Gloved Chicken Productions

So, I was testing out this website provider thingamajig. I did a little demo site just to get used to the program and such and...well...strange things happened...

see Gloved Chicken Productions here

I really need to go to bed before I start corroding the web.

New Drawings

This is a from a screencap from the movie Cube (Vincenzo Natali). The background is actually still a part of the screencap. I only drew the foreground. I didn't put a whole lot of effort into this one, so the characters don't actually look like themselves, but it's a decent picture, nonetheless.
This is a picture of Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) from Torchwood. I drew this one for my mom. I did it freehand because I was copying the picture out of a book. I haven't drawn portraits freehand in years, so I was surprised that I actually got the resemblance pretty close. Especially since I whizzed through it in under an hour.

Don't forget to check out my writing blog for updates on my writing and reading!

Have a merry Christmas!

2 big announcements

My two announcements are writing related, so please check out my writing blog for more info.


1. Research project

A project for fiction writers! I'm journaling my way through this winter break project. Four people already signed on to watch my progress. You can watch too. Here's the first entry:
http://j-leigh-nelson.livejournal.com/8154.html



2. Published!

My essay "Time at Last" was published in the anthology Authors of Tomorrow. Read about it here:
http://j-leigh-nelson.livejournal.com/8321.html

drawdrawdraw

I hadn't drawn ANYTHING since last summer. But a couple weeks ago, I drew a picture of Anton (Konstantin Khabensky) from NightWatch and forgot to post a picture of it.

And then, today, I drew this portrait of Shaz and Chris from the Life on Mars spinoff series Ashes to Ashes:

Day 1

Day 1 of Winter Break.

Cold as shoulders outside. -4 with windchill factor 0f -21.

People in house sticking ceramic tiles to kitchen wall.

Got up at 6am. 4 and a half hours later: have written 4 grad school essays and filled out 2 applications.

Must stop staring into space and get some sleep.

done

School is done. Done done done. For the semester anyway. Exams sucked, but I only had two. And three papers. I actually enjoyed all four of my courses this semester. Statistics say that's not likely to happen again. But what a great semester. I'll miss it thoroughly. I get to go home tomorrow. I think I'm finally starting to miss La Crosse when I leave. Only took three years.

Well, I'm off to see A Midsummer Night's Dream in Toland Theatre.

Irish Christmas

Irish Christmas in America was my most recent event. I've enjoyed all of my events, but I think I liked this one best so far. It certainly had the biggest turn-out! Over 400 people packed in on a snowy night to see the Irish band Teada and vocalist Karan Casey. There were a few hiccups to begin with, but I got them smoothed over before the band or Irishfest showed up (we co-sponsored with Irishfest La Crosse).

The band was really cool. I didn't get to talk with the two women because they didn't come upstairs for dinner, but they guys were really nice. And talented. The show was amazing. Most people stuck around for part two, which is saying something because intermissions tend to cause people to leave early. A lot of people bought cds too.

The show itself was a concert of Irish Christmas music. We had Christmas trees up on stage to set the mood, as the stage plot requested. Brian did some Irish dancing--like the dancing where you mostly just move from the waist down. He danced with a broom too. And Tristan told stories to give some context. He told us about the traditions of "women's Christmas" in January and about killing wrens for tradition. Definitely traditions I've never heard of, so I learned a lot! Everyone was really impressed with Karan Casey's singing.

At the end, the band hung around to sign autographs for everyone and to take a picture with CAB (see above).

YouTube

I think the reason that each post has so many subsections is because I am a blogger-slacker. That's right. I procrastinate posting for so long, I usually have a million updates. Here is an attempt to do one subject per post. I doubt this noble effort will last very long.

So, YouTube has this thing where you can look at the demographics of your channel. I didn't even know this until I saw Robert Llewllyn's post about it. It took me a while to find these stats, but eventually I found it for my channel. Interesting things going on here. Most interestingly is the fact that my channel is more popular in the UK than it is here in the States. I think this is because the video Holloway Road dominates over half of the views out of my 44 videos, clocking in at just over 5,000 views. Wow, guys! Also, 74% of my viewers (not subscribers--I don't have any) are male while 26% are female. This either means more men watch my channel than women, more men watch YouTube than women, or more men enter in their gender information than women. Also, the age range is mostly 45-54 years old. Is that a bit odd? I thought so. The range between 35-54 makes up half of my viewers.

I bet that was really boring.

Here, go watch Elevated. It's not boring at all. This has nothing to do with anything. I just really like Vincenzo Natali and I just found this video for the first time this week after YEARS of trying to find it. It was on some obscure Canadian dvd somewhere. Elevators are my biggest fear. When you mix elevators with Cube...well, see for yourself.

Part one:



Part two:

I can't hold out any longer!

I've been trying not to post a blog update until The Buzz was done, but I have things to say, so here it is. I will make a new post when the magazine is for sale, which should be in the next week or so.

1. THE BUZZ

The Buzz is the magazine I've been working on with three of my classmates. Here is the website where it will be available when it's done:

http://lacrossebuzz.blogspot.com/

The magazine is pretty much done, but it was critiqued by classmates, so now we have to go back in and make changes. Some parts of the website aren't up yet, but you can go and watch all of the video interviews I did in the video section.

2. EVENTS

a. I get to work with Gaelic Storm in February.

b. Teada (Irish Christmas in America) is coming next weekend. That's my third event.

c. Third event? Whatever happened with my second event, the opera?

Well I'll tell you. It was great! Things ran fairly smoothly, with just a few minor hiccups. The performance itself was outstanding, and funnier than I expected. There was some good adlibbing too because they allowed some music students to solo on stage during the play. They worked it into the script (it was a 90 minute version of Die Fledermaus).

d. Nine Days.

The Nine Days concert did happen! It was terrific. I was the backup coordinator, I guess. Basically, I didn't do any prep work for the concert except make that promo video (which the band said they liked!). But I did get to usher them around in their van and chat with them a little bit. For the concert itself, I was in the second row. They played a good set, playing everyone's favorite, Absolutely (Story of a Girl) twice. Want to know more? There's a full review in The Buzz.

e. There've been some other great events that I didn't really have a part in coordinating like Tyler and Andy (The Modern Antiques), Firoozeh Dumas (author of Funny in Farsi), Kelly Taylor (comedian), Behind Every Disaster, Chad Daniels (comedian), Derek Hughes (magician) (my brother got to be a volunteer!).

