Well, folk of the blog, I have some comics sitting around that I happened to receive in the mail, yet I already owned them. Now I have two copies. So why don’t I give them away?

As you may know from contests I have run in the past, I love presenting panels and having you guess from which comics they come. Some people have bashed me for it, but there’s a reason I do it: It takes the subjective out of it. If I ask you to do something where I have to judge your entries, there’s too much subjectivity in it. If I ask you to identify panels, you really can’t argue with the answers - you either get it right or not! And, to be fair, for this contest, it’s usually a page that you have to identify, and definitely more than one panel, so there’s that. Let’s take a look at what you can win:

Aces: Curse of the Red Baron by Shannon Eric Denton, G. Willow Wilson, and Curtis Square-Briggs. This is an action-adventure story set during World War I that goes weirdly off the rails at the end, but you might like it!

Awesome: The Indie Spinner Rack Anthology. Lots of weird short stories by dozens of independent creators. It’s published by Evil Twin Comics, so you know it’s quality!

The Black Diamond by Larry Young and Jon Proctor. Larry’s homage to 1970s car-centered action movies is gleefully goofy, and while Proctor’s art is occasionally stiff, it gets better as it goes along and the coloring makes it pop off the page.

Dugout by Adam Beechen and Manny Bello. This is the tale of a manager of a bad baseball team and the lengths he’ll go to in order to get his star pitcher out of prison. A nice, twisty story.

Captain Stoneheart and the Truth Fairy by Joe Kelly and Chris Bachalo. This is a big-ass hardcover version of Elephantmen #7. Richard Starkings gave it to me at San Diego, and while I want to keep it because it’s a nice huge thing, I do already have it, so I ought to share it!

Elephantmen: War Toys by Richard Starkings and Moritat. This is the trade that tells of the war that shadows the elephantmen in the present. It’s stunning - one of the best “mini-series” of the year (I put that in quotes because the regular book went on hiatus while this was being published, and it could easily fit into the regular title).

Holmes: Haydn’s Head by Omaha Perez. Perez, who seems normal enough, retells a Sherlock Holmes story as a wild acid trip through some ridiculous situations. It’s Holmes as a Mad magazine feature, and works quite well.

The Middleman: The Collected Series Indispensability by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine. This collects every Middleman series and the original graphic novel. Grillo-Marxuach was nice enough to give me a copy, so I have an extra one. Yes, I ordered it even though I own every issue of The Middleman already. I don’t care! It’s a wonderful comic book. Join the Middlecult!

Strange Embrace by David Hine. This is another monster hardcover that Starkings gave to me, and another one I’m tempted to keep. I’m sure it looks fantastic (it’s wrapped in plastic, so I haven’t looked at it). But I do have the issues, so I’ll pass it on to a lucky winner. It’s a creepy horror comic that is a tad predictable, but scary nevertheless.

Yes, that’s NINE comics you can win! Okay, not one person, because we’ll have three winners. The winner will get their choice of five (5) comics, the second-place finisher will choose three (3), and the third-place finisher will get the one that’s left. That’s fair, isn’t it? ISN’T IT??????

So here are the rules, if you’ve never done this before. I show you panels from comic books. You tell me the title of the book, the issue number, the writer, and the penciller (I won’t ask for the inker, because that’s a bit too difficult). Each answer will get a point value. Thus:

The title of the book is worth one (1) point.
The issue number of the book is worth two (2) points.
The writer of the book is worth one (1) point. I should point out that some of these have two writers, usually a plotter and a scripter. You can give me only one, but if you give me both, I’ll give you a bonus point! How nice am I?
The penciller of the book is worth one (1) point.

The issue number is worth more because it’s harder to get the issue number. At least I think it is. It seems like it would be, because you can guess the others more easily. I could be wrong, but I’m sticking to the point system! So each panel is worth five (5) points. You can get a possible three hundred (300) points.

What’s that? You can do math? Does that mean that there are sixty (60) panels to identify? Mais oui! Isn’t that too hard? In the past, people have accused me of being a bit too obscure with these. So I put more panels in this contest, but tried to address that criticism. Therefore, every panel below is from a Marvel or DC book. Nothing too weird. In fact, every page below is from a Marvel or DC book that, when it was published, had nothing but a DC or Marvel logo on it (I will say that I have no idea if the pages are still “in continuity,” but I can’t help that, can I?). That means no Vertigo, no MAX, no Elseworlds, no Icon, no Epic, no New Universe, no Milestone - only Marvel and DC, as mainstream as you can get! How easy is that????

