Magical Interview With Three Wolf Moon Licensor Michael McGloin [Part 2]

Part 2 of our interview with Michael McGloin, Creative Director of The Mountain … the company which produces the Three Wolf Moon (3WM) T-Shirt and  became Amazon.com’s top selling apparel item and an Internet phenomenon [Part 1].

Apple recently approved the official 3WM app [iTunes] … Three Wolf Moon HowlTone Generator [KRAPPS review] … which generates custom howling ringtones for your iPhone. So being the nosey dickheads we are, we cornered Michael and asked him about the development process of the app.

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KRAPPS: So you talked about supporting your artists … how about Ms. Neshev, she must be huge for you guys!

Three-Wolf-Moon-pajamas-FIN Michael McGloin: We’ve (The Mountain Licensing) been representing Antonia Neshev, the Three Wolf Moon artist, for about a year now, trying to get her art and Three Wolf Moon out there on more than just a T-Shirt. We’ve done posters, pajamas, puzzles, skins with DecalGirl and Zagg, etc. Over the past six months hundreds of other people have made tribute shirts, products, blogs and apps that have cashed in on Three Wolf Moon and Antonia doesn’t get a piece of that pie. We wanted Antonia to get her piece of the pie and we wanted to take it to the next level and offer our fans something that no one else could provide. The power of Three Wolf Moon in your pocket! Everyone should have that type of power to get through their day and that’s our gift.

LOL … no shit! We’ve had some pretty crappy days around here and the 3WM app would’ve come in handy, so we’re totally stoked a pocket version is now available.

Ok, the 3WM HowlTone Generator … what’s up with that? Did you geek-up and code it yourself?

Nah – I’m an artist, no Objective-C for this MacHEAD. A few different developers approached me about doing an app and we came up with a bunch of killer ideas. For some reason the first developer (iverse comics) dropped out about a month into it. We talked about wolf pack portals. Where people could upload pics of themselves in the shirt, comment on it and a possible proximity gps alert howl would happen when you walked by another Three Wolf Moon hipster, a secret handshake of sorts. But that project ended dead in the water.

LMAO … Wolf Pack Portal! That is sick and would be insane for a possible second app. Sorry to interrupt, go ahead.

Waya-FINAL Nice Kanye West move … anyways we’ll continue. Then Mark Peterson of TapFactory contacted me and expressed interest as well. He saw the New York Times article and wanted to make the Official Three Wolf Moon app. TapFactory was really great. I had so much on my plate and they were really patient. I worked with Cameron Smith and we threw a bunch of ideas back and forth, finally settling on a HowlTone generator to get something launched pretty quickly. Something we could build upon. I contacted one of our T-Shirt customers who has a wolf preserve and they supplied the wolf howls. It all came together very organically.

Imma let you finish … just wanted to say that the recordings of the wolf howls are awesome! Love the fact you guys used actual wolves and they even have names …
Wa-Ta-Chee, Ohoyo and Waya … very cool touch!

Yes, it was important for us to have a “connection” with the wolves. So then I wanted to try and get the app launched before 3WM showed up on The Office. We were all set to submit to Apple for approval, but then I thought it would be great to be able to record your own howl (or anything you wanted) as well, so it took a bit longer. And then when TapFactory was ready to submit I threw in another curve ball… the ability to buy the much sought after Three Wolf Moon Glow Shirt. We had to make the Glow Shirt purchase so you could only get it through the app exclusively from us. That was the final hurdle and we pulled it together and made it happen.

3WM-Glow-Shirt

Yeah, we’re already in for that sweet 3WM Glow Shirt. Figure it’s the perfect shirt for when we go clubbin … chicks will dig a glowing 3WM KRAPPS.

Well Michael, we appreciate you taking the time to hang with us and sharing insights about your beginnings, The Mountain and the new Three Wolf Moon HowlTone Generator iPhone app. We wish you continued success and much luck with the app. Be sure to howl at us with any iPhone updates!

Thanks Mister KRAPPS. It’s been my pleasure to share a behind-the-scenes look at our operation. On behalf of The Mountain, I wish you and all your KRAPPS viewers the power of Three Wolf Moon … may its magic bring endless happiness to your life. Happy New Year!