3. New Toys

For my birthday, I got a new video camera (digital, Sony) and tripod. They're very light-weight. You can check out some of the stuff I shot on the Buzz site. The Tyler and Andy concert shots are with the new camera.

RANDOM TANGENT

Speaking of which...I had Tyler and Andy do a video interview through webcam because they live in another city. I was thinking this will be the wave of the future! I know I didn't invent it, but I felt like I did because I wasn't copying the idea of webcam interviews from other people. I was just using new technology to the benefit my projects. Well, two weeks later, Darren Hayes goes and does a webcam interview on YouTube! My idea!!!

OKAY, BACK TO TOYS

I also got new Chucks (will post picture when they arrive in mail?) and Going Postal (by Terry Pratchett) on audio (which coincedentally is now a book club book for nerdfighters.com.)

4. GREs

I took the GREs and didn't do too bad. I'm applying for some grad schools on the East coast. Emerson looks the best, but Boston is the most expensive city in America right now, but it's also the most European city in America. NYU has a 6-week summer program that would be a lot cheaper.

5. I got my grant!

Media

1. Interviews
I've been doing video interviews with musicians in the La Crosse area. So far, it's been Shoeless Revolution, Chancellor Joe Gow, and Behind Every Disaster. This is for my Publication class where we are creating a magazine (Buzz) about music, comedy, and wine in the local LaX area.

BEHIND EVERY DISASTER (part 1 of 2)



JOE GOW (part 1 of 2)




SHOELESS REVOLUTION






2. Nine Days video
I also created a trailer for the fall concert (Nine Days) to be used on the website and at promo tables.





3. Manhattan Lyric Opera

My second event that I coordinated for campus is tonight.



4. New music interests

Among the Oak and Ash

The Kook's album, KONK

The Fratelli's album, HERE WE STAND

5. Henry

At firstI thought it cruel to have a fish in the bathroom where, everytime he hears the toilet flush, he remembers his fate...but then I looked out my dorm room across the road to the cemetery.

Stuff keeps happening!

Major updates coming to you live...from my desk...in Wisconsin.

Wow, there's been a serious shift in subject matter on this blog from art to event planning.





1. SPEAK!




We premiered Speak!, English Club's open mic night. I was the host. There were about half a dozen of us sitting at the table from English Club or English majors. We didn't get a lot of people on stage to read, but the ones who did were great. One person read some slam poetry a couple times, and one person read an original short story. Both readers had the audience holding their sides in laughter. We ended half an hour early, as expected. I was pretty pleased with it as the premier event. I even recited Craig Charles's "George McGee" to fill in some dead space.









2. SONES DE MEXICO

This is the first performing arts event that I planned. At the beginning of the week, we'd sold 7 tickets--I was worried. Then it went to 14, then 27, then 50, then 60, then 110 before the show. By intermission, we'd sold 236 tickets. We were expecting 100 and would have been happy with 150. What a success! And lots of people stayed the whole night through. I counted over 50 people on the dance floor at one time, which is a relief, because not many people danced in the first half, so I felt dumb for having made the decision to put the dance floor out. There was an encore and everything.


And the band--I have to say something about the band!--is very talented. They take all sorts of genres like folk, rock, classical, country, etc. and put a Mexican twist on it. And such nice people to work with too! As soon as they left campus, they drove straight to the airport where they got on a plane to Beijing to represent America in the Folk Festival there.






3. MUSIC MAGAZINE




For my Publication class, I am working in a small group to produce a (real) online magazine. It mostly features music in the area, but also dabbles in comedians and wine tastings and the like. We don't know the name yet, though somehow "Buzz" fell out of my mouth when we were in class because it refers to sound, news, and drinking. I shouldn't be allowed to read anymore Terry Pratchett--I've gotten too good at coming up with puns. Anyway, I will be probably doing interviews with student bands. I'd like to do video to make it interactive, but the only interactive magazine software we've fond is Zmags pro, which is really expensive.







4. NINE DAYS


I'm thrilled that we've contracted Nine Days as our Fall Concert. At Sones de Mexico, I advertized them as the band with the 90's hit "Story of a Girl." Okay, so the Madding Crowd came out in 2000. Close enough.



Anyway, my point is that it seems I will be making a promo video for the CAB website. That's exciting, but I'm not sure when I'll have the time. I've probably got more on my plate than I can chew.





5. Other CAB events








Oh, Ryanhood was really awesome too. I didn't really have anything to do with that event, though. But I bought a t-shirt and CD and got my poster signed and we took a picture with them. I'm waiting to see if they upload a video about us on their website.







6. THE KOOKS


On John Lennon's birthday, I went to The Kooks concert in Madison with my friend, Sam. Oh, it was glorious. The Whigs opened for them, and they were all right. They were certainly loud. When I lifted my feet from the floor, I could feel them vibrating, so I kept my feet on the ground throughout the night. When it was time to go, my feet were stuck to the floor. I don't know what I was standing in, but it had solidified around my shoes.



I think sometimes I was clapping just to make sure I could still hear things that were under a million decibals.



When The Kooks came on, the audience had a whole new kind of energy. The crowd grew denser as people pushed toward the front. The screaming along with the lyrics I didn't mind. It was during the Whoooooooooooooooo!s that I had to plug my ears.



I'm under the impression that the drummer is subbing for the normal drummer, but he was good, letting his sticks fly in the final song. Luke, Hugh, and Max played a fantastic show, better than I expected. I knew over half of the songs from their first CD. During the half point, Luke did some solo songs, including Seaside, my favorite. He also played a brand new one, testing it out on us. I have to admit, although I'm quite familiar with various UK accents, the Brighton one is not the easiest to understand as an American, especially when projected through distorted amps in a cavernous room. But it was fun nonetheless. Luke even danced during the last song, getting rid of his guitar. It was crazy dancing.



The Kooks played almost an hour and a half, finishing on an extremely energetic number.







7. LIFE ON MARS -- the ABC version





Okay. So I just saw the ABC version of Life on Mars. Being a huge fan of the BBC version, here are some thoughts.



The American remake of BBC's hit, Life on Mars, is much better than the initial pilot that took place in LA. The trailer for that version of the show terrified me. However, after the pilot episode, they fired the producer and all of the cast members except O'Mara, who plays protagonist Sam Tyler. They re-wrote the script to resemble the BBC version, and relocated it to New York. This was an excellent move because the Manchester version was grungy like NY, not bright and shiny Starsky and Hutch like LA.



