28 February 2017

With the Oscars officially wrapped up, it's back to drawing more mundane things, like signage and terrible human beings. That unholy abomination up there is Stephen K. (I think it's only one "K," but I might be forgetting a few) Bannon and Stephen Miller, Trump's favorite advisor bros, whom I assume he appreciates because when they're around he's not the only guy in the room who lacks a soul. Now, that drawing might not be a perfect likeness of either of them. I mean, it seems sensible that that this is how they get around in the White House--you know, Bannon detaches his atrophied alien slug body from the humanlike robot body he uses when autonomous movement is preferable (e.g., CPAC conferences and luncheons at Hooters), slithers up onto Miller's head, and steers him around the corridors of power using his many tentacles. Could be true. I mean, I only read fake news like the Los Angeles Times, so how would I know?

27 February 2017

The "Moonlight"/"La-La Land" mixup was flat out insane, true, but now that the dust has settled (for everyone except Price Waterhouse, that is) let's at least acknowledge that the two parties directly affected by the confusion---the folks who made "Moonlight" and the folks who made "La-La Land"---are being pretty damn classy about it. Well done, Hollywood, for acting like grownups.

26 February 2017

I'm sure you're all busy churning out Warren Beatty memes right about now, so I'll just leave today's drawing here with a minimum of commentary, except to say that today there was a lot of sexually charged vocabulary on a front page whose content was anything but.
Now go enjoy your post-Oscars bacchanalia, which I'm assuming involves room temperature cocktails and a picked over bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. Oh, and congrats to the "Moonlight" crew!

25 February 2017

Yes, yes, I know, we're still talking about the goddamn carpets! But c'mon. The show's on Sunday. We'll stop talking about it after then. Probably. Not on Monday, though. That's all we're talking about Monday.
Still, it's not dominating the front page. The fucking pentathlon gets more A1 real estate than the Oscars today.  The pentathlon! Do you even know what the fuck that is? I mean, I didn't, and now I do, and it's super weird and I want to watch it the next time the Olympics happens. And I don't ever want to watch the Olympics. It didn't even make it into my drawing (and believe me, I tried to shoehorn it in there), but I'm still thinking about it and, apparently, writing about it.
The other word of the day is "mufakhakhah," which apparently is the adorable colloquial for "car bomb," at least among those fighting to retake Mosul from the ISIS. A little googling tells me that it is also the surname of a former (deceased) defense minister of the Islamic State. So, you know, feel free to deploy that the next time you're playing scrabble with your nonterrorist friends and relations.

24 February 2017

There are all kinds of totally fucked up things going down (like this and this and this), but we're in LA, baby, and we're gonna talk about carpets. Specifically, the red one that leads entertainment industry workers to Oscar glory, if they be so lucky. To be honest, the LA Times front page carpet story is a genuinely fun, informative, industry town type of article---who makes this thing? how is this thing installed? how do they prevent people from stealing bits of the thing and selling it on ebay? There's a great bit in the beginning that locates the origins of the red carpet in  Aeschylus' "Agamemnon," wherein the titular greek king is offered a celebratory red carpet by his lady Clytemnestra upon his return from the Trojan War. And then she kills him. Ah, the Greeks. If only they had invented stories that could resonate with modern audiences, they would totally be remembered today. Like Nathan E. Douglas.

23 February 2017

Hello there, TRAPPIST-1, you sexy little cluster of potential habitat expansion, you. Of course,  this drawing is hardly pure aspiration; it describes two things we want but don't have, and one thing we have but don't want. Such is the state of the planet we actually occupy. It's 2017, and we're electing leaders as dumb and morally bankrupt as Trump, and it no longer seems like a sure bet that science can keep ahead of our penchant for destructive self interest long enough so that we might one day live on worlds other than Earth.

22 February 2017

Immigration-related fun facts in today's paper:

1. ICE agents like to pose as local police to better trap people or extract information from them.
2. Twenty three countries don't accept deportations from the U.S.

So yes, immigration. The issue where the more you know about it, the more you don't understand it.
Switching gears, what are the chances we'll see mention of the TRAPPIST-1 system on tomorrow's front page?

21 February 2017

Our theme today seems to be departure. RIP Boyer and Schickel, and all those who never make it to A1.

20 February 2017

Happy President's Day, everybody! I got you all, um, a dog in cowboy attire for the occasion.  The front page got you a whole bunch of stories about really complex issues, like sanctuary cities and Mosul and the impending closure of the Navajo Generating Plant in Page, Arizona. I won't try to throw together a cheap summary of these pieces here, because that defeats the purpose of journalism---you know, the occupation frequently and loudly derided by our current president, who himself doesn't read much of anything. Sigh.

