Festival coverage

I'm turing into a one-trick pony, but it's the kind of tricks that would never get said pony any special attention.

I covered two more festivals this weekend, and I'm in the midst of writing festival previews for next weekend.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/368879_pride30.html?source=mypi

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/368851_artopia29.html

I'm still looking for breaking news stuff to get involved with. Hopefully something soon.

What I learned after week three:
1. If you want to make a little kid cry, show him my story on how polar bears are going extinct because of the energy crisis.
2. Always, always, always respond to readers' emails.
3. The fewer teeth a man has, the harder he'll hit on you.
4. No matter how accurate the story, people will bitch and say that you were wrong.
5. It's always better to watch "Pulp Fiction" with someone who has never seen it before.

Week two

So, I survived my second week at the P-I. Congratulations to me. I wrote a story about an author, about a 100-year-old woman who is still painting landscapes, and the Summer Solstice Parade. All in all, it was pretty eventful, but let's hope I can do a bit more breaking news stuff this week.

WHAT I LEARNED

1. Naked people love to be interviewed
2. Just because the beer was brewed in the neighborhood, that doesn't mean it tastes better than regular beer
3. People who drive "art cars" are just more interesting
4. Getting quotes from a woman over the age of 100 is like pulling teeth (if she had any teeth left)
5. If a John Smith is arrested for assualt with a deadly weapon, I have to call every Smith in the phone book until I find a relative of his I can talk to. "Escuse me, My name is Molly Mullen with the Seattle P-I, are you related to the John Smith who was arrested yesterday?" That could make for a very interesting afternoon.


Fantagraphics story:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/visualart/368403_pinup26.html

Scott McClellan coverage:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/368203_mcclellan24.html

Hurray, my first story!

SUMMER SOLSTICE

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/367968_solstice22.html

So, I would post the story here, but I want to get hits on the website. Every day there is a top ten most read stories on the web, and I want mine to be on it.

Anywho, loved it. Loved it. Loved it. 300 naked bicyclists who I got to interview as they were preparing in the morning. Now that's a good day at work.

(more photos on Facebook)

smut peddler

So, I'm doing a story on pinup girls, and have been reading so much about it and seeing it so much lately, I started fooling around with it. As it turns out, it's really hard to do. So with that, my first attempts:

Yeah, no big deal or whatever

Yeah, that's my P-I credentials and notebook and all that good stuff. So, week one came and went. Pretty good first week, if I do say so myself. So, as the great Clay Lomneth once wrote, "What have I learned?" Here's all I got:

1) The shots of food on the covers of magazines like Good Housekeeping are called "food porn shots."
2) No one who lives in Seattle was born in Seattle.
3) I am supposed the hate the Seattle Times with every fiber of my being.
4) There is such a thing as "not liberal enough."
5) Never tell anyone that you are an intern.

Giving a holla for political cartoons

I read (in the P-I of course!) that Robert Mugabe's goons went out and arrested his political opponent earlier this week just a few days before they have a runoff election. Because the original election was too close, they're holding another one just between the two leading candidates. As many issues as I have with Zimbabwe, I can't help but think how different the good ol' U. S. of A would be if we had a runoff election in 2000. I just can't let it go.


I don't know what it is about personification, but I loves it.


In my mind, you just can't make Bush look stupid enough. It gives me joy inside every time I see a cartoon dumping on him, and I mean just ridiculing him. Come to think of it, though, I never see any cartoons make him look not too bad. Damn liberal media.



In other news, one of the Jesuits at Creighton always sends me funny emails, most of which I delete, but yesterday there was a really funny one. It was a list of metaphores and similies in high school essays, and some of them made me laugh out loud at my desk. I'll share a few:

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met. - Russell Beland, Springfield

The thunder was ominous sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play. - Barbara Fetherolf, Alexandria

The door had been forced, as forced as the dialogue during the interview portion of "Jeopardy!" - Jean Sorensen, Herndon

He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something. - John Kammer, Herndon

It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools. - Brian Broadus, Charlottesville

It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall. - Brian Broadus, Charlottesville

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. - Russell Beland, Springfield

The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30. - Roy Ashley, Washington

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. -Russell Beland, Springfield

He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. - Jack Bross, Chevy Chase

Daily Planet

So as you all probably know, I work for the Seattle Post Intelligencer this summer. My first day was yesterday, and here I sit again this morning. Every time I take my hands of the keyboarsds I can hear everyone else typing away in this grey sea of reporter's desks. On my first day, I got the general tour and I was so excited to see that other people refered to the paper as the Daily Planet, and had Superman paraphanalia on their desks.