The casting change was good too. It co-stars Harvey Keitel. It can't go wrong, right? They also added in the original characters. The LA version did not include Chris and Ray, vital members of the cast of characters. The NY version wrote them back in. Ray's witty comebacks aren't quite as good, but the principle is the same. I've only seen the first episode, but I have no beef with the two of them yet.



Let's look at the stars. O'Mara as Sam Tyler and Keitel as Gene Hunt. I can tell O'Mara has studied the original show. He is copying John Simm (the BBC Sam Tyler) spot on. Every facial expression is a mirror of Simm's. This is also assisted by the fact that most of the scenes are shot-for-shot the same. It's hard to tell if he's doing a good job because I just see John Simm in his expression and miss him filling the role. I'm not sure he's drawing the viewer in as much, showing quite as complex of emotions. I'll have to keep watching to see. I definitely missed the scene (which I think they shot in the LA version!) where Sam is in the car crying because Maya's been kidnapped.



Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt. Hmmm. Unlike his co-star, he's definitely not copying the original show. I don't see any of Phil Glenister's mannerisms in Keitel. I think it's cool that he's making it his own. He's actually made Gene seem a little too much New York gangster for my taste, but I suppose if Gene Hunt lived in NY, this is who he would become. I'm not sensing too much of the buddy-buddy relationship between Sam and Gene yet, but maybe we didn't get that this soon in the BBC version either. I was glad, though, that there was some unity between them in the fantastic scene where they jump over the desk. I threw my arms in the air (okay, I did that a lot in this episode when they got things spot on) during that scene.



Annie's character is a little more bull-headed than the Liz White version, but not by much. I'm not sure what to think yet. The scenes copied from the original are pretty close, but the ones they've added feel like they're coming from somewhere else. Also, I HATED that they left off the whole thing with Annie's boyfriend. What was that all about? In the original, Annie's boyfriend tricks him into trying to commit suicide to get back at Annie, but when he tries to jump off a tower block, Annie has to convince Sam that he's not dreaming. It's a beautiful moment! In this version, the bad guy convinces him to try to commit suicide, but instead, Sam tries to shoot the kid Colin. Will the roof scene come in a later episode.



Yes, let's talk about Sam with the gun. Was he really going to shoot a kid? I don't know if I can really see the BBC Sam doing that. Maybe considering it and changing his mind. But here, the only reason Sam doesn't shoot him is because he doesn't need to anymore. The scene certainly takes place of the suicide attempt scene as far as drama goes, but it's taking it in a different direction that I'm not sure I like.



Nelson. We only see Nelson a little bit in this episode, but I REALLY liked the old Nelson. I don't know how much I'll like this Nelson in comparisson, but we'll have to see how much they write him in.



MISC NOTES



Colin has a twin brother? Since when?



I'm so glad they put the Life on Mars song in that scene! It wouldn't be the same without it. It makes me wonder if they're going to end the second season the same as the BBC version. I doubt it. I do miss the original theme song, though.



The red dress dream sequence is in here. That's a good sign.



They've got the look down pretty good, including the smoke in the room.



Missing some funny lines, mostly because having to change to American lingo. I prefer Annie saying "You think you're gonna heave up?" instead of "Are you going to vomit?" Speaking of Annie, "No nuts Norris?" really?



How come they left out the Virgin cell phone number part? That was funny.


Loved the Twin Towers aspect, but I hope it doesn't change the show. "There's going to be terrorists in a couple decades!"



Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Better than the LA version, not as good as the Manchester version.

Beeep this is a test (of Calameo)

link: http://en.calameo.com/read/0000097057a4d8350d71b?authid=oJlTjiFclncQ

Is it still September?

I keep thinking it's October. I don't know what's wrong with me.

1. Nine Days

We, on CAB, finally decided to vote once and for all whether or not to sign Nine Days (This is a story of a girl...) for our fall concert. And we voted yes. So there you have it. I'm very pleased with this outcome, but I've decided not to get my hopes up in case someone throws a wrech into the gears.

2. Sleep Paralysis

Fascinating thing, really, this SP. I've gotten it quite a lot and it manages to freak me out every single time. I've just realized that it's linked with the fear of not hearing the alarm clock. Every time I get it, I feel I really need to look at the clock, but as it is called "paralysis," I can't. I did remember for the first time while this occured that you can use this ISP for lucid dreaming, but of course, as soon as I remembered this, my alarm clock did go off, jerking my body awake. I didn't have the "night mare" effect this time--that's only happened once.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check this out. It's pretty crazy.

3. Events

So enough about that nonsense. Here are some pictures of events from this month.

Ari Herstand
Byron Hurt
Sheng Wang

My first event, Sones de Mexico, is coming up a week from Friday, so that's exciting. I just hope I haven't over looked anything.

English Club also has some stuff coming up, including the social on October 17th and Speak! on October 8th. As I am also in charge of Speak!, I've been doing a bit of work on that this week. I also made the English Club brochure.

I'm taking the GRE for sure in November.

The Kooks concert is coming up in a couple weeks too.

I've turned in my grant proposal and have recieved some very good constructive feedback from a couple of my reviewers.

Flypaper

Only the synopsis button is hyperlinked. This is a demo, only.



Flypaper, Stories That Stick. Get it here Free!

New Toy

1. Flypaper

I've been wanting to learn flash for a while, but in the class I took six years ago, by the end of the course, all I could manage was making cirlces and squares move around the page. BUT! I stumbled upon this tool this week. It's free to download on flypaper.net. I toyed with it for a while and discovered that it's very user friendly. I didn't have to watch a tutorial or read a manual. I just slapped this together in a couple hours:

http://community.flypaper.net/s/JLeigh/Stories/riff_front/item_preview_page.aspx?id=3797

Now, if I were to make a Riff page, and maybe at some point I would, it wouldn't look like this. It's a little busy and not terribly pleasing to the eye, but this was more of a test to see if I can actually do it. I hope the link works. I know there's a way to post it on the blog, so maybe I'll try that next.

