Friday, June 27, 2008

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.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

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






Saturday, June 14, 2008

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.

Monday, June 09, 2008

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.

Thursday, June 05, 2008