PEN World Voices Festival 2012: New Technology & Conventional Literature Strike a Balance

I had the total lit-nerdy thrill to attend some exciting events during the 8th annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. PEN American Center is the American chapter of International PEN, which is a literary and human rights organization that fights for the freedom of expression of writers all over the world. This year, PEN American Center's festival celebrated the ways in which literary expression expands across multiple artistic and technological mediums. The festival took place in various New York venues, from April 30th through May 6th, and included such authors as Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Jennifer Egan, Tony Kushner, Marjane Satrapi, Brian Selznick, and Salman Rushdie (who served as the Festival Chair).

From Margaret Atwood arguing for the internet as a useful literary tool, to Jennifer Egan discussing how Power Point worked conceptually and structurally in her novel, the festival events I attended proved that literature is evolving with (and not being destroyed by) new technology. The festival also showcased writers like Marjane Satrapi and Brian Selznick who are breaking literary conventions with their genre-challenging and medium-crossing narratives.

Highlights from my experience at the festival, after the jump.
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...What The Hell Was That?

"This is great practice for me b/c next week I'm hosting the trainwreck awards." - Streamys host Paul Scheer

Correct. 

[@FunnyOrDie]

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Now I've Officially Lost My Mind. Get it? LOST?

I did something I never thought I would do.

Let's quote the youtube page, shall we? SPOILER ALERT. In the video, spoilers for Lost. In the quote from my youtube page, a spoiler for the "story" of the "fan video." Wait. Fan video. No quotes. One day I'm gonna post some Fan Fiction I wrote when I was in middle school. Can't stop me. READ ON!

I can't believe it, but I actually did one of those things people do, where they edit a video featuring characters from a TV show to fit a slightly different storyline. I'm a loser. So.

The story of this video is:
-Sawyer & Kate have the whole best friend vibe going on, but he's clearly in love with her.
-Meanwhile, she falls for Jack, who is also way in love with her.
-When Sawyer kisses her, she's like omg and tells Jack and Jack forgives her, but Sawyer keeps pursuing her then uh oh, she can't help it and she & Sawyer totally do it all over the place (If I'm gonna act like I 12 year old girl by making this video, I'm for sure gonna write a description like one) and Jack sees them.
-Jack is all sad and wonders what went wrong and thinks back on the happy times, while Kate keeps on doing her thang with Sawyer.
-But then Jack tells Kate they have to go back and try again and they have make up sex and Kate says she really always loved him.
-Then Jack punches Sawyer, cause he needed to get that out of his system.
-Sawyer decides not to kill Jack. Nice Sawyer.
-Then Jack & Kate go start their lives together.

 I DID THAT. WHY.

For the record...I'm all about Sawyer/Kate. But apparently not at all about my own sanity. If I was, this video wouldn't exist.

Ah yes. The watermarks! There are watermarks everywhere cause ABC owns this footage, not me. It's all from their promo contest. I figured it was okay to use because it blatantly says who owns it. And there are a bajillion other Lost fan videos on the Internets. But they all suck and mine is awesome. Oh shit, sorry, that was 12 year old Muse being a pest again. Let me just smack her Me her-me it real quick.

Without further ado, complete with snazzy ABC watermarks, is the tale of a girl named something who made out with two totally hot dudes on some show.

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Talking Cat Cheats On Michael Emerson. With Puppy?!!?!

I DO WHAT I WANTS

P.S. Let's keep this ball rolling! Someone use What Puppy brilliantly, because, well, because I didn't. I used it to make it seem like a cat was cheating on Michael Emerson. I have issues. You have permission to punch me now.

Okay, also - How'd The Puppy Get Burned? I recommended taking at least 5 minutes before watch each video so you don't become desensitized by What Puppy just yet

Because there is also Old School What Puppy

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The Drama of Twitter

Every time the internet produces some new way for people to directly interact via text, it becomes immediately and largely inundated with idiots, proselytizers, rabid fans, hyper-sensitives- you're on the internet, you know. While Twitter may be valuable for a whole wealth of reasons that AIM, IRC, Trillian, Livejournal and all the rest may not- most notably the choice by Celebregeeks and some celebrities' PR teams to actively participate- it also brings along with it the usual trappings of potential internet douchery, at a rapid-fire 140 characters a reply.