Problems with the software? Yes, there are some. One is that if you have Vista, you have to run as administrator, which is a pain in the butt. Also, it did crash on me once, but it hasn't lately. And finally, I had a terrible time trying to upload and had to email them because it kept freezing on me. I still don't know what's wrong. Their reasons were things like "maybe you're on a proxy server" "maybe your Windows isn't updated" "maybe your firewall is blocking it" "maybe your computer clock is off by more than five minutes." I kid you not. The clock?!


2. Events

Lots of things happening here on campus.

-Sones de Mexico is an ensemble that I am heading up for CAB. They're a Mexican folk group.
-English Club professors vs. students volleyball potluck readings and such
-Byron Hurt lecture. Just saw his documentary today. I was really good. I'm excited for the lecture.
-Speak! I'm taking over Eng Club's open mic night this year.
-Undergraduate Research Convention. Considering submitting to this because it's in LaX, but it depends on if I get my grant. This isn't until April though.


3. Work. Ehck.

-homework -- well, that's normal
-studying for GREs. I just got my practice test CD today. Yippee. Was that supposed to sound excited?
-more grant stuff -- need to refine the abstract and make lots and lots of copies
-CAB stuff -- again, need to make copies of things, make phone call, make program
-Eng Club stuff -- making the club brochure, scheduling cellar for Speak!
-Eng website -- contacting new staff members to get bios and pics

September Updates

1. Writing

I've been doing a number of things with writing (and reading) including writing my grant proposal, getting 25 Riff readers, and experimenting with words. Check out the latest updates at: http://j-leigh-nelson.livejournal.com/


2. I had a dream

that it was December 12, 2012 (for those of you who don't know, that's where the Mayan calendars stop, so some ppl think it's the end of the world, for instance by a polar shift). And in the dream, I was really scared that the world really would end. In reality, I'm not too worried about that exact date, just as Y2K never bothered me. But then I had a dream right after that where two of my friends were getting married out in the woods and a volcano went off, so we had to run back to the cars. I did a little research this morning and learned that some people think that Mars had a polar shift because of a really heavy volcano. Could that be what destroyed a Martian civilization? I don't know. Are these two dreams a coinicidence? Probably. But I have been known to have premonition dreams before.


3. New School Year

Check out my new place:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2120282&l=653b0&id=73405296
(more pictures to come on that very soon)

And also, I've already done enough CAB stuff for the whole year and I've only had one day of classes! But I'm excited about our upcoming shoes. This link will be continuously updated with CAB pictures:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2121312&l=61d7f&id=73405296

All for now.

Welcome to August

I thought you deserved an August update. So here it is. I wish it and it comes true.

1. Riff

Yes, I finally finished draft 2! I'm getting it edited by members of the general public including peers and people who actually know what they're doing. I currently have 19 people on the list of readers. If you would like to be added to the list and give me feedback by mid-Dec., drop me a line at no1getzs0da@yahoo.com. For more information, check out my writing blog at:
http://j-leigh-nelson.livejournal.com/

2. Online Portfolio

For my summer course, I now have a super-duper online portfolio, which gives samples of my writing to prospective employers. It's password protected, so I'm afraid you can't view it without my permission. I was going to post a screencap for you, but Blogger.com is having "internal errors." I tell ya, blogging websites are frequent let-downs. Haven't had any trouble with Live Journal yet, though. Sorry Blogger.com. It's not MY fault you can't upload pictures.

3. Drawings

Well, I was going to upload some drawings for you too, but. You know the rest. I will tell you that I busted out the paints and made a circus scene. I'm not very good with paint, but it amused me for about an hour. I did make some good digital art for Riff that you can now view on my website. www.simple-assault.com

4. Website

Speaking of my website, did you notice the tinypic pictures? I think it's great that there are services like tinypic to provide free image hosting. On the other hand, I may have gotten carried away. The pictures, especially on the film page, make it look very cluttered. What do you think?

5. Purchases

I bought some things that are fun a while ago. I got both seasons of Life on Mars on DVD and the first season of Ashes to Ashes. I now have a used universal DVD player, so I am able to play these things on my TV here in America. I also got the Time Machine Tour (Darren Hayes) DVD, which oddly is very zoomed in on my television set, but works on larger screens. I also bought some books. The only one I've read so far is Mr. Emerson's Wife, which is quite good, especially being a genre I'd never read if Thoreau wasn't in it. I started looking at the Discworld Graphic Novel, which is massive. I also have From Where You Dream, The Pilo Family Circus, and The Secret History of Moscow, all of which I plan to read soon. But I've got more important things to read for now, including stuff for writers group and Bob's novel, which I have been reading on the bus to and from work. Oh and I bought Jonathan Rundman's Sound Theology CD too because a lot of the songs in the samples on Amazon sounded too good to pass up.

6. Audio Book

I recorded a sample chapter of Riff with my webcam as an audio book. It pretty much failed. While the image quality is decent, sometimes it echoes. I don't mean reverberation. I mean ECHO Echo echo echo. But it was fun to do all the different accents.

Some news

1. Bleak House commercial. Check it out and buy the book this month at bleakhousebooks.com. ps. I made this commercial at my internship. You can tell because it's my house.




2. Livejournal. There have been some updates on my writing blog here.

3. Drawing. Life on Mars. Drew it by hand. Colored and added bkgd in Photoshop. (Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt and John Simm as Sam Tyler.)

Post Density

I know I just wrote a day or two ago, but I've got more to say.

WRITING

Learn about Riff Chapter 3
Learn about Riff Chapter 4



SAD DAY

My grandma, Joan, passed away early this morning in the hospital. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Additionally, if you know of anyone who wants a new cat, let me know.
serenityyrd@yahoo.com



THE KOOKS

I just ordered tickets to see The Kooks at the Barrymore in Madison on October 9th. That's pretty sweet considering I forgot to order them half an hour ago and there were still seats available. I know I don't have class that night or the next morning, but I hope there's not a CAB event that I have to attend that night. Can't find my calendar, but things are constantly being updated anyway. The Kooks are pretty awesome. Thanks to Katie who introduced me to their music.



READING

I know I rant a lot about TV, but seriously, I don't sit in front of the TV all day. I've been doing a lot of reading too. After tomorrow, I will be exactly half way through the entire Holy Bible. That's pretty exciting, right? 20 minutes a day for 300 days and you too can read the Bible in a year. I've been reading books by my creative writing professors, Cashion and Treu. Haven't finished either yet, but I'm working on it. It's good to have stuff to read while I'm on the bus to and from my internship.

