Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I'm not Toastmaster at WFC, you know, Mike. Or if I am, no-one's
mentioned it to me.

At MadCon. Today they scheduled me an hour and a half down time in the
late afternoon, when I wasn't "on". By the time the signing had
finished, it was reduced to a little under 20 minutes and technically
ended a minute ago. 
  

    
Mary - smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.  or, of course,
stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for christmas...

I was extremely sad when the vcr ate the tape with the Rimmer song on
it.  "Nooooooooooooooooo!!!"

And now back to the silly english paper.
  

    
    Neil -- apologies.  I thought I'd heard a discussion to that
effect; probably either very early table-rappings or Another Convention
Entirely.  The webpage lists a bunch of guests (and a wonderful bunch
is is, too), but is not terribly informative otherwise.
    If people were infallible, who would we get to run for Congress?
  

    
Mike: Not a problem -- I'll be there as a punter, anyway.

...

Lots of apologies from the convention about overbooking me, but I now
(at 10.00 pm) have a glorious 50 minutes off before the reading at
11.00pm... which qualifies as miles to go before I sleep, I guess.

Trying really hard to get the collaboration with Harlan finished this
time, as people paid real money for it three years ago, and are still
waiting... (While I can do the writing in public thing just fine, I
find it harder to change gears from writer-writing to
public-figure-entertaining. It makes it, I think, more tiring than it
might otherwise be.)
  

    
Mousie~ Ms. Mousie was Kermit's first real and for true girlfriend.
Straight out of "No Strings Attached"

Neil~ Have fun get some sleep and don't let anyone argue about
Heinlien withh you on the way to the airport.

John~ That was Tree not me, I'd like to sayy she's my alter ego, but I
am so not that cool.

re: Kippers those are fish right? People eat fish for breakfast?? 
I'm not knocking fish, I had sushi for lunch, snuck upstairs from my
tomb of an office and got some and snuck it back. (Working at a casino
has some odd rules, sneaking outside food in seems to be one of them)
Just not sure my stomach could handle fish at 7 am.

Jinxie currenty baking her nails under a lightbulb so the black stays
put 
  

    
Neil- I can't wait for the Harlan and You story. Spent Way Too Much
Money at the bookstore yesterday. One of the many things I purchased
was "Angry Candy". I can't put it down. I almost called into work sick
today just so I could finish it. Oh, and congrats on resolving the
"Miracleman" debackle (and, for that matter, everything else you've
accomplished this week)

Will- Glad you liked it. I wish I did. 

I had no idea "Muholland Drive" was out. The last Lynch interview I
read, he was talking about his disappointment with the show being
canned, and how he didn't know what he was going to do next. It didn't
seem like it was that long ago. How did I get so behind? Oh well, it's
exciting news, and I'm going to see it tomorrow. 

Erynn, Who's Kraft Mac and Cheese (the best food in the world) is
awaiting her.
  

    
    Jinx -- Kippers are smoked herring, and yeah, they're served for
breakfast.  Think of them as like bacon -- salty and smoky.  I see them
on menus mostly in Old[e] and New England.
    Okay, they're not a universal taste, but I like them.  A place I
used to stay in London had a breakfast buffet, at which I would load up
on eggs, kippers, and so on, and not have to worry about lunch.
    And of course I can put away a great deal of lox regardless of the
hour.
    Fish -- it's not just for breakfast anymore.
  

    
Very strange convention. It's not badly organised. It's not
disorganised. It's more that when things go wrong, they've been 
*wrongly* organised, I suppose. 

I tried to explain to the con organiser that, following a 90 minute
midnight reading, after a full day, it's not traditional to put a guest
on a 10.00am panel, for example... (even despite the hour we gain
tonight.) 

One of many "What were they THINKING?" moments, the high point of
which, tonight was realising that, because they had not made any
provision in the schedule for me to have any breaks, the young lady
acting as my minder and helper likewise had had not breaks;
insensitivity to guests is one thing, but insensitivity to volunteers
is another.

Tomorrow, I learned I have a have a lunch appointment with a young
lady at 11.00 am who paid a LOT of money to the CBLDF to have lunch
with me. We have an hour together -- not long enough to leave the
hotel. No-one's serving food in the hotel at this time, either. And
when I ask what's happening on the lunch, I get told "whatever you want
to happen", which makes me wish that people would organise things and
lead me to them, not dump it back on me to figure out... 

sigh

Well, it's their first year of Madcon. They will learn from this and
get better, I am sure.
...

