I'm in a video

Can you spot me? I'm in there a couple times in the background.




Also, finished reading F451. Link to review.

Aw, man. Everybody around here is sick. I hope I don't get sick(er). This Halloween is supposed to be the greatest of all Halloweens. Orange you excited?

Website revamp

New Web Design. Let me know what you think.

http://www.jleighnelson.com/

In Defence of Lying

Since they started filming, I've been anticipating Ricky Gervais's first movie, The Invention of Lying. When it came out, I got pneumonia, so I didn't see it until today. I had to go into Manhattan because it's already run its course in most theatres.

From reviews and Ricky's blog, I already knew that a lot of Christians were getting riled up about the film because in this world without lying, there is also no religion, which presumes that religion started with lies. Although I was willing to give Gervais the benefit of the doubt, I did start to wonder "Oh no, has Ricky gone too far?"

After seeing the film, I can honestly say I don't think he crossed the line. It was gutsy, but the movie was written by a guy who doesn't believe in God, so surely his fictional world has no God either. That doesn't mean he's trying to sway you. The only thing I think people might be threatened by is that the parallelism btwn Mark (Gervais) with Jesus and Moses shows how easily a person in that situation could lie and how readily people would take it as truth. I know it's a scary thought, but is he really telling you something you didn't already know? It's not a direct attck on religion. It's supposed to be funny. Are you really threatened by a guy who has commandments written on pizza boxes?

I think I'm immune to feeling insulted or offended by people who have other religions because I've been exposed to it for a long time. I've been reading Douglas Adams since I was tiny (see my new review for And Another Thing) and I also read a lot of Terry Pratchett. My favorite comedians include Gervais and Robin Ince. I don't see why people are too close minded to look at artwork done by anyone who is not their religion.

I want you to see the review of The Invention of Lying by Karl Pilkington. It's hilarious because Karl obviously doesn't know what a movie review consists of. Karl was actually supposed to be a caveman in a scene that got left on the cutting room floor. There are lots of cameos in the movie. I actually didn't even recognize Ed Norton 'til he took off his sunglasses. But the one that was coolest was when Stephen Merchant showed up. I shouldn't have been surprised but I didn't remember reading about this in Ricky's blog. And who was in the scene with him? It's only "Barry from Eastenders." Brilliant. (Stephen and "Barry" are a great pair in Extras, which you can pirate off YouTube or do as I did and purchase it off iTunes.)





The movie wasn't terribly subtle, but it was funny and thoughtful. It was sweet. The Invention of Lying. Go see it.

I'm excited to see Ricky on November 4th at the Comedy Festival!

Pre-weekend

There's been more post office drama. I can't even sentence properly about it. Maybe I'll go on a rant for our next podcast.

Maybe I'll go see The Invention of Lying tomorrow or Saturday before it disappears.

I'm so glad it's Friday.

I read that my medication can cause nervous system damage such as tremors.

Check out my froody new room...that I can't actually experience.

I moved around my furniture in my room here in New York too. It's easier to clean, I think.

Out of bed

I've been in bed for eight days. Because the meds worked, I think I had pneumonia, but the diagnosis was done mostly over the phone. However some spasmy symptoms have showed up. Side effect of the meds? I keep praying I don't have tetanus from when I sliced open my finger on the metal door. Praying must be working b/c the twitching in my gut went away after 24 hrs. Maybe that Chinese chicken was Chinese something else. Can't blame the spasm in my sinuses on dinner though. I'll let you know if I get lockjaw.
While in bed, I read (Catching Fire and am half way through And Another Thing) and am planning a short novel for NaNoWriMo, which you can learn more about on my writing blog. You're going to get a free digital novel from me by the end of November...unless I fail, which may very well happen.


Planning funness!
Plans are underway for a Jenny/Katie visit to NY in winter, which, according to Jenny, may include ice skating, Broadway, and a tree, all of which I like.
Can't say I've sussed out what we (me, Lindsey, Nicole, Luke) are doing for Halloween, but they've got a pretty good list of places I've never heard of going. All I know is that there's going to be dressing up, podcasting, and free pizza.

