Too busy with freelance work to post today. But check out the very talented artists and fun links listed over to the left.

Back with more tomorrow.

The 19th Annual FallCon will be held at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul on October 6-7.

FallCon is Minnesota’s largest comic book convention. If you live near the Twin Cities, come check it out. It’s no Comic-Con (what else is?), but it is a well-organized event with big attendance and a lot of fun. This year the 501st Star Wars Club will be on hand. Their express purpose is “bringing together costume enthusiasts”, so expect to see lots of storm troopers.

Last year I spoke on a cartooning panel with a few other members of the National Cartoonists Society. From left to right: Me, Tom Richmond, Michael Jantze, and Jerry Van Amerongen:

As always dozens of artists and creators will be on hand, both national and local (here’s the official list). For several years now I’ve shared a table with some of them. Stop on by and say “hi”!

Here’s the official info:

MCBA FALLCON COMIC BOOK CONVENTION
October 6 & 7, 2007
Minnesota State Fairgrounds
Education Building
1372 Cosgrove Ave
St. Paul, Minnesota 55108

Two days of pure comic book energy, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days! Hundreds of comic book artists, writers, inkers and publishers! Dealers from all over the planet earth! An awesome event for the serious collector, the casual reader and everyone in between! A super gigantic 75,000 square foot hall bursting at the seams with unbelievably awesome comic book action! A kazillion different types of comic books, trade paperbacks & graphic novels and metric tons of comic book related stuff! FallCon is one of the fastest growing mega jacked comic book cons in the defined universe; it’s also a place to see & be seen at, a great opportunity to network and is the total package when it comes to fun and comic book blingetty bling! So round up your family & friends and come on down to FallCon! Something for Everyone and Everyone Welcome!

For More Info:
Official Webiste
Email: [email protected]
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=102936863
www.MNCBA.com

One of my all-time favorite living illustrators is Dennis Jones. His work is phenomenal. His characters are cartoony and fun, his drawing skills are solid, and he is a skilled painter who knows what he is doing with color. He balances fine-art painting techniques with appealing cartoon doodles for a stunning effect.

Jones already has a website/blog (which he shares with brothers Don and Doug, also illustrators), but recently he decided to create a blogger.com page and post some of his current work. He writes:

I enjoy looking at artist’s work over on Blogger. I think it’s because I can dial into the front page of someone’s site and see several pieces of artwork on it without having to navigate through a ton of pages searching for it. With that in mind, I snagged a bunch of illustrations that I have previously posted here at Brother Jones and slapped them together on a Blogger page. Same old artwork, now in one convenient place.

I’m not sure whether Jones will keep updating the blogger page or whether this is just an experiment. Either way, check it out!

Hollywood and Evangelicals go together like oil and water. Love and war. Pizza and Orange Juice.

Or so you would think.

It’s a fair assumption. Movies and TV shows (along with the culture in general) seem to be growing more coarse and irreverent. Many evangelicals percieve this as Hollywood launching an attack on the moral foundations of the culture. Hollywood, in turn, views evangelicals as judgemental, self-righteous prudes who can do nothing but criticize and point fingers.

If you happen to be a Christian (as I am), and want to bring Biblical truth into the culture through movies and TV, you’ve got your work cut out for you. To survive in Hollywood you must hold to your principles without riding on a high horse. You must be loving without being squishy. Churchgoers and atheists alike will view you with suspicion. Both your creative work and your personal character will be held to high standards. What’s a Christian artist/writer/filmmaker to do?

Behind the Screen attempts to wrestle with that question. Written by Hollywood insiders who are also Christians, this book offers advice to media-minded evangelicals about how to walk the road between the church and the movie theater. Each chapter is a short essay written by a different creative professional working in Tinseltown. The cover jacket states:

“Behind the Screen presents a fascinating look at Hollywood through the eyes of Christian writers, producers, and executives living out their faith on movie sets, in studio offices, and at TV networks. In their own words, they will take you behind the screen to reveal what Hollywood thinks of God and what you can do to close the gap between Christianity and culture.”

Although I live in Minnesota, I am currently working on an animated show for NBC and have seriously considered a move to LA. I recently finished this book and found it both helpful and thought-provoking. While I certainly don’t agree with everything—some of the authors would make compromises I wouldn’t make—it gave me a lot to think about and wrestle with. Topics include “Why do heathens make the best Christian films?”, “So You Wanna Come to Hollywood”, and “A Filmmaker’s Progress” (an essay on wrong attitudes Christians often have towards Hollywood).

