Stela Mobile Comics Honored with "Best Webcomic" Nominations for the 2017 Eisner Awards

Jaeger by Ibrahim Moustafa (co-creator of High Crimes)

Stela LLC, providers of premium graphic novels and illustrated books native to mobile, today announced that two of its series, Jaeger and Deja Brew have been nominated for the 2017 Eisner Awards in the Best Webcomic Category.

For nearly three decades, The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards has recognized the creativity, talent, and excellence of creators in the comics and graphic novels industry. Nominees represent a diverse range of groundbreaking work that have achieved critical and popular acclaim. This year, for the first time in its history the Eisner Award is recognizing Best Web Comics as its own individual category. All works nominated in this category were originally created for digital consumption rather than print, recognizing a new tide of digital works that have brought the industry more than $100M in yearly revenue.

Stela is leading this new wave of innovation in the digital medium, with an entire library of content created specifically for mobile consumption. Its flagship app, Stela Unlimited, allows readers to engross themselves in fantastic worlds and complex characters, focusing on comics that showcase a diverse range of viewpoints and subjects.

Taking a more innovative approach than traditional comic publishers, Stela delivers comics, graphic novels, and visual books in the medium where today's consumers spend most of their time – mobile. Unlike print comics that are simply adapted for mobile viewing, Stela offers a rich storytelling experience uninterrupted by constant paneling, swiping, pinching or zooming. Readers simply need to scroll down and get lost in the worlds created by curated by editors from the heart of modern comics, and created by some of the most talented emerging and established names in the industry.

"We are honored that the Eisner Awards has recognized the work of Stela's artist, validating our belief that works created for the mobile platform can be just as engrossing, inspiring, and enjoyable as traditional print comics," said Jason Juan, CEO of Stela. "Just as Netflix disrupted the television and movie industry with high quality original content, Stela is looking to do the same for mobile. Creating content for mobile devices serves millions of readers and empowers them to discover and follow stories in the medium they most frequently engage with."

Excellence in Webcomics

Two Stela titles are represented in the Best Webcomics category.

Jaeger by Ibrahim Moustafa (High Crimes) tells the story of French-Algerian spy Idris Morel. Haunted by the torture he endured in a Nazi POW camp during World War II, Morel, hell-bent on exacting revenge against his captors, embarks on a one-man espionage mission to ensure that Nazi escapees are brought to justice. In his quest for revenge, Morel must find redemption, or risk becoming the very monster he hunts.

Deja Brew by Taneka Stotts and Sara DuVall begins innocuously at Bijou, where expelled witch academy student Tobias works. When Ki, a frightened girl filled with someone else's memories, shows up at Bijou, it will put Tobias through the toughest magical test he's ever faced.

Jaeger and Deja Brew were selected out of over 2,500 entrants sourced and solicited by the Eisner nomination committee. Winners will be chosen by a highly-lauded panel of blue-ribbon judges as well as by votes from leading industry professionals. The winners will be announced during an annual event at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

Deja Brew by Taneka Stotts and Sara DuVall

About Stela

Stela, LLC's flagship mobile visual content app, Stela Unlimited, is the first and only app to offer graphic novels and illustrated stories created specifically created for the mobile reader. With a library of unique and exclusive content by award-winning creators, Stela delivers the ultimate binge reading experience. Read to your hearts content and interact with a community of content creators and visual content enthusiasts with Stela Unlimited. 

For more information, visit stela.com.  

SOURCE: Stela LLC

New Book Helps People-Pleasers Take Back Their Power to Live More Authentically

Self-described former congeniality addict Cat Dols hopes to spark a 21st century "good girl" revolt with her new book, Get Your Goddess On: Own Your Power. Love Your Life! Published by Blue Bookshelf and launching May 11, the book features the former Ford model decked out in a sparkly ball gown on its cover. Despite that, the book's premise is down to earth. It is the Milwaukee resident's road map for helping women to take back the power they may have given away in a futile attempt to please other people.

