You Are Not Dead: The Book, The Play, The Album, The Fridge Magnets

September 6, 2011 11:40 AM

You Are Not Dead: The Book, The Play, The Album, The Fridge Magnets
In 2008, Meg Holle and I released a book and an album to critical acclaim on Metafilter, Stumbleupon, and other aggregators. Since then, this demented Guide To Living combo has been downloaded over 26,000 times, including once by a Vancouver theater company who loved it enough to make it into a play, where representatives of the Fakeproject Corporation teach you how to be Not Dead. The play is going on stage at Vancouver Fringe Festival starting THIS FRIDAY, and is awesome. In honor of this honor, we've completely rebuilt this mind-altering book in online form with new life-mangling exercises, a Real Physical Book to buy, and a set of fridge magnets that will finally express your innermost thoughts, fears, and failures.

The original site remains online. I highly recommend reading the new online book over the old online one, but the album hasn't changed and you can download it as a zip here or get it over the next 12 days as I upload it to Mefi Music.

Role: musician designer artist 3D modeler

posted by fake (8 comments total)

Ack, forgot the posters for the play.

Rep1 - full, med, thumb.
Rep2 - full, med, thumb.

Enjoi.
posted by fake at 11:57 AM on September 6, 2011

You guys rock. There's nothing I don't love about this idea. Loved the original site (other than the side scrolling). Can't wait to dig through the new one. I'll be ordering the physical book too.

You look into doing one as an ePub?
posted by cjorgensen at 7:49 PM on September 6, 2011

This was awesome in 2008, it's still awesome in 2011. Thanks fake!
posted by arcticseal at 12:14 AM on September 7, 2011

Yeah, we could certainly do an ePub... perhaps we could offer it free as a bonus with the physical book. If anyone has expertise going from InDesign->ePub in a Not Horrible way, let me know...

Yah welcome, arcticseal.
posted by fake at 7:37 AM on September 7, 2011

Geez louise, this is a big damn deal. It's painfully hard to get attention for a release when it's announced, much less several years later, so this is extraordinary. You have a sleeper!

I can't imagine how satisfying and wonderful it will be to see your work translated in another art form and with a live audience to respond to it. Savor every moment of it! I'm truly happy for you.
posted by melissa may at 7:50 AM on September 7, 2011

Thanks, melissa may. I remember our conversations from when we first released. It is a weird kind of sleeper thing. The music was actually done in 2005, and sat for two years... then a year working on the book, and then a year of working with Black Pants on the play.

You're spot-on. I went to see the last night of the play right after the Russian thing happened to me - IIRC it was the next weekend - it was hugely emotional and definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Now it's going on stage again, and I only wish I could be there. Black Pants really transformed it into something new, and this second run is going to be much more powerful than the first.
posted by fake at 9:30 AM on September 7, 2011

Aw man, I assumed you were going to be there -- I am so sorry that is not the case. Videography just isn't the same. I'm glad you got to see it live at least once before.

I've been relistening to the record all morning and its staying power is no accident; it's still so fresh and lovely. We let the (small number) of folks following us know -- but they tend to be adventuresome types -- and I hope it gets a few more people in seats and helps the sleeper continue to awaken (sorry, I'm a congenital cornball).

I'm weirdly proud of you despite having nothing whatsoever to do with it and only knowing you through your music and online presence. And weirdly, it's made my morning, imagining how happy you must be that your work has engendered this response.
posted by melissa may at 10:01 AM on September 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

orsum
posted by Not Supplied at 9:41 AM on September 12, 2011