If you are a creative person who wants to serve God in the media trenches, Behind the Screen will give you a lot to think about.

Yesterday Steve Jobs announced new changes to the iPod line and a new price for the iPhone. The iPod nano is now short and wide with a bigger screen; the regular iPod (now called “iPod classic”) now holds up to 160GB of media; and, in preperation for the Christmas shopping season, iPhones are now $200 cheaper coming in at $399.

(UPDATE: Early iPhone adapters are understandably upset over such a drastic price drop only two months after the iPhone’s debut. In response, Apple has announced a $200 rebate to anyone who purachased an iPhone in the last 14 days, and a $100 store credit to anyone who purchased an iPhone before that.)

But the biggest announcement was the new iPod touch. It looks like an iPhone, complete with touch screen, but it’s actually a fancy widescreen iPod. It’s sort of an iPhone without the phone. It comes in 8GB and 16GB models, priced at $299 and $399 respectively. Or, for the same $399 you can now get an 8GB iPhone.

I’ve had an iPhone for about two months now and I absolutely love it. For my personal needs, it has been extremely useful. If you’ve wanted an iPhone but have been holding off because (a) it was too expensive, or (b) you didn’t want to switch to AT&T, now might be the time to take the plunge.

So, which one should you buy…iPod touch, or iPhone? Here’s a brief comparison of the two:

iPod touch: Pros
• You don’t have to switch your phone service to AT&T, or pay AT&T’s monthly service rates for internet and email. You keep your current service on your current cell phone or PDA.
• The 16GB model holds twice as much music, photos, and movies as the iPhone.
• You can browse the internet and view YouTube videos just like on an iPhone (but only over wi-fi).
• UPDATE: You can make the music controls (play, pause, etc.) appear on the screen at any time by double-clicking the Home button, even if the machine is asleep or locked. You can’t do this on the iPhone.

iPod touch: Cons
• It’s not a phone. You still need to carry around two devices (your cell phone and iPod) instead of one.
• Internet browsing is limited to wi-fi. If you are “out and about”, you can’t get online unless you are in a wi-fi hotspot.
• It’s short on features. No e-mail, instant messaging, or voice mail. No camera. No google maps. No weather, stocks, or notes.
• UPDATE: No microphone or speaker.
• UPDATE: You cannot add or edit calendar events, they are view-only. (Contacts, however, can be edited).

iPhone: Pros
• Plenty of cool extra features that the iPod touch lacks (see above).
• You can access the internet just about anywhere. If you have a decent cell phone signal, you can get online using AT&T’s Edge network.
• Since the iPhone is a phone, ipod, camera, and PDA (sort of), you only have to carry around one device.

iPhone: Cons
• You have to switch to AT&T to use it. This can get expensive. Unless you are already an AT&T customer, you will have to pay to get out of your current contract. Then you must pay a monthly fee to AT&T to use the internet over their Edge network.
• Only 8GB of storage, which fills up fast.
• Due to a recessed headphone jack, you have to buy an adapter in order to listen to music on your headphones.

UPDATE: Here’s another difference between the two devices, from macrumors.com:
• iPod Touch has separate Contacts app and separate Video app. On the iPhone, Contacts is built into the Phone function and Video built into the iPod function.

If I think of more Pro’s and Con’s I’ll add them. In my opinion, both machines are amazing and either one would be an excellent choice, depending on your needs and lifestyle.

Like many people, I find there never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. Being busy all the time can be more than a little stressful. The pace of modern life can leave you downright frazzled.

This past weekend I happened to catch a radio broadcast from Focus on the Family. A guy named Richard Swensen was talking about the hectic pace of modern life, and the stress and chaos that can result. I found myself nodding, chuckling in agreement, and feeling a little guilty when he hit a little too close to home. His message was “slow down”, and it was one I really needed to hear. Maybe you do too.

If you are like me—overworked, overcommitted, or just barely keeping up with the treadmill of modern life—then I would encourage you to listen to Dr. Swensen’s talk. You can hear it streamed (Part 1 and Part 2) through the Focus on the Family radio site.

I don’t know how long it will be available online, so if you don’t have time now you can also download an MP3 for free to listen later (although you will have to give them your name, address, email address, and phone number). Then again, if you are too busy to listen today then you may need to hear it the most.