new web series: Noah and Dru's Novel

Hey friends,

I've recently been collaborating with a few friends of mine on a new web series called Noah and Dru's Novel. It is about two friends co-authoring a novel together.

In a departure from my usual self indulgence, I actually stay behind the camera on this one. Noah and Dru are played by the very funny Noah Forman and Dru Johnston, two-thirds of NYC comedy powerhouse The New Deal and shot by my hetero life partner Isaac Ravishankara. We're also honored to be a featured original series on UCBcomedy.com.

Take a look at your leisure, eh?

Noah and Dru's Novel - Episode 1 - Ground Rules



http://www.ucbcomedy.com/videos/play/6180/noah-and-drus-novel-ep-1

Love,
nate

FREE improv show this Monday at The Creek! 8PM! UCB Harold team folks!

Hey friends,

So, I've got an improv show coming up! I'm pretty darn excited about it. This is the deal: I'm going to be doing a show this Monday Feb. 9th at 8 o'clock at The Creek (in Long Island City) on a team with some folks who are on Harold teams at UCB. And the show is FREE! In case you desire to know still more, here are additional words:

The Creek is going to start doing this thing called The Kaleidoscope, a night of improv comedy with teams made up of individuals from different experience levels who have never performed together before and who will (potentially) never perform together again. Here is the team I'm on:

Kevin Hines (The Scam)
Brian Faas (The Fucking Kennedys)
Paul W Downs (Whorenado)
Grace Aldrige (Safeword)
Sarah Claspell (In A World)
Brian Barrett (Bastian)
Nate Dern (Swartzlander)

And here is the Facebook page with more info:
http://tinyurl.com/bs948o

Anyway, I'm excited/nervous. Come if you feel moved by the spirit.

LOVE
nate

QLP 02.01.09 Does free will exist?

Hey amigos,

Does free will exist? That's the question on this week's Quarterlife Pounder. Kellen discusses Tich Naht Hanh's concept of "habit energy" and Colby sings a song called "plea from a wanton addict" as a response to Harry Frankfurt's "hierarchical mesh" theory of human desire and free will. Fun stuff!



ULO (unidentified loving object)
nate

Quarterlife Pounder 01.25.09 Is steadiness a good thing?

Hey friends,

New QLP!



Love,
nate

Strong Takes: funky president

Hey Internet Buddy,

After a brief hiatus, Strong Takes is back and better than ever. Earlier this week I electronically published a piece called "funky president." Please enjoy.

Wait wait wait . . . you've never read Strong Takes before? It is a pretty cool little thing. Here is the deal: each piece starts with a real snippet of news from the mainstream media and is then followed by the author's original riffing on that idea. Perhaps a fake continuation of the story, perhaps a scene inspired by the content of the article, satire, parody, whatever. Hopefully its funny. Then, and this my friends is the really cool part, you the reader have the opportunity to have a Stronger Take. That's right, you can add what you think would have been a funnier riff on the original news clip, or even add to what was already started by the other author. Earlier this week another writer had a piece about imagining what the letter that George W. Bush left for Barack Obama in his desk would have looked like. I had a Stronger Take where I imagined my own Bush letter. It was fun. You, dear reader, could have this type of fun. Just go visit Strong Takes. I write a biweekly piece under the alias Mello Costelvis.

GRATITUDE,
nate

Quarterlife Pounder 01.18.09 Barack Obama?

Hey fre-fre-friends!

New QLP! Colby sings a song called "Oba-ma-ma!" Exciting!



Obama!

nate

01.11.09 Who is your favorite fictional character?

Hey children of the world,

New Quarterlife Pounder is up. New segment called QLP Fake News, a commercial about Nutrament, and Colby sings a song called "banana, mint, pine tree." Here ya go:



LOVE TRIBE,
TRIBE LOVE,
nate

Quarterlife Pounder 01.04.09 Why do we make New Year resolutions?

Hey friends,

I'm back in Brooklyn! But before I left Colorado, I finished recording this week's Quarterlife Pounder. I've just returned from the editing studio (the desk in my room) and now I'm at the upload port (my roommate Isaac's room...for some reason the internet signal is stronger in his room). Please enjoy:



LOVE MOON CHEESE,
nate

Quarterlife Pounder 12.28.08 What do you like about the holidays?

Hey friends,

This week's episode features an interview with my mom and grandma and a live performance of "Point Free" by Colby Barone.

Also, this week's QLP is a loooooong one. Let me knoooooow if you think 8 minutes is tooooo loooooong fooooor a webshooooow.

Here ya go:



LOVE MARTIAN,
nate

Quarterlife Pounder 12.21.08 What would be the movie title for the story of your life?

Hey friends,

Quarterlife Pounder is online!



LOVE YAMS,
nate

Quarterlife Pounder 12.14.08 What quality do you want to cultivate in yourself?

Hey friends,

Sorry this one is a little late. I haven't gone to bed yet, so in my book that still counts as Sunday:



Second night in a row I've been up past 5 o'clock in the morning. Working on video projects both nights. Spirits are high. Lack of sleep isn't a bad thing when your waking hours are spent doing what you want to be doing. Spirits are high. Our shoddy internet connection has made tonight's uploading process take about two and half hours, but hey, ain't no use in crying. Spirits are high, spirits are high.



