for all the writers out there.

There were a bunch of people outside the student union today handing out books. From a distance I could tell that they were novels and not bibles so I picked one up. The book was Wild Animus by Rich Shapero. Since I am well aware how expensive self-publishing costs, I asked the girl what the deal was. All the information she gave me was that Shapero decided to hand out free copies of his book instead of spending money on advertising. Made sense to me.

Standing in line for coffee I read the first few pages. I didn't think it was too bad until I started noticing that Shapero's style was needlessly wordy and full of adverbs. I saw a note on the back cover that said that there are 3 CDs that accompany the book and that "the novel serves as an emotional shell" for the music. I don't know about you but when I think of the word "Shell" I think emptiness. I think hollow. Not the best word choice. When I got to the library I hopped on a computer and googled the book. Here's some stuff I found:

- The book has been distributed (for free) throughout the US, Australia and most of Europe.

- The author was born into a rich family and serves as a board director for several different companies.

- The book has 84 one-star reviews on Amazon (out of 134 total reviews).

- I read this and then watched this and got tremendously annoyed.

And some notable comments I found about the book:

"I saw an ad on Craigslist in my city that is soliciting hires for the distribution of this book. I had to investigate and I found this article among many others that detail the curious tackiness of this whole enterprise."

"To make matters worse, Shapero has hired a number of people to distribute the already expensive box set everywhere. Shapero refuses to stop. He hired actors to dress up as “nerds,” and “wave signs and shout negative things about the book” to create controversy and interest. Evidently, he had the goal of distributing 1 million copies."

You can get the first three chapters of the book here if you want to check it out for yourself. All in all, I am going to conclude by saying that I am glad that popularity can not be bought. As a writer and a musician I see what Shapero is doing as tremendously masturbatory.

Speak easy,

Neil

Lost Ark

I am in the middle of writing a 10 page paper on Daniel Clowes' Wilson (amazing graphic novel by the way) and heard about this when I was listening to an interview with Clowes. A bunch of kids spent 8 years remaking Raiders of the Lost Ark shot for shot. They started when they were 10 years old. Sort of a real life Son of Rambow except even more fantastic. I think I'll watch the whole thing this weekend.

Speak easy,
Neil

Sanguis Circus

This weekend I am heading over to Rhode Island to take pics for Brad's band. They have a live show at a bar, three 45 minute sets. Should be pretty cool.

I created a new blog (tumblr is a blog site, right?) called New York Circus. It is a mashup comic where I take a panel from Family Circus and replace the caption with one from a New Yorker cartoon. I made the icon for the page last night in Photoshop. I am really proud of how it came out.

Got the idea while I was working on my Comic Art paper.

Only 2 projects and 2 tests until I am free to move back into my parents house and get a menial job.

Speak easy,
Neil

You don't have to understand everything...

Super busy at the moment (although I am usually busy, this is extra busy crunch-time finals week!). Moving back to Cape in 2 weeks. My friend Mike and I are setting up an office in his grandmother's basement to get work done (music, writing, animation, etc.) and I couldn't be more stoked. Pictures will be posted once we are settled. I've been making a lot of headway on the novel that has been stewing in my brain for the last 3 or 4 years. It's one thing to prepare for something and it is another to actually do it. I am really happy with it so far though. If you want

Found this picture online. Probably the funniest jpeg I have ever seen.

Speak easy,

Neil