Cool to Be Part of the “What’s Your Story” Feature on VinceFlynn.com

I started reading thriller novels in 1989 when my high school “Literary Masterpieces” instructor pushed us through the assigned curriculum early, and let us spend the last three weeks of class reading a thriller by either Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum.

I chose the novel “Patriot Games” by Tom Clancy. It was a really fun way to end spring semester. 

Over the course of the summer, I tore through “The Hunt for Red October,” “Cardinal of the Kremlin” and “Clear and Present Danger.” 

The breed of geopolitical thriller Clancy made popular remains the type of novel I prefer. In the intervening years, I’ve discovered a new generation of writers who — like me — grew up reading the likes of Clancy and Ludlum. 

One of those writers is Vince Flynn. 

Flynn was the first of the “new breed” of geopolitical thriller writers I discovered in the early 2000s (the first Flynn novel I read was “Memorial Day” in 2006). As the years have progressed, Flynn’s Mitch Rapp novels have remained favorites.

Flynn died from prostate cancer in 2013. He was 47 — way too young to go. 

This month I had the honor of being profiled on Flynn’s website in the “What’s Your Story” section — where fans of the author’s books are profiled. 

Read the Q&A here: www.vinceflynn.com/fan-profiles/1-19-jon

Bridget and I quickly staged the photo you see above (which I think turned out well). 

It’s so cool that we live in a world where book fans can interact with writers they enjoy on places like Twitter and Facebook. I’ve had the good fortune to meet Vince Flynn fans from all over the world. 

It’s definitely made reading more fun in the 21st century. 

Since Flynn’s death, Kyle Mills has taken the helm of writing Flynn’s Mitch Rapp novels. I’ve reviewed  the first three books Mills has written in the series — “The Survivor,” “Order to Kill,” and “Enemy of the State” — and hope to read and review “Red War” in February. 

It is cool that Flynn’s family decided to keep the series going. When I discovered Mills would be writing the novels going forward, I was very pleased. 

Mills’ father was the inspiration for the Dan Murray character in Clancy’s “Jack Ryan” novels. 

Interesting connections like that make me thankful my 10th grade English teacher introduced us to these sorts of thrillers. It’s fun to read novelists who grew up consuming the same novels. 

If you haven’t done so, I encourage you to try one of Vince Flynn’s novels (I’d recommend you start with the first Mitch Rapp thriller “Transfer of Power”). 

I want to express my sincere “thanks” to the folks behind vinceflynn.com for profiling me this month. 

Previous post: “Thoughts On ‘Crushing It’ By Gary Vaynerchuk”

Thoughts On “Crushing It!” By Gary Vaynerchuk

About a year go I stumbled across entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk’s YouTube channel. A couple of his videos were "recommendations" in the YouTube app on my Apple TV. 

I started watching/listening to his videos while I worked, and found the voluminous amount of content he offers to be helpful and inspiring.

Bridget had mentioned Gary Vaynerchuk over the years as an example of a boot-strapping entrepreneur who used an aggressive digital media strategy to his advantage. She told me how he had developed a series of online videos to help build and rebrand his father’s wine business — Shopper’s Discount Liquors — into the highly successful Wine Library. 

Vaynerchuk has gone on to build a global digital agency (focused on social media) called VaynerMedia. 

“Gary Vee” (as he’s known) offers brash and bold branding advice, and travels the world like a whirling dervish — ready to dispense useful tips and strategies to entrepreneurs eager to learn his formula for success. 

It’s funny how serendipitous life can be sometimes. 

At the end of 2017, I was feeling somewhat listless in life as it regarded our business and the weekly grind of making an impression in the digital realm. 

Far too often, businesses and organizations use social platforms the same way they use print, radio, or TV advertising. In essence, they push out lackluster, one-way forms of communication that aren’t designed to engage, enlighten, or delight an audience. 

Bridget and I were getting ready to go on a road trip to see the UNO Hockey team play in St. Cloud when I picked up Vaynerchuk’s latest book “Crushing It!” I like to have something light to read when I travel, and thought the book might offer some useful advice. 

