Why I shouldn't be a newscaster

While the rest of the world is going crazy over Chelsea Clinton's wedding, there are only two things I find newsworthy from this week:

1.Mummy in PJs (A Rose for Emily, anyone?)



2. Goat on trampoline (ohmygod I want one)

Doctor Who Season Finale

I had high expectations for this season of Doctor Who since the writer of the season was the writer of all the best episodes while Davies was in charge. I kept waiting for an ultimately awesome episode. And while most episodes were pretty good, a lot feel short of my expectations. But looking back on it, it was actually a pretty good season. Really can't complain about the new doctor or companions.

Last night, on BBC America, was the season 5 finale. I think this was the ultimate episode I was waiting for. The Doctor saves the universe (once again) but in ultimate sacrifice, and his companion in turn saves him. There's a lot of messing about with time, which is cool. Also, we get to see things from previous episodes in the season that didn't make sense in a new light. It all comes together--there were clues all along.

I remember that when I went to see the premier in New York, Matt Smith was there and he told the audience to petition the BBC so that they would let the doctor have a hat next season. There's a part in this episode that I can only imagine is Stephen Moffat getting back at Matt Smith for all those letters he received. The Doctor picks up a fez he finds ... oh nevermind, you can watch it yourself below. Poor Matt may never get his hat.



I absolutely love that the TARDIS is something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. I didn't catch it when the Doctor was telling his story, but when Rory said "Like the old wedding saying," I started laughing. Was the entire season (the whole leaving on the eve of Amy's wedding thing) a set up for that?

You know, at the part where you realize that their situation was similar to Amy's memories, I wouldn't have written it that their situation was fabricated based on Amy's memories. No--I would have made Amy or Amy's memories or part of Amy's existance the thing that was fake because at that point the Doctor has already pointed out that nothing in Amy's life made sense. But anyway.

I also liked that they brought back the Nestine Consciousness (spelling?) from the first episode of the first season. It's all full circle. But looks like we'll have the same doc and companions back for next season. Can't wait to see where they take us, especially since they still haven't answered the question as to why the TARDIS exploded in the first place.

Bradbury links

Missed the event at McNally Jackson's? Here's a nice review.

Sam Weller, the biographer hosting the event, has a Bradbury blog.

Kaleidoscope is one of my favorite stories by Bradbury. I'm thrilled there's a radio show recording of it. You can listen to the drama here by going to the link and hitting play. You don't need to download anything--it's streaming.

The Homecoming. There's a Bradbury book illustrated by my favorite artist. Just found it.

Working

I'm finishing up my second full week of work. The pace is really hoppin'. I'm actively getting interviews and events for authors, talking with authors on the phone, oh and I got business cards today!

And not to mention I made a new friend on the phone today. It's only the original guitarist for The Misfits. How random is that? When did this become my life?

<-- Look, we's got chandelier.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I've been waiting to see this movie for a long time because as an art director, Terry Gilliam is brilliant. His best work is the physical odds and ends that go into the scenes, even though the CGI dream worlds are pretty.

Basic premise: Dr. P gets to live forever at the cost of giving his daughter to the devil when she turns 16. On the cusp of her birthday, he makes another bargain with the devil to try to win her back. First person to win over 5 souls wins. In the Imaginarium, people live out their greatest fantasies. They are all faced with choices, temptations for good and for evil. Whichever they choose determines who gets the soul.

It's a unique idea. There's lots of movies about people who live forever and how they would perceive the world differently. This movie focuses on the idea that if you lived thousands of years, the thing that would wear on you most is having to make choices all the time.

Despite all the chaos surrounding this film with Heath Ledger's death and Terry Gilliam just being so strange, the movie held together fair enough. Visually, stunning. Characters were good. Sometimes the story did veer off to unexpected places. Thematically, it's pretty traditional fairy tale of making a bargain with the devil and trying to save your kid. Through the film, you're trying to figure out who is lying--the devil or the crook, and I'm not entirely satisfied with the over simplified result. I think they could have made Tony a much more complex character and made more twists along the way. But then there's this ending that I don't know how to interpret. You could just take it at face value, but then you look at the puppet and devil symbolism and it suggests something that makes you want to look back at the whole movie to see what's really going on behind the scenes.

It's interesting what they did with Ledger. Since they filmed all the non CGI stuff first, they replaced him in the dream world with three actors--Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Ferrell--depending on who was looking at him. They made this believable by adding a first scene where a guy goes into the imaginarium and his face changes. So by the time Tony goes in and his face changes, it's not out of place.

The humor is subtle but extremely well delivered.

Also, I thought "Wow, the devil sounds a lot like Tom Waits the singer, but I guess that's what you sound like when you smoke too much." But then the credits came up and I was like "Oh. That was Tom Waits."

Ray Bradbury!

I was very excited to get the opportunity to go to Sam Weller's book signing in Manhattan at McNally Jackson's tonight. He is Ray Bradbury's biographer and just came out with a second Bradbury book: Listen to the Echos. Sam read the story about when Ray was young and went to the fair and a man being shot through with electricity touched Ray and went "Live forever!" And he certainly will with books cannonized next to his heroes.

