Wisconsin Week

Going home to Wisconsin this week. See some of you there.

Got sunburned walking on the boardwalk today. Do they have sun in Wisconsin? I will have to see tomorrow.

Finished reading Th1rteen R3asons Why. Click here to read what I thought. I'm now reading The Hunger Games, which John Green says is going to be bigger than Harry Potter. I didn't read Harry Potter, so maybe he's right.

I had my last shower in the dorm. I just located the ($11) cafeteria in the dorm tonight. I will now sleep my last night in the dorm. In my clothes. Because my pajamas are at the other house. Cool.

UCB Theatre

When I met Mai last week, she told me about the Upright Citizen's Brigade, a comedy place where a lot of post-grads go. The comedy is high quality and often done by people who are famous or will become famous. It's definitely the funniest comedy I've seen in New York, and it's not even expensive.

It was an improv group called Reuben Williams. It starred Eugene Cordero, Porter Mason, Ben Rodgers, Eric Scott, and Kate Spencer. The first act was based on what someone in the audience called out: wet naps. So they went back and forth between bathroom jokes, a BBQ, and babies. In the second half, they got a volunteer to tell them about their normal day and the weirdest thing that happened to them this week. Then all their skits in part 2 were inspired by that conversation.

Very funny stuff. Very talented people.

This is where I live. Jealous?

Interview

Back from the interview. I think it went all right. She asked a lot of questions that allowed me to tell stories. I got to show my Buzz magazine and throw in my 2 cents on viral marketing. I got a catalogue at the end. They actually have some really awesome books that I would like to read. I can't tell if I'm being considered. It certainly didn't go badly. I'll just have to wait and see. It sounds like a great gig. Nice office, but not really corporate. They go to Wisconsin about once a year to their home office. Go figure.

Went to Pret a Manger for lunch where the clerk told me even if I don't get the job, I look good in the suit. Now I'm off to move some more stuff into my new room. Will be back tomorrow.

Job searching whirlwind

Looks like I'm staying in Manhattan another night. I have an interview with a part-time PAYING internship tomorrow morning! Aw man, I really hope I get it.

I got an internship

I have an internship at Archipelago Books!
http://www.archipelagobooks.org/index.php

It's not paid, but most aren't. It's a 3-month, part-time deal. Brooklyn. They're small enough where I would be able to get experience in a little bit of everything, which I feel is important. They have a decent track record of getting their interns jobs afterward. And they deal with really cool books from all over the world. Anyone who knows me knows that I like traveling around to places and learning about other cultures (particularly the UK). Their online catalogue is really intriguing. This starts in the last week in August.

some notes

I had ISP (isolated sleep paralysis) again. If there's one thing in science that I'm interested in, it's this. How can people all over the world throughout time have the same hallucination? I'm probably only interested because it affects me, but why does it affect me? I thought it's reserved for people with sleeping disorders and bipolar disorder.

I just saw the trailer for Alice in Wonderland. Very Burtony...Burtonesque? Doesn't come out 'til March.

List of too-expensive things I want to do...
1. New York Comedy Festival in November
2. Monty Python with Alan Tudyk in October
3. Hamlet with Jude Law in September

I'm not going to have much in the way of internet from Thursday evening through Saturday morning, so give me a call if you want to get in touch.

meeting at a grocery store

So I had the meeting at the grocery store. I can't actually say anything about the company because it's confidential, but it seems quite brilliant, though not without flaws. I think it would be fun being a staff writer for a show if only 1) I could get paid 2) It wasn't such a long commute and 3) It wasn't so late at night. I don't know. Maybe I'll try it if I don't have anything else (i.e. someone who will pay me) going on. It sounds like something I might be good at (if I put more effort into it than I did my application sketch) and it involves a lot of the stuff I learned about at NYU in terms of viral marketing, etc.

internship?

I have a phone interview for an internship tomorrow. Whoot. Will keep you posted.



In the meantime, I was disappointed to see that Edgar Wright is not directing Paul anymore because he is directing his own film. I wonder which will be a better movie.



And here's Hank Green talking about the wonders of 20 Questions dot net. Sorry to anyone I've converted.

Schedule

Schedule is filling up fast.

