Pure Imagination

Facebook is coming to Iowa.

This reminded me of Google coming to The Dalles, Oregon, sometime around when I was graduating high school It was so exciting and mysterious - I remember thinking about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory back then, too.

So here it is, my last cartoon of the year, and probably ever, for The Daily Iowan. It was a lot of fun, and a very cool opportunity to continue drawing. I'm grateful to The Daily Iowan for being yet another outlet for me to share my ideas and expressions.

To prepare for my next year of law school though, I have to cut out some of the things I'm involved with, as enjoyable as they are. So I don't think I'll submit any more cartoons.

But thanks everyone for checking them out and being my audience.

Bingo!

I don't know about you, but I thought Dennis Rodman's trip to North Korea was totally random. Then I thought of the other Americans who have been allowed to enter the borders: the Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Bill Clinton (that was back when it was Kim Jong Il).

So that's when I came up with this, in today's Daily Iowan:

It was fun coming up with random celebrities to fill out the bingo card. I did basically whoever popped into my head, leaning toward people who have been in the news lately and people with short names that would fit in the squares I drew. In case you can't read them, here they are: Jennifer Lawrence, Tupac Shakur, Wayne LaPierre, Chuck Norris, George Michael Bluth, Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt, Geico Gecko, Donald Trump, [I don't remember who I meant to be behind Kim Jong Un's hand], LeBron James, Joe Biden, free square, Dennis Rodman, Bill Clinton, Condi Rice, Malia Obama, Russell Simmons, Oprah Winfrey, Tina Fey, Piers Morgan, Joe Flacco, William Shatner, Joe the Plumber.

Happy Oscar Weekend!

It's Oscar weekend, everybody.

Two of the leading movies for Oscar nominations seem to show different sides of the Obama presidency.

This cartoon didn't turn out quite as well as I hoped. In the letters of "Zero Dark Thirty," that's supposed to be a predator drone and someone being waterboarded. It's kind of hard to tell. And, I know there's a famous waterboarding scene in "Zero Dark Thirty," but the more timely story with President Obama is the predator drones. I don't know if there's anything with predator drones in "Zero Dark Thirty," so it might not be exactly accurate to combine current events with the events of the movie.

But, even if that isn't all clear in the cartoon, I think it still works. If nothing else, it associates President Obama with getting Osama bin Laden. Which might not be a strong criticism, but at least it's logical.

The Decision

We held a special press conference to announce our decision of where I will attend law school. Here is some some exclusive footage:

DON'T SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN THE VIDEO!
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We know what you're thinking. "Iowa?! Isn't that just corn fields and pig farmers?"

http://www.legaljuice.com/pig%20farm%20pigs%20mud%20dirty%20snout.jpg

Well, yes. But:

• It's ranked 27th in the nation.
• I got a full tuition scholarship.
• During my 2L and 3L years, I can be paid as a part-time professor's research assistant, which will qualify me for in-state tuition and subsidized health insurance.
• The cost of living in Iowa City is lower than in Provo. One of the grad students there I talked to is renting a three-bedroom house for cheaper than our two-bedroom apartment here.
• A dean we met at the law school fair remembered us and personally called me after he found out I was admitted. Then he recruited several students who were BYU grads and members of the church to call me and email me, and talk about the law school and answer any questions. A couple of the students' wives even emailed and called Erin. I know that's not reason enough to go to Iowa, but one of the wives told Erin that the dean had told her to work really hard to get me to do there, because my credentials were really good and they really wanted me there.
• Because of that, I think I could be a "big fish in a little pond" there, and at a #27 law school to boot.
• I was a little worried about it being a regional school, meaning I would be most likely to end up working somewhere near Iowa. Not that we don't want to settle down and raise our family in the Midwest, maybe we do. We're just not ready to decide that now. But, I learned that students from Iowa have worked at jobs and internships in New York City, Washington D.C., London - so we won't be stuck in Iowa if we don't want to be. It might take some extra effort in the job search, but if I do well at Iowa then I should be able to find a job wherever we want to live in three years. And, who knows, maybe we'll want to stay in the Midwest anyway.
• Every law school brags about their professors, but Iowa's professors seem especially accessible. They make it a point that most of their professors' offices are located at the same floor as the student center. Maybe that isn't some magic solution to make the professors amazing, but I like the philosophy that it symbolizes.
• Iowa City seems like a really great town. It's a small, family-friendly town. And because it's a college town there are museums, plays, cool restaurants and other cultural attractions.
• Big 10 Conference sports will be cool. Iowa football finished in the top half of the conference or division every year since 2007. And I've heard from a lot of sources that Iowa basketball is going to be really good next season and beyond, so it will be exciting to be there for that. And, even if Iowa loses, it will still be cool to see Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, etc., and experience what it's like to be in a BCS/Power Six conference. 
• We'll be fairly close to some big cities that we've never been to or don't know very well, like Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Milwaukee.
  
