Oblivious

And the Manti Te'o jokes continue.

So I actually drew two cartoons, one for either team winning. For some reason, The Daily Iowan has the other cartoon online ... I'm not sure if that was on purpose, so that no matter what happened, at least either the paper or the website would be correct. I was a little worried, because I saw it online first and I thought, "Oh no, they ran the wrong cartoon! I wonder if my cartoons were too confusing ..." But I was relieved to see the right one was published in the paper.*

Here's that other cartoon, in case you're curious:

Obviously, it's simply the reverse of the cartoon above. Which I could foresee as being confusing, if a newspaper editor under a looming deadline had to choose between the two.

How about that blackout, huh? I wish the Super Bowl weren't so past press deadlines, or else I definitely could have come up with a cartoon about that. (For some hilarious Twitter reactions, go here: The Funniest Tweets of the Great Super Bowl Blackout.)

* The Daily Iowan has since fixed the cartoon online.

Syncopated

Am I right?

(Published in today's Daily Iowan.)

The BP Oil Spill in Cartoon Form

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has completely dominated the news. There are so many aspects and details to this story (and so much of it is ridiculous), which means an infinite source of fodder for cartoons.

I've had a few in The Daily Universe, but the Issues & Ideas page can't fit all my ideas. (Especially when some of those ideas are a little outdated.) But, that's what a blog is for!

So here it is, my collection of BP oil spill cartoons.


My first time cartooning about the oil spill was for the spring's first (and only) Daily Universe Caption Contest. To see the caption that won, go here.


Published in The Daily Universe, June 3, 2010.


This cartoon also goes well with this article.


I of course had to combine the England vs. U.S. draw in the World Cup. I came up with two ways to do it; the one above was the one that made it in the paper.


Robert Green and Tony Hayward have something in common these days.


A little outdated now, which is why it didn't make it in the paper.


In The Daily Universe on June 22, 2010.

Granted, Carl-Henric Svanberg doesn't speak English as his first language. But it seems like what he would have wanted to say instead wouldn't have been much better.

System Malfunction

This one was a lot of fun to write.

I came across this article from The Huffington Post about a woman who was hit by a car during a vacation in Park City, Utah. She says Google Maps told her to walk along the side of a highway to get to her destination. So, naturally, she does whatever the website tells her and leaves common sense behind.

I don't mean to insult and criticize, because I fall victim to similar circumstances as well. That's what the column was about. About the hold that technology has on our lives, for better or worse.

System Malfunction - Computers v. Common Sense

(This just in: I found an updated article on Huffington Post that gives a little bit more information on what happened, and puts a little less blame on the woman's lack of competent judgment. But, it doesn't really put that blame on Google. So, still a frivolous lawsuit.)

Also on the Issues & Ideas page today:

A viewpoint from Brent Gilchrist, a BYU political science professor. There's an execution coming up in Utah, and so Rich had the idea to get viewpoints from BYU professors on both sides of the capital punishment debate. After multiple e-mails to everyone in the BYU Department of Political Science, this was the only one we got. It's good and definitely well done. But it would have been cool to get a "point/counterpoint" sort of thing going on. BYU Political Science, the offer still stands!

And, two cartoons! (That's what happens when no one writes letters to the editor.)


For anyone not obsessed about baseball this summer like I am, Stephen Strasburg is a pitcher in the Washington Nationals farm system who will be coming up to the majors on June 8 in the Nationals game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. There has been a lot of talk about how great this guy is. He was the number one pick in the 2009 draft, and according to his stats on the Minor League Baseball website he has a record of 6-2 with a 1.43 ERA. Now the question is, will he keep it up on the major league level?

Fun fact: Strasburg played for the San Diego State Aztecs, one of the schools in the Mountain West Conference with BYU. His last season with SDSU, he had a perfect 13-0 record and a 1.24 ERA.

Winners of the 2nd Daily Universe Caption Contest!

And here are the winners for the 2nd Daily Universe Caption Contest*:

First Place: "According to the weather report, hell froze over this morning too!" - Peter James, Medford, Ore.

Runners-Up: "You know, I sure wish we could read these." - Jeff Zwick, Alpine, Utah

"I don’t care if you don’t have fingernails — a bet is a bet, and you owe me a 10-minute
back scratch.” - Doug VanDerwerken, Scotia, N.Y.

Jeff's caption went on a different track that I wasn't expecting, which I think is why it made me laugh out loud. But Peter's was the most clear and relevant.

It was nice to get more responses than the first contest! The biweekly caption contest is getting more and more popular. It's a hit.

* (page 3)

The 2nd Daily Universe Caption Contest!

It's that time again, folks. Time for another Daily Universe caption contest*!

Instructions:

"To enter, submit your caption by e-mail to du.letters@gmail.com
or in person at the BYU Daily Universe office, 152 BRMB.
All submissions must include the caption writer’s name, home
town and e-mail address. Entries must be received by midnight
of the Sunday following the Tuesday on which a new captionless
cartoon is published. Any received after the deadline will not be
considered.

The writer of the winning caption will be notified via e-mail and
awarded their choice of candy bar or healthy snack."

You can also give your ideas as a comment to this blog post.

*Located on page 3 of the February 9 edition.

"Who dat?" (February 5, 2010)

It's that time of year again. For the Universe's weekend edition, there was a page for the sports writers to predict the Super Bowl.

I've got the links here: Saints predictions, Colts predictions. But I'll also put my prediction right here in this blog post, because I have a little extra to add.

"J.J. Despain

Saints 24 – Colts 21

The Colts are an amazing team with an amazing quarterback, but I feel like it’s time once again for an underdog upset. Maybe the Saints have never been to the Super Bowl before, but they are going to capitalize on their momentum. They were energized by the big win over Brett Favre and the Vikings for the NFC championship. Plus, they are propelled by the pre-emptive Mardi Gras going on in New Orleans right now. N’Awlins is ready for a historic win for reasons other than football, too."
Now, when I turned in my paragraph, I had one more sentence at the end. I finished my prediction with "("Take that, Hurricane Katrina!") I figured it would probably be a little too political and controversial, and sure enough they took it out.

It's not really that I don't think the Colts will win. They are the favorites. But I've always been inclined to root for the underdog. Plus, because of the Katrina tragedy I feel more American if I root for New Orleans, for some reason.

Whatever happens, it should be an exciting game.