Okay. I’ll admit it. We’re off to a really great start here.
I mean, I had HOPED that JHM readers would actually respond to yesterday’s somewhat clumsy plea for cash. But to have over 50 people out there actually open their wallets and say “Yes, I value you what Jim Hill and the rest of the folks over at JimHillMedia.com do at that website. So here’s my contribution.” was just … well … mind-blowing.
Thanks to the generosity of nice people like …
J. Clinton Alvord Jr.
Cathy R. Arthur
Michael Bakula
Jonathan Batchelor
Christine Barrera
Tricia Belfonti
Don Bertino
Eric C. Bielefeld
Mayer Brenner
Jeffrey A. Brown
Michael D. Curran
Kelly M. Cokely
Andrew Crim
Jason E. Deboer
Teri Doolittle
Jeff of Innovative Computer
James Johnson
Tania Jolly
Michael T. Kavanaugh
Rob Kucinski
Brian Kolm
Cory Kringlen
Marc Lichon
Mick Love
Simone S. McCloskey
Roseanne McKeever
Brian Melquist
Thomas Montgomery
Jason Montegut
Chris O’Sullivan
Gregg Ottinger
Private Car Service
Michaela Penke
Frank Pepito
G. Perez
Andrew Petrie
Scott Pickard
Jason P. Punk
Edgardo J. Resto
Dennis Ritchey
Shawna Rosen
Christopher Ross
Jeffrey A. Satterthwaite
Keith Schrod
Barry S. Short
J.D. Stearns
Bon Stosch
Scott Sumerak
Jonathan Triesch
Jonathan P. Vaden
Charlotte Wilson
Chris Yansick
… this pledge drive is obviously off to a great start.
Of course, to be fair, I guess I should also acknowledge that — over the past three months — the folks listed below have also made donations to JimHillMedia.com:
Steve Barrett
Charles Brabec
Eric Chu
Teri Doolittle
Jason Francis
Dan Ehrlich
Giliam
David Graham
Rich Hamilton
Peter D. Harrison
Robert L. Hicks Jr.
Dennis Kelly
Patrick Kelly
Alice M Kottmeyer
Cory Kringlen
Rob Kucinski
John S. Ledden
Bruce A. Metcalf
Steve Mizera
Barrett Nichols
Jason P. Punk
Thomas E. Reed
Gary Rosenbalm
David G. Ross
Keith Schrod
Michael Siebielec
Doug Smidebush
Tomas Soderlind
Len Testa
Dan Viets
Matthew Walker
Bryan K. Walton
Jan Wang
Donna Welch
James R. Whitson
And — yes — there is some overlap between yesterday’s donations list and the folks who have given previously to JimHillMedia.com. And I promise that I’ll eliminate those redundancies as I prep the final version of the official “JHM Contributors” list (which will posted on this website sometime later this month). In the meantime, I just wanted to make sure that everyone’s generosity — be it this week or in months past — got acknowledged.
I should also point out that at least six people who took part in yesterday’s JHM pledge drive opted to make their donations anonymously. So — even though those folks preferred to remain in the shadows — I’d still like to thank them for their contributions.
But you know what meant the most to me yesterday? Not just that you folks would open your wallets. But that you’d also open your hearts. Take — for example — this great note from Kelly Cokely:
Dear Jim,
I’ve never contacted you before, and yet I feel like I’m writing to a good friend. Probably because you and your friends come and visit and share the scoop with me almost every day (via jimhillmedia.com). I’ve been reading this site since it started, and after your most recent plea, decided it was finally time for me to stop procrastinating and give something back to the site.
I do not have a paypal account, so I went to Amazon honor box and made a donation. I hope it helps (and I’m sure it all adds up). I honestly do not care if I have a “moment in the spotlight”, but being someone who never turns down a gift :^), please let me know if there’s some goodie for me down the road. And if not, that’s OK too, because my purpose in giving the donation is just to add my little bit of support to the site I click over to while slurping my morning coffee.
While primarily being Disney geeks (my husband and I had our first date at Disneyland in 1979 [wow!] and we’ve been romantic about Disney ever since), we also enjoy all things animation, and I appreciate the variety of reports on your site. Above all, I appreciate your sense of humor. Why for? Well, first of all, because the grammatically incorrect phrase “why for” cracks me up, but really because I believe that going through life with a general attitude of amusement is healthy and a good thing to convey to other people. I appreciate your ability to see humor in many situations, and your willingness to even laugh at yourself (the link to Laughing Mouse has been a continuing source of entertainment for us).