“Crushing It!” has proven to be more influential the past year than I would have imagined when I bought it on a whim at a local Target store. 

Gary Vee’s energetic style comes across on the pages of “Crushing It!” as he profiles entrepreneurs who have built thriving businesses using the tools available in our digital age — platforms and technologies readily available to anyone in the world willing to use them. 

In large part, the book focuses on building your brand through the creation of what Vaynerchuk calls “pillar content” — online content you can share across digital platforms to “cross-pollinate” your message, product information, services, and personal brand to maximize your influence.

The book focuses on practical advice (as does Vaynerchuk’s online content), and talks about the importance of mastering online platforms (even if they are outside your comfort zone). 

Gary Vee often emphasizes that the crucial commodity entrepreneurs are trading in today is “attention.”

I listen to Vaynerchuk’s talks and podcasts when I walk each day. While his content has a great amount of appeal to aspiring YouTubers and would-be millennial entrepreneurs, he also spends a great deal of his time at VaynerMedia working with decades-old businesses and entrepreneurs with more than a little grey in their hair.

“Today there are millions of people just like me who have used the Internet to build personal brands, thriving businesses, and life on their own terms,” Vaynerchuk says. “Those who are truly crushing it have grasped the brass ring of grown-up-hood — building a lucrative business around something they love that enables them to do what they want every day.”

He is realistic in his message, saying that “most of you reading this book will not become millionaires.” Instead, the book is focused on finding value in working hard, mastering skills to further your entrepreneurial goals, and using today’s digital opportunities to enhance your brand. 

“Crushing It!” is organized into sections focused on various digital platforms. You’ll find strategies and testimonials about familiar platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, and Twitter, along with less-known platforms like musical.ly and voice-first technologies (like Amazon’s Alexa). He also goes into the value of having a podcast, and the importance of having an Instagram strategy.  

As 2018 progressed, I started to find myself working to create more content online. Vaynerchuk preaches the value of creating as much content as possible in order to increase engagement. 

My goal wasn’t money. The goal was to make myself create more content — the sort of pillar content Vaynerchuk talks about in “Crushing It!” — and re-orient my brain in that direction. 

I felt if I could develop that habit, it would help me serve our clients — and the marketing-communications business Bridget and I own — in a positive manner moving forward. 

Since Jan. 2018, I’ve populated this blog with 114 posts. That experience has helped me make contacts within the publishing industry (via book reviews I’ve written), and our local film industry here in Nebraska (via reviews and profiles of I’ve written about talented filmmakers and their projects). 

The experience has also forced me to find creative ways to drum up something to write about (even when I don’t think I have anything to write about). 

In Oct. 2018, my friend Jason and I started a weekly podcast focusing on the University of Nebraska at Omaha Hockey program. 

It all started with a simple conversation in the lobby at Baxter Arena (after a game last season) when our wives were browsing UNO’s merchandise shop. 

When Jason and I talked over the summer about the potential podcast, I knew I’d need to revamp my UNO Hockey fansite — MavPuck.com — to serve as an “easy-to-find” location where we could house the episodes. 

The rebooted MavPuck site contains each podcast, features a new message board, and has links to our social channels. It also houses a “News” section that I (along with the help of others) work diligently to fill with content each week — meaning there is more “pillar content” for fans to consume. 

The entire process has been an opportunity to experience new things, learn new skills, make connections, develop friendships, and live a more purposeful life. 

While “Crushing It!” isn’t responsible for these “life-improving” activities, the strategies and stories presented in Vaynerchuk’s book served as an inspiration for me. 

I needed that inspiration — and I needed to be in a better frame of mind.

“Talent has little value without patience and persistence,” says Vaynerchuk. “Success takes a sh!tload of work, and the people who ultimately break through and crush it are those who get all that and go for their dreams anyway.” 

I think “Crushing It!” could serve as inspiration for you, too — if you are an entrepreneur, work in marketing/communications, or are interested in building a personal brand. 

Previous post: “Movie Review: ‘The Upside’”

Movie Review: "The Upside"

I typically avoid “disease movies” like the plague. 

The new film “The Upside,” starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston, isn’t exactly a disease movie. 

