I can’t believe it, but it seems like every blogger out there reads the story of the infamous John Chow and wants to be just like him. Some think it’s cool, others think it’s hilarious…me, I think it’s friggin’ lame. This is going to come as a surprise to my readers, but I think for today’s post I’m going to flip the switch to the dark side and it might get ugly. Fear not, the true GrandmasterB will return shortly.

I have only seen one spinoff of the John Chow idea that really impressed me and got my attention…John Cow. I mean how could it not get your attention? Taking a famous blogger’s name and turning it into a cow theme is hilarious and well done. Alas, I am not here to talk about John Cow, because quite frankly it’s not really a clone…it’s original. What I am here to talk about are the no talent hacks that somehow believe that they are the next great thing on the Net. Guess what clones (or should I say clowns?)…you’re not even close.

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I finally found some spare time to get some ’spring cleaning’ done around the GrandmasterB house today. I wanted to get to adding on the new plugins and features earlier in the week, but life catches up with us sometimes and needs to be addressed. Most of the new features that I have added are quite apparent by looking at the sidebar.

Advertising on GrandmasterB.com

I hinted earlier in the week (Week in Review 4/14 - 4/20 ) that I felt it was time this teenager of a blog got off it’s hind quarters and made some cash to pay rent, so I’ve added 125×125 banner ads on the sidebar. I’ve set pricing at $15/month for the time being. I’ve been trying to figure out what would be a fair rate for a newer blog to ask for advertising. I hope it sounds fair to potential advertisers.

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This could just be coincidence, but this is the second consecutive Sunday that I have received an email informing me that the site has been featured on a theme design site. Last week was WP-Premiums.com and this week I’m featured on CMSNerd.com. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining one bit. I am so happy that the theme design is receiving such great reviews and receiving featured spots on some GREAT websites. I’ve always thought that I was a good designer, but hearing from my peers that they think my design is good (and even GREAT!) is an awesome feeling. It makes me want to create more top notch work and challenges me to do something even more fantastic my next go around.

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Recently my good friend Ryen contacted me about creating a Wordpress theme for a blog dedicated to his favorite baseball team…the New York Mets. After spending about an hour or so coming up with a good name for the blog he settled on MeetMrMet.com (after the Met’s Mascot). I have created what I think is a great look for a blog dedicated to the Mets.

I’m sure most of you will be able to see that it’s more or less a modification of my existing theme. I spent quite awhile getting the cutout of the mascot and David Wright near perfect. I used a lot of different layering techniques in the header along with some vectors from my expansive resource library. I hope you will all give the site a visit and welcome Ryen to the blogging community.

As always comments and criticisms are welcomed. If you have any questions or inquiries about having me design a theme for you shoot me an email via the Contact page .

~ GrandmasterB