As Marketing Coordinator at Data Dimensions, one of my duties was to write the press releases sharing the company’s news. Here are a few samples. Click on the images to read the full press release.
Ashburn Magazine article on Garage Sale Mystery Author Suzi Weinart
In the spring of 2019, I wrote a freelance article focusing on Suzi Weinart, a mystery writer living in Ashburn, Va., with a unique setting for her fictional crimes: garage sales. Weinart has written several novels, and her books even inspired a series of made-for-TV movies on the Hallmark Channel. She’s an interesting author who has chosen a surprisingly rich …
Introduction to ‘Isolation and Illusion’
Originally appeared in “P. Craig Russell: Isolation and Illusion, Collected Short Stories 1977-1997,” published by Dark Horse Comics, 2003 Most people associate P. Craig Russell with big, epic works. Cosmic stuff. You know – Killraven, Dr. Strange, opera comics – that sort of thing. The guy adapted The Ring for Siegfried’s sake. The whole friggin’ Ring! But it’s not all …
Why Movies Still Matter After 9/11
Originally appeared in the Rockford Register Star, Sept. 9, 2011 Back in September 2001, in the first column I wrote after the Sept. 11 attacks, I struggled to form some sort of response to what had happened. Naturally, being the DVD reviewer — and a lifelong movie fan — I tried to tie the news of the day into the …
Farewell, After More Than 18 Years, 900-plus Columns
Originally appeared Sept. 12, 2012, in the Rockford Register Star “That’s a pretty good gig you got down there.” I’ve heard those words — or some version of them — a lot over the years, usually right after someone realized I’m the guy who reviewed movies for the Register Star. Those folks were wrong — and right. Wrong because that …
The Cavs (Finally) Bring Home the Trophy
Originally appeared June 19, 2016, on my Facebook feed. My dad was a high school basketball coach for as long as I can remember. And he was a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, also for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid in the 1970s, he’d take his players up to the Richfield Coliseum to see Cleveland play, …
Why David Letterman Matters
Originally appeared May 15, 2015, on my blog, X-Ray Spex. David Letterman’s final show aired May 20. The first time I saw David Letterman was during a 1979 episode of “Mork and Mindy. Dave played the leader of an EST-like encounter group who bullied his followers while endlessly bragging about his money and fancy car. Naturally, the point of …
Nazis, Naked Ladies and Fly Fishing
A look at men’s magazines in the days before centerfolds Originally published in Nowheresville: Death by Starlight #3, 1995 If you want to know what a historical era was really like, examine the literature of the day. For the Elizabethan era, you read Shakespeare. For the Jazz Age, you read Fitzgerald. And for the 1950s, you read magazines like “Stag,” …
‘The Force Awakens’: Risks, Remakes and the Next Generation
Originally appeared Dec. 29, 2015, on my blog, X-Ray Spex. First of all, SPOILERS. For the whole movie. If you haven’t seen it, don’t read this. OK? OK. Second of all, let me just say this: I liked it. A lot. It was a smart, fast-paced movie that delivered the right amount of both thrills and emotional punches, and more …
Review: ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Universe’
Originally appeared Nov. 12, 2010, in the Rockford Register Star Some movies… well, most movies… OK, almost all movies are bland, boring, by-the-numbers affairs, not much more than moving wallpaper, giving us something mildly interesting to look at for a few hours. Asking for a movie that surprises you, emotionally involves you or outright astonishes you, well that’s asking a …