In the “The Upside,” Cranston plays Phillip Lacasse, a wealthy businessman/investor who (due to a tragic accident) is a quadriplegic.

He has an assistant Yvonne (Nicole Kidman) who is trying to find a new caregiver for her boss. Phillip has seemingly given up on life, living a listless existence in the care of others. 

When ex-con parolee Dell Scott (Hart) mistakenly shows up for the caregiver interview at Lacasse’s New York City penthouse apartment (Dell is in the building applying for a janitorial position because he needs to prove to his parole officer that he’s looking for work), the quadriplegic is immediately taken by Dell’s disinterested attitude, and hopes to persuade him to be his caregiver. 

Dell finds out how much the position pays, and soon accepts the job (much to the chagrin of Yvonne, who institutes a “three strikes” policy for Dell). 

The setup for the story (based on true events) creates an interesting and affable “Odd Couple”-type dramedy that’s actually an enjoyable two hours at the cinema. 

“The Upside” recalls movies in the 1990s like Al Pacino’s “Scent of a Woman.” 

Sure, it’s schmaltzy and syrupy and manipulative. That said, Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston are both terrific actors who deliver likable performances and are fun to watch interact together on the big screen. 

It’s pretty funny, too. 

For all my millennial readers out there, these are the sort of movies that used to litter the box office back in the 1980s and 1990s. 

There is something oddly soothing in this day and age about a comedy that avoids being raunchy or edgy, and simply tells a story about characters trying to improve their lives — and the lives of others. 

Dell and Phillip both learn from each other as the narrative moves along. Neither man is satisfied in his current existence, but both learn from one another what is important in life. 

Dell is trying to rekindle his relationship with his estranged son. Phillip is trying to find meaning in a world where he is trapped in his own body. 

Part of the reason “The Upside” is likely getting tepid reviews from critics is because it follows a familiar formula for these sorts of movies — something seen countless times in film. 

Director Neil Burger (best known for the “Divergent” trilogy) and screenwriter Jon Hartmere don’t try and reinvent the wheel here. “The Upside” is based on a French film titled “Les Intouchables.”

As I mentioned earlier, the fact that “The Upside” is a throwback to the more gentle comedies of yesteryear didn’t particularly bother me. Sometimes “old fashioned” is good. 

If you’re looking to see something fun at the theater, check out “The Upside.” It’s not going to be mistaken for high art, but it is an enjoyable time at the movies. 

Previous post: “Book Review: ’Any Other Name’ By Craig Johnson”

Book Review: “Any Other Name” By Craig Johnson

“Consequence is what we all are.” — Henry Standing Bear, "Any Other Name"

Craig Johnson is one of the best writers of detective fiction in the game today. 

Sure, that might sound like a bold statement. 

Ever since I first discovered Johnson’s Longmire mysteries at The Bookworm (in Omaha) during the summer of 2012, I’ve been hooked. 

In early 2014, Bridget let me “fill in the blanks” and order all the Longmire novels I was missing from my collection. We’d had the opportunity to meet Craig Johnson at an author event at The Bookworm (in support of his novel “A Serpent’s Tooth”).

Part of the reason I am so fond of the books is Johnson’s affable first-person narrative structure for the novels. Each book in the Longmire series is told from the protagonist’s point of view. 

Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire is one of the genre’s great protagonists. The Wyoming lawman is more than just a capable detective. Johnson has created a multi-layered man with all the flaws and foibles of a living, breathing human being. 

“Any Other Name” is the tenth novel in his Longmire series (I count “Spirit of Steamboat” — which is more of a novella — in the sequence of novels, but others might disagree). 

The story takes place in the winter — in the days between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Longmire — along with former boss Lucian Connally — is in neighboring Campbell County investigating the death of Detective Gerald Holman.

Holman, a by-the-book lawman, was married, had a daughter, and lived a seemingly contented life. As such, Lucian finds it odd that his friend committed suicide in a sketchy motel, and asks for Walt’s help looking into the death.

Longmire soon discovers that Holman was embroiled in an investigation involving three missing women. On the surface, there is little to link the three cases. 