• And, we'll be two hours away from Nauvoo, and we'll be in the Nauvoo Temple district.
• We fasted and prayed a lot and felt like going to Iowa made the most sense and was the best decision for our family.

The only downsides I could think of are cold winters and humid summers (nothing we can't handle), and that the state of Iowa isn't "cool" according to stereotypes and pop culture, like California or New York. But if Iowa not being "cool" was the only thing holding us back, it seemed like a silly reason to cross it off our list. Besides, it probably is cool. And if it isn't, we'll make it cool. :)

(And, like my mom said, "Anyone who doesn't think Iowa is cool has never seen Field of Dreams!")

We can't wait to start our new adventure. And we can't wait for you to come visit us in Iowa City!

http://thegazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/119225-PRV-UI-CAMPUS-03_10_2003-11.12.23.jpg

Shangri-La? El Dorado? Sloppy Joe's?

This week's edition of The Ticket for The Daily Herald:

'Xanadu' brings roll to rock at Hale Center Theater Orem

Photo by Pete Widtfeldt, courtesy of HCTO

I had a lot of fun writing this one, especially the lead and the kicker (or, in non-journalist terms, the beginning and the end). "Xanadu" was a Broadway hit that is now coming to Orem. It's the story of a sidewalk chalk artist, down on his luck, who is inspired to open a roller disco by Greek muses who descend from Mt. Olympus disguised as Australian roller derby queens. Yeah.

The story first came as a 1980 movie, and it was a huge flop. But the Broadway version 27 years later was successful because it kept the music and made fun of the rest of the movie.

The people I interviewed from the Hale Center Theater Orem were great and loved talking about this musical and how weird and wonderful it is.

American Fork Symphony performing theme from 'Far and Away'

(This one doesn't seem to be online yet. I'll post the link when it's available.)

This one was kind of hard, because I didn't have much to go on. The American Fork Symphony was doing a concert ... and that was about it. But I'm surprised by what I was able to pull together.

Sound Hot Ticket: Dream for 'Requiem'

Perfect Date: When the curtain falls

Sound Briefs: Opera mix tape


Arts Briefs: Dance and shout, the Cougarettes are out

For next week, I'm doing an article on another Broadway hit. "Rock of Ages" is coming to Utah. Should be interesting.

*Hey, does anyone get the title of this blog post? If you do, then you win for being cool and knowing classic movies (hint, hint).

Clips in the Deseret News!

This is actually old news, but it's been a while since I've done any blogging, and I have a lot to catch up on.

Do you remember that "5 Black and White Movies You Must See - Even in 2010"? Well, a few weeks after it was in The Daily Universe, it made its way to the Deseret News.

Five old movies you must see - even in 2010

After the Deseret News laid off 43% of its staff (a bad omen for future journalists such as myself), they unveiled a new service called "Deseret Connect" that is basically a way for any freelancers or wannabes to submit stories for the Deseret News to use. We submitted a couple stories as part of my COMMS 377 class, and lo and behold, one of them ended up in the paper. Not only was it in the paper, but it was a big and colorful story (with lots of photos from old Deseret News archives) on the front page of the Arts & Life section, on a Sunday. And it was teased on the front page of the whole paper.


Pretty cool. Except the only way I knew about it was that one of Erin's relatives happened to mention she saw it when we had dinner that Sunday night. If we hadn't seen them that night, I don't know if I ever would have found out to this day!

On that note, I think the other story I submitted to Deseret Connect ended up in the paper too, although the only reason I know is because I thought I'd try searching for it on the Deseret News website, and there it was:

'Covert Affairs' is a show about guns and love letters

It maybe wasn't in the paper, maybe it was only on the website. I'll never know.

Basically, it's really cool to have articles in the Deseret News, by far the biggest stage I've ever been published on. But I wish I had some sort of notice! And, if I remember correctly, I should be financially compensated...so, I suppose the check's in the mail?

Follow Up to Five Black & White Movies You Must See - Even in 2010

Today there was a nice letter to the editor in response to my black & white movies article.

Love the classics*

*Click on the link and go to page 3.

Five Black & White Movies You Must See - Even in 2010

I haven't had a cartoon in the paper for a long time, so it was nice to get this in there on Tuesday's opinion page:


If 2010 is tough for the BYU Cougars, wait until next year when we go independent.

Then today, I had one of my articles from my feature writing class on the front page, as part of The Daily Universe's new "FYI" column. The "FYI" is going to be a weekly front page column that will be not so much hard news, but interesting, sometimes humorous, things like profiles or how-to articles.