Of course, I do try to trick you. I’m not going to make this too easy, after all. So I tried to find some obscure Marvel and DC books for you to identify. I’m not Greg Hatcher, though, so I often don’t have too many obscure comics, but I hope I did all right. But trust me - every comic below has only a DC or Marvel logo on the cover, and nothing else.

People who want to enter should send me an e-mail with their answers. Remember: Give me the name of the comic that appears on the cover of the book. Just because a famous character shows up in a panel, don’t just assume that name is on the front cover (in fact, it’s probably not going to be the case, although it might be!). And to those people who complained about this the last time I did it … well, is there any reason to do that? If you don’t want to enter, don’t enter. It’s all in fun!

I guess I’ll give you until the end of November to enter. That means you have until the Sunday after Thanksgiving, a little over a week. That’s enough time, right? I’ll remind you about it over the next week so you don’t forget. Last time I did this I got 12 entries. Let’s see if I can top that!

Okay, let’s check out the panels. Have oodles of fun with them! Click on them to make them bigger, because they’re kind of tough to read. Plus, it will help you gaze in wonder at the awesomeness!

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Have fun, everyone! Remember - you don’t have to answer them all, just beat everyone else! That’s easy, right?

When Criterion Games Producer Jeremy Chubb arrives on the official PlayStation Blog, you know that more Burnout Paradise content is on the way. On today's post, Chubb announced the upcoming arrival of the Carson Extreme Hotrod. The car looks like a pretty ridiculous ride and Chubb hints at more news and announcements to come. Chubb teases readers with: "we could explain that we've rewired Burnout's vehicle dynamics system, so it handles more intuitively and drifts more realistically than any other car. We could reveal that it's the first of a pack of two cars designed to re-imagine Burnout Boost. Which explains the blue exhaust flames..."

Chubb ends the post by noting that the car will be something you need to own in 2009 and informs Burnout junkies to look for more on their Burnout Paradise Boost Specials Pack. While the post obviously mentions nothing about the 360 version, we can only assume the hotrod will make its way to Xbox Live at the same time.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/932/932641p1.html

I'm doing a project that has a fast coming deadline (December 5th). I need someone who would like to draw around 75 images for me. The image size would be 5" x 6" or something that I could scan into the computer and use in a presentation.

Black and white is fine if color is too much trouble.
The images are basically homeless people walking around town, sleeping under a bridge, and pushing their shopping cart around.

I realize the date is right around the corner, so please don't tell me how its a ridiculous request. I GET THAT I also can not pay anyone something insane. I put an add on craigslist and got a response for $4500!! :eek:

I cleared it with my manager to do some over time so I can clear $100 to pay someone, but thats my limit.

Anyways my cards are on the table. Any help would be great! Again please don't just respond with how I'm a cheap skate, or how its a ridiculous request, or whatever. I'm sure all your responses are exactly correct, but I have billion craigslist responses to tell me; I don't need yours as well.

Dell has been known to provide consumers with a delectable array of colorful options as far as their regular laptops are concerned, and it seems that they are bringing this same approach to their netbook line. Dell has just announced that they’re adding Cherry Red and Pretty Pink to the colored iterations for their Inspiron Mini 9 and Inspiron Mini 12, and they’ve likewise commissioned Tristan Eaton, avant garde toy designer, to create three exclusive designs for the Inspiron Mini line.

[via bgr]
More pictures after the break.

While this added design option definitely provides more personalization to the common netbook, is it worth the additional $25 (pink and red) to $50 (Tristan Eaton designs) charge? Personally, I have no qualms regarding the more expensive price of the Tristan Eaton creations, but the additional $25 charge for the ordinary red and pink is utterly ridiculous.

pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/appreview_nov21.jpg" align="left" hspace="4" vspace="2" width="603" height="179" style="display:block;" /Back to the usual review this week, after our a href="http://gizmodo.com/5084887/gizmodos-20-essential-iphone-apps"20 Essential Apps list last Friday/a. Thankfully, it's been a pretty good week in the store, with lots of actually useful apps—including a full-fledged four-track recorder and a couple of utilities that actually add some usable core features that I wish would have made it into the a href="http://gizmodo.com/5095477/iphone-22-update-review-go-get-it-now"2.2 software update today/a. Oh, and of course, something Japanese and crazy. Onward!/p pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/Picture_33.png" width="321" height="481"a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=296999054mt=8"Four Track:/a Remember how Keith Richards always said he recorded the riff to Satisfaction on a hotel answering machine? Well, now, budding Keefs can emmulti-track/em their sudden inspirations for songs about not getting sufficiently laid. Four Track offers all the controls you would want for a basic deck, has no track length limit, and can sync via wi-fi to import you recordings into Garage Band or Pro Tools. Awesome. It's $10.br clear="all"/p pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/Picture_29.png" width="320" height="460" align="right" hspace="4" vspace="2"a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=297063950mt=8"Save My Docs/a: Safari received some nice performance and UI tweaks in 2.2, but it still does one thing a mobile browser should never do—wipe out version of pages you've already loaded for no reason. Multiple times I've loaded a long Wikipedia article on something that I planned to read on the subway, only to find the page totally blank a few minutes later for no explicable reason. Save My Docs does one thing—saves any document loaded in Safari locally, complete with images, to be read at any time later. $2br clear="all"/p pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/Picture_35.png" width="319" height="464"a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=297104634mt=8"CalToDo/a: I can't believe this isn't a native feature: CalToDo easily syncs your OS X to-do lists (found in Mail and iCal) via a lite server app that runs on your machine. Interface is nice, and so is the simplicity. $1br clear="all"/p pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/11/Picture_27_01.png" width="322" height="480" align="right" hspace="4" vspace="2"a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=296999054mt=8"iMarimo/a: And iMarimo, what can I say? It's floating ball of algae in front of a few blurry pictures that you can spin via touch. Apparently, the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo"Marimo/a algae is beloved in Japan for its freakish, perfectly spherical growth and its ultra-rarity—found only in a single lake in Hokkaido. Damn. That's about all I can say about this on a Friday, and it costs $1.br clear="all"/p pThis week's app coverage on Giz:/p p· a href="http://gizmodo.com/5095477/iphone-22-update-review-go-get-it-now"iPhone 2.2 Update Review: Go Get It Now/a/p p· a href="http://gizmodo.com/5093208/pocket-jockey-iphone-game-simulates-horse-racing-in-most-suggestive-way-possible"Pocket Jockey iPhone Game Simulates Horse Racing In Most Suggestive Way Possible/a/p p· a href="http://gizmodo.com/5091764/numberkey-transforms-iphone-into-sweet-wireless-numberpad"Numberkey Transforms iPhone Into Sweet Wireless Numberpad/a/p p· a href="http://gizmodo.com/5091571/googles-iphone-voice-search-mobile-app-now-available"Google's iPhone Voice Search Mobile App Now Available/a/p p· a href="http://gizmodo.com/5091177/opentable-iphone-app-easiest-most-soulless-restaurant-reservations-ever"OpenTable iPhone App: Easiest, Most Soulless Restaurant Reservations Ever/a/p p· a href="http://gizmodo.com/5091173/iphones-gas-cubby-car-care-tracker-is-anal-so-you-dont-have-to-be"iPhone's Gas Cubby Car Care Tracker Is Anal So You Don't Have To Be/a/p p· a href="http://gizmodo.com/5091050/hands+on-with-newber-the-location+aware-call-redirector-for-your-iphone"Hands-On With Newber, The Location-Aware Call Redirector For Your iPhone/a/p p· a href="http://gizmodo.com/5089845/even-google-gets-shafted-by-apples-ridiculous-app+approval-process"Even Google Gets Shafted By Apple's Ridiculous App-Approval Process/a/p p· a href="http://kotaku.com/5093343/iphones-puzzle-quest-hits-december-for-10"iPhone's Puzzle Quest Hits December For $10/a [Kotaku]/p pemThis list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our a href="http://gizmodo.com/tag/the-week-in-iPhone-apps/"previous weekly roundups here/a, and check out our original a href="http://gizmodo.com/5023924/iphone-app-review-marathon-liveblog"iPhone App Review Marathon/a. Have a good weekend everybody./em/p br style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=b80958e09d85b19225014e10598c6fb3p=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=b80958e09d85b19225014e10598c6fb3p=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=b80958e09d85b19225014e10598c6fb3" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=UBj9Zp33"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=120" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=aEBseUDR"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=e7tkFMhw"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=e7tkFMhw" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=h2529Uqv"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=h2529Uqv" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/AVswF2xNy6k" height="1" width="1"/

