Rachel Lynn Brody's Blog, page 23

September 15, 2012

PLAYING IT COOL – Free on Amazon, This Weekend!

Cover art for PLAYING IT COOL


This Sunday and Monday (September 16th and 17th, 2012) you can download my first Edinburgh Fringe play, Playing it Cool for free on Amazon. (Apologies to those who’ve been patient since Friday night – a glitch in scheduling meant the promo didn’t go live as planned on Saturday).


Playing it Cool (a snappy romantic comedy) was written in 2003, and was my first produced play since 1999′s POST (a surreal tale about gun violence).


If you don’t own a Kindle and want to check out the play,  you can download apps for almost any platform on Amazon’s home page.


And as I said last time:


Playing it Cool is a one-act play about two friends, subtext and communication. It’s a two-hander that takes place in an apartment and a cafe, so might be of interest for those looking for audition scenes to read with a partner.


No big monologues here, I’m afraid, although both my later Fringe plays, Stuck Up A Tree and Mousewings (particularly Mousewings) will deliver on that front.


I’m listing Playing it Cool with Kindle Select for at least 90 days, so if you’re a member of Amazon Prime, make sure to put it on your list for a free read.”


Reviews of Playing It Cool:


Playing it Cool may not be the most ambitious play, addressing only a single issue. However, it contains much humour and is very well written. It will be very interesting to see a longer and more intricate play from the very promising Rachel Lynn Brody, at some time soon.”


- Philip Fisher, The British Theatre Guide, regarding the play’s premiere.


If you want to find out about awesome stuff like this ahead of time, subscribe to my Mailchimp mailing list. I won’t send stuff often, and won’t sell your email info, but I can promise at least a few promos ahead of the curve. And who knows what else.


But first, download Playing It Cool.

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Published on September 15, 2012 10:00

Sunday and Monday: Kindle Select Promo Days!

Cover art for PLAYING IT COOL


This Sunday and Monday (September 16th and 17th, 2012) you can download my first Edinburgh Fringe play, Playing it Cool for free on Amazon. (Apologies to those who’ve been patient since Friday night – a glitch in scheduling meant the promo didn’t go live as planned on Saturday).


Playing it Cool (a snappy romantic comedy) was written in 2003, and was my first produced play since 1999′s POST (a surreal tale about gun violence).


If you don’t own a Kindle and want to check out the play,  you can download apps for almost any platform on Amazon’s home page.


And as I said last time:


Playing it Cool is a one-act play about two friends, subtext and communication. It’s a two-hander that takes place in an apartment and a cafe, so might be of interest for those looking for audition scenes to read with a partner.


No big monologues here, I’m afraid, although both my later Fringe plays, Stuck Up A Tree and Mousewings (particularly Mousewings) will deliver on that front.


I’m listing Playing it Cool with Kindle Select for at least 90 days, so if you’re a member of Amazon Prime, make sure to put it on your list for a free read.”


Reviews of Playing It Cool:


Playing it Cool may not be the most ambitious play, addressing only a single issue. However, it contains much humour and is very well written. It will be very interesting to see a longer and more intricate play from the very promising Rachel Lynn Brody, at some time soon.”


- Philip Fisher, The British Theatre Guide, regarding the play’s premiere.


If you want to find out about awesome stuff like this ahead of time, subscribe to my Mailchimp mailing list. I won’t send stuff often, and won’t sell your email info, but I can promise at least a few promos ahead of the curve. And who knows what else.


But first, download Playing It Cool.

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Published on September 15, 2012 04:00

September 12, 2012

Hey Amanda, Can I Get My Dollar Back?

Dolla Dolla Bills, Y’all


I contributed to Amanda Palmer’s Kickstarter campaign because even though I don’t adore her music (I like a lot of singles, and have friends who see her in multiple cities, and was fortunate enough to see her show in NYC last year), I have a lot of respect and admiration for her as a hard-working performance artist who wanted to change the system. I wanted to play a small part in that change.


Today, I found out she’s allegedly refraining from paying fan musicians who have been invited to join her on stage during this tour. There is some controversy around whether this is a “controlled fan invasion” or “unpaid work.” @tomcollins76 quoted her to me on Twitter as saying, “If you really want to play music with me on stage, go for it…I just can’t pay you, it’s your choice.”