I went to the post office yesterday and mailed books to famous ppl. It took 2 hrs and 5 lines b/c everyone kept telling me different things. They must all have different mannuals. I just wanted to scream Kenneth Branaugh needs his free copy! But no one would have been able to help me. Or give me a pen.

J

Links to my stuff

Stuff for you to check out.

Here's a story I wrote called The Walking Dead.

Here's a review for the book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

Happy birthday H2G2

Can you believe that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is 30 years old today? I remember when I was really small Dad reading the book to me. I don't think we got beyond the first few pages because I thought it was so funny and wanted to hear it again and again rather than go on. (Why is it that children will watch a movie over and over for weeks, but adults tend to watch movies either once or with spaces in between in favor of variety?)

Then, I remember when we got the BBC miniseries on VHS. This is one of my favorite versions even if it is Douglas Adams's least favorite. In 6th grade, I read the book for myself, and eventually the 4 sequels. In 7th grade, I remember hearing that Adams died of heart attack in California.

In 9th grade, I read Adams's other series, Dirk Gently, which remains my favorite today.

10th grade, they released the radio show on CD and recorded more episodes to finish off the series. This is the series' birthplace and probably the best form.
Then there was the Disney movie, which was a fine movie as movies go, but fell way short of any other version.



And now...



Penguin has announced that there will be a 6th book called "And Another Thing." Douglas Adams said there needed to be a 6th book, but he never wrote one. So who will write it?

An Irish author named Eoin (Owen) Colfer, writer of the famous Artemis Fowl series.

Here's Arthur Dent whining about the project (played by Simon Jones, of course):


I've ordered my copy from Amazon. You can too. Or would you like the audio read by Simon Jones?


Now, I've never read Colfer, but I'm not worried. Here's why:
1. He can't possibly screw it up for potential new fans worse than the Disney movie.
2. Adams's family is fully supportive.
3. BBC wouldn't pick the wrong writer for this...would they?
4. If it sucks, I'll just pretend it never happened and leave everyone dead at the end of Mostly Harmless. Or at Millyways if you believe the radio show.



I have two conflicting voices. The writer in me knows that it is possible to mimick anyone's writing style. It is possible for someone other than the original author to write books in a series. In fact, it happens all the time in the book world and even more in TV.

But the reader in me says that there is something magical about fiction. There are some writers who are so gifted or so quirky that any attempt to mimick will fall short. If anyone fits this, surely it's Adams. He has an untouchable aura around him built from the cult fans.



What do you think? Are there some writings you just don't mess with or is anything potentially able to be picked up by another author?

-

you're not going to believe this

Okay, this is going to take some explaining.

I'm sure this sort of thing happens to Newyorkers all the time, but for me it was so surreal (and I'm paying the price now).

I'll start with Friday. I had just recovered from what I suspect was pnemonia. It was a miraculous recovery. I was 100 percent on Friday when Thursday I was terrible. I got calls from ppl at work asking me to work the trade show Saturday. I wanted to go for A) the money and BY for fun, but I wasn't sure if I was up for it healthwise. After the second call, I agreed. I felt fine afterall.

The trade show was the audio engineers' convention. They had some fun toys I knew little about. I saw Lennon's girlfriend and one of authors is quite a big deal for working with MJ.

Anyway, one of our authors Dennis stops by and tells my coworker about how he's the sound designer for a play off broadway that's closing tonight. It's called An Evening Without Monty Python directed by Eric Idle, would he like to go? He couldn't b/c it's his birthdaym

Now, NY shows are too expensive for me but I was considering splurging on this one. So I asked, "Wait, is this the one with Alan Tudyk? It's closin already? I thought it just started in October!"

He said, "Yeah, I know. Do you want to go? I can put you on the list."

Heck yeah, I wanted to go! Alan Tudyk is one of my favorite actors. Plus, it's Eric Idle. Come on.

So I got to go to the show I would have spent money on for free. It was a good show, but the balcony was only half full. It was at the Town Hall Theatre, by the way.

It was a bunch of sketches from the tv show. As much as I love all the Python guys, Python itself is a little too low brow for me, so I haven't seen much. The 2 I recognised were the Dead Parrot and Silly Walks.

