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21
Mar

Jasper’s Shirt Redux

categories Shirts and stuff, Stephenie Meyer, The Store, Twilight Books    

Many of you have been waiting for this, so I am posting it now.  I received a note from Stephenie yesterday pertaining to the name on Jasper’s shirt.  So here is what Stephenie has to say about it all.

Jasper’s real last name is Whitlock, not Hale. Hale is merely an assumed name for this one short stay in Forks. The names change every time they move. Like all the other members of the family, Jasper thinks of himself as a Cullen. Alice, Edward, Emmett all have their own last names, too, but they all think of themselves as Cullens.

-Stephenie Meyer

There you have it, folks.  Jasper’s shirt is staying as Cullen because, frankly, that’s how Stephenie wants it.  And there’s her reason.  Nothing exceptionally revealing, I think, and many of you probably already understood this, anyway.  But for those who didn’t, there you go.

I have a bigger blog post planned that will sort out my thoughts on some very important recent happenings here at Twilight Teez.  There’s been some interesting developments on our end, and we’re very excited about them.  It would also be untrue to say they haven’t caused us a certain level of anxiety.

-Brian

12
Mar

Web Site Update

categories The Store    

Things are moving along pretty well, so far.  We have successfully ported over the store code and the blog.  The forums are still needing to be set up, so if forums are your thing, please be patient.  Also, one thing that I’ve run into trouble with is getting e-mail set up.  If you have sent us an e-mail in the last day, please resend it because chances are we did not recieve it.  I apologize for that inconvenience.  I thought I had everything set up to receive e-mail properly, but that is not the case.

Comments on the blog have been re-enabled.

Onward and upward!

-Brian

9
Mar

What Happened To Twilight Teez?

categories The Store    

Okay, here’s the short of it.  I can’t give the long of it because I need to get busy and get our site back online and operational again.  So here’s what’s going on.

Apparently, we are getting huge truckloads of traffic to the site, and the load is too much for our server to handle.  We share our server with severl hundred other web sites (I am not making that number up, either).  Our site was generating so many requests for images and data that the other sites were experiencing problems.  So our host provider took it upon themselves to shut us down.  Without warning.  I didn’t take too kindly to this.

I am now, as I you read this, reseraching other hosting providers that can help us out of this jam.  What we’ll need is a dedicated server that nobody else is using except us.  Then I’ll need to transfer everything over to that new host; databases, software, images, everything.  This could take a couple of days, but I hope not.  Rest assured, I am working diligently to get the site back online and available to service our customers.

For those of you who were able to place orders, please know that your orders will be processed as usual, despite the site’s current status.

UDATE: We have hired a new hosting company and have started the process of getting the store up on the new server.  The thing that’s taking some time right now is the transfer of domain registrars, which can take up to 7 days.  This is not good news to us, as those 7 days means business we are losing.  We hope that it won’t take nearly that long, but at this point it’s out of my hands.  In the meantime, I’m backing up the database and restoring it on the new site, along with the databases for this blog and the forums.  We’re hopeful still to get the store back online in the next day or so.

UPDATE UPDATE: Our .net and .org domains have successfully transferred over to our new hosting provider and server.  The .com will hopefully follow suit on Wednesday.  I have also successfully transferred the databases over to the new host and server, as well as the software code for the store, blog, and forums.  As soon as the .com domain is transerred, I can install the new security certificate and bring the store back online.  Let’s hope for the best!

Incidentally, I have also turned off commenting here on the blog to ensure that the database doesn’t need to be imported a second time (though it wouldn’t be a big deal if it did).  Also, the forums have been shut down for the same reason.  I hope to bring them all back on Wednesday.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

-Brian

1
Mar

Jasper’s Shirt

categories Goofs, Shirts and stuff    

Okay, so we messed up on Jasper’s shirt.  His last name is Hale, not Cullen.  I suppose that when you make five character designs who all but one have the last name of Cullen, you sort of get in a groove and forget to be diligent.  I think Jasper’s shirt was the last one I worked on, and I was so focused on getting the designs done I completely neglected to change the name on the graphic.  Heck even Stephenie, who was making preparations to go to Germany at the time, didn’t notice the mistake!

So now we have an entire stock of Jasper shirts with the wrong name on them.  Our mistake, your gain.  To help get these off the shelf, we’re discounting them severely.  50% off the regular price until March 5th.  If you ordered a Jasper shirt already, please contact us so we can discuss how you’d like to proceed.  We can either hold your order until the corrected shirts come in, or we can give you one of the misprinted shirts and refund you the difference between what you paid and what we’re offering them for, or we can cancel your order entirely and refund the entire amount of your order.  It’s your choice.

Keep something in mind, though.  Sometimes these things become exceptionally valuable collector’s items.  Think of what happened with Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.  Initially, the movie was named Revenge of the Jedi.  Lots of promotional materials were produced with that name, including many theatrical display posters.  Then George Lucas, deciding that it was not entirely an accurate name, changed the name to what we have today.  All of a sudden all of those promotional items with Revenge on them became hugely valuable and highly sought after.  I’m not deliverious enough (yet) to believe that our shirts are highly prized, but you never know.

UPDATE – We just got information from Stephenie that suggests we do not have a mistake on our hands after all.  Stephenie says she’ll explain things when she gets back from Germany.  So keep your eyes open on the site for an explanation.

-Brian

1
Mar

Character Slogan Shirts Now Available

categories Shirts and stuff    

Many of you probably remember the character slogan contest that Stephenie held back in October of 2007.  I’m very pleased to announce that we finally have four of the five slogans available for sale and immediate delivery.  The following characters now have their own "fan club" shirts.

These new designs are currently available only in short-sleeved shirts, and can be found here.

Some of you may be wondering why Emmett’s slogan is not in the mix.  There is a simple reason for this, but I can’t remember what it is at the moment.  Seriously, the delay on Emmett’s shirt is merely due to getting a color for the shirt.  You’d think this would have been a simple matter, but the fact is that nobody sells the color of shirt we wanted for Emmett, which was supposed to be a light tan/khaki sort of color.  We are now looking into other options, and hope to have Emmett’s shirt up on the site very soon. 

UPDATE: Emmett’s slogan is Bear Hug, as suggested by Ashley of Bristol, CT.

UPDATE UPDATE: The reason Rosalie does not have a shirt at this time is becuase, if you recall, she was not one of the characters included in the slogan contest held by Stephenie.  Stephenie has not yet commissioned the creation of a Rosalie shirt.  We expect that this will happen at some point in the future, but we just do not know when.

We look forward to your comments.

-Brian