Nationality American Role Humorist | Name David Rees Movies How to Sharpen Pencils | |
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Area(s) Cartoonist, writer, artist, television host Books My new filing technique, My new fighting technique, Get Your War on: Comic Str, How to Sharpen Pencils: A, Get Your War on II Profiles | ||
David Thomas Rees ( ; born June 22, 1972) is a humorist and cultural critic whose career has moved between various disciplines. He first became known as a cartoonist whose best-known work combines bland clip art with outrageous "trash talk" to incongruous effect. He moved on to his Artisanal Pencil Sharpening service and publishing a related book. More recently he has been a presenter for Going Deep with David Rees.
Contents
- The finer points of david rees
- Early life
- Cartoonist
- Artisanal Pencil Sharpening
- Hostpresenter
- Mashup
- Writerblogger
- Personal life
- References
The finer points of david rees
Early life
Rees grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and was an avid reader of Rex Morgan, M.D. comics. He is a graduate of Oberlin College, and drew comics for the school's newspaper, The Oberlin Review.
Cartoonist
Rees first became known for his office-cubicle humor that was partly inspired by his experience working in a basement for Citicorp and later as a part-time fact-checker for Maxim and Martha Stewart Weddings magazines.
There are 5 collected volumes of his work while the best-known and most controversial comic is Get Your War On which has been translated into French, Spanish and Italian. A follow up volume Get Your War On II was published, Rees donated all the royalties of both books (more than $100,000) to Adopt-a-Minefield an organization that works to remove landmines from post conflict areas. He is also the author of the comic strips My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable, My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable, and Adventures of Confessions of Saint Augustine Bear.
Artisanal Pencil Sharpening
In July 2010, Rees announced his Artisanal Pencil Sharpening service, where, for prices starting at $500.00, people can mail in their own pencils to be sharpened by him, or receive a sharpened pencil provided by the craftsman. According to the site, "...craftsman David Rees still practices the age-old art of manual pencil sharpening. His artisanal service is perfect for artists, writers, and standardized test takers. Shipped with their shavings and a 'certificate of sharpening', these extra-sharp pencils make wonderful gifts." His book, How to Sharpen Pencils, was released April 16, 2012.
Host/presenter
In July 2014 the show Going Deep with David Rees launched on the National Geographic Channel. The show features Rees humorously investigating the science and process behind very basic tasks such as making ice, lighting matches and the tying of shoelaces. For the second season, the show moved to the Esquire Network.
Rees hosts the weekly podcast Election Profit Makers with his childhood friend Jon Kimball in which they discuss the prediction market website PredictIt.org.
Mashup
In late 2014 via his SoundCloud page Rees released AphexSwift, a collection of eight songs that combined the vocals of Taylor Swift and the electronic music of Aphex Twin. The collection received positive reviews ranging from The Verge calling it "bizarrely good", The A.V. Club as "great" and even Time magazine "surprisingly catchy".
Writer/blogger
Over his career Rees has written for a variety of publications. Since May 2005, Rees has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. In 2013, Rees began writing for Wired's first scripted web series Codefellas.
Personal life
When Rees was a young man, he and three of his friends recorded over 2,000 songs as members of a "secret band." Rees attempted to coerce one of his friends to ask for a bass guitar for a Christmas a gift; his friend ended up asking for a regular guitar instead and it upset Rees.
Rees has a younger brother named Peter, who currently works in Chicago. Rees was married to a woman named Sarah from around 2002 until they divorced around 2009.
In 2010, Rees worked as a civil servant for the United States Census Bureau, a position that engendered his interest in pencils. Rees lives in Beacon, New York.