A blog whilst I intern at MAD Magazine

The first day on any job is a bit intimidating. It’s even more intimidating when that new job is at a place with people who’s work you admire. Instant insecurity.

MAD Magazine is steeped in history. It started out as a comic book in 1952 – satirical in nature then and now. The founding fathers were editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines. MAD has now surpassed 500 issues (it’s currently getting ready to stock the stands with issue number 504). Come on! Every other humor magazine (e.g., Cracked) is like the freckled-face little brother to the freckled-faced Alfred E. Newman.

Throughout the years, some of the finest, smartest, and most talented artist and writers (not to mention editors) have graced the walls and halls of MAD. To be in the presence of a few of them today was a wonderful experience. I must say that they all acted with kindness, respect, and, of course, humor. I’ve never experienced that before and I’m grateful.

As it turns out, they accepted us interns for a job to (strange as it sounds) work. But part of that work was to thumb through MAD Magazines. I almost felt guilty letting the time fly by sitting in a beautiful Manhattan office laughing at MAD articles. But then I remembered that they weren’t paying me so the guilt faded away while laughter filled the air.

And these guys are funny and quick witted. I felt like molasses sitting in their meetings.

Just a side thought: I visited the Cracked site to get a feel for the competition and I’ll stick with MAD. I never bought Cracked when it was on the newsstands. I don’t buy it now.

MAD will rise again. MAD is a pioneer. MAD is stalwart. And when it comes to humor, MAD is DAD.

It’s a wonderful opportunity to be working with such an iconic image of our times. I’m grateful. I will do what I can to contribute. If they choose to run anything of mine, that would be awesome. If they do not, that’s not as awesome but still ok. After all, I’m still working with MAD. I still believe in what they do and what they’re all about.

And as for feeling intimidated? That should wear off. Life is just one day after the next. In the end, it’s all about our experiences and the people we can touch in a positive way. And it’s that type of thinking that gets me through all of life’s trials. What, me worry?

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A blog whist I intern at MAD Magazine

I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to blog. I get college credit for this experience (and more importantly I get to deduct the whole trip on my taxes). To get that credit I’ve gotta blog. I’ll hear back from the director of the program soon enough. In the meantime, I’ll just blog every day that I work. If you like it, good! If not, well you’re probably not reading this anyway so who cares.

Today marks the 18th anniversary of the passing of William Gaines, the much beloved first and long-standing publisher of MAD. Much of what I do in the publishing aspect of my little business is based on the actions of Gaines. I was talking with the other intern (whom I call Beatle) about how, from what I can ascertain, William Gaines believed in MAD Magazine so much that it had little choice but to succeed. It didn’t matter that he never did any market analysis, nor sold advertising, nor tried to keep up with the other magazine Joneses. In fact, there’s one story about how he paid extra to have MAD printed on cheaper stock paper even though it was in short supply. Genius!

I don’t know if there has been, is, or will ever be another publisher like Gaines. He was notoriously cheap yet very giving at the same time. Such a dichotomy is reminiscent of the nature of MAD – seriously goofy.

William Gaines, thank you. Thank you for being who you were. Thank you for doing what you did. Thank you for acting in a way according to your beliefs in spite of what people said. And, most of all, thank you for MAD. Your legacy will live on.

On a lighter note (see music pun soon…) I camped out at my new favorite spot Bryant Park after work. And, to my pleasure, there was a live free concert being played. I worked on an article for MAD while sitting in a beautiful setting listening to the live jazz band Jeremy Udden’s Plainville. It was fantastic! The weather was nice and the mood was calm in spite of Manhattan’s after work rush hour.

The Big Apple’s a tasty place to be in summer.

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A blog whist I intern at MAD Magazine

First, I need to make a correction. June 3, 2010 is the actual anniversary of William Gaines passing. I heard in the office that it was the second, then I checked Wikipedia and it said June 3rd, but I figure that the horses mouth knows better. Well, today the horses mouth corrected itself so I, the horses other end, shall do the same. Regardless of date, his memory and legacy remains.