To put Chinese Democracy in some perspective: it arrives 17 years after the twin Use Your Illusions, the last set of original music by Guns N’ Roses. Seventeen years prior to the Illusions, it was 1974, back before the Ramones and Sex Pistols, back before Aerosmith had Rocks and Toys in the Attic, back before Queen had A Night at the Opera — back before almost anything that Axl Rose worships even existed. Generations have passed in these 17 years but not for Axl. He cut himself off from the world following the trouble-ridden Illusion tour, retreating to the Hollywood Hills, swapping every original GNR member in favor for contract players culled from his mid-’90s musical obsessions — Tommy Stinson from the Replacements, Robin Finck from Nine Inch Nails, Buckethead from guitar magazines — as he turned into rock’s Charles Foster Kane, a genius in self-imposed exile spending millions to make his own Xanadu, Chinese Democracy.

Like Xanadu, Chinese Democracy is a monument to man’s might, but where Kane sought to bring the world underneath his roof, Axl labored to create an ideal version of his inner world, working endlessly on a set of songs about his heartbreak, persecution and paranoia, topics well-mined on the Illusions. Using the pompous ten-minute epics “Estranged” and “November Rain” as his foundation, Axl strips away all remnants of the old, snake-dancing GNR, shedding the black humor and blues, replacing any good times with vindictive spleen in the vein of “You Could Be Mine.” All this melodrama and malevolence feels familiar and, surprisingly, so does much of Chinese Democracy, even for those listeners that didn’t hear the portions of the record as leaked demos and live tracks. Despite a few surface flourishes - all the endless, evident hours spent on ProTools, a hip-hop loop here, a Spanish six-string there, absurd elastic guitar effects - this is an album unconcerned with the future of rock & roll. One listen and it’s abundantly clear that Axl spent the decade-plus in the studio refining, not reinventing, obsessing over a handful of tracks, spending an inordinate amount of timing chasing the sound his head - that’s it, no more, no less.

Such maniacal indulgence is ridiculous but strangely understandable: Rose received unlimited time and money to create this album, so why not take full advantage and obsess over every last detail? The odd thing is, he spent all this time and money on an album that is deliberately not a grand masterpiece — a record that pushes limits or digs deep — but merely a set of 14 songs. Compared to the chaotic Use Your Illusions, Chinese Democracy feels strangely modest, but that’s because it’s a single polished album, not a double album so over-stuffed it duplicates songs. Modest is an odd word for an album a decade-plus in the making, but Axl’s intent is oddly simple: he sees GNR not as a gutter-rock band but as a pomp-rock vehicle for him to lash out against all those that don’t trust him, whether it’s failed friends, lapsed fans, ex-lovers, former managers, fired band mates or rock critics. Chinese Democracy is the best articulation of this megalomania as could be possible, so the only thing to quibble about is his execution which occasionally is perplexing, particularly when Rose slides into hammy vocal inflections or encourages complicated guitar that only guitarists appreciate (it’s telling that the only memorable phrases from Robin Finck, Buckethead or Bumblefoot or whoever are ones that mimic Slash’s full-throated melodic growl). Even with these odd flourishes, it’s hard not to marvel, either in respect or bewilderment, at dense, immaculate wall of god knows how many guitars, synthesizers, vocals and strings.

