Zed's Dead

Just read an article on the Wall Street Journal with Conor Oberst (named the best songwriter of 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine). In this article he calls himself "a good thief". He goes, explaining that many of his lines and concepts are collected from aspects of conversations he has with friends or books that he happens to be reading. Last year I watched a Q&A with writer Chuck Palahniuk where he said something similar. He said that he would be at a party and overhear a conversation and then run to the bathroom to frantically write down what he'd just heard word for word. I find that I work the same way. If I here something interesting I'll write it down on my phone (notebook feature). It's a lot less conspicuous than carrying a paper and pencil with you and everyone will just assume that your texting someone.

Watched Breakfast At Tiffany's for the first time the other day. Love Audrey Hepburn, love the atmosphere of the movie, loved most of the script, didn't really like the pseudo-Hollywood ending. Didn't feel fitting but I suppose I'll have to read the book to see how Capote told the story. Also, really strange Chinese stereotype character seemed forced and weird.

Reached 61,000 words today. Trying to get to about 100,000 by the end of March so that I can start the editing process and hopefully have a first draft on my hands by late May. Love what I have so far.

Found a menial job to work at. Finished the hiring process this afternoon.

Speak easy,

Neil

PS - Watching Pulp Fiction

50k

Don't have a job at the moment but I have been writing on a daily basis. I just passed 50,000 words towards my manuscript but most of that is unedited. I feel like I'm probably about halfway done with completing my first draft. The work just doesn't seem to end.

The three hardest things I've come across while writing...

A. Content - What is worth writing about?

B. Editing - What was I trying to say? How am I going to turn this into something seamless?

C. Atmosphere - Did I include enough details to make this scene work? Did I include too many?

Here's a short list of stuff I like at the moment...

1. On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardener

This is both interesting and helpful. It's not very long either, running at around 150 pages. Sometimes Gardener's input seems tedious or obvious but most of what he says about being a novelist is worth reading.

2. A More Perfect Union by Titus Andronicus

Not as brutal as its namesake but Titus still pulls off some raw and fun punk hooks. This is the first track from their new album The Monitor, a concept album about the Civil War.

3. Batman: The Long Halloween (Graphic Novel)

The book that was the inspiration for The Dark Knight. I'm not that far into it right now but I'm finding it pretty interesting, despite the fact that super hero comics are not my personal preference.

4. Dungeons & Dragons

The game, not the movie. I joined a D&D group that meets every Monday night. It's a lot more fun than most people would think.

5. The IT Crowd

Clever English sitcom that I first saw on my flight back to from England. What really makes the show is the character Moss. Funny stuff.

Speak easy,

Neil

Schrodinger's Hard Drive

I went to the local indie cinema to apply for a job and I stupidly put the summer camp on my application. When I sat down for the interview the woman asked me if I was planning on going back this summer. I said yes because I'm incapable of lying to anyone that asked me a straightforward question. I suppose that's what they mean when they say nice guys finish last. Anyway she said she didn't want to hire me because she wants a year round employee. She gave me reference sheets to hand out to my previous employers but she said she would still have to think about it. Personally I could just find another job somewhere else but the real reason I want to work there is because I have a deep love for film and would work there for free just for the opportunity to get an all you can see Regal movie pass.

In other news my hard drive crashed and at the moment I have no idea whether I am going to be able to retrieve my information. I ordered a sata to usb cable that should be able to help me out with the process but I have yet to get that in the mail. For me, it is both alive and dead at the same time.

I am still dilligently working on my manuscript and just reached the halfway point yesterday (although I write out of sequence so my estimate could be way off). Currently the running list of people I plan on sending the first draft to is as follows:

Dell Smith, Liz Smith, Kathryn Hakala, Taylor Rose Marvin, Sara Hanson, Andrew Lippman, Ross Lippman, Robin Johnson, Laurie Murphy, Bradley Murphy, Daniel Barrett, Carolan Fleer, Kristina West, and Ariel Lauri. If I have forgotten you or if your name isn't on this list let me know so I can send you a copy.

