Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Um, make that "bouncing twice".
*Bigger Sigh*
  

    
Greetings, one and all!  After a too-long hiatus, I finally found my
way back here.  Meant to stay away while I read AG, but that became a
much longer process than originally anticipated, so I finally broke
down last week to see if everybody was okay after the horror of 9/11.

Glad to hear that everybody seems to have come through (physically)
unscathed, though I think I'm safe in saying that none of us has come
through unchanged by what happened.  There was such a sense of absolute
*wrongness* in watching a plane - a BIG plane - disappear into a
building, and with watching something as familiar, even iconic, as the
WTC crumble to the ground.  Almost two weeks on, and the fog seems to
be lifing in my psyche, but the world is a very different place than it
was.  All those people..............

That said, I did finally finish AG this morning - actually happened
upon my pseud a couple mornings ago, and it made me laugh out loud -
and enjoyed it immensely.  I do feel the need to read it again at a
quicker pace, though - I think it took almost 2 months, all told.

I was about to say that I'm thrilled at the announcement of the MIT
lecture - finally, a Neil event that I can attend, with Harlan and
Peter David as an added bonus - but I've just checked the MIT web page,
and the event seems to be gone.  I did receive an e-mail from the
lectures director over the weekend, letting me know that I'm on the
reservations list - hope this is just some sort of hiccup :^p

Finally, I've recently discovered the joy of Eddie Izzard (thanks to
HBO re-running "Dress to Kill"), and have been acquiring tapes.  So
far, I have "Dress to Kill" (fabulous!), "Glorious" (which is), and
"Live at the Ambassadors" (which, while not bad, and clearly shows
hints of what was to come, just doesn't have anything like the
cohesiveness of the later shows, nor is he in drag - never thought I'd
see that as a downside to anything, but Eddie's full of suprises).  I'm
certainly interested in picking up "Unrepeatable" and "Definite
Article", but wondering if anyone can comment on how they compare to
the tapes I have.

Be well, everyone, and I'll try not to be such a stranger.

  
  

    
I'm on another 'board here, and a friend posted the letter he recently
mailed to Neil. I liked it quite a bit, and asked for permission to
reprint it here (Ilion doesn't have a Well account, tho he has been
reading this on occasion...)

So, here's the middle bit:
I have a great fascination with anagrams. One day I found a small
program that will search through a word or phrase for any possible
anagrams. I was playing with it today and on a whim typed in "American
Gods." It found a total of 5195 different anagrams, and I have only
been able to scan this list. So far my favourite is "acid rag omens,"
which I suppose suggests American Gods is actually a secret sequel to
Good Omens. A few other gems are: sad organ mice, Oscar made gin
(Perhaps Oscar the Grouch is a relative of Wednesday?), main god (or
dog) races, and mad coin rages. Iran acme dogs, however, could place
this in an unfortunate political arena and the phrase "grim soda acne"
should probably be avoided when marketing to those with sensitive skin.
"Dreams in a cog" does have a certain je ne sais qoiu, but perhaps the
most apropo is this crowner of anagrams: rages amid con.


:-)
Cheers!
-Kelly
  

    
Kelly: That's both funny & scary as Oscar the Grouch is my Muppet
Totem.
  

    
And of course Zoe is Rowan's.
Cam says it's either of the Grumpy Old Men in the Box Seats for him,
and that Sean's (14) is Beaker.
  

    
  "Amid care, snog"?
  

    
That almost made me choke to death laughing, Mike...
  

    
... but, isn't the phrase "je ne sais croix"? The French language is
sifting through my brain slowly as if it was made of some clogged
cheesecloth, so I could be wrong - but the anal retentive side of me
feels the need to correct everything these days. Mostly I'm just
bringing *this* up because I'm unsure. 

Um, that's really about all I have to say. I'm mostly just killing
time at work before the managers' (cringe) meeting. I've been here
since 9AM and I'll be here until 10PM! Wheeee!

Mike - That's kind of appropriate when you consider that there's a
band named "Snog" too...

squeaks, who hesitates to tell her friend that NOLA is a near
certainty this November. 
  