But Walt — tenacious investigator he is — learns there is more to the story. His sleuthing takes him to a sleezy strip club in a town called Arrosa, a casino in Deadwood, and Custer State Park (a neat sequence in the novel featuring President Coolidge’s “Summer White House”). 

All of the intrigue is wrapped up in the snow, ice, and cold. Having lived my life in Nebraska, Johnson has a knack for capturing the bleakness of a high plains winter. (My favorite snow-based Longmire novel, in that regard, is “Hell is Empty.”)

There is also a recurring motif involving trains. While mile-long cargo trains serve as a plot device in “Any Other Name,” the locomotives could just as easily symbolize the divided lives on display in Johnson’s novel.

To top it all off, Longmire’s daughter Cady is in Philadelphia expecting her first child — and the distressed mother-to-be is worried Walt won’t make the plane flight she booked.

One of the signatures of a Longmire novel is witty banter between characters. Walt’s interactions with feisty deputy Victoria Moretti and long-time friend Henry Standing Bear are in full effect in “Any Other Name.” The characters in the series add depth and dimension. 

Bridget and I have had the opportunity to attend three book events with Craig Johnson at The Bookworm here in Omaha. If you get a chance to attend an event with Johnson, I highly recommend it. The experience is something akin to listening to a well-worn yarn around a cozy campfire. 

I’d also recommend you check out the “Longmire” television series on Netflix. I did blog posts on the show in 2016 and 2017 talking about the terrific blu-ray sets of the each season produced by the Warner Archive Collection. 

The series is a lot of fun because it has some variances from the novels. It is sort of like you’re watching Walt Longmire in a parallel universe where things are similar, but different. That means your experience reading the books won’t spoil the series, and vice versa (though, off the top of my head, two episodes in the series — “A Damn Shame” and “Unquiet Mind” — pull plot elements from the novels “The Dark Horse” and “Hell is Empty”).

There aren’t too many fiction series I have a burning desire to revisit multiple times. But Craig Johnson’s Longmire novels are one of those series I’d like to revisit in the future. The stories are more than mere “whodunnits” in the vast mystery landscape. 

Simply put, Johnson has brought us one of the best detective series on the market today... 

Previous post: “Movie Review: ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’”

Movie Review: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

I’ve mentioned many times on the blog that, while I enjoy movies based on comic books, I am not an expert in superhero lore. 

So it was with some trepidation that I went into the animated movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” because I was concerned it would be too “inside baseball” for casual fans of Spidey. 

Where do I start...

First of all, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” likely isn’t for everyone. Fans of the webbed hero — along with comic book and animation junkies — will find a lot of interesting things to chew on in the film. 

The story follows Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) — a teenager struggling to fit in at his boarding school, working to meet his parents’ expectations, and finding his way in the world. 

He has a passion for graffiti, something his Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali) encourages and facilitates. It is on a graffiti excursion in the bowels of a subway station that Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider. 

Miles’s subsequent investigation into the bite leads him back to the subway station, where he inadvertently discovers a lab with a particle accelerator (the property of villain Wilson Fisk) that gives access to parallel universes. 

This eventually leads (after quite a bit of exposition) to various incarnations of Spider-Man (including a girl, a pig, an anime character, and a noir character) banding together to save New York City.  

For an animated movie, there is a lot of meat to the story. My mind might have wandered a time or two during "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (that isn’t meant as a judgment, a short-attention span is just an affliction I occasionally suffer from). 

The animation style — which tries to look like an old, four-color comic that was printed on an offset press — is clever, but somewhat distracting on the large screen. 

I’ve watched trailers and clips for the movie on my 12.9-inch iPad Pro (Retina display) and my 50-inch Vizio 4K UHD TV, and the look of the film wasn’t bad at all. But on a large screen, the style (at times) kind of left me scratching my head. 

For those who haven’t seen the film, I’m sure my comments on the animation style are about as clear as mud. But many of you are probably familiar with the “dot-screens” and “line screens” in older comic books where the cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink doesn’t quite line up.

They try to replicate that look in the film, along with background images that are intentionally “blurred” to give it a hand-drawn look and feel. 

