Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
How about combining flight and superspeed to get superfly?
  

    
Len, superfly sounds kinda like a parody superhero...

Daniel - That is *insane*. I love it. Lost it at the electronic 'Ha ha
ha' and then I was gone... good thing after yet another 11-12 hour
work day. Gah.

Neil - Too bad the Ribena pastilles weren't what you're looking for,
but we had to give it a shot. Oh well. Hope you enjoy the other stuff
though. (Rowntree stuff, but I guess they've changed names/packaging a
bit.) And Xmas things would be wonderful. ^_^

Jinx - Hope you'll feel better soon! (At least you didn't get hit by a
field hockey ball in the eye like a friend of mine... sorta ok now,
but waiting to see if they need to operate to clear stuff up. *crosses
fingers*)

Miyazaki films - Why is it that most people seem to have seen Totoro?
Anybody seen Kiki or Laputa or Nausicaa? ^_^; They're all great, but I
have a special place for Laputa in my heart, cos it was the first one
I've seen, in the theatres when I was about 12, and the theme song is
just beautiful (the vocal version at the end of the movie is called
'Kimi wo Nosete'). Joe Hisaishi writes the music for most of Miyazaki's
films... I don't think the films would be quite what they are without
the music. *hearts*

-- Mimi
  

    
Neil- Cincinnati style chili seems to be something that grows on you,
or you are born around and grow up with.  It is much thinner than most
chilis, more of a sauce than a chili really.  The beef bits are very
small, and instead of the sauce part being tomato-y, it is made with
chocolate.  It also has nutmegy and cinamony tones to it, but it is one
of those silly "secret" recipes so I'm not sure.  But some days I
swear it smells JUST like pumpkin pie to me.  It is put over spaghetti
and has cheddar cheese on top to make it a 3-way, and onions and/or
beans to make it a 4 or 5-way.  If spaghetti isn't your thing, we make
coney hot dogs too.  It has far too much fat and salt for reasonable
human consumption, but I swear we put something highly addictive in it
because some regulars come in twice a day.

I can't believe that I can talk about Skyline Chili for so long!  Oh
well.  (That just means I really must get a job elsewhere.)

re: superpowers.  I wish I could freeze time for a bit.  Like times
when I am very tired, and need to be somewhere in half an hour.  I
could sleep until I am properly rested, and then start time again, and
merrily head to where ever I need to be.  I would never be late for
class again...I could just walk across campus at my own pace with
everyone else standing perfectly still.  My only worry would be that I
would continue to age during these times, and look like I was 40 when I
turn 20.  But just think...cleaning your house, taking an 8 hour nap,
reading a book, doing your homework, and taking a long bath all in
between a couple of seconds...
  

    
There is no chocolate anywhere in Cincinnati-style.  Or nutmeg.  It does,
however, have cinnamon.

 3# ground beef  
 2 large onions diced  
 1 toe garlic minced  
 1 6oz. can tomato paste  
 1 qt. water  
 2 dashes black sauce  
 1 T. chili powder  
 3 bay leaves  
 1/4 t. red pepper  
 1 t. cumin  
 1 t. allspice  
 1/2 t. black pepper
 1 t. cinnamon
 1 T. vinegar        

Please do not put chocolate in it.  It makes me cry.  :)
  

    
Daniel--yes...that link was just goofy enough for me!!  But just to
add to your warning...the ad banner at the top of the video was rated X
(or at least when I went it was), so don't go to this link while at
work or school or something.  (and I may be a terrible speller, but it
always bothers me when "masturbate" is spelled incorrectly.  Maybe
there was a reason behind it, but it just made the dirty porn link into
a stupid porn link.)    
  

    
203:  I like to take girlfriends to Skyline and ask them if they want a
three-way.  ;)
  

    
Ah, James.  I would agree with you on general Cincinnati style chili
recipes, but I was referring to Skyline in particular.  Didn't mean to
offend ya.  I know how passionate people get over this chili. 
Personally, I have come to believe that the secret ingredient is
herion.  I am still convinced that there is certianly chocolate (at
least in Skyline's recipe), and note that I said "nutmegy tones." 