    <scribbled>
  

    
It's "Je ne sais crois".
  

    
Home, thank you. And safe. And Sound. And sleepy.

Signed

Neil

with a certain je ne sais quoi.
  

    
Welcome back, Neil.  :-)

Squeaks... I'm not gonna kill ya. I'm also not gonna argue with Ilion
(whose Canadian) or JaNell (southern, you see)...

Me? I'm gonna sit over here and think "mad coin rages" is funny and
appropriate, yupyup.  ;-)
-Kelly
  

    

Je ne sais pas, moi.
  

    
E-mail from Tori Bat:

Will~ it *is* wonderful and it makes me very happy! I read a great quote
the other day or was it this mornign by SARK and it said: "Sometimes if I
become _DE*pressed, it's usually becauseI need to _EX*press something..."
and I've found that to be very true lately. My dry uncreativness has been
terribly long this past time. I was just starting to wonder if it had all
left~ but I've been modeling for a figure studies class that I took a few
semesters ago~ and being on the opposite end has had an amazing effect on
me. I watch all these people drawing me, and I get all these great ideas
and I'm like oh rats~ *I'm* up here... so things are picking up I just
need to make time~ I HATE saying that but its so true. of course I'm
online *laugh* but oh well. Another good creatity quote is from Robin
Williams, I watched him on Insides the Actors studio last night~ which
was fantastic. god, I LOVE funny people! but then I love to laugh...so
an! yway Robin Williams was talking about how creativity is a ongoing
battle, and how one must find new ways to refresh and recharge... I wish
I could rememeber everything he said. but thanks for encouraging words
Will, they were much needed.

Tara~ Happy Birthday! *smile* I think birthdays are one of the most
important holidays! so I hope yours was spectacular!

JaNell-> I'm sorry to hear about the roof problems! and the money
stuff... that never helps. If you need to do anything let me know! *hugs*

Kelly~ *grin* yes I'm a glitter person! Glitter is everywhere around the
house and everyone I know!~ even my cat! who looks very cute with
glitter. its fun. and I get lots of compliments on it~  I buy extra fine
glitter from craft stores and it works much better (and lasts longer)
than the traditional make up glitters~ you should try it. but remember to
get extra fine. I forget who makes it but I'm sure you'll see which I'm
talking about!
  

    
Dan- Yes, make a Kelly and Erynn copy!!!!

And I know how stage performances aren't as cool on video. I used to
do a great deal of theater....I have many of the performances on tape,
unfortunatly. I watched a performance of The King and I that I did
quite a few years ago recently. I'm watching it and going--"everyone
looks so strange! Is that me?! I don't really talk that way, do I?
Jesus!"
But I'd rather see your plays on video, than not at all...

JaNell- I love reading about other peoples lives. I have no idea where
that fascination comes from. ANd no, I will absolutely NOT get my own.
I have and extremely boring life. Just went over to a friends house to
talk about possible upcoming film...got really drunk, watched Cat and
the Hat cartoons and am now eating pumpkin muffins and drinking hot
chocolate (cus it got cold outside). There. Ha. You know how you read a
boring book when you desperatly want to fall asleep? My life is that
book. 

Neil- Glad you're home safe. Have you gotten any sleep? If not, why
not?

Okie, time to go nighty-nite.

Erynn.....and, yeah, Erynn.....nite.
  

    
Tara O'Shea--You enormous dork! Why didn't you say it was your
birthday?  And just remember, 28 isn't old.........for a tree!  (This
is what my friends told me when I was 25.  They were younger.  Or
perhaps you had guessed that.)

DanGuy--you rock!  I have sewn very few things from patterns.  My time
in the costume shop was spent pulling costumes from storage.  I have a
gift for finding the right size.  Go fig.  Perhaps I'll try this
one.......

Rick--Definite Article is really funny.  Maybe not quite as funny as
Glorious, but definitely worth owning (pun fully intended).  Eddie
rocks.

Linda--moi aussi.