TONIGHT
7:30pm -- meet with comedy writing team in...a grocery store(?) in Queens. Audition, basically.

TOMORROW
4pm -- follow up at the doc's
Then move bunch of stuff over to new room

THIS WEEKEND
Upright Citizens Brigade presents Reuben Williams Attacks (improv comedy)
Walk Brooklyn Bridge
Do laundry
Move more stuff to new room

WEDNESDAY
Get on plane. Go to Madison.

THE FOLLOWING WEDNESDAY
Get on plane. Go back to New York with family.

THE FOLLOWING WEEK
Six Flags???

Keeping entertained

Health

The good news is I'm not sick enough for medication. The bad news is I'm not sick enough for medication. I don't have very good lungs, so if a cold has progressed to my chest, which it has, I should probably get on some meds, but aparently I need to be way sicker to get a prescription. But if I get too sick, how am I supposed to walk to the clinic? I wonder sometimes.

Watching TV

My head was too stuffy to concentrate on things for the last couple days, so I've been watching TV on my iPod and lap top, taking naps between episodes. Reviews below.

20 Questions

Something you also don't need to concentrate too hard to do is an artificial intelligence 20 Questions game: http://www.20q.net/ . A little addicting, true, but what else am I supposed to do cooped up inside? It's a little eerie how often it's right. You can easily trick it by picking something obscure, but I'm having a lot of trouble beating the Doctor Who version of the game. I picked some really random things that I thought would never be in the system (including celery and Converse shoes), but it still guessed it in under 20 questions! See below:

Reviews

Ashes to Ashes

(Ashes to Ashes is the spin-off of Life on Mars. In 2008, Alex is shot and wakes up in 1982. She's a Detective Inspector at the police department and solves crimes while trying to figure out how to wake up and get home to her daughter.)

The first season story arch was all about Alex trying to save her parents from dying so she could get home. This season was less about Alex and more about police corruption. I don't think this season was as good as the first season--the episodes didn't stand on their own as much. But they did move some things along like Chris and Shaz's relationship, which I thought was important. Also, we got deeper into Ray's and Chris's characters (especially Chris). The last two episodes were the best. What a twist in episode 7!

The ending of the season? I think I like it. It's like Life on Mars but with a big twist. Leaves it open for season 3, which is good...I think? Can they survive another season without getting too cookie cutter? We shall see.

Lots more mention of Sam Tyler in this season. And then they had this thing called Operation Rose, and I can't help but remember that Sam Tyler was named after Rose Tyler in Doctor Who (In fact, in the American version of Life on Mars, Sam's mother is named Rose).

And can I just say Shaz shooting someone in her wedding dress was amazing.

Extras

(Extras is a British TV show made by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant--the guys that invented The Office--about what it's like for two characters to be extras in tv shows and movies. There are really famous people in every episode playing ridiculous versions of themselves.)

The first two seasons were okay. I think the problem was that even though it's a sitcom, it has too much substance to fit into half an hour. I always felt like there was a shoe that didn't drop. That said, the Christmas special was great, probably because they had an hour and a half to develop a full story.

My favorite parts were probably David Bowie singing about Andy's failed career in a room full of people and Ian McKellen teaching Andy how to act. I think my favorite character was Stephen Merchant's character because you want to hate him but you just can't.

News on a slow day

Still sick. Looks like I won't make it to Philly 'til the beginning of September. But I will make it there.

Today consisted mostly of napping and watching the first season of Extras on my ipod (a good device if you're sick in bed and don't have a TV). I also found Woodsongs which has a video interview with Among the Oak & Ash(537) and a play about Henry David Thoreau(519) (not as good as The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, but still good).

Here's a weird one. You know the online sitcom company that I applied for? Well, I made it to the last round, so I'm supposed to show up to one of their meetings where they're sorting out an episode story. It's basically an audition as a staff writer. Not paid for now, but could lead to something. Location's not very convenient though. That happens Wednesday if I'm not still feeling ill.

All you Madisonians: I'm coming home July 29th through August 4th. Then my parents and brother are coming to New York August 5th through 8th. I'm really excited. We haven't had a proper family vacation for quite a while. Who wants to babysit the dog?


