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!