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| BrendanMcKillip.com brendan mckillip's daily journal |
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daily journal
New Face for the Tribune? Sam Zell and Team are working up redesigns for many of the Tribune Company's newspapers to combat sagging sales. The Orlando Sentinel was the first paper to go under the knife, and apparently also acted as a guinea pig for trying out some unconventional design approaches for a daily newspaper. Now it looks like it might be flagship paper, The Chicago Tribune, to get a new face. Editor & Publisher leaked this design today as one of many new designs being considered for the Trib.  I'm trying to reserve judgment until I can see a larger version of the mock-up and possibly some interior pages, but my initial reaction is "ugh." This design seems to put the Trib more in line with tabloid papers like the Chicago Sun-Times or the New York Daily News with their flashy graphics and large fonts. To me this sort of presentation is about making a newspaper more interested in style and getting noticed than on the quality and substance of the stories. If the quality of the content remains but the packaging is spruced up, then I really won't care too much about what they do to the Trib. But if the new design/style starts to cramp on the quality, then Heather and I might be ending our subscription. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. We need to give the Trib some time to finalize a design posted by Brendan | 12:38 PM | permanent link |
The Gigglesnort Hotel I haven't seen this in years - almost forgot about it to. The Gigglesnort Hotel was a kids show here in Chicago during the late 1970's. I only vaguely remember the program, but I clearly recall The Blob. If I recall correctly, host Bill Jackson, besides shaping the Blob into whatever he needed it to be, would also do some great cartooning during the show. Labels: TV posted by Brendan | 8:35 AM | permanent link |
Wisconsin Has The Best Roadside Signs When I was young lad going somewhere with my parents, there were a few telltale roadside signs that announced to my brother, sister and I that we were headed for fun. Driving over the Thorton Quarry on I-294/I-80 meant we were leaving Illinois to the East, headed out through Indiana to probably somewhere in Michigan (we never did anything in Indiana). Camping and apple picking were the usual activities. Seeing the giant Magikist lips sign on the Eisenhower Expressway meant we were almost to downtown Chicago, which could mean almost anything could be happening next. And the huge wooden Wisconsin sign on I-90 meant we had entered Cheeseland: Chicago’s collective backyard playground. More than likely it meant we were on our way to spend a week at Lake Delavan swimming and playing with cousins in a small cottage that my Grandfather had rented for a week or two for the whole family to share.  Seemingly perpetual construction on I-294/I-80 means I take a different route when headed east out of Illinois, so no more crossing the abyss of the quarry; and the Magikist sign was taken down about ten years ago. So that leaves the hulking wooden replica of the state of Wisconsin hanging on the side of the road as one of my fonder childhood vacationing/traveling memories that I still get to revisit.Last year my Dad restarted the tradition of renting a cottage on Lake Delavan for a week in the summer and inviting the family up to stay. It has been great fun for me to take Heather and the kids to a place I have so many great memories of. It has also provided me the opportunity to see the Wisconsin sign in context of a drive to Delavan again and know that the sign not only marked our arrival in Wisconsin, but that we were only about half an hour away from our final destination. This year I pulled the van over and had the kids get out so we could get some photos next to the sign. Cheesy? Maybe, but this is Wisconsin after all.  There was some grumbling and dirty looks, but the agony of dragging them out for the photo op paid off when Heather found a magnet depicting the roadway sign. The kids were just as excited as she was to find this perfect souvenir. They have always had a wonderful time when we’ve vacationed up in Wisconsin, and now they are associating that fun with its roadside marker – the wooden Wisconsin sign.Labels: Family posted by Brendan | 1:12 PM | permanent link | Congratulations Kevin! My brother received his 3rd Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination in 5 years this morning. His second nomination in as many years. For his work as Eustace in Jeeves Intervenes with the First Folio theater company he is being honored with a nomination for Actor in a Supporting Role - Play. I am extremely proud and excited for Kevin to be recognized and honored by the Chicago theater community like this again. And I look forward to being there to support him when the awards are handed out in late October. Labels: Family posted by Brendan | 8:17 AM | permanent link |
LEGO Batgirl Ian owns all of the LEGO Star Wars video games and he got LEGO Indiana Jones game this summer (my favorite to date). However, this fall LEGO Batman hits store shelves and I'm already thinking that we have to get this for our new Wii. If not for the huge gallery of characters the creators have crammed into the game, then at least for LEGO Batgirl.  How cool is that. LEGO Batgirl is the tops. Labels: Batman, DC, Indiana Jones, Star Wars posted by Brendan | 10:58 PM | permanent link | Ain't It The Truth  Damn New Yorkers. [via] Labels: Fun posted by Brendan | 10:49 PM | permanent link |
Wheelchair Werewolf Funny. I particularly like the sheriff. Labels: Fun posted by Brendan | 8:32 AM | permanent link | Vote Fett in '08 Obama picks Joe Biden - that's already played out. What I want to know is who Boba Fett will be picking for his running mate.  Labels: Fun, Politics, Star Wars posted by Brendan | 8:15 AM | permanent link |
Grammar Police I love today's Wondermark  Mainly because I share many of the same hang-ups as the "language nerd" in today's comic. I cannot stand to listen to someone say "I could care less" when they actually mean "I could not care less." Labels: comic strips, Rant posted by Brendan | 4:54 PM | permanent link |
The Scatology of Cheese  Is it just me, or does the term "Handcrafted Cheese" sound like something dirty or gross?I saw the phrase on the side of a truck this morning while walking to work. It was plastered in a big, bold font over an image of piles of cheese. When I read it, I snickered. Whether you think the phrase is dirty or not is probably more a reflection of the sort of mind the interpreter has, not the inherent meaning of the phrase. If you smirk when you read "Handcrafted Cheese," you probably have a mind that leans towards the scatological. Handcrafted cheese . . . ha Labels: Fun posted by Brendan | 8:39 AM | permanent link | |
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