New York Anniversary

I have officially been living in New York for one year today. What a year it's been! To celebrate, I made this video of sight seeing, concerts, and more from the past year. Please watch and comment. Enjoy.

Going Postal???

I believe that GOING POSTAL (based on a Terry Pratchett novel) has aired (at least the first part) now in the UK. I don't know when I'm going to be able to see it here in the states, but someone has just posted this fun little video. I don't know if it's a part of the movie or just the guys on set screwing around, but it's pretty darn cute, especially when Andrew Sachs shows up and completely fails to execute any of the correct dance moves.

B.E.A.

Book Expo America - the largest book convention of its kind.

Two solid days of overwhelming book awesomeness working at the booth for BEA. To the left is a photo of our party inside our booth. I spent a lot of time trying to answer people's questions, browsing the other publishers' booths for schwagg, chatting to people I know, chatting to co-workers, chatting to authors.

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Speaking of authors, we had this author (photo) signing BLADs for our new John Lennon book. The 13 of us from the office went out to dinner with him later on. It was a fun time despite the heat and traffic getting there.

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And here we have Aaron (left) my co-worker along with Eric (right) one of our authors. For more photos of Eric at BEA, check out his blog.

Also, one of my co-workers said her brother just met Fisher Stevens downtown. Sooo jealous.

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I also met comedian Sal Richards who was signing DVDs. I met the owner of Playbill. I met various other authors, mostly our own. I chatted a while with these guys who I interned with in Wisconsin.

People had crazy displays. The photo left is a GIANT typewriter. There were also people in costume, playing bagpipes, dressed as Darth Vader and clowns and bunnies--it was very strange for a sales conference, but never dull.

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Our booth was smack in the middle between Dark Horse Comics and L. Ron Hubbard.

Dear Scientologists: Most people don't understand your religion. Dressing up as pirates is only furthering the bafflement.

Podcast Teaser

We're NOT John Stamos Podcast (visit website for more)

Starring Lindsey, Nicole, Luke, and me. Animated by me.

This is a TEASER only. There is more to this part, but it's been a while, so I thought I'd put up a teaser of the beginning. This is the first minute to part 5 of episode 2. We have recorded episode 3 as well. I just haven't animated it yet.

Ashes to Ashes series finale review

I am over the moon about the series finale to Ashes to Ashes. I'll mark any paragraphs with spoiler warnings, so don't worry. But before I natter on, let me back up.

Life on Mars is my number 1 favorite TV show. Much like Lost, you go through the show wondering what is this place, why are they here, is there a purpose to all of this? You see, Sam Tyler gets hit with a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973 where he has to deal with his racist, sexist, potty-mouth, violent boss Gene Hunt, who everyone seems to respect and fear. But after 2 seasons, the show ends without answering the question: how can being in a coma send you back in time?

Ashes to Ashes picks up where Mars left off. Sam Tyler is out of the picture, supposedly died in a car wreck years back, but no one found his body. Gene and his team are now in London and it's 1981. Alex Drake is a cop from 2008 who gets shot and wakes up in 1981 where she joins Gene's crew. The weird thing is, she had known Sam Tyler and talked with him during his brief time out of his coma, so she knows all about the delusion that is Gene Hunt. How can she be inside Sam's imagination? Or is this place REAL?

Season three kicks off with the clock turning to 9:06 and the entrance of Jim Keats, who I think was acted and written brilliantly. Jim says he's a DCI (same as Gene) doing an investigation on Gene's department. He believes that Gene killed Sam Tyler and wants Alex to uncover the mystery. But Alex doesn't want to believe it. Gene may be crude and a bully, but he wouldn't kill his best friend...would he?

Now there are a lot of theories. Some are closer than others. The writers of the show said that they didn't want the ending to be unguessable, and in a way it wasn't, but there sure was one heck of a curveball and an amazing one at that! There was some fear that Ashes would end like the American version of Life on Mars (which was a terrible ending) but the writers assured everyone that they hated that ending, and in fact, they knew the answer to Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes from the very beginning of Mars. They've been holding this secret for 8 years and it's finally out (unlike Lost, which they make up as they go and keep changing what the ending will be).

Hint: Listen to Heroes by David Bowie.