They also did stuff on accountants, spanish inquisition, traveller who doesn't stop talking and climbed over audience members, origin of japes, coal mining vs culture reversed, cross dressing judges, selling albatrose, army song, derogatory singer,

And so on.

After the show (1hr 20 min), I went and sais thanks to Dennis for the invite and he told Alan Tudyk that I wanted to meet him. I's said sort of as a joke could I meet him but it turned out to be possible.

I found him in the lobby taking a photo with some people. I shook his hand and introduced myself instantly forgetting whatever I had planned to say to him, leaving an awkard moment where he didn't know who I was. Then I said "You're my favorite actor. I just wanted to say hi."
Then he laughed and grabbed my arm and was like"Oh, hi! Great tie." I'd forgotten I'd put on a tie for the trade show, which was lucky b/c you're supposed to dress up to go to the theatre. I was in jeans, though.

I asked if I could get a photo with him. Since I didn't know I'd be going, I didn't have my camera, so I had to use my phone, which makes for a crappy camera, but it's actually better than I expected for that lens.

Dennis appeared behind my to take the photo and introduced me to Alan as his publisher. Alan was like "Oh,cool!" Which is awesome even if it is a bit of a stretch since I didn't actually work on his book.

I told Alan it was a great show, thanked Dennis again, and went home.

All is well, right?

Well, two miracles in one week must balance to disaster. I woke up this morning and had to call the doc because I could hardly breathe w/o pain. Now I'm stuck in bed for the week. Probably deserved that, but I can't regret it completely...just mostly. Ouch. But I've got some meds now. Cost me twice what I got paid for the trade show though.




My favorite Alan Tudyk moment...(from 28 Days)

Twitter news; Stephen of Boyzone has died, Channel Dave has commissioned scripts for yet another season of Red dwarf, and there's an amusing photo of David Hewlett with stickers all over his face. I have a weird assortment of Twitter feeds, I know.

SECTION 1

1. Congrats to Allison who is now an aunt!

2. Had to go to the hospital because it felt like I was getting pnemonia. Still don't know what it is, but it's less painful today.

3. Gave away the cat. Petless at the moment.

4. I have a new story, but I haven't typed it all yet because the door tried to eat my finger and it hurts to type on it. Forgive any typos here.

5. More Philly:

Me and Melissa outside the Art Museum



SECTION 2 (Stuff I've read about via Twitter, etc.)

1. Ashes to Ashes season 3 will be the last season. They've started filming. Read article.

2. The new Doctor Who logo. I like the idea of the DW in the TARDIS but...seriously? Is this an improvement from the old one? I think not.

Speaking of Doctor Who, it's confirmed that John Simm will be back as the Master for December's special, but according to imdb, there's a lot of other people coming back. I don't know whether to believe it. Jessica Hynes, John Barrowman, Catherine Tate, Russell Tovey, Timothy Dalton. That's a lot of names.

3. Photosketch. Technology is crazy. Check this out. You draw a crappy outline of something and this software makes your picture. (tweeted by Robert Llewellyn)

4. I adore Karl. Seriously. Look:

Pratchett stuff

I finished reading Nation. Check out my review here.

Here's Pratchett talking about the book:

Here's an awesome trailer to a Discworld movie that doesn't exist. I read Guards! Guards! and this is a great adaptation. It's drawn by the guy who did the awesome Dirk Gently comic.

I asked the guy in the grocery store if they had spreadable cheese, like port-wine. He had no idea what I was talking about, then finally found something called "WisPride." Apparently Wisconsin is the only place that's heard of cheese spread.

I got up today to find a spider had make a thick web in my shoe. I bought a vacuum.

I found a nice Bible Study in Howard Beach.

I think I just got sunburn in October. It's 70 degrees. But you should have seen the fog this morning. Hoo-ee.

I pre-ordered a book. I will let you know what it is on October 12th. It's pretty surprising news, even though I guess it's been news for the last year or so.

I checked out the hostel for Halloween. It's pretty small, but clean.