Anyway, my "Five Black & White Movies You Should See - Even in 2010" was the first installment of the new column. Pretty cool.

Five black and white movies you must see

I collected a lot of art to go with the story, knowing that the copy desk couldn't use all of it but I figured the more I give them to work with the happier they'll be with me. :) I decided to get a movie poster and a still photo for each of the five movies. They ended up only using the Casablanca poster. But for you lucky blog readers, you get to see all of them!

It Happened One Night (1934)




Dr. Strangelove (1964)




Some Like It Hot (1959)




All About Eve (1950)




Casablanca (1942)

Suspended Reality

I didn't really know what to write about for today's page ... until Erin picked out a movie from the Redbox machine earlier this week.

We were both interested in seeing "The Proposal," because we're Sandra Bullock fans. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Bullock, Ryan Reynolds and (especially) Betty White were hilarious. But, I could also point out some flaws in it.

For some reason, romantic comedies are among the easiest movies for me to critique. I can only say most movies are either good or bad, and I can't dig much deeper than that. But with romantic comedies, I can pinpoint exact problems or strengths in the movie. Maybe it's because love and romance is something we think about more often than the themes and subjects of other movies.

In fact, when I took COMMS 101, we were assigned to create online magazines as a group project. I was with a group that did movie reviews, and I thought it would be interesting to be more specific and do reviews of romantic comedies from a male perspective. Although I'm no longer an administrator for the site, it still exists: http://collegecritics.7h.com.

Anyway, I decided to ramble on about "chick flicks," ones I like and ones I don't:

In the name of love - 'Chick flicks' in need of a reality check

In the column, I mention "The Proposal," "You've Got Mail," "Sweet Home Alabama," "My Best Friend's Wedding," "Some Like It Hot" and "It Happened One Night."

And, for all you blog followers, I'll give my two cents about a few other romantic comedies. (Some of these include links to my reviews on the online magazine.)

LIKE

"Marley and Me"

"27 Dresses"

"He's Just Not That Into You" and "Valentine's Day" - These movies are impressive simply by jam-packing so many movie stars into a single movie. (Especially with "Valentine's Day." Every time I saw a trailer or a TV commercial, there was some new actor I didn't know was in the movie.) And then, everyone loves to play the six degrees of separation game (who's connected to who and how). Besides the entertainment coming from so many sources, the stories of romance are realistic yet dramatic. Both movies more clearly mirror the sort of relationship stories we all have. And, you'll like who ends up together and who doesn't.

"The Notebook" - This one is definitely a tear-jerker, I'm not afraid to admit. And the point of view from James Garner's and Gena Rowlands' characters makes the love really mean something, instead of the artificial, together-because-we-look-hot-together kind of relationship most of Hollywood (on the screen and behind the scenes) depends on. However, the love scenes are a little bit dangerous, especially for any teen who is already inclined to think you're prepared for sex as long as you really really love each other.

DON'T LIKE

"P.S. I Love You"

"Charly" - Sam just frustrates me so much! First, he's a super naive and sheltered Mormon boy. Then, he falls for Charly, who is much more urbane and worldly. Charly joins the Church and leaves her worldly ways behind ... but when Sam finds out she had "a past," he's angry. Of course she had "a past"! Virtually everyone outside the Church has the kind of tame "past" Charly had. Plus, she was baptized into the Church, meaning that "past" is erased and now meaningless.

The only time it really seemed like Sam and Charly make sense is the scene when they goof around in the grocery store. Before the real chemistry actually sinks in, the sad part of the movie kicks in, and it's sad the rest of the way through.

"Pride and Prejudice" - Actually, I really like this movie, both versions that I've seen. I love the old-time English dialogue (one of the reasons I also love Shakespeare or "The Lord of the Rings"), and the look at society 200 years ago. But, I'm sorry, I don't get what's so great about Mr. Darcy. He's mysterious, then rude, then a hero. Okay. But does that make him one of the greatest romantic heroes in all of literature? I guess I don't know what makes him stand out so much compared to other literary figures. Maybe I'll just have to read the book. (At least I'm more okay with women wishing their men to emulate Mr. Darcy than wishing them to emulate Edward or Jacob.)

"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" - Two words: Matthew McConaughey.

If you're interested, here are reviews from that online magazine about other movies.

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
(And, here's an interesting look at the movie that takes what I wrote to a whole new level. Careful, there's some bad language.)

"Transformers"

"It Happened One Night"

*Some of the online magazine stories have grammar mistakes or spelling errors. I wish I could go back and fix them! Sorry about that. Although, they probably don't bother you as much as they bother me.