*Spoilers* It turns out that this place is a sort of purgatory, which wasn't completely unguessable. There's a bit of a surprise in learning that Alex is no longer in a coma. At the start of season 3, she died. This is proven by the fact that every time they show a clock in season three, it's always 9:06. And not only is Alex dead, but so are all the others. This isn't her fantasy world. Chris, Ray, and Shaz are cops that have been dead a long time, so long that they've forgotten their previous lives and their deaths. The more you stay in this place, the more you forget. Jim had videos of all of their deaths, so we actually get to see how each character died. It's devastating to watch them come to copes with their deaths, especially Shaz who starts crying "I'm only 26, I need to see my mom again!"

But the surprise wasn't so much the deaths but who is Gene Hunt. It makes so much sense now. Turns out, he's just a kid. He was a young, green cop who got shot and killed first week on the job. But inside his head, he wasn't this scrawny little nobody. He was all machismo and the sheriff of his town. In this purgatory world, that's the way he's reflected (It helps explain why he's so immature). He could cross over into Heaven, but he doesn't. He stays in this between-worlds to help lost coppers get past their deaths. He helps them get over whatever flaws they have. For Ray, it's being a disappointment to his father, for Chris it's never having the balls to talk back. And then they can pass on into the next life (which remarkably is the Railway Arms--Nelson's pub from Manchester!). But here's the cool part. Gene doesn't remember that he's doing this. He too has forgotten his death and believes this is the real world. He has literally created this fantasy world where he's the sheriff and it's so magnetic, other souls get sucked into it. In Alex's case, Gene wanted her to stay with him so badly, he wasn't helping her put her old life (particularly her daughter) behind. Of course, he didn't realize he was doing it. Gene's not appointed by anyone to do this task. He's working through his own problems in this way. I suppose being a young copper, he always wanted to help people but couldn't because he died so young and now he's helping people for the rest of eternity. Someone on Twitter even pointed out that his badge number is the passage number for the Lord's Prayer.

Now let's talk about Jim Keats. I really liked this character because he's so good at being sincere and kind, but behind closed doors, his anger is nearly uncontrollable. People speculated that he was death, the way he'd hold dying coppers in his arms. It turns out, he's a devil-figure. When Alex tells Keats to "Go to Hell," and Keats says "Okay," I was like "Oh my God, he's Satan!" They purposely use some cliches to point this out. He tempts the other cops with parties and sex and money to get them to follow him to an elevator that's going down. Elevator to Hell. In the end, he's even making demon-like barking sounds at Gene. Is he the Devil, demon, or gatekeeper to Hell? They don't specify, but I wouldn't want them to. To be honest, I was hoping that Jim would be much more complex, that is to say neither good nor evil, but it was pretty epic in a way. The Devil versus Gene Hunt (who is just a man, not God or an angel). In fact, the writers say that it's based on Paradise Lost! When Gene helps his friends into Nelson's pub in the end (Heaven, in which Nelson is there--ever an expert in spirits), it tickles Jim that Gene is left all alone. But never fear, the next lost copper soul comes stumbling in demanding his office just like Sam Tyler.

So, to sum, the shows are based on Bowie songs, usually Life On Mars, sometimes Ashes to Ashes, sometimes Changes, sometimes Gene Genie, but as it turns out, it's really Heroes. "We can be heroes, just for one day." Gene has trapped himself in one day, in one second, the moment he died, and here he can be the hero he never got to be.

Key moments: The Quattro dies. Gene and Alex (Galex) finally kiss. Nelson comes back.

Unanswered questions: What happens if you die in this world? Was Viv a real person as well? Did Jim send him to Hell? (Chris dreamed he saw Viv in flames.) What about that guy who claimed to be Sam Tyler? He was surely a fraud, but then how did he know that stuff about the tin box and how this place makes you forget? If Gene has been dead a long time, then was it really Evan who met little Alex after her parents died, and Gene's psyche just made it himself? How in the world can Gene's imagination create the 70's and 80's if he died in the 50's? Were they able to change the past--such as Maia? I'm guessing not, then. A little annoyed that there wasn't a real time travel element.






All in all, fantastic. These guys kept up solid writing for 5 years. That's not easy. They never gave us any reason to doubt that the ending would be awesome. If you're going to watch it, get some tissues ready. I suggest starting with Life on Mars though. Watch it in order. A lot of Mars is on YouTube, and ALL of Ashes is.


Articles: Here's a summary of the episode with photos.
The shows' creators come clean

Video summary of the last episode:


Someone's tribute to Gene:












And speaking of reviews, here's my review for Hurricane Punch by Tim Dorsey. Not my best book review because I didn't have much more new to say from The Stingray Shuffle. But great book. You can totally borrow it, whoever you might be.

