Flying

Things I don't like about flying:

People breaking wind in the cabin of the airplane.
Maintenance delays causing me to miss my connecting flight, which means that I am stuck in Ohio for New Years Eve, missing the New Years party of the year.

Things I like about flying:

Witty remarks from flight attendants.
The nicest person working at the airline, Kelly, who kindly found me a flight for tomorrow morning.
A friendly shuttle driver.
A free night at a hotel so fancy, they give you a fresh gooey cookie with your room key. Two beds, a leather couch, and a chaise longe. And meal vouchures and free transport to the airport.

Well, happy new year. More from me later.

random quotes

I'm loading Ricky Gervais Show xfm episodes onto my ipod for the plane tomorrow. While I'm waiting for it to load, I've decided to click on each episode one fourth into the program to hear what they're talking about. This is pretty funny out of context b/c I know it's not much saner in context.

Ep 11-22-03
Stephen: sorry, mum. Can I call you back? You know you wanted me to meet more women?
Ricky: and you know how you sent me that 30 quid for my birthday?

Ep 11-29-03
Ricky: what's the fish doing up there?
Karl: it's just sat there
Ricky: no, I mean why did it go up there?

Ep 12-06-03
Karl: it's like the chat we had last week about a giraffe having a long neck.

Ep 12-13-03
Ricky: you're going to be disappointed again. It's not going to be like a baby with 4 legs running around, running up the curtains.

Ep 12-20-03
Ricky: we call him a bald little manc twat, but a national magazine can say that! Aw, bless his little round head.






Ps. Disappointment of the day: the word "potation" has to do with drinking, and is not a cross between a creation and a potato as I had so hoped.

J

Things I <3 today

Things that tickled me today:

The Ricky Gervais Guide to the Future is out today on iTunes. When asked what he'd do if he knew the world would end tomorrow, Martin Luther replied "Plant an apple tree." Karl Pilkington replies "I've always wanted to kick a duck up the arse." Brilliant.

I'm browsing some of Tom Milsom's songs because I still have a few bucks left on my iTunes gift card. There's a song called "We Made a Film" that has the lyrics "We'll be the men that we wanted to be / our own Wright, Frost, and Pegg / but much better, you see."

I like the harmonica. I like Fisher Stevens. Even moreso, here's Fisher Stevens playing harmonica.




Things that don't tickle me:

Snow is coming just in time for my flight out of this city.

I can't watch the How to be a Nerdfighter video. Stupid technology.

Where exactly is The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus playing?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures of my Christmas. We had a nice Christmas meal and presents, you know, the traditional Christmas stuff, here in New York. It's my first Christmas away from home, away from my family, but I will be back in WI in the first week of January.

Please note the three consecutive posts: this one, the Doctor Who review, and my drawing.

Doctor Who End of Time part 1

Part 1 of the Doctor Who special End of Time played this week. It's special for two reasons: One, it's David Tennant's last episode in Doctor Who after four years. Two, it's the return of the Doctor's archnemisis, the Master.

First off, I thought the acting was quite good. John Simm, who plays the Master, gets to really go completely crazy this time around because the Master has really lost his marbles now. He's also the emo version of the Master, so he's sporting the bleached hair and hoody. The character notes how funny it is that he's the master of disguise trapped inside the body of the prime minister, one of the most recognizable faces.

The story caught me off guard. I don't know if I misread the Sound of Drum/Last of the Timelords episode or if they purposely misled us. (Spoiler alert) I assumed that Lucy had shot the Master because she knew he had told her to because he knew he could come back to life using that ring of his. She wears red nail polish, and at the end, a red nail polish hand picks up the ring. I assumed it was Lucy. But in fact, it wasn't her that picked up the ring and she really did want to kill him, as was hinted at when she made a grossed out face after he kissed her in season three finale. It almost felt like whoever wrote this epsisode had nothing to do with the writing of the other episode and is fabricating the answers to the clues. I don't really know.

But it's a really good episode. More Doctor/Master moments, which was lacking in season 3. I liked when the Doctor can actually HEAR the sound of drums inside the Master's head and the Master realizes that the sound isn't just his insanity, and that it is real. The heartbeat of a Timelord? I suppose to heartbeats would sound a bit like that.

And the cliffhanger. Oh the cliffhanger.

Next week:

The Drawing Process

I haven't done much of this, but I took photos of my large scale drawing as I was doing it so you can see my drawing process. This is a family portrait I did for my roommates for Christmas. As you can see, I start with outline, then faces, then clothes and hair, always working from left to right.

