Comic Book Journalism, the works of Joe Sacco and Matt Bors

There is a notion that comic books are kid stuff. It permeated the literary world up until the beginning of the 21st Century when writers like Daniel Clowes, F.C. Ware (an Omaha Native!) and Ivan Brunetti all began to show the world that "graphic novels" were as true a literary form as any novel ever could be.

But what about the comic form as a medium for journalism? Preposterous you say? "Comics are relegated to the political cartoon section and thats it!"
There are two authors I think prove that good journalism can exist in comic book form. One is far greater than the other but we'll start with the lesser one, Matt Bors, just because I have a lot to say about the other, the infallible Joe Sacco.

Matt Bors is primarily an internet political cartoonist, updating his strip "idiot box" fairly often with left-wing stabs at the tea party, network news and even Obama for not doing more to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but his trip to Afghanistan for a month is where his comic really shines. Through simple quotes from real people set to even simpler portraits one gets the feel for the Afghan people as they really are. Much more than you would if they were just in the photo above the wordy article on the cover of the Washington Post.

(His entire trip can be seen here just keep clicking Next to see them all)

The real king of comic book journalism is Joe Sacco, though, he's been at it for years and has illustrated the pain and suffering of some of the world's most forgotten people. The first book I read of his, that introduced me to the whole comic journalism concept, was Safe Area Gorazde, a chilling book filled with first hand accounts of the terrible Bosnian War of the early 90s. The interviews are conducted by Sacco and illustrated by him also. He also fills in footnotes where ever stories clash or where official documents contradict people's statements.

The stories often take on a journal type as we follow Sacco either trying to fend of the Bosnian teens begging him to bring them Levi Jeans or in his books on Palestine, trying to track down people who would admit to having taken part in the Fedayeen of the early 60s. His books will empty out your soul and wring it out to dry but I'm always glad I've read them and I'm sure you would be too.

His style is photorealism and seeing the horrors of the Bosnian War illustrated makes a conflict that barely even mentioned in most public schools come to life in an all too jarring way. Sacco's book take events and portray them solely as the people who lived them described them and if that's not journalism then I don't know what is.

For a sample of Sacco's work click here, here or here

The Final Salute to Blog postings

The articles from the Rocky Mountain News (sadly there was no coffin for this fallen soldier) are a difficult read. This isn't because of some lachrymose nature on my part, but because anybody with a heart beating in their chest will find it torn asunder by these detailed accounts of fallen soldiers and the people they left behind.

The one I found most interesting and thought to be well written was the Part 2 in which we are introduced to Lt. Beck and are simultaneously given a quick history of the Marines way of notification and a harrowing portrait of a man who never signed up for this but has a sense of duty that compels him to do the job to his best abilities.

"Beck looks like the job: hard and soft. His white cotton gloves cover calloused hands. They lead to thick, regular-guy arms shaped by work instead of weightlifting, and a round, pale face with big cheeks that turn red when he hasn't had enough sleep, which is most of the time."

There's a quality to Jim Sheeler's writing that makes it read more like prose than journalism. I'm always fascinated by this style of writing. I find it to be very interesting but difficult to actually replicate. Trying to draw the line between the truth and my own interpretation in descriptions is tough for me. I've had a lot of training in writing the bare facts and inversely in creative writing classes I've trained in writing like fiction is true fact but when I try and combine the two style I find it messy and not quite right, like putting bacon in your ice cream.

Something should also be said of Sheeler's tactful leads. Almost everyone except for a few are one short, taciturn sentence. Sometimes they're slightly poetic and sometimes they're frank and to the point like the lead for Part 7: "Casualty notification isn't always conducted with the same care." That was another that was hard to read not just for the sadness that hung over every part of the story but because you knew that these people had to go through an extra inch of indignation after losing their loved ones due to some carelessness or red tape snafu on the Army's part.

This writing is beautiful, heavy, poetic and sparse. The story is also informative, fair and doesn't push a political stance on the subject. It's everything good writing should be and it's everything great journalism should be. I'd list it as the best of all the blog readings so far.

Now for a field recording of a man walking around Arlington cemetery with bagpipes in the background.