[Be sure to check out The Mountain’s 2010 catalog … we were blown away by the new designs for next year … dinosaurs, bigfoot, gorillas, reptiles, etc. … just awesome stuff)

The-Mountain-2010-Shirts

December 30, 2009 | Filed Under Entertainment, News | 7 Comments 

Pussy Lovers, Tits And Boobies – The Joke Is Over, Banned!

caprice [kuh-prees] –noun : a sudden, impulsive change in the way one thinks or acts; freakish notion; whim

Yesterday we ran an article about two curiously named iPhone apps … Pussy Lovers and Tits And Boobies. Obviously the titles are a play on words and the apps are best served as  practical jokes. Come on Mensa, did you really think you were getting vagina pics?

TitsAndBoobiesSplash  PussyLoversSplash

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Pussy and boobies developer Samir Roy stated to us that his two apps are doing very well. Within 24 hours of release, each of the apps landed in the top 10 of their respective category. Currently Pussy Lovers is the #6 Free Lifestyle app, while Tits And Boobies is #3 in the Free Eduction category. Samir indicated that Pussy Lovers and Tits And Boobies have enjoyed nearly 300,000 combined downloads within 11 days of going live.

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BanHammer But like the tale of Romeo and Juliet, this love affair with pussy and boobies has a tragic ending … Pussy Lovers and Tits And Boobies are being removed from the App Store. Apple has made a sudden and impulsive change … the apps have been deemed inappropriate for the App Store. Apple’s logic (we use the term loosely) is that both Pussy Lovers and Tits And Boobies do not contain content that match the title. Samir inquired if he updated the apps with images of vaginas and breasts, could he receive Apple’s approval using the same title (funny guy that Samir). Apple made it clear, they are not asking him to include pictures of vaginas … and gave a “maybe” on breasts. Understandably, Samir is frustrated … guess he’ll need to pull the plug on his upcoming app Big Cocks (roosters).

At the time of this writing, Pussy Lovers and Tits And Boobies are still available for download … but you better hurry … the joke is almost over.

December 29, 2009 | Filed Under Education, Entertainment, Lifestyle, News | 6 Comments 

Magical Interview With Three Wolf Moon Licensor Michael McGloin [Part 1]

3-wolf-moon-girl Three Wolf Moon (3WM) … a T-Shirt, featuring three wolves howling at the moon. The shirt is sold on Amazon.com and after numerous satirical reviews, it became an Internet phenomenon (Internet meme). Reviewers claim the shirt gave them magical powers and 3WM quickly became the top selling apparel item on Amazon.com. In an October episode of NBC’s The Office, Dwight wears the shirt to a wedding a successfully picks up a girl.

Apple recently approved the official 3WM app [iTunes] … Three Wolf Moon HowlTone Generator [KRAPPS review] … which generates custom howling ringtones for your iPhone. We spoke with Michael McGloin, Creative Director of The Mountain (the company which produces the 3WM shirt), regarding why on Earth would he get into the competitive iPhone app business.

Below is part 1 of our interview … part 2 publishes tomorrow (hey, we try to limit our posts to 500 words or less – more time for you to do other stuff).

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KRAPPS: First off, congrats on the release of the Three Wolf Moon HowlTone Generator app. We’ll get to that in a bit, but we were curious about this Brian Govern character … the dude who posted the very first review of the Three Wolf Moon shirt on Amazon which started the phenomenon … have you ever met him? You should probably buy him a beer.

Michael McGloin: Yep … good old Brian Govern. We haven’t met in person, but we’ve talked on the phone a bunch and I just sent him a box of 3WM for his family for Christmas. ROFLCon contacted me to speak at their conference in April, so I invited Brian, along with the Three Wolf Moon artist, Antonia Neshev, and the guy who did the Three Keyboard Cat Moon t-shirt to join me on the panel. So I look forward to meeting Brian for the first time in person this April. And just a side note, The Mountain will be producing the official ROFLCon T-Shirt.

Cool. Looking at the ROFLCon lineup, it should be a kick ass time … a lot of big time internet meme peeps. Anywho … let’s talk about your new app. You got a good thing going with 3WM … pumping out like 1 billion shirts per hour … why jump into the competitive iPhone app market?

Simple – I’m a MacHEAD. I have and love my iPhone. I stood in a massive line for the first generation iPhone and have been using Apple products for more than 18 years now at The Mountain and in my personal life. To have an iPhone app makes my life complete.

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Nice … good to hear your life is now complete … the iPhone is cool like that. So tell us about your business background … how did you get into this whole T-Shirt thing?

