Unacceptable!

to suggest songs for the It's Kind of a Funny Story Movie -- comment on this post

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Thanks everyone for continuing to suggest music for It's Kind of a Funny Story. The movie has been pushed up to a late 2010 release date, so we're that much cooler with regard to the Mayan apocalypse, and the cast is now filled out. So I present...

The It's Kind of a Funny Story Movie/Character Chart (images via MTV Networks) [filmmakers Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden]
Actor	Character	Based on...
Keir Gilchrist	Craig Gilner	me circa 2004
Emma Roberts	Noelle Hinton [thanks to marika_k, who reminded me in a comment below what her last name was --11/20/09 ]	fantastical ideas of what women can be [picture does not exist]
Zach Galifianakis	Bobby	real Bobby in the hospital [picture unavailable]
Zoe Kravitz	Nia [never thought up a last name for her]	an ethnically interesting ex of mine -- I'm scared to ask to post her picture
Viola Davis	Dr. Minerva	an excellent psychologist in Park Slope, Brooklyn; I'd feel weird bugging her for a picture
Lauren Graham	Craig's Mom [Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden named her "Lynn" for the movie]	Mom!
Jim Gaffigan	Craig's Dad ["George" for the movie]	Dad! [picture in negotiation] [things do not look good]
Thomas Mann	Aaron	Aaron is an amalgam of two friends of mine, but considering the adult content of the book, I don't think they want their pictures posted -- but that's pretty much exactly how I pictured him
Aasif Mandvi	Dr. Mahmoud	A considerably less-dashing psychologist in Park Slope who I saw for a while, who always forgot what I did for a living and asked me at the start of every appointment and then said, "A writer? Wow! Tell me when you write a best seller! Ha ha!" Ha!

I have sent off the soundtrack suggestions to the producers, so we will see what ends up on the movie soundtrack! I want to emphasize two new pieces of music that I found recently that I think are excellent:

• Babybrother - "Go For It"
  
  I saw these guys playing last month in Manhattan. They're great! Carrying on the antifolk tradition. Their song "Go For It" fits really well with the ideas of the film. Check it.
  


• Casey Holford - "On The Map"
  
  This was suggested to me by Lach, whose song Drinkin' Beers With Mom is a big one that I am trying to get in the movie [parental advisory on that track!]. I saw Lach perform recently in Manhattan --
  
  
  
  -- and what can I say, the legend grows. Go participate in his universe now!
  
  As for Casey Holford, Lach read IKOAFS and he was right: Holford's song "On The Map" jibes really well with the book. Check the lyrics:
  
  

  on the map i've got a map upon my wall; it shows me how to get around it's got red and yellow veins; it's got trains and arteries and a compass and a key for all the places left to be i bought that thing three months ago, and it's already obsolete a thousand neighborhoods in blue, and all the hospitals are red and all the parks and all the cemeteries look about the same and my block's a fingernail, and the airport is a brain two inches to a mile scale, just like up in the aeroplane; it seems to me that i can see a face if i just trace the lines. and in that face, i can almost make out my place: it's just dust in the eyes. you can't walk very far, if all the bridges are locked down you could walk across, but they won't let you into town follow the exodus, walk on top of the cars, i can mark you with a tack, i can show you where you are. the lines are tied in knots, everybody's calling up to say the same thing in stereo, a chorus on the speakerphone but on the map, a time zone is just a different page we took the window seat, and we won't look away. six inches to the battery, and sixteen down to rockaway i'll lay my head up in the park; i'll rest my feet down in the bay i can't get to you on the phone; i'll just send a card instead. the post offices are marked with little dots of red.

  
  
  Buy Casey Holford stuff here. (And here's his Myspace.)
  

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Speaking of maps, a reader named Holly made this fantastic IKOAFS-based mask.



This gets added to the growing collection of reader art. If you have art based on the book that you want featured on the site, please contact me! Thank you, Holly.

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Now: can anyone reading this make a cheap, cool music video?

The Wormwhole songs that I made when I was 13, as featured in Teen Angst? Naaah..., have been on my website for a while. But they're not on YouTube, and I want to put them there.

At first I just wanted to slap an image of the book on the song and post it, but then I realized I'd be wasting an opportunity to make a music video! I don't have Final Cut Pro, nor do I know the first thing about making videos, but if you'd like to direct a music video for Wormwhole's song "Pants in the Mail", please tell me. (Note that there are no lyrics.) My hope is to end up with something as cool as "Attack of the Killer Turtle". My ideas for the video are:

1. smashed acoustic guitars:


2. the cover(s) of Teen Angst? Naaaah....: [plus there will be a new cover with the new trade paperback edition in 2010!]


3. penguins:

Anybody? [I intentionally didn't mention anything about financial compensation when I posted this in the hopes that someone would help me out for free. As no one has, I now declare: I am willing to spend $300 on this project. -- 11/20/09]

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I have been promising myself for the last few blog entries, since the movie was announced, to write about more "serious" topics and not just do movie and music updates, but then cool things keep happening and I've had to go back on my word. I am ADAMANT that the next blog entry will be more serious. But while I'm still in this mode, I'm going to clear out the links and stories that have been amusing me over the last month:

• "The North Face vs. The South Butt: Entrepreneurial Teen Undaunted by Lawsuit Threat"
  
  This is really ridiculous -- an 18-year-old from MO with the wonderful name Jimmy Winkelmann is continuing to sell clothing labeled "The South Butt," with a reverse "North Face" logo, despite being threatened with legal action by North Face. Here he is on Facebook and Twitter, pushing for the holiday season.
  
  I like his look, too:
  


• "Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea"
  
  This Mount Bosavi stuff blew my mind -- just as we're discovering water on the moon, we're also finding kangaroos that live in trees and fish that grunt! What a world! Seriously, check out the slide show, you will not be disappointed.
  
  
  [the world's NEW largest rat]
  
  
• While we're on the subject of rats, I was never an "I Can Has Cheezburger" cat-picture fan, but I can't resist this:
  

Unacceptable!