The Finished Product

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone.

This week, we had our work holiday lunch where we ordered a ridiculous amount of Chinese food and had some good chat with our office and the other office, making us a table of eleven.

I also went to the kids' winter sing, which was a bit of a shambles because they underestimated how many parents there would be and didn't have mics and amps, but I should have known by the phrase "First Annual" on the program.

Anyone curious about the job hunt, I have had a couple interviews. Got turned down by one after making it pretty high up the candidate list, but it wasn't really my area of interest anyway. Still waiting to hear back on another.

Projects I've been working on include a large scale drawing (more on that later), my mysterious interactive novel coming out next year online, and episode two of the podcast.

Merry Christmas.

New Doctor Who preview. This Saturday (26th) on BBC America.

John Simm, one of my favorite actors, who plays the Master in Doctor Who (as you can see in the above clip), has announced that he will be playing Hamlet on the stage in Sheffield. Both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant (who have played the Doctor in Doctor Who) have been Hamlet onstage.

Musamification

There's a great Among the Oak and Ash audio thing on ASCAP where they combine their music with Josh's commentary. And Josh makes up a new word.

It has begun

What, what, what is all this white stuff?

Wisconsin sneezed all over New York, that's what.

Big news, Wisconsin! I am visiting for the first week in January. Why not? Snow's general all over Ire...America.


Everybody else on the net is making lists. I guess that's what you do at the end of the year amid your Christmas shopping and shoveling. I wanted to make a list, but there have been TERRIBLE movies out this year. I can't even pick a good one. Lots of good books I read. The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott being my favorite, though it came out years before. Television wasn't that great either. Torchwood season 3 was probably the best of it.

Let's look to the future.

Best things coming in 2010 (or the end of 2009)...

1. Karl Pilkington's travel show

2. The Ricky Gervais Show on HBO (Here's a different clip than the one I showed before)

3. Splice

4. Dr. Who season finale (article with Bernard Cribbins)

5. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

6. Paul

7. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

8. Alice in Wonderland

9. Cemetery Junction

9 Days to Christmas

1. Happy Birthday, Katie.

Katie, I hope you enjoy your birthday and enjoy your birthday website even more!




2. New drawing.

It's a little messed up because of the fold in the middle of the journal. Sorry.
This is my bedroom in New York.


3. New Book Review

NightWatch part 1 of 3
Click here for the review. I have to say, I thought the movie was a lot better.

4. Nerdfighter News

John Green, author of Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, and An Abundance of Katherines, is going to have a baby. Well, not him exactly. His yhetti. Which doesn't really make sense if you haven't been watching his vlog.

Important Things and Unimportant Things

IMPORTANT THINGS

1. New Layout

Do you like the new blog layout? The jellyfish are a little random, but I took this photo at the aquarium and thought it looked cool. There are only three things I know about jellyfish.

1. There's one in 7 Pounds with Will Smith.
2. There's a Tim Dorsey Book called Nuclear Jellyfish.
3. Karl Pilkington hates them because one stung him and since they are 98% water, he wants to add 2% and make them water.




2. New Story


In this blustery December weather, I wrote you a spring-time story. You can read MAY DAY right here. It's a Lutheran story. See if you can tell why.




3. New Drawing

I'm reading the book NightWatch, so I decided to do some NightWatch drawings. This here is Anton (played by Konstantin Khabensky in the movie) from a scene in DayWatch.

4. Splice

As many of you might know, Vincenzo Natali is my all-time favorite director. I've been waiting for his new movie SPLICE. I've just found the website, which has an awesome video: http://www.splicethefilm.com/. Also, del Toro is producing it, which must be a good sign.

Here's a clip from the film:

UNIMPORTANT THINGS

As mentioned in a previous post, I have a cold. Therefor I am completely in the right to be medicated. I am probably in the wrong to be operating a Blackberry whilst medicated.

There are some things I've decided to tell you about that I'm sure I wouldn't bother with if it was a sane hour of the night.


1. Musings on dreams

It's weird enough when you see something on tv and then dream about it. It's super weird when you see two things on tv and your dream combines them. It's super duper weird when those two things are Dawn of the Dead the zombie flick and Graham Norton the camp talk show.

So what I ended up with was a reality show like Britain's Got Talent hosted by zombie Graham Norton who would eat you if you got voted off. Don't do drugs, kids. Even if it is just NyQuil. On second thought, don't do zombie movies in any proximity to Graham Norton.

