tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28698451754397764112024-02-06T21:23:14.032-05:00Freelancer's LamentThe online school for freelancers providing an inside look at the unforgiving world of cartooning, illustration and writingSnowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-16804903102838275992009-12-10T09:45:00.002-05:002009-12-10T09:46:10.093-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8v91ire6iXKPeRMxtuTQqNeGqi8Gq-JWE0oPNO2jYgukscVw3G19ZFBlbBM3tYs_nv1YV6gLiaqG30E0GuImoG07pDer8PkEZqkrARDLWbdxyn76k9GFYvf0hQEf0BPTVfGSSYCi9hHsD/s1600-h/great+giant+old+snowman.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 506px; height: 340px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8v91ire6iXKPeRMxtuTQqNeGqi8Gq-JWE0oPNO2jYgukscVw3G19ZFBlbBM3tYs_nv1YV6gLiaqG30E0GuImoG07pDer8PkEZqkrARDLWbdxyn76k9GFYvf0hQEf0BPTVfGSSYCi9hHsD/s400/great+giant+old+snowman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413618797783670386" border="0" /></a>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-92164036152833361122009-11-05T12:15:00.001-05:002009-11-05T12:15:20.437-05:00<script src="http://video.bigthink.com/player.js?height=290&embedCode=I5Ymh5OnvOhvdV2iRpRsfAHIZGQOMfKx&width=516&autoplay=0"></script>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-26865088300345502542009-07-17T19:48:00.006-05:002009-07-17T19:59:03.455-05:00Interior Design for the Recession<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lmV52mefvN_d8SjRtyzrS8OaArBa7I-dhxe6kSMUFeQpskK6Jp7m8UHUolBmzU6xECJRRBxPG0Llh3uv_QbXmbUHsyW40Dq0YIjBzQC2FqbU2i-NLnkHPgSJKfOLRC9LasUXTbeWZ80J/s1600-h/sexy+hot+money.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 382px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lmV52mefvN_d8SjRtyzrS8OaArBa7I-dhxe6kSMUFeQpskK6Jp7m8UHUolBmzU6xECJRRBxPG0Llh3uv_QbXmbUHsyW40Dq0YIjBzQC2FqbU2i-NLnkHPgSJKfOLRC9LasUXTbeWZ80J/s320/sexy+hot+money.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359598055566956066" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(51, 102, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Well, I've been absent working on my latest hare-brain scheme–this one a website that's a fun, humorous series illustrating my interior design philosophy <a href="http://smartassideasforthehome.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 31, 235);"><u>Smartass Ideas For the Home</u></span></a>. I'm not actually interested in maintaining this blog. I just using the site to shop around this idea for a column. But since it went live yesterday it's already enjoying nice about of exciting feedback from the media. I have ten full installments ready to follow.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><div style="margin: 0px; font-family: times new roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 16px; color: rgb(51, 102, 102);"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 16px;font-family:Arial;font-size:14px;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102); font-family: arial;font-family:times new roman;" >Check it out. You already wasted some time here. Sorry about that.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdZd7RllHT2pnAh7tIkq_-oqFhJQCviMhQCPiPklXpRS59LFVesT_d_2eZG6f7XBzN4UW3pYJZiV68WOeEFQg-5QkWcyd5n7fgMkaSh4X6qwEaRl7uZfwDspLsXcTPIlva5nm2_f23wep/s1600-h/use+bathroom+tissue.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 358px; height: 421px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdZd7RllHT2pnAh7tIkq_-oqFhJQCviMhQCPiPklXpRS59LFVesT_d_2eZG6f7XBzN4UW3pYJZiV68WOeEFQg-5QkWcyd5n7fgMkaSh4X6qwEaRl7uZfwDspLsXcTPIlva5nm2_f23wep/s320/use+bathroom+tissue.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359597470030205938" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguvriLncmysSiKjhtFuTe_r2yhrb7uAl5UzVdmOFNwReUd-fGn27OtoTMWqM7LT0rG2j2wpuis5GEsGZHCLFZiGtx81zmrCz3elean67t1CyvBggOKjUQlMReV7KlWEhtD3ivmjq4Afd8_/s1600-h/eblog+banner.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 519px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguvriLncmysSiKjhtFuTe_r2yhrb7uAl5UzVdmOFNwReUd-fGn27OtoTMWqM7LT0rG2j2wpuis5GEsGZHCLFZiGtx81zmrCz3elean67t1CyvBggOKjUQlMReV7KlWEhtD3ivmjq4Afd8_/s320/eblog+banner.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359597056418415634" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /></div></span>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-88320884083114818952009-05-17T17:52:00.029-05:002009-05-18T10:24:03.475-05:00In Memoriam; My Brilliant Career (1985-2009)<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ86hyNFPetv2xBKcvHi_L_HSOP_8OVUPvf1JHYmlMhckQDtXD_97MSWGn78NRSKBY4ZGamOO39CId63V4_2wGpczZYEvVvPeF5t4rb0jIpUKVTE41IiWJitSZR0QufhpVcoQ36GR4JIQQ/s1600-h/tombstone.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333592853447220114" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ86hyNFPetv2xBKcvHi_L_HSOP_8OVUPvf1JHYmlMhckQDtXD_97MSWGn78NRSKBY4ZGamOO39CId63V4_2wGpczZYEvVvPeF5t4rb0jIpUKVTE41IiWJitSZR0QufhpVcoQ36GR4JIQQ/s400/tombstone.jpg" alt="" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >NEW YORK – </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >In a brief statement released over the weekend, I finally pulled the plug on my promising, yet ultimately, mediocre career. According to experts (my art rep and my accountant), my career has been in a steady decline for quite some time</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > and it was time to throw-in-the-towel</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >. Things took a turn for the worse Tuesday when</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >Spanky’s Diner</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > took my cartoon from the <a href="http://www.rd.com/clean-jokes-and-laughs/hung-up-on-cartoon/article120204.html">Reader’s Digest</a> website for their </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >place-mats</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >. Typical of the many ways my work has an intrinsic value of zero now and how I’ve gotten screwed over in recent years. I think I summed it up best with my simple two-word press release which stated</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >; </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >“It’s over.” <span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em><br /></em></span></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>2002 © Bob Eckstein All rights reserved.</em></span></p> <p> </p> <div> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi442ovjkSjhVZSuGpJlwdQEt17WWJNGCq6B8Wmr48p9sFdvQYQBj8Oto8wQh0Y5kX4Vw2K_gHzjZzfFOrLRkmNE8-as_ikHgJqDhd3f_J7O3_78v3By_aY-TLETvVcX_-Ez2bCQb4oduwf/s1600-h/USE+BobMenuCartoon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332385284461218610" style="cursor: pointer; width: 404px; height: 220px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi442ovjkSjhVZSuGpJlwdQEt17WWJNGCq6B8Wmr48p9sFdvQYQBj8Oto8wQh0Y5kX4Vw2K_gHzjZzfFOrLRkmNE8-as_ikHgJqDhd3f_J7O3_78v3By_aY-TLETvVcX_-Ez2bCQb4oduwf/s400/USE+BobMenuCartoon.jpg" alt="" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <div align="center"> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p align="center"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><em>Corner of the actual place-mat from Spanky's in Hazelton, Pennsylvania sent to me by a friend who lives in that area. The owner says he will continue to steal my cartoons but has offered me a free dinner. </em></span><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> </div> <p style="margin: 0px; font-family: times new roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: right;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSuKElVOtNFYNkOVy9bEAC-J8h-OdHaFlvFa_LkoTinl-BABdLIKWAag5S5GBulggTSecP3Rh6SBfOUqx2BNi7PKTbi9cRrKS2FXNBLazF5XBDql6q3ClscMo2un0_CxrfGyqTuL3fzlxc/s1600-h/Charlie+Brown+windmill2+copy.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332384913775466562" style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSuKElVOtNFYNkOVy9bEAC-J8h-OdHaFlvFa_LkoTinl-BABdLIKWAag5S5GBulggTSecP3Rh6SBfOUqx2BNi7PKTbi9cRrKS2FXNBLazF5XBDql6q3ClscMo2un0_CxrfGyqTuL3fzlxc/s400/Charlie+Brown+windmill2+copy.jpg" alt="" height="290" width="435" /></a></p> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><sub><sup>Reader's Digest 2009 © Bob Eckstein All rights reserved. </sup></sub></span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: verdana; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: verdana; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:180%;" >Early Years</span></p> <p>My first taste of occupational rejection was my high school paper. Despite no encouragement from the school paper or my guidance counselor, I decided to go to art school following the advise of the one person I trusted at the time, <a href="http://www.fathersarducci.com/">Father Guido Sarducci</a>. </p> <div><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" height="344" width="425"><param name="width" value="425"><param name="height" value="344"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MK0ITXBWpHE&hl=en&fs=1"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MK0ITXBWpHE&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></div> <p>I attended Cooper Union for three hours before transferring to Pratt Institute and later went to F.I.T. (Fashion Institute Technology) to snap out of a dating slump and enjoy a more favorable woman-to-man ratio. But I continued being shunned from school papers well into college and began even sending submissions to other school newspapers as well.</p> </div> <div> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" > </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWiM8zV9Fu_v4OClVOGguuq6NeeqX0S7qh3_UzQ7LK6vww_QngelqkTsh3yru7PeKP5LFafJvPcOHd-_eEdeOxgXPUzT5qgArl3X8uhlo_0SXY0dKF70pAnsilznyyzLNPCjftYD5PrvUO/s1600-h/ship.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333582882202536482" style="cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 318px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWiM8zV9Fu_v4OClVOGguuq6NeeqX0S7qh3_UzQ7LK6vww_QngelqkTsh3yru7PeKP5LFafJvPcOHd-_eEdeOxgXPUzT5qgArl3X8uhlo_0SXY0dKF70pAnsilznyyzLNPCjftYD5PrvUO/s400/ship.jpg" alt="" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><sub>1980 © Bob Eckstein All rights reserved.</sub></p> <p align="center"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><em>As a little kid I used oil crayons & dyes and drew photo-realistically.</em></span><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-family: times new roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;"> </p> <h5 style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"> </h5> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeXK-6z4_BogCT1u5LPGQkOMQ25jj2KXZajkRMrxRe8RlS7QUtOt6CP_dfhRZ5M6f4W5WjE42zl1lnJvBnhvY4O8Bu-46wNd_Izd8FSb3bE3hNgOSJp1r8OX-eirhur8Dakvb8kOf3YlDw/s1600-h/elephants.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333579745286059794" style="cursor: pointer; width: 415px; height: 189px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeXK-6z4_BogCT1u5LPGQkOMQ25jj2KXZajkRMrxRe8RlS7QUtOt6CP_dfhRZ5M6f4W5WjE42zl1lnJvBnhvY4O8Bu-46wNd_Izd8FSb3bE3hNgOSJp1r8OX-eirhur8Dakvb8kOf3YlDw/s400/elephants.jpg" alt="" /></a><sub><em></em></sub><span style="font-size:78%;"><sub><em><br /></em></sub></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><sub><em>1982 © Bob Eckstein All rights reserved.</em></sub></span></p> <h5 style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;" align="center"> </h5> <div style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);" align="center"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><em>By college I decided I would stop drawing realistically for good. This early piece on cardboard is only 3” x 8”.</em></span> </div> <p><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" >At Pratt Institute I finally had teachers happy with my work. They talked to my parents about leaving school and trying to go pro. Conversely, my parents insisted I stay and get a Masters and teach (I <span style="font-style: italic;">didn't</span> get a Masters. But I <span style="font-style: italic;">did</span> teach </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" >for years at Pratt & S.V.A.).</span> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOBjMhlI5BxxcH4IaqINlw5gj2IogZRsebaE3l7WjhRot1ygmaRzzo1pNDy8DO_NDFFfySb8FtAxDqgkqSQffu4MxTMguR_uuw4wl_FOu_sdQuyekxIsd3XNR0R4EXulFjz3TJ_X_3XZA/s1600-h/MATHMAN.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333581086123587714" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOBjMhlI5BxxcH4IaqINlw5gj2IogZRsebaE3l7WjhRot1ygmaRzzo1pNDy8DO_NDFFfySb8FtAxDqgkqSQffu4MxTMguR_uuw4wl_FOu_sdQuyekxIsd3XNR0R4EXulFjz3TJ_X_3XZA/s400/MATHMAN.jpg" alt="" height="207" width="284" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" >Anyhoo, I did the sensible thing and as a sophomore I decided to start from scratch and taught myself to draw lefty. </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Plus this new style would use no traditional implements. I used sticks found on the ground. I unlearned everything I knew. </span><span style="font-size:100%;">I remember this going over like a fart in church. </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Seeing this for the first time in a long time I thinking, "Wow, this is really crap."</span></p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOBjMhlI5BxxcH4IaqINlw5gj2IogZRsebaE3l7WjhRot1ygmaRzzo1pNDy8DO_NDFFfySb8FtAxDqgkqSQffu4MxTMguR_uuw4wl_FOu_sdQuyekxIsd3XNR0R4EXulFjz3TJ_X_3XZA/s1600-h/MATHMAN.jpg"></a><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: right;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-family: times new roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitv92uRNonmKLnsyDvmShv0YSeKourpI_mEx4TDVTds2jY9EXVTTAGgCYmpCf-aQC9chQUful-I9YRLT44uBoPT_nJtFDlt3pAMDradm1i0fHGmLUMXFoDhNF9FNuEnNjdI_liaIbgmzs-/s1600-h/MRFIXIT.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333582396760405314" style="cursor: pointer; width: 407px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitv92uRNonmKLnsyDvmShv0YSeKourpI_mEx4TDVTds2jY9EXVTTAGgCYmpCf-aQC9chQUful-I9YRLT44uBoPT_nJtFDlt3pAMDradm1i0fHGmLUMXFoDhNF9FNuEnNjdI_liaIbgmzs-/s400/MRFIXIT.jpg" alt="" /></a></p> <div style="text-align: right; font-family: times new roman;"> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHGWXUTPbMmlbN1TGMWSKyECGqTPbKG26vsNoNqz4dE2TLhgrlqY5wyHlicmXe4utnuWxzQqwJb4Gezabrpxc_2RIFvG2iL5O4-0tMJ-8YjZ5U_a3YS13RnQe3n5N2ilJGMkF8tS4RGeq/s1600-h/ladder+piece.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333592174311979666" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHGWXUTPbMmlbN1TGMWSKyECGqTPbKG26vsNoNqz4dE2TLhgrlqY5wyHlicmXe4utnuWxzQqwJb4Gezabrpxc_2RIFvG2iL5O4-0tMJ-8YjZ5U_a3YS13RnQe3n5N2ilJGMkF8tS4RGeq/s400/ladder+piece.jpg" alt="" height="351" width="259" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" > </span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p face="times new roman" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p> </p> <p style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" >I returned to oil crayons but with my new primitive style. All work was executed in a few minutes. This was the piece mentioned below for a contest and went on display at the Smithsonian. The entries had to illustrate charity.</span></p> </div> <p> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: right;font-family:times new roman;font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>1984 © Bob Eckstein </em></span></p> <p face="times new roman" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>New York Times magazine</em></span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: right; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>All rights reserved.</em></span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px;"> </p> </div> <div style="font-family: arial;"> </div> <div style="font-family: arial;"> </div> <div> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: verdana; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:180%;" >Big Break</span></p> <p>As a junior in college I won an illustration contest with the drawing above. The prize was a full page in <span style="font-style: italic;">The New York Times </span>magazine and it convinced me that I was on track with this drawing lefty business. An underground fanzine called, ironically, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Bob</span> took a liking to me.