LURV,
nate

this is it, my 2008 Project Direct submission

Hey friends,

Space travel! Memories! Skateboards! Lip balm! Cheeseburgers! All this and more in my 2008 Project Direct submission, "this is it":



Love gobble gobble gobble,
nate

new Strong Takes: Help from the Homeless

Hey friends,

Every two weeks I write a piece for Strong Takes, an online publication featuring comedic news-based commentary. I have a new piece posted. It features the current economic climate, advice from a homeless person, and a cute picture of a guinea pig. Check it out:

help from the homeless

Let me know what you think!

Love,
nate

Quarterlife Pounder 12.07.08 Who is your favorite band?

Hey friends,

The second episode of Quarterlife Pounder is here:




Gulps of love,
nate

Hot Coffee Show - behind the scenes vid: a trip to the psychic for some financial advice

Hey friends,

Not all of the scenes that we do at Hot Coffee Show make it into the podcast (look for a new one this Monday, by the way...). Here is a special behind the scenes video of one such scene where Jim Cramer makes a visit to his psychic for some financial advice:


Hot Coffee Show: behind the scenes - episode 4 (count darkness) from Robbie Mitchell on Vimeo.

LOVE
nate

Nate on Jesus Lane - the last one

Howdy friends,

I recently finally finished the last installment of the Nate on Jesus Lane video log I did during my year in Cambridge. Thirty-three installments in total. Here is the last one:


Nate on Jesus Lane - #33 - the last one from Nate Dern on Vimeo.

Everlasting gobstopper,
nate

Stand-up tomorrow (11/26)! Also, New Hot Coffee Show! Ep. 4!

Hey friends,

Reminder, if you're in New York City, I'm doing stand-up tomorrow night. Would be good to see you there! The details...

WHEN: November, 26 2008 - 8:00P (get there at 7:45 to make sure you get a ticket)
WHERE: Stand-Up NY
236 West 78th Street
New York City , NY 10024
COST: $15

Also, Hot Coffee Show episode 4 is up and online! Check it out out out:

Hot Coffee Show, Episode 4

ROCK
nate

new Hot Coffee Show online! Episode 3: When You Coming Home?

Heeeeeeeeeeeeey friends,

New Hot Coffee Show is online! ---> Episode 3: When You Coming Home? --> Check it out! You might just hear me do a SPOT ON Obama impression (not actually that good, don't get your hopes up, but still worth checking out).

http://hotcoffeeshow.com/

I hope you are having a nice day.

nate

somewhat of a blog...

Dear friends,

I’m going to be writing a blog. This is it, actually. My blog, I mean, not it in some sort of larger sense. You know, not like, “This is it” or “Well, there you have it” or “I’ll take it! And a side order of fries!” This isn’t any of that. This is just my blog.

This past year I tried to do a video log, or vlog. Originally I had planned on doing my vlog somewhat regularly. That didn’t happen. Instead I would put off doing it for a long time, then have a temporary spurt of inspiration where I would do several vlogs in a few days at the expense of my academic work and personal health, only to slip back into a long period of vlog inactivity, one of the saddest types of inactivity in my opinion. One reason for this inactivity was my own doubting of my vlogging ability. I had set some lofty goals; I believe in the first entry I mentioned using the vlog to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. That was hard to live up to and it didn’t happen. Not in the way I thought it would, anyway. And then I felt a pressure to be funny with the vlogs, which led to me wanting to rebel against having to be funny by attempting to be earnest (not that those two things are opposite or mutually exclusive), which in turn led to me looking back on those attempts of earnestness (which usually took the form of a voiceover) and cringing. Not that being earnest should necessarily induce cringing, I just think that I overcompensated a bit and perhaps tried a little too hard; at one point in a video about spending the day in London I said something about “just wanting to look for moments of authenticity that I could relate to” - what the heck does that even mean?

Still, I learned a lot from doing it. In fact, seeing as how I’m still working on it, I’m still learning. I’ve got a few more ideas for vlog entries I want to make. You can see the whole thing here:

http://myspace.com/nateonjesuslane/

All of this is to say that even though it (again, not it in any larger sense, just my vlog) didn’t exactly turn out how I had originally imagined, and even though there are a few entries that I would probably be embarrassed to watch with other people in the room, in the end I’m glad that I did it. So, I’m going to do it (some sort of blog) again.

At this point I’m not sure what form this blog will take. I’m sort of an egotistical bozo, so I imagine I’ll make a lot of self-referential entries about new comedy videos that I put up online (a selfish blog, or a slog). And recently I’ve been writing news based commentary for Strong Takes (http://strongtakes.com/) under the alias Mello Costelvis. I’ve been getting a kick out of it, so I might do some entries on current events (news bloggin’, or noggin). I might offer some personal reflections (personal blog, or pog) and I might talk about my favorite hobby (Pogs). I also might get busy with work and life outside of the blogosphere and never write another entry. We’ll just have to see.

So. Welcome to my blog/slog/noggin/pog.

In short: this is it.