Will Ms. Palmer be playing for for free on these occasions? Or donating all ticket proceeds to charity? Or finding another way to put money in the pockets of performers invited to appear on her stage?


I didn’t support Amanda Palmer to support Amanda Palmer; I haven’t even downloaded my free digital copy of the album yet. I supported Amanda Palmer’s Kickstarter because I believe the entertainment industry models have got to change. This – asking people to do what they love for free (plus beer and hugs) – is not a change in the industry model.


Thanks to Ozzy/@karohemd for use of the image.


Musicians – even if they’re fans, even if beer and hugs make them happy – should not be exploited by other professionals for no money.


Especially not by a musician who sold herself as being out to change the face of the music industry.


By not paying musicians who are appearing on stage at a professional, ticketed gig (and I’m not referring to GTO here, as they are getting paid – this is about the fans who are joining her on stage for free), Palmer is recycling the same old model. It wouldn’t stand in SAG, it wouldn’t stand in the Director’s Guild, and maybe it shouldn’t be what the revolutionary darling of the social music industry – and with over a million bucks fronted by backers, this is absolutely an industry, even if just the early days of one – encourages.


It’s definitely not what I signed up to support. The Kickstarter parties (pictured left, and thanks to both Ms. Palmer and @karohemd for getting it to me) were private fundraisers. These are, from what I understand, public concerts.


So while I think the video for WANT IT BACK was incredible work from a visionary artist, and I admire this small-businesswoman-gone-largescale for her chutzpah, I won’t be supporting further fundraising campains by Palmer. And this makes me a lot more cynical about supporting other Kickstarter campaigns by “known” artists looking to “change the system.”


It doesn’t matter if you want it back/You’ve given it away, you’ve given it away,” Palmer sings in WANT IT BACK, and when I heard her song I aligned the sentiment with the intimacy an artist reveals when they create for an audience; the metaphor of a crowd-sourced piece of work and the artist who created it.


Not so much, anymore.


 


Edit: Two pieces I highly recommend:


http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/why-i-am-not-afraid-to-take-your-money-by-amanda/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lJQjihCp1E (Amanda speaks near Harvard Square)


 


 

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Published on September 12, 2012 15:12

The Favorites: 9/12/2012 Edition

I mark a lot of things as “Favorites” on Twitter, hoping to get back to them and see them later. Here are some of the pieces that wound up being quite interesting:


http://write-shoot-cut.com/2012/09/01/short-film-38-kinetic-edinburgh-2012-walid-salhab/|

@Neil_Rolland made this clip available after it was screened at Write, Shoot, Cut in Edinburgh. A gorgeous panoramic in stop motion photography, by Walid Salhab, a lecture at my Alma Mater (now Queen Margaret University, they’ve dropped the College). A captivating series of images. No narrative structure, but as a test piece for a film Salhab hopes to make in the future, it certainly shows off the dreamy, atmospheric qualities of the shooting technique.


Edinburgh’s landmarks – Waverly Station, the castle, the Balmoral Hotel, Leith, and the breathtaking views down closes and campuses make one choke up a bit. Salhab’s sample footage combines familiar landmarks and different lighting states, with recognized events including the Hogsmanay fireworks and traffic running over Arthur’s Seat in the daylight, into a montage of Kinetic Edinburgh’s view of this exciting city.


 


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/obama-clint-eastwood_n_1845457.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

The most retweeted joke of the Republican National Convention didn’t come from your run-of-the-mill tweeter – it was this graphic posted by the @BarackObama twitter feed in response to Clint Eastwood’s speech to an empty chair.


 


http://theferrymanswife.blogspot.com/2012/08/promo-prep.html?spref=tw

A fellow Queen Margaret student has recently released the above title, “The Ferryman’s Wife” (by Georgina Merry) via Kindle. Here’s her blog entry about the process of getting out word about the piece. Good for those looking at others’ experiences in self-publishing. The book itself looks like YA fiction with a supernatural slant.


 


And finally (because that’s enough interesting stuff to look at for one day’s entry), a great piece of information I snatched off Twitter the other day:


 



 


Thanks for reading.