Untitled-1 I started printing shirts 20 years ago when T-Shirt Art Licensing didn’t really exist yet. I had my own T-Shirt company called Artwear. I sold shirts at Phish and The Grateful Dead shows and in the process, built a great client list. I was then asked by the partners of The Mountain to come aboard and build a print shop so they could sell to their retail stores. I built the company with the help of a team of great artists and great friends. We quickly figured out methods of printing that no one else was using. This led to making shirts for The Dead (while Jerry was still alive), Bob Marley (Family) and Jimi Hendrix (Estate). We later expanded into Native American themes, then Animals and Fantasy. It was always my goal for the original design artist to get paid for every shirt that goes out the door and that stands true to this day at The Mountain.

Right on … classy move having the backs of the artists who actually made the T-Shirt design. Tell us about your deal with Element Skateboards. Seems way different than making unicorn shirts.

The Mountain has been working with some great companies, like Element Skateboards, building our brand and expanding our product line through licensing the core team of artists on our line. We are now on our third skateboard deck series with Element and every year more and more skaters, boarders and skiers send us pictures of themselves in our gear. It’s a great feeling to have the support of that demographic.

The-Mountain-Element

[That concludes Part 1 of our interview. Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow, when we’ll discuss details about the Three Wolf Moon iPhone app development and programming process.]

December 29, 2009 | Filed Under Entertainment, News | 11 Comments 

WTH Apple! ‘Pussy Lovers’ And ‘Tits And Boobies’ Apps?

We received a tip from the folks at Just Another iPhone Blog … they spotted something scandalous and thought we should be all over it. A new app was recently approved by Apple … Tits and Boobies.

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The description reads as follows …

These tits and boobies are wide exposed and open to nature. You can see them as God intended to be viewed in their real forms.

Seriously, WTH!! … wide exposed and open to nature. Holy shit … visions of exhibitionists and nudist camps raced through our heads. Lately we’ve seen a lot of apps with sexy titles attempting to draw viewer attention (mainly boobs), but since tits is a first for Apple, we decided to investigate further.

We checked out the developer responsible for Tits and Boobies … Samir … and what we found was even more shocking than the original tip. From the same developer, Apple approved … Pussy Lovers.

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Pussy-Lovers-Splash

The description reads as follows …

If you love pussy, this application is for you. Each and every pussy is more and more tight and super tempting.

OMG!! … tight and tempting pussies? Apple has completely gone insane. Thinking in lieu of cash bonuses this year, Apple passed out some hairy buds from Humboldt.

For the first time ever, we were intimidated by an app … scared to download both Pussy Lovers and Tits and Boobies. But we did, for the sake of this article and our viewing rage_fu_guy audience.

As we scanned through Pussy Lovers and Tits and Boobies, a reoccurring thought went through our heads … a scandalous tip? – FFFFUUUU Just Another iPhone Blog!

Just look at this Brazilian Pussy and a Great Tit … FFFFUUUU!

  Tits-And-boobies-1FINALS  Pussy-Lovers-1FINAL

December 28, 2009 | Filed Under Education, Entertainment | 15 Comments 

Steve Jobs Makes An Elf Out Of Himself

KRAPPS-Logo-XMas

What’ the difference between Santa Claus and Tiger Woods?
Santa stop after 3 ho’s!

Ha! Ha! … sorry about the obligatory Tiger Wood Christmas joke … and on that note, all of us here at KRAPPS wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Of course, no Christmas greeting would be complete without a Steve Jobs version of ElfYourself … and yes, there’s an app for that! Check out Steve making an elf out of himself with the Super Dance Elf Christmas iPhone app … kinda of disturbing if you ask us!

 

December 25, 2009 | Filed Under Entertainment | 6 Comments 

Cuddle Up With Your iPhone And Enjoy The Worst Holiday Movie Ever

Ahhh, it’s Christmas Eve. Santa is busy navigating his sleigh as he delivers presents to all the good little boys and girls. Children eagerly await his arrival, leaving the traditional fare of milk and cookies. The tree is trimmed, the stockings are hung, the fireplace is roaring … and soon, the classic “The Night Before Christmas” story will be read as the kids settle down for bed. Hmmm – kids going to bed … the best part of Christmas Eve (or any day for that matter) since it means alone time for mommy and daddy … YES!