I think your recipe sounds better.  Less like "sauce" and more like
chili.
  

    
I have no idea where this recipe came from.  I got it from my mother who
learnt it from my father.  It tastes just like Skyline's.  Trust me on
this.  I live out in DC now and this is my only recourse when I just have
to have a hit.  :)
  

    
Len--I was once too stuck in that area of Florida.  Not a very fun
place for an 8 year old...I got through it with a nintendo and lots of
air conditioning.
  

    
James:

www.skylinechili.com and 1-888-SK-CHILI...they will mail order the
poop straight to your house...bleh...

anyways...I'm going to stop dominating the conversation now!
  

    
Neil~
> you know, your disaster-proneness is practically a super power
>in itself.

Yeah but it doesn't do anyone any good, can't stop evil and while pain
is relative and all, it's starting to be a pain in the butt.

Michelle,.....well I'm thinking your right, I get breaks and you
knots. Let me know if you want to trade, casts are starting to annoy
me. It's got to do with my cats I think, broke my ankle tripping over
one, and now my toe, chasing an other, but since I was trying to dose
her  eyedrops, I can't blame her for running.

Mimi, I've seen Kiki, Laptua, and Nausicaa, and like them all, but I
think in all actuallity that it's the dust balls in Totoro that sold
me.  Kiki is lovely, and just watching any of them can make me smile.
I do have all the soundtracks and I love them, makes roadtrips a lot
of fun.

Ack Chocolate in chili??? gotta try this thanks for the link

Jinx 
  

    
Some of the coolest things I think would translate into neat
superpowers were the skill descriptions from a weird rpg called HOL
(Human Occupied Landfill).  Had things like Fix Toaster with Paperclip
and Sudden Philosophical Tangent.  Crappy game but hilarious book.

Angelina -- Oops.  Forgot about the banner, sorry.

Mimi -- Yeah, have seen Kiki, liked it.  Like Totoro better.
  

    
Jinx-- I dunno... I think chocolate in chili sounds pretty good.. ever
have the Mexican dish mole poblano?  That's got chocolate too.  And
how about that chocolate-based sauce that Juliette Binoche served over
roast whatever in Chocolat?  Mmm.

Neil--the characters you don't like tend to be pretty repulsive
physically as well as ...psychically? emotionally?  The Thermidor
villains were pretty villainous.
  

    
Len -- really? St Just and Robespierre were both based on portraits,
and I don't think either of them were physically repulsive. The fan in
Collectors is just a fan. The Pontifex is pretty gross, but I just
based him on a handful of the larger popes.

Angelina -- my thanks.

In my experience chilis are pretty robust, in what you can put into
them, and everybody has a rule as to what you can and can't put in. The
chili recipe in American Gods has dill in it, which made my english
editor phone and complain.

Mimi -- I'm thrilled you did give it a shot. & the other stuff was
snatched up by the kids & I've not seen it since (sigh).

I had dinner with Joe Hisaishi once -- very nice man.
  

    
Jinx -- I know. I remember you telling me about your nickname and
disasters at -- was it the Florida con?

I haven't done a small US con this year -- I do try to do at least one
a year, just so I get to actually have a few conversations and meet
people. In 2001 I'll be doing my best to get to the con that was
formerly known as Mad Media in October, mainly so that Harlan and I can
finish the Damned Story. I'll go to ICFA, and I'm making a speech at
the Nebulas. (The advice I've got so far is: keep it short, don't get
drunk, don't take your clothes off, don't dance. All good advice, but
nothing I didn't know already...) I keep feeling I ought to schedule
something... but with the signing tour it's hard to tell where I'll get
free time.
  

    

> Old English flavour tasted faintly
>  like a medicinal humbug. Does that help?

Well...I'm thinking that what the world really needs is a dictionary of
tastes and smells.

And I loved that URL with everbody longingly recalling the long-gone foods
and tastes of their childhoods...
  

    
Jinx - I agree that the dust balls in Totoro are great. Soot sprites....

As a superpower, I think I'd like the ability to create food -- any food of
the past. Then we could handle those nostalgiac nosh yearnings.

