The above is a Twitter Moment of all my cartoons I did this year for Gair Rhydd, finished off this week in 1099 with a hot take on graduate prospects. In Politics, I wrote about the supposed Tory swing in Wales, but it was a little upstaged by an interview with the publisher of the research in question, Prof. Roger Scully, overleaf. I'll admit the Societies section is maybe not top spec this week but I tried to go all out on the design side with a "splash" of Photoshop...
I also did the doodle on the back cover of this year's last Quench. I'll admit these, my last two issues of involvement with student media, were planned to be a little more grand than they ended up being. But I've been doing work experience, a lot of revision and even fitting in the gym, so it just turned out to not be the case. In related news however I was nominated for Scoop of the Year along with Hugh for our research into the eye test advertisements in the optometry school, though we didn't win. Michael Hill of JOMEC, judging, said of the piece: An interesting take on an issue that most people won’t know anything about. Very thorough research into the profession allied with a survey to underline the main point of the story.
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GR 1097 features:
Societies section edited and designed by me as always. The Fringe reviews were the third most read article on the GR site this week also. Cartoon about the Google Ads fiasco the papers have drummed up. Politics article on the death of Martin McGuinness. I've also been to a great play: Killology at the Sherman is fantastic and comes fully recommended. You'll actually find two of my cartoons in this week's Gair Rhydd. One is in the usual spot on page 2, using the frame of the Oscar mixup for a cheap shot at Gerry Adams (he he, shot). The other is at the top of my 1000 word article on the elections and how to reconsider the way you think about them- I certainly have! I'm proud of this article. I also interviewed the Jailbreak winners for this week's Societies, and Spotlit Stitch Soc. As well as editing the rest of the section obviously.
Meanwhile, in Quench, I wrote two pieces for Video Games, one on Virtual Reality and one on game pricing. I also drew the back page doodle and contributed to the museums piece. Spotted any Toms recently? Hope you voted them in for VP Societies. So did 470 other people.
Unfortunately, my ultimately unsuccessful election run meant I couldn't do any student media for two weeks. This did however allow me and my team (most drawn from last year's Quench team) to focus on making a damn good video. I got an article on the Tab about it (of course GR mentioned it on their liveblog but publicity like that is not possible when, as a Union publication, they have to remain impartial). We reached amazing numbers, and only partially because of the Tab: Here are my estimates (and I know Facebook's views aren't too accurate):
Click to watch behind the scenes Click to watch side by side Click through to archived "Vote Tom" page 1085 If you can't tell from the cartoon, the thing bothering me that week was an essay deadline, which was fast looming. And I've felt weirdly busy ever since, finding it hard to find time to do little things like update this blog. Also check out that quiz in societies- probably my best InDesign work... i'm not even kidding. Proud of that. 1086 Facing a bit of a pickle on deadline night, and feeling all out sad that I didn't get to use the toon I had ready for Clinton to win (pictured below)- though I was happy that Louis got his turn- I decided to pep up the Societies pages with a crossword- an old trick I used to do when making a magazine for my friends at school (more news on that old thing soon, maybe). Try it! 1087
Back to my rightful place on the toon slot this week, where I have become sort of unofficial editor. I tell the other guys what pitches there are from the editors, they try to come up with something related. I think Louis is onto something this week, it may even become the case that we swap between the two of us for the rest of the year. In Societies, I've done the usual spotlight for Act One, complete with InDesign tomfoolery. Q3- a new magazine by my friend Eleanor, the first issue of which being about internet culture (I'd have to admit, I'm a bit of an expert in the field, ladies, control yourselves). I did the MS Paint comic on the back about Facebook. Some thoughts of my own, since I don't get the top of page 2 to blog on like Maria does (she works hard for the privilege, in fairness): I'm really stepping quite far away from the sections I want to be in, I haven't written for Comment all year and that's stressing me out, I really need to sink my teeth into some Badvice again. I'm really happy cartooning is going well, and I've come up with an idea, as I said, to revive an old magazine I used to work on in my school days for a tenth anniversary special which will showcase my current level of talent. What it doesn't do however is show my talent for writing- which I believe has gotten better as I have become much more involved in the library, in my course, in remaining and even becoming more curious about life in general, and becoming a more considerate internet user. As soppy as that sounds, it's also big words- my next challenge is to prove to myself and the world that, far from just criticising other student writers for badly thought out opinion pieces, I have it in myself to one up them. Until then, I don't have a leg to stand on. Maybe I should practice by going back to the Buff blog? Very funny... Also, at least if I only wrote opinion pieces no-one could complain. Someone always finds something wrong when I write about their societies. Hey- nobody's perfect! Having finally got round to finishing my Fringe blog off with a giant post explaining all sorts of things, I'm thrust back into the Cardiff campus scene once again.