I got around to taking a photo of me with that Alfred E. Newman statute that was created for the infamous film “Up the Academy” which MAD lent it’s name to. The story goes that the movie was one of the worst films in history. So bad that MAD not only took it’s name off of the credits, but also harshly ridiculed it. And, as the story continues, the staff sent in letters of complaint for having to sit through it in order to ridicule it. In any case, the makers of the movie gave the MAD group the statue used in filming. To this day MAD does not know if that was a gift or an insult. I kinda like it. So I posed with it and gave my goofiest grin (which, sadly, is my only grin).

Today was a good day for ideas – not so much mine but others. Beatle, the other intern made something of a hit and it was interesting to be in the think tank as the editors tossed around ways to make the idea make the most impact. Perhaps I wasn’t contributing as much but I think the idea and the image he came up with was pretty solid. I hope he gets it published.

At lunch I made a trip down to renowned Greenwich Village for the obvious reason everybody heads there: to go to the bank. That really is a great place to be. I fell into a trance as I strolled up and down the tree-laden streets amid beautiful brownstone buildings adorned with lush flowers… What was I saying? Oh, yeah. I had to go to the bank. Well, normally my bank is opposite a Burger King or a used car lot. Not here in New York. Directly adjacent to the bank was the magnificently constructed Grace Church. I had to take a picture and share. It’s amazing how some architecture can have a profound affect on us. Breathtaking.

I’ll tell you what else was breathtaking: that hot dog I scarfed down on my way back to the office. That was the best $2 hot dog I ever ate, I tell you what. The pigeons came strutting around looking for crumbs and I swore I heard one actually say, “Selfish glutton!” Get lost, sky vermin!

Best part of the day? The guy I’m staying with let me in on the secret to cheap New York coffee! I can’t wait to try it out. Gotta love the java!

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I’m switching things up a bit. The large strip that ran on Sundays is now going to run on Fridays. There will be a regular strip on Monday and Wednesday and a big ol’ fun strip on Friday. That Friday strip will run throughout the weekend.

It’s a small change. And, yes, it will mean one less daily strip, but the new bigger strips are even bigger and better! Also, my hands and fingers were thinking of unionizing because they thought I overworked them. Can’t have that.

Next Friday is all set to go. I like it. I hope you will too. Have a great day!

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A view of Manhattan from across the Hudson River

A blog while I intern at MAD Magazine

I took some time today to wander around my immediate surroundings: Jersey City, NJ. Though I have been staying here for a week now, I had not ventured any further than a half mile from my sleeping quarters. I have my reasons.

Today I decided explore. And like all great explorers in the history of the world, the first thing I did was to look up the city’s official website. Judging from the pictures that they display, Jersey City is a clean place. Not so clean today. Or any of the other days since I’ve been here for that matter.

I’m not complaining, mind you. I’m just telling it like it is: there is a lot of litter in this place. It’s actually a bit odd. I feel like I’m a Twilight Zone episode walking around streets laden with trash and no one seems to mind. It might be one of those things that we, as humans, get used to the sight of. But for me, it’s weird.

My hometown is Las Cruces, NM. And while there may not be lots of urban excitement, the place is clean. In fact, that’s one of the things I like best about Las Cruces. And because it’s clean, it seems like people are less likely to muss it up. There’s a psychology lesson in there somewhere…

There’s always a silver lining though. While I was walking around I thought to myself, Jersey City should use this to their advantage. They should embrace their litterbug personality and be the nation’s largest employer of janitors. Jersey City could be known as Janitor City. It could be a place to nurture those children who yearn to be janitors when they grow up. They could have a janitor university, a theme park with rides, and even restaurants with the waitresses dressed up as maids and what not.

All kidding aside, this place really does need a large crew of janitorial staff. One may argue that there may not be money in the budget for it but one may not have just trudged through popsicle wrappers and cigarette butts just to get home.

Yes, I am making a criticism of this city. I make no apologies. Why? Because this city is strikingly beautiful beneath all that trash. There are so many gorgeous houses and historic buildings. There’s a sprawling waterfront. There’s interesting eateries and attractive parks. I’d like to experience this city fully, with respect. I’d love to see it sparkle like it should.

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