Posts Tagged ‘Des Moines Register’
4 items.
For those of you interested in reading the Tool review I slapped together for the Des Moines Register, they’ve already archived the story on their web site. You can find it here.
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Okay, I know I said to come back later in the day for this story, but I couldn’t wait to tell it. At least this way, it’s kept away from the main site-related stuff and is organized.
Remember about a month ago when I told you I was applying to be part of The Des Moines Register’s newly formed team of community reviewers? Well, I got word back yesterday that I was NOT one of the 30 finalists selected from the field of 150 who participated. Incidentally, from that group of 30, 10 will be chosen by a reader vote to be a part of the team.
I’m kind of bummed because I’ve been informally reviewing movies for five years and I thought that would be great experience for them to tap into. I mean, who better than me, right?
I went through this weird analytical cycle. At first I thought they turned me down because they were aware of Theater Hopper and the freelancing I do for their sister publication Juice. The must have figured my legion of fans would skew the voting round.
Then I got kind of suspicious. The editor who made the decision as to what contestants made it to the voting round is the same editor I worked for a couple of years ago when I did freelance concert reviews for The Register. Interestingly enough, he contacted me out of the blue a few days before I got the notice about the movie reviewer thing when he asked me if I would be interested in reviewing a Stone Sour contest this Friday and an all day metal festival called LazerFest going on May 13. I accepted the Stone Sour gig. I’m not available for LazerFest. Was this meant to soften the blow?
Then I entered into acceptance. Well, obviously they can’t pay me freelancing fees for BOTH my contributions to Juice and for my concert reviews. It’s just not fair! Spread the love.
And then I felt superior because I had “let it go.”
At one point early on I thought I would contest my rejection and give a laundry list of reasons as to why I would rock the community movie review team the hardest. But I stopped when I realized that I didn’t know if the community movie review team paid well (if at all) and that I might be shooting myself in the foot if I said “I don’t want to do paid concert reviews! Put me into the voting round for the community movie review team where I may or may not be voted in as a finalist!” Seemed kind of like a dumb gamble.
All the same, I would have rocked it hard. I just know I would have….
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Hey, guys. I hope you liked the first formal, main page review for the site for Spider-Man 3. I still kind of have my training wheels on, so hopefully it’s not too out of place.
If you guys are at all interested in reading more reviews, be sure to check out my recent concert review of Stone Sour that I did for The Des Moines Register. They posted it on their web site yesterday and readers have already left a few comments.
It was a good show. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed their music. I guess it’s just not cool for a hipster like myself to admit I like Stone Sour now. But what can I say? I appreciate their lack of irony. It’s just straight to the gut rock. Nothin’ wrong with that.
Be sure to tune in to The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST over at Talkshoe. Gordon, Joe and I will be discussing Spider-Man 3 for the full hour and taking your calls. If you’re a hard-core comic book nerd like me, I’m sure you have opinions. So don’t be afraid to call in and voice ’em!
Oh, and one more thing: I’m staying home from work this week to spend time with Cami and Henry before Cami’s maternity leave is up. If I have some free time, I have an idea for an extra strip related to Spider-Man 3 that I’d like to put together this week while it’s still timely. You’ll still get the Wednesday strip. I’m just giving you the head’s up there might be a little bonus comic action coming soon! Check the site again on Tuesday!
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I posted the first blog last night, so when I said “come back later in the day,” I think I was running on a different timetable. Either that, or I’m just impatient. Or, potentially fearful that I will forget to update the site with the art I promised you.
So here it is. Here’s the artwork I did for a recent local coloring contest!
I probably have to explain what this is about.
Y’see, my editor over at Juice – a weekly publication created by writers of The Des Moines Register and aimed at the 20-something set – asked me if I would be interested in producing some artwork for a coloring contest they were running called “Summer Fun in Des Moines.” I jumped at the chance. I would have done it just to have something to do. But it didn’t hurt that they were paying me extra for it.
I was stuck for ideas for the longest time, though. See, even though it’s a coloring contest, IT’S NOT FOR KIDS! So I had to think of something appropriately “adult” without crossing the line into anything vulgar. I asked my editor for suggestions and he said, “People socializing. You know, drinking.” This is not an unreasonable request for Juice. They often go around to all the social events in the city and take pictures of people out having a good time. Then they post them on their web site.
I felt a little funny about drawing cartoons of people drinking, but I think what I came up with is open to interpretation. I really like how the girl turned out in this one. I tried something different with how I draw eyes and it worked. I also went a little more cartoony for the man’s jaw line. You see that kind of style a lot now, but it’s hard to get my brain to tell my hand to do that. So I thought that was a minor accomplishment.
The land marks in the background are the Simon Estes Amphitheater and the state Capitol. The Simon Estes Amphitheater is basically this metal arch over a concrete pavilion next to the Des Moines River where they have a lot of concert performances in the summer. Simon Estes is an opera singer and probably the most cultured celebrity we have, so they trot him out for all kinds of stuff.
The Capitol building is, well, a Capitol building. But I think it’s an amazing piece of architecture. I’ve been to a few other state capitals and they don’t inspire anything in me like this building does. The domes are gold leaf!
Anyway, that’s probably more Iowa history than you care about. I just wanted to show you guys some artwork I was proud of. Hope you liked it!
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