Extras:

Let's play Best Day Worst Day

(This is a game from City Slickers in case you haven't guessed.)

Best Day

More photos on New York Album 2:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157012&id=73405296&l=981968455c

As mentioned, the family in the house I'm staying in invited me to the Bronx Zoo, which is huge. I'm not even sure we saw half of it. There were 12 of us journeying around. I had a ton of fun. Even if we didn't see some of the animals because they were too far away, I just had fun hanging out with such great people. After the zoo, we went grocery shopping/walked the dog, had pizza, and watched Saw. All in all, a perfect day.

Which off the bat made me suspicious. Everything seems to be going my way, which probably means something bad is around the corner...

Worst Day

I woke up and thought, Crap, why does my throat hurt? Maybe I'm just dehydrated from walking around in the sun yesterday. Wrong. Because then after breakfast, my stomach was bothering me. So I decided to go back to the dorm before I was unfit to travel. I didn't want to give whatever bug I have to anyone else. To be honest, I probably was unfit to travel already because about halfway through the trainride, I thought I was going to throw up. Thank God that didn't happen. But a word of advice: never go to the subway station bathrooms even if it is an emergency--it will want to make you throw up more. I'll have to see later tonight whether I'm fit for Philly. Sigh. I was really looking forward to that.

New room

I can't say I expected to find a place to live so quickly. But, yes. I officially have a New York address that is not a dormitory. I'm excited. Not only is it a nice place and a prime location for both shops and the beach, but the people I'm living with are really nice. We plan to go to the zoo tomorrow.

Went to lunch with AJ's friend Mai who is going to help me connect to a post-grad ministry group. She also offered to let me crash at her place if I'm ever in the city and don't want to take the long commute home. Thanks, Mai!

I kind of want to go to this

There's an off-broadway play called "Danny and Sylvia" about Danny Kaye. This guy Brian Childers does a decent enough impression of him. His movements aren't nearly rigid enough, but he's sure got the laugh down.

Watch Brian Childers's impression.
The real thing (no visual, sorry).

The website says the price is $59.50, $31.50. So which is it? How can I get the 31.50? I don't even want to pay 60 for an ON broadway show.

Sunday funday

Before coming to NY, I watched quite a few comedy sketches on YouTube from Robin Ince and noticed that he wears NY t-shirts a lot, but I didn't know what they were. Just yesterday, I realized that they are The Strand shirts, which makes sense given Robin does book jokes. The Strand is a block from here, so I went and bought a shirt of my own (surprisingly cheap!). Hey, if you're going to be a nerdy English major, better get the most famous nerdy English major shirt you can, right?

After that, as you can see from the photos, I went to Laughter in the Park with Lindsay and her friend. This is the park I stumbled on the other day where they had the dog park. One comedian (below) I had seen in the book shop show that Pete Holmes hosted earlier in the summer. It was a good show.

Plus, we went to the market where we bought black currant apple juice, which is AMAZING. We also saw the Life Cafe and wondered if it is a chain or if that's the cafe from Rent. I think it is because there is only one other one and it's in Brooklyn. It's on Avenue B and they refer to Benny as The Enemy of Avenue A. So...there you have it.

This guy was the headliner. He did some English-y jokes. :)

Then I applied to some jobs. The end.

The Ceiling is Peeing!

I heard something making a wishy watery sound in the ceiling of the bathroom. And then I realized I was standing in a puddle and that the hole where the sprinkler is was leaking. I don't mean just a little dripping. A LOT. So we told security, and a few minutes later, this really enthusiastic repair man showed up. He was so excited to fix something! We used a pot to catch the water and when we dumped it, the water was bright yellow. We both started screaming. Turns out, the people upstairs had a clog in their shower drain, so it spilled all over and leaked into our ceiling.

But the real reason I wanted to post again is that BURBANK WITH A BAEDEKER chapter FOUR is now up. Check it out. Don't forget to contribute with comments.

House hunting

Looked at my first room for rent today. Beautiful neighborhood (right on the beach). The family that lives there seems really nice, really chill. I'd get my own room, access to the kitchen, etc. The interior is neat and homey. Location is good because there's a grocery store, laundry mat, etc. right down the road. Rent is cheap. It all just felt very relaxing--not like in the big city where there's sirens blaring every couple seconds even in the dead of night.