Charleston and rant

Writing and stuff

Check out my other blog to get updates on my writing. I've downloaded a fun new program and found this weird site that reads your novel aloud to you.

http://j-leigh-nelson.livejournal.com/3066.html


Website

Check out my website at simple-assault.com because I've added some pictures using TinyPic.com. More to come! I've also updated the links and about me page. And now there is an official page for masks rather than a link to off-site albums.


Charleston

South Carolina was great. Here's a couple pictures (really, there are HUNDREDS). There were dolphins and a beached shark and lots of seagulls and pelicans. Ghosts in the haunted jail. Salt in the ocean. Tornadoes in the sky. Alcohol in the slushies at Wet Willies. Faeries in the Angel Oak tree. Sunset in the cruise. Awesomeness in the flat. Cat in the bag. Spice in the chicken. Hats in the market place. Rubber ducks on the runway. Eerie halls under Moultrie. Cannons on the battery. Shells on the beach. Fish under my feet. Sunburn on my foot. Foot in the ocean!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2112622&l=ba6fc&id=73405296


Life on Mars Rant

Life on Mars is a BBC show from a couple years ago. It's my favorite at the moment. It's innovative. Actors that can act, directors who know what they're doing, and original writers. And now America wants to remake it. If America wants it so badly, they should release it on region 1 DVD, not give it to ABC to mess with. I just saw the new trailer and they've make it QUIRKY. PLUCKY. The directors act like all they know about 70s policing is the Ben Stiller Owen Wilson version of Starsky and Hutch. The music makes it look like a comedy. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they weren't making it the EXACT same plot. But shot for shot, line for line, it's the same. Except they've Hollywoodized it, so the action is more intense and the quick comebacks are cliche. I don't know how O'Mara will be as Sam, but I remember the original directors saying how fortunate they were to get John Simm b/c few actors can handle a complex character like Sam Tyler. And Gene Hunt needs ATTITUDE, not just violence. And as nice as it is to see someone from Big Wolf on Campus back on TV, she's way to sassy to be Annie. I hate to say it, but I think they've MODERNIZED the 70's.

The old show



The new show



Funny rant -- very true



Mixing the two shows

Movie trailers and more

Hello one and all. It's father's day in ten minutes. So happy father's day to all you fathers. And for all you non-fathers, have you gotten something for your father?

FILM
So, I've uploaded my movie trailers to my website:
http://www.simple-assault.com/film.htm
So check them out. I realized that I didn't have a movie trailer for Sans Design yesterday, so I made one. I'm embaressed to tell you how long it took me. All right, it was three hours. That can't be right! But I think it is one of the best, if not THE best, trailer I've ever made, so watch it.

WRITING
Check out the writing blog to learn what's been happening
RIFF CH 1
RIFF CH 2
Books

VACATION
I'm going to Charleston in less than a week. You'll be lucky to hear from me on here before then. Unless I'm really productive. Maybe on the writing blog. I have the next 3 days off of work, and I plan to read writers group stuff and write more Riff. I hope I don't get riffed out this summer. Anyway, South Carolina, here I come!

WATCHING TV
So Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes aren't on Veoh anymore. I was only on episode 5!!! Does anyone know where I can buy Life on Mars on DVD in the States? I know it's PAL region 2 but I don't care. And Amazon.uk is weird because it charges a bunch for conversion rates and crap. Can't amazon be amazon the world over? Actually, Amazon is a little evil because it's killing the bookstores and preventing people from browsing which prevents anything not on Oprah's bookclub from being discovered. But it's good for the things you can't get anywhere else. Except Life on Mars, which it doesn't even have because it's British. How rude. And Ashes isn't even on DVD yet. Ehhh.

WATCHING MOVIES
The Happening. Go see it. I don't care if you don't like M. Night. This is a movie to see in theatres. Unless you're under 16. It's got Night's humor and his scariness and the whole idea is really cool...and a little too realistic to be comfortable with. And hey, it's John Leguizamo and Zooey Deschanel. Alan Ruck had a cameo too. Don't tell your friends what's "happening." It's a secret.

Summer Goals

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH WRITING?
Well, lots! Check here for updates: http://j-leigh-nelson.livejournal.com/1802.html

GOALS FOR THE SUMMER
1. Read Bible 20 minutes per day in order to finish whole Bible in 1 year
2. Internship at Bleak House Books (in charge of Evan's book tour)
3. Edit Riff (that's a doozy)
4. research grant to get $$$ for editor
5. prayer journal
6. idea journal
7. scrapbook the rest of last semester
8. scrapbook spring break 2007
9. Read QBQ before mid July
10. Read other books on my list
11. Go to Charleston
12. Pack for Charleston (not in that order)
13. writers group
14. Read/critique Bob's book (finished ch. 2 today!)
15. edit and submit White Elephant to places
16. summer class: portfolio
17. finish watching Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes

MOVIE REVIEWS
We have NetFlix now, so we're getting a lot of movies. I've seen some in theatres too.
Martian Child wasn't bad, a lot like K-Pax. Amanda Peet wanted to kiss John Cusack in Identity but didn't get to. In this movie, it was the most awkward kiss ever.
The Good Night was strange -- surprising ending. I mean, I get it. The pivotal line is Danny DeVito saying the neverending dream is the ideal, but I don't know if that was put strong enough. But hey, Simon Pegg was in it, yeah?
Slipstream was WEIRD. It was cool, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense. It was the first thing Anthony Hopkins ever wrote, and you could kinda tell, but the characters were developed, the acting was good, and the artsiness was super. I just didn't follow the story very well, but I think that was the point.
The Orphanage was pretty cool. It kind of reminded me of The Others for some reason. Maybe it's because it's a ghost story about a concerned mother in a creepy house.
Iron Man was good while it wasn't being the cliche super hero movie. It was really unique until the fight scene in the street which echoed Fantastic Four.
Indiana Jones. Huh. Worst first scene to a movie ever. The big secret of the Aztecs is really disrespectful to the Aztecs not to mention the disrespect of making Russians evil. It had it's good moments. It was funny when it wasn't being cheesey.
Cloverfield...why is it called Cloverfield? Anyway, it was scary, made me very nervous, so good job. In the last scene, you can totally see something falling from the sky. Very realistic both in acting, writing (beyond the obvious), and camera work. There were a couple things that were wrong like the camera's ability to focus in blinking lights and lack of smudge after blood splatter, but we'll let it slide.