Then Sam called Bradbury up via Skype and asked him questions for about half an hour! How amazing is that? Seeing Bradbury live, if not in the flesh. He's turning 90 soon, so it's difficult for him to walk, speak, hear, and see, but his mind is still sharp as a tack.

Ironically, the Skype was having trouble--just the sort of technology he warns us against in his work. It cut out right as he was saying how he can't stand the people of New York because they're all depressed. "If you're depressed, it's because you're not doing anything. Go do something, anything, and afterward, figure out why you did it." Then it cut out and Sam said "Ah, the New York gods have spoken."

The best line was this:
Sam: How do you think your writing has changed over the years?
Bradbury: It's become brilliant.

Sam talked about how Bradbury hordes everything he's ever had because everything is "his metaphor," something that can be used to conjure up memories, emotions, and stories.

They talked a lot about movies. Bradbury said he likes the F451 movie even if it's not perfect. If he had to "be" a book like Montague at the end, he would be the Christmas Carol. He said his favorite adaptation is Something Wicked This Way Comes because he directed it.

Bradbury says his favorite stories of his are the Toynbee Convector and the Fog Horn (story in video below). Also, there is a story in the book where Bradbury pees in a hotel ficus. Didn't see that coming, did ya?

Sam says that he believes that Bradbury is tapped into something existential that most people can't grasp. He remembers being born, which is nearly impossible. But there's something almost magic about him, and that's why all these people want to get near him. Sam's father read Bradbury stories to Sam's mother when Sam was in the womb, and now he's his biographer of ten years. So maybe your brain does develop more than we know at that age.

At the event, there was also someone from my NYU program. And I got interviewed by a journalist documenting the event. We'll have to see if that turns up anywhere.

I got my book signed by Sam. (see photo below). He was really nice and eager to listen to people's stories and connections to Bradbury. He's very into what he does, which is great.

I took some video...

New Podcast episode!

If you don't know, I do a podcast with three friends (back episodes: http://werenotjohn.blogspot.com/) called We're NOT John Stamos Podcast. This is part 5 out of 5 of episode 2. Episode 3 has been recorded, but is not animated yet.

You may have seen the beginning of this in a teaser, but keep watching for all new material!

Includes: Whales and planes, Elmo, Lost, and Scooby Don't.

The Met

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art today. I saw a lot of Egyptian things such as the Temple of Dendur (see photo above). I also went through South America, North America, Middle Ages, Greek, and maybe some others. Africa was definitely my favorite because of all the masks (see picture below). I was most looking forward to the Modern Art, but I wasn't too impressed. I guess I was expecting surrealist paintings and stuff. Instead, it was a lot of Picaso-style paintings and chairs. Is it bad I wanted to buy some of the chairs for furniture? And then I was like, Oh, wait that's supposed to be art, not IKEA floor models. I don't understand.

After the museum, I went down toward the Brooklyn Bridge and bought some work clothes because I don't have much summer biz casual clothing. I don't like clothes shopping, but I got 3 dress shirts and 1 pair of pants for under $80. That's pretty good, isn't it?

Camera Phone Photos

This post is a backlog of random pics I found on my camera phone. Enjoy.

Kiki getting in trouble
Oh yeah, I live with the cat from Early Edition (pic).

Hats of 23rd Street

This is in the train tracks. I'm pretty sure that's a human outline. You can see the spine and ribs. ?!?!?!

Burbank with a Baedeker -- the end

My interactive novel has come to an end, but I will need to edit it. And I also want to go back and add more comments. I should have done more, but what with the move to Jersey and all. That's the thing about planning a project a year in advance. Who knew this would be such a crazy month?

Anyway. You can read the whole novel (and continue to comment if you would like) here on this easy-to-use chapter guide. You must start with Chapter one, but on each page, you start from the bottom. The posts are numbered to help you.

Milo's Blog Chapter Guide

Thank you to all who participated!

more stolen vids from vidcon...

More videos I found on YouTube of the California online video conference.

1. It's Hank Green and Alex Day performing TOGETHER. And they are doing Rest In Peace from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How geektastic is that? The best part is where Alex gives Hank the lyrics and Hank laughs and says "Like I need the lyrics to this?" Didn't expect that.

2. Rhett and Link performing the Taco Bell folk song live:

3. Hank and John singing Put Stuff on Your Head:

Going Postal

I finally got the chance to watch the movie GOING POSTAL based on the Discworld book by Terry Pratchett. Here are some thoughts.

Casting. Brilliant. Unbelievable. (Click on actor name for video interview with actor about this movie.)

I haven't seen Richard Coyle in anything before but I thought I had because he looked familiar. That's exactly the sort of person who should be playing Moist Von Lipwig (see drawing above) because he's a conman--the sort of face that no one can recognize in disguise. And I thought his portrayal of Moist was pretty good. We get a little more sympathetic for him in the book but that's because we're in his head so much.

