Author Archives: Joe Hagen

The response to this years #CreativeCover Contest has been amazing… 466 entries (already more than last year), 7510 total votes and hundreds of positive comments from users on submissions. We are so happy to give student artists the opportunity to showcase their art. Please, please, please take a few minutes to click through some of this years entries and vote for your favorites.

“Flight’s Entanglement” by Ying Chen

This is one of my favorite times of the year for many different reasons (changing weather, baseball season, and end of the year activities) … but the artsy-fartsy part of me LOVES to see all of the submissions to our Creative Outlook Magazine Cover Contest. It’s like getting an instant creative recharge each morning when I see what entries came in overnight.

I secretly have MANY different favorites and will be posting them over the next few months… The art below definitely falls into the “awesome” category. Do me a favor, click the picture below and then the little star on the page to vote for it. Emily deserves to know that you LOVE her art

“1965″ By: Emily Kocsis

A Movie Review By Joseph Hagen

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo catapults out of the best sellers rack at your local bookstore and into theaters this week. This is your film if you like any of the following: Short bangs, body piercings, motorcycles, and of course, ample amounts of tattoos. Although the film is incredibly dark, grisly and often disturbing, those familiar with the book will likely approve of this film version. Those who are not familiar with the book … good luck figuring what the heck is happening onscreen.

While there are plenty of things wrong with Tattoo, a big strength of the film is the performances of Daniel Craig as journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. Their chemistry is a big reason to see this film. Both bring depth, charisma and balance to a screenplay that takes a long time to develop.

Many times during the film I felt that I needed a CliffsNotes study guide to figure out who was who, how they were related, whether the old guy that was talking and the young guy being shown in a flashback were the same guy, how people were related and whose back story went with who… By the time the WOW moment happens, I felt so confused that I did not even understand why it was a WOW moment.

With that said, I would guess that hardcore fans of the book will understand the complex relationships of the characters and enjoy this American version.

Memorable quote:
“I like working with you.” - Lisbeth Salander

“No touching!”