ISSUE #1 - June, 2000 Back to ShowBiz Pizza.com Homepage
Hello! Welcome to the very 1st installment of Billy Bob's Bulletin. If you haven't already done so, please read the "Disclaimer". This newsletter will be updated monthly and I'll try to make this newsletter as informative and interesting as possible. Keep in mind this is a work in progress (I kinda slapped this together from another newsletter I used to have). If anyone has any suggestions or any input on what I should add to this bulletin, please let me know and I'll see what I can change in the future.
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I had hoped to use the first month to kinda outline things and set a stage for future issues, but there is a matter that I feel obligated to report. As you may have noticed, I have added bigger and more extensive legal disclaimers to this website (including an entire disclaimer page for this newsletter alone). I'm sorry to have to do this, please realize that I'm not trying to insult your intelligence - I'm just doing this to protect myself. From who? Chuck E. Cheese Entertainment Inc.
I have tried to keep my oppinions and personal biases seperate from this website, but I find that is getting harder and harder to do. Now before I get any further into this, I want everyone to know that I have NOTHING against CEC as a character or anything like that - it's just that I have no use whatsoever for the corporate side of CEC. They're just like any other big corporation that has a monopoly over their corner of the market. All they care about is money, even at the expense of their customers. I guess that when you make as much money as CEC does, you can afford not to care.
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Collectable Of The Month |
ShowBiz Pizza Place Nickel Bronze 25¢ Token
- This is a rather rare SPP token that has come to my attention recently. I've asked around to token collectors and I've only heard of a few of them known to exist.
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I know that there's alot of distress among us hardcore fans with the way things at CEC are done. The kid-check system that harasses anyone not accompanied by a child, the corporate hunger for complete control and the buying back of all franchises, the depleation of robotic entertainment and the creation of a dining atmousphere that's insulting to anyone over the age of 3. But aside from all that, CEC did something recently that should be known.
Some of you may have seen the website "The Adventures of Chuck E. Cheese". And some of you may have noticed that it is now offline - it was silenced by corporate CEC. It may surprise some of you to know that this was my website. They never e-mailed me asking me to remove the site - why should they bother doing that when they could have their lawyers send a threatening letter directly to my home? Which is exactly what they did.
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Interesting Fact of the Month |
The band that did the voices of the Rock-afire Explosion called themselves the "Skitzo Noize". They were also known briefly as the
"Tropical Cleaners" because they were able to get free T-Shirts from a
local dry cleaning company of that name, and they thought that was as
good a reason as any to name the band.
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**Any Rock-afire Explosion fans who would like to participate in a "project" please e-mail me for details!!
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I recived a letter from their lawyers (Baker & McKenzie Attournies at Law) on May 18th, 2000. It demanded that I immediately disable The Adventures of CEC site, and that I immediately stop using any CEC trademarks in ANY manner whatsoever (and when you think about it, that makes this very site a violation of that). They accused me of causing the company "significant monetary damages", and on top of all that, they called me a criminal.
I'm not saying that they didn't have any right to be upset (and I'm not implying that they did either), but the manner in which they dealt with this situation, by having their fancy lawyers send a threatening letter to my front door ordering me to cease and desist - I consider to be unjust and wrong. And then to accuse me, one of CEC's biggest fans, of all these unfounded allegations was no better than a slap in the face. You know, in the year or so that this VegaNova website has been around, I have never ONCE gotten a thank you or even the slightest acknowledgement from CEC. Seems that they love all the endorsement and free advertising I've given them.
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Well no more. I feel betrayed by the way this situation was handled, and outraged. From this day forward, CEC will never see another penny out of me, ever. And my days of supporting the company are over. Because of this occurance, CEC has lost alot of support - not only from me but also from other fans I've talked to who now refuse to have anything to do with them either. I'm also selling off every CEC item I own as a result of this. I have half a mind to remove the CEC section of this site, but I will leave it up only for the benefit of fellow fans. Afterall, that's why this website is here, it's not for me - it's for all of you.
I'm not expecting all of you to agree with me, this is just the way I feel. I'm just sick and tired of having to censor myself (or in some cases, being censored by a greater power). And if anyone out there wants to see the scans of these actual letters from CEC's attourney, just drop me an e-mail and you can see for yourself that I'm not exaggerating or making this up. I have the proof on a secret link.
See ya'll next month! - VegaNova
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This monthly newsletter has no affiliation with CEC Entertainment Inc., or Creative Engineering Inc. Please read the DISCLAIMER for further details. | |