There have been a couple hiccups I've experienced in twitter interactions so far, mostly over American Idol, but Proposition 8 provided an whole new backdrop against which to do battle. It is twitter, after all- everyone has a hashtag, everyone chimes in, and ChristianGuide (aka Brian) was no exception. In response to something written by ronpurtee, Brian said:

"@ronpurtee it Hurts me because if I don't agree I get labeled as a hater. Honestly I don't care but then they need to allow beastiality."

Well, I just couldn't help myself.

EC: @ChristianGuide There's a big difference between having sex with an animal and being in a relationship with a consenting, sentient adult.

To which he, of course, replied.

Brian: @eruditechick prove it look at the defenition I mean cmon are you a bigot against those who practice beastiality?

EC:@ChristianGuide Oxford dictionary: Beastiality: 2. sexual intercourse between a person and an animal. I think non-consensual sex is wrong.

EC: @ChristianGuide Beastiality constitutes rape, as the animal cannot consent since it isn't sentient. Gay relationships aren't beastiality.

Brian: @eruditechick so your calling people who practice beastiality rapists? who can prove the animal consents or not. your a bigot

I lost my temper.

EC:@ChristianGuide No, you're a bigot.

EC:@ChristianGuide You disagree? You're upholding bestiality over gay marriage? On what grounds? Does that mean sex with kids is okay too?

Because kids can actually say they WANT you to have sex with them. I guess that's good enough for Brian. I mean, since they have such a clear understanding of what sex is, and can actually consent to it. I mean, if we're giving sheep the benefit of the doubt based on no ability to communicate with humans, surely another human albeit one who is underage, who can verbally communicate (so I guess they'd have to be at least four years old, or so) should be taken at their word and, therefor, fuckable. At least, that's my understanding of Brian's argument.

To which he did NOT reply. However, he also said he was not surprised by the name calling and threats from the people who disagreed with him, because "thats terrorists nature."

And I couldn't help but ask for clarification, if people who disagreed with him here then terrorists.

Brian: @eruditechick no people who threaten me are terrorists I got death threats because I disagree?

EC: @ChristianGuide Are you asking me? I have no idea. All I know is that I disagree with you and so far your arguments have been lacking.

What a fucking douchebag.

You can find him on the world wide web:

Web: http://www.christian-guide.info
Twitter: twitter.com/ChristianGuide

According to his public twitter profile.

This is one of the most regrettable parts of the internet, I have found: The fact that it brings the backwoods into your backyard.
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Kings of Dot Comedy [Clips]

I recently discovered that A. Attack of the Show has been doing a Kings of Dot Comedy segment and B. Three sketch groups featuring people I went to NYU with have already been profiled on the show. I recommend Joey & David, BriTaNick & Harvard Sailing Team highly. All around, the guys involved are awesome, hilarious people and you should definitely check them out if you haven't already.

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

Joey and David

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

BriTaNick

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

Harvard Sailing Team

Fun with Trivia!

-Actress Laura Ramadei is featured in both the Joey & David and BriTaNick segments. She is also known as Laundry Room Girl.

-Actor Chris Lowell also makes an appearance above, in a clip from BriTaNick's Pillow Talk sketch.

-Joey of Joey & David went to NYU, as did Nick & Brian of BriTaNick and all but one member of Harvard Sailing Team. Another notable sketch group out of NYU around the same time? Derrick Comedy, currently shopping around the awesome Mystery Team.

-Another comedy duo out of NYU just getting its start - Renee & Trish.

-If you're on Twitter, you can follow Nick of BriTaNick - @NickKocher & Renee & Trish - @ReneeandTrish See full post

Paley Center's Dr. Horrible Event

Got to attend night #4 of the Paley Center Festival, celebrating Dr. Horrible, last night at the Cinerama Dome. It should be noted - this is the first ever web series to be honored by the Paley Center!

The evening began with an introduction to this year's festival - a montage featuring bits from each show with a panel this year. Our particular audience threw some cheers/applause to Dr. Horrible, Dollhouse, Pushing Daisies, Battlestar, plus lesser, but still existent cheers for Fringe, Big Love, Big Bang Theory & Swingtown. Boos for The Hills. Right on.

We then got treated to a clip chosen especially for us from an episode of the animated Superfriends that featured the Justice League & Legion of Doom battling it out in space.

Then Joss came up and said hi and we all watched Dr. Horrible together. In the DOME! Badass. It was AMAZING watching it with an audience on that ginormous screen. When it finished, the panel, featuring Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion, Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed, Joss & Zack Whedon began!