Portrayals of Journalism in Harry Potter

Harry Potter is huge. No denying it. No need to. It's a part of almost every kids life who was born between 1985-1993. We grew up with that little squirt until he turned into the brooding teen he is now. So it only makes sense that I'd find a way to tie into my Journalism blog and Rita Skeeter is that way!

Let's go over a quick recap of who Rita Skeeter is in case your lame and do know your Harry Potter characters. She's the snooping, bespectacled chatterbox who is always pushing her own agenda in interviews. Generally, she's a stereotype of a character who is used to pester Harry constantly and remind readers of how reluctant he is to be as famous as he is. In the last book she pours salt on his wounds by writing a tell all about Albus Dumbledore shortly after his death.

What's really interesting is how she contributes to the archetype of the skeezy journalist who will do whatever it takes to not only get the story (she turns into a beetle to eavesdrop on people) and will often manipulate the truth to make her story more interesting. Why do writers choose to portray Journalists in such a way? I mean ournalists and writers are like cousins!

Because its easy is why. Watch any cop show and see how they portray journalists. Along with the slimy politician (that's ones true though) it's just an easy trope to use. One wonders if these stereotypes are damaging to journalists as a whole. They could portray journalists as conniving and jingoistic. For the most part, there's enough positive portrayals of Journalists in the media (think Spider-man) to balance it out. Also, I feel like the ever changing journalistic job market is something of more concern. So in conclusion, Harry Potter's Rita Skeeter si just a harmless little 2D character in an awesome book series.

David Foster Wallace Channels Hunter S. Thompson

I don't know if you've ever read Hunter S. Thompson but he's crazy; entertainingly crazy, but he's still crazy. He goes on wild political speeches and accuses a great deal of people of being on drugs, which is something that people on drugs often do. Underneath it all though he was a damn good reporter who gave readers a fresh and interesting look at politics without the usual 6 o clock ho-hum boredom. David Foster Wallace channels the great Thompson in his article The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys and the Shrub, the best piece of political reporting I've read in a long, long time.

It was a very good choice on Rolling Stone's part to send a writer as talented as Wallace on the campaign trail. His description of daily life on the campaign trail is interesting, funny and not too secretly scathing of the whole broken political process. He disects, the yes men, the snotty upper crust journalists, the hanger-ons and the poor schmucks who have to film it all with an eye for detail and a vocabulary that portrays how great a writer he really is.

A lot of the details he catches are the kind of things that you just don't imagine happening on the campaing trail, mostly because reporting on it is usually so bland you'd mistake it for plain white rice if you tried to eat it. The exchange between Mike Murphy, McCain's Aide-de-camp and one of the 12 monkeys on page 10, made me chuckle pretty enthusiastically.

I also really agree with his portrayal of John McCain turning into a salesman while trying to run for president and that the real John McCain is still in a box in Hoa Lo, waiting to come out. I remember watching the 2008 elections and seeing McCain and wondering "How was this once a level-headed man, who I could respect?" It's easy now to see how advisors and marketers can manipulate a peson until he becomes a product they want to sell you. It's sad really.

The one complaint that I'd have against the article is the same thing that's kept me from reading anything other than Foster's short fiction. It's so damn long! I mean it's entertaining the whole way but I think a good editor could've sat David down and helped take a little off to help slim the article down.

Though in the end this is an amazing piece of journalism and an excuse for me to crack open a Blue Moon sit by the window and cry tears of intellectual sadness at the fact that we lost such an amazing talent so soon. Oh, David Foster Wallace, I know you're writing really long, immaculately worded, beautiful stories in heaven right now with Hunter S. Thompson.

Halloween! Essential Under rated Horror Films!

It's that time of year. The leaves are turning color, the winds getting a bit nippy and everybody's filling their yards up with fake dead bodies! It's Halloween Bros and Broettes!

One time honored tradition of Halloween once you're too old to trick-or-treat and too poor to go to a haunted house (25 bucks to have a sweaty guy in a trench coat and a hockey mask jump out from behind doors at me? No thanks) then you can always watch scary movies. But you've seen the Friday the 13th movies a thousand times and Nightmare on Elm St is on AMC every 4 hours, so what do you watch? Some crazy foreign and underground horror films that's what! And I've compiled a handy list of some of my all time faves with pictures I don't have the copyright too (what's scarier that copyright violation?)