19 February 2017

To balance out our dive into hyperlocal journalism yesterday, today we're bringing in USA Today as our second guest paper for this project. This paper is all san serif, and bright colors, and a giant blue dot in the masthead (that dot was a globe in an earlier incarnation, which makes way more sense than a giant blue dot), and dealing with the nation as a whole, y'all. Today's drawing comes from the weekend edition, wherein they cram the end of the working week's news into an edition that remains on news stands all weekend. Which is just weird as a concept these days, when news is dished out to you minute by minute, 24/7. But I get it as a thing; if you want a quick scan of the week's big stories, the weekend edition is a reasonable and informative option. And it probably keeps you from losing your fucking mind by checking feeds on your phone every 5-8 minutes of the working day. So, you know, its an option to explore.

18 February 2017

We'd like to extend a big mixed media daily welcome to The Desert Sun, our very first guest paper! The Desert Sun has been serving the Coachella Valley since 1927. They have a great masthead font, and they can tell you a thing or two about the corruption in the Palm Springs mayor's office during Steve Pougnet's tenure. The Pougnet story is literally the entire front page. That and a blurb about high school soccer. In other words, this is very local news. Big news, to be sure---mayors accepting cash for favors is some serious shit---but it reframes issues our national anxiety in more relatable, less scary terms (kleptocrats, they're just like us!). Which is totally refreshing after enduring weeks of dismal reports about our democracy's transformation into a fascist nightmare freakshow. Of course, the other big difference is that Mayor Steve got caught. The larger body politic is still waiting for that big story to break.

17 February 2017

Man, it's super late.

16 February 2017

Continuing our Oroville Dam series of drawings here at mixed media daily as a reminder that we're not out of the very soggy woods yet, California. And, of course that tides are rising everywhere. Already Flynn and Puzder have been swept over the edge of the Presidential emergency spillway, leaving nothing but the smeared, oily streak of scandal in their wake. So who's next? Well, if this drawing is in any way an indicator of things to come---and it's probably not, but who the hell knows these days---I'd offer Lurky Trump the same words that Marty McFly offered to his Uncle Joey when he encountered him back in 1955: "Better get used to these bars, kid."

15 February 2017

That smoking chap up there who's standing in for Oroville's troubled dam is Mohammad Afshoun, a Syrian refugee who, along with his family, was sponsored by a Texas pastor to come and live in Fort Worth. And just like that, when you're beginning to think that the whole world is crazy, you find out that a little bit of it it isn't.

Oh, a brief programming note: this weekend mixed media daily will be featuring at least one guest paper to be the subject of our hastily drawn ruminations. Stay tuned!

14 February 2017

Out here in California we've been more than a little preoccupied with the Oroville dam's crumbling spillways, but the Flynn debacle still topped A1 today. What else got some front page love on this Valentine's day? Prisons, because America.

13 February 2017

Clearly there are more important (and dire) things going on in the world than the Grammys, but hey---this is the town where they happen, so we're putting them right at the top of the front page, because you have to respect the Grammys. Ha! I was kidding. You totally don't have to respect the Grammys, or even tolerate them as far as I'm concerned. But Adele is great (and so is Chance the Rapper, who also appears on the front page but who did not make it into today's drawing. Which means I might have missed my only...opportunity to include him in this project. And I hope you all appreciate the restraint I just demonstrated there. I should get a Grammy for that shit).
And those other framed daubings of color? Well, on the right we have the recently deceased Al Jarreau, and on the left Cambodian political activist Kem Ley. So all decent human beings on A1 today. It's like an early Valentine's Day present from the Times. Awww, Los Angeles Times, you shouldn't have.

12 February 2017

Presented without comment because I was busy hosting a dinner party tonight. Actually, I would like to comment. Or rather, note an item in an article on how our once drought depleted reservoirs are way too damn full these days: down river from Oroville dam, which as of Saturday morning had begun to release excess water via its spillway, 10 million salmon at a hatchery had to be evacuated. It's on us to fill in the details of how and where you evacuate 10 million salmon, but I imagine it involved a slip n' slide and a whole mess of tea kettles.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we served shrimp.

11 February 2017

No, there were no snow globes on the front page today. There was, however, a story about the Golden State's burgeoning recreational marijuana industry, and how it might butt heads with a Justice Department led by marijuana frowner-uponer Jeff "I'm not racist, honest I'm not" Sessions. I guess we'll see! Anyway, the article was accompanied by a photo of the interior of one of our tony LA pot shops, where buds are lovingly displayed under glass domes. Thus the snow globes in the drawing. Oh, and the bust of the gentleman in the top globe? That's Seibo Shen, cannabis entrepreneur and undefeated jiujitsu fighter who gets completely baked before his matches. That's how we roll, Justice Department. Get ready.