The downside is it's over an hour commute to Manhattan, but I don't know where I'll be working yet. And it doesn't cost extra to ride the subway farther out. Plus I have 17 books that the program gave me, so commuting wouldn't be so bad. Except innitially, I don't know how I'm going to get all my stuff there.

As it is such a nice deal, lots of people are interested, so I won't know for a couple days if I'm in the running. I'll keep you posted.

By the way, here is a photo I took from the room where we had our job fair:

Torchwood season 3

I watched the entire "Children of Earth" special of Torchwood. Wow. I won't give it away. They defintely didn't cop out on revealing new backstories and plot twists. It was dark. I mean, Torchwood is dark, but this was a little darker. In fact, everything was okay until part 5. Then they might have gone a little over the edge.

I always wondered if they're making Jack too much like the Doctor--someone who everyone looks up to and is swept away by, someone with a dark past who is doing good now. But the Doctor's more of a moral compass. Jack's definitely not. I don't think you're supposed to model your values after Jack's. Torchwood definitely gets into the complexities of life. Who's the bad guy in this episode? Really? There are so many characters that you get to see so well. Everyone is a bad guy in relation to everyone else. It's very omniscient.

I went to a panel on Torchwood last year and they talked about some trends Russel T Davies has, like how all the companions have the same sort of moms, how there's no happy same-race minority couples. Something I noticed from this season is how politicians are depicted. Look at Doctor Who's Boom Town and The Sound of Drums and this season of Torchwood. Also, it seems all the prime ministers are awful. Harriet Jones became a problem, Harold Saxon obviously, and now this sleezy guy. Davies likes to show the change-over of office.

Peter Capaldi plays one of the main characters, Frobisher. I didn't realize I'd seen him as the Angel Islington in Neverwhere. But he was a really good actor in Torchwood. I thought his character was well-written too because you can't have all heroes--you need to have some cowards, and then the question is whether or not he'll become a hero. You just keep yelling at the screen "Stand up to him! Say something!"

Are they doing another season? It would have to be very retooled. I don't know if they want to push their luck because each season's probably been better than the last, but I don't know if they'll survive four. Not that I don't want to see more. Jack's story definitely needs to be revealed more, and he has so much space to grow.

I am a graduate!

I have my certificate in publishing, everybody. It's just a little paper certificate like the ones you get for high honor roll or somesuch, but a certificate nonetheless.

The career fair was okay. I talked to everyone I wanted to talk to, each one for a couple minutes. I think a lot of people are interested in sub rights now because someone asked, "Why does everyone keep saying they want to do sub rights?" Anyway, Hachette has the most multimedia stuff going on, it seems. I got the best vibe from the two literary agencies, maybe because they're less corporate. A lot of places suggest doing internships first. Some are only for credit, so I can't do HC, for example, but there are others. All unpaid except for Penguin, I think. But I could do a short internship PT and have a paid PT job as well because eventually the internship would lead into a full time job, if not with that company, then into another. So, basically, I handed out a bunch of resumes and got a few business cards. The network lady said it's all in the follow up, so I'll be doing that later in the week.

Then we got lunch and certificates. A lot of people are leaving today. It's sad. More people are leaving tomorrow. It doesn't feel over yet, but maybe it will sink in come Monday when I wake up thinking "Crap, this is real life now--I have to find a place to live."

Thanks to everybody who supported me in my NYU venture.

Almost Winners

Our book imprint went over really well! The first judge didn't have a single negative thing to say to us. I was pretty shocked, considering what they said to some other groups. But really, all the groups did a great job, I thought. We won second place, though! Well, they didn't call it second place. They called it "Almost winner." And they gave us a wrapped up bottle of wine. Asterisk rocks.

Crazy Day

BIG CHANGES

We had an alumni panel come in today. Their number one advice is STAY IN NEW YORK. Let's face it--if you leave, how will you come back? It's not a good idea to rent an apartment without seeing it first and no one's going to hire you if you have an out of state address.

It took them an average of four months to land their full-time publishing jobs. There's no way I'll find one in the four weeks I have left. So. Looks like I'm going to try to find an apartment BEFORE I find a job. Which means I just might stay here in New York quite a while longer. Mixed feelings about this, but career-wise, probably the right thing to do.