(I should add- please do read my Fringe blog, I put a huge amount of effort into it, probably more effort in one month than I put into Quench all of last year. I did most of it on mobile as well or public computers, so it was really a pain to do when fitting between shows and volunteering at theatres. I'm very proud of the finished products and I think I made some good contacts in the theatre world, even though the blog didn't come out that well, I didn't make too many lifelong friends or lovers and I was also really ill and bankrupt by the end.) Now the job of societies co editor and possibly temporary position as cartoonist on Gair Rhydd have begun, the first issue has only been online because the SU can't afford to print it, which is a real shame. I, and many others who've told me, think I've done a great job on the first cartoon, shown here, and it's a shame to have such a limited audience. Never mind though- there's a lot more where that came from (hopefully). It's been a busy couple of weeks in student media land. First I went to Loughborough Students Union for the Student Publication Association National Conference 2016 with a load of people from both Quench and The GRdd. Had a brilliant time and hopefully learned something useful. After returning from #SPANC16, I went to a dodgeball game in Swansea and wrote it up for Sport, as the "curtain call of Varsity." I like dodgeball, if you hadn't guessed. They even put me on the back again. What is it about my face that makes people want to put it down on paper? This week in Gair Rhydd, I wrote a fairly acclaimed spoof article about the Panama papers and the This Week In History section on p2, a favourite of mine... but might not be around much longer. I always say the things I enjoy are the opposite of everyone else. The #BADVICE section might be here to stay though. I had an idea for a Humour section but it's not so likely. My final issue of Quench as Games Ed is out too, which is sad isn't it? Numbers 153 through 158. There's rumours of there being an extra magazine during the gaps when it's not being released next year (mainly summer, christmas and easter holidays) but nothing confirmed yet. In this issue, I did an interview with Filip Victor, a Half Life 2 modder, and reviewed Superhot. There was of course a few other things behind the scenes but those are the main contributions. You'll also see my mug on the back page. (I actually wrote an article, but then the design team just took a quote out of it...) I'm hoping that next year Saman will stay on with it, and possibly my friend Elis who we nominated for best contributor this year as he wrote some good stuff for us. EDIT: There's also a review of Hardcore Henry to have a look at to go with the Superhot review. Now if only I had the time to get all the games articles online. This Saturday is the Media Awards, so we'll see if I win anything. What's next for me? Perhaps I might contribute to Advice a bit more often. Trying to break into News. Will probably go for Societies editor. Of course I'll still contribute to the likes of Video Games and Film next year. Maybe it's about time I got a real job though? Well, I might just have an update on that for you soon... Excellent issue of Quench this time round, not too many mistakes either! I've seen people reading my Cliches article round campus which is great.
I also wrote a little addendum, in this week's GR, to my friend and current flatmate Jamie McKay's EU referendum article, to remind students to vote. You'll also see one of my tweets but that wasn't intentional! This week I finally got a chance to write the part of the paper I always enjoy reading, This Week In History. Read it on page 2 in this Issuu edition.
Meanwhile in Science I wrote about obesity affecting people's sense of distance... And in Comment I got into a fight about sex education! I thought I should kick things off here by listing the Issuu links to issues of the Cardiff Student Media publications I contributed to last academic year. It might not be all of them, though.
TV section: Cartoon for "Reality Rivals: TV Standoff." Quench #147 Feature: The world of webcomics. Quench #150 Games section: Mobile gaming marketing. Quench #152 For (And Against): Public health campaigns. GR #1042 Politics section: UKIP: One Man Band? GR #1054 Comment section: Why Wales needs the EU. GR #1056 Comment section: Why a Facebook friend isn't like a real friend. GR #1057 Politics section: Negative political campaigns A good year, but I could have done more! Shouldn't have been so busy socializing. |
Tom MorrisJournalism and Sociology graduate from Cardiff University. Archives
August 2017
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