Reflections on Watergate

The Miami Herald’s research editor Elizabeth Donovan reflects on the tension in the newsroom the day President Richard Nixon announced his resignation, 30 years ago yesterday. She also reflects on whether or not today’s new organizations could break such a story, which was originally broken by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two young reporters assigned to the local news desk. Donovan concludes that investigative reporting is still strong, though readers and bloggers have taken a more active role in news reporting and may just uncover the next Watergate. (link via Romenesko)

Stick it to the Man

Francis Ottoman, PVPOnline cartoonist Scott Kurtz, creator of PVP, has this crazy idea of sticking it to the syndicates and giving power back to the artist. The idea is that syndicates control virtually every aspect of the comics you know and love. This is pretty much the reason Calvin & Hobbes is gone.

But Kurtz realized that the economics of newspapers have changed and syndicates don’t have to have all the power anymore. So rather than sell his work out to a syndicate (selling out in this case means giving up all creative and licensing control and rights), Kurtz is offering one year’s worth of his PVP comics to newspapers for free. Newspapers get a free comic and Kurtz gets national publicity while maintaining creative rights and control. He’ll make money off books, T-shirts, toys, etc.

It’s really an ingenius idea. It reminds me a lot of Hugh MacLeod, the business card cartoonist I blogged about the other day, and his ideas about being creative. More fuel for the fire that I can never seem to spark.

Efficiency of Late

Well, my latest attempts to take advantage of Abby’s Monday night grad school classes haven’t gone so well. My Read/Write Mondays have more often than not been a chance to catch up on work. Well, not so much catch up, but make up for less than efficient days.

I did manage to plough through several Harry Potter volumes and have done a fair amount of blogging on Monday nights. So it’s not like I’m a complete failure.

I am finding it hard to sit at my desk and do “work” all day long and into the evening. Especially in the summer when it’s hot and sticky in the afternoon. Tonight I worked into the evening, then started catching up on some not-as-urgent work. Just before it got dark and the mosquitos came out in full force I went out to the front yard to pull weeds. Despite the many things I want to blog about, my mind is busy, my eyes bleary, and my wrists on the edge. Sometimes you need to do work of a different variety.

I’m not a gardener. I really don’t like it. But it gave me a lot of satisfaction weeding the hill we filled in with ground cover a few weeks back. I was amazed to see how the little plants spread, both growing larger and wider (actually beginning to covering the ground) as well as launching some new satellite plants.

Then I took Speak around the blog, came home to write about it, and now Abby’s home. So no more time to rant, which is probably OK.

Jesus was Kung-Fu Fighting

Jesus Action FigureNow I’ve see it all: The Talking Jesus Action Figure. It’s a 12-inch action figure that recites the Ten Commandments in an eerily macho voice (listen for yourself!). Sadly the web site doesn’t say whether or not it comes with Kung-Fun action grip. How long before we see the healing of G.I. Joe and forgiveness of Barbie Magdalene, ala Brick Testament?

This beats the Dashboard Jesus I saw last week in Las Vegas.