CAREER ADVICE

A bunch of people gave us good advice on getting jobs. All that resume and interview stuff, but also how to pitch ourselves and network with people. We should be able to sell ourselves in 7 seconds, which will probably happen on Friday at the career fair when there are 27 companies and 101 students. I need one snappy, unique thing about me that will make me different from everybody else. Any suggestions?


OUR PROJECT

Asterisk launches tomorrow! We worked so long today that they actually turned out the lights because they thought everyone had left. And we got to the point where we couldn't work anymore because we just started laughing and arguing about dumb stuff like whether we should use Times New Roman or Georgia fonts. Unfortunately, we worked so long, the computer lab closed, so we'll have to sneak out during other presentations tomorrow to print our project! English majors are procrastinators, it must be said.


IN THE MEDIA

Can I retweet things on my blog? On Twitter there's this thing called RT or retweet where you repeat things that people you follow said so that people who follow you can see them. I have quite a lot of followers on Twitter now, which is suprising considering I don't tweet anything. But I will relay some interesting ones here:

1. Thoreau's Legacy (from Penguin Books). I'm glad he didn't get to see what we did to this little green-blue planet. “Thank God men haven’t learned to fly. They’d lay waste to the sky as well as the earth -- chop down the clouds!” --HDT

2. Teaser trailer for Cemetery Junction, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

3. They Might Be Giants are doing a $3 concert at Prospect Park this week. Hmmm...

the home stretch

Everything's just getting crazy all at once. Here's some more interesting news I got:

1. Today, I got accepted into Emerson College's publishing program. I have to say, I had about .001% expectancy of this phone call, mostly because I did not fill out the form that said I was still interested in being kept on the wait list. However, they told me that they did get my form. I'd be interested to see if they could locate it, though. I obviously declined considering A) It's a bit late notice for this fall's enrollment, B) I can't afford it, and C) I'm already in a publishing program, even if it's not a masters program like Emerson. I am, however, very flattered to get accepted. It was my first choice. Can't afford the rent in Boston though.

2. One of the random things I applied to was a staff writer for an online sitcom. Part of the application was writing a short scene based on their premise. I did it and submitted it just for the heck of it, but apparently my application has "entered round two." It's a start up company, so I don't know how I feel about that.

3. I subscribe to a book newsletter now called Shelf Awareness. Today they announced the cast for the third Discworld movie "Going Postal." It's a good book, so I'm excited to see how they do with the adaptation, but I am a little nervous to see who is going to play Vimes, if he's even going to be in the movie at all. Jeremy Irons is not playing Vetinari this time.


In the works for the week:

Tomorrow: People are going to come in and talk to us about careers.
Thursday: We present our imprint to the judges
Friday: Career fair with 29 different companies and then we get our certificates
And then it's done. Next step, real world.

Surprises filling my inbox

I woke up to 14 messages in my inbox and when I got home, there were 18 more. Some of them were a little more than "so and so posted a comment on your photo."

1. My friends Rachael and Terrance are getting married!!!!!! *happydance*

2. The publishing house that I interned at last summer is going away and a new house is rising in its ashes. I read this in Publishers Lunch, which is the publishing newsletter everyone in the industry reads. Here's what Ben has to say on the subject:





In other news, as I try to narrow down my focus of what I want to do in the inudstry, it seems my interests are actually expanding. We learned a lot about copy-editing today, which I guess is what I thought editors do a lot of (and it turns out they don't), so I could totally see myself doing that--actually working with the TEXT. But then we learned about sub rights. She said there's a couple things you need to have to do sub rights: You have to love reading, you have to like to travel, and have a passion for learning about other cultures. Hey, that's me! I want to travel around the world and tell people about books.

Then we had a meeting with a guy from Scholastic about our imprint. He basically told us to break all the rules and do whatever we want. I think it inspired us to go a little crazy with our project in thinking outside the box.

And I'm going to Philadelphia for the weekend of the 17th.

Hello, Sun. Where have you been?

It's been sunny for two days! I can't believe it.