<br /></p> <p face="times new roman" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_IccIM-MYljhdLECw4DCXH-KhwPaIswOH3gtaB_IWQlxuVQaCDb7npH_cUavo4JcxPF2ibGVTQkkCII0XgovTS8QWwHPgSHI7VVXHNj8E1ZZsGhQceZ87N09EjaPtpIh0jwdL68_Nq9tk/s1600-h/bob.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 413px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_IccIM-MYljhdLECw4DCXH-KhwPaIswOH3gtaB_IWQlxuVQaCDb7npH_cUavo4JcxPF2ibGVTQkkCII0XgovTS8QWwHPgSHI7VVXHNj8E1ZZsGhQceZ87N09EjaPtpIh0jwdL68_Nq9tk/s400/bob.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336983719622798674" border="0" /></a></p> <p face="times new roman" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><em>I was paid (or rather thanked) in records by ’80s new wave groups groups like <a href="http://www.mitcheaster.com/">Let’s Active</a> and <a href="http://www.bunnymen.com/Echo_%26_The_Bunymen/Blank.html">Echo & the Bunnymen</a>. </em></span><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; font-family: times new roman;"> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08mE357y-ThX8rfdKGq9-zo_nrp4vH5mXNXmSe2rsgEgC3rf-tkJWI9rDaI8Dj67UraQgXPfJMan9VckTaPoALuAbizdA386jJsizUuu4O0myTpodX2vPZAP4at9J-lkY_GYBt9nokApk/s1600-h/book+review.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333593752344254562" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 346px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08mE357y-ThX8rfdKGq9-zo_nrp4vH5mXNXmSe2rsgEgC3rf-tkJWI9rDaI8Dj67UraQgXPfJMan9VckTaPoALuAbizdA386jJsizUuu4O0myTpodX2vPZAP4at9J-lkY_GYBt9nokApk/s400/book+review.jpg" alt="" /></a>My first job out of school was the <span style="font-style: italic;">Time’s Book Review</span>. My relationship with The Gray Lady would last another 25 years...sadly ending yesterday with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/sports/golf/18pennington.html">my last piece for them</a>. I created this post because as part of their unfortunate budget cuts as of a few hours ago, I knew this was the end for me. But I am very grateful to worked for them this long! An honor.</p> <p>The top piece was about how poets spoke to each other and the other drawing is on secret identities. <em>(All the work here can be enlarged by clicking on them.)</em></p> <p face="Helvetica" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-7fRMQpRckQUBx_zVPmOSWvFwx8AW5VxY5KECNBYGc8DWJD74_wrHWEjCjT_0s8Mr9t_jssQt-zc8HYvLMz1wMwTzvWCxZBh_fK-O0hydsLgK0LbmOwZFxYdKFt948tliTA2xYnPqcrHT/s1600-h/villagevoice.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333593637623613058" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-7fRMQpRckQUBx_zVPmOSWvFwx8AW5VxY5KECNBYGc8DWJD74_wrHWEjCjT_0s8Mr9t_jssQt-zc8HYvLMz1wMwTzvWCxZBh_fK-O0hydsLgK0LbmOwZFxYdKFt948tliTA2xYnPqcrHT/s400/villagevoice.jpg" alt="" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <p align="center"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >Detail of a piece for <strong>The Village Voice</strong> where I later also worked as a sports reporter for short time...for reasons no one knows.</span><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1vdsAsvGBWIBXYIfWgmo9MVr6wn-B7c2DRSAUNUjmtgrQgqRPvyfXMunQdSpL90VJQzOEL1th6e7nTuWZQv9xFtLhc4Q4K1lLULmlwhZSAWOMgYQcxOnsSaf10pMcHTVSkVp7gaYdloWq/s1600-h/PEEWEE.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333600595258233362" style="cursor: pointer; width: 419px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1vdsAsvGBWIBXYIfWgmo9MVr6wn-B7c2DRSAUNUjmtgrQgqRPvyfXMunQdSpL90VJQzOEL1th6e7nTuWZQv9xFtLhc4Q4K1lLULmlwhZSAWOMgYQcxOnsSaf10pMcHTVSkVp7gaYdloWq/s400/PEEWEE.jpg" alt="" /></a><br /></p> <div align="center"> </div> <div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span><span style="font-size:78%;"><em><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-size:85%;" >1991 © Bob Eckstein All rights reserved.</span><br /><br /></em></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-size:100%;" ><em>When the first computers came around I was convinced by a high school buddy that one day people would work on them. So I set-up one of the first websites ever. Of course, only pioneers ever saw it–nobody had computers yet. Starting over yet again, I learned to draw on the Mac.</em></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-size:100%;" > I threw out my art supplies and have been paperless since. </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-size:100%;" ><em>My friend went on to be a leader in Silicon Valley and is very wealthy for inventing video-conferencing. </em></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-size:100%;" >This was for <strong>Entertainment Weekly</strong>, I think, when Pee Wee was arrested in a porn theater. </span> </div><br /><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p face="Helvetica" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: verdana; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:180%;" >Wow Moment</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">While eloping in Reykjavik I saw this Icelandic cartoon below that caught my eye and would become a revelation for me. While I never did find out the translation of the punch-line, it spoke to me and I knew then-and-there that I wanted to switch away from illustration and join the ranks of professional cartoonists.</span> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qvNmdraoRqYcGWcA7ZUw0i23xd5L_LoPBel3TmLRmEGDXUQZ_1MFP5JbzzYsdlax6LEvKlG3vGj9Z1yfagZbwg7sI9IOlfug_YLKKh6-Y7nJklKwOOfnc-fxlDGZwuwmNzSrRPYU22UP/s1600-h/boob+cartoon251.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333618899295222882" style="cursor: pointer; width: 449px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qvNmdraoRqYcGWcA7ZUw0i23xd5L_LoPBel3TmLRmEGDXUQZ_1MFP5JbzzYsdlax6LEvKlG3vGj9Z1yfagZbwg7sI9IOlfug_YLKKh6-Y7nJklKwOOfnc-fxlDGZwuwmNzSrRPYU22UP/s400/boob+cartoon251.jpg" alt="" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qvNmdraoRqYcGWcA7ZUw0i23xd5L_LoPBel3TmLRmEGDXUQZ_1MFP5JbzzYsdlax6LEvKlG3vGj9Z1yfagZbwg7sI9IOlfug_YLKKh6-Y7nJklKwOOfnc-fxlDGZwuwmNzSrRPYU22UP/s1600-h/boob+cartoon251.jpg"><br /></a></p> <p face="Helvetica" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhypiS04pMlQ7D_8jr1a9DncDkrnqtS060ekrfLLNTmXPgFBdgXQrF84wncArfHD94nLSilexCObmDr64FDJhaJtGKrPFaUgVNjmO_Xei57dlTHoRa0aacNRChyLPCumIJFj2tAnc1vNKUI/s1600-h/phlegm.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332380018113478658" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 189px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhypiS04pMlQ7D_8jr1a9DncDkrnqtS060ekrfLLNTmXPgFBdgXQrF84wncArfHD94nLSilexCObmDr64FDJhaJtGKrPFaUgVNjmO_Xei57dlTHoRa0aacNRChyLPCumIJFj2tAnc1vNKUI/s400/phlegm.jpg" alt="" /></a></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">The last cartoon </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >Spy</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> magazine ever published. At this point I was called the Andy Dick of publishing for being quite the jinx. Too frequently I was the last cartoonist to run a cartoon before the place went under.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>1998 © Bob Eckstein All rights reserved.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vFhmPcpQix77KqQhrAy439YbyB_m9NzfEl5HOYUFbQZ_QHuKIAxF0LVSmbMweq8uAKku8OIx96ZvwD7MAxEY4j-doPIYoa6yqKdZI8DTVl-9lD4FMAh94Gj44oR5Nkrs-mxdGXPIooS5/s1600-h/newyork+carton.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 384px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vFhmPcpQix77KqQhrAy439YbyB_m9NzfEl5HOYUFbQZ_QHuKIAxF0LVSmbMweq8uAKku8OIx96ZvwD7MAxEY4j-doPIYoa6yqKdZI8DTVl-9lD4FMAh94Gj44oR5Nkrs-mxdGXPIooS5/s400/newyork+carton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336984035034510002" border="0" /></a></p><p> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"><em><br /></em></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"><em>© The New Yorker Collection 2007 </em></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"><em>Bob Eckstein from cartoonbank.com. </em></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"><em>All rights reserved.</em></p> <p align="center">The first cartoon I pitched the <span style="font-style: italic;">New Yorker.</span> </p><br /><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: georgia; text-align: left;"></p><br /><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; text-align: center; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 14px; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"> </p><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; font-family: verdana; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-size:180%;" >Low Points</span> <p><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" >My journey in freelancing has been a long one but I would just like to add that, if given the chance to do it all over again, today I would be in pharmaceutical sales.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> There were so many bad moments it's hard to narrow it down to the top ten but here's three that come to mind;</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: georgia;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: georgia;"> </p> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR03URIYY8p3fk4j7L_d4NvSkLBOFwWpiYp46vMqSmiBsVajvg1oLqnvU9TWrXaydUJMaqEviBgsVuLvmSLDe4AopO6e6urwsZgxaVdoOSBRl6N66Swdkb6G9SJkXJtXG7J3IKNhA3A3s7/s1600-h/SATY.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333599016724555186" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 227px; height: 291px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR03URIYY8p3fk4j7L_d4NvSkLBOFwWpiYp46vMqSmiBsVajvg1oLqnvU9TWrXaydUJMaqEviBgsVuLvmSLDe4AopO6e6urwsZgxaVdoOSBRl6N66Swdkb6G9SJkXJtXG7J3IKNhA3A3s7/s400/SATY.jpg" alt="" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >1) Kobe Earthquake. Well, I really never made it big in my homeland, but I was big in Japan, for awhile at least...that is until the 1995 Kobe earthquake. It flattened my agent and her office (my portfolio was never recovered from the rumble). This was one of dozens of covers I did there where large department stores have their own magazines. Top illustrators are celebrities, appearing in fashion layouts and such. I would get paid alot just for an interview. After the earthquake, nothing.<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: georgia; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_uv93LUMLLhh6FCtfTZZhv-t6TBytLAEiW7Bye50mWu_BK0YzKAqZl0p7cci218wLPGpIDDqN05ELWal_8RaQqWDBTraod79dSeSDwsGJbTufVg_SVHPDvpekGgChJLbsiiyloDkHr_U/s1600-h/THE+MICK.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333614281071915778" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_uv93LUMLLhh6FCtfTZZhv-t6TBytLAEiW7Bye50mWu_BK0YzKAqZl0p7cci218wLPGpIDDqN05ELWal_8RaQqWDBTraod79dSeSDwsGJbTufVg_SVHPDvpekGgChJLbsiiyloDkHr_U/s400/THE+MICK.jpg" alt="" height="243" width="189" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: georgia; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_uv93LUMLLhh6FCtfTZZhv-t6TBytLAEiW7Bye50mWu_BK0YzKAqZl0p7cci218wLPGpIDDqN05ELWal_8RaQqWDBTraod79dSeSDwsGJbTufVg_SVHPDvpekGgChJLbsiiyloDkHr_U/s1600-h/THE+MICK.jpg"><br /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;">2) Mickey Mantle's death.<span style="font-size:100%;"> This one was a real kick in the family jewels. I was just about to fulfill a childhood fantasy, the cover of </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >Sports Illustrated</span><span style="font-size:100%;">–the job was right up my alley, too–and create two parody football teams, designing their logos. S.I. loved what I came up with and a company quickly manufactured the helmets for the cover. The night before it went to press Mickey Mantle passed away and bumped me off the cover. The $3,000 kill fee was a tiny fraction of what I was to get. It would have been the last time artwork was ever used for an S.I. cover. </span> </p></div><div> </div> <div> <p>The Mick. Pretty bad week for both of us. </p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: georgia; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_uv93LUMLLhh6FCtfTZZhv-t6TBytLAEiW7Bye50mWu_BK0YzKAqZl0p7cci218wLPGpIDDqN05ELWal_8RaQqWDBTraod79dSeSDwsGJbTufVg_SVHPDvpekGgChJLbsiiyloDkHr_U/s1600-h/THE+MICK.jpg"><br /></a></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: georgia;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: georgia;"> </p> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p>3) In later years I went into denial as print media went into it's slow demise. Living in a fantasy world, I began creating make-believe publications for make-believe assignments for myself. This was a scary period for those around me who watched me get excited over jobs that didn't exist. It goes without saying, the checks were make-believe, too.</p><p><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >I would combine bankrupt magazines I worked for to create new ones. I would then provide artwork and pithy editorials. Like this one is a hybrid of <span style="font-style: italic;">National Lampoon</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Trader Monthly</span>. At the peak of my creativity (and insanity), I was publishing eighteen titles. <span style="font-style: italic;">Maximum Walking, Popular Working Women,</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Rosie Digesting, </span>etc. Below is a cartoon which appeared in the last issue of <em>National Harpoon</em>, jinxing yet again another magazine.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: times new roman;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: right; font-family: times new roman;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: right; font-family: times new roman;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em><br /></em></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: times new roman; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qxYsu2Jl_4ahA72e_rfWLsVo0_-sSKyxfW7ZFhdxBTGG5OYE_seF853vjaDP9_X3lWFRxjhNXz63NEwEC_vd1wEXX3vSH782MmMVinlMxBCJpSKMQbnBnUTUJa_tylOzfr8hxNEw1SU_/s1600-h/USE+computer+cover.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333634274782724290" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 274px; height: 355px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qxYsu2Jl_4ahA72e_rfWLsVo0_-sSKyxfW7ZFhdxBTGG5OYE_seF853vjaDP9_X3lWFRxjhNXz63NEwEC_vd1wEXX3vSH782MmMVinlMxBCJpSKMQbnBnUTUJa_tylOzfr8hxNEw1SU_/s400/USE+computer+cover.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;" align="right"><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><em></em></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;" align="right"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em><br /></em></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>2004 © Bob Eckstein All rights reserved.</em></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_j1YTQLnxOt7XaLTyp8NpOho1FukhXJaZ7h7FaMt_pnjGbJASqF82X-IXDAtEd31DB3c57tXxPXneeXiAWp_uV3hP8IUsY48H_CEH5QjgdXfiucnhSIP-4pzlOE7UQDaMnQ90FXC-9HG/s1600-h/arctic_best21220371046.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333623532026752098" style="cursor: pointer; width: 412px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_j1YTQLnxOt7XaLTyp8NpOho1FukhXJaZ7h7FaMt_pnjGbJASqF82X-IXDAtEd31DB3c57tXxPXneeXiAWp_uV3hP8IUsY48H_CEH5QjgdXfiucnhSIP-4pzlOE7UQDaMnQ90FXC-9HG/s400/arctic_best21220371046.jpg" alt="" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: times new roman;"> </p> <h2 style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;font-size:180%;" >Present</span><br /></h2> <p><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" >I’ve recently agreed to take part i</span><span style="font-size:100%;">n an university study to correct my current negative cash flow situation. It involves testing unapproved skin products and restricting my diet to night plants. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">This is just until my new vocation as an interior designer takes hold. I've collected a team of creative names forming <em>The Penguins of Madness</em> with the first product being <strong>Smartass Ideas For the Home</strong>, details of which will also be disclosed here as I am hoping to make it all interactive. I am aboveboard about this declaration and sincerely look forward to this new challenge.</span></p> <div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLBUprvFt50_HBehwWPlEmh-TpztrqBmTE7fcVCRShvtrM_M5fPD8QY6eZRiOQ4H0I9tUrbWndA06spdE6P8wok5P6OUqgAhCt8-WPkGEd-kjOnhvtxjSRRgrwZVfktSKPoMDVjyLE5H3/s1600-h/Rodeo+clown+NEW.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333622950859192530" style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLBUprvFt50_HBehwWPlEmh-TpztrqBmTE7fcVCRShvtrM_M5fPD8QY6eZRiOQ4H0I9tUrbWndA06spdE6P8wok5P6OUqgAhCt8-WPkGEd-kjOnhvtxjSRRgrwZVfktSKPoMDVjyLE5H3/s400/Rodeo+clown+NEW.jpg" alt="" height="335" width="355" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;"><em><br /><br />2009 © Bob Eckstein All rights reserved.</em></span></div> </div>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-3571647733891132882009-05-12T21:02:00.013-05:002009-05-13T23:52:04.784-05:00I Found God on Facebook<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTYwELrgNIN2QmSQaAKuMxgtUekaFdccebIa6vLJy8igYLJpFsurA45jqBqQiJbDbROfljUWsiaTHpUS5QK1WHC0kK78MW0PqNF1H6KoLouevtrJI4_Ysnyh-TR73UBAcEQsKCb9d1Ilbh/s1600-h/jesus_website.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 420px; height: 357px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTYwELrgNIN2QmSQaAKuMxgtUekaFdccebIa6vLJy8igYLJpFsurA45jqBqQiJbDbROfljUWsiaTHpUS5QK1WHC0kK78MW0PqNF1H6KoLouevtrJI4_Ysnyh-TR73UBAcEQsKCb9d1Ilbh/s400/jesus_website.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335124425844957042" border="0" /></a><br /><br />To respond to inquiries as to what ever happened to <a href="http://open.salon.com/blog/t-bucket">T-Bucket</a> and <a href="http://open.salon.com/blog/bob_eckstein">Snowman</a>...<br /><br />We found God. On <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1749625816&ref=nf">Facebook</a>. We are now doing God's work, getting out the good word. On <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1749625816&ref=nf">Facebook</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(click image below to enlarge.)</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz6vsew_RSrEkR9UjPqrAOFsavE7yIYTiKq6iK0c7eSXLUH4UGrSFXfbD5gR5YwAUiuumyemjsYhIxCfXOw2J_epncO5A8ohXks_PLKhAWswmEQ8fLPDZGEhMMmTCGJHRuuUdHuSn8FTB4/s1600-h/open+salon4.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 537px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz6vsew_RSrEkR9UjPqrAOFsavE7yIYTiKq6iK0c7eSXLUH4UGrSFXfbD5gR5YwAUiuumyemjsYhIxCfXOw2J_epncO5A8ohXks_PLKhAWswmEQ8fLPDZGEhMMmTCGJHRuuUdHuSn8FTB4/s400/open+salon4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335537494519706898" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5g86n-mOj6IXBl8hjZqSn5mdIjwLALafUP9gYpuv8JCdeg9odwYXqvB-p3K8gfc0mqGujRByX5hsuFXC62GulDNfs9KJwxJp5YZ8DV72GWmSgR1727_5aBd5vNSMwrGbGIbWA6YJKfCC/s1600-h/opensalon5.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 361px; height: 441px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5g86n-mOj6IXBl8hjZqSn5mdIjwLALafUP9gYpuv8JCdeg9odwYXqvB-p3K8gfc0mqGujRByX5hsuFXC62GulDNfs9KJwxJp5YZ8DV72GWmSgR1727_5aBd5vNSMwrGbGIbWA6YJKfCC/s400/opensalon5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335537571773799058" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTEyfZ-T9B0xfVNkskAQZA1Z5y8vTulrM8jk0kUcgIkk6lD3h954ME4HQCX6vF6ThB3Gs8xmiKWet0mDbwoe62W9suPrPjp3U427axrU_UMW08_MQZAMg5yi8EVTgnwo2ktVLHCHd5WNW/s1600-h/open+shot2.jpg"><br /></a>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-37889812896301523642009-04-05T21:53:00.002-05:002009-04-05T21:56:13.389-05:00Open Call to Snowman Fans Everywhere<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKotpD-wxMIFLWhGAlRgwMP0ksMwzYoPk9dSMP-pRFPSIpPOj-5lYjhp3MNlbY9l4iwOpJt9KSHiTE674BdwKJ2mvbj-RxXhbl2nrXF4rht83alR2FYbCyJIX0bGtq-RRSJlGHDPyReA3R/s1600-h/gandalf.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 355px; height: 473px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKotpD-wxMIFLWhGAlRgwMP0ksMwzYoPk9dSMP-pRFPSIpPOj-5lYjhp3MNlbY9l4iwOpJt9KSHiTE674BdwKJ2mvbj-RxXhbl2nrXF4rht83alR2FYbCyJIX0bGtq-RRSJlGHDPyReA3R/s400/gandalf.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321401043145539650" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Galdalf the Purple</span> by Edgar Garcia</span><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Freelancer's Lament</span> has been on sabbatical the past couple of months due to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Snowman-Bob-Eckstein/dp/1416940669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1030266-9260937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193021010&sr=1-1">my snowman book The History of the Snowman</a> being turned into a specular TV Christmas special. Along with writing a script and beginning around-the-clock production, I am also working on my next book all while continuing to do television and radio interviews as a snowman expert (today I was on a daytime talk show in Iowa). While I want to apologize for the lack of snowman updates, but in the long run this non-stop work load will mean big times for the snowman in the near future and reach more people on major television so it's all good. The show will be an one hour documentary geared for adults yet humorous and will include interviews, beautiful animation, historic reenactments and celebrity appearances.<br /><br />In the meantime, I want to ask all my readers if they have any interesting snowman stories or collections or snowman antiques worthy of inclusion of a special to please share it with me. Please send our story and pictures to snowmanexpert@pipeline.com<br /><br />Special thanks to Edgar Garcia of Bloomfield, NJ for building and photographing the wonderful Galdalf the Purple.Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-10058494924991310472009-03-24T10:39:00.004-05:002009-03-24T10:41:57.515-05:00New Corporate Inspiration Plaques<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDcckV8HmJ-8mtijs_TqCJG2RF6HLPoktJBhVGBQIYXADWslNZkcmtfZL5vS1sIKuiy7nr8p5z_OxRXxByAk7EE9TOrmZ29W2ifq034xRj9I1NZ5WugSbzf097cFsK0wabXsAWLNpXIZG/s1600-h/doubt1237851621.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 393px; height: 361px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDcckV8HmJ-8mtijs_TqCJG2RF6HLPoktJBhVGBQIYXADWslNZkcmtfZL5vS1sIKuiy7nr8p5z_OxRXxByAk7EE9TOrmZ29W2ifq034xRj9I1NZ5WugSbzf097cFsK0wabXsAWLNpXIZG/s400/doubt1237851621.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316779483886718338" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Bob Eckstein © 2009</span><br />Don't give up!Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-44437434526606214032009-01-31T10:44:00.019-05:002009-02-04T04:25:54.172-05:00Interview with New Yorker Cartoonist Liza Donnelly: One Half of a Dream Couple<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I was lucky enough to chat with one half of what has to be one the coolest couples there ever was right behind Bradgelina and Sting & Trudie. </span><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://michaelmaslin.com/">Michael Maslin</a> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">and</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </span><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://lizadonnelly.com/">Liza Donnelly</a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> both have their beloved cartoons grace the coolest magazine there is and live under the same roof. If that wasn’t romantic enough they just produced a new book together called </span><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Marriage-Adventures-Matrimony-Cartooning/dp/1400068088/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233426399&sr=1-4">Cartoon Marriage: Adventures in Love and Matrimony by The New Yorker’s Cartooning Couple</a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> (Random House) that’s out now (tired of giving chocolates?) and is found at <a href="http://www.cartoonmarriagebook.com">cartoonmarriagebook.com</a>.</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">There is probably no one more important female cartoonist today than Liza Donnelly. Aside from the fact she is a </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">New Yorker</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> cartoonist, it was her book </span><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.amazon.com/Funny-Ladies-Greatest-Cartoonists-Cartoons/dp/1591023440/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233424565&sr=1-3">Funny Ladies</a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.amazon.com/Funny-Ladies-Greatest-Cartoonists-Cartoons/dp/1591023440/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233424565&sr=1-3"> </a>(to a lesser degree her new book </span><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Sensibility-Examine-Love-Cartoons/dp/0446198153/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233426374&sr=1-2">Sex and Sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love</a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">) which celebrates and revitalizes the women’s role in the cartooning by documenting it’s history in the context of the only and (sadly) last meaningful venue left in cartooning, </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The New Yorker</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">.</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">(I'd like to add also that I am HUGE fans of their work–I have four of their books–and that they are both super nice!)</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18IL2y45mc2lIbjnpNUyW3zSjfI7fNSOAuQP5GN_6dq5Nnl0Du2ZFVeTrkk7q880VJF6mJrty4vTNAJ-POYrMgqGabHPVd2eX4y_vfYf807-VJZ9rE0aQQYLjf_XTOUzR48qdQfeI8XzH/s1600-h/DONNELLY+Photo300dpi.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 164px; height: 246px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18IL2y45mc2lIbjnpNUyW3zSjfI7fNSOAuQP5GN_6dq5Nnl0Du2ZFVeTrkk7q880VJF6mJrty4vTNAJ-POYrMgqGabHPVd2eX4y_vfYf807-VJZ9rE0aQQYLjf_XTOUzR48qdQfeI8XzH/s400/DONNELLY+Photo300dpi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297520701059628050" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bob Eckstein:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Do you feel like you carrying the torch for women’s cartooning by being an authority on the subject? </span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Liza Donnelly:</span> That’s a loaded question. Let me start this whole thing with a caveat: I am not fond of the term women’s cartooning. I am supportive of women who draw cartoons, and am supportive of cartoons that deal with issues that concern women, expose sexism with humor, etc. But I don’t want to ghettoize women, or myself. I am a cartoonist. Not a woman cartoonist. I do want people to notice that women have not been in this business very much, and I would want them to think about that. And not all women are the same, of course, so one has to be careful.<br /><br />It would be nice to think I am an authority on something! I am perhaps the first person to look critically at the issue of cartoonists that are women at <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span> and put it in a book. I became fascinated as to why there are fewer women in cartooning than men, and it led to Funny Ladies. I was one of three women doing cartoons (compared to around a hundred men) at <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span> when I started in 1979 (Nurit Karlin, Roz Chast and myself), so I have been aware of the disparity for quite some time. I loved researching Funny Ladies. I spent a year at the New York Public Library immersed in the 20’s, 30’sand 40’s of <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span> Archives, reading correspondence between artists and editors. I was also inspired by the work of writer Judith Lee, and her book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Defining-Yorker-Studies-Popular-Culture/dp/1578061970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233426826&sr=1-1">Defining New Yorker Humor</a>. She has a chapter on cartoonists, and her observations about the women really spurred me on to do the book. I’ve since met her, and have learned that there is a small but growing group of writers who write about women and humor, which I am proud to say includes me now! Another interesting writer is Regina Barecca, who is also a professor at University of Connecticut. It is not a field that has had much attention—humor is rarely taken seriously. Of course Christopher Hitchens wrote <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701">a very strange article in Vanity Fair</a> last year about why women aren’t funny. He’s odd. Then <span style="font-style: italic;">Vanity Fair</span> came out with <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/04/funnygirls200804">a cover article about funny women</a> several months ago. There are more and more professionally funny women now, but it has been a difficult ride for them, historically. I taught a class on <span style="font-style: italic;">Funny Women</span> at Vassar College last fall. We studied Dorothy Parker, Mae West, Lucille Ball, Lily Tomlin, Zora Neal Hurston, Veronica Geng, to name a few, as well as cartoonists like Helen Hokinson, Barbara Shermund, Nicole Hollander, Jackie Ormes: as well as contemporary mainstream and underground cartoonists. It’s a fascinating field because it really gets at the heart of creativity and personal interactions. Humor is a difficult business, regardless of gender.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">You had mentioned to me the name of Trina Robbins, who you consider another leading authority. Could you please share with us a little about her and where we could learn more? </span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> Trina was a practicing a comic artist, and now is a writer about women comic artists. Her specialty is the history of women in comics…comic books, comic strips. She knows a tremendous amount about women who have drawn comics and I’ve used her research and her books to understand that world more fully. Her books are very interesting and informative. One is called, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Grrlz-History-Womens-Comics/dp/0811821994">From Girls to Grrzl</a>. Check out Amazon—she has a lot of titles.<br /><br />The difficult thing about doing books about a group of people—in this case women—is that people then think you are grouping them because they are all alike. When I wrote <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Funny-Ladies-Greatest-Cartoonists-Cartoons/dp/1591023440/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233424565&sr=1-3">Funny Ladies</a>, and compiled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0446198153?tag=lizadonnelly-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0446198153&adid=051WAEHXYXPD17HZ36WW&">Sex and Sensibility</a>, my intention was to educate people that there are women who do this, and that their work is not all alike. That said, there is at times a bias in our culture against different types of humor. We tend to laugh at humor that has been “accepted” by the status quo. The status quo traditionally has been male, and women, as different as they all are, can oftentimes draw obliquely. Roz Chast’s work was not universally accepted when she first appeared; now her work is rightfully adored. It took the innovative vision of art editor Lee Lorenz and senior editor William Shawn (who said <span style="font-style: italic;">“How does she know they are cartoons?”