political animation

Animationbot

With all the talk of insta-animation, I took a stab at it myself. I finished next week's animation a week early after about 45 minutes of easy clicking. Satire-bots are on the way!

New Year's Resolution(s)

The latest Little Suzie Newsykins episode is up and running!

While Little Suzie is resolving to get more done this year, just like the new Republican crew in Congress, I am resolving to blog more. (Or much at all, for that matter.) I've been a terrible/nonexistent blogger, mainly because I've become accustomed to speaking through my cartoons and characters rather than in text. It's also taken me quite a while to use words like "I" and "me," since those have generally been no-no words in the world of journalism. Of course that was before the world of the Interwires (unless you were Andy Rooney, that is).

Here are a few of the stand-out articles I came across while researching this week's animation. As you can probably tell, the stories of Darrell Issa's past held a particular attraction for me, although there is plenty of fishy business in the present as well.

Little Suzie is going to stick to her New Year's Resolution and I'll do the same. More soon . . .

Johnny Cry

This week's animation is up and running here. Harkening back to the honky-tonks of John Boehner's youth.

Now, I love his personal story just as much as the next beer-drinking son in a large family, but he seems to be working mostly for the selfish corporations who don't have to mop the floor of a bar. The little guy is working for the big guys. Here's a nice stomach-turning article for you. Ugh. You'll need a beer after reading it.

"Nice Enough Guy"

The full transcript and video is finally in (see below, begins around the 52-minute mark), and you can now judge for yourself. Did Steve Jobs call me a liar?

Um, no.

It's those pesky live blogs and paraphrased "transcripts" that fanned the flames of this story. My read on this is that, besides calling me a "nice enough guy," Steve Jobs was a little peeved that I didn't try to resubmit before the Pulitzer win. (As I stated before, the reason I didn't resubmit was because Apple said the NewsToons app would only be approved if it didn't "ridicule public figures.")

I'm hopeful that the "ridicules public figures" edict is no longer in force, but Apple hasn't come out and said one way or another. Jobs uses the "95% of apps are approved" line of response quite a bit--- which I hope means satire and political cartoons are welcome and will contribute to a bright future of journalism for Apple and for cartoonists!

At the risk of joining the ranks of Steve Jobs-ologists, his one comment I take issue with is that political cartoons, by their very nature, defame people. As far as I know, defamation is a legal description that goes above and beyond clever satire. You can get sued for defamation, it's very rare for a political cartoon to defame. Tweak, needle, anger, yes. Defame, no.

Let me know what you think or if you legal scholars out there can enlighten me.

Did Steve Jobs Just Call Me A Liar?

Even though I should be finishing the latest animation right now, I just wanted to give you an update about the latest Jobs/Apple/app dustup. I'm still trying to make sense of what Steve Jobs actually said, but here's an excerpt from his appearance last night at the WSJ's D8 conference:

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7:18PM Walt: So what happened with this candidate?

Steve: We had a rule that said you can't defame other people.

Kara: Determined by your app people.

Steve: Yes... and political cartoons got caught in that. We didn't think of that. So this guy submits his app and he gets rejected. We didn't see that coming. So we changed the rule, but this guy never resubmitted... then he wins a Pulitzer Prize, and he says we rejected him. So, we are guilty of making mistakes. We're doing the best we can, we're learning as fast as we can -- but we thought this rule made sense.

Right after that, Jobs apparently said this:

7:19PM Steve: We're doing the best we can, we're fixing mistakes. But what happens is -- people lie. And then they run to the press and tell people about this oppression, and they get their 15 minutes of fame. We don't run to the press and say "this guy is a son of a bitch liar!" -- we don't do that.

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Now, before you freak out and lose sleep like I did, this was taken from a live blog, and other live blogs from the same event are a little mellower. I'm trying to track down the full transcript or video (the event was filmed, but they're only releasing excerpts) and will update when I've found it.

If I'm hearing Steve Jobs correctly, he's essentially calling me a liar who is just seeking 15 minutes of fame (which, as a cartoonist, is a very funny thing to hear from someone who speaks in front of 30-foot screens projecting his image).

