Archive for the 'Idiot Box' Category

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Newt Opens Up

Monday, January 23rd, 2012 by Matt Bors

Newt Gingrich is a superb debater. Perhaps he honed his skills pitching open marriages to his previous wives. Think what you will of the man, he was totally rocking it in the CNN debate. The crowd gave a standing ovation to his slap down of John King for delving into his personal life.

One can easily imagine Obama having a white wife–his third–twenty-some years younger than him, children from a previous marriage, and history of serial philandering being considered off limits by conservatives.

It would be nice if the media or a politician actually acknowledged that open marriages and relationships are actually OK normal things to do and that anything outside of hetero monogamy death pacts don’t reek of deviancy and degeneration.

Of course, Gingrich denies even asking for an open marriage and, in a way, he’s right. Gingrich wasn’t pursuing some kind of open, honest relationship with mutual love and respect–he was caught in a six year affair, wanted it to continue without interruption, and gave his wife an ultimatum: I continue to bang the woman much younger than you and you stay home and watch Murphy Brown.

She chose the option that involved never having sex with Newt Gingrich again, which I can’t imagine leads one to be haunted with regret.

Previously: Newt 2012. Wednesday: SOPA

Posted in Editorial Cartoons, Idiot Box, newt gingrich | Comment

Dude Food

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 by Matt Bors

If you haven’t seen the ad for Dr. Pepper Ten, go ahead and give it a look below.

The ad manages to be self-aware of its over-the-top machismo and offensive at the same time. You wonder exactly what they were going for in gendering a soft drink–who might be so insecure in their manhood that it could govern their choice of carbonated beverage.

The first explanation is that by simply doing something outlandish you can generate chatter and viral momentum–to employ a slick advertising phrase–that allows your brand to permeate the helpless minds that aren’t glued to the football game you bought ad space for. In that sense, I am participating in their cunning plot by even mentioning their wretched sugary existence.

Douchey Guys Who Need Manly Products is a market demographic that is targeted so often not because of their size or income, but because they remain really, really vulnerable to  the suggestion (or outright declaration) that products make you cool/tuff/fuckable in an age where many thinking humans have grown a little cynical of blatant propaganda.

You kind of get the Axe Body Spray ads. Those are at least products specifically designed for men. But soda? That hasn’t been as thoroughly boner-fied as Bud Light and Ford trucks, but I guess we are changing that, heading towards a world where regular old Dr. Pepper’s unisex appeal is shunned by those who want a bro-identified drinking experience.

Then it’s on to the Pop-Tarts.

Posted in Editorial Cartoons, feminism, Idiot Box, sexism | Comment

More on Haiti’s Scapegoats

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 by Matt Bors

The Comic Riffs blog has a short Q&A with me regarding the making of the video on Haiti’s LGBT community I made with Caroline Bins.

We received some feedback regarding the subtitles, so if you had trouble viewing it before, make sure to click the CC button and English subtitles should help you out during the French sections.

Posted in Comics Journalism, Editorial Cartoons, Idiot Box | Comment

Words Don’t Mean Anything

Monday, January 16th, 2012 by Matt Bors

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Posted in Idiot Box | Comment

Hack Attack

Monday, January 16th, 2012 by Matt Bors

This one’s a little “inside baseball,” but refers to the annual cartoons from certain conservatives noting that it is snowing and therefore Al Gore is an idiot. This tired cliche is so popular among cartoonists who can’t be bothered to think of a new idea once in a while, that there is a blog entirely devoted to posting each one.

Posted in Editorial Cartoons, Idiot Box | Comment

The World interview

Thursday, January 12th, 2012 by Matt Bors

I was interviewed by Marco Werman for PRI’s The World today about the comics journalism from Haiti. You can listen here.

Posted in Comics Journalism, haiti, Idiot Box | Comment

Haiti’s Scapegoats

Thursday, January 12th, 2012 by Matt Bors

When hundreds of thousands of Haitians lost their homes, families and livelihood in the earthquake two years ago, Haiti’s gays and lesbians experienced an outburst of homophobia.