</span>) to buy her work. Granted, the number of women actually drawing cartoons is smaller than the number of men, and so the number being bought will naturally be proportionally smaller. Why is it that women haven’t typically gone into cartooning? I think there are a lot of answers to that, not one. The overriding thing is women have not traditionally been encouraged to be funny. That’s changing, but for many years it was not ladylike to crack a joke, and it was not cool to take the spotlight away from a man by being humorous. Humor is powerful. But this is really not so true anymore, and more and more women are going into comedy, cartoons, comics. I think the Internet has a LOT of women cartoonists—I can’t prove it, but I think it’s true. The thing about the Internet is that there are fewer editors, so artists can do what they want. Some of it is not good, but much is.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">BE: <span style="font-style: italic;">But I’ve also found that the internet (along with other factors post 9/11) has made the world a sort of open mic. All of a sudden, everyone thinks they’re hilarious. The New Yorker even recognizes this cultural phenomenon running a weekly cartoon caption contest. What are your thoughts on the current comic landscape?</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> It is a cultural phenomenon, and a lot of people are funny. But as to whether they can translate funny into art, is another matter. The caption contest provides the interactivity so necessary for publishing today, and it allows readers to feel participatory in/with a magazine they feel they “own” because they are long-term subscribers. It also gives them a window into the creative process, and how difficult it can be. These things are good. Where I have concerns is how it is a simplification of an art form; the contest risks making what we do a game, a contest. Rather than a voice from an individual’s perspective. The Internet is important, of course. But I still like magazines, and the somewhat old-fashioned relationship of editor and artist. It's the same thing with writers. The editor is a guide, someone to help the artist reach his or her potential. People who write or draw don't always have someone they can trust to be a sounding board for developing their voice, and that’s where a good editor comes in. Internet publishing is so fast, this sort of relationship is less possible. So we need both set-ups. Of course, I think it is possible on the Internet.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MC27CiEa5lQhJmGH_weJgcIwaf_IJhPECleSPgMb-KwDsClaeD5x-JvnVRbCgFKPEPOJlPqNN5vmuIkahiHqsco47aeZJOIutEFF7EtKJ5B7A8-hEOvqqXL6mCLkUktO9RCqyYU0u7Wu/s1600-h/2000++Let%27s+eat..+dirty.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 404px; height: 528px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MC27CiEa5lQhJmGH_weJgcIwaf_IJhPECleSPgMb-KwDsClaeD5x-JvnVRbCgFKPEPOJlPqNN5vmuIkahiHqsco47aeZJOIutEFF7EtKJ5B7A8-hEOvqqXL6mCLkUktO9RCqyYU0u7Wu/s400/2000++Let%27s+eat..+dirty.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297522909258992370" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"O.K., everybody, let's eat before the food gets dirty!"</span><br /><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">When did you know you wanted to be a cartoonist? </span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> My parents subscribed to <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span>, so it was around the house (I have no idea if they read it. Probably not), and my mother loved James Thurber. One day, when I was home sick from school (I was about 8), she gave me a collection of his drawings and a few slips of paper. I traced some of his characters and that was it. I also traced Charles Schultz as a child. Then very soon, I began drawing my own people. It made my mother happy, so I was encouraged to keep drawing funny pictures. The power of mothers! Anyway, my sister was always getting into trouble—real trouble like running-away-from-home trouble—and I wanted to make my mother and father laugh. So the dysfunctional relationship of editor/artist was spawned. I think of my editors as troubled parents (and other cartoonists my delinquent sisters): I’m just trying to get their attention and love.<br /><br />Seriously, though, I found cartooning great for me because I was a quiet child and loved spending time by myself. I never felt that I totally fit in, and I bet a lot of cartoonists feel that way. We don’t fit in, so we find cartooning to amuse ourselves; and to be a good cartoonist, one has to be able to step outside of society a bit and be an observer. Cartoonists usually are drawn to it as children and never grow out of it (or they never grow up, is another way to put it); the lucky ones get published and can make a living, the unlucky ones probably become axe murderers.<br /><br />I came of age in Washington DC during Watergate, a rather formative environment for a cartoonist! When I graduated from college, I wanted to be a political cartoonist but didn’t have the acerbic mind then that is necessary for that line of work. Although with age, my mind is becoming acerbic—finally—and I am doing more political cartoons than I did in my earlier years. <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span> is a good place where one can be quietly political, and I have sold a number of political cartoons to them over the years. And, happily, I have found a place to regularly publish my political cartoons. It's on the web, <a href="http://www.wowowow.com/">wowowow.com</a>. They let me do whatever I want.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8MVe4QhpCRilv910hYSgmJPm93O1fl85mnhRXT4tzWOpVKFLcPlIeUyI7buN2xY6iuZNHK-JGqpdSNsoBDGp_V9BVMjXGceWJjg_MiVp6xjs3Q8k0E23SiYPbP2nqo6mTrlmRTbLd3ah/s1600-h/democrat+gotten+way.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 447px; height: 343px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8MVe4QhpCRilv910hYSgmJPm93O1fl85mnhRXT4tzWOpVKFLcPlIeUyI7buN2xY6iuZNHK-JGqpdSNsoBDGp_V9BVMjXGceWJjg_MiVp6xjs3Q8k0E23SiYPbP2nqo6mTrlmRTbLd3ah/s400/democrat+gotten+way.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297521941012282418" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"So you're a democrat and you're gotten your way. Now what?"</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">What was it like the first time you got accepted into The New Yorker? </span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> It was terribly exciting. I was working in the art department at The American Museum of Natural History, which was a great place to work for a while, and the first thing I thought about was quitting my job (I didn't right away). I hadn't been submitting very long, but had wanted to be a New Yorker cartoonist for many, many years. At the time, when you sold a cartoon, you felt you were accepted into the fold. It was understood that you may not sell again for quite a while (and I didn't), but that you had potential and the editors wanted you to stick around and keep trying. Also, many cartoonists started at the magazine by selling an idea, a caption, that would then be given to one of the established older cartoonists. This wasn't the case for me, so of course the narcissist in me interpreted that to mean I was really great. It was forever until I sold another, a multi-panel, almost wordless, cartoon. Many of my cartoons were captionless back then. The third one was a political cartoon about Fritz Mondale, remember him?<br /><br />The day I sold my first cartoon, Lee Lorenz asked to see me, and I had never met him. I was so nervous, I thought my heart would jump out of my body. I was only 24, the youngest cartoonist (and one of three women, parenthetically) and so green in terms of dealing with anyone in authority. But Lee was very nice, and he still is. Back then, the cartoon editor did not see just anyone. You had to be a "regular". Even after I sold cartoons, I was not invited to go back to the offices on a regular basis. The place had a formal way about it, unlike today. The offices were old and mysterious, and there were ghosts of famous cartoonists and writers in the corners. It had a mystique, or rather I gave it one, perhaps. After I spoke to Lee that day, I went home and did about 50 versions of the cartoon before I decided I had one I liked. Frank Model once said, "You have to draw better than you know how." And I believed him. I still try to draw as if it is effortless.<br /><br />Around that time, I started going to the regular lunches with cartoonists. There was a Tuesday lunch with the older cartoonists, and the Wednesday lunches with the newcomers, like Jack Zeigler, Mick Stevens, Sam Gross, Dick Cline, Roz Chast, myself and, yes, Bob Mankoff! <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">[the current New Yorker cartoon editor]</span> The lunches were a lot of fun. Often, we would spend the afternoon after lunch playing pool in Tin Pan Alley, or go to a Mets game, or go on the Circle Line. Wednesday was the cartoonists' Friday. We tended to imbibe a fair amount.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Your husband is New Yorker cartoonist, Michael Maslin. You may be in one of the most unusual relationships there is, and to a New Yorker reader, one that sounds idyllic. What is something about the dynamics you share that the average person wouldn’t know? </span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> Michael and I met because of <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker.</span> We live and breath cartoons and <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span>—I know, it’s sad. We do have children, but sadly, they take a back seat to the magazine (don’t tell them). That’s a joke, of course (in case they read this). We were both New Yorker cartoonists when we met, and have been married 20 years, so far. We share a love for <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span> and the art form of cartoons. Our comedic sensibilities are similar, which probably helps keep us together. Actually, I think it’s simply humor that keeps us together. And, we don't share our regular week's batches. It's too risky—what if the other person hesitates before laughing? Or, God forbid, not laugh at all. Or want to change the caption, or ask what it means. It can crush your week's hopes! This business has so much rejection, one has to protect oneself, even from one's spouse. Michael and I have worked on strips together, which is fun. What I have observed about our working styles is that for cartooning, I am more tuned into the news and current trends; whereas Michael is tuned into his inner humor. He can spend hours just drawing, whereas I can't. I seem to need to do cartoons for a "reason"...not that Michael doesn't. But our ways of getting ideas is subtly different.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">And I understand you’re publishing a book together this January called <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Marriage-Adventures-Matrimony-Cartooning/dp/1400068088/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233424103&sr=1-4">Cartoon Marriage: Adventures in Love and Matrimony by The New Yorker’s Cartooning Couple</a> (Random House)…</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> It’s each of our cartoons about marriage in a general sense, with all it’s ups and downs, as well as graphic narratives about our life together. We wrote and drew the graphic narratives together, which was a very interesting process to say the least. The one we had the most trouble with was on the subject of fighting. We couldn’t agree on how we fight. But we had a riot with the form since it was a departure for us, in terms of drawing and writing as a team that way. I hope to do more, and I think Michael feels the same way. As a kid, I learned to enjoy reading by reading the early graphic novelist, <a href="http://www.k-state.edu/english/nelp/purple/">Crockett Johnson</a>. Everything comes full circle.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Did you consciously decide to write books because you were tired or constrained with just cartooning?</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> I didn’t consciously decide to turn to writing books, it just evolved naturally. That said, however, I do think as one gets older, it is important to diversify. Once you have your voice, or your style of drawing, it is a springboard for other things. You don’t give up your original love, but one can extend it to other forms, whether those forms involve art or not. Plus, I love studying cartoons and culture, I love working with other cartoonists in the books I’ve edited.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Have you found teaching helpful to your own work? </span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> Yes, I think it has. I started teaching knowing that I needed to find an additional way to find meaning in work. I love knowing the students and what they think—I am in regular touch with people of a different generation, and that keeps my cartoons fresh, I think. I teach in two departments, American Culture and Women's studies, which helps me in that I am reading so many interesting books. Keeps me on my toes. I also taught a class (which I hope they offer again) called Cartoon and Comic Art in America—a wonderful cultural look at cartoons and comics as history and insight into American culture. Another teacher and I designed and taught the class together.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKn3fSvuKoFjaGrj9JGoPxBGNgA3NJ6p8QHIJyJ81Mb8Z1xOUcgeCIpv3zi49afFymq4umAftBGzy_Dd5Kfk2jF-0vKTfyt9pw4Iq0OKFPUb3J1_AzLBkBWnCidbpjtbPKz_bjfR0nI7B/s1600-h/Donnelly-+Protest"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 387px; height: 331px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKn3fSvuKoFjaGrj9JGoPxBGNgA3NJ6p8QHIJyJ81Mb8Z1xOUcgeCIpv3zi49afFymq4umAftBGzy_Dd5Kfk2jF-0vKTfyt9pw4Iq0OKFPUb3J1_AzLBkBWnCidbpjtbPKz_bjfR0nI7B/s400/Donnelly-+Protest" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297521003669468130" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"I didn't protest this war, but I'll try to protest the next one."</span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">So you’ve been focused on American cartooning or have you also examined cartooning on the world forum?</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> Looking at cartoons and comics as an American phenomena is fascinating and sheds a lot of light on our heritage and what has shaped us as a (wonderful but) flawed society. I spent a year of my high school years living abroad with my family, and it gave me a perspective that I might not have otherwise. I grew up loving cartoons from other countries, particularly because they were often captionless and oblique in their tone. This interest continues today, and I was fortunate enough to be invited to be a founding participant in <a href="http://www.cartooningforpeace.org/">Cartooning for Peace</a>, an initiative that was launched at the UN a few years ago. It was begun by French cartoonist Plantu, and we have a traveling exhibit that has gone all over the world, and we participate in lectures and talks worldwide. Last month I was in France at the International Cartoon Festival in St. Just, and next year hope to travel to the Cartoon Museum in Israel. It’s so interesting to connect with cartoonists from other countries. The world is so interconnected by the Internet, anyway, images—because of the ease of communication via imagery—only help people and countries further the dialogue. That’s what cartoons are about. Humor and dialogue.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Many at The New Yorker seem pained from the process and pressure one endures getting into the magazine. Are you happy?</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> I’m very happy. The rejection is very hard to take, but I have so much else going on, I can sort of put it in its place. As long as I am published in <span style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span> every so often, I am very happy. And I want to write and edit many more books.