So, Jim, my morning friend whom I’ve never met, I just want to say thanks for all the interesting information and for all your hard work and devotion. Keep up the good work! Maybe I’ll get a chance to meet you on some future trip to Disneyland (you WILL still come out to Disneyland even after Alice moves to the Islands, won’t you?!?).
Take care and God bless,
Kelly Cokely
Orange, California
Speaking of being able to laugh at yourself, my second favorite note of the day had to come from Robert Stosch. Who added this note to his PayPal payment:
I saw you on TV. If you get enough money, maybe the excess could be spent on a personal trainer.
Just kidding. Keep up the good work.
Thanks….Bob Stosch
Believe me, Bob. I know what you mean. While I was down in New York last Thursday morning, taping my appearance on MSNBC, I caught a brief glimpse of myself in the monitor and thought: “This must be what Peter Jackson’s older, bitter brother looks like. You know, the one who didn’t get a cut of that ‘Lord of the Rings’ money.”
I also thought” “This is a pretty cruel trick to play on America. Given that I’m going on the air at 9:45 a.m. EST, that means that there are still people around the country trying to eat their breakfast. So having me pop up on their TV is sure to put a lot of folks off their feed.”
It just seemed so silly. Me being on MSNBC, talking somewhat knowledgably about the whole Disney debacle. Better that I should go back to New Hampshire and take a job that I’d be better suited for … like lurking under bridges and frightening goats.
Anyway … In spite of my less-than-appealing appearance, I am still very much pleased to hear that so many of you — just like Kelly Cokely — have made visiting JimHillMedia.com part of your morning routine. Which is why I promise that I’ll do my damnest to keep a steady stream of entertaining Disney-related tales headed your way.
Of course, in order to keep this stream of stories flowing, JHM has to maintain fairly steady cash flow.
Luckily — like I said at the top of this article — we’re off to a really great start here, people. If we can just keep this momentum going over the next few days, not only will I be able to gain full control over JimHillMedia.com (Just to recap here: I only have a 33% ownership stake in JHM; the other 66% of this website is actually owned by my ex-wife, Michelle Smith AKA the Fabulous Disney Babe), I’ll also be able to replace this cruddy old computer that I currently pound out my stories on.
And then — with full ownership of the site as well as some up-to-date equipment to work with — you folks will begin to see JimHillMedia.com take a significant step forward. I’m talking about new content 7 days a week, photos, cartoons. Maybe even pieces of animation that created expressly for JHM readers.
But that’s only if we continue to get financial assistance from extremely nice folks like you throughout the rest of this week.
Look, if you’re a regular reader of JimHillMedia.com, by now (I hope) you realize that this website is very different from a lot of the other Disneyana websites out there. You’ve seen that JHM doesn’t shy away from covering somewhat controversial stories like Roy Disney and Stanley Gold’s “Save Disney” efforts as well as the closing of Feature Animation-Florida.
You’ve also seen that JimHillMedia.com was the first website to bring you highly detailed information about the Mouse’s recent efforts to acquire the Muppets as well as today’s article … which revealed how Pixar remains eager to get back in bed with Disney. Provided — of course — that Eisner exits in the not-so-distant future.
More importantly, we try to keep things light over here. Pepper JHM’s articles with humor and wit. (I know, I know. Sometimes the jokes fall flat. But at least we give it a try, right?)
Anywho … we regularly provided all of this quality content for you guys … for free … without complaint. But now through Friday, we’re going to be a little bit noodgy. Remind you that — if you really like what you read at JimHillMedia.com … Well, would it kill you to throw a few coins in the site’s Amazon Honor Box and/or PayPal a donation to stadlerhill@mindspring.com ASAP?
Once again, I’d like to thank those of you who’ve already given so generously. I’d also like thank those of you who are just about to give. Which will result your name being added to the “JHM Contributors” list. Not to mention making you eligible for some of those extra special JimHillMedia.com premiums that we’ve currently got in the works.
“What sorts of extra-special premiums?” you ask. Check back in tomorrow and I’ll provide further details.
Thanks again for your time and generosity, folks. We’ll talk again soon, okay?
jrh