The production is so dense it’s hard to warm to, but it fits the music. These aren’t songs that grab and hold, they’re songs that unfold, so much so that Chinese Democracy may seem a little underwhelming upon its first listen: it’s not just the years of pent-up anticipation, it’s that Axl spent so much time creating the music — constructing the structure then filling out the frame — that there’s no easy way into the album. That, combined with the realization that Axl isn’t trying to reinvent GNR, just finishing what he started on the Illusions, can make Chinese Democracy seem mildly anticlimactic but Rose spent a decade plus working on this — he deserves to not have it dismissed on a cursory listen. Give it time, listening like it was 1998 not 2008, and the album does give up some terrific music - music that is overblown but not overdone. True, those good moments are the song that have kicked around the internet for the entirety of the new millennium: the slinky, spiteful “Better,” slowly building into its fury; the quite gorgeous, if heavy handed, “Street of Dreams;” “There was a Time,” which overcomes its acronym and lack of chorus on its sheer drama,; “Catcher in the Rye,” the lightest, brightest moment here; the slow, grinding “I.R.S.;” and “Madagascar,” a ludicrous rueful rumination that finds space for quotations from Martin Luther King amidst its trip-hop pulse. These aren’t innovations, they’re extensions of “Breakdown” and “Estranged,” epics that require some work to decode because Axl forces the listener to meet him on his own terms. This all-consuming artistic narcissism has become Rose’s defining trait, not letting him move forward, only to relentlessly explore the same territory over and over again. And this solipsism turns Chinese Democracy into something strangely, surprisingly simple: it won’t change music, won’t change any lives, it’s just 14 more songs about loneliness and persecution. Or as Axl put it in an apology for canceled concerts in 2006, “In the end, it’s just an album.” And it’s a good album, no less and no more.

I was about to buy Amtrak tickets to go to NYC next Saturday (Nov. 29), but I noticed that the prices have almost doubled. The prices went from approximately $50 one-way to around $90 one-way. At $50 one-way, it is comparable with gas + tolls + parking, but $90 is just ridiculous.

Is this because of Thanksgiving weekend? Does anyone have any ideas?

via IGN


When Criterion Games Producer Jeremy Chubb arrives on the official PlayStation Blog, you know that more Burnout Paradise content is on the way. On today's post, Chubb announced the upcoming arrival of the Carson Extreme Hotrod. The car looks like a pretty ridiculous ride and Chubb hints at more news and announcements to come. Chubb teases readers with: "we could explain that we've rewired Burnout's vehicle dynamics system, so it handles more intuitively and drifts more realistically than any other car. We could reveal that it's the first of a pack of two cars designed to re-imagine Burnout Boost. Which explains the blue exhaust flames..."

Chubb ends the post by noting that the car will be something you need to own in 2009 and informs Burnout junkies to look for more on their Burnout Paradise Boost Specials Pack. While the post obviously mentions nothing about the 360 version, we can only assume the hotrod will make its way to Xbox Live at the same time. For now, check out this slick new shot of the Carson Extreme below.

span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image"img alt="1121_ashlee_simpson_baby_00.JPG" src="http://cdn.thesuperficial.com/2008/11/21/1121_ashlee_simpson_baby_00.JPG" width="450" height="450" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;"//span Ashlee Simpson-Wentz gave birth to a baby boy last night and simultaneously won the "You've Got to Be Shitting Me" Award for the most ridiculous baby name. a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20238396,00.html"People/a reports: blockquotestrongBronx Mowgli Wentz/strong weighed 7 lbs., 11 oz., and was 20 1/2 inches long.br "Ashlee, Pete and baby Bronx are all healthy and happy, and thank everyone for their well wishes!" a spokesperson tells PEOPLE./blockquote Bronx Mowgli Wentz. So I'm guessing Chewbacca Squishypants was already taken? Congrats to Ashlee Pete and best of luck to Bronx. You're gonna need it. div class = "credit"Photo: WENN/div pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/qWKsD_omkES875kYH3htcH6TeRw/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/qWKsD_omkES875kYH3htcH6TeRw/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesuperficial/SNxk/~4/B1CscPWZOt0" height="1" width="1"/

Sometimes there's that direct-to-video release that looks so ridiculous that you can't wait to get your hands on it. That's how I feel about Roy Knyrim's DEATH RACERS, whcih features the Insane Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J. The movie gained enough interest that the LA Times took a trip behind-the-scenes and brought us back some slick images. Read on to check 'em out. In a dystopian future, contestants compete in a cross-country road race in which killing is part of the game.

Poor Jonah Hex. As William Goss reported earlier, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have left the scarred cowboy behind due to creative differences. But does he still have Josh Brolin to play him, or not?

The truth is, Brolin can't decide if he is. He had a chat with MTV News that didn't decide the question, but did reveal his enthusiasm for the project: "When I first read it I thought, oh my God it's awful! And then I had a moment a week later and I thought why is it awful? Maybe the thing to do is to do the most awful movie I can find ... [I love] the absurdity of it. It almost allows you to create a new genre. I love going back into the spaghetti western idea and completely turning it around."

Will he ever make up his mind? "Soon. In the last couple months I've been going back and forth about it. I went back to my gut. Is it a sell out? What is it I like about this movie? ... It's so tongue in cheek. It's so ridiculous. But once I started putting people in my mind and saying what if I put Malkovich in this role then what does this movie become? Now let's put this producer and director on it and think about how it plays out. Then it becomes fun. Now I love that movie. If you have a great filmmaker come in then suddenly these gags and characters become interesting."

Filed under: Action, Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Western

Continue reading Josh Brolin Can't Decide Whether He's 'Jonah Hex' or Not

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Anyone else notice this? When I plug my USB adapter in, my fans start revving at 6200rpm. Idle CPU temp is approximately 60ºC. Then, when I unplug the adapter, the CPU nearly instantly drops 5ºC, and within a couple of minutes I'm looking at ~45ºC.

What's up with this? Has anyone else noticed? While I understand that USB takes some CPU cycles to run, this is ridiculous since there is barely any traffic and yet the fans are cranking. When I plug in my USB hard drive, the temps will only increase if I'm actually running the drive.

I’ve posted about this blog already but I have to come back to it. A Dominican University Journalism class is using a Blogspot blog to report news and more to the campus and beyond. Our Dean of Rosary College, Jeff Carlson, shared the URL with me and I subscribed immediately.

I was rather excited so I emailed the GSLIS Faculty and the Academic IT Committee:

It’s a journalism class - and the content just keeps coming! The voices are human, honest and engaging. I have learned so much about Dominican and student life from this blog - I’ve added it to my news portal. Created simply with Blogger, it seems to be generating many comments and feedback. I have pointed to it once on my blog but will be writing about it again and sharing it with my social tools colleagues.  Good stuff.

I truly believe this is the future of marketing and engagement - a perfect example of social media done right: sometimes messy, sometimes silly, sometimes thought-provoking…but very real.

I checked in today and found that the posts and comments continue, so here are five reasons I think this is a good thing for the University. This venue seems to be a useful way for students to learn and more:

They are learning journalism skills but also media and promotional skills. Check out the video embedded in this post about the blog’s promotion around campus. Images augment posts as well.

They are finding their voice. “Ya know what really grinds my gears?,” asked one poster. “Mandatory attendance at extracurricular academic activities.” Entering the conversation openly and honestly is important. Learning how to state one’s case fairly and evenly is even more important. A “grind my gears” post is a good way to express frustration and call for solutions. The act of writing it down helps the thinking process.

They are getting invaluable experience in new media. Blogging didn’t exist when i took journalism classes at IU. These skills are invaluable. And sure, blogging will fade away but the next online communication mechanism built on it will be just as important for our future leaders to understand. Imagine: the blogging undergrad of today might just be tomorrow’s library director.

They are interacting with University officials. The “Bullet found on Campus” story generated buzz and one young reporter found herself chatting with Dean Carlson not only about the story but about the journalism program. “After the 45 minute discussion Carlson and I shared, I left his office feeling fabulous about the possibilities DU can provide future journalists. I was enthusiastic to see how receptive, appreciative and understanding Carlson was in hearing what, why, when and how I think new courses would dramatically enhance the journalism curriculum…” Here’s another example of that interaction.

They are asking important questions. This post really interested me: within our MyDU Web site, photos are featured prominently, including some of students who did not know they were being photographed. “Perhaps the mystery photographer was trying to capture the “essence” of Dominican. I still don’t think it would have been ridiculous for the photographer to ask for permission, or at least make the students aware that Dominican was going to use the photos. What do you think about this? Would you care if this happened to you? Do you find it creepy, or not a big deal?” As we all deal with our online lives and “digital dossiers,” asking these questions about photos, privacy, student rights and the University are important in deciding how we might share ourselves. 

They are marketing Dominican University in a way that no PR campaign ever can. I really appreciated the varied voices, the honesty and the range of topics. As I said above, I’ve learned more about what’s up with our students and the way they see the University than any other online offering available. Google loves blogs and future students will find this blog and the voices and it may just help them decide to come to school here.

