Site Interviews
Steve Daniels
Quag's Corner: Tell me a little about
yourself
Steve: Well, my name is Steven Daniels. I am
15 years old and I live in New York. I love television,
especially Family Guy. And some of my other interests are in
music and computers.
QC: Do you have any good memories you can
think of that have to do with Family Guy?
S: Well, some of my best Family Guy memories
are when I was first introduced to the show and passing it
onto others. I look back on the times when I had 50 episodes
ahead of me, but now it's my turn to share the show with
friends and anyone I can pass it along to. It's really a
great experience to watch Family Guy with someone who hasn't
seen it before.
QC: Who's your favorite character on Family
Guy and why?
S: My favorite character is Brian. I would
say it's because I see some of his traits in myself. I
sometimes use dry, sarcastic humor similar to that of Brian.
He's also one of the more interesting characters because of
his split personality. I believe it was Stewie who said,
"I'm the dog. I'm well-read and have a diverse stock
portfolio, but I'm not above eating grass clippings and
regurgitating them on the small braided rug near the door".
Well said, Stewie.
QC: What inspired you to start BriansBar.com?
S: Well I had loved Family Guy for quite a
while and I had been dabbling in the internet side of the
show-- posting in forums here and there, checking out some
websites. But I started to almost feel a need to give back
to the Family Guy community somehow. Even though there was
little hope of the show's return at the time, I felt like
Family Guy had given me so much, that I had to support it
somehow. So, naturally, I turned to the internet and decided
to make a small website that at the very least showed my
love and appreciation for the cartoon. But as I worked on it
and worked on it, I got overloaded with ideas and ended up
putting more effort into it than I could have imagined. It
was the start of something big...
QC: On average how much time do you work on
BriansBar.com every week?
S: Well, it depends. Some weeks I have way
too much work and some weeks I'm free to work on it as much
as I please. And some weeks I have big projects I'm working
on for it and some weeks I'm making little updates here and
there. And my work has significantly decreased since it was
first put up, but I try to work on it as much as I can. On
average, I would say around one and a half hours a day,
which works out to a little over 10 hours a week. Wow,
that's a lot more than I realized...
QC: Do you have any other projects besides
your site going on right now that you can tell us about?
S: Hmm... well school is an on-going
project, I guess. But other than that, I dedicate a lot of
time to music-- I play the trumpet. But no specific projects
similar to Brian's Bar.
QC: What's your favorite episode of Family
Guy and why?
S: I would say my favorite episode is Mr.
Griffin Goes to Washington. It is, by far, one of the most
underrated episodes which makes me love it all the more.
Besides having some great gags, it’s also just an overall
great episode. Any episode with a song is already a great
one, but That Guy, although not the “best” song, is
definitely one of the funniest. Of course, the classic
ending “There’s one thing that’s not funny-killing
strippers” scene is hilarious, along with the political
humor tied into many of the scenes.
QC: What's your best advice to someone
interested in starting a site?
S: The thing with a lot of sites-makers
today is that they’re all talk. I’ve heard people saying “Oh
I’m gonna’ have an episode guide and a character guide and
songs and games and…[it goes on and on]”, but to actually
put the effort into a website is really something that takes
a lot of determination. One thing that’s commonly mistaken
is that someone with little computer background cannot make
a website. That is completely untrue. I was in that same
position myself, but look where I ended up. Computer skills
only help with design and navigability. Of course those
things are important, but those skills will improve as long
as they are willing to learn However, one thing that cannot
be fixed by a tutorial or through the help of others is
content. This is where effort plays a major role. Some parts
of adding content are fun, and admittedly, some are almost
tedious. But in order to have a great site, the tedious
parts, many times, the most important parts to be
accomplished. The worst thing that is plaguing smaller sites
today is laziness. I don’t understand the point of making a
website if you are just going to steal content or do
something of that nature. If you don’t want to put in the
effort, whip up a small free website, at least with your own
content.
QC: Any closing words?
S: Well, I just wanted to let everyone who
visits my website know how amazingly shocked I am at the
success of my website. Never in my dreams did I think that
my site would be “competing” with the big guns (i.e. Planet
Family Guy, The Drunken Clam, Family Guy Files). But it
really just shows you that if you love something enough and
you are dedicated enough, you can have a great website about
a cartoon! But in return for the fans’ support, I have
continued regular updates and to be the number one source
for Family Guy news (which is all I can do). Just keep
visiting and supporting my site! And thank you, Malachy for
giving me this interview.
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