TELEVISION REVIEWS
A while ago, I dubbed Torchwood as my new favorite show because season two blew my socks off, but now I think Life On Mars is my favorite. I've only seen 9 of 18 episodes so far, but they're fantastic. The last episode I saw, one about football, was so funny (two scenes: chicken and drunk). And I've seen two episodes of its spin off, Ashes to Ashes. I'm not sure that woman can carry a show like John Simm can, but the "supporting cast" basically steals all of her scenes. Philip Glenister can hold his own.

Room makeover 2008

WisCon

WisCon is a feminist sci-fi/fantasy writing conference held in Madison, WI every year. This year was my first time there. There are 1,000 people allowed in for four days of panels, readings, free food, workshops, bookstores, auctions, and more.

At WisCon, I had my first chapter of Riff critiqued by four other writers including Theodora Goss. See this entry to learn what they said.

The only person I knew going in to WisCon was Juliette, but when I left, I knew a few more people, splendid people. It's great to hang out with other writers and talk shop. And because of them, I joined Live Journal. No offence Blogger.com, but the comments button doesn't always work and there isn't such a sense of community that I need from other writers. This blog will still be updated with random creative things that I do as usual, but if you want a play-by-play insight to what's going on with my writing, then check out Live Journal for details.

These are the panels I attended at WisCon:

Grammer and Punctuation

Using Classic Myths in Modern Fantasy

Defining God

How I Did Everything Wrong and Got Published Anyway

Urban Fantasy

Terry Pratchett

Torchwood

Martha Jones

Magic Book Machine (publishing)

Publishing: Meritocracy or Social Construct?

5% of the people who attended WisCon came down with the stomache flu. I was fortunate not to be one of them. I hope everyone got home okay.

This is a scene from Riff that I made last night.

Exam time updates

I realize that I've been neglecting you when it comes to story time. Sure, I've swabbed your eyes with pretty colors as I've posted drawings and videos, but it's been a long while since I've given you any prose, for which I apologize. I'm in school--sometimes by the end of the day, I'm so sick of writing papers that I forget about the fun writing, the writing that people outside of the academic circles will--hopefully--want to read.

So hello, you!

Let's talk about me for a while. Then you can have your turn (please note the comment option at the bottom and that you must have a screenname in one of several sites or blog pages, but you can always email me at no1getzs0da@yahoo.com).

I've been doing everything in my power to distract myself from studying for my econ exam tomorrow. (Do you really want to know why an English major is taking microeconomics? Well I could rant and rave, but I'll save it for another day). The sandman has even added to my distraction as I just woke up from a "study session." Other things to distract me are the Charleston drawing below, DeviantArt memes (something I've just discovered, and I've only done two: Discworld and Dr. Who), and YouTube channels. Yes, I've actually subscribed to more than just channels of bands I like. I actually have two subscriptions to people who regularily sit in front of a camera and talk at you. It's wonderful! It's the wave of the future, man. Or something. (If you're curious, I subscribe to Llewtube (Robert Llewellyn) and Vlog Brothers (John and Hank Green).

So enough about how I've been spending my time, right? That's not why you're reading this, you've got plenty of things to do and don't need my recommendations and in fact have your own YouTube subscriptions to worry about thank you very much. Well then! Let's get to the point.

Writing conferences
The second writing conference that I will attend in the history of my entire life is in a week and a half. I have submitted my first chapter (of Riff) to WisCon where three other novelists will evaluate it along with a pro, Theodora Gloss, who I met at the Minneapolis Fantasy Matters conference. I'm pretty psyched to get some feedback. I still have yet to read the entries of the other three people in my group. I have been printing them off on campus because it's free. Teehee.

TANGENT: Speaking of the Minneapolis conference where I met Neil Gaiman...Neil Gaiman just came out with a new book called The Dangerous Alphabet, and it's "about two kids and their pet ibex." Now it just so happens that the ibex is my all time favorite animal. Coincedence? Probably. Great minds think alike. Ha! Blasphemy!

Grant writing
Next year, I'm applying for a grant so that I can afford to hire an editor for Riff. So, I've been doing some reasearch, getting some quotes. Prices vary a lot, actually. If anyone knows any thorough but cheap editors, let me know. The grant is at maximum $1,250.

Summer internship
I think I'll be working at Bleak House Books in Madison this summer. It's unpaid, but it's pretty much exactly what I want to be doing, so I can't complain. I haven't gone in yet or anything, but I'm pretty confident it will work out. Excited!

Other summer things
My main goal is to get Riff edited to the point where I'm ready to pass it on to an editor next spring (the grant money doesn't come in until December). There a bunch of work to be done, a lot of rewriting, restructuring, etc.

I'm also going to Charleston, as you can probably tell by my previous post. I'm meeting up with my flatmates from London who I haven't seen in a WHOLE YEAR! So excited!

I'm taking a summer portfolio class, which allows people who want to hire me to see some of the work I've done. Yes, that means that there will be some of my writing available to read on the internet. Are you excited now?

Writing classes
I've written some great stuff for school this year. I took a creative writing course where I wrote some poems and stories. I'm pretty pathetic when it comes to poetry. I like poetry. In fact, I can suggest some good poems:

Theodor Roethke (Dolor, etc.)
Jane Hirshfield (The Envoy, Tree)
Yuhuda Amichai (I passed by a house where I lived once)
Bob Hicok (Other Lives and Dimensions and Finally a Love Poem)

But when it comes to actual writing them...eh. Here are some poems I wrote for creative writing class:

Leaving London

My flatmates say they left their hearts in London.
I lost my heart
in Heathrow baggage check.


No one claims the dirty dishes left in the sink
clogged with caramelized onion slices
evolved into minnows swimming in milk,
expired April twenty-second,
drained from a good-bye gift of mac and cheese,
last box of three.

We leave that for the future tenants of flat forty-eight.

I unpeel a layer of flesh from my chest
and pack my pulsing heart in the suitcase
beside the Venetian mask and headphones.

We didn’t just leave the flat
or the city
but the whole island
that day.
a journey like this:
Broken-wheeled bag.
Overstuffed tube.
Heathrow Station closed.
Rain.
Jam-packed bus.
Tear-stained t-shirts,
last flatmate of three.