My Pamela was thrilled a while ago because Mike found some horehound drops
for her. I was under the impression that humbug tasted of horehound, but
perhaps that was merely an artifact of faulty memory plus alliteration... so
what does a humbug taste like, Neil?  (And what makes one medicinal, and how
do you tell?)
  

    
        Neil, I _finally_ got to taste 30-year-old Laphroaig this evening. 
The hotel bar I found myself in happened to stock it, so I dropped
thirty bucks on a glass.  It was, indeed, superb in all respects.  I
gave my girlfriend a sip and she claimed it cleared her sinuses, so I
drank the rest myself.  It was quite expensive, but we wound up showing
a profit on the drink because, while I drank it, the gentleman next to
us at the bar gave my girlfriend his two forty-five dollar tickets to
the Alvin Ailey Company dance performance that happened to be starting
in ten minutes, at the the theater next door.  Apparently the gentleman
had a bad cough and was unable to attend.  The performance,
incidentally, was as fine as the whiskey had been. (I'm well aware that
the Scottish spell it whisky, but I just can't bring myself to do so.)
  

    
Elise -- I don't know what horehound tastes of. Many humbugs start
with mint and toffee and ... something else. There's probably somewhere
on the web you can order humbugs... I'll see...

Streak -- congratulations!

Oddly enough, I was proofreading the following today:

   A big man in a light grey suit sits at the man in the charcoal suit
s table, and, noticing him even if she does not notice the man in the
charcoal suit, the waitress, who is too thin to be pretty, too
obviously anorectic to work Luxor or the Tropicana, and who is counting
the minutes until she gets off work, comes straight over and smiles.
He grins widely at her. “You’re looking a treat tonight, m’dear, a fine
sight for these poor old eyes,” he says, and, scenting a large tip,
she smiles broadly at him. The man in the light grey suit orders a Jack
Daniel’s for himself and a Laphroaig and water for the man in the
charcoal suit sitting beside him.
   “You know,” says the man in the light grey suit, when his drink
arrives, “the finest line of poetry ever uttered in the history of this
whole damn country was said by Canada Bill Jones in 1853, in Baton
Rouge, while he was being robbed blind in a crooked game of Faro.
George Devol, who was, like Canada Bill, not a man who was averse to
fleecing the odd sucker, drew Bill aside and asked him if he couldn’t
see that the game was crooked. And Canada Bill sighed, and shrugged his
shoulders, and said ‘I know. But it’s the only game in town.’ And he
went back to the game.”
    Dark eyes stare at the man in the light grey suit mistrustfully.
The man in the charcoal suit says something in reply. The man in the
light suit, who has a greying reddish beard, shakes his head.
   “Look,” he says, “I’m sorry about what went down in Wisconsin. But
I got you all out safely, didn’t I? No-one was hurt.”
    The man in the dark suit sips his Laphroaig and water, savoring
the marshy taste, the body-in-the-bog quality of the whisky... 

............

And everywhere else in the book, I spell the word whiskey. And the
copy editor had changed whisky to whiskey here. But I couldn't do it to
a fine Scotch, so I wrote STET, which will eventually confuse some
typesetters I expect, but what the heck.

(And no, the book isn't written in present tense. Except for this bit,
and another bit.)
  

    
        Neil, that's delightful synchronicity, and I'd still love to share a
bottle of that wonderful 30-year monster with you sometime, if for no
other reason than the fact that being able to do so will mean I'm
making more money.
        Incidentally, I respect and agree with your whiskying decision in
that passage, (though I hope to god you spelled anorexic right in the
actual manuscript) but I just can't bring myself to use the Scottish
spelling.  It just makes my eyes itch.  Oddly, though, I do always use
the plural whiskies.  Whiskies is just a pretty word, much nicer than
whiskeys.  

(Brief pause... he went to get a whiskey - The Girlfriend. ) 

        Quite right, a nicely spicy Scapa.  A couple of these and my spelling
will probably get still more idiosyncratic.  I'll start insisting that
I'm _right_ to always leave the second R out of embarrassed, it's got
nothing to do with my being an idiot.
  