Among the Oak and Ash

I went to Southpaw's Americana Pie night, which is a bunch of Americana bands. It would have been cooler to go with my roommates, but it was still a fun time on my own. The first band was Daniel Wayne. I'd never heard of him before but he was really good.

Then was Among the Oak and Ash. This is the third time I've seen them in New York City and I was starting to wonder if it was going to be repetitive. Well here's a curveball for you. The band used to be Josh Joplin and Garrison Starr, but now it's Josh Joplin and Bailey Cooke. I had seen very tiny thumbnail photos of something recently from the band and I saw someone with long blond hair and thought "How could Garrison's hair grow so long so fast?" since I'd just seen the band in November. Surprise when I got to the venu. It's another singer. I was disappointed at first, but Bailey plays the banjo, and that was cool. A one-eighty from Garrison's electric guitar. And the real reason I went is because I'm a fan of Josh Joplin (see photo above).

The show rocked hard as always. The attire was very differently. Before, I've seen them wearing suits and ties, but this was much more casual. I knew about half the songs. It was good to hear some new ones in there. A lot of energy. I'll post some video in a New York montage at some point.

After the show, I bought a t-shirt and said hi to Josh. I asked him what happened to Garrison and he said she's moving back out to California, but she has a residency in August, which is cool.

Random thought: I remember him being...taller? This picture was taken in 2005.

Here's an interview and live footage with Josh and Garrison:

Josh Ritter

When Katie first gave me a cd of Josh Ritter songs, I mixed them in with a bunch of other songs I didn't know. Anytime one of his songs would come on, I'd wonder "Who is this? This is good." And I would look down and see that it was Josh Ritter again. His songs sound so different from each other, I often didn't assume it was him because of style.

I went to a concert of his in Town Hall, and it proved to be even MORE of a diverse set of styles. One minute you're in some kind of circus, and the next in the African grasslands, then in a bass-heavy hell with "Black Hole," and then you get the ultimately creepy Edgar Allen Poe song. Actually, someone came out on stage and read a Poe poem while Josh took a break and it was very haunting, especially with the music. One song, he even did in the dark. He had to beg the lights people to turn off ALL the lights on the stage. And that's another great thing about the writing--these are songs with stories, about characters, and are intelligent and clever. That's the kind of music I'm driven toward. Catchy melody and singing in tune and all that are important, but if the writing isn't unique, I'm that interested.

It was a very visual performance. Where many bands have a light show, these guys had a bunch of giant lightbulbs behind them pulsing to the music. The band was fantastic! Animated yet with seemingly heavy limbs, kind of like puppets. They'd run around the stage to switch instruments part way through songs. There was a grand piano, a synth keyboard, guitars, electric bass, acoustic bass, drumset (often with up to three people playing on it at once), something I didn't recognise (looked like a harpsichord, sounded like a flute?), and yes, I'm happy to say, even a harmonica. When Josh pulled out the harmonica at the end of the show, he earned bonus points.

Josh said he moved to Brooklyn, and sometimes the city gets you down. People agreed. Then he said sometimes Brooklyn gets you down too. Everyone protested "Booooo!" He said, "Well, sometimes that F train..." And then everyone laughed and agreed, "...Yeah..."

The biggest applause came from when the bass player, who is pretty awesome in his own right, suddenly took lead vocals during one verse and man did he have a powerful voice!

For the last few songs, everyone stood up. He ended with To The Dogs or Whoever, which is an energetic piece that you can see below. This is a good example of the sort of crazy energy the show has. Josh grins the whole time. Even from the very very back row (but dead center!), you can see his teeth. Everyone just seems like they're having such a good time.

I only stayed for a song and a half of the encore because it was going on 11 and I was uptown and had to get some sleep for a big interview today. Whoops, did I let that slip?

Anyway, check out this video, even if you maybe don't care, give it a try. If you want to know how he sounds in the recordings, you can get his new song free off iTunes or have a listen to a variety of his work on MySpace.

One Month of Milo

Burbank with a Baedeker

My interactive novel (or shall we say fictional blog) is now four weeks in. I thought I'd drop in some comments and stats on the progress it's making. If you would like to participate (and please do), visit Milo's Blog and leave comments.




Blog stats
4 posts
13 comments
260 page hits
You can look at unique visitors vs. returning visitors and play around with the graph here.