Well done, DominiNET!

pFiled under: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/la-auto-show/" rel="tag"LA Auto Show/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/sports/" rel="tag"Sports/GTs/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/lotus/" rel="tag"Lotus/a/pa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/la-2008-lotus-evora/1170098/"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/11/lotusevoralalive_04_opt.jpg" //abr /small div style="text-align: center;"span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"Click above for high-res image gallery of the Lotus Evora live/span/div /smallbr /The "mostly" U.S. version of the "midsize" a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/22/london-2008-lotus-unveils-the-evora/"Lotus Evora/a was shown today at the a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/LA-Auto-Show/"LA Auto Show/a and it looks exactly like the one that debuted at the a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/22/london-2008-lotus-unveils-the-evora/"2008 British Motor Show/a back in June. It's just missing its side marker lights. The Evora follows the '70s Lamborghini Urraco, Maserati Merak, Ferrari 308GT4 and its follow-up the Ferrari Mondial in being a mid-engine 2+2 sports car. It's arguably the best looking of that quintet, though. br /br /Two adult American males fit up front and there's still room in back for a couple of kids, while power comes from a Toyota-sourced 3.5L V6 producing 276 hp. With a curb weight of just 2,976 lbs., that should be plenty to scoot this puppy along. Expect 0-60 in 5 seconds, a top speed of 160+ and 30 mpg.br /br /a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/la-2008-lotus-evora/1170104/"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="right" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/11/lotusevoralalive_13_opt.jpg" //aAs cool as all of that is, the interior is what will blow you away, especially if you've ever served time in an Elise or Exige. There's leather all around, a proper nav system, an advanced touch-screen multi-media system and, get this, actual human beings can get in and out of it without requiring ridiculous flexibility. The Evora will be built on a new assembly line in Hethel at the rate of 2,000 annually for worldwide consumption. To Lotus's credit, they designed it from the get-go to meet safety and emissions requirements around the world so all they have to do is put the steering wheel on the proper side.br /br /Talk of a a href="http:// http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/05/lotus-evora-has-room-for-supercharger-400-hp-s-variant-coming/"supercharged S model/a and an even larger a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/29/lotus-esprit-replacement-delayed-to-2011-hybrid-on-option/"Esprit-successor/a is likely true. And Lotus executives have confirmed that a convertible variant with a power-retractable roof is in the works. Production of the standard Evora will begin in October of 2009, with sales in the U.S. beginning in late November or early December. Six-speed manual-equipped models will be available in the beginning, with an automatic (with paddle shifters) coming to market in April of 2010. But for now, we're happy with just the Evora. Twice as stiff as an Elise and a little extra room for passengers and cargo sounds just about perfect. One additional note: Although this upsized Elise went by the codename Eagle during development, there's apparently no truth to the rumors that the upcoming convertible version will be called the Bald Eagle.br /br /div class="postgallery"pstrongGallery: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/la-2008-lotus-evora/"LA 2008: Lotus Evora/a/strong/pa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/la-2008-lotus-evora/1170098/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/11/lotusevoralalive_01_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/la-2008-lotus-evora/1170099/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/11/lotusevoralalive_02_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/la-2008-lotus-evora/1170100/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/11/lotusevoralalive_03_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/la-2008-lotus-evora/1170101/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/11/lotusevoralalive_04_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/la-2008-lotus-evora/1170102/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/11/lotusevoralalive_05_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //a/div br /div class="postgallery"pstrongGallery: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/lotus-evora-3/"Lotus Evora/a/strong/pa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/lotus-evora-3/938924/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/000_evoralotus_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/lotus-evora-3/938931/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/001_evoralotus_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/lotus-evora-3/938930/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/002_evoralotus_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/lotus-evora-3/938927/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/003_evoralotus_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/lotus-evora-3/938921/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/004_evoralotus_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //a/divbr /[Source: Lotus]pa href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/20/la-2008-lotus-evora-makes-it-to-the-states/" rel="bookmark"Continue reading emLA 2008: Lotus Evora makes it to the States/em/a/pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/20/la-2008-lotus-evora-makes-it-to-the-states/"LA 2008: Lotus Evora makes it to the States/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.autoblog.com"Autoblog/a on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:40:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./ph6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/h6a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/20/la-2008-lotus-evora-makes-it-to-the-states/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1377165/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/20/la-2008-lotus-evora-makes-it-to-the-states/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/vgpK3ZEbEZnRoT0RAZxxHH5W9HQ/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/vgpK3ZEbEZnRoT0RAZxxHH5W9HQ/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=ET0xoQnh"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=ET0xoQnh" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=J0mWXvC9"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=J0mWXvC9" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~4/AC1ASURVxDY" height="1" width="1"/