Now boarding seats forty through twenty.

Chicago is upside-down,
sunlight winking at me from the roofs of parked cars
like the ground is the sky and the cars are stars.
A baby screams all the way home
like the wheels scream as they touch American loam.
First Mid-Western accent I hear in months:
“Be careful when opening the overhead bins,
because as you know, shit happens.”

My bags, more reluctant than me,
do no make the journey.
now my headphones play only
Billie Piper, The Fratellis, Kate Nash
to appease the pulsing contents of my bags.

When I hear they’ve cut my scene from the film

I creep through the dark to the projection room
where I find film sheets bending like waves,
all frames locking motion like somebody’d frozen the ocean,
curled like a nest, each scene a twig or list
of old groceries, a moment in a life—
but my twig is missing.

The gyre of tape mad-bird-screeches
as I tear off another wing
to adhesify my scene,
the one left so carelessly on the rug.

I explode the nest as strip tastes blade:
Snip! Slice! Split
screen, super imposed, juxtaposed
two characters that aren’t really together
but are now reely together, spliced forever
between rolls of holes and whole roles
like my twig in the nest.

Before the projector hugs the spool,
the director will bow
to me for mending his oversight
but when the doorknob jiggles
like somebody rattling chains,
they shatter my makeshift lock,
stuff fists into mine like a badass handshake
gone wrong

and a cop turned gardener weeds out film roots
from my upturned mitt,
crinkling minutes of characters’ lives,
stripping off tape like defeathering a dove.

They cuff my wrists behind my back and
as they drag me out the door, I watch my scene
detach from continuity and flutter
to the cutting room floor.


[Unfinished/untitled]

If I leave you
In the sun
Will your skin curl
Like paper?
Can I turn the pages
Of your flesh
To find a new chapter?

If I hold you
Under water
Will you rust?

If I saw you
In half
Could I count your rings
To find your age?


However, I did write some good stories. Well, one good story. It's called White Elephant. I was a tad nervous about how the class would recieve it, but it got a really great response. The students (and the professor) gave some good suggestions, but for the most part, people really liked it. It's kind of 50's sci-fi-esque. Someone mentioned that it reminded them of Twilight Zone. Another person said they'd forward it to their family. I will need some time away from it for a while in order to ever do a substantial second draft, but I did fine-tune the current draft to turn in at the end of the semester (aka today).

In my prose class, I wrote a character portrait about my grandpa. Weird experience, let me say. I dislike feature writing and non-fiction, but this was quite fun. There was a lot of research that went into it, which then came together like a puzzle. According to my grade, there are still some weak elements, but personally, I was electrified by the finished product. ZZT.

I also wrote some reviews. Again, not a fan of feature writing, but I picked some topics that interested me. You can actually check them out at the class's blog: http://nelson313.blogspot.com/
It includes the awesome Kate Nash concert that I went to. Check out some of my photos here.


I'd love to stay and chat, but I must be off to take my econ exam now. And yes, you may have noticed that an entire 24 hours have passed between now and the beginning of this blog.

Charleston

A little preview for the summer to come.

Drawn with pencil, scanned, photoshop colors with layers and paintbrush, paper texture background, couple o' hours of not studying.

Novel Promos

I figured out how to put them on my website: http://www.simple-assault.com/novels.htm

But you can view them right now!

Riff:



Haven:


Bowling Shoes and Murder:


Emerican Adventure:

videos

Videos I put on YouTube...

Digital Art

digitally painted version of Promisus (Riff)

Leonard and Wintry from Riff

This took me like FOUR HOURS. I rarely have such patience, and with more patience, it would have come out better, but eh. Anyway, it's my first drawing where I didn't use paper. It's purely digital, purely Photoshop. I traced a bit, 'cause I'm a cheater, but still 100% my drawing. I don't really like using the paintbrush tool anymore. I know that's what all the skilled people use, but I find it annoying and don't know what wrong with just using the airbrush and smear tool.

Photoshop

DeviantArt is a great invention, not just because you can share your work with other people, you can see theirs, you can search for particular topics, you can collect works, print them, buy merchandise, but you can actually learn how to become a better artist on it, let alone get inspired. So there was this one things someone posted giving tips on how they use PS to color/paint their drawings, so I read it and was fascinated to learn that I don't know everything about PS like I pretend to. Here are my first two tries with the new methods that I learned today.

from the film "A Dog's Breakfast"

the Master in "Doctor Who"

Prison Shell

I'm really good at writing pretty-sounding nonsense in the middle of the night and I'm over tired. So here's a freewrite that just sort of fell out.

Prison Shell (2/16/08)

Tiny drops of Drucudian Lape hang, lingering at gravity’s fingertips. Gravity, the old witch, reaches, stretches her withering hand blindly, like a child reaching for a cookie above on the counter somewhere, much too out of reach. Breeze, blowing strong but futilely, like a desperate whistler whose lips are too dry to make a sound, tickles the drop at the edge, elongating and thinning the fleck of moisture. A miniscule ruby stream, it becomes, and dribbles over the side falling into Gravity’s greedy palm after all.

Drucudian Lape lies on his back, the circumference of his blood increasing by the second. He blinks blearily at the crimson sky, the sky of his degrading vision where blood has found a place to squeeze between lens and ball. It pours down through the pupil holes, which contract in the sunlight, or the sunlight his faulty vision perceives.

Lape is not alone. Life sits by his side, curiously watching the young man hold on so determinedly to the spirit that was never really his. “Drucudian Lape,” says Life, knowing the boy can’t hear anything yet, “you are the shell harboring the chick. It is time to give birth at the minor expense of the shell. Hatch, boy, hatch.”

But Lape doesn’t hatch. He can’t see, can’t hear, not in the sense that doctors would diagnose him as a seeing and hearing individual, but he thinks he can. With this ill-directed belief, he thinks the spirit will remain in him for much longer. No one he knows died before age thirty, so it can’t be his turn yet.

“Where is the spirit, Lape-boy?” asks Life. “What have you done with it? You can’t hold it prisoner forever. There are rules about that.”