What I am seeking is a clarification from Apple on their policy regarding satire and "ridiculing public figures," and a response to the letter the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists wrote Mr. Jobs. I fully support their right to pick and choose bad or good content for their store, but a blanket ban on ridicule is, um, ridiculous. If the doors are now open to satire and ridicule of public figures, then Steve Jobs has indeed corrected his "mistake."

I've always made a point of being open about my whole experience with the Apple and have never sought out confrontation. My NewsToons app was, in fact, rejected. You can see the actual rejection email below. The reason I never resubmitted the app was because I wasn't about to make the changes Apple sought and remove any "content that ridicules public figures." Ridiculing public figures is what I do and is an essential part of journalism.

I'm in the process of improving and updating the NewsToons app and would love to know whether or not Apple has changed their policy regarding satire, because this isn't just about me, it's about a promising new future for journalism.

Hopefully, I'll be able to reach Mr. Jobs directly and get a clarification.

There are some good postings about this latest development here, here and here. I'll update you as soon as I know more.

Now I've got to get back to cartooning. Ack! Almost deadline-time!

-Mark

Whoa! What a Monday!

Holy-moley, what a 24 hours! I've been meaning to do a quick blog post about receiving the Pulitzer but have been way too swamped with the whole whirlwind. Stay tuned for a full update and some inside tidbits that aren't reported. (Or at least things you wouldn't think of, like how I am now a complete sucker for those spam emails with the subject line "congratulations!".)

Thanks to all of you who have written or called, and to everyone who has supported me over the years.

More soon!

-Mark

How Do You Do This Political Animation Thing?

I know, I know, I’ve already been remiss in blog-posting. This is due, in part, to the bloody events of the weekend, events that don’t happen all that often in the City of Saint Francis. (Sorry, Francis, but there are certain city ordinances that must be upheld.)

Now that I can safely say I know something about killing (surprisingly cooperative) fowl, let’s move on to one of the most common questions asked at the Mark Fiore Industries Consumer Questions and Complaints Division. “How do you make these cartoons?”

In this installment, I’ll explain the idea phase of my process.

First up, Trolling-for-Topics. I begin by reading the newspaper (Paper!)-- although most of my research is done online-- until something jumps out at me that makes me angry, strikes me as wrong or is hypocritical. The best animation ideas usually have their beginnings in a news article that pisses me off. This part of the process can happen gradually over the week(s) as I listen to the news, read or watch a bit of cable news. (I generally avoid most television news because it tends to make me feel slimy after a while.)

Next, I crawl into my sketchbook, where I have been writing notes about various news topics. Words, or an event may draw my attention—anything from depressing/sad news that originates in Darfur to more silly/obvious news that originates with White House Beerplomacy. I may jot down a word, like “beer,” or scribble a series of words, like “beer, beer me, teachable moment, makes it all better, using beers for health care and other needs,” etc.

After a while of doing that over several pages, words and ideas that are bouncing around on the inside of my brain begin to coalesce into something that I call the “kernel” of the cartoon. In this case, it was hitting on the term “Beerplomacy,” and the phrase “makes it all better.” From there it was a short leap to a beer advertisement that would espouse all the wonders of a magic beer. (Although most beer can be magic on some level.)

But I didn’t want to stay on the surface level of the madcap adventures of a White House beer gathering, that’s what cable news is for. I wanted to bring in other topics and issues and use Beerplomacy to talk about other things. No matter what, I still think a political animation should say something and make a point. The way I look at it, the Funny is a vehicle for the Serious or More Boring or Difficult to Understand. (Don’t ask me how this particular animation idea evolved, but that’s why I used frogs to explain the mystifyingly complex and boring credit default swaps.)

Most of the time, I don’t even know how the ideas work their way to the surface, but I’ve found that if I follow a few steps that have worked before, I’m more liable to hit on an animation idea that I like. Of course, sometimes ideas pop into my head when I’m riding my bike or taking a shower, but mostly they work their way onto a sketchbook page after loads of reading and sweating.

Check back soon for the next step in the process, and if you’re not into reading a political animator indulging in his process, you can see the quicker, video version here (looks like I'm not the only one that calls it a "kernel") and here.