I tweeted throughout the event, but in case you missed it, all the highlights from the panel after the jump! And click here for photos from the event.

-Would Dr. Horrible exist if there were no writer's strike? Joss - "I doubt it"

-Shot the whole thing in six days & got run of the Universal lot because of Joss' good relationship with Universal's head of production after Serenity

-The same horse that played Bad Horse appeared on Angel and will appear in the next episode of Dollhouse! Bad Horse was created by Ben Edlund who had first pitched the character for Angel.

-Right after shooting Dr. Horrible's final shot, Joss went into a bathroom, put on a suit, and came to the Paley Center's 10 year Buffy reunion

-Nathan Fillion - "I can't tell you how much joy it brings to my heart that Neil couldn't make it"

-Nathan makes a mean 7 layer bean dip. And Neil does not!

-Nathan wouldn't mind having "The Hammer is my Penis" on his headstone

-Felicia Day had tonsillitis during the first read thru. The first read thru which Neil, Nathan and Simon Helberg all forgot about

Video of Nathan on his singing/acting ability

-Despite four years of opera training, Felicia was incredibly intimidated and didn't think she was good enough to be in Dr. Horrible

-All you really need to pull something like this off, says Joss, is the "spirit to do it"

-Sondheim is an "unavoidable influence if you are writing something that's good" - Jed

-Considering a sequel to Dr. Horrible that may appear on the stage

-Whedon brothers grew up listening to showtunes. Jed says this accounts for their popularity in high school.

-Zack wrote the Cap Hammer penis line and is "very proud" of it

-Felicia: "Dr. Horrible will be looked back on as the turning point for web content" & a "seminal work"

-The Guild was the first series Joss Whedon watched on the Internet & he asked Felicia for advice throughout the entire process of Dr. Horrible. She schooled everyone on Internet marketing, including agents/execs.

-Joss has yet to join twitter because he "thinks it might be dirty" though everyone on stage was encouraging him to join, Felicia saying "You would be a great twitterer!" (Nathan Fillion ended up joining after the panel!)

-The evil lab in Dr. Horrible is an actual evil lab, owned by one of Joss' friends. The tubes in the background all dispense alcoholic drinks.

-Simon Helberg is a black belt in karate

-Joss is performing his commentary song "Heartbroken" on a live "This American Life" coming up

-Joss, along with Drew Goddard, is of the belief that you have to be careful with what you reveal. They don't wanna blog during Cabin in the Woods cause they want everything to be a complete surprise. With Dr. Horrible, Joss made sure that the words "Tragicomedy" or "twist" were never used before the show's release, so the end would be a complete shock to the audience. Though Joss admits that the ending "made people hate me a lot"

-Trailer leaked because Jed uploaded it to Vimeo to test the player and "like a genius," named it Dr. Horrible

-They joked about Jed asking before they made Dr. Horrible "We're only doing this to be rock stars at Comic Con, right?"

-Joss was a huge NPH fan, saw him in Assassins, loved his voice & comedy chops. Turned out he was old friends with Amy Acker & sang at her wedding, which when witnessed, caused Joss to go into "Full Squee"

-How would Captain Hammer be different in a sequel? Nathan - "I would wear a darker outfit...to symbolize the darkness. And I'd grow my hair our and do a Pompadour."

-Felicia: "Trying to be one of the cool kids was never my goal." I love her.

-Felicia re: Dollhouse's 13th episode: "Sorry about that Twitter thing I did"

-Joss re: Dollhouse's 13th episode: "Wait til you see Felicia's role. And you'll have to wait."

-Lots of people see webisodics as getting a foot in the door in Television, but Felicia enjoys creating her own work that no one else would ever let her do

-Someone asked what happens if you bounce Wonderflonium? Joss - "It will cause me to Twitter"

-If you go to Myspace.com/darkhorsepresents, you will find a Moist comic & a Captain Hammer comic. On June 1st a Penny comic will be released and soon after, a Dr. Horrible comic

-Someone asked Joss why he went back to Fox for Dollhouse. His answer - "Eliza. I don't care, she's worth it." Awwww.

-Influences on Dr. Horrible? Joss says James Gunn's The Specials (I love that movie!), The Boys and Powers (I love that comic!)

And that about does it! I have a video from the event that I'll try to get up later and don't forget - I'll be live tweeting tonight from the Dollhouse panel! Be sure to head over to Twitter.com/loquaciousmuse around 7pm PST for live updates!
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PUPPYCAM

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