For some reason, that took me out of the story. There were moments where it felt like a 3D movie when you momentarily take the 3D glasses off. 

That said, there was some beautifully rendered artwork, and the concept of uniting various incarnations of Spider-Man in one story was novel and enjoyable. 

I liked the idea of Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) as “Spider-Gwen” and I loved Nicolas Cage as “Spider-Man Noir” (that character should get a movie all his own, in my opinion). 

I didn’t always love the “Peter Porker / Spider-Ham” character in the film, but there were some funny slices. (My friend Barb loves comedian John Mulaney, who voices the pig). 

I didn’t get into the anime character of Peni Parker and her spider robot thing at all. Then again, I'm not really an anime fan, so it's possible I just didn't get it. 

The brains behind the “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” are talented screenwriters Phil Lord and Christopher Miller — the pair dismissed from Disney’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” project back in 2017 (kind of makes me wonder what their version of “Solo” would have looked like). 

Overall, I enjoyed the “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” because it was something different. It is nice to see a studio do an animated film that isn’t trying to appeal to the under-12 set. For that, Sony should be commended. 

It almost made me wonder what a live-action version of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” — with the same plot lines and characters — would be like. The more I’ve thought about the concept, the more I think it could work. 

Sony has done a lot with the Spider-Man character the past 15 years, and those projects have sometimes felt stale and repetitive (although, I loved 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and thought it was a nice refresh of the series). 

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” works on the premise that anyone can be Spider-Man and bear that mantel. It’s an interesting concept that should be explored more. 

The movie just won the Golden Globe for “Best Motion Picture - Animated,” so there must be something to all the praise. 

I thought “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was an interesting diversion. It is a very specific movie that won’t appeal to everyone. But, if you’re a superhero fan (and who isn’t these days), then you might find it a fun entry into the lexicon. 

Previous post: "The Omaha World-Herald: A Look Into The Future" 

The Omaha World-Herald: A Look Into The Future

As many of my readers are aware, the future of news organizations is a topic of great interest to me. Bridget and I have owned a marketing communications business the past 23 years, have undergraduate degrees in journalism from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and are voracious connoisseurs of news. 

The future of Omaha’s “newspaper of record” was on tap at the Omaha Press Club on Jan. 17 as part of the club’s Noon Forum series. 

The three-person panel of Omaha World-Herald employees featured at the event included Henry Cordes, Melissa Matczak, and Graham Archer. 

Cordes, a reporter, started off the talk by giving a general overview of the state of newspapers today. 

He discussed the “double whammy” of declining subscriptions and declining ad revenue for print newspapers like the Omaha World-Herald, and how those trends create a difficult-to-sustain model for daily print publications around the nation.

As the one-two punch deals body blows to publications, the resultant effect has been smaller newspapers combined with higher subscription rates for consumers. 

The Omaha World-Herald has a newsroom roughly half the size of what it was a decade ago. That fact has resulted in operators trying to find increasingly novel ways to produce content and sell subscriptions with fewer resources available.

“Times are uncertain for us, but it’s a joy to walk into the newsroom and see us produce a newspaper,” says Melissa Matczak, Omaha World-Herald executive editor. 

As society watches the decline of brick-and-mortar retailers like ShopKo, there is a corollary “slow drip” revenue loss for traditional news media outlets like print newspapers. 

Matczak discussed the challenges inherent in maintaining a quality print publication (the Omaha World-Herald has been in existence for more than a century) while working on growing digital subscriptions — with a focus on improving the digital product. 

When the Omaha World-Herald does a popular piece of “watchdog” journalism, for example, Matczak says it will generally perform well online — and the staff can see in “real time” how online engagement translates into digital subscriptions. 

She suggests there is a new focus in the newsroom toward analyzing data and statistics on Omaha.com along with the paper’s various social platforms (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram — among others). 

“We want traffic,” she says, “but it has to be impactful journalism.” 

It also has to be sustainable. 

Newsrooms in the 21st century can’t be a “general store of the community” she added. The resources are simply not in place to do that anymore. As a result, the Omaha World-Herald has to prioritize what it covers. 

Matczak says the paper needs to see a return on what they print or publish. This is a change of mindset at the paper, and there is an increased focus on “why” the piece is important, the “value” of a particular article, and a more stringent “prioritization” of content. 

It’s a given that people consume news differently than they did 20 years ago. 

“[Reporters are] more like broadcast than print ever was,” Matczak says. In that effort, the Omaha World-Herald works to distribute articles throughout the day — via e-newsletters, social media, videos, podcasts, news alerts, and in print. 

Statistical data in the newsroom (analyzing online readerership and engagement) is treated in a similar fashion to “ratings” on broadcast television. Newspapers are having to adapt to this new reality from an entrenched mindset dating back decades. 

It is about more than simple “page views” — the focus is on the amount of engagement with an article and the frequency that subscribers visit Omaha.com. 

The antiquated methodology and mindset has been a hard habit to break within the Omaha World-Herald newsroom, she said.

The panelists teased about “rogue print meetings” that took place during the initial stages of the shift to digital.

In the past, “news budgets” (content plans for a print newspaper) took priority in the newsroom. Today, the focus is on distribution of content throughout the day at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 4 p.m., and 7 p.m.

Matczak says they’ll analyze trending stories using a publishing analytics platform called CrowdTangle (I wasn’t familiar with CrowdTangle, but Facebook purchased the company in 2016). 

The CrowdTangle platform also allows the newspaper to track popular stories from competitors and create similar content to capitalize on trending topics. 

The goal is to distribute relevant content all day long. The Omaha World-Herald is also trying to spur signups for their “e-newsletter” and “push alerts” — so people don’t have to “type in” Omaha.com. Instead, they can simply click on hyperlinks. 

Graham Archer, the digital editor at the Omaha World-Herald, works with reporters like Cordes to provide compelling videos and animated GIFs to go along with feature articles. 

The goal is to figure out which stories are relevant and whether or not they want to do more of those types of stories in the future. 

The Omaha World-Herald has to be more nimble in the future, he said. Emerging technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality present opportunities and pitfalls for news organizations. (I also believe media companies will have to make inroads in “voice technologies” such as Amazon’s Alexa platform down the road.) 

As newsrooms become more focused on geeky things like “real-time analytics” and adding in “keyword tags” to online articles, it does make you wonder if entities like the Omaha World-Herald can keep up with the immediacy that “citizen journalists” bring to the table. 

It also makes you wonder if they can continue to charge a premium for such content. 

The fact that I’m posting this article on my blog mere hours after the Omaha Press Club’s Noon Forum took place is kind of ironic. This blog post will be distributed on Twitter, Facebook, and additional social channels my wife and I control in our business. It won’t be behind a paywall, and it won’t be scrutinized in terms of engagement potential.

Part of the reason I have this blog (along with my UNO Hockey fansite MavPuck.com — which features news stories, a blog, and a podcast) is a responsibility I feel to put my marketing communications skills to use and create useful, informative, and relevant content for an information-hungry public.

It would have been cost prohibitive to do that 30 years ago. Technology has democratized information in our society. Anyone can publish articles, produce podcasts, create videos, and distribute it all online for a paltry sum. 

The question is whether or not large news organizations — that are governed by P&L statements — can maintain relevance over the long haul. 

Many of you are familiar with the fact that the Omaha World-Herald, which had been locally owned for more than a century, was recently sold to Lee Enterprises. 

The panelists today didn’t really dive into the recent effort by employees to form a union. 

For those who don’t know, the Omaha World-Herald News Guild is an employee union put in place to try and protect the interests of frontline journalists working for the company (you can read more at www.owhguild.com). 

As daily newspapers continue to evolve, some have suggested the editorial content should be more “neighborhood focused” to maintain relevance. 

Matczak reiterated that the Omaha World-Herald “can’t be a general store.” She says that efforts in the past to be “hyper local” haven’t had much success (although, she admitted, they couldn’t measure the popularity of those stories in the past like they can now). 

“We have to think more broadly,” she said. “More thematically.” 

It was also mentioned during the panel discussion that smaller print editions will make it more difficult for public relations professionals (representing businesses and organizations) to get “press release” material into the Omaha World-Herald. 

