Friday, August 20, 2010

Philly's Citypaper mentions Circle of Fits

Famewhore.

Algae mite attached to a tadpole attached to a small fish in a big pond.

Attention craving non journalist who goes to shows and points fingers at the world, and the world of music for sucking so hard.

Call me what you will, me and my blog (this one that you're reading right now- for the window licking- quotient of my fanbase) , got a mention in an article in this week's Citypaper (one of two Philly weeklies with big circulations).
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The article is called Pay Up.  It was written by the fabulous Valerie Rubinsky and it lets people of the blogging persuasion know that the city of Philadelphia may want to TAX you if a blog you write, happens to make any money off of banner ads and the like that are embedded on  your blog. So after Google gets a cut from adsense ( my tally so far, just over 11 dollars in two years), you could be a target depending on how much of a business your particular blog is. My definition of "business", and probably that of many other Philly based bloggers, is different than that of the city of Philadelphia, apparently.

Here is the link:  http://citypaper.net/articles/2010/08/19/blogging-business-privilege-tax-philadelphia

Circle of Fits is a labor of love for the most part. I re-launched it in Sept. 2008  as therapy...as a project  that could allow me to reconnect to a long dormant creative writing/ side of my life trapped under years of doubt, loss and laziness...and inspired into fruition by the snapshots of the last year of my late sister's life. I used music as a touchpoint/ launchpad, because it inhabits a huge part of my battered soul and it stirs up so many emotions. It lights my fuse, burns my candle and leaves a scar.

I never expected Circle of Fits to "make money" or be deemed a "business". The only business I incorporate into this site is mine, not yours. Its none of your business, but all of your business. I put ads on it as an experiment, and I don't ever expect anyone to click on them..I don't even know how to put the time in to learn how to control which ones are being presented...i.e. There is an ad for a website called everybodyloveshiphop.com that makes an appearance from time to time. This pisses me off to the tenth power of evil..most of my readers know I despise hip- hop and proclaim it as one of the major contributors to the decline of civilization. So there. Do you think anyone would want to advertise with Circle of Fits after a statement like that????  Naw...shit..there's a new ad shown before movie previews with hooded hip hop Hamsters trying to sell you a Kia Soul car...makes me puke popcorn into my mouth... So I wear that happy hatred on my sleeve and don't intend to cash in from this here blog..... I hope to inspire and infuriate equally...because when the day is done...all I want is conversation .....

8 comments:

  1. Seano, I feel for you. I know how our nearby city operates and it isn't good. Having lived in the Philly burbs almost all my life (Warminster & Lansdale) after being born in Billy Penn's dear old town, I still frequent the city quite often, especially for music and The Phillies. I've made $4.83 in a year using Adsense, too small for them to even cut me a check. If I lived in Philly I'd just take the ads down. It's not worth the trouble. The city has to learn some restraint.

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  2. When my blog was active it was getting crazy amounts of hits and readers all over the world Because it was written when Ethiopian Adoption was becoming popular in the wake of Angelina Jolie's first Adoption. My son always wanted me to do the AdSense...but like you I did not want to loose control of the content. I would gave been pissed if the very adoption agency that I felt was corrupt and should be shut down was featured in an ad on the very blog set out to expose it. (That hamster commercial makes me laugh...and so does the image of you puking in your popcorn because you hate it so much...) :)

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  3. I read the article a while ago in readwriteweb and just wanted to give my opinion about how stupid this is. I hope that at least with the exposure you make a little more money :S

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  4. Anonymous10:07 AM

    States and the Fed normally exempt citizens from taxes up to a certain dollar amount. I find it interesting that Philly does not adopt the same strategy.

    Playing devil's advocate here, I suspect that most bloggers are not properly reporting ad/sponsor/donation income on any of their tax documents despite the fact that the money, no matter how small an amount, is considered income. Even a single dollar could mean the difference between one tax bracket and the next. One way or another, they pay the piper.

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  5. Tell them to shove it. This is absolutely preposterous.

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  6. I don't mind the Kia Soul ads as I find them somewhat unintentionally ironic. Those are some of the most fugly god-awful looking vehicles I've ever seen. I wouldn't say they're the ugliest as that's a title that's shared with the Honda Element, Nissan Cube, and those Scions that look like blocks on wheels.

    The thought of trying to make them hip with those ads makes me laugh. It exceeds my abilities in suspension of disbelief moreso than many of the cheese-ass, I want my money back films they precede at various national multiplexes.

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  7. Feel for you in Philly. Just another reason not to live there. At least I now know how small the Adsense money is, so I won't be monetizing anytime soon.

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  8. Thanks, for the support and conversation everyone. That little article has caused a spike in my traffic. But the real question is, should I just take the ads down? They haven't really done me any good..ie: I don't think my readers give a shit about becoming an Avon representative(and they certainly won't now if the city decides to ask me for 300 bucks)

    I have not even figured out how to acquire the lousy 11 dollars from adsense....this whole thing is redonkulous......

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