-la Orfanata (2007) - This is a Spanish film which means most people haven't heard of it because American theaters do a terrible job of showing foreign films and the public does a worse job of watching them. This is one that might be for the better. If the public had seen this then there would be a universal fear of old, abandoned orphanages... Oh wait. The film is about a husband and wife who purchase an old orphanage that the wife used to go. They plan on opening it as a home for mentally challenged children, but things go bad when their own kid starts seeing things and then a creepy kid with a bag over his head starts shoving people around. This is a film that ratchets up the tension without ever resorting to gore or jump scares. It's also got a twist at the end that rivals such movies as the Sixth Sense. Just don't watch it alone on your laptop. I nearly threw mine across the room in fear.

-The Thing (1982) - This movie came out the same time as E.T. and couldn't have been more different. It's the story of a group of scientists sent to a remote part of Antarctica to find out what happened to the group before them (hint: they were killed by a "Thing"). The Thing has two things going for it, tension and amazing special effects. The Thing in question can take on the appearance of person on it's own which means that it could be anyone of the characters at any moment so no one can trust anyone. The special effects on this film are the best I've seen in a horror film. They're not amazing computer generated blue-cat people or any crap like that it's just amazing hand made effects pain-stakenly created by men who truly love what they do and it shows. Its a movie that will make you wish filmmakers stopped relying so much on cgi for their monsters these days.

-The Human Centipede (2009) A demented doctor kidnaps people and stitches their mouths to another person's... anus, thus creating a human centidepe. If you didn't throw up just thinking about that then trust me, this movie will make you heave chunks no matter what.


I hope that one of these gory, tense or just outright messed up films is interesting enough for you to Netflix because trust me they are all movies that will stay with you long after you see them. So Happy Halloween and don't get too scared!

Don't put a taliBAN on free speech. Yohohoho, a pun...

Video games, they've come a long way from an Italian plumber chasing mushrooms to the widescreen, high-definition cinematic experiences they are today. It seems like every other one of them is a military shooter these days though. Modern Warfare 2 from publisher Activision was the most profitable media launch of 2010 and, surprise it was a military shooter.

The weird thing though with the slew of modern shooters is that none of them have been based on real modern conflicts, until Medal of Honor that is. The game is based on the actions of the tier 1 operators in Afghanistan (Tier 1 is just military babble for most-super-bad-assiest dudes). Which is no big deal but the game has a multiplayer component and who do we fight in Afghanistan. The taliban. So what has this all been building up to? A game is going to be released that let's people play as Taliban insurgents killing American Soldiers.

Well it was going to be...

There was a chain of events that lead to this, first, the classy folks over at Fox News got a hold of the info and of course they were totally fair and sensible. LOL No they weren't. Anyway, after that the people at the Army weren't super happy so they decided to ban sale of the game on military bases. Not long after the publisher buckled and they changed the name of the Taliban to Opposing Force to which I say C'MON!!

The developer addressed the issue (I've got so many hyperlinks in this free post) but really the whole hubub is kind of a joke. A lot of gamers and 1st Amendment enthusiasts cried fowl but really, the Army has to be aware that somebody has to play as the badguys. You can't both be the good guys! That'd just be the Civil War!

No but seriously this kind of buckling under pressure always reminds me that the video game industry is an industry first and a medium for artistic expression and political commentary second. I mean, they didn't change the look of the taliban or any single aspect of the game except for the word Taliban. I reiterate, C'MON!

Mr. Rogers: Can there be a better subject for a feature article?

It's really not even fair. I mean what other person can you read about that will have teh same emotional significane for an adult audience as Mr. Rogers? Nobody! He was just so connected to the childhood of so many Americans, that to see (or read technically) him as a actual human being, stepping out of the television and having scars, and flaky skin is truly and absorbing experience. In case you can't tell, I liked this article, even the part with Koko.

It also got me thinking about what my weight could possibly mean... 152... 152... I loved it! HEY HEY!