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">BE:</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <span style="font-style: italic;">What would you do instead if I took away your pens? </span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LD:</span> There are days when I don’t use pens at all. But drawing is so integrated into my being, it’s like it’s just another tool for expression—sometimes I utilize it, sometimes it is not what is needed. They have a new technology now for people who are handicapped: a computer reads your mind and spells words. I hope they are working on the same technology for artists: if I think a cartoon, the computer would draw it. If I could no longer draw, I would go through a period of mourning, maybe some depression, heavy drinking, a spending spree, eat a lot of ice cream. And then continue teaching, speaking, writing; and, if you took away my brushes too, do some finger painting.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">If you would like to meet the authors and get an autographed copy, Liza Donnelly and Michael Maslin will be appearing;</span><br /></span><span>Feb 8,</span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span> 1pm</span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span> <a href="http://www.pawlingbookcove.com">Book Cove</a>, Pawling, NY <br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span>Feb 14, </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span>4:30pm</span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span><a href="http://www.oblongbooks.com"> Oblong Books</a>, </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span> </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span>Rhinebeck, NY <br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span>Feb 21, </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span>11:00am</span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span><a href="http://www.Merrittbooks.com"> Merritt Books</a>, </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span> </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span>Millbrook, NY</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><br /></span>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-41784617087338161242009-01-15T20:28:00.003-05:002009-01-15T20:35:12.690-05:00MY Last Lecture<div style="text-align: left;"><img style="width: 401px; height: 306px;" id="cid_82082" src="http://open.salon.com/files/my_good-bye_piiece1231860413.jpg" alt="My Good-bye piiece" hspace="5" /><br /></div><p style="font-family:lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><sub>The following is an excerpt of my commencement speech made last Friday night at The Hamlin Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Vocational Institute. Although I am NOT terminally ill, in all honesty, I have not been feeling all that great since I would say around the holidays;</sub></span></p> <div align="center"> </div> <span style="font-size:100%;"><em>“Class of ’09, congratulations on your achievement which each of you proudly hold in your hands. This will be the last time I address you as your teacher, your friend and fellow human being. </em><br /><br /><em>We all have childhood dreams, which I think are the lifeblood of one’s character and fortitude. In reexamination I see that mine have long hit the dust, like melons falling off a flatbed truck on life’s bumpy road. I stand before you now a man in a tail end of a emotionally draining midlife crisis. That said, I’d like to share with you what my childhood dreams were. You are welcome to do with you wish with this information. </em><em>Here they are in no particular order:</em></span> <div align="left"> </div> <span style="font-size:100%;"><em><br /></em>1) <em> </em><strong> Start an Art School for Elephants.</strong><em> I came up with this idea first. In first grade I distinctively remember having aspirations and every intention of one day opening a college so that this great land mammal may explore different disciplines of arts, which included not only painting, but music, sculpture, and dance. Now every well-connected, no-talent elephant with some art supplies is on YouTube, hocking clumsy self-portraits. A missed opportunity and one that I plan to stay bitter about for a while.<br /><br /></em>2) <em> </em><strong>Be the First Beginner to Win the US. Open. </strong><em>What’s interesting about this is I have not missed a single U.S. tennis championship in the past five years. Granted, I’ve attended as only a spectator but I have accumulated invaluable insight into what distinguishes the pretenders from the contenders. This looks like Rafael Nadal’s year but this spring I begin taking tennis lessons.<br /><br /></em>3) <em> </em><strong>Invent a Time Machine. </strong><em>When I was a kid, it was a dream of mine to go back in time. Again, it looks like I might have raised the bar too high as not only do I have no progress to report on this front but for the past twenty years it hasn’t even been on my radar. I totally forgot about this probably around the time I realized not everything in comic books was real. I have never in my life even taken a physics class or whatever it is I would need to take to start work on a time machine.<br /><br /></em>4) <em> </em><strong>Revenge. </strong><em>Too bad about that time machine business, because it kind of went hand-in-hand with my childhood dream #3; kicking the you-know-what out of Johann Sebastian Bach. Ever since I was forced to take violin lessons as a little boy against my will I’ve wanted to travel back in time so that I could give the Baroque composer the beating of his life. I could go on, but what’s the point? It’s all self-explanatory and I have never had closure.<br /></em><br />5) <em> </em><strong>Have My Own Remote Island Fully Staffed By Domesticated Monkeys.</strong><em> Originally the intent was to have a tropical island overflowing with Amazon women waiting on me hand and foot but ultimately that vision was tweaked after recognizing how funny it would be having servants who flung feces at each other. This revelation notwithstanding, the bigger question now is what insight have I gained from all of this and taking stock of the shortcomings of my childhood dreams.<br /><br /></em><em>What lesson I have learned is this: all of these aspirations have one thing in common—aside from the fact that none of them came to fruition—all childhood dreams, mine, yours…the dreams of regular day-to-day people out there…require one thing for them to blossom. Proper funding. None of mine aforementioned schemes got off the ground because I didn’t have a business plan and some serious dough; the art school for elephants, the time machine and the necessary research that was going to be required the discover such a contraption, the expense of the pro tennis tour and employing coaches, advisers, etc., even the island chock-full of monkeys; feeding them, getting them shots or whatever…all projects with expenses which quickly add up.</em><br /><br /><em>Fate has brought us all here together in this very special room, the Hamlin Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Vocational Institute Auditorium…a distinction and drive that will catapult us all to realize each of our own special childhood dreams. Let’s stop blaming the economy. There comes a time in everyone’s life when opportunity knocks. For us in the unforgiving refrigeration and air conditioning repair business our ship has finally come in. It’s the mother of all breaks and it’s called the S.S. Global Warming. I am imploring the graduating class of 2009 to answer that door and seize the moment. The dream lives on. Congratulations and good luck making the most of your certificate. Good night.</em><em>”</em></span>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-18487873333183475722008-12-23T09:29:00.005-05:002008-12-23T09:50:25.176-05:00Merry Christmas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEcsCMl69IAz7F0w2BcY4W_ceKocweUDVShm5N8IqKK_1T77NSFnflzyB0qTl2sODNZeOv-rkCHZ15oqs_6S2axHEInrgGN3cl4DP8AKSsV8-xsbqVHO8tWltE6ULIjfIr5zwzq0kBWC-/s1600-h/card.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 376px; height: 516px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEcsCMl69IAz7F0w2BcY4W_ceKocweUDVShm5N8IqKK_1T77NSFnflzyB0qTl2sODNZeOv-rkCHZ15oqs_6S2axHEInrgGN3cl4DP8AKSsV8-xsbqVHO8tWltE6ULIjfIr5zwzq0kBWC-/s400/card.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282993101073875730" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">Have</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">a</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">great</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">holidays</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">everyone!</span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>(sorry, they haven't been more posts of late. But I'm digging through all the snowman entries for the next snowman contest and hope to post them between Christmas and New Year's. I still have not returned home from the start of the month due to working on the promotion of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Snowman-Bob-Eckstein/dp/1416940669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1030266-9260937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193021010&sr=1-1">The History of the Snowman</a>...Sunday I did a snowman editorial for <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=45309732062&h=ZK539&u=6p3gO">The New York Pos</a>t...Today I'm the cover story for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Snowman-Bob-Eckstein/dp/1416940669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1030266-9260937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193021010&sr=1-1">Electric City</a>...Christmas, I will be on <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Good Morning America</span>...Friday I did the Op-Ed for <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The Daily News</span>...Sunday I have a big piece in <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The New York Times</span> sports section.)</div>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-47422396976358807522008-12-12T11:56:00.001-05:002008-12-12T10:19:50.745-05:00Are you near Brattleboro, Vermont?<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='411' height='341' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzDaN420-FyK3I3pG9yjNCB6C_u2Sbyw3dhxf0qPlKOxd71e0AjjGxUnY736tlnbyz7rbHUtbtxOSKx3XsnGw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Special thanks to the Emmy-award winning producer <a href="http://www.fullmindcreative.com/contact.html">Trevor Crafts, head of FullMind Creative</a><br /></span><br /><span class="status_body"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">I'm be in Brattleboro, Vermont Friday giving a snowman presentation. Hope to see you there!</span><br />December 12th, Friday;</span> </span><span class="status_body"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="status_body"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">7 pm <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">SNOWMAN PRESENTATION & SIGNING</span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="status_body"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"></span></span><span class="status_body"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a href="http://www.brooks.lib.vt.us/">Brooks Memorial Library</a> </span>224 Main Street <span class="status_body">Brattleboro, Vermont (802-251-8195)</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="status_body"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><br /></span></span><span class="status_body"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUt3w1PR-auOunsD7IFllhOGiiYKXscI-J_264vJ39aB4Aw6mrE9QmlFexcch_tJKgbrhPS79Ob6EWDpaTVmB7x3B3gOpT8Pdbdw78KDMqB7vXcsBDoZ4V9dpnYqXZg4nbXsRZHgwHptB/s1600-h/PeopleMag121508SwnmnLowRes.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUt3w1PR-auOunsD7IFllhOGiiYKXscI-J_264vJ39aB4Aw6mrE9QmlFexcch_tJKgbrhPS79Ob6EWDpaTVmB7x3B3gOpT8Pdbdw78KDMqB7vXcsBDoZ4V9dpnYqXZg4nbXsRZHgwHptB/s400/PeopleMag121508SwnmnLowRes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276752595014266146" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Also, please check out the new People magazine. I'm on pg. 60!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCt0eRvv5pWwFHF1ZwNpoECCF477ujiDAwAHCnVMy36DeFDJXHPMWBvERNXcLURwD1zPdbVfNZRLl4PAiBJ780xdcTpcU4RN70yfb-vw379qyZRwtwF1dCSzmwtod-XvaVD8K7UxDXherS/s1600-h/Snowman+Book+Truck4.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCt0eRvv5pWwFHF1ZwNpoECCF477ujiDAwAHCnVMy36DeFDJXHPMWBvERNXcLURwD1zPdbVfNZRLl4PAiBJ780xdcTpcU4RN70yfb-vw379qyZRwtwF1dCSzmwtod-XvaVD8K7UxDXherS/s400/Snowman+Book+Truck4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276720571847551922" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As primer there's a cool interview I did with the <a href="http://authoringauctioneer.com/the-snowman-expert/">Authoring Auctioneer.</a><br />Or listen to this <a href="http://mrg.zzari.net/Podcast/THE%20HISTORY%20OF%20THE%20SNOWMAN%20WITH%20BOB%20ECKSTEIN%2012.2.08.mp3">fun radio spot </a>on WKBK in New Hampshire.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgihBb7ivHStHjPk6FkPeuPU4D2KuhtvbFuGFOcKF1e-d6q5YXdMHryzGbNYl20pA-m8SWczxzd8vsnamR8sfvBtuasWcE6RLSx_iwPLApbXm_cvJWvTosKOq_eR1-BaQU66eATgh9VFveW/s1600-h/Headshot.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgihBb7ivHStHjPk6FkPeuPU4D2KuhtvbFuGFOcKF1e-d6q5YXdMHryzGbNYl20pA-m8SWczxzd8vsnamR8sfvBtuasWcE6RLSx_iwPLApbXm_cvJWvTosKOq_eR1-BaQU66eATgh9VFveW/s400/Headshot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276720499066046258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNW4uJkSwLabdOZBPz3lWBOTazkRpExVZdxCAp-o02LVrOquTPJ5a_1buL96CxN10QZ2ic7orHDit1s0auR0uxUU9mc-LbxESgQhuMn9pcE6IK1PxFCMadwWZ29RcdYKiCtJNSsoYbqIrK/s1600-h/Picture+7_50.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNW4uJkSwLabdOZBPz3lWBOTazkRpExVZdxCAp-o02LVrOquTPJ5a_1buL96CxN10QZ2ic7orHDit1s0auR0uxUU9mc-LbxESgQhuMn9pcE6IK1PxFCMadwWZ29RcdYKiCtJNSsoYbqIrK/s400/Picture+7_50.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277418047987891186" border="0" /></a><br />For those interested in signed copies of The History of the Snowman please visit the great bookstore Morningside Books @ Broadway & 114th St.<br />In the Schenectady Area? The beautiful <a href="http://www.opendoor-bookstore.com/">Open Door bookstore</a> not only has signed copies but the snowman mugs. Click link for hours & directions.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Finally, I wanted to thank everyone writing me compliments on the book.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:180%;" >THANKS!</span><br />Plus I wanted to explain to those who wrote me and thought the reviews on the right and below here were funny and thought I was joking that actually the quotes are real;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"Very entertaining!"</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 102, 102);"> – Monty Python's Michael Palin</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"Brilliant!"</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 102, 102);"> – Joe Jesselli, Smoking Gun.com</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">"Best Book of the Season"</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 102, 102);"> – Amazon.com</span></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 102, 102);"></span></span>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-7613389525152297052008-11-29T20:57:00.006-05:002008-11-29T22:55:54.974-05:00Ushering in DecemberI'm about to begin a book & speaking tour which starts in a few hours as of November 29th (check right column) but have alot of announcements to make. I will leave this post up for awhile with changing news reported on <a href="http://www.historyofthesnowman.com/">Today's Snowman</a>.