Kickstarter

Hey gang,

This Thursday our Kickstarter pledge drive comes to a close. Thanks so much to all of you for your generous donations. If you want to remind your billionaire friends that there is still a few days to donate to Uncle issue 3, we encourage it. In the mean time, now it's our turn to deliver.

Please email us your address and t-shirt size (for those who signed up for the $50+ packages) at info@uncleempire.com. Our friends at Cut & Sewn (www.cutandsewn.com) will be printing the shirts. If you didn't order the crest logo shirt but want it, you can get it directly from their website. Or, you can design your own shirts, sweatshirts, bags, etc. that have nothing to do with Uncle there too.

To give you an idea on size, Cut & Sewn prints on American Aparrel t-shirts. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, please feel free to email us.

Thanks so much,
Uncle

In order to keep your inboxes free of twenty update emails, we’ve been resisting the urge to report on all the fancy soups we’ve been eating. That said, we’re really excited and appreciative that we’re already 82% of the way towards hitting our goal. And we haven’t even rolled out the Snuggie and Sham Wow buy-now incentives yet.

So, thanks so much to everyone whose pledged and hasn’t already been thanked: Bronwen, Matthew, Greg, Robert, Nikki, Liz, Melissa, Joe, Danny, Ashley, Javed, Howard, Susan, Carrie, Alexis, Angela, Graham, Kathy, Ronald, Erin, Jameson, Ethan, Lisa, Kathie and Michael.

As far as what’s happening on production of the issue, illustrator Morgan Schweitzer is designing the cover. His direction was to flesh out the lyrics to Sam Cooke’s “Summertime,” so if there aren’t fish jumping over high cotton he will be beaten badly. Kidding. Morgan is really talented and headed for big things, so check his work out now at: www.MorganSchweitzer.blogspot.com.

Yesterday, we got a few solid submissions from writer Miles Klee. He’s written for McSweeney’s, among other things. You can check some of his fiction out at: www.milesklee.tumblr.com.

We also filmed a quick video tour of Uncle’s offices. We’re located on the top floor of the Empire State Building, if you didn’t know. The video will be posted later this evening, after the clock hits five and the cages over our work cubicles are lifted.

Thanks again.

(If you don’t want to receive anymore email updates, there should be an option to unsubscribe at the bottom of this email).

When we first started Uncle, we wanted it to be an open and experimental platform where artists and writers could do whatever they wanted. We soon found that there is such a thing as too open. That, people who wanted to submit something didn't really know what to submit, and as a result, didn't.

Well, we want you to submit and contribute in whatever ways are mutually beneficially. So, to give you an idea of the kinds of pieces we're looking for, and to keep the Issue 3 creation process as transparent as possible, we're going to post some of the things you'll see in the issue as they come along.

The following humor short was submitted by writer, comedian, magician, and old-fashioned ad man, Adam Rubin. If you're in the Chicago area go see his play Scientology The Unauthorized Musical at The Annoyance Theatre. Here is his Summer Shandy recipe for Summetime issue.

Papa Chesapeake’s Secret Summer Shandy
By Adam Rubin

Behold the musky splendor of summer! What better way to drink in those lazy July afternoons than with a refreshing and intoxicating summer shandy? It’s a simple brew you can stir up shirtless on the back of a boat or the roof of a shopping mall. Here’s the secret recipe transcribed exactly from a note I found in the pocket of a dead musician:

My Shandy Recipe (shhhh!)

Ingredients:

Beer
Club Soda (NOT SELTZER)
Lemonade flavored drinks
Hammock
Bug spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Open all the beers and pour out half of each can into your mouth. Spill lemonade drink into open beer cans. Shake cans vigorously. Add Club Soda and douse any clothing or furniture that got stained during the mixing process. Put the cups over your ears to hear the ocean. Before enjoying the shandy, take off your clothes and lay down in the hammock. Close your eyes, drink your shandy and pretend the world is in love again.

P.S. - Shandy will attract furious bees. To kill em, smash em with the bottle of bug spray.

Hooray for Papa Chesapeke! I’m not sure his name, but that’s what I called him for those angry Armenians who bought his corpse. Apparently, they own a network of pornographic websites. I’m gonna use the $50 to go buy me some shandy supplies. Happy summer!

We'd like to send a shout to our buddy Courtney. His metal band Demonry has been stealing souls all over the tri-state. Though Dan Fogelberg's music takes up 80% of our iPods, these guys are seriously good. Give them a listen.

Check out Demonry at www.myspace.com/demonsongs and go see them live at Alphabet Lounge on July 16th.