rules of work posters on sale here. Via these sites.

How to become a super-duper successful blogger

Yesterday, BoingBoing posted an excerpt from a book called "Blogger's Boot Camp: Learning how to build, write, and run a successful blog," with the most insipid advice I've recently seen on blogging. The advice? 1. "You must write a minimum of 1,000 words a day," a rule the author justifies by mentioning a blogger who specializes in writing pithy sentence fragments and quoting other people's writing. And 2. "Always Be Posting. You will burn out. When this happens, take a break. Always take weekends off and limit your off-the-clock consumption of social media." Got that? Write 1,000 words every day, except when you don't, because you will almost certainly hate blogging.

Here's the real advice:

1. Create a time machine, go back in time 10+ years, start a blog, and update it every day. Through the power of longevity and the luck/foresight of being first you'll amass so many readers that you'll be able to make a living simply by posting a couple of daily links to the New Yorker.

2. Become famous for something. Even better, become famous and attractive. Then start a blog. Your fans will adore your every post no matter how banal.

3. Be a mom blogger (marketers adore mom bloggers, especially those who link to the words insurance or bank) and mix in product reviews with detailed discussions of your family's most private secrets. Especially the ones about sex. When you run out of your own secrets, betray your friends.

4. Figure out a way to become a pornographer. Deadspin's basically a sports-themed porn blog. In fact, the porn doesn't even have to be sports-related. Gawker writers spend their time coming up with clever excuses for posting photo galleries of busty children and up-skirt shots.

5. Convince people you're a guru on relationships, or career advancement, or marketing, or health. Hope they don't notice you spend your time telling other people what to do, instead of doing it yourself.

Bonus points if you have the energy, knowledge, and willingness to manipulate traffic sources like Google, Reddit, and Stumbleupon.

or

6. Write a regularly updated blog, on a topic people are interested in, filled with original content and funny insightful commentary.

Of course, if you can do that, you don't need anyone's advice. There's also no reason to burn out. Writing a blog, if it's right for you, is fun. You can read my genuine tips on writing a blog here.