Get Your Goddess On uses a mixture of stories, examples and self-guided exercises to teach women—and men who have the problem as well—how to stop living their lives according to other people's expectations so they can take charge of their own happiness. "I want people to know that they matter and they are good enough as is … even though they may have been taught they weren't in the past," Dols says. That was a message Dols needed to hear herself after growing up with a verbally abusive father and a subservient mother who only escaped his shadow after he died. For years, Dols' own worldview was colored by the negative messages and feelings of low self-worth he passed on that led her to failed relationships of her own; she has learned to overcome them and to empower others to recognize the signs and make new choices.

She can talk about:

• Why winning a Miss Congeniality Award is a losing proposition.
• The importance of becoming aware of people-pleasing tendencies and knowing what you have given away in exchange for trying to be liked.
• Finding the silver lining in life's hard lessons and what it takes to let go of mistakes you made and to forgive yourself.
• Her non-traditional definition of a goddess: a peaceful state of being that is the opposite of ego—where your authentic power resides.

Cat Dols

About Cat Dols

Cat Dols is an author, life coach, home stager, decorator, master gardener and art class teacher. Get Your Goddess On: Own Your Power. Love Your Life! is her first book. 

She has been a guest on a number of radio talk shows and been featured in Milwaukee-area newspapers. She has also authored articles for New Living magazine.

SOURCE: Cat Dols

From Wannabe To President: How Emmanuel Macron Beat Marine Le Pen To Win The French Election

Macron sweeps to victory. EPA/Thomas Samson

By Paul Smith, University of Nottingham

After a tense and often antagonistic election campaign, Emmanuel Macron is to become the next president of France. The result is, of course, in all sorts of ways extraordinary. In a little over a year, the 39-year-old former finance minister has gone from being a wannabe to the future tenant of the Elysée Palace. He struck out alone to form his own political movement and while much of the froth surrounding the election has focused on his opponent, the enormity of his achievement needs to be acknowledged and cannot be underestimated.

Even before the first round, all the polls had Macron pegged to win the second round 60/40. But then, between the rounds, Le Pen seemed to be nibbling away at Macron’s lead – not by much, but by enough to cause some butterflies among her opponents. Macron appeared lacklustre at a crucial time. Fears of a low turnout and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s refusal to formally endorse Macron also threw a number of unknowns into the mix.

Macron addresses supporters in Paris. EPA/Thomas Samson

A high abstention rate would play in Le Pen’s favour, went the reasoning. Her electors, as far as anyone could tell, were more committed. In the end, turnout was indeed lower than expected (and there were 4m spoilt ballots), but it did not hinder Macron. Quite the reverse. With an estimated 65.1% of the vote to Le Pen’s 34.9%, Macron has come away with the second highest second round score in the history of the Fifth Republic.

So, now France has a president whose priorities are to tackle chronic unemployment by relaxing labour legislation and introducing a raft of measures to help young people into work, to reduce primary school class sizes to 12 pupils per teacher, to relaunch the European project in collaboration with France’s partners and to simplify the mind-bogglingly complex tax and pension set-up for French citizens. 

What happened Marine?
Deep down, Le Pen knew she didn’t have the tail wind to take her to victory after a disappointing first-round result. She had hoped to go through in first place but finished second behind Macron and only 650,000 votes ahead of François Fillon.

This goes some way to explaining her extraordinary performance in the presidential debate on May 3, where she cast aside the opportunity to present her programme in favour of a non-stop attack on Macron. He might not have looked presidential all the way through the debate, but she certainly looked like she was making a bid to be the leader of the opposition rather than the tenant of the Elysée. In any case, it looks like the debate cost her 5% of the vote. It certainly caused consternation among her supporters.

And yet her score is historic. Throughout the campaign she was the one candidate we all assumed would get through to the second round. Her total of 11m votes is twice what her father managed in 2002 – and 5m more than she herself scored in 2012.

