Ode to Europa December 18, 2007
I became a bit obsessed with street signs in Europe this past summer, and thought I’d post my assorted collection of photos.
Love at First Sight December 16, 2007
I ventured east to Poughkeepsie this weekend, where I finally got to meet Didion.
Isn’t he spectacular?
Power of the Press
I failed to mention that our first How Do I Say This? episode of the new year is both online and airing on mtvU! How Do I Say This?: “I’m Gay” turned out spectacularly well, and on Thursday night we held a cast and crew screening in the Bridges Theater at UCLA. It was so awesome to see it on the big screen!
We also now have our very own mtvU show page - you can check it out here: www.mtvu.com/on_mtvu/howdoisaythis/
We’ve been getting some nice press on the site over the last month or two…
Advertising Age included us in a great story on Digital Incubator projects, as did Multichannel News.
And we got several hits when we launched our “I’m Gay” campaign:
The Advocate gave us a lovely plug early on.
AfterEllen had a nice write up in their blog, including posting one of our video clips. You can see it here.
JustOut.com gave us a nice mention on their blog on December 10.
She Magazine’s Multimedia page included an item.
And
The Windy City Times mentioned us in their National Roundup on November 7.
Facebook Crack and Other Musings December 5, 2007
At 1:42pm today I reached 100 friends on Facebook.
I don’t know whether to be proud or just embarrassed at how much time I spend on the stupid thing. It is the biggest time-sucker I have ever encountered, and I am fully addicted. It’s pathetic really. Oh, how I long for the days when television was the big evil time-sucking entity…things were so much simpler then.
Also, I finally caught my Tamara Jenkins episode of Life After Film School. They had me wearing so much make-up that I kind of look like a prostitute, albeit in a snappy outfit. I knew that coral color was a bad lipstick choice!
Tamara Jenkins in the LAFS Hot Seat December 2, 2007
I got to interview Tamara Jenkins a few weeks ago for Life After Film School, in conjunction with the release of her new film, The Savages (for which she just received a Spirit Award nomination for Best Director). Surprisingly enough, she’s only the second woman to be interviewed on the show, and the first for our cast. WTF?
She was incredibly friendly and kind, and had some great anecdotes about her early years on the New York art scene and in NYU’s film school. The episode premieres tonight on the Fox Movie Channel, and I’m sure will play many, many, many times over the next few weeks…
My Nephew, Didion, Boy Genius
Well, not by blood or anything, but I’ve claimed him and that’s that. He sent me a text message the other day with his photo. He’s very advanced.
MTV Improv on Demand December 1, 2007
My other big project, Improv on Demand (a website pilot for MTV New Media that I’ve been developing with David Harris, of HDIST 1.0 fame), is shooting this weekend. Today was set-up day. We’re using a big blimp light that’s filled with helium. It looks like an extravagantly large, puffy pill.
It floated up too near the ceiling rigging and popped, delicate flower that it is. So they patched and re-filled it. The blimp rides again!
How Do I Say This?: I’m Gay episode
The reason I have fallen off planet Earth lately is I’ve been knee-deep in too many projects, including the year’s first How Do I Say This? shoot. On November 10th & 11th we gathered on the UCLA campus to shoot the “I’m Gay” episode, written and directed for us by Silas Howard and Michael Bodie, with music by our resident composer Andy Hentz.
It’s amazing how much more labor intensive a musical is than a plain ol’ talkie movie (our dancers need how many days of rehearsal?), but the end result was totally worth it. We’re in post right now, and the final cut is due to mtvU on Wednesday, so anyone eager to see a big ol’ gay musical can get their fill of the action starting December 10th on mtvU and online at howdoisaythis.com.
And anyone wondering what exactly it is that an Executive Producer does, this photo should explain it all (check out that on-hands-and-knees floor cleaning action!):