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Published on September 12, 2012 10:45

September 10, 2012

Writer’s Week 2012


(Graphic courtesy of Emily Suess)

This year, I was invited to take part in Writer’s Week 2012 by contributing part of a round robin short story. The concept behind the round robin is described on Suess’s Pieces, and the short story is available for $1.39 to help raise money for the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.


 Within the wider context of Writer’s Week, which takes place September 10th-14th, there’s a writing contest, guest blog posts, and more – check it out!

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Published on September 10, 2012 04:00

September 8, 2012

Site Stats: Why Analytics Are Awesome


If you follow me on Twitter (@girl_onthego), you may have noticed that I’ve been testing out scheduled tweets over the last week or so. Ranging in frequency from every hour to every two or three hours, I’ve re-posted old blog entries. Here’s what I’ve learned from watching the statistics on my site:


 - Those blog entries I re-posted did indeed see an upswing in hits


- The search terms that were finding my blog started to include older terms – for example, older theater reviews were picking up new hits when they hadn’t for a while.


- Depending on the frequency of updates, my blog saw traffic as much as 2-3 times higher than it would have on days when no new entries were posted.


- Nobody on my twitter complained about the extra posts. (Critically important, as it’s not worth pissing off loyal readers to get a few more blog hits.)
 

The fourth bullet point brings me to the main reason I chose to try this experiment: on Twitter, the stream of information can be such that users who aren’t logged in at the exact moment of a new blog’s posting may not see the link, particularly if they’re in a different time zone (or on the other side of the planet).


Thanks to Google Analytics (different from WordPress’ Site Statistics information in that it runs far deeper and allows multiple perspectives on statistical data) I can see where my site views are coming from – and this helped me to understand that while I have friends and readers on all but one continent, chances were that they weren’t seeing my tweets about new posts. (Of course, the best way to guarantee you never miss a post is to subscribe to new updates, per the link to the side of this entry.)


The costs of the re-posting experient? Time; about ten minutes’ worth a day to schedule a re-post every hour. The mental effort was minimal – choosing what to post, and how to frame it for new relevance. The benefits were positive – I tracked retweets via my phone’s Twitter app, and found new followers along the way. Plus, it relieved some of the burden on days when I was too rushed or too stressed to write up a new post by keeping my blog entries fresh enough to continue showing up in search results.


Overall verdict:? Success.

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Published on September 08, 2012 07:18

September 6, 2012

What Are You Doing Monday Night? (Writer’s Workshop, Yo!)

BLOGGING OUT LOUD: How Reading & Reflection Improve Your Self-Published Work


8:30pm-10:30pm Monday, September 10th


As part of Writer’s Week 2012, Shoshana Martyniak and I will lead a free workshop session in strengthening one’s voice as a participant in the world of self-publishing. Want to participate? Select a short blog entry (under 500 words) that you like, but think needs some tweaking, and bring it to a Google Hangout to read and discuss with other authors.


Please make sure you have an account with Google+ and have tested at least one Google Hangout before the session Monday night. You will need a computer with video camera and microphone capabilities to participate. Some smartphones also support G+.


Schedule (All times EST):


8 p.m:                        Hangout Open.

8:30- 10 p.m.:        Readings & Comments

10- 10:30 p.m.:     Discussion/General Chaos


To register, email your blog entry to BloggingOutLoud@rlbrody.com along with your blog’s URL. If you don’t have a blog, submit any non-fiction piece under 500 words. Spaces are limited.


For more information on Writer’s Week 2012, click here. Or, check out my previous posts on self-publishing:



An Exercise in Editing, or, Why The Hunger Games Makes My Eyes Bleed
Seven Roles for the Self-Publisher
The Buying Habits of the Paid Readers of Self-Published Authors 
All Your Edits Are Belong To Us
Just Start
Conflicting Emotobooks?
You Can Self-Publish Without iUniverse (Interview by Emily Suess, @ Suess’s Pieces)

 


 

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Published on September 06, 2012 10:00

September 4, 2012

Music in Brooklyn: The Happy Problem

Saw this show out at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn a few weeks ago. Friendly crowd, with music described by Time Out New York as “a happy-go-lucky Hole ” (as quoted on the band’s website).