Among the Oak and Ash at Joe's Pub

I went to the Among the Oak and Ash show at Joe's Pub last night. I'd seen them play earlier this summer, but they weren't an opener this time, so they got to play more. They also seemed to own the stage more, chatting between songs. Garrison had people rolling in the aisles, so to speak. There was no actual rolling because this is a very "adult venue" as my co-worker put it. Older people sitting in chairs, eating dinner. A lot like World Cafe Live, which I liked, but I don't know how rock musicians like it. Can you bounce any energy off an audience that doesn't even nod their heads to the beat? To their credit, there was lots of clapping, some shouting, and a sing along or two. In some ways, I prefer the Bowery Ballroom, but I'm probably just cross that I had to stand in the back because I didn't reserve a dinner table. That's why my pictures are so blurry. Here's my best one:

I know I wrote it in my last review of them, but I'd forgotten how hard they rock live. Their album is a lot less rock and roll. They're amazing live. Here's an example from last night:

This was the first time I realized what a strange pair these two make. She's badass, tattooed, whiskey-drinking, foul-mouthed, wearing her electric guitar as low as it goes. He's kind of adorably nerdy with his suits and Buddy Hollyesque glasses, wearing his folk guitar up real high, and holding nothing back when it's time to dance his own brand of dancing. She also comes from a country music background and he from alternative and folk. Yet somehow, it works together. I didn't realize this until Garrison played Josh's guitar. She said, "it's so...not rock." Then it started cutting in and out, so they did that song unplugged because Joe's is the sort of place where people can be quiet. When they went to plug back in, they had each other's cords, and they got tangled. Josh said it was a metaphor for their lives. Garisson said "You don't fuckin know how true that shit is! It's Sanford and Son right here."


So, anyway. I got there at 5 after and the opener was on. Joe's Pub starts on time, people! Surprising! I was bummed about not having anywhere to stand or sit, not to mention the two drink minimum. At $5 for a ginger ale, I suspected they'd given me some fancy alcoholic drink instead. Thankfully, I figured out before my second drink that they had no way to track the minimum thing. After the opener, I moved to a different spot and got a pretty good view of the stage.


Among the Oak and Ash got on at 7:30. They started with a song I didn't know--either something new or a cover, though most of their songs are covers, being revamps of old folk songs. Then they played one of my favorites, Angel Gabriel. Garrison didn't have any water, so she asked the audience for some, and she recieved. Then someone gave her a whiskey. She said every song makes her want a drink, but there's a place for that. Josh said "Yeah, Hell." Garrison pointed out there are other things you can do to go to hell, and went on to talk about what it's like to be the only child, gay, and in a reglious family. She was inspired by one of the songs they sing that warns girls about "shady dudes," as she put it. This song led her to write a song, which she sang for us.


They played the songs from the album one would expect like Peggy-o and All the Pretty Little Horses, which Josh says is near the carosel at Central Park, but you can only find it if you're not looking for it, which is how he feels about everything in Central Park.


He also sang a song he wrote which starts with the lyrics "Among the Oak and Ash."

They played their tribute to the housewife, "Like you, Josh," as Garrison pointed out.

There was one point where Garrison got on a rant about how she's from Mississippi, and statistically speaking, Mississippi people are the fattest in the country. Josh said he was going to take away her NewsWeek subscription. He said something else that she misheard (as did I), and she thought he said that he has a subscription for hot dogs, which he aggreed he has that too.

In the end, they invited their opener on stage to sing with them. This was followed by an encore of "This Land is Your Land," which Josh says he wants to be the national anthem, and is in fact the national anthem except no one's told major league baseball yet.

I probably should have stayed to get my CD signed or something, but I wasn't sure if they were coming out, so I bought a t-shirt and left. It's kind of a weird cut, but it's got orange in it. I also got a free sticker for my guitar case and the poster that I had regretted not stealing off the wall at the last concert.

Tonight, I was supposed to go to the book launch, but the timing was off, and I was cold and tired. I have to go into work tomorrow anyway. Might as well take it easy tonight.

If you actually read this whole post, I'm pleasantly surprised. Leave me a message in comments.

Here's your reward. More pictures:
New York 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157012&id=73405296&l=981968455c

Philadelphia: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165854&id=73405296&l=ac8b506acb