Blog Archives

Seven Years Later & I’m Still Looking to the Storytelling Horizon

After logging into WordPress this morning, I had a new — yet expected — notification:

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!
You registered on WordPress.com 7 years ago.
Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.

Seven years ago today, I attended a WordPress conference here in Columbus, OH inside the Ohio Union on the campus of THE Ohio State University. My interest in blogging, which I had dabbled with a bit in the past, took on a whole new dimension and meaning by discovering the online publishing platform WordPress. After listening to a few panel discussions, I immediately went up to the open-aired, impromptu customer service lounge on the third floor of the Ohio Union and sat next to an expert (I knew this person wasn’t a genius because I wasn’t in an Apple store) and asked him to help me set up my blog that would be called Jimmy’s Daily Planet.

One of my first blog posts published here — of which there were two I wrote on July 13, 2012 — was titled ‘Eight Years Later & We Look to the Horizon’ that focused on what would be the next societal game-changer. Hence part of the inspiration for today’s title. The other half of the title will be revealed in the second half of this blog post.

FYI – I explained the name of my blog in a post four years ago today. Here’s that summary.

Paying homage to the greatest (albeit fictional) newspaper of all-time, The Daily Planet, this blog was founded on my love of my favorite superhero and disguised human of all-time: Superman and Clark Kent. The scene from Richard Donner’s 1978 classic ‘Superman’ that showed us Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent walk through the bullpen of The Daily Planet for the first time was the moment I knew I wanted to be a journalist. The chaos, palpable energy, and big city, skyscraper setting flew from the screen and landed directly into my impressionable imagination.

These few minutes showing reporters preparing to get the scoop, watching exciting individual and group dynamics (papers scattered, people typing, talking and moving) and hearing creative storytelling pitches is arguably my favorite journalistic hook.

Plus, my name is Jimmy.

And here’s that aforementioned scene.

This ‘Superman’ clip resonates as much today as it did when I saw it for the first time as a kid.

Breaking News: I’m going to step away from publishing new blog posts on Jimmy’s Daily Planet. While Jimmy’s Daily Planet and all of the blog posts — written about a wide range of topics and current events — will remain available online in its exact current form with this same web address, there are other pressing writing projects that I am excited about that I need to commit more time and energy towards. As a matter of fact, it’s been my self-imposed Monday-Friday schedule of having to come up with and write new content on this blog for so many years that has given me the time management skills and confidence to now apply to new storytelling projects.

I wish I had the time to keep writing my daily blog — I really do — but the inspiration for my future projects will be rooted in and connected, in some way, to my writing style, experience, and association with my favorite headline/title I’ve ever come up with: Jimmy’s Daily Planet.

Here’s TV producer, writer, and storyteller extraordinaire Chuck Lorre with the right words at the right time.

I’ve loved writing Jimmy’s Daily Planet. I’ve had so much fun. And now everything that’s been put into this creative storytelling venture throughout the past seven years will be used to tell new, exciting stories that I hope people will connect with and like as much as I do.

Dr. Ian Malcolm, the fictional chaos theorist in ‘Jurassic Park,’ famously said that perfect turn of phrase — by way of the late author Michael Crichton — “life finds a way.”

I’m hoping that brilliant literary and cinematic adage can be amended to “writing finds a way.”

Thank you to everyone who read Jimmy’s Daily Planet and supported me along the way! 

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Bill Looked and Then Read Excellent Adventures

A picture says a thousand words. What’s the harm in a few more?

Bill Hader is comedically astute in a way few others are by escaping into a wide variety of characters who fully exercise an engaging set-up with a hilarious punchline. While that sounds easy, it’s difficult to achieve at the level of Bill Hader. Add in his consistency–on display in the video above–and you’ve got a skilled comedian with endless possibilities.

Bill Hader’s comedic prowess has everything…

Wednesday Update

Tina Fey is returning to host the season finale of ‘Saturday Night Live.’

No need to bury the lead here. Nor would it be a good idea to bury the creative promo video for the aforementioned comedic writer, actress, and former fake, funny news host (before “fake news” became its own thing not related to comedy).

Like the host herself, the promo seen above is equally informative, entertaining and clever.

On a completely unrelated note, it will be interesting to see what society will be like 20 years down the road. Why this seemingly random observation? While flat-screen tablets and flat digital tabletops exist, when will paper products become flexible touch screens? I ask because the animated promo in the video above is displayed on a horizontal piece of paper by way of a skilled graphics designer. With flexible, roll-up TVs slowly evolving as a consumer product of the future, the natural next step would be other items that roll up…

like a newspaper.

Just look around your house and–like Jim Gaffigan–imagine the initial pitch meeting for these products. Go ahead and laugh out loud. I’ll wait.

Some of our possessions must have been wild to consider and imagine at first. Outside-the-box thinking requires seeing something that would be crazy today, yet normal tomorrow.

Or, in the case of the creative team at ‘Saturday Night Live,’ maybe the secret is thinking animating inside the box rectangle.

Star Wars: The Education A+wakens

Is it just a May the Fourth Be With You celebration? Or is it also a recruitment video?

Oh, I know. It’s awesome.

Well played the University of Western Australia… well played (literally).