2. Musings on laundry

The second useless thing I wanted to share was that you shouldn't put winter gloves in the dryer. I think the picture says it all.

Beginning to look a lot like

Updates:

1. JOB SEARCH

I am still searching for a full-time job. Thanks to everyone who has been supportive through this. I did have my first interview this week. Unfortunately, I got a cold at the same time. I think it's because of the rain on Wednesday that was so intense, it turned my umbrella inside out and shut down the train (yes, these two things are of equal importance). I will keep you updated on this front.

2. BOOK REVIEW

NaNoWriMo is over, so I am back to reading. Read my review of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury. I am currently trying to read NightWatch again. I'm such a style snob. But I will get through it this time, hopefully. I'm writing a new story as well, but might not feel like finishing it until the sinus pressure eases off.

3. Karl Pilkington gets his own travel show

I cannot contain my excitement. Karl can. Apparently he's in Egypt hating it at the moment. You can read the online announcement on the BBC News site HERE. Quote from the article:

"I can't wait to get started. Not because I'm excited but because the sooner we start, the sooner it will be over," Pilkington said.



4. ONLINE VIDEO

So, I'm fascinated with the way that online video has both transformed elements of our society and created a new community of people much in the same way that the internet did when it first came out. Many people don't realize it because they just use YouTube to watch dumb little videos, but it does so much more than that. So I have no shame in thinking that this is cool: (ignore the talking sock)

Podcast Episode 2, part 1

Just what you've been waiting for: The We're NOT John Stamos Podcast episode 2, part 1 of 5.

Live in New York City, on Halloween, starring the Scooby gang.

Part 1 includes New York hostel anecdotes and an infomercial for Halloween costumes.




What you have to look forward to:

Part 2: How Lindsey's hair caught fire and The perils of online dating.

Part 3: The Princeton Club, stripper poles, and boxed wine

Part 4: Clambakes and Post Offices

Part 5: Planes, Elmo, and getting lost in New York City

I think part 1 is the least funny segment, so you have a lot to look forward to.

Don't forget to follow the website. http://werenotjohn.blogspot.com/

Book Launch

Last night, I went to a book launch for the translation into English of Von Kleist short stories. There was a very interesting discussion about the art of translation, something I didn't know much about until this internship. The translator and some of the audience members were talking about how there can be different sides of your brain that connect with different languages. Also, if you're fluent in multiple languages, it's kind of a "controlled Schizophrenia." You can be someone else by speaking another language.

They also talked about how translation is the best way to study a text, and that all writers should experience the process of translating a text. Almost makes me wish I would have kept at French. I don't know why, but foreign language classes have always been intimidating. There can be the best teacher and the best classmates, but there is always the possibility of getting called on to say something you don't know how to say.

After the reading, there was a crowded reception where I mingled about with people that I did and didn't know. I stayed around until nearly nine (it started at 6:30) chatting with some people before I made my exit, to both the event and the internship, but I will likely make it to other book signings.

Not really December, is it?

It was 64 degrees and sunny here in New York. December is a lie! Though we'll get snow soon enough.

It doesn't feel like December. Crimeny, I've been in NYC for 6 months now! I think November went so fast because of NaNoWriMo. Now I'm down to one internship and upping the job hunt.


Media related things...

I downloaded Ricky Gervais's Guide to Law and Order (iTunes customer service rocks, btw). I think the best bit was Ricky's story about his security guard, which prompted a role play where Ricky was a robber with a hostage and Karl was the negotiator trying to talk him out of it.

I finished watching Black Books. The first season was best, but it was all good. Great role for Simon Pegg in one episode.

Book News: Ray Bradbury's literary agent died this week.

Upcoming: book launch for AB tomorrow night.

J

NaNoWriMo grand finale

This year, for the first time, I participated in National Novel Writing Month. I completed a novel just under 60,000 words. I wrote it so fast, I don't even have a title for it yet! The working title is Luddites, but I'd be happy to take suggestions. I will muse on the pros and cons of this activity at a later date. Right now, I will give you a one-stop post to read all nine chapters of this novel.

Synopsis:

When a girl from work tells Tian she has a friend who is three thousand years old, she is thrown into a world of luddites fighting for their rights to make books in a future where trees are an endangered species.

Have I mentioned this book was started in rebellion against books like Twilight? And I suppose Buffy, and Angel, and Torchwood, etc. Read and you'll find out why.

Chapter One (part 1)

Chapter One (part 2)

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine