Wednesday, May 2, 2007

One down...

The first issue of ArtScene hit the presses yesterday, and should be on the streets today. As I write this, people should already be picking it up, browsing through it, and going, "Wow, this is pretty cool!"

I've got two copies in my living room right now. I flipped through them earlier, and I must say it looks pretty good to my eyes, though I was already pretty much in love with the idea even before we started, so I suppose I'm not the most unbiased.

The next week or two we'll see what the general public's reaction is like, even as those of working on the content for the ArtScene start pulling together ideas for the next issue. There's a brainstorming session planned for Friday after the regular workday, because brainstorming always works a little bit better when there's a drink or four involved. Because in brainstorming, there are no bad ideas. Just ideas that, for whatever reason, you choose not to use. And some of the best not-bad ideas come out after inhibitions have dropped a notch or two.

There's something mildly psychotic about putting the first issue of a publication to press only to turn around and immediately start work on the next issue. There should be time taken for celebration, time to rejoice in the job that was done, and the product that was made -- and it's a product, I think, that everyone associated with it is incredibly proud of. Unfortunately, with only four weeks to pull the next one together, there's little time for celebration. Though perhaps we can take a moment on Friday to toast the inaugural issue.

Look for a blog update on Saturday following the brainstorming, with some ideas on what you might be looking forward to in ArtScene #2.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay you! I had a chance to flip through the magazine last night and was totally impressed. Well done. And I think the first drink on Friday is for celebrating the new mag. As for brainstorming, whatever happened to the "drinking interview"? You know the one, where everybody is drinking while the interview continues? Kinda like that drunk driving reflexes episode of WKRP. But I suppose the expense account may not be up to getting Todd drunk.

And hey, why not add some content from the Station House. They have an art show opening once a month.

Well done!

Todd said...

The "drinking interview" was considered and short-listed, with the intention of sitting down with Jay Goddard and letting it function as one of the sidebars to the "Normal" story. In the end, I decided against harassing the director when he was likely at his busiest. Though I'm sure he might have appreciated the drink, the expense account probably wouldn't have covered it for either him or me. Mostly because there is no expense account.

As for the Station House, we had been intending to include coverage for their exhibits right from the get-go -- and by "from the get-go" I mean "when I first started planning this project around two years ago." So that they weren't included in this first issue is an unfortunate and somewhat embarrassing oversight that we'll hopefully rectify with the next issue.

Thanks for your comments!