Joss Whedon's online comic book comedy musical!

Now that was a mouthful! Word from various sources is that Joss Whedon has written and is currently filming a short online film -- an oddball comic book musical with some fairly well known actors and well known collaborators.

Found this at the Whedonesque blog, best if I just let Joss explain in his own words:

So.....

The bag is catless.

During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each. Writing with me was my brother Jed, his fiancee Maurissa, and my other brother Zack. To my shock and surprise, we finished it. To my greater shock and surprise, we managed (with the help of many people I'll be praising at length soon) to drag it into preproduction (yes, just as DOLLHOUSE was given a start date two months away and all my comics were due.) And today, after a grueling week of writing everything ever while trying to be a producer, I got to start shooting. A musical.

This much I will say: It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to. And I'm having the time of my life.

"DOCTOR HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG"

Neil Patrick Harris.....as Dr. Horrible
Nathan Fillion..........as Captain Hammer
Felicia Day.............as Penny

And a cast of Dozens!

Coming soon.

-j.

I already forsee this as the next mega Internet viral hit -- and it's one I actually want to watch this time :)

Making things ...

Been working on many creative things -- everything but my writing it would seem.

Finished one woodworking project, with another two that can be done quite soon. Pics of those when I can.

The RPM project is proceeding -- haven't recorded much, but since I"m actually working out how to use Ardour, that's a triumph in itself. And it's making me think about my writing, which is a help in itself.

Will be posting a special TV feature her by Monday at the latest -- it's all ready to go bar the images.

Got to work myself into a better fiction schedule though ...

Things I know today:

It can still be dark in the morning in the middle of summer.

A mobile phone just isn't good enough anymore as an alarm (where's my Chumby!)

A three-year-old will usually tell you he hates things even when he doesn't, especially first thing in the morning.

My salary isn't going far enough, at least based on what I have to do every month.

If it can rain this summer, it will -- always.

My job really is office-optional -- when you sit at a desk using a web browser and communicating via YIM, you really can do that anywhere. If they want me to be there for a reason, they should invite me to a meeting or something.

The work day never goes fast enough.

Northern State are really, really good! Thank goodness for being allowed to listen to music at work, listening to their album "Can I Keep This Pen" and having my own private party :) Fun, fun, fun ... both poppy, good clever rap and great beats. Love the girls, wonder why they aren't more well known. This is the good and bad of the music industry right here -- it's great they can make a go of it themselves without a major label, but it's ridiculous they aren't high on the charts. They make music that would have commercial appeal -- if enough people heard it.

Apparently it always has to rain right when I'm going home. Always ... this summer at least.

The kids are both at an age where they're either asleep when I get home, or soon will be. Oh well, I guess there's always the weekend.

Mary Louise Parker is really hot, and Weeds is really funny. Except when it's dark and serious. Which works too. It can often be both at the same time, which is even better.

I always go to bed too late, even when I don't mean to.

Triple J Hottest 100 2007 -- Wikipedia style

The Hottest 100 contest was a week ago, and for the most part it was quite enjoyable. Really was surprised that Muse song Knights of Cydonia ended up number one -- it's not that I hate it, but I find it really so terribly average and a bit silly that I can't believe it topped the thing. From my ten picks, I have seven made the chart, which was quite good for me.

Anyway, I found today that Wikipedia has a page for the charts this year (and every other year) that is really better than Triple J's own list, full of annotations, trivia, and a helpful flag icon so you can see where each song comes from.

This year, there was 52 Australian songs, 20 American songs, 17 English songs, four Canadian (Tegan and Sara X2, Feist and The Arcade Fire), three French (Daft Punk, Soko and Justice), one German (Digitalism), one Scottish (The Fratellis, but not the one I voted for!), one Norwegian (Jose Gonzalez) and one Swedish (The Hives). Australian songs always do well in the list, but that wasn't always the case.

Anyway, check the list out, it's a great resource and lets you find out about all the bands and many of the songs (as far as I can tell, local band Blue Juice are the only ones without a Wikipedia page at all!)

I am so on this ...

I am so into this now for the rest of the month. Starting some basic recordings today ...

Enough already ...

Why is it that four day weeks after a holiday always end up feeling worse when they're done than regular five day weeks? Am I just being forced to fit five days of work into four, or is it something more sinister?

Just too much ... crap really ... there isn't much else I can or would say about it, but I really need to think of something different. A different direction to go, and I don't think I know what that is, or more likely how to get there.

Anyway, I've signed up for the RPM challenge. Day 1, not much so far :)

For the weekend, recording music and several woodworking projects. Thinking about Etsy as well.

This might just be a musical plan ...

Found out about this challenge recently, and it might just be something to do.

Basically, a whole bunch of people have pledged to produce an album in 29 days, in the month of February. It doesn't matter how you do it, what style your music is or even how professionally (or otherwise) you create the music, your goal is just to prodce a 10-track album (of at least 35 minutes) in the calendar month.

From that, you can send the music on CD to a central point, who will then put all the music online and give you an automatic audience.

Apart from the variety of music that will be produced, this may be something fun to do just to get myself thinking about music more, and producing something decent with the gear I've got (which isn't much, but I've amassed a few things over time).

Using mostly open sourc tools, including multitrack music recorded Ardour on Ubuntu, various instruments including my old electric guitar and whatever audio I can record, I think I can do something. Naturally, it wouldn't be "professional" in the truest sense, but it would be creative, original, and not too bad in quality terms (I hope!)

Much of this can happen of course because of the massively lower cost of recording decent music these days. Nearly anyone can have quality instruments, quality digital recording gear and other peripherals for a surprisingly low cost. It won't necessarily be pro level, but those with pro talent can certainly shine through.

Music has always been a side interest for me -- never the main thing but always something I've liked -- but this project would be a good way to focus that interest and produce something. I can't let it get in the way of my writing (maybe I could even make it related?), but it would be another creative project worth looking at.