Anyway, this article is extrememly well written and does a great job painting the character of Mr. Rogers as a real human being, but not just as a regular joe but as an individual. You see his ticks, his interests, his beliefes, his childhood and a million other tiny little details that help the rosy-voiced character from Public Television come to life on the page. It'd be easy to read Mr. Rogers actions in the article as kinda creepy but the author does a good job of giving you the evidence to see that Fred Rogers' is more relaxed and friendly than creepy.

I also like the actual style of the article, all the "Once Upon A Times", the Bold Rogers, the sort of Hero Worship that rings throughout (New Best Quote Ever, "Holy shit! It's Mister Fucking Rogers!" ) And it had a very sombre style towards the end, but it never got sentimental which I think it easily could have. I didn't get choked up or anything (GRRR, I'M A MAN) but damn was that sad when he told his minister he wanted her to be there when he died.

Good read Dr. Z, keep 'em coming!

An American Male at age 21's thoughts on an American Male at age 10

I am either in love with New Yorker articles from the moment I start reading them or I look at them as putrid piles of indulgent bourgeois crap. This one falls somewhere in between. I generally love the New yorker articles that go super indepth on subjects, such as the drug war in Mexico or the whistle language of a remote tribe in Zimbabwe but its the ones that inject their own opinion on top of what could be a good story I feel like Miss Orlean really wanted to project her ideas of innocence onto this poor little Wyoming kid. I feel like she builds him up to be "DAW" worthy cute and then asks him tough questions about polution or Magic Johnsons having AIDS to show that childlike innocence all grownups romanticize and wish they still had.

I couldn't hate the whole article though because, c'mon, he's so damn cute!!!!

"What's the most important thing in the world?"
"Game Boy." Pause. "No, the world. The world is the most important thing in the world."

Personally, the answer to that one is easy. Screw the world.

But something that bothered me the way the story was written that I realize isn't a huge deal but I still feel like pointing out. If the genders were flipped and a middle age writer for the New Yorker spent all his time following around a 5th grade girl adn her friends and asking them questions he'd get locked up and have his van and all its candy confiscated.

I loved the big blocks of quotes she threw in but like a lot of New Yorker articles this thing really could have used a more concise editor to trim it down a little. I also get that sense of condescenion on the middle class you get in some of their articles such as when Colin's talking about how expensive college is and how his mom was in the 4th tier of the publisher's house sweepstakes. I feel like she could've left that out and still maintained his innocence without making him look stupid and poor.

I would've preferred an article from Nintendo Power personally.

What kind of writer am I?

A sloppy one. No but seriously I am a writer who likes to tackle a diverse amount of subjects and styles. You stress the importance of taking Creative Writing while at Creighton, well I'm one step ahead of you. I'm an English Minor whose already on the second tier of Creative Writing (though I don't care for it as much as I do Journalism). I believe that when writing casually I have a conversational style that tends to lean towards humorous. When trying to to write more professionally I can get a little thick with my language or wording but that's why I'm taking a professional writing class this semester.

The things I like about writing are vast. I like the ability to say something permanently, I like the fact that you can go back and edit ideas and thoughts. I love that you can conjure up images in a person's head without even having to show them a picture and I love the freedom of writing. If you can think it up in your head, chances are you can write it down.

What I don't like about writing is how hard it can be sometimes. There, I said it. Sometimes you'll be writing and you'll just hit a wall like a Volkswagon going 80 mph into a tree. I've spent hours just staring at half-finished papers and Creightonian articles trying to find what else I need to put in them, but once you can get back up to speed I find that it becomes enjoyable once again.

I hope this helps and sorry about not emailing it to you!

It turns out the Internet makes you even more Social!

So after reading the Pew Internet Personal Networks and Community survey I have to say I'm both surprised and a little not surprised. On the one hand there's the social preconception that spending time at your computer makes you a shut in but at the same time most people when they are on their computer they are on a social network, socializing soooooo of course it makes people more sociable.

The internet isn't just a box you crawl into to turn off your brain like television, it's a social platform wherein you can interact with people via social media. I'm on facebook right now and I've already commented on friend's status and one's new job. What a world!

I find it interesting that people who are more connected to the internet (bloggers and whatnot) are actually more involved in there community though it makes sense when you think about it. To be an actual good blogger you have to have things to blog about so you have to work hard and go out there and do things like volunteer or talk to your friends.

