Our New Podcast: Wednesday is Comic Book Day!

Hi Everyone,

Exciting news! My mother’s worst fear has come to light:  Me with a Microphone.  Actually, our new podcast will star Dave Dorman with me as co-host, but we all know who, of the two of us, manages to cram in the most W.P.M.  I used to think “motormouth” was a lingering moniker from my previous career as a TV writer/producer in  motorsports, but I’m realizing it’s not…so much.

The new Dave & Denise Dorman podcast is called “Wednesday is Comic Book Day” through Farpoint Media, owned by friend and client (and former Babylon 5 actor/producer) Jeffrey Willerth. We are relying on the help of producers Michael Mennenga and Denise Gideon to make the production levels ear-worthy. The content of the show will be a fun mash-up of interviews with our wacky cast of pop culture characters, comic book industry writers, publishers, artists, inkers, letterers, pencillers, colorists, retailers, indie guys and the occasional sidebar of something quirky that interests Dave, whether it’s surfing, technology or the latest episode of  TV’s “LOST.”

The podcast will be available via iTunes initially and we will post it here and on Dave’s blog, both of our Twitter accounts, FaceBook & LinkedIn accounts when it’s up.  Hopefully we catch your attention in one of those spaces.

Additionally, I’m so proud of Dave and his friends for their new scholarship offering. They are doing a great thing for some deserving young artist. Their COMIX ACADEMY is offering a full scholarship for their intensive, 6-day course, held in San Diego just prior to San Diego Comic-Con. The purpose of this course is to bring illustrators up to the level of a professional comic book artist, and then introduce them to pro comic book editors and help them get their careers started. As Dave always says, “If only I had this sort of opportunity when I was starting out…”

This weekend Dave will be doing sketches, remarques & signing autographs at the Planet Comic-Con event in Kansas City. I was slated to attend with him, but alas, my videogame project is in its final production throes and I needed to be on site to put those loose ends to bed. I wish I could be there, as it’s a heavy Star Wars-centric show. Dave will be doing a Star Wars panel on  Saturday afternoon; I will pay some lucky prankster $5 to stand up and ask him what Bantha and Ton Ton poo poo smells like…

I’m also finalizing an article for HD Roadie that I think you’ll all find pretty interesting.  I will be sure to post links when the production magazine picks it up.

This has been a great week for reconnecting with old friends, like Mark Voss over at Post Maridian in Chicagoland, a post production house I’ve worked with many times. He’s a terrific, funny and brilliant guy and we’re developing a creative collaboration outside of our everyday corporate work. As I know more, I’ll post more.  My guess? Horror related.

Many thanks to your eyeballs for their time & attention,

Denise

Children’s Cancer Charities Benefitting from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sharpie® Art and NASCAR Bristol Race Package Giveaway

For Immediate Release: Sunset Beach, California– March 11th, 2010—The Official Sharpie® Artwork Bristol Race Trip Giveaway Contest is launching online this Saturday, benefitting pediatric cancer charities and raising awareness of childhood cancer diseases, while offering some lucky fan the opportunity to win a one-of-a-kind piece of Sharpie® art created by Dale Earnhardt Jr., as well as a NASCAR Bristol Race Package.

Starting at 12:00 p.m. PST on Saturday, March 13, 2010 through August 15, 2010, fans can register once daily for free at http://www.lugnutzz.com to win the artwork created with a Sharpie® pen and donated by NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. On August 15, 2010, motorsports personality Gordon “Lug Nuttz” Stewart and NTS Motorsports’ K&N Pro Series and Spears SRL Series race car driver Brennan Newberry will announce the winner of the artwork and the Bristol Race Package.

The Bristol Race trip includes two tickets to the most popular NASCAR race on the Sprint Cup Circuit–the Irwin Tools 500– at Bristol Motor Speedway, plus airfare and accommodations. Sponsors of this auction benefit the America’s Baby Cancer Foundation, the Melanoma Research Foundation and Lug Nutzz Children’s Charities.

Said Stewart, “Aside from raising awareness and funds to help families whose children are battling cancer, my favorite thing about this promotion is that one real die-hard Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan will own something that no one else has.” Stewart chose 20-year-old driver Newberry to help him promote the contest because Newberry “personifies talent on the race track, but also integrity, and genuine class outside of racing.”