<br /><br />I hope to see many friends I've made online through the book, many who helped me on the book. I want to thank <a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/">David Giacalone</a> and Laura Lee Linder in particular for making me feel welcome to return to Schenectady in a few days. (Laura was helpful in the actual research of my book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Snowman-Bob-Eckstein/dp/1416940669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1030266-9260937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193021010&sr=1-1">The History of the Snowman</a> and is very involved with <a href="http://www.schist.org/">The Schenectady County Historical Society</a> and <a href="http://1streformed.com/">First Reformed Church of Schenectady</a>. She is finishing a DVD on historical Schenectady. Further info on David just posted a generous write-up of my upcoming event and has a very <a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/">cool website</a> which is a unusual combination of haiku, law stuff and snowman interests. Right, you have to see it to believe it. I was just enjoying a piece about a sexy lawyers calendar!)<br /><br />One other blog I want to recommend is <a href="http://snowvigate.blogspot.com/">Snow*Vigate</a>. It's a journal for poetry, flash fiction and many other forms of writing with alot of snow metaphors from the creator, Doug Martin, who is snowman obsessed.<span style="font-style: italic;"> "We want to see genres coming together and huddling in a blizzard to keep warm. We want to see verbs slapping the hell out of lazy nouns. We want to see God's syntax in snow. The unconscious is sexy. So are the tails of barnbirds, I am told. The 'snaw-rad' leads here. The 'snaw-rad' loves you."</span> Cool, right?<br /><br />Finally, I want to recommend some holiday gift ideas, all books.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmVYx0mpcUzJShYBnegxfhmPAobDkOYCyz9WoHgfPERhc_FOrI0jSW4HDIhZ2gnnVxfeSVp5Q_wGM6hRk1ct5GoP8au9Vez1OgogWI9BiCAmU5uXo8V3s2NAYan2A5RBPlMcHaGUPeW5Om/s1600-h/207914974.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmVYx0mpcUzJShYBnegxfhmPAobDkOYCyz9WoHgfPERhc_FOrI0jSW4HDIhZ2gnnVxfeSVp5Q_wGM6hRk1ct5GoP8au9Vez1OgogWI9BiCAmU5uXo8V3s2NAYan2A5RBPlMcHaGUPeW5Om/s400/207914974.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274277835058840690" border="0" /></a><br />First up is a must buy for book lovers in the Philadelphia area. <a href="http://www.mpgadomski.com/id25.html">Philadelphia Portrait of a City</a> is a beautiful coffee table book by photographer Michael Gadomski;<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The photographs, many of which are double page spreads, takes the viewer on a tour of the city from the lofty heights of City Hall to the waterfront at Penn’s Landing. Several of the city’s important districts are visited including the unique historic district where America’s independence was born, the bohemian South Street, Antique Row, Avenue of the Arts, Society Hill, University Park, and the modern skyscrapers in Center City. The numerous gardens that are found in and around Philadelphia are also visited as well as some of the city’s annual events such as the Flower Show and the Chinese New Year celebration. The book also peeks inside some of the city's famous buildings like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Independence Hall, The Shops at Two Liberty Place and The Bourse to name just a few."</span><br /><br />The book is available through all the online booksellers such as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Philadelphia-Portrait-City-Mike-Gadomski/dp/0882407511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228013573&sr=1-1">Amazon</a>, Borders, Barnes & Noble and others. You may also purchase personalized autographed copies of the book directly through his <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.mpgadomski.com">website</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMvTblGVAjmTf5qHU3dkQFcX-BG2PD01QA6V7a31ME5BvqvrP_CXm5hReHdUbEinsZNmvtB5tYbsI5R7-uboNJPWVZQAZSc8YAvPTfQMzPCSvNVVteYivnZWRsIO9oI4ut5xf9sMn2Ni5n/s1600-h/13674966.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMvTblGVAjmTf5qHU3dkQFcX-BG2PD01QA6V7a31ME5BvqvrP_CXm5hReHdUbEinsZNmvtB5tYbsI5R7-uboNJPWVZQAZSc8YAvPTfQMzPCSvNVVteYivnZWRsIO9oI4ut5xf9sMn2Ni5n/s400/13674966.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274278817189570226" border="0" /></a><br />The next recommendation is a children's book by <a href="http://www.imlookingforamonster.com/">Tim Young</a>, an old classmate of mine who, ironically, was scary talented. He did the Penny claymation thing on Pee Wee's show and other stuff, all amazing. I really didn'y know him at Pratt Institute but I reconnected with him thru Facebook and was excited to see this new project a pop-up book called <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Im-Looking-for-a-Monster/Timothy-Young/e/9780375844164">I'm Looking For a Monster</a>. I'm getting it for my nephew for Christmas!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKsp47r7O8WZFCyapxgH-OXzpTAWAO3iUZVlADZVIhyomdV5S2p55qBhD3tSsJA2rMEG2un0-_44zt7AxePBo8Mcz9bRn8oNiyhoqoPa5OsUNWqBD7OHn7AljVgLTD9HmnNy_R9HDBmez/s1600-h/SnwmnnewFrnt.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKsp47r7O8WZFCyapxgH-OXzpTAWAO3iUZVlADZVIhyomdV5S2p55qBhD3tSsJA2rMEG2un0-_44zt7AxePBo8Mcz9bRn8oNiyhoqoPa5OsUNWqBD7OHn7AljVgLTD9HmnNy_R9HDBmez/s400/SnwmnnewFrnt.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274279144919466178" border="0" /></a><br />Last, but not least, I throw in this reminder again of my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Snowman-Bob-Eckstein/dp/1416940669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1030266-9260937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193021010&sr=1-1">book</a> and that I am doing everything humanly possible to get the word out (did you see the list on the right side?). At around $12 on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Snowman-Bob-Eckstein/dp/1416940669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1030266-9260937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193021010&sr=1-1">Amazon</a>, (what a value!) with <span style="font-weight: bold;">FULL COLOR INSERTS</span> and over <span style="font-weight: bold;">150</span> illustrations, many which cost me an arm and leg for permission rights...well, I'll just say – I need to sell about <span style="font-weight: bold;">500,000</span> copies to see a profit. Let it begin with you. There I said it. I'm groveling.Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-59848272730554332852008-11-21T18:33:00.002-05:002008-11-21T18:42:41.127-05:00Snowman Expert Interviwed by Mr. Media on Radio<a id="hlAltLink" href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mrmedia/2008/11/21/Bob-Eckstein-THE-HISTORY-OF-THE-SNOWMAN-author-Mr-Media-Interview.mp3" target="_blank" style="font-size: 8pt;">Open in your default player</a><br /> <br /><br /> <a id="hlSeparateWindowLink" onclick="javascript: detach_player(); return false;" href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mrmedia/2008/11/21/Bob-Eckstein-THE-HISTORY-OF-THE-SNOWMAN-author-Mr-Media-Interview/standaloneplayer.aspx?ShowID=309005" target="_blank" style="font-size: 8pt;">Detach into a separate window</a><br /> <div id="divPlayers" class="btrplayercontrol"><br /><br /> <embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/player.swf?displayheight=&file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2fmrmedia%2fplay_list.xml%3fshow_id%3d309005%26localembed%3dshowpage%26playad%3dfalse&javascriptid=FlashPlayer1&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx?localembed=showpage&referrer_url=%2fshow.aspx&volume=80&corner=rounded" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" height="152" width="160"></embed><br /> <div id="LivePlayerDiv"><br /> <br /> </div><br /> </div><br /><br /> <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOCHociws32FaQmJw9SON-HCg8ih9lnxfJg-pYwdqSgoPYdhKRTkK3KjfQz6C-R0_GEtt0mcZa7a4BzTqhcnCsahoT_DwgYKc0VyxR5jHYt6caHyYIFQnda7MaRXH2hNAX-psqHEcxva7/s1600-h/serial_456743.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 156px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOCHociws32FaQmJw9SON-HCg8ih9lnxfJg-pYwdqSgoPYdhKRTkK3KjfQz6C-R0_GEtt0mcZa7a4BzTqhcnCsahoT_DwgYKc0VyxR5jHYt6caHyYIFQnda7MaRXH2hNAX-psqHEcxva7/s400/serial_456743.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270940857155013458" border="0" /></a><br />Well, here's the interview...it's all about snowmen and my new <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Snowman-Bob-Eckstein/dp/1416940669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1030266-9260937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193021010&sr=1-1">snowman book</a>...I was dealing with a bad cold and cough so I may sound a bit funny...but, anyhoo, <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mrmedia">Mr. Media</a> is very cool and I suggest you visit his site and check out his list of celebrity guests he's interviewed. I've been going through his archives all week listening to the Chris Farley story, getting to know Robert Schimmel and learning alot about the business.Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-30940024432344865202008-11-13T12:42:00.006-05:002008-11-13T12:48:55.148-05:00It's in the Air<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIgGfrTfhIfPy_wEDFE7du7o8OWaKpDhDjwWqOn_2l0qfc2FGTtPYYo9V3SoiIWjcED3L8PhQu6Z9sxwxViGl5gEUpnAvDFMx0i_bnUvI69c3zwHIlaxtPSuzY9s9u0zg7sYHc6lEtA84/s1600-h/T+airbags.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 399px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIgGfrTfhIfPy_wEDFE7du7o8OWaKpDhDjwWqOn_2l0qfc2FGTtPYYo9V3SoiIWjcED3L8PhQu6Z9sxwxViGl5gEUpnAvDFMx0i_bnUvI69c3zwHIlaxtPSuzY9s9u0zg7sYHc6lEtA84/s400/T+airbags.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268199727551123362" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKTIeZ4hz54iv1kvvuiTb7_R6R9euPKV-4GOR7LXTsSeWTT6tAvvg6flmZtSSiM9gBibNviF7i99hA1VJDkOS8aVSDhRD_HZTUPFLmHYhRnvS50Inj0n2z6_nk4mTdSvGMfc0rFiTcyxNO/s1600-h/T+Talk.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 412px; height: 379px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKTIeZ4hz54iv1kvvuiTb7_R6R9euPKV-4GOR7LXTsSeWTT6tAvvg6flmZtSSiM9gBibNviF7i99hA1VJDkOS8aVSDhRD_HZTUPFLmHYhRnvS50Inj0n2z6_nk4mTdSvGMfc0rFiTcyxNO/s400/T+Talk.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268199124847439858" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpZ8IV61SMDJm1Ve5bBfBM0coXzk_VHu4SCwD2M7oxzQVYU0zCL79Wp6XeubuaOU494WcFKKYw8vev2_OxjE4JZk3gfJ_b8aEoQ-53RO-1oNoToPJoqhF4GAdrudLs1FVJ160O-APQnr5/s1600-h/Tchange+beggar.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 423px; height: 389px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpZ8IV61SMDJm1Ve5bBfBM0coXzk_VHu4SCwD2M7oxzQVYU0zCL79Wp6XeubuaOU494WcFKKYw8vev2_OxjE4JZk3gfJ_b8aEoQ-53RO-1oNoToPJoqhF4GAdrudLs1FVJ160O-APQnr5/s400/Tchange+beggar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268199040646602562" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Bob Eckstein © 2008 Please contact me if you want to use elsewhere. eckstein@pipeline.com</span>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-13259737552378095162008-11-09T11:44:00.004-05:002008-11-09T11:48:44.595-05:00Post Mortem<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBcQR-zgOwd8Pc7UaTkNzNnOhuz5n7dwz7nyqwcMR0wJhQtqVRht9nHmf3xRTBiLJGNXD9bYIM1yJly5oHPm2eMoP2Dj41Lr38zw6D4gEISjSc68NZL6YtJXB1NzUpO_nilEEZtE1JOG9/s1600-h/web+tombstone.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 404px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBcQR-zgOwd8Pc7UaTkNzNnOhuz5n7dwz7nyqwcMR0wJhQtqVRht9nHmf3xRTBiLJGNXD9bYIM1yJly5oHPm2eMoP2Dj41Lr38zw6D4gEISjSc68NZL6YtJXB1NzUpO_nilEEZtE1JOG9/s400/web+tombstone.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266700586055170018" border="0" /></a>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-77936376771438016612008-11-02T10:31:00.005-05:002008-11-02T10:33:33.526-05:00I Hate Marathons<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyPthvRPjlPh2z7GA7w3pzJ567_MXH6u6B4f_Gbuu_VgHjq0aiRcusMPjXSvJN_ckcKDIpvSDYPkVh18epKGr7rfTJn69dB8z8X6Zd1gwiV2AJ_f9fYvwml41g8_rMioaO6lc2JGL1L4Xd/s1600-h/marathon1225400380.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 395px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyPthvRPjlPh2z7GA7w3pzJ567_MXH6u6B4f_Gbuu_VgHjq0aiRcusMPjXSvJN_ckcKDIpvSDYPkVh18epKGr7rfTJn69dB8z8X6Zd1gwiV2AJ_f9fYvwml41g8_rMioaO6lc2JGL1L4Xd/s400/marathon1225400380.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264083328444957730" border="0" /></a><br />For the back story to this cartoon go <a href="http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=36082">here</a>.Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-14377938475135307542008-10-30T08:23:00.003-05:002008-10-30T08:25:42.847-05:00Small-town Sign-swiping in a Swing State<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWVtJaz6e1RYYXZkAO3cB9BalWSaSs34UzYMSH3LPy92dlIhgeeAbjxFKa7Ibw61TeMZkhClyjLyZZwIvSHJMgkE5nV49MFlHAq4QxRPH4YkssIjBhJ36XKn_bhY0Rz8OGO5rURPoYhv8/s1600-h/churchsign91225306761.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 464px; height: 389px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWVtJaz6e1RYYXZkAO3cB9BalWSaSs34UzYMSH3LPy92dlIhgeeAbjxFKa7Ibw61TeMZkhClyjLyZZwIvSHJMgkE5nV49MFlHAq4QxRPH4YkssIjBhJ36XKn_bhY0Rz8OGO5rURPoYhv8/s400/churchsign91225306761.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262937367326309938" border="0" /></a><br />The topic of conversation during my travels through the Pennsylvania heartland the past couple of days has been the battle of the election lawn signs. This is nothing new. Just my first hand account from the front-lines.<br /><br />Last night I stayed in the old stone home of a distinguished academia couple situated predominately on the corner of an intersection in the eastern part of Berks County, where only hours earlier some wild maverick had stolen a large Obama-Biden sign. This ad was worth about $60 in plexiglass and was wired and secured near the front door on a tall pole that requires a ladder. The pole was all that was left from a sign that once belonged to one of the state's oldest pubs dating back about two centuries. Sam upped the ante after a couple of smaller lawn signs had disappeared. That night we kept going over it while Sam contemplated whether or not to contact the police. <em>"When I called four years ago, the police just wanted to know why I was voting for Kerry. What's the point."</em> Someone argued because if it's a brick through the window next time there's a record of cause and motive on record. Someone else reasoned that the action could just motivate revenge. By the second Scotch, Sam and I were re-enforcing stereotypes and blaming NASCAR somehow (I was thinking; <em>"while we're in a war over oil, shouldn't NASCAR drivers be carpooling on the racetrack?"</em>). I thought I solved the whole mess the following morning when I spotted a white and blue sign laying on the ground in the distance. But the sign only said "Christmas Trees Sale."<br /><br />A couple of hours east, a friend drove me through Fort Washington, Pennsylvania siting which lawns had McCain or Obama signs that had recently mysteriously vanished. Some homes quickly replaced them. We passed a mansion with a billboard size lawn sign for McCain. In the car we all shared stories, quoting racial remarks overheard at auto shops and in supermarkets. I had only one incidence. A guy, my age, asked me who I was voting and countered, <em>"Well, you want the White House filled with jiggies? You're gonna wound up with a congress of blacks."<br /></em><br />Before I made this trip, my friend from New York City, we'll call him Joe the Dreamer, stayed with me a couple of days to canvas my Pennsylvanian neighborhood back in the east side of the state. I warned him that my next-door hunters would not welcome him and his Vegan ways. To his credit he went door-to-very-far-apart-door using his VW hippie mobile dressed for his last Burning Man trip, walking past many a McCain sign to chat up the locals. He told me he considered it a real success—I'm not sure if this is because I know he had a cold and he told me he shook alot of hands but I considered it a great success that he returned for dinner alive. Or maybe I'm not giving my neighbors or him enough credit.