With a majority of its population devoutly Catholic, many LGBT Haitian’s are not open about their sexual orientation for fear of physical and verbal abuse. But in the aftermath of 2010′s natural disaster, some conservative religious leaders in Haiti blamed the earthquake on homosexuality.

Video journalist Caroline Dijckmeester-Bins and I collaborated to create Haiti’s Scapegoats, incorporating animations and illustrations of the people we interviewed this summer. Chevelin Pierre also made contributing illustrations.

Posted in Comics Journalism, haiti, Idiot Box | Comment

Tents Beyond Tents

Thursday, January 12th, 2012 by Matt Bors

Cross-posted at Cartoon Movement

Today, on the second anniversary of the earthquake that destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, we publish the first chapter in a 75-page comics journalism project focused on life in Haiti two years after the country was devastated by an earthquake that it is still recovering from.

Written by Port-au-Prince reporter Pharés Jerome, and illustrated by Chevelin Pierre, Tents Beyond Tents takes us down to the Champ de Mars in front of the crumbled presidential palace to the squalid conditions in tent camps on the outskirts of town.  Jerome tells us of the forced evictions by state authorities and the modest progress that is finally allowing some families to relocate.

500,000 people still live in tent camps as resources and international attention wanes. Amid the daunting relief effort is a reminder from the Haitian proverb, “beyond mountains, there are mountains,” that after each struggle is overcome new ones present themselves, as the seemingly endless struggle to rebuild Haiti continues into its third year.

Posted in Comics Journalism, haiti, Idiot Box | Comment

Man’s Highest Polling Friend

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 by Matt Bors

Yes, we’re overflowing with Santorum this week. I had about five thought-out strips ready to go and had to whittle them down to two so as not to overdo it. However, if he continues to open his mouth and say things like “blah” and “plives” I may be forced to revisit the man next week, barring his campaign hasn’t imploded.

This comic visits a favorite theme of mine: that anti-gay bigots are in fact gay and, sooner or later, will be found snorting a rail of coke off a prostitute’s boner. In fact, there’s usually an inverse relationship with the vehemence of their homophobic rage to the level of same-sex deviancy they engage in. And Rick Santorum’s Leave It To Beaver sweater vests radiate with “repressed kinkster.”

I can’t believe Romney’s opposition research team hasn’t dropped a bomb on him already. Santorum’s claims that gay marriage may lead to man-dog marriage has me thinking this one may end badly for him. It shouldn’t be long before a video surfaces of him taking Old Yeller out behind the shed and pumping him full of something that isn’t lead.

I apologize for this whole post.

Posted in Editorial Cartoons, gay rights, Idiot Box, Santorum | Comment

Haiti

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 by Matt Bors

This Thursday on Cartoon Movement we will publish the first chapter in a 75-page comics journalism project focusing on life in Haiti two years after it was devastated by an earthquake. The first chapter, “Tents Beyond Tents”, focuses on the tent camps that still dominate much of Port-au-Prince and was written by Pharés Jerome, a reporter for Le Nouvelliste. We will be publishing installments throughout 2012 written by various Haitian journalists, focusing on such issues as Haitian politics, the role of NGOs, and what exactly happened with all the relief money that came flooding in after the earthquake.

Leading up to the anniversary, we are publishing editorial cartoons by three Haitian cartoonists we met, including this scathing one from Raphael Paquin.

There’s also this sketchbook diary Sandy Huffaker did on a trip to Haiti in 1986.

I’ve been working with the journalists and the artists, Chevelin Pierre, since I got back from Haiti in August. “This is an opportunity to express my frustrations, and those of my countrymen, with the recovery after January 12 through my drawings,” says Pierre. “And comics journalism lends itself perfectly to the subject.”

Posted in Comics Journalism, haiti, Idiot Box | Comment

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