Speak easy,

Neil

Sadie

Since I got back to the Cape, I've been locking myself in my room in the basement and writing a ton. My goal is to write at least 1,000 words a day and have been been pretty successful thus far. Yesterday I bought a bunch of post it notes so that I could visualize the outline for the segment of the manuscript I'm working on. My goal is to have the first 70 pages written and edited by the end of the month. I figure if I give myself more deadlines I will get more work done in the long run (whether or not I stick to the deadlines is another matter entirely.)

This is a picture I took of my brother fracturing his ankle. Judging by the look on his face I reckon it hurt quite a bit.

This is Sadie. Nice dog. Two different color eyes.

Speak easy,
Neil

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

some films

I've watched a bunch of movies within the past week and I thought I would share my thoughts on them.

Helvetica - More than just a documentary about a font, Helvetica explores the history of type faces, graphic design, and advertising. This was actually recommended to me by my technical writing professor. Click here for a great interview with the director of the film.

Nowhere Boy - I did like this film, but not as much as a wanted. Overall, it is about a boy named John Lennon who has a complicated family life. You do meet Paul and George along the way but the movie is not about The Beatles, per se. It looses focus often and keeps going without really giving any inkling on when it is going to end or peter out. Probably a good one for the Netflix Queue.

Paranormal Activity - First off, I would like to say that I love the idea that this is a low budget film that made a lot of money. Money can buy crane shots, car chases, and explosions but it can not buy good actors and a great story. With that being said, I do not think that Paranormal was a good film. Most of the film involves the audience getting to know two people, a young middle class couple named, Katie and Mescha. For such a slow burning film to work you really need characters that the audience can latch onto and some thought provoking dialogue to boot.

One more small problem I had with the film was how often Katie called Mescha by his name. It felt unnaturally and became really annoying around half way though. I know, stupid thing to get mad about but if you watch the movie again, please count how many times she does it and let me know.

Films on my to-see list:

Tarnation, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt. I

Speak easy,
Neil

The Rabbi.

Okay, so there’s this guy goes to the town Synagogue and says “Look Rabbi, my life is so miserable. My house is always a mess, my wife and I don‘t get along, and my children, they don‘t listen to me. Is there anything I can do to make my life better? I am at the end of my rope.” The Rabbi thinks for a minute. He strokes his long grey beard. He tells the man “Buy a goat.”. The guy says “A goat? How can this help me? Are you sure about that, Rabbi?” “Yes” the Rabbi replies. “Buy a goat and check back with me in one week.” The man follows the Rabbi’s orders and buys a goat from a local farmer. One week later he returns to the Rabbi. He says “Rabbi, I bought a goat but it‘s only made my life worse. I have to clean up after it and feed it. It has not helped anything.” The Rabbi nods his head and says to the man “Buy another goat.” The man can not believe what he has heard but follows the Rabbi’s word. One week later he returns to speak with the Rabbi. The man says “Look, Rabbi. One goat is hard enough but two goats, a wife, three children. All of this is too much for a man to handle. What do you think I should do Rabbi? I can not go on living as I do for very much longer.” The Rabbi’s response: “Buy another goat.” The man nearly pulls out his hair. He says “One more goat? I can’t handle two living in my house. I still have to provide for my family." “Do you trust me?” The Rabbi says to the man. “Yes Rabbi. I do.” The man goes out and buys a third goat. One week later he goes back to see the Rabbi. The man looks awful. Hasn‘t shaved in weeks. He smells terrible. Large bags under his eyes. He says “Rabbi. I am a serious man. I have followed your teachings since I was a young boy. I came to you for help. To make my life better but your advice has only made things worse. These goats, I can not handle them anymore.” The Rabbi smiles at the man and says “Sell the goats.” The man can’t believe his ears. He says, “What was that Rabbi?” The Rabbi says, “Sell the goats. Come back to see me in one week.” Sure enough, one week later the man returns to the Rabbi. The Rabbi asks the man “How is everything going?” The man shakes his head, laughs and says “My life is great, Rabbi. Thank you.”

Speak easy,

Neil