Also, "Only 6% of the adult population has no one with whom they can discuss important matters or who they consider to be “especially significant” in their life." :( I feel really bad for that 6%. They're probably 50% old people and cat ladies too. Oh well, I know what'll cheer me up. Those guitar shredding North Korean Toddlers!

Happy Birthday ENIAC!!!! FREE POST!!!!

Hello gang, and welcome to another post on my blog. Today we'll be celebrating somebody's birthday. Whose you may ask? Well, his great-great grandchildren are sitting right in front of you? Give up? It's ENIAC or the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer or Ol' Uncle Eenie. Yes on this day in 1947 the Army Ballistics Division switched on Ol' Uncle Eenie and it was in continuous operation until 1955. The ENIAC increased processing speeds by 1,000 creating the largest processing speed increase in history. The title remains unchallenged.
If you want the official in depth version of the story of what the press referred to as a "Giant Brain" click here but if you wanna play a game of guess which facts I throw out are true or false then continue!!!

1. ENIAC was the size of a whole Apartment Block.
2. ENIAC was first tested by doing calculations on the atom bomb.
3. FDR had high hopes that ENIAC would help him walking again.
4. ENIAC was staffed almost entirely by smokin hot babes.
5. ENIAC had problems with transistor tubes blowing every 15 minutes
6. The decision to shut down the computer was made after the Army realized ENIAC became self-aware
7. The film the Matrix is loosely based on ENIAC's story.
8. ENIAC was made in Maryland by a bunch of nerds.
9. ENIAC is alive in a bunker in Colorado secretly controlling the internet.

ANSWERS!!!!!
1. True, it was huge! 2. True also! 3. FDR didn't even know what a computer was so FalseDR! 4. True true and true 5. No actually it was very reliable and only had transistors blow out every couple of days. 6. False 7. Only if you watch the film backwards 8. False, Pennsylvania, though true on the nerd part 9. False... or is it?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENIAC!!!!!!

What I learned about facebook from the Nebraska Humane Society

On Monday I tried to fight the urge to just stare at all the picture of cute cats and dogs and took in some serious lessons about social networking from our time at the Nebraska Humane Society. I'll even number the list so as to be more organized.

1. How to deal with the Trolls.
Apparently, even if you're an organization that helps puppies, you're gonna get hate from random strangers on the internet. I learned that in most cases the best idea is to state you're policies on whatever problem they have and to leave the comment up because if you take it down it will just enrage the troll even more. Though in a few special cases it may be in your best interest to simply delete the comment and possibly pursue legal action, especially if the troll is harassing you frequently.

2. Analytics. You will spend all your time looking at analytics.
To make you're bosses believe that you're actually doing something productive and not just messing around on facebook you have to have the facts to back up the site. You also have to keep track of how many people unsubscribe, how long people are on the site, how many people y tview as compared to how many people comment and all kinds of micromanagement internet stuff that went way over my head. And then you have to convince your bosses that all these people visiting the site is good because it ups your brand/increases revenue/gets more donations/etc.

3. Engage your audience.
I think I heard the word engage almost as much as puppy at the Humane Society Monday. Seriously though I learned that if you reply to people it makes them feel as though they aren't just commenting for no reason. It encourages your viewers to return and it creates a more appealing environment on your website. Another way to engage is to not just comment but make sure that things lke videos and notes encourage your viewers to comment and engage them to be involved.

4. KITTIES!!!!!!!!!!!


5. But seriously
It helps you get fans if you happen to be an organization that specializes in adorable animals. Though you have to be smart about how you post videos of these animals and how you respond to the people that comment if you want to stay up there. Great field trip overall!

Five great Finger Pickin Guitar Tunes or 3-year old North Korean Shreds your face off!!!!!!

Acoustic guitar is a radical instrument and is used by hundred s of thousands of greasy teenagers expressing their feelings and lame stuff like that. But just strumming chords is like only using your thumbs to type on the keyboard. (It stinks!) Anyhoo, everybody knows individually striking the strings with your fingers is way better. Just look at this video of youtube artist SOS auto playing 9 lb hammer.



Some say Finger picking is the style of grungy dirty acoustic tree huggers. They're pretty much right. Numero dos is the all time finger picking great and Guitar Vitruoso John Fahey, enjoy his rendition of Poor Boy's Long way from Home.


