Kansas artists featured in WSJ

The Wall Street Journal ran a story today talking about Kansas.

According to the online-version of the article, this story ran today on the front page of the WSJ.

The article was titled, “These Unknown Sculptors Are Outstanding in Their Fields in Kansas: Odd Art Collections Crop Up Along Midwest Highways; Mr. Liggett’s Ladies,” and one of the people the reporter talked to was someone I had personally met, which is pretty cool.

M.T. Liggett, of Mullinville, Kan., was interviewed for the story. In fact, his portion was the feature’s lead. He’s an interesting fellow, and if you want to learn more about him, I suggest checking out the Greensburg Rebirth project’s coverage of him, especially this video:

The article also talks about other Kansas artists who, like Liggett, use scrap metal and a blow torch to create magnificent pieces of art.

I would mention the others, but I don’t know them like I know Liggett.

Really, this post has little importance. I just came across this article and thought it was pretty cool that Kansas was making headlines in the leading newspaper of financial news. I had to share it.

Besides, it was either write about this or begin to write a lengthy, First Amendment post, which I really want to write but simply don’t have time to write today due to preparations for basketball games.

Don’t worry, though, I will try to post it this week. It is important to me, so I will write it.

Until then, I hope you enjoy the WSJ article I am sharing with you today. I know I did.

Front Page Friday (the Monday edition): Super Bowl XLIV

If you haven’t heard it by now, I suggest you get out more, but the New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV Sunday in Miami as they defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17.

The game was much closer than the score lets on. The Saints simply had an incredible second half, which they started with an onside kick that they actually recovered. It was a risky move, but since they got the football back right away, it was a gamble worth taking.

That combined with an interception Colts quarterback Peyton Manning threw, the difference in points got greater that it should have.

Both teams played great, and it was a battle until the end. Sure, I wanted the Colts to win because I really like Manning. I think he is the most intelligent quarterback in the NFL, and I think he is hilarious, especially when he is doing commercials with the likes of Justin Timberlake.

The irony of this game was that Manning was born New Orleans, and I would have loved it if he beat his old, hometown team; however, one has to give credit to the Saints’ leader, quarterback Drew Brees.

Brees, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, and his teammates played like there was no tomorrow. They wanted to win and be the group of guys that earned the first franchise Super Bowl victory for the Saints and the city of New Orleans.

I congratulate them and secretly wish I was in New Orleans right now. Oh to be at the party that is rocking that city! Yowza!

Of course, as the headline points out, I am always interested in the nerdier sides of these types of events, so today I am doing a special Monday Edition of my Front Page Friday series that focuses on the coverage of football’s grandest hour — the Super Bowl.

However, nearly every paper in the country probably put something on their front pages about the game. I don’t have time to dissect them all.

Instead, I’m going to focus on the hometown papers of the two teams: The Indianapolis Star and The Times-Picayune.

The Indianapolis Star from Feb. 8, 2010.

Both papers used large photos, which I like, and they both focused on the team leaders, who are their respective quarterbacks.

The Indy Star’s headline expressed the sadness the team and community feels at losing the Super Bowl.

The Times-Picayune focuses on an emotion of relief since it is the first Super Bowl the Saints’ franchise has ever won. A victory was something fans had been hoping for, and they finally got it.

The Times-Picayune from Feb. 8, 2010.

Both front pages are very telling of how important the football teams are to the towns the media outlets serve.

In both cases, the Super Bowl story is the only story on the page, which is fitting. The Super Bowl is a big deal.

For example, if the Kansas City Chiefs were ever to make it to the Super Bowl, let alone win it, all Kansas papers might devote all the pages to coverage of the Chiefs success, as well as the fact hell must have frozen over in order for the Chiefs to do that well.

Seriously, though, the photographs used by these two papers were great. Each gave a clear message of the feelings the players and fans were feeling.

Brees is clearly happy as he holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy above his head, and Manning is clearly sad and dejected as he watches the Saints celebrate the victory.

So which front page do I like better? The Times-Picayune. Not because they were the winning team, but because of the typography. The huge “Amen” is big, bold and beautiful, and, though it might be a bit cheesy, I like the exclamation point with the Saints logo in  it. The whole headline works well because under the “Amen” is a reference to prayers being answered.

Is this front page a little homer-ish? Sure. And it should be. The Times-Picayune is part of New Orleans. So are the Saints. Why shouldn’t the local paper celebrate the victory?