Le Pen delivers her concession speech. EPA/Ian Langsdon

On Sunday evening, about ten minutes after the result was announced, Le Pen made a two-minute speech to a small group of party activists, accepting her defeat, but also launching herself as the head of the “première force d’opposition” and promising a transformation of the Front National for the general election in June. She neglected to explain what that means, but she will almost certainly seek to destabilise Les Républicains by appealing to the right of the party.

A discarded voting slip says it all. Paul Smith

Meanwhile, after a celebration at the Louvre on Sunday night, Macron awaits his formal investiture as the eighth president of the Fifth Republic at the beginning of next week. By tradition, the incoming president announces the name of the prime minister only on the following day. Macron may break with this and make the announcement a little earlier, but there are still calculations to be made.

The electoral process isn’t quite over for the French. Can they survive the risks of electoral burn-out? For now, at least we can all savour what has been an extraordinary campaign and reflect on where France goes now.

About Today's Contributor:

Paul Smith, Associate Professor in French and Francophone Studies, University of Nottingham

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Bonus Gifs

via franceinfo

via franceinfo

Can Environmental Documentaries Make Waves?

Tasos Katopodis / EPA

By Michela Cortese, Bangor University

Trump’s first 100 days in office were, among other things, marked by a climate march in Washington DC that attracted tens of thousands of demonstrators. No surprises there. Since the beginning of his mandate in January, Trump has signed orders to roll back the number of federally protected waterways, restart the construction of contentious oil pipeline, and cut the budget from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Among the various orders and memoranda, the one signed to overhaul Obama’s Clean Power Plan is probably the most remarkable, along with promoting coal extractions all over the US.

A good time, then, to follow up Al Gore’s iconic documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which was released 11 years ago in a similarly discouraging political climate. At that time George W Bush, who is remembered for undermining climate science and for strongly supporting oil interests, was in power. In his own first 100 days at the White House, Bush backed down from the promise of regulating carbon dioxide from coal power plants and announced that the US would not implement the Kyoto climate change treaty.

This summer sees the release of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. More than ten years have passed and the documentary looks likely to be released in a very similar context. With republicans in power, war in the Middle East, and regulations on the environment to be reversed, this inconvenient sequel is a reminder that the climate of the conversation about global warming has not changed much in the interim.

But the strategies needed to grab the attention of the public certainly have. In the fast-paced, ever-evolving media landscape of the 21st century, knowing how to engage the public on environmental matters is no easy thing. The tendency of the environmental films that have mushroomed since 2000 has been to use a rhetoric of fear. But how effective has this been? Certainly, environmental activism has grown, particularly with the help of social media, but the role of these productions is unclear, and there is a lack of research on audience response to these films.

Personal planet
The selling point of An Inconvenient Truth was its personal approach. Although it had a lecture-style tone, this was a documentary that was all about Gore. He told his story entwined with that of the planet. It was extraordinary that people paid to go to the cinema to watch a politician giving a lecture. This was a big shift in cinema. Arguably, this format was enlivened by the way in which Gore opened up about his personal history.

The documentary opened with the politician’s notorious quote: “I am Al Gore, and I used to be the next president of the United States.” In November 2000 Gore had lost the presidential elections to George W Bush with an extraordinarily narrow defeat. The choice to run with a very personal rhetoric was certainly strategic – the right time for the former vice president to open up six years from that unfortunate election. Gore told the story of global warming through his personal life, featuring his career disappointments, family tragedies and constantly referring to the scientists he interviewed as “my friend”.

This was a very innovative way of approaching the matter of climate change. We are talking about a politician who decided to offer an insight on his private life for a greater cause: to engage the public on a vital scientific subject. The originality of the documentary led to An Inconvenient Truth scoring two Oscars at the Academy Awards 2006.

Today, An Inconvenient Truth is seen as the prototype of activist film-making. Founder of the Climate Reality Project in 2006 and co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (with the IPCC), Gore and his movement soon became the core of environmental activism, gathering several environmental groups that, despite their differences, today march together for the greatest challenge of our time.
New hope?