So in efforts to keep the holiday spirit alive, while taking advantage of your Christmas Eve alone time … we have a suggestion – an app suggestion of course. Throw on the Snuggie, float an extra shot of rum in your eggnog, cuddle up with a loved one next to that roaring fireplace and launch the Santa Claus Conquers The Martians app.

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sc1  sc2

Seriously, any douche can watch “Miracle On 34th Street”, “It’s A Wonderful Life” or “A Christmas Story” … but why be BORING? Santa Claus Conquers The Martians delivers 110% Christmas crap … just read these rave reviews:

“Like a car accident unfolding before your eyes, it’s impossible to look away” – RottenTomatoes.com

 

“There isn’t some other film more deserving of the title Worst Christmas Movie Ever” – StompTokyo.com

 

“Another charming part of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is its rock bottom production vales. All of the sets have a two-dimensional feel” – CoolCinemaTrash.com

Pia-Zadora-Penthouse-FINAL Originally released in 1964, this cult hit has been beautifully reformatted and optimized by developer Jacob Schwartz so it plays seamlessly on your iPhone. For a mere 99 cents, you get 81 minutes of holiday horror … plus movie quotes, credits, a synopsis of the film and 11 movie-themed wallpapers. Oh, almost forgot … it also is the film debut of Pia Zadora (of Penthouse cover fame) and includes a reindeer named “Nixon” … too cool!

sc3  sc4

What a freaking bargain for oodles of tasteless holiday joy (and Pia Zadora), conveniently stored on your iPhone. Yeah, Santa Claus Conquers The Martians is literally a no-brainer purchase … or is it? Meh …enough already with the leg lamps and suicidal businessmen … start your own Christmas Eve tradition with Santa Claus Conquers The Martians.

December 24, 2009 | Filed Under Entertainment | 16 Comments 

Once Rejected Minipops App Is Now Approved With No Changes

minipops-cover Back in June, we published an article called “Further Proof Of Apple’s Idiotic Approval Process” which detailed the tribulations of accomplished Minipops artist Craig Robinson. Minipops … itsy bitsy teeny weenie pixilated renditions of famous people like Bill Cosby, Pope Benedict XVI, Tiger Woods, Beyonce, Fidel Castro, Michael Jackson, Steve Jobs and thousands more … they’ve all been minipopped (we just made that word up). Craig has three published Minipops books and his Obama Family Minipop will be included in an upcoming book about Michelle Obama. Craig Robinson is clearly a well respected individual in the art world – he does not suck.

Tiger-Wood-Minipop  Steve-Jobs-Minipop

Pope-Minipop  Beyonce-Minipop

So what happens when Craig turns his artwork into an iPhone app? … REJECTED! Why? … because Craig is an asshole … his app ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 of the iPhone SDK Agreement which states, “applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind … that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone users.” Apple even attached a few of the offending Minipops for reference … the “approved for Michelle Obama book, but not for iPhone” Minipop of the Obama Family – the Alanis Morissette nude with a  revealing one-pixel of bush – the offensive half-naked Arnold Schwarzenegger.

obamarejected111 alanisrejected111 arnierejected111

So rather than screw with the integrity of his art by excluding a number of Minipops and re-submitting an incomplete representation of his work, a dejected Craig chose to move on with his life … leaving his Minipops app only in his dreams.

Flash-forward six months, Craig receives a surprising call from his techie buddy Matt …

Matt: dude, you know your minipops app?
Craig: minipops app? oh, that offensive thing … yeah, what about it?
Matt: apple approved it … it’s now available in the app store!
Craig: you’re a bitch … i told you i was not going to omit any of the rejected pics!
Matt: relax blowhard … i re-submitted minipops as-is … no changes!
Craig: then why did apple approve it this time?
Matt: no clue bro … no clue!

Sweet … 1,000 Minipops – killer UI – a “Guess Who?” game … and more. Currently on sale for only 99 cents  [iTunes], Minipops is a solid deal, extremely entertaining and gives you the ability the carry a virtual pop art collection right on your iPhone … oh yeah … and plus you get that OFFENSIVE Obama family pic by asshole Craig.

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minipops-michael-jackson  minipops-south-park

So the moral of the story – if you submit an app for approval on a Tuesday and it’s rejected, simply re-submit unaltered on a Friday … chances are you will be approved. We know this advice sounds completely random, but so is Apple’s approval process.

minipops-madonna

December 21, 2009 | Filed Under Entertainment | 12 Comments 

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