Facebook stats
48 fans (10 of which I don't know)

Twitter stats (twitter/milohtomb)
91 tweets
252 followers
on 17 lists


This week, Milo has posted a comment. This is a common element to the story. Burbank writes from Milo's point of view...then Milo gets annoyed and tries to correct Burbank's blog posts by declaring the truth publicly in the comments. But what is truth, anyway?

You really want to test my writing skills? Throw me a curve in the comments.

Any social media gurus have any more suggestions on either getting more people to the blog, getting more comments, or things I should add on the blog's sidebar or separate pages? Don't get me wrong: I'm thrilled with the outcome thus far. I thought it would start slow and build up. I just hope it doesn't go the other way and trickle off. Once the tour starts up, there will be 7 posts PER DAY. But there are 7 posts per page as well, so all you readers have to do is sit down each night and read just one page of crazy hilarity (don't worry, the posts are short).

Upcoming

This week is going to be insane. I'm meeting some NYU students for brunch in the city. I'm going to two concerts: Josh Ritter and Among the Oak and Ash. I'm going to go look at an apartment in case I need to move out before my roommates do (for work commuting reasons). Hopefully I will also be able to do a trial run to the new location where my job is moving too. And! My friend Melissa is recording a CD and has asked me to do artwork for it.

Next week is Book Expo America, which will also be fun.

Book Events

Monologue Event

This is an event that I planned myself. I thought it went really well. I pretty much say everything I wanted to say over on BroadwayWorld.com, which has published another of my articles.

Bernstein Event

This was an exclusive book launch that I was honored to be invited to. I helped the author with his manuscript files many months ago. And now the book is done, and he did an amazing reading of it--I can't imagine anyone not wanting to read it after that. The party was hosted by the family of Leonard Bernstein at their penthouse.

New Drawing: Life on Mars

In Life on Mars (the British version, don't bother with the American), John Simm plays Sam Tyler, a cop who gets hit by a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973. Is he mad, in a coma, or back in time?

Here's the best bits:



And a musical tribute:

Movies and TV

Look how broad this topic is.

Something else I'm looking forward to...

Seven Wonders
Here's the first trailer for Karl Pilkington's travel TV show. It's basically him criticizing TV shows on Sky 1 with a bit of reference to his travel show, which Ricky set up just to annoy Karl.



Ashes to Ashes
The series finale part 1 is next week. I mean the whole A2A series is coming to an end. Will we get to find out if Sam Tyler is still alive? If he's mad, in a coma, or back in time?--The ultimate question that's been hanging since Life on Mars first aired all those years ago. And who exactly is Jim Keats? Because after yesterday's episode, everyone saying that he's the grim reaper. Is he that? Or is he a bent copper who's killing cops and making it look like Gene's neglect is to blame so that he can get Gene booted out?





Doctor Who
The Time of Angels episode was so much better than the previous one. They've got River Song, the biggest mystery of season 4, with the Weeping Angels, the coolest baddies of season 3. Naturally, it is the first of a two-parter. They take both stories a step further with some surprises. Doctor Who is better when it's scary. And this episode is scary.




Pirate Radio
Pretty much a rubbish movie right up until the parliment tries to take them off the air. And then it was awesome. Unfortunately, you have to sit through like an hour and a half of character development to get there. The best line is Bill Nighy at the wedding saying ... well, I'll let you hear it for yourself (at the very beginning):




Hamlet
I am still watching Hamlet. It's very good. It's hard to say whether it's better than the Kenneth Branagh version, but it's much more modern. A lot of the scenes are delivered in ways I've never seen before, which is pretty cool. The dialogue is still the original Shakespeare but there are video cameras and t-shirts and blue jeans and all that modern stuff. Tennant does the best job at saying his lines in a way that makes people understand the meaning even if the diction is a little alien. Here is a very short clip, one of the many scenes where Hamlet pretends to be insane.

Comedy and Books Join Forces

Robin Ince has a book coming out about which I am infinitely excited as it is about his book club, something that I feel is the most innovative of his work if not of comedy as a whole.

Robin Ince's Bad Book Club page on Little, Brown UK.

(Also, does anyone else find it odd that Greenbelt, a festival "firmly rooted within a Christian tradition," has hired a pro-atheism comic as one of their acts? They don't seem concerned.)

And now for some music: Robin Ince singing "It's The End of the World as We Know It" by REM

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Do you remember way back, possibly a year ago, when I said that I would change my blogging technique from writing multiple unrelated things in each post to making multiple posts, each with one topic? I think I might try that again. We can all see how well that worked last time.