Beginning April 8, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona for the K&N Pro Series West Race, Brennan Newberry’s NTS Motorsports Chevrolet will display a replica hood wrap of Earnhardt Jr.’s original Sharpie drawing. Said Bob Newberry, Brennan’s father and owner of NTS Motorsports, “Families, especially the kids, are what make racing special for us.”

For complete contest rules and further information on The Official Sharpie Artwork, Bristol Race trip giveaway “Register to Win” Contest, please visit www.lugnutzz.com. This event is a Winnerz Management promotion, in association with The America’s Baby Cancer Foundation.

Media Contact:
Denise Dorman, WriteBrain Media
Phone 24/7: 630.845.4694
Email: denise@writebrainmedia.com
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OLD NAVY ADS = BIG BOWL OF OBTUSE

Over the holidays, I got a huge kick out of Old Navy’s talking mannequin TV ads. The new ads? Not so much. I get it that they’re doing some sort of vote-me-off-the-island throwback, but it just doesn’t work. If you can explain them to me, go for it! There’s live action, there’s mannequins and I’m just left confused by this big bowl of weird.

I’m one of those freaks who actually LIKES to watch live television and see the ads. I get anxious when my hubby fast-forwards past the ads on our DVR’d programs. I know and appreciate the hundreds of thousands of dollars, attention to detail and hard-fought creative that went into all of those ads. When they work, they’re magic. I could watch them again and again. Remember the liquor ad two years ago with the guy buzzing around in his fly costume, having pillow fights with hot babes, terminated all too soon by his short life span? I really MISS that ad. They chose the perfect music bed. Everything worked. Magic.

Another puzzlement? Why does Burger King continue investing in a series of ads with that creepy masked king? I have asked at least 50 people of all ages, sexes, religions and ethnicities–they all find the campaign creepy and bewildering. He would have made a great Pennywise the Clown in Stephen King’s “It,” but I can’t believe that campaign actually sells burgers.

As your humble pop culture correspondent, it’s my solemn duty to offer up these analyses based on my years of consumerism and couch potato’d-ness. Feel free to share yours with me – I look forward to your feedback, and dare I hope?, your interpretation of those Old Navy ads.

Denise,
Your Humble Pop Culture Correspondent

Comic Book Art “Dream Team” Launches COMIX ACADEMY

Artists Get One-on-One Mentoring and Portfolio Reviews with Top Comic Book Editors

San Diego, CA–March 3, 2010—Five comic book illustrators with super hero-like artistic abilities have teamed up to use their powers for good–helping others realize their dream projects. Dave Dorman, Scott Hampton, Christopher Moeller, Durwin Talon, and John Van Fleet will be teaching Comix Academy, six days of intense instruction dedicated to helping illustrators break into the comics market. Joining them as Comix Academy’s very first special guest presenter will be Mike Mignola.

The workshops will be held in San Diego July 15 through July 20th, dovetailing with the start date of San Diego Comic-Con. The mission of the Comix Academy is to “provide guidance to students in a way that wasn’t available to me when I was trying to find my way in the comics industry,” explained co-founder and #1 Star Wars Artist Dave Dorman.

“We’ve assembled some of the best storytellers in the business to share their talents from visual storytelling and concept work to painting and 3D art. It’s going to be an exciting week!” said co-founder Durwin Talon, educator and author of “Panel Discussions” a book exploring the design of sequential art storytelling by Two Morrows Publishing. Added co-founder Scott Hampton, “The Comix Academy is about focusing on specifics. We have six days and we want them to count, so we’re concentrating on where the attendees are right now with their art. We’ll show students what we’re doing, but just as importantly, we’ll see what they’re doing, what their goals are. I look forward to helping our students polish and improve the art they bring with them.”

To that end, the Comix Academy team will help students prepare their work for the comics and illustration industry, and culminate the course with a final day receiving one-on-one portfolio reviews with world-class comic book editors.

The early registration fee for the course is $950 before April 30th, 2010 and $1,150 after May 1, 2010. Discounts on lodging are also available to students. For more information or media inquiries, please contact 630.845.4694, email denise@writebrainmedia.com or visit http://www.comixacademy.com.

Media Contact:

Denise Dorman

WriteBrain Media

Phone 24/7: 630.845.4694

Email: denise@writebrainmedia.com

Twitter: @writebrainmedia

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/writebrainmedia

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