Super Commercials

Besides an incredible football game, Sunday night was also a time for high-dollar television advertising to be shown between plays.

In honor of this part of the Super Bowl tradition, I am sharing with you my favorite commercials, in no particular order. Let me know what your favorites were.

Front Page Friday: Eye-catching art

It is that time of the week again. It is time to look at my favorite newspaper front page of the week.

As always, I culled through the front pages shown at Newseum.org and picked my favorite.

This week is a little different, though. I’m not just going to talk about one front page. I’m going to focus on three because of the eye-catching art they used.

So here they are:

Chicago Hoy

The Chicago Hoy, which is a free-distribution, Spanish-language publication serving the Chicago area, jumped out at me Wednesday because of its centerpiece package.

Chicago Hoy Front Page from Feb. 3, 2010.

All the copy on the page is in Spanish, so I don’t know what it said. However, the photo is very telling. It conveys a story without me even having to be able to read the words.

Using such a photograph instantly expresses and elicits an emotion, and think the page designer and the photo editor who collaborated to create this cover did a fantastic job.

If I lived in Chicago and could read Spanish, I would have grabbed a copy of this just to find out what the people in the photograph were going through that they were.

(From what I can gleam from the package’s headline and teaser by utilizing my meager Spanish skills, I think there was an accident that caused deaths, but I can’t promise that’s what it says.)

Express

My next pick is the Express, which is a commuter-tab published by The Washington Post.

Express Front Page from Feb. 3, 2010.

This one caught my eye because of the illustration it used to introduce the topic of how the United States Federal Government is discussing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which deals with homosexuals in the military.

Currently Washington politicos are debate whether or not to repeal that policy, and I think this treatment was well done. It used military-esque typefaces and then marked through it, alluding to the possible repeal of the policy and expressing it by making it look like an official document that has been censored by a government entity.

I thought this was really sharp. When I design packages or logos or whatever, I like to try and do it with just fonts. I like they way those types of designs look, but I can honestly say I never would have thought of this. It’s inspiring.

I wasn’t the only blogger to like it. Charles Apple over at Visual Editors also commented on it. Read his take here.

Omaha World-Herald

Finally, I wanted to share Thursday’s Omaha World-Herald.

Omaha World-Herald from Feb. 4, 2010

This front page is heavy on images, yet it is simple and clean. The centerpiece package is what drew me in. This overhead shot of a man digging a grave was quite compelling to me. I saw it and had to see the rest of the page. It is a great photo.

And the map graphic that is part of the centerpiece is cool and helps tell the story visually.

Also, all the mugshot of the University of Nebraska football recruits is an eye-catching teaser for the coverage of the 2010 College Football Signing Day, especially since nearly every reader of the World-Herald is probably a pretty big Cornhuskers fan.

Additionally, the photo of the man in the tree at the top of the left-hand column is kind of neat.

Overall, I think the World-Herald did a great job Thursday.

Photo: Newspaper rack cemetery

On Sunday, I was reading what Jim MacMillan had posted in his Twitter stream, and he left a cool link.

It was to a picture of a bunch of discarded newspaper racks piled up. MacMillan said the picture was from San Francisco, and he said he found the photo while looking for slides for a lecture presentation he was working on.

As a journalism nerd, I thought this photo was really cool, so I thought I would share it with you. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Below is the photo:

This photo is courtesy of www.boston.com. Click on this image to see a larger version.

Happy birthday, Norman

Norman Rockwell

Today is Norman Rockwell’s birthday.

Rockwell was a prolific painter and illustrator who is best know for his work on the Saturday Evening Post.

He was born Feb. 3, 1894 and died Nov. 8, 1978.

Today he was honored as on of Google’s Doodles, which are “the graphical logos that sit above the search box on the otherwise minimalist page,” according to The Telegraph.

Rockwell is my favorite artist, and I collect his work whenever I can, which basically means I buy his stuff whenever I see it at an auction or other inexpensive venue.

In honor of his work, I wanted to share a few of my favorite paintings.

Here they are:

Blank Canvas

Dreams Of Long Ago

Fixing A Flat

Freedom Of Speech

Freedom To Worship

I Paint The Candidates (Norman Having Picture Taken)

Mermaid (A Fair Catch)

The Problem We All Live With

The Three Umpires

Triple Self Portrait