A lot of people we skeptical about Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari (most people's favorite Discworld character) because his hair is a blondish gray and Vetinari is supposed to have dark hair. But this is absolutely the only difference. He WAS Vetinari in this film, way more so than Jeremy Irons was in Hogfather.

Strangely enough, I thought that I was going to be let down with Steve Pemberton as Drumknott because he looks absolutely nothing like how I or most people seem to imagine Drumknott. But seeing him in the role, he ended up being my favorite casting choice. A little bit devious but believable as being the man who loves order and office supplies.

And of course, the most looked forward to, Andrew Sachs as Groat. Fantastic all the way through and embodied Groat without making me even think of Manuel despite the baffled expression Groat often wears.

Claire Foy was a little younger than I imagined Adora Belle Dearheart. But she played it really well--cold but with a soft side. And can I admit I didn't get the Adora Belle/adorable pun until the movie? *shakes head*

Speaking of adorable, Stanley was that. And Gilt was scary. Tamsin Greig (Black Books) was a great Sacharissa too. And Otto was in there too! So much detail. And it was good to see Ridcully and Angua too. I'm a little scared to see members of the Watch because they are my favorite and I don't want them to screw it up, but so far, their Visit, Nobby, and Angua have been quite spot-on in my opinion.

Writing

It was similar to the book. They had to change it a little to fit in 3 hours, but not as much as I expected. The book is heavy with themes. The movie focuses a lot on repercussions. Moist has dreams about all the people he's conned and how it's affected them. It's cool the way his dreams are in silent film style complete with the typed dialogue page. I don't remember the book being told in a letter the way part 1 was told as a flashback when Moist is explaining his case to Adora.

The story is naturally about trying to bring back the post office in a time of new technology. It's suffered under the Clacks, the Discworld equivalent of the internet. There are even parallels with a mobile Clacks and hackers, despite the fact that the Clacks is not digital--it is more like Morse Code.

They included the character Mr. Pony. He was pretty important in the second half, but I don't think the movie ever dropped the punchline about Pony Express. Why? It was my favorite pun the in the book.

Style

It's like a live action cartoon. The costumes are so perfect and the characters so exaggerated as they seem to be in Pratchett's satire. It's fantasy, but not serious and realistic like something out of Lord of the Rings where they try to make you believe in this other world and the humanity of the non-human characters. Pratchett's world is less gritty and more fun. His characters are 3-dimensional but have a cartoonish quality too.

And speaking of Pratchett, he gets a cameo in the end.


Trailer:

More pics

More photos from June 26th. Here's some links to the book launch with way better photos than I took and even some videos:

Limewire
Brooklyn Vegan

And here's a group photo from the Intrepid:

Welcome to Jersey

What a crazy week. Flew home on Fourth of July and saw fireworks from the airplane. Packed all day Monday. Spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the van with my parents going from Wisconsin to New Jersey. Thursday was nuts driving from Jersey to Rockaway. I could never drive that. I thought Manhattan would be hard, but in Jersey and Brooklyn, the traffic was heaving. Friday was more relaxing, doing some errands and having dinner with my Rockaway roommates.

It's the weekend, and I can finally relax in my new room. Whew. Full time job starts on Monday.

VidCon

This weekend was VidCon in Los Angeles. That's basically a huge conference where people get together to talk about video blogging and YouTube and that whole culture. They learn tricks of the trade in pannels and have concerts and presentations by all your favorite YouTube stars. Well, all right, all my favorite YouTube stars. Well, all right, not all of them, but a lot of them. Luckily, with so many people interested in video blogging, I don't actually have to attend the concert to see what's going on. Everybody's documenting the event. Here are some hilights so far...

Rhett & Link sing the Facebook song


Alex and Tom singing

NADWCON 2011

NADWCON 2011

July 8-11, 2011

website

I'm a big fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld book series. I'm making it a goal to read every book. Not only is it brilliant, insightful satire and hilarious, but there's also a sentimental element to me because I had a friend in college who died of cancer and one of the first things we bonded over was the Discworld series because he had read every book and I was only just getting into them.

Last year, they held the first ever Discworld convention in North America. I really wanted to go, but it was in Arizona. This year, they are holding another one, but this time in Madison, Wisconsin. Yes, a little irony there: when I lived in Wisconsin, it was in Arizona, and when I move to Jersey, it's in Wisconsin. But I figure it's a good chance to visit family as well--two birds, one stone, you get it.

And, unlike the Arizona one, guess who is also attending the convention, health permitting? That's right--Terry Pratchett. And suppossedly--again health permitting--he's going to be just hanging around chatting with fans, not hiding in a hotel room until it's his turn to go on stage. That's very exciting.

Now, I don't know where I'll be a year from now, but hopefully I won't blow all my sick/vacation time by next summer. And even if I can't go, it doesn't hurt to buy a ticket now because they do allow you to transfer it to someone else if you can't make it, and there will be plenty of people trying to go to this thing because they're putting a cap on at 1,000 people.