I found out about them through a friend who’s friends with the pink-haired blur at the microphone.



2012-08-11 22.24.19
2012-08-11 22.33.39
2012-08-11 22.31.29
2012-08-11 22.33.55
2012-08-11 22.34.28
2012-08-11 22.49.03

Check out their website at www.thehappyproblem.com.


 


 

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Published on September 04, 2012 07:04

September 2, 2012

Ode to Asylum (Poetry)

Was talking to @Cryptonym730 a day or so ago, and we were reminising about the #twittercation we took with the Asylum a while back. The Asylum, for those who don’t know, organizes itself around the Evil Gal herself, Mere Smith, and has as its members some of the most interesting, supportive and hilarious folks I’ve met on Twitter.


I don’t remember if she came on the twittercation with us (and @saalon, @modwild…and who else?) or not, but it basically involved the lot of us tweeting about utterly ridiculous things we’d do if we could get a cabin off somewhere and take a writing trip there, and didn’t have to be concerned about reality at all.


And so I give you a guest poem from @Cryptonym730.


 



 


Ode to Asylum

by @Cryptonym730


Ode to Asylum, Raise thou glass full of cheer

Thy minions all worship , Our Evil Lord Mere


My Ode to this eclectic, talented group

Hey! I just made this sentence rhymeth with poop


Poets  and writers,  Blogging talent galore

Algonquin  Round Table? (I’m such a big whore)


So you ask whatforeth, my cacaphonous  rhyme ?

This odeious, ode? This malevolent crime?


Miss Brody commissioned, thine limerick perverse

Nay! Mellifluous, enchanting,  Shakespearean  verse


She told me “my prose read like hardened cement”

Then Girl_on the go,  well she got up and went


My mission is crystal, To honoreth thy team

We need a commune, a haven,  a Walden wet dream


Create a Wonderful, rainbowey, fantasy place

Like Cocaine Coladas,  Kate Upton  >My face


Muse’s and freedom,  inspiration won’t end

With old vine’s and dancing and “My little friend”


A  “Mere” stones Thoreau away is where we’ll abscond

It’s Evil incarnate, On A-Sy-lum Pond

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Published on September 02, 2012 08:20

August 31, 2012

Fast Thoughts: The New Normal


Lots of one-liners and snarky comments, quick dialogue – the sort of thing we expect from Ryan Murphy (The O.C., Glee) - and not that it isn’t entertaining – but Ryan Murphy could easily cut the first half of the pilot episode  without losing necessary story points.


As it stood, it wasn’t until potential-surrogate-mom  interviews with potential-gay-dads that the show starts to feel like it’s moving somewhere, and we could have picked that background up through the episode’s later actions.


That said, the first half of this pilot episode is where much of the critical, reflective meat of the episode resides, laying out Murphy’s thesis for the show: that “Abnormal is the new normal.” There are some terrific moments here.


Example:

Kicking off a joke that defends “non-traditional” families with examples including Barack Obama and Mariah Carey, a scene follows where different types of families (IVF/single mom, mixed-race couple with hearing impairments, and a woman with a genetic disorder)  deliver their stories to the camera.

The diversity of the cast is not impressive (and if audiences and the media are going to call out GIRLS for that flaw, shouldn’t a show based on the idea that diversity is normal do a little better on this one?), but hopefully the characters will become a little more rounded as they have time to grow in the next few episodes. Example:

Early in the episode, when the Little-Miss-Sunshine type wise-beyond-her-years daughter of Potential Surrogate calls her great-grandmother out for bigotry. And then unfriends her.


The show also moves into some extremely uncomfortable ground regarding the commodification of women’s reproductive rights, and while Murphy’s heroes are motivated by their desire for a family, seeing multiple men sitting and discussing what makes a woman’s reproductive abilities “desirable” is slightly uncomfortable, given the current national “dialogue” on women’s agency and rights in reproductive matters. This kicks off around when the IVF (Salesman? Doctor?) compares potential surrogates to EZ Bake Ovens (with no legal rights to the cupcake).


If a combination of Raising Hope and Modern Family appeals, check out the pilot episode on Hulu and let me know what you think.

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Published on August 31, 2012 12:29