I miss kippers. Fresh, kippered herrings are wonderful things, lightly
poached for preference, to make them less salty. Or bloaters. Or
arbroath smokies. Or... (goes off into english smoked breakfast herring
variant reverie).
  

    
Well, you know, there is a rumor that some lunatics actually had a sushi
wedding cake at their early-morning ceremony....

<innocent look>
  

    

My sympathies, Neil.  I'm appalled at how you're being treated.  
  

    

slippery lioness sushi'd in
  

    
Wish I could email sushi to Neil for that lunch.

I mean, sheesh. They should be careful not to break their toys, or their
volunteers, or their GoHs, or.... ya know?
  

    
Ooooh, punkin, get some sleep!

If anyone's interested, the concert version of Sweeney Todd is being
broadcast on PBS on Wed. at 9:00 Central.  Check your local listings. 
When my friends got to go backstage & meet Patti (did I tell y'all
about that?) Neil Patrick Harris mentioned it.  Apparently this was
recorded when it was produced in San Francisco.  Harris is in it, and
Patti & George, but I'm not sure who else.
  

    
Famous apocryphal comment of drama critic to first-time playwright:

"Young man, falling asleep -is- an opinion."

I can also remember a few convention committees this applied to. 
  

    
Linda, oh, I was just grumpy late last night. Not to worry. Actually,
on most of the "what were you *thinking*?" things, I feel very sorry
for the con. They're in a huge convention centre, with major guests --
and a number of media guests, who aren't cheap, and Harlan, who won't
come out for nothing, with an attendence of, at a guess, about 150
people. This is not good.
  

    
Oh my goodness! A convention with that kind of firepower and that few
guests?
Sorry for all of you, Neil. Such a lot of effort and time and lack of
sleep and such a small turnout. I wish I was one of the 150... I mean,
what an opportunity to meet people in an intimate setting.. but still!

Kelly - mask is very cool.

Dan
(who didn't realize the time change and really needs to be using the
surprise hour of time more productively)
  

    
con over. home tomorrow morning...

Maybe it was 200...  Was good seeing Tracy Scoggins again.
  

    
sleep well, Neil.
  

    
Also good to see: Will, Emma, Peter David & family, Trevor, JaNell,
Shira, Maggie Thompson and many others. 

Very sore throat.
  

    
Don't have a sore throat!
  

    
Oh crap... well, it was only a matter of time.
I'm not a doctor, but I've played one in a
probably-never-to-be-released film and still have the lab coat... so I
order you to get lots of bedrest, tea with honey in it, and ... um ...
foot massages.

Oh, btw... my Suzuki instructor (unofficial motto, only the Japanese
could make acting so physically painful) is directing a show of
Word-for-Word adaptations of dark children's poetry for the Magic
Theatre out here in SF and asked if anyone had Tim Burton's "The
Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy", which I did. So I loaned him my copy
and also my "Smoke and Mirrors" and pointed out "Nicholas Was..." to
him. He liked it a lot and may be contacting your people about it.
  

    
OOooh.  The children's poetry adaptations sound very cool.  I love
Oyster Boy...why don't I live in SF?  Can somebody tell me?

Angelina.
  

    
>>... my Suzuki instructor (unofficial motto, only the Japanese
>>could make acting so physically painful)

     Aren't you supposed to -ride- the motorcycle?
  

    
There is a Suzuki method for acting?  It's not just the violin?  Is it
the same Suzuki, I wonder?
  

    
Angelina - I dunno... it's bestest city in the world... although way
to frickin expensive to actually LIVE in. Oakland rocks pretty much,
though.

Mike - C'mere.... *thwap*

Danguy - No, it seems that Suzuki is Japanese for Smith, or some
such.. it's a very common name. It's a theatrical style that has a lot
of similarities to martial arts. The whole goal is for it to never get
any easier. I don't know really how to describe it, though... This is
from his website (which I helped design, but he insists on maintaining
itself and it's really obvious where the fonts suddenly change and it
looks all icky so I don't send people there)
"Rigorous physical and vocal exercises centering, grounding, and
focusing the performer.
Developed and perfected over the past 30 years by world-renowned
renowned theater director, educator and theorist Tadashi Suzuki,
the work is inspired by traditional forms of Japanese theater - Noh,
Kabuki, Kyogen, etc. and modern gestural and presentational styles.
The performer is strengthened both physically and psychologically
while acquiring a new set of acting tools; deepening awareness of form
and composition; and rejoicing in the power of true ensemble."
...
which doesn't really tell you much more than I did.... ah well.