10 February 2017

Mixed Media Daily is a bit tardy in posting tonight because I was at a concert.  That's right, sporadic semi-interested reader, I have a life outside of work and daily drawing! Well, maybe that statement doesn't hold up under scrutiny most days, but tonight it's totally true. And---getting back to the matters at hand---guess who was on A1 today? That's right, Lego Fucking Batman ("Fucking" is a family name. Don't judge). So there you go. That's pretty much the extent of my talking about the front page today. We're done! Go on, then, have a little fun, y'all; the weekend's just begun.

9 February 2017

Man, the word "ghost" appearing twice on the front page? I felt that if I read the whole of A1 the girl from The Ring was going to crawl out of my paper and eat my soul, or whatever the hell she does to her victims. Still, the front page was certainly haunted---by homelessness, by the Ghost Ship fire investigation, by the mere mention of the name of the soulless wraith that has become our attorney general. Freaky vibes all around.

You know who didn't appear on the front page? Elizabeth Warren (her rebuke by the Senate appeared deep within A1). I guess the newspaper folks figured social media had that one covered.

8 February 2017

So if you don't live in Los Angeles this drawing might seem pretty cryptic (hell, maybe they all do, but i prefer to labor under the illusion that this shit makes sense to somebody out there). Most of this image is dedicated to P-22, Los Angeles's very own resident mountain lion. He's been making a home for himself in Griffith Park for a while now. He ate a Koala in our zoo! He's pretty rad.
The guy at the top is Jeff Sickich, the NPS biologist who caught and tagged P-22 so they could track his movements (maybe the "extreme vetting" joke makes more sense now? Maybe not. I realize it was a stretch, but I stand by my terrible punning). Oh, and the haircut in the middle is Betsy DeVos, who, like a urine-soaked pile of leaves that P-22 would assemble for the purpose of finding a mate, lends an unpleasant whiff to the otherwise pleasant scenery.

7 February 2017

If you feel in the mood for a story about the American experience that goes a step or two beyond the standard level of callousness and impropriety we've become used to in the Trump era, boy are you in luck today. You can read all about the cretins known as Sandy Hook truthers, and their ringleader Alex Jones, and how Mr. Jones is buddies with Trump. I could tell you more, but I'm too angry about this vile nonsense and its unbelievable proximity to the White House to keep typing.

6 February 2017

Well, the Super Bowl is over. You know what that means: you'll be seeing virtually no football helmets in mixed media daily drawings for at least...when does football start back up? Not that you saw many football helmets in the first month or so of this project. And no helmets today; with the sporting excitement over, I decided to draw more mundane, everyday stuff, like nervous immigrants and scowling, protofascist nutbags. Oh, and sneakers. They're a pretty common sight these days, too.

5 February 2017

After weeks of national political insanity, it's nice to read about some good old-fashioned utility company mismanagement. It seems almost quaint by comparison. And let's face it, the California power plant debacle is the result of bad decision making, not people setting out to be ruinous assholes. Whereas, you know, setting the wheels in motion for mass deportations---well, that certainly doesn't not make you a ruinous asshole.

4 February 2017

I know we're all completely surprised that self-proclaimed man of the people Donald Trump is making the dismantling of Dodd-Frank a priority, because, as he puts it so eloquently, "I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses, they can't borrow money." I mean, what's the point of being the president if you can't rip up inconvenient legislation to make it easier for your rich buddies to get even more rich? Sadly, the only thing that smacks of disbelief in this story is Donald Trump's claim that he has friends. Everything else seems about par for the course in our newly minted kleptocracy.

3 February 2017

Right now brightly colored suits are a coincidence; if it happens again tomorrow I guess it becomes a pattern. I mean, there are worse things.

It's too late on a Friday night to get into recap mode, so I'll leave you with this: if you haven't yet heard Thundercat's new song, wherein both Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald provide guest vocals, remedy that tonight.

2 February 2017

The front page is besotted with political chicanery, whether at the State Department or in the Senate or in the White House (like, why is Ivanka Trump accompanying her dad on a visit to the family of a slain soldier? Is it Bring Your Daughter to Really Awkward Funerals Day today?). On the plus side, I am getting better at drawing Neil Gorsuch,  the avowed conservative justice who's probably already getting measured for his Supreme court robes. Until those are ready, Neil, I made you this hot red pimp suit. You're welcome.

1 February 2017

Here we are, in the middle of the second week of a new administration, and all the normal administrative duties are being fulfilled---a new nominee for the Supreme Court has been put forth, the Australian prime minister has been yelled at, rumors that Frederick Douglass is still alive and doing some great work have been circulated---I mean, what were we all worried about?

Oh, and did you know that there's always a little blurb about the day's weather on the front page? I did, but it's never come in handy until today.