Mary ( tired of cleaning house already)
  

    
Oooops, forgot--I want a tape, too!  Now you have a triple request!

Welcome home, Neil.

Mary (eating Jelly Babies)
  

    
Kelly said, "Squeaks... I'm not gonna kill ya. I'm also not gonna
argue with Ilion
(whose Canadian) or JaNell (southern, you see)..."

Should I have ended it with y'all?
<giggle> never listen to me on French; I'm frankaphobic. Although...
hmmm.

Neil, le réalité et toi, vous ne vous entendez pas, n'est-ce pas? Like
that eggs need to be cooked before they're eaten. But that's OK, we
love you anyway...

Erynn~part of your (so-called) boring life is in my blog, so...
  

    
Actually, ToriBat, I'd love a drink, but I just washed my hair.
  

    
    "Je ne sais croix" -- "Spartacus?  Never heard of him."

    "Je ne sais l'oeuf" -- "This is not my egg (extrinsic)."

    "This is not my egg (intrinsic)" is left as a strenuous exercise
for the student.
  

    
Mike: You're sillier 'n Neil.
  

    
"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi."
  

    
Wow.  My first pseud.  Trying it on for size...
Thanks, Mike.
For some reason, I thought there was an 'x' there at the end, so je ne
sais quoix.  Of course, I only took a year of French in college with a
bad teacher, so my French can be muy mal.  I wrote a story recently,
called "Sage of Angels," and one of the big, important scenes has the
lead character speaking French to his French girlfriend (as opposed to,
like, Polish, or Swahili, I s'pose).  Anyway, I wrote the dialogue in
French, and then sent it to my sister.
It was so funny to come back to my apartment and hear her voice on my
answering machine; "I'm reading your story, Big Will, and I love it,
but I realized something, honey.  You don't know French.  "Et tu?" 
That's latin, honey.  "Et toi" is French, and so you're a crack muffin.
 Call me and I'll help you fix it."  Which I did, except she didn't
know all of it, and so I just ran the dialogue through Babel fish, on
Altavista (a brilliant device!  Whoever thought of the Babel fish?  He
should be canonized <grin>!), and fixed it that way.

Rick- Welcome back.  I'm a huge Eddie Izzard fan (getting Glorious
converted today, actually, because I lost my original copy). 
"Unrepeatable," and "Definite Article," are in that order between "Live
at the Ambassadors," and "Glorious," and it shows.  He's only barely
in drag in "Unrepeatable" (just tights, and a hint of make-up). 
They're all good, though, and have really funny bits.  I'd have to say
that "Dressed to Kill" is my personal fave, but it's kind of like
asking what my favorite story of Neil's is (have to say Stardust, but
only *just*).  And if you'll give me a couple of weeks (I'm moving
shortly), I could probably make a copy of the ones you don't have and
send them along to you.

JaNell- sorry about your run of bad luck.  <hugs>

Tori-bat- I completely agree with needing to recharge and refresh. 
I'd never realized that until I realized that I finished my second book
back in December, and have since written just a couple of short
stories and a couple of prologues, in Nine Months.

Dan- I'm fourthing the request.

Neil- Welcome home.  Sleep well.
  

    
Will: The irony here (your call, Neil: irony, or no?) is that not only
do I have a $9000 pain-and-suffering settlement check coming any day
now from last year's SUV-through-the-GEO Metro fun, but Cam's massive
overtime from last month is on this month's paycheck, due about
Friday... a real day late, dollar short sort of thing. So my luck will
change, even if all the $ goes to paying off bills incurred by not
being able to work on the house, and getting in here months later than
planned, with less done... so we'll be back at broke, not the
going-down-hard-and-fast of the last several months.

Actually, I'm more worried about my run of bad French than my run of
bad luck... :D
But, c'est le vie...
or in my case, is it c'est le guerre?
I'm so tired of fighting this Mammon guy.
  

    
Oh, and <hugs> back, Will.
I lurve Eddie Izzard. He's on the very short list of People That I
Want To Meet. I'm beginning to suspect that Neil knows all of them on
the list, but won't share...
*sigh*