If ever there was a place that could make me feel like Lois Lane, it's this place, even if so far I'm just typing up celebrity gossip news. It's amazing here, I can lok up from my desk and see the Pugit Sound, and on a clear day (haven't seen one yet) I can supposedly see mountains.

Anywho, since this is a Superman-themed entry, I offer the public the following cartoons from the one and only Bob Al-Greene.

Indiana was the dog's name

A little somethin' somethin'

From the pages of the life of Molly Mullen, I present you with my depiction of the great, the wonderful Indiana Jones. I drew this the day after I saw the movie, if you couldn't figure that one out on your own. Now, for those of you who don't know me, when I was 10, I had a cardboard cutout of Han Solo in my bedroom, and drew pictures of him constantly. By the time I was 11, I had the Indiana Jones computer game (that I never even won), and now, age 20, I have a cartoon of Han Solo with me in Seattle. I love Harrison Ford, and I loved the movie, regardless of all that alien shit.


(above) my Indiana, Bob's Indiana (below)

Skedaddle to Seattle

DAY FOUR
The title for this entry was my mom's idea. She's too cute. We're a lot alike, you know. The cute part that is. I got lonely for Maddigan and she bought me some puppy slippers. She said I had to name them Maddy and Shammy, and I said nope. She said she was going to turn Maddy against me while I was gone.
"I'll show her pictures of you then throw things at her," she said.



Now it's midnight in Seattle, at the Holiday Inn Express, a stone's throw away from the Space Needle. Trashville, but the shampoo smells better than anything and the beds are clean as a whistle.

After a quick hike up a wee foothill, we finished our trek through Idaho and Washington State, thanks to a little Ben Folds. We didn't see much of Seattle because we're both worn out. I'm surprised at how much Seattle reminds me of San Francisco. It's such a big city, I hope I can figure it all out. I just need to start working so I can stop worrying.

Greetings from Idaho

DAY THREE
So, we've made it to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, only 290 miles left until Seattle. After a massage, a boat cruise and a little room service, I'm ready and rarin' for the final leg of the trip. It's gonna be a hard day when I wake up and realize I can't con my mom into buying me food and other random stuff. But until then, Friday to be exact, I'll suck as much outta this trip as I can.



This is the beautiful resort that I somehow talked mom into booking for us for the night. Man, oh man, this king sized bed almost makes me forget how bad a show "Sex and the City" really is.



Oh, and by the way, did I mention that it has a floating 14th hole on the golf course? No big deal or whatever, it's just amazing.

Lastly, to Abby and Bob, and whoever accidentally stumbles on this blig, I posted pictures of the trip on Facebook.

Next stop, the Corn Palace

DAY ONE

So, we were off and rolling, through the great Midwest. Without a Mapquest printout or a real atlas, I had to trust my instincts. Trudging through South Dakota, I knew how far I was based on so-called 'landmarks.' First it was the Corn Palace, then well over a hundred signs for Wal Drug, then a series of billboards for crocodiles and kimoto dragons at the Reptile Gardens. Finally, I started to see signs for Mt. Rushmore, so I knew I was getting close to my place for the night: Rapid City.



BILLBOARD CORN PALACE PUNS

"Marvelous Ear-cetecture"
"Cornsider Visiting"
"A-Maize-ing"
"We are all ears"
"Ears to you!"
"Corn-ceptual Art"

For the record, I stopped at all the previously mentioned tourist traps, including the corn palace. Had I not left Omaha an hour late (because I was having one last slice of Zio's pizza with my best friends) I would have made it to the Corn Palace in time to see Barack Obama. Instead, I rolled in right as they were taking down the "Change you can believe in" sign. Symbolic? I hope not.

DAY TWO
That was yesterday. Today was petting 600 pound, 127 year old tortoises, Mt. Rushmore, lunch in Deadwood at the bar where Wild Bill Hickock was shot, and a drive through snow capped mountains of Montana.





We rolled into Bozeman Montana at 10 p.m., right under the arch of the biggest, clearest rainbow I have ever seen. I think it has something to do with my mom's good karma rubbing off on me, but "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was playing on the CD player. Perfect.



Now I'm off to sleep. More tomorrow night from Idaho, and maybe (if you're lucky) more puns.