<br /><br />My friends from Berks County have decided not to contact the police after-all but their mood improved when I said I would write a little something about their theft. For them this is not all about changing anyone's mind but exercising their freedom of speech and continuing to get the word out that this is going on. I'm not convinced. I think deep down people think they can change people. But nobody is "undecided." This election was determined a long time ago, we just haven't counted up the votes. Stating who we are on our lawns just creates a wedge. Am I a horrible person for thinking our society is not mature enough for all of this? The signs don't work. They just make us worse.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgep-e_F7jHQCIdbZFq7CGcnZ2z8k8vVXqDvG_L62ptBObtig7rtV07gjpf5IvnTn65L0c5KEVc0pX670CNCj6O-T3EvSzRefdJesGSrapo6rzxKkNzBlKrRs_GwT2HvjFU8YlHxu0vi-aI/s1600-h/obama1225307482.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 447px; height: 306px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgep-e_F7jHQCIdbZFq7CGcnZ2z8k8vVXqDvG_L62ptBObtig7rtV07gjpf5IvnTn65L0c5KEVc0pX670CNCj6O-T3EvSzRefdJesGSrapo6rzxKkNzBlKrRs_GwT2HvjFU8YlHxu0vi-aI/s400/obama1225307482.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262937185908218962" border="0" /></a>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-18327235876650557642008-10-22T17:31:00.005-05:002008-10-22T17:37:09.932-05:00Artist Statement<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2i15U-oDImcYdsNHVZp3eBrSOry1WfF-MBjeNSJAReYJ5rk2sWRceHCU7Kp_qFKBUg496nYZawUuXtbkHJag5zIOAS6j0Fw9vGt-y6S-JJsQ7si4ZPZnra8MeNZUnYRLkakl40SVxevoV/s1600-h/brattle.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 425px; height: 402px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2i15U-oDImcYdsNHVZp3eBrSOry1WfF-MBjeNSJAReYJ5rk2sWRceHCU7Kp_qFKBUg496nYZawUuXtbkHJag5zIOAS6j0Fw9vGt-y6S-JJsQ7si4ZPZnra8MeNZUnYRLkakl40SVxevoV/s400/brattle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260109718446587074" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">Today’s email; </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">2009 NYFA Artists' Fellowship Applications are due Friday. Application materials must be submitted and postmarked by midnight on the due date of your category. </span><br /><br />Dear Jurors of the NYFA Grant Committee,<br /><br />I would like to respectively apply for a 2009 NYFA Artists' Fellowship to complete my current art performance slated for early 2009. Sadly, this work is currently in danger of not being realized due to a lack of funds.<br /><br />Since 1978 I have enjoyed a long, lustrous relationship with the New York Foundation of the Arts starting with my first major project (<span style="font-style: italic;">Disability</span>), where I shot myself in the foot. In 1987, I received my second NYFA grant to fund <span style="font-style: italic;">Your Insecurities Are My Broken Limbs</span>, which consisted of me being shoved down a flight of stairs. Finally, thanks to a Pell Grant in 1996, I was triumphantly run-over by a family Winnebago in the critically acclaimed, <span style="font-style: italic;">Run-Over</span>. This lead to a series of <span style="font-style: italic;">happenings</span> I conducted in alternative spaces, executed in front of select art circles where either I was run over or pushed down something. In the new millennium I explored getting stuck in everyday things (most notably; wet cement, a washing machine, retractable ladders) in mundane locations (new pavement, laundromat, fire escape). I am quite proud of this diverse body of work and take seriously my role as a non-traditional artist.<br /><br />With the successful completion this summer of my of most recent project <span style="font-style: italic;">Downsize</span>, in which my wife of twelve years walked out on me, I have spent the past two months deliberating over my next artistic venture, a spontaneous, yet staged dramatic performance involving burlap bags, a tribal war mask, a gun (again), and a 1998 Saturn hatchback. Heist is my ambitious statement on the current economic collapse and Wall Street’s emotional effect on artists, both consensual and concessional, a logical step from my previous pieces <span style="font-style: italic;">Sweeping Out Water Fountains Under Gloom of Night</span> (2002-04) and <span style="font-style: italic;">Bodega!</span> (2005). Inspired by my own confining experiences of being late with my rent, this event would capture a moment of “role-reversal” toward my current financial institution.Visual and political puns emerge, ingeniously using class, justice and ethics of power with the actual act of robbing a bank. Addressing issues of self-esteem, society restrictions and irony, both apparent and concealed while placing others and myself in great danger (again). Making poor life choices is a reoccurring theme in my work (so says my life coach). <span style="font-style: italic;">Heist</span> would be a natural extension of these ideas, expressing a narrative frame of my life, allowing me to draw from my immense life experiences and expansive anger, and ideally, turning my anti-commercial tendencies into a fortune, that would present new opportunities for me and any future art projects (should I decide to stay in the country).<br /><br />I ask you to consider and process my request for a NYFA grant briskly as the tenuous time frame for this ongoing piece is February 20th, 2009, the date my unemployment runs out. The location chosen for the event has been the Citibank on 36th St and Avenue of the Americas due to it’s inviting layout and proximity to my current art studio. With proper financial backing of an NYFA Fellowship, I can complete the necessary research and add a qualified henchman, both which will prove paramount to this project’s success. Enclosed in this application are slides illustrating a floor-plan of the aforementioned Citibank and mug-shots of leading candidates to recruit as the driver of the getaway car. The preamble to this performance would be a surprise entrance before proceeding to close off the establishment. At this point my years as an artist being shot at and/or wounded will be instrumental and critical to the complexities I hope to archive during this unscripted progress.<br /><br />Upon request, I can provide your committee with references from those who would vouch that I would actually go through with this. As with many of my artistic endeavors, revelations will unfold during the course of the project—the one-day performance will be, no doubt, filmed and documented on the bank’s security cameras and receive tremendous media coverage, from both television and print media. Full credit would be given to you—I intend to explicitly state that <span style="font-style: italic;">Heist</span> was made possible thanks to funds from the New York Foundation of the Arts.<br /><br />Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope that the NYFA council and it’s members appreciate the importance of work like this which expands and invigorates the elastic boundaries of what our society perceives and accepts as art. My resume and character I know speaks for itself and will make yours an easy decision. It goes without saying, that the prestige attached to an NYFA Fellowship would give such a plan creditability and stir excitement among other avant-gardists exploring shady activities, encouraging them to seek support and sponsorship. Your generosity would not only allow this dream to be realized but assure the safety of those involved...both voluntarily and involuntarily.Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-1307466527056916412008-10-17T00:34:00.001-05:002008-10-17T00:36:29.577-05:00Joe the Plumber in hot water with the IRS<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZ2pRu01yUc1pQSqqxqTXL2Hk1z6GCVVZw-CsjNtPED1ihnRLA01vVMcaIe4Xq4tDXT3PVFtiKvEG0kyHb2TeSG0rMuC1fdJAgdeHjmXj5ruyH8B5d0K2Wp9iN_Tx3-QcSq1hxWBi_e0E/s1600-h/Life+Coach+Jail+copy.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZ2pRu01yUc1pQSqqxqTXL2Hk1z6GCVVZw-CsjNtPED1ihnRLA01vVMcaIe4Xq4tDXT3PVFtiKvEG0kyHb2TeSG0rMuC1fdJAgdeHjmXj5ruyH8B5d0K2Wp9iN_Tx3-QcSq1hxWBi_e0E/s400/Life+Coach+Jail+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257992486111340258" /></a><br /><p>The real identity of this man is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher who actually owes the state of Ohio $ 1,200.00 in back taxes for his income. The records on file in the Lucas County court has a tax lien filed on January 26, 2007 and remains unpaid to this date. It's all <a href="http://politicolnews.blogspot.com/2008/10/joe-plumber-tax-liens-for-tax-evasion.html">here.</a> </p>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-28169379322613048002008-10-10T12:52:00.006-05:002008-10-10T12:56:50.371-05:00Market Meltdown<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5AfqZ-M6RLBO0UPdDmvH5heOpLwX5J_3E8Osr3BCMdKDQBpNuIL9TkeLQ98KPFFWYrYMvq6dhMUvPo82XTVgAHoCrZJzOGKza9mbVC03HDHtqVkTW29aj72UTvw0uzmgu9L3FCYfKwWwz/s1600-h/igloo.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 378px; height: 303px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5AfqZ-M6RLBO0UPdDmvH5heOpLwX5J_3E8Osr3BCMdKDQBpNuIL9TkeLQ98KPFFWYrYMvq6dhMUvPo82XTVgAHoCrZJzOGKza9mbVC03HDHtqVkTW29aj72UTvw0uzmgu9L3FCYfKwWwz/s400/igloo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255584876474819074" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Is this cartoon about our economy? Iceland's? Global warming?...take your pick.Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-69004237001873721482008-10-05T09:00:00.000-05:002008-10-05T13:49:43.718-05:0040 Ways to Happiness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79Q6rbWK4XHG0mY7pGk7PmnpNzPtSsfpH_7mm2iNHPJPyL8lguvEM6gc-LjcKaRy40FYZHNTTyVcYmxhAe_h6cGUpoQ0d14-C4kfvI6aAK-sUHNnuyDVmqI34_1Gs3WWo0-F4fmrfAF0r/s1600-h/Decompresshellbest.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79Q6rbWK4XHG0mY7pGk7PmnpNzPtSsfpH_7mm2iNHPJPyL8lguvEM6gc-LjcKaRy40FYZHNTTyVcYmxhAe_h6cGUpoQ0d14-C4kfvI6aAK-sUHNnuyDVmqI34_1Gs3WWo0-F4fmrfAF0r/s400/Decompresshellbest.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253741151135023778" border="0" /></a><br />From management guru (and Freelancer's Lament friend), <a href="http://www.creativelee.com/">Lee Silber</a>, is this wonderful list for you freelancers out there. His new book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Riches-Build-Business-Capital/dp/1933102659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222178543&sr=1-1">Rock to Riches</a>. I'm going to leave this up for awhile as there's alot to soak in. Here's an excerpt to the intro for the list in his own words;<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"...I sometimes feel like I am just now getting it right. (Hey, forty is the new thirty, right?) I recently had some time to reflect on what I have learned during my forty (and a half) years on this planet. In the past four decades I have had some stunning successes, and struggled at times, too. I often wish I could go back and slap my younger self and then share the life lessons I learned later (the hard way.) Since that isn’t possible, I’ll share some suggestions with you. I came up with the following forty things I wish I knew when I was younger. (I suffered so you don’t have to.)"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Practice No Regrets Living.</span> Don’t wait to do the things that you want to do. It seems that the older I get the more complicated things become. It was easier to travel, experiment and take risks when I was younger.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. People Matter Most. </span>No matter how much money you make or success you have, it’s always more satisfying to share these moments with family and friends.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. If You Have An Addictive Personality, Pick Something Positive.</span> Yes, “everything in moderation” is good advice, but there are times when a person is so over-the-top-excited about something they will want to jump in with both feet. This is great when it’s something healthy, positive and productive.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Don’t Waste Time Worrying About The Past (or The Future). </span>How many minutes have been wasted worrying about things that may—and more likely may not—ever happen. My advice, expect the best but be prepared for the worst. Try not to worry about things you feel guilty about from your past. Either fix them, or forget them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Don’t Worry What Others Think. </span>Peer pressure and the need to fit in don’t just keep kids up at night. Life is so much easier when you live it for yourself, free of the pressure of worrying what others think. Do what YOU want to do.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. Take Risks When You Are Young.</span> It’s easier to recover from a bad decision when you are younger. It is also true that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” To try to go beyond what you think is possible and to take some chances is healthy and leads to learning experiences that prove invaluable later in life.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Starting Your Own Business Is The Best Way To Get Rich. </span>Yes, real estate and the stock market have made many people wealthy, but building a business is also one of the better ways to create wealth. Plus, there is nothing like being your own boss. I have started five businesses and highly recommend entrepreneurship.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8. Live For Today, But Plan For Tomorrow. </span>Living in the moment is one of the ways to be truly happy. Doing so without any plans or provisions for the future is foolish. Yes, live like there is no tomorrow, but save for the future and take care of yourself physically, too.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9. Your Time Is Your Life.</span> Frittering away hours may seem like no big deal when you are young. However, when you start to realize that you have pissed away a good portion of your life, the concept of time shifts. Your time is your life energy. You have a limited amount to squander. Being more aware of where your time goes and how you spend it is one of the most important life lessons you can learn. Consider that every item you paid for you paid for with a piece of your life. You used up your time (i.e. your life) to earn money for that purchase. Was it worth a piece of your life?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10. Goals Are THE Secret To Success. </span>By now everyone knows that I am passionate about having a plan for your life. I have done this for myself since I was fifteen-years-old. My goal-setting system has evolved from a list of things I want to do to a series of powerful statements, images and feelings about the future I want to create along with a plan to make it happen.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11. See The World When You Have The Chance. </span>Traveling is such a worthwhile thing. I rank it right up there with success of any kind. The ability to take off and get away is one of the most exciting, fulfilling and fun things I have done.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12. Keep Track Of Your Victories.</span> Many people dwell on the things they didn’t do (but wish they did) or things they did (but wish they hadn’t). When you look back at your life, chances are you have done more than you thought you did and made many good decisions. Post your proudest accomplishments in a place where you will see them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">13. Commit To A Lifetime Of Learning.</span> A library card is more valuable than a Mastercard or American Express card in my opinion. It isn’t because I have written eleven books that I believe this. It is a result of all the books I read as I researched my books that I recommend a daily dose of reading—or listening to tapes in your car.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">14. A Mentor Can Work Magic.