Paul McCartney actually wrote his all time classic "Black Bird" after learning finger picking from folk 60s hero Donovan. This undeniably great song and one that every goofball amateur guitarist learns right before stumbling through Stairway to Heaven at the coffee shop for the 8th time. Anyway BLACKBIRD!!!!


Here's effeminate singer song-writer Ryan Adams doing a much more understated fingerpicking song to highlight the tenderness of his song "Sweet Carolina." The notes really pluck along well with the melody he sings and adds an intimacy you wouldn't get with chugging chords. He's married to Mandy Moore now. That's so weird.


Now the finale! A North Korean 3 year old girl shredding here way through Choro Brasil!!!!!!!!!!!! Who cares that they just devalued all their currency! They've got shredding little girls!!!!!!! Goodnight!

What is my sentence?

Daniel Pink thinks that everyone should have their own sentence that sums up what they are, want to be and want to do. I think that's a bit lame and a simplistic way of thinking but I guess it should help people find focus in what they want to do. So what sentence am I?

"I will improve this world, either with my actions or my words: directly or indirectly."

I really wanted to have a colon in there. You know, to liven it up from an aesthetic point of view. Anyway but what I hope to get across in my sentence is that in my career I want to have a positive effect on the world either through influencing others to act positively or to make changes directly myself by working inside a company where I can leave a positive mark.

My main goal would be to have a positive effect on this world environmentally whether it be advocating environmental policies or working inside companies to push for those environmental goals.

So I guess if I need to start focusing on a brand it would be environmentally conscious writer who pushes for change in himself and in others. I could achieve this by posting links to environemental blogs on my twitter and starting a local blog that focuses on environmental issues is Omaha and tips for a sustainable lifestyle like tips on how to get your backyard garden growing. (It's not hard with the summers we've been having, simply plant seeds, put up chicken wire to keep out rabbits, pull out weeds, water and pick vegetables)

Seriously you should see the size of the cucumbers in my back yard. They're as big as your head. I could club you with one and you'd be like, "Why'd you club me with that large cucumber?"

...Can I change my personal sentence to "Why'd you club me with that large cucumber?"

Chili Burgers, Wheat Berry Salads and Ninja Training!

Salutations curious internet wanderer, and welcome to my first blog post. As per the request of Professor Zuegner I am going to tackle 3 other blogs in this post an talk about what post I read, what I learned from it and whether or not I can find a food to correspond to it. (I made the last qualification up but I'm sticking to it)

This will be our first blog of the day. The stately and humorous "Good Evening" by John Hodgman, author of Areas of My Expertise and More Information Than You Require, but you probably know him best as the PC guy from those Mac commercials. Read a book.

Anyway, in this post he posts a photo of a sketch of musician Jonathan Coultan (here's his best work http://bit.ly/UQZQ). He also discusses what constitutes a true Chili Burger. I commented with my own idea of what constitutes a chili burger. I enjoy his blog because it gives me a peak into the lives of writers, singers and comedians I like and he does a good job keeping up with his commenters (sp?).

For blog numero dos I'll be looking at is Lick My Spoon. On LMS we have recipes and restaurent review based in New York City. On the page I linked to is a delicious recipe for a Wheat Berry Salad with Cranberries. Click that link and drool your heart out. Its a pretty basic recipe seeing as its just a salad but I did learn what wheat berries are. They're not actual berries but are kernels of wheat that are sort of like berries. Ha! Point is food blogs always make me hungry.

Lastly, I'll throw a curve ball with a blog that has nothing to do with food, Geekologie. Its a humor blog that focuses on the nerdiest things the internet has to offer, in this particular post it's Private Ninja Lessons. I really like the writing style of the Geekologie Writer (who always remains anonymous) because it's ridiculous and over the top. Just take a look at the Tags section of the blog to see how he goes nuts with tags. And obviously I'm always learning irreverent information to be used in geeky discussions from this site. I love it.

And those are the three blogs I have read today and what I learned from them. To recap, chili burgers are more burger than chili, wheat berries aren't real berries and Ninja Lessons will run you 90$ for an hour and a half. Thanks for reading.