Bridget and I found this to be somewhat antithetical to the newspaper’s goal to push out more content during the day. 

It seems like “pre-packaged” content would be the perfect thing to layer into a digital strategy (the stories are basically written for a news publication, and a minimal amount of fact-checking is required). 

Some could argue that public relations content verges on being “promoted content” — which might thwart the goal of journalistic purity and integrity. 

The reality is that banner ads aren’t a particularly good way for newspapers to make money. So a possible “pay-to-play” model (as we’ve seen with the denizens of professional YouTubers) might become more prevalent. 

Bridget and I still have a print subscription to the Omaha World-Herald that includes online access to the content at Omaha.com. 

Despite the fact that we enjoy receiving a print newspaper, our content consumption habits have definitely evolved. Years ago, I read two newspapers cover-to-cover each morning — the Omaha World-Herald and USA Today. Today it is a much more eclectic mix of content curated from my Twitter and Facebook feeds. 

Hopefully these once great institutions will find a way to survive the raging storm. It is going to be challenging. 

The “death notices” for newspapers like the Omaha World-Herald have been murmured about for 15 years or more. 

Yet the presses still roll and newspapers are still in print...

Related Posts: 

Omaha World-Herald Lays Off 43… What's Happening?

Do Paywalls Thwart The Spread of Legit News?

Previous post: "Movie Review: 'Leave No Trace'"

Movie Review: “Leave No Trace”

Every so often I stumble upon a movie sitting “off the beaten path” that proves to be an interesting diversion. 

This week I watched the 2018 film “Leave No Trace,” available on Amazon Prime Video. 

“Leave No Trace” tells the story of Iraq veteran Will (Ben Foster) and his 13-year-old daughter Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) — a father/daughter duo who have lived for several years in a vast public forest in Portland, Oregon. 

Will suffers from PTSD. The pair lives in near total isolation, surviving off the land. Will teaches his daughter life skills in the forest, and also has a collection of books to school her in the fundamentals. 

The pair occasionally goes to town for food and supplies. Will makes money selling his VA-issued prescription drugs to other veterans.

Their idyllic “off-the-grid” existence is turned upside down when Tom (who is sitting on a grassy perch reading about seahorses) is spotted by a jogger — prompting authorities to arrive. 

I won’t go any further into the plot for “Leave No Trace.” It isn’t a particularly complex story, but the journey of Will and Tom is one worth discovering.

The performances by Foster and McKenzie are particularly strong. 

Ben Foster is no stranger to playing odd birds who don’t quite fit into society. It’s sort of become his calling card in Hollywood. If you’re looking for an actor who can serve up a scarred war vet who’s unable to fit into society’s trappings, Foster is your guy. 

Thomasin McKenzie is a relative newcomer. I didn’t realize until I was doing research for this review that the actress hails from New Zealand. She does a fine job with the material in “Leave No Trace” — playing a gentle soul who is torn between the life she has known, and a more normal life for a teenager. 

“Leave No Trace” explores the notion of how a “normal life” is defined in our world. But the narrative is never “preachy" or "in your face” — the screenplay by director Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini is more subtle than that. 

Back in 2016, I wrote a blog post on a local Omaha couple who had traded in their large suburban life to live in a tiny house. 

The themes in “Leave No Trace” are part of a bigger conversation society is having about the trappings of a material life — and whether the race to acquire “things” is essential to having a happy and fulfilling existence. 

“Leave No Trace” is skillfully directed by Debra Granik (best known for her film “Winter’s Bone”) and had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. It is based on the novel “My Abandonment” by Peter Rock. 

There is an oft-mentioned sentiment in creative pursuits that “less is more.” That is as true for film as it is any other medium. 

“Leave No Trace” practices the principle of “showing” versus “telling” — using an austere style to great effect. There is very little dialogue in the movie, but long info dumps aren’t a prerequisite for telling compelling stories. 

I don’t put much stock into review aggregator sites, but the movie currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

That might be hyping the movie a bit too much. But if you’re looking for something different, check out “Leave No Trace.”

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