I’m a journalist working for the U.S. Air Force. I live with my wife and son in Honolulu. I’m also very interested in convergent journalism, new media, the Internet, and computers. I use Apple computers because Windows sucks–yes, even your weird-o Windows Vista.

Sometimes I tell strangers I’m the guy that composed the Windows Startup theme and that I get a royalty every time someone starts his or her computer. Sometimes I tell them I used to be a homeless vagrant, but then one day I found Jesus Christ and joined the Air Force. (That’s actually not too far from the truth.) Occasionally I say I’m an up-and-coming writer and my breakthrough new book about a hermaphrodite brain surgeon in Wisconsin is being considered for Oprah’s Book Club. All of these are lies, but most strangers believe them–for a few seconds anyway. I guess I’m a pretty good liar. I know that’s bad, but I think it’s super fun to lie sometimes.

Jacksnupple is the name of a movie I wrote a few years ago and never made. Maybe some day I will actually get around to it, but probably not since I’m not a screen writer and I don’t even like movies that much. The script is actually pretty lame, but again, I’m not a screen writer, so I guess that’s okay. It’s about a new drug called Jacksnupple. The main character, a role which I wrote for either myself or Jake Busey, becomes a pretty bad-ass dealer of it. Unfortunately, the drug has some rather unexpected side effects. It’s probably really more sophomoric than even I think, but like I already told you twice, I’m not a screen writer. If you’re really interested, you can download the Jacksnupple script here. I even made a theme song for the film with my friend Otis Samuels. You can download that here.

I started a blog on MySpace but I wanted a little bit more capability and more control of the content, so I put this up. Jacksnupple seemed like as good a name as any, and since it’s a made-up word, (that I made up, kind of like the Windows startup sound), I was able to secure the domain name with no difficulty. I hope to get some of my friends to write some stuff here for you to read. I know some pretty funny people. Some of them don’t even try to be funny or suspect they’re funny. Those kinds of funny people are often the funniest.

I have already accomplished considerably more professionally than anyone ever expected of me. I have written two technical books, (some call them manuals, since they’re both about computer programs: one about a motion-effects program called Boris RED, and another about Photoshop and After Effects for Broadcast), and produced three training DVD programs. I’ve also written numerous tutorials for online media services. All that has been outside of my Air Force career. In my 14 years in the Air Force I’ve produced countless snippets of news, information, and borderline propaganda. I’ve done live radio shows, anchored news programs, made commercials, traveled all over the world, and met some really cool people.

Currently I’m working on my rap/rock/spoken word album, tentatively titled “You Wish You Could Quit Me,” trying out a different fad diet every two weeks, and considering running for various local public offices. I’m also cutting coupons, throwing recyclables into the trash, and offering my sub-professional–and thus discount–legal and babysitting services in hopes of someday buying a Segway Personal Transporter.

I hope you find some things here to think about, to laugh about, and to warrant a return visit. Contact me at chrisvadnais (at) mac.com.

Thanks for stopping by.

Chris Vadnais

Frequently Asked Questions

If you want to know something that’s not covered here, send me a message here.

How did you do (insert something here) on your site?
It’s all made possible by the magic of a MacPro running OS X. For hosting I use 1and1, which was recommended to me by Justin at Cartoon Smart, (a great place to learn Flash drawing and programming techniques). For the blog I use Wordpress 2.5, which is free and if you’re doing it for personal use you can even get it installed to your server for free. For graphics I mainly use Photoshop CS3, and for HTML & any CSS I use Dreamweaver.

What is you political persuasion? It’s hard to tell.
You’re right. It is hard to tell. Regardless of party, I usually side with whomever I think is being the least stupid about an issue.

Stem cell research? Do it. Foreign policy? Develop underdeveloped areas (yes, by force if necessary), and bring them into the global economy. Gay marriage? Allow it. Government regulation on the Internet? Not so much. Censorship in the media? No; be a more attentive parent. War in Iraq? Uhhm…well…

Anyway, I don’t find much of a chartable trend toward one side or the other, except that the extreme end of either is usually a bit much for me. I’m somewhere in the middle, which is comfortable because it allows me the luxury of being able to laugh at a lot more people. I’m more concerned about how America will do business with the rest of the world in the future than I am about which party the President will represent. Give me someone young who has new and interesting ideas and isn’t afraid of people that aren’t just like him or her and I’ll probably listen. Give me more complaining without new ideas or boring partisan rhetoric and I probably won’t.

What’s with the random photos of random women?
What’s with this random question?

This site is so awesome. How can I donate to help you keep it going?
Okay, no one has ever asked me that. But I have already formulated an answer, just in case. Click here to go to my Amazon.com wish list.