    
Neil-- My bad; I don't have my copy of Thermidor in front of me,but I
just looked at some pics of Robespierre on the web
(www.reign_o'_terror.com?) and I guess he looks pretty normal; I must
have conflated his sleazy soul with a different but sleazy image--
maybe the Marquis de Sade in the Invisibles...  The serial killer fan,
though, looks like he hasn't taken a bath in several days... not
hideous, but definately someone you wouldn't want to sit next to on the
subway.  As to the pontifex, I'm going to look up that book on the
popes you mentioned. 

Speaking of whiskey, I have begun taking the Columbia Bartending
School course (run by Columbia University, so I guess I'm Ivy now.) 
Since only Columbia students can work for the Columbia Bartending
Agency, I guess I'm not doing it to find work, but mostly for fun and
knowledge.  So far the course goes like this:

1) lecturer speaks for an hour
2) they set up a bar at the front of the room
3) everybody lines up
4) when you get to the bar you make a drink
5) go to the back of the line and drink your creation while waiting
for your second go.

The last time the class met, there was a thick blanket of fresh snow
on the ground, so my friend and I took our drinks outside and made
natural slushies... it was wholesome and debauched at the same time.

 
  

    <scribbled by theboojum>
  

    
Len - ........... After that, I'm craving some wine gums from Marks
and Sparks. (Marks and Spencer.)

Streak - Lucky!!

Neil - You make me jealous. Count: you've worked with Amano Yoshitaka,
you've dined with Joe Hisaishi, you've held a panel with Ikuhara
Kunihiko*... Let me know if you ever get to meet Mr Miyazaki (or maybe
you already have met him), or Anno Hideaki**, and I think you have my
full list of anime-related creators. And next time, things'll come in
extra extra size tubes, so there's hope that there'll be some left over
for you. (Did they like it?)

Elise, Jinx and Daniel - Well, those things *are* cute. I've got a
friend who's in love with the Cat Bus... my dad prefers Jiji in Kiki's
though. ^_^; And Jinx: *bouncebounce down the road while the 'Totoro'
theme song plays*

-- Mimi

<start anime plug>

*: Highly recommend 'Shoujo Kakumei Utena' ('Revolutionary Girl
Utena,' it's a TV series). I've seen the American commercial release
and please don't be put off by the candy-coloured packaging etc. This
is not for kids... messes with your head a lot. Not sure if all 39
episodes are out commercially... my friends watched fansubs back then.
The movie's kickass too... *DVD* *hearts*

**: Eva? Anybody? ^_-

<end anime plug>
  

    
Streak -- I think I spelled anorectic right. I just checked on
Dictionary.com and got 

an·o·rec·tic (n-rktk) also an·o·ret·ic (-rtk). 
adj. 

Marked by loss of appetite. 
Suppressing or causing loss of appetite. 
Of or affected with anorexia nervosa. 
n. 
One who is affected with anorexia nervosa. 
An anorectic drug. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
[From Greek anorektos: an-, without; see a-1 + orektos, from oregein,
to reach out for; see reg- in Indo-European Roots.] 

..........
(and the def. of anorexic is:

an·o·rex·ic (n-rksk) 
adj. 

Suffering from or afflicted with anorexia nervosa. 
Anorectic. 
Characterized by severe economy of style and expression: “The book
consists of nineteen rather anorexic stories, stripped of all but
vestigial traces of emotion and often of plot” (Madison Bell). 
.............


Len, unless Pynchon's put Gravity's Rainbow into the public domain, I
think that's rather long to post on the Well...

It's worth bearing in mind that one reason why the british candies
were so horrid at that point (and why they were greatful for any US
candies or gum) was that there was precious little sugar -- there was a
war on, and it was strictly rationed. Lots of sugar substitutes, like
sugar-beet and so on...

.....

Mimi -- Mr Miyazaki was lovely. We met at the Lincoln Centre screening
of Mononoke, and at the dinner afterwards. He told me that he was
pleased he'd overruled the Japanese distributors and allowed the US dub
to happen, and gave me a hug and got a copy of The making of Mononoke
and signed it for me. I thought he was great.
  

    
Len -- there are a few sort of interludy bits that seemed to fall
naturally into the present tense, so I wrote them that way. And that
one seemed happiest like that.