Eleven years on, the revolution under Gore’s lead that many expected has yet to be fulfilled. The next decade was beset with disappointments. More recently, the 2015 Paris Agreement has marked a new era for climate action, proving that both developed and developing countries are now ready to work together to reduce carbon emissions. But today there is a new protagonist – or antagonist – in the picture. The trailer for An Inconvenient Sequel shows Gore watching Trump shouting his doubts about global warming to the crowd and announcing his plans to strip back the EPA’s budget.

It will be interesting to see how the tone of the film moves off from that of the original. The “personal reveal” tactic won’t work so well the second time round. And a change in the narrative is certainly evident from the trailer. The graphs of the previous documentary are replaced with more evocative images of extreme weather and disasters. While statistics about carbon dioxide emissions and sea-level rises were predominantly used to trigger emotions in the audience, this time round Gore can show the results of his predictions. One example of this is the iconic footage of a flooded World Trade Centre Memorial, a possibility which was discussed by Gore in the 2006 documentary and criticised by many for being a “fictional” element at that time rather than an “evidence” of climate impact.

Unfortunately, I am not sure how much this shift will affect the public or whether the sequel will be the manifesto of that revolution that Gore and his followers have been waiting for. The role that the media have played in the communication of climate change issues has changed and developed alongside the evolution of the medium itself and people’s perception of the environment. The last decade has seen an explosion of sensational images and audiences are fatigued by this use of fear.

Many look for media that includes “positive” messages rather than the traditional onslaught of facts and images triggering negative emotions. It has never been more difficult for environmental communicators to please viewers and readers in the midst of a never-ending flow of information available to them.

About Today's Contributor:

Michela Cortese, Associate Lecturer, Bangor University

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Famed WDC Rock Venue and Local Musicians Organize Benefit Concert for The Joe Strummer Foundation

Concert Poster

Washington DC's Black Cat has hosted no shortage of iconic bands over the years including Radiohead, Beck, the Foo Fighters, and the Kings of Leon. On May 25, 2017, the renowned music venue has partnered with DC rock band Stone Driver to organize a benefit concert to support The Joe Strummer Foundation, a charity created in honor of the Clash's co-founder and one of the biggest icons in punk and rock music history, which raises money to provide opportunities to musicians and support to projects around the world that create empowerment through music.

"As a musician and huge fan of Joe Strummer's work, I was humbled to learn about the foundation that was created to help others. When our band was brainstorming ideas of how we could contribute, we spoke with Lindsay from the Black Cat who suggested holding a benefit concert. The Black Cat team is going above and beyond to assist the Joe Strummer Foundation and the communities they assist, and are hosting an outrageously good rock concert to make it all happen," - Chad Lesch, member of "Stone Driver" musical group.

Stone Driver is a critically acclaimed DC rock band that recently completed their sophomore full length album "Rocks" with famed London producer Sefi Carmel (David Bowie, Phil Collins, Bruno Mars), and will be joined on stage with the exceptionally talented power pop quartet Classified Frequency, and high energy rocker and DC music veteran Derek Evry.

Stone Driver press photo

The Joe Strummer Foundation was established in 2002 shortly after the rock icon's passing. The non-profit organization is committed to the prevention or relief of poverty, particularly of young people, anywhere in the world by providing grants, items and services to individuals in need and/or charities, or other organizations working to prevent or relieve poverty.

The Joe Strummer Foundation Benefit Concert will take place on May 25th, 2017 at the Black Cat in DC.  Doors open at 7:30PM, and the benefit concert will begin at 8:00PM and end by 11:30PM.  Tickets are available in advance on Ticketfly for $12, and the Black Cat is located at 1811 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009.

• To purchase tickets in advance on Ticketfly, please go to www.ticketfly.com/event/1434040-stone-driver-washington/
• For more information about Stone Driver, please go to facebook.com/StoneDriverBand and/or www.StoneDriver.com
• For more information about the Joe Strummer Foundation, please contact them at +44 (0) 208 133 9101 or email at info@joestrummerfoundation.org.

SOURCE: Stone Driver