This morning I sat in the park and did some writing. This afternoon, I went to Laughter in the Park at Washington Square Park. The comedians were funnier in this Laughter in the Park than at the Union Square one, I thought. Plus, Lee Camp was one of them. I wasn't expecting that. Still, I left after the 6th comedian because the sun was moving and I lost my shade. Plus they were coming around with the donation pail. (Is that mean?)

Fireworks

So much for staying in for the night. Sarah knows a guy who has rooftop access to his apartment, so Sarah, Lauren, and I, plus some people from class and a bunch of people I didn't know went over to his apartment and watched the fireworks from the roof.

Me, Lauren, Sarah on the rooftop

The fireworks were amAzing. Three sections were in the middle of the sky and three sections were behind some buildings, which looked really cool with the light bouncing off the glass. It went on for half an hour. They had some cool picture ones like dice too. Car alarms started going off and stuff.

It was a cool experience, everyone was together watching the fireworks, yet everyone was so far away. All the rooftops around us had people on them. It was like the end of The Day After Tomorrow. It's like everyone's waiting for the world to flood.

We were on a six-story building not far from Times Square. I took some video for you:

It was funny walking home. 42nd Street Station is the most ungodly giagantic station ever. There's this long tunnel crammed with people, no end in sight. Must have walked half a mile underground trying to get to the right platform. Signs above our heads say things like "Why bother?"

4th of July

trash sculptures

Started the morning at the market, then walked a few blocks uptown for some shopping. Bought strawberries because they felt patriotic. Very summery, I feel. I realize that I'm wearing my London t-shirt, but it IS red, white, and blue, just not the right flag.

Did some homework. We got in a little bit of trouble for not having keynotes on Thursday, but nobody really told us what they were and that we were supposed to have them. But they're done now.

I took a walk to the water because I wanted to see where people are lining up to see the fireworks tonight, but everything's all blocked off. Time Out did an article about how it's not safe for all those people to be on the piers, so they're closing them for the night. Ah well. I took a walk. Didn't even know where I was most of the time. Ended up way down on 3rd street somehow. Found a nice little park. Should have brought a book. There's a fenced in area where dogs run around too. Maybe I'll just stay in and relax the rest of the day.

Dog park

Random thought: YouTube birds should not be as amusing as they are. Do you still want a bird, Mom?

There are no jobs in New York

I've applied to 18 jobs so far. They're getting more and more random as I go. I just applied to a job that's looking for writers for an internet sitcom (see post here). So random. I've actually been applying to some freelance stuff, I guess as a backup plan to make money while I'm still looking for a full time job.

In other news, I finished CHAPTER THREE of BURBANK WITH A BAEDEKER.
Click here to read.

Oh, and this is just something I think is funny that I linked in chapter 3. The Northern Line on the London Underground is so screwed up. And this proves it.

Vacation!

Got to sleep in on a Friday. Started the morning with breakfast at Au Bon Pain and read at the park. I'm reading 13 Reasons Why which is a YA book from Penguin. It's kind of addicting. The Columbine book I'm reading is good too, but it's just heavy, obviously.

Then Lindsay and I went to The Proposal. There were some cheesey moments that I didn't like so much, but overall, it was a very good movie. Oh, and here's the good bit: Ryan Reynold's character's job (editorial assistant for a book publishing company) is the job that I'm applying for (along with over half the people in my program). What fun.

The good, the bad, and the rainy

Good News
Took a tour of an independent bookstore today, which was pretty cool. The person who started it was quite young, but I guess she had enough money for such a big project.

Bad News
Got a bit stressed out over resume/job stuff yesterday. Apparently you're not supposed to advertise that you're a writer if you want an editorial position. It makes sense, but it's a little snobbish at the same time. Also, other people in the program are getting interviews and even jobs already. Not really sure what's going to happen with me.

I got rained on hardcore today. Not sure when my shoes are going to be ready to wear again.

Oh no! Robert Llewellyn got in a bad car crash. He's okay now. But his beloved Prius isn't. Read here.

Good News
On a lighter note, it's now a three day weekend and I have no plans (other than lots of homework) so I can do whatever I want! Happy Independence Day weekend, everybody!

my videos

This is a bunch of video that I have shot so far. Watch it. It's under three minutes long.