The last of Lape’s blood channels out the crack in the back of his skull, but he continues to smile up at the sky, thinking he sees clouds now, but there are no clouds. Not for Drucudian Lape. Cold burrows into his pores like a nest of ticks, causing his skin to rise with bumps. Hollow of ruby sauce, which now sticks to his straw-pale hair, the spirit within him soars through the body, no longer blocked by dams of arteries and floods of blood. But it doesn’t find an exit. Lape smiles because it feels like he has jumping beans in his chest. The spirit careens through him faster and faster, panicked, gasping for fresh light, the light of the outside world. Time to hatch, time to hatch, but the shell is thick and the spirit is weak. Lape’s heart pumps its last, but his brain doesn’t slow down. He thinks it will be a nice day if it ever warms up.

“Prison shell,” Life states calmly. “Less than neutral encasement, indeed. Sent to keep the spirit from the light? You’d better watch it or Death will come back for you, and he will make you live forever, but empty. Empty little shell drilled through the head, sitting on a shelf to be displayed forever more. Come see the immortal prison who holds no keep. Whose warden is his own. It’s what shells want, isn’t it? To be more than just shells? To live a spirit’s life? But sooner or later the farmer comes for all of you. If you will not be a chick, then you will be an omelet.”

Mostly Editing

1. Editing -- Riff


Here’s a list of some productive criticism that I’ve gotten for Riff that I need to take into account on my second pass…


Positive feedback:

Sticks in the mind

Easy to keep reading

Strong mood and storyline

Good first sentence

1st person narrative allows reader to catch breath

Good descriptions of characters and places

Parallel storylines weren’t confusing

Shows research went into the project

The wrong brother twist was unexpected



Things to fix:

The word violacious appears in the second sentence of the novel. Too confusing? Spell-check doesn’t like it. Get rid of it all together or find a synonym?

Needs more backstory.

Chapter 1 – moving from Matthew’s bunkmate to Janek’s roommate is confusing.

Needs more time with 1st person narrator. Her epiphany comes too quickly. More internal dialogue. How does she reach her conclusion?

You probably can’t unembalm a person like that without collapsing veins.

Explain better that the chicken farm is not slave labor. Many people in Thailand have chickens in their backyard.

More background with Matthew’s relationship to his brother.

Wintry’s fate doesn’t seem deserved.

Leonard’s identity was guessed from the beginning.

Hell’s souls are either crowded or absent – why? (because they all go to the ring they’re supposed to end up in)

Too much vomit.

Missed Truick’s intent for pushing the angel.

Must add thing about how Truick’s watch stops (my memo).

Wintry was too whiny in the end to make the reader care about her and too pathetic in the beginning.

Maybe make Wintry’s ‘turn’ on Leonard slower. At first she might try to convince him that he’s confused, but then her anger starts slower. Need to go a little further with the blood thing though, I think.

Coins on the eyes of the dead is a Roman tradition, not African.

Make the mental pull of Satan on Wintry stronger. (also get rid of "fortunately" in that scene)

Fix that confusing bit about how they got into the circus wagon.

What in the world is Sara-Jayne doing during the time Leonard is trying to help Janek?

Wintry breaks down one too many times.

What does the facade feel like? Does it tingle? Hurt? Warmth? Icy?

Make Heaven more Heavenly. Add animals. Some souls weighed down by evil, dragged down, take refuge in bodies, rejoice in being able to view reality for a short peroid. Other souls, pure and light, whip around Heaven.



2. Editing -- Haven


I haven't looked at it in a while, but I bet, despite how perfect I thought it was 1.5 years ago, it could probably do with another draft. One thing I thought I should do is change the first section (with the movie) to be more poetic than clinical because it's being told from the perspective of a poet. Also, it would make the agent like it better from the start. Right now, you have to fight your way past that part, not realizing it's a movie until the second page.



3. Drawings



I'm still working with the paintbrush tool in PS. Haven't quite reached the quality I want, but here's another practice of Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld.









4. Scrapblog

I found this cool site called Scrapblog, which I invented in my head a loooooong time ago, but I'm glad there's a free and sharable (sp?) one on the internet. It has some bugs, like it didn't let me save after 30 pages and such, but here are two examples.

My sketchbook:
http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/vw_full.aspx?sbid=164892

Bowling Shoes and Murder picture book:
http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/vw_full.aspx?sbid=166051

Winter Break News

1. RIFF

I'm happy to announce that I have finished writing the first draft of Riff. Technically it is the second draft because I hand-wrote the whole thing in two journals and changed some things as I typed them up. I did a pass for grammatical errors and spelling off the screne. I still need to read it on paper. I've printed it off in single spacing and tiny margains. It clocks in at 95 pages. That's just under 60,000 words, which is a bit short for a first novel (to be published), so I'll have to flesh it out before I consider querying anyone. As I start school on Monday, I think I'll wait before doing a second pass. I like to forget what I've written so that it's all new to me and easier to catch mistakes.

I have to say it's not half bad. I struggled with this novel more than any other. It was almost physically painful to write because I forced myself to finish before school starts. I don't know what that says about the quality, but it is just a down draft after all. It ended almost exactly how I planned, which never happens. I think it's because I wrote it in so little time, I didn't have time to get distracted by other ideas, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.

The more I think about it, the more irony I'm finding in the text that I didn't put in consciously, but it's perfect, really. One man spends the entire book trying to find out who killed this one guy, but in the end, he's the one that kills him again. I hadn't really put that together, but it's really cool. I don't think I'm even going to draw attention to it. You can figure that one out on your own.




2. Absorbing the Media

I've just saw the season finale of Life on Mars season 2. I thought it would be a rip off of Terry Pratchett's book Night Watch seeing as how the main characters are both named Sam, are police officers, and are accidentally sent thirty years into the past, but the show is actually really good. There's a coma aspect I hadn't known about. I've been watching Dr. Who and Torchwood reruns as well, and Graham Norton. Torchwood season 2 premier this Saturday, you know. I got some new movies too. Night Watch and Day Watch are phenominal. A Dog's Breakfast is good too. And A Fish Called Wanda. I also bought Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Kevin Klein).

I haven't been sitting in front of the TV the whole time, promise. I'm reading a book called A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. I recommend it to anyone. I'm only half through, though. And I read the first Return to Labyrinth graphic novel based on the Jim Henson movie. I've ordered the second, but B&N hasn't recieved it yet. The writing and art is perfect as far as staying true to the film.

3. Drawing

There are some Riff drawings here:

http://simpleassault.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album132

I don't know why they didn't all load. :(

There are some other drawing's I've done lately too. Check out Deviant Art