</span> The secret to my success was to find someone who knew all the right moves, all the right people and all the right things and was willing to share. I have had some wonderful mentors who made a huge difference in my life—providing a shortcut on the road to success.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">15. Get Your Mid-Life Crisis Over Early. </span>First and foremost, there is no need for one when you are living the life you want to. If you do feel like your life has been a series of compromises and you want to make up for lost time, try to do it early and get it over with quickly.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">16. Wait For The Right One. </span>When I hear things like, “Marriage is a lot of hard work” and “Relationships requires constant compromise” I often wonder if these people simply married the wrong person. When you find your soul mate (Read: Best friend and love-of-your-life all rolled into one) being together is simple, satisfying and super easy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">17. Take Care Of Your Stuff. </span>I have always been the guy who did the preventative and required maintenance at the right time—before things broke. Hanging onto items that work well without having to spend money on new ones is one of the ways I have been able to save, travel and take time off.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">18. Money Saved Is Money Earned.</span> The secret to “having it all” is to live large on less. Many of the most affluent people I know are very frugal. (Not cheap, but cost-conscious.) They have the best of everything, but they wheeled and dealed to get it for less than full price. Being able to buy what you want without paying full price for it is an art. It’s also a mindset—and one worth working on. It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you keep that counts.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">19. Simplify. </span>I was raised by pack rats and I was becoming one, too. I awoke one day (during a move) and starting selling off some of the things that didn’t serve my life any longer. Now that I live in a beach house (with a baby), I have to keep things moving or else they start to stack up and there’s no room for my surfboards. (Wink.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">20. You Need An Outlet For Your Creativity.</span> Playing drums in a cover band was not what I dreamed about when I was a kid. It is, however, the perfect outlet for my creative (and musical) aspirations today. I may never be a rock star, but I can still have a small (very small) sampling of what it’s like. Find some way to express your creativity.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">21. Early To Bed (2:00 AM) And Early To Rise. . .</span> I have found that many prolific writers work well into the night. I have also used the early morning hours to get things done. I guess it’s my need to be different (I’m up while the world sleeps) and the need to eliminate distractions that makes 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM the perfect time to work. Find your own prime time and don’t waste it on trivial tasks.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">22. Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff.</span> I realized recently that many of the things I have stressed and obsessed about over the years were not worth the time and energy—they simply didn’t matter. It’s easy to get upset and to feel slighted over silly things, it’s far better to just let them go if they won’t matter in a month.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">23. Make a Difference.</span> Charity does begin at home and the place to give back first is to your family and friends. There are also a lot of opportunities to make a difference in other areas—whether you give your time, money or share your expertise—this is one of the most rewarding things to do.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">24. Brand Yourself Before Someone Else Does.</span> When people hear your name what three things do you want them to think of? I have worked so hard to develop a reputation that I am proud of. I did this by acting as if I were the person I wanted to be and then when I achieved it, I continued to make the tough (right) choices.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">25. Things Are Never As Bad As They Seem. </span>Bad things happen to good people. It is the person that is able to put things into the proper perspective that prosper. When you have been through a tough time or two you start to realize that you are more resilient than you thought and no matter what happens, you can, and will, go on.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">26. Sometimes You Have To Give Up Good For Great.</span> My mentor said used a baseball analogy to make this point. He said I needed to hit more home runs (think big and take some chances). At the time I was just hitting singles (thinking small and staying safe). It wasn’t until I was willing to give up good for great that things really took off.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">27. Give People More Than They Expect. </span>More advice from a mentor. Most people just do enough to get by. It is the person who goes the extra mile and does more than others expected that gets ahead in business and in life.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">28. Thank You’s.</span> I have learned that following up and following through is rare. Most people don’t know how to do it, nor do they want to. Sending thank you notes is the perfect follow-up. It is also a classy, thoughtful and appreciated thing to do.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">29. Don’t Lend Money—Ever.</span> Enough said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">30. The Best Things In Life Are Free. </span>Sunsets, picnics in the park, walks on the beach and are all priced right—they’re free. The same is true about special occasions and gifts. Sometimes it IS the thought that counts more than the cost.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">31. Take Time For Yourself. </span>I was once the kind of person who would create things-to-do lists that were a mile long. It would have taken me months to complete the things on my list. Now I build white space into my list of tasks. It’s almost like I plan for spontaneity. Try leaving some room in your busy life for unexpected things to come your way and take time for yourself.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">32. Make Memorable Moments.</span> Some people call me the life of the party, the fun uncle and the person to call when you are feeling down. What I want to create is memorable moments in other people’s lives. It is the same in my own life. I am always trying something new, never allowing myself to get into a rut. I will also stop and take a mental snapshot to burn a particularly pleasant experience deeper into my memory.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">33. Take It One Pitch At A Time.</span> I read an article about pitcher Al Leiter who said that the secret to his success was to take it one pitch at a time. He couldn’t change the last pitch or predict what would happen three picthes from now. All he could control, and thus concentrate on, was the pitch he was about to throw. I have used this philosophy for my writing, promoting and presentations. By being present I am able to focus on what’s right in front of me. That kind of clarity is key to overcoming procrastination and fear.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">34. Pursue Your Passion. </span>I have had flashes of “everything is right in my world” but many times what I am passionate about is not profitable. I know that I need to “do what I love and the money will follow” but for some reason this is an area I need to work on. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot right with my life, but what I really want to do (open a retreat center on Kauai) remains out there.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">35. Appreciate The Small Things In Life.</span> Many times we wait for the big moments in life to celebrate. There are so many simple things we do daily that are special moments. Some people keep a dairy, others meditate and still others tell their significant other about their day. Try to take note of the small things that make you smile during the day.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">36. Don’t Fight Change.</span> I’m old school and was fearful of change—especially new technology. I felt like I was being left behind. Then I figured out I needed to focus not on the technology itself, but on how it could help me reach my goals. This simplified things. Now I go with new developments that serve my goals and not worry about the rest.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">37. Don’t Compare Yourself To Others.</span> As a competitive person it’s hard to resist the temptation to see how I stack up against those around me. This is a losing game because some people will consistently have more and trying to catch up to them can leave you deep in debt and cause you to do desperate things. It’s good to strive to be, do and have more but don’t forget to appreciate who you are and what you have.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">38. Empathy Is Everything. </span>Seeing (and feeling) things from another person’s perspective is one of the most vital skills you can learn.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">39. Find Work You Love So Much You’d (Almost) Do It For Free. </span></span>Most of my fan mail comes from creative people who hate their day jobs. They are also trapped in those same dreaded jobs because they must make a certain amount to survive. I have found that the freedom of finding work you love—and being able to pursue it—can come from cutting back and living on less. Not having to make as much money means you may be able to do what you truly desire, even if it doesn’t pay top dollar.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >40. Figure Out Your Uniqueness And Celebrate It.</span> When I was an Economics major in college I was living a lie. I am, and always will be, an artist. I fought the fact that writing, performing, presenting and creating were my strengths. I would beat myself up because I was bad at math and struggled in science. Now I celebrate my creative self.Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-12398421512768408812008-10-03T08:47:00.002-05:002008-10-03T08:48:01.742-05:00Winning Caption<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxWvU-iHwtJ4xy3fngtn0eueVyxF7JXszJc7_fo9q98t9g-E03eaB_KgMmPV3v2-oCXJK7uXYmRwYQpnHP7DFLVpZo-LXJWh1czoMlxfeht62UK0l0V0nsDskcjwgzoDv_1DA77vctx-po/s1600-h/vp+debate+contest.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxWvU-iHwtJ4xy3fngtn0eueVyxF7JXszJc7_fo9q98t9g-E03eaB_KgMmPV3v2-oCXJK7uXYmRwYQpnHP7DFLVpZo-LXJWh1czoMlxfeht62UK0l0V0nsDskcjwgzoDv_1DA77vctx-po/s400/vp+debate+contest.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252923967869117986" border="0" /></a><br /><p align="center"><em><strong>"Here in Delaware, we literally share a broad maritime border with Spain. So, when Zapatero rears his head, I'll be ready with this magic wand to turn him back! I'm wearing women's underwear! Hello? Is this on?"</strong></em></p> That's the winning caption. Congratulations, <strong><a href="http://open.salon.com/search.php?allwords=Yablonowitz"><strong>Yablonowitz</strong></a></strong> (Greg Martin)Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-5079488946998882042008-10-01T09:38:00.008-05:002008-10-03T08:49:12.545-05:00Caption Contest II: Revenge of the Republican<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size:180%;">CONTEST CLOSED</span><br /><br /></span>Okay, you know the drill. Write the perfect caption for the above cartoon. Both pro-Democrat or pro-Republican punch-lines are eligible. Please send in entries before Thursday’s Vice Presidential debate.<br /><br />The judges are stand-up comedian <span style="font-weight: bold;">Richard Belzer</span> and humorist <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lenore Skenazy</span>. Richard is a star on the hit <span style="font-style: italic;">Law & Order</span> and his new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Not-Cop-Novel/dp/1416570667/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222633141&sr=1-1">I Am Not a Cop</a> comes out next week. Lenore is the funniest columnist there is today <span style="font-style: italic;">(Mad, NPR, Daily News, NY Sun)</span>, but many of you know her from her TV appearances and as the mom who let her <a href="http://freelancerslament.blogspot.com/2008/04/media-day.html">9-yr old take the subway</a>. Her upcoming new book is called <a href="http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/">Free Range Kids</a>.<br /><br />The winner will get a signed copy of my new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Snowman-Bob-Eckstein/dp/1416940669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1030266-9260937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193021010&sr=1-1">The History of the Snowman</a> (Picked Best Book of the Season by Amazon, it makes a nice holiday gift.).<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Good luck…and have fun!</span>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-71990350339131346812008-09-27T17:31:00.004-05:002008-09-27T17:45:48.434-05:00Woooo, It's a Wonderful Life<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_i2vF3ajirOsxYpQtSl9ZWRlXgrv1IfZeyyJ4nPhEWGq_sJu03VZELau5onzvdXkG7aDUEFSJCogu_y6npHy9opXEjVR6YsPPFghhz4PvdlVis41h9g32l1IY9SIeyQWmTfwGubwtqJyP/s1600-h/churchsign.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_i2vF3ajirOsxYpQtSl9ZWRlXgrv1IfZeyyJ4nPhEWGq_sJu03VZELau5onzvdXkG7aDUEFSJCogu_y6npHy9opXEjVR6YsPPFghhz4PvdlVis41h9g32l1IY9SIeyQWmTfwGubwtqJyP/s400/churchsign.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250834353708109250" /></a><br />Oh, what a lovely economy it is. It means tightening the belt, going to places like <a href="http://www.cartalk.com/content/links/car-toon.html">CarTalk</a>, that's right I'm cartooning for <a href="http://www.cartalk.com/content/links/car-toon.html">CarTalk</a> (in exchange for plugs, spark plugs.). I'll be now appearing in <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">Milford</span> magazine, too. I'm waiting to hear back from <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Women's World Weekly</span>. I'm trying to get in the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">WWW</span>.<div><div><br /></div><div><div> </div><div>(OK, I'm also in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/sports/othersports/27marathon.html?ref=sports">Time's</a> sports section...cartoon about training for the marathon (best <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Seinfeld</span> line ever; Kramer, "Oh, I keep forgetting to enter that.")</div></div></div>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2869845175439776411.post-46148622730422081922008-09-26T22:07:00.000-05:002008-09-26T22:08:48.658-05:00Winner!<div id="comment_avatar55906"><em><strong>"My friends, a little straight talk: I do not remember why I'm wearing this costume." </strong></em><br /><br />This winning caption as chosen tonight by renown <em>New Yorker </em>cartoonist <a href="http://michaelmaslin.com/"><strong>Michael Maslin</strong></a> and submitted by <strong>John Kascht</strong>. Congratulations John! Thanks to Michael Maslin, who I'm a big fan of and special thanks to everyone who submitted an entry.<br /><br />I was not thrilled having to announce one winner. There were so many clever and hilarious captions that deserved to win, many that could have been picked on another day...personally, I didn't even like John's (no, I'm kidding. And I should explain that Michael Maslin did not know any of the posters nor was his decision swayed in any way). Let's do this again sometime!<br /><br /></div>Snowman Experthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127825717978645729noreply@blogger.com0