Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Neil - Yes he was!  And maybe after Peter Jackson has recovered, he
might be pursuaded to tackle the prequel.  Maybe this is one of those
times when being a celebrity might really come in handy?  ;) 

Happy Holidays everyone, and all my best wishes for a festive and
properous New Year!  

Rocky.
  

    
Wanted to log in Friday night and wish everyone a happy solstice, but
it was already the 22nd by the time I got home from work, and I am
coming down with the Christmas Cold, an illness experienced by many
choirfolk.  It's what happens when you rehearse more than usual during
a season when you're already running around like a maniac, shopping,
cleaning & cooking.  I get one every Christmas & Easter.  <sigh>  I
hate zinc tablets.

Neil, you make me want to see LOTR so badly!  I'm not going 'til next
weekend, 'cause if I go without Debbie & Chris, I'm dead, and schedules
don't work 'til then.  I can't wait!'

Mary (reading Winds of Fate by Mercedes Lackey--when did I turn into a
Lackey fan?  Dammit, Alia!)
  

    
Neil~
It bothers me mightily that when I Googled "golden apple' (looking for
a good discordia image) and clicked on the images tab, there is a
picture of you among the choices.
  

    
The days grow longer... even as we speak.

Things are already growing hectic on this side of the globe for me.
I've just been asked to step into a role in a production of Steambath
up in Napa that opens in three weeks. For those of you that know the
geography of the Bay Area, commuting from Oakland to Napa during rush
hour for the next month is going to be an experience to say the very
least. Still, it's for a friend, and it's a short time commitment as
shows go, with only three weeks of rehearsal for me, and a four weekend
run.

I turned in the 4th draft of the adaptation for A Defense of the
Social Contracts this weekend. I'm quite curious, Martha, to see what
you think of it, as more and more the balance of your words and my
words evens out. We should coordinate when to go and see the show. I'd
like to be there the same night you are and chat afterwards. I won't be
able to go until the last two weekends...

I wish everyone here a thoughtful time to reflect on the past year and
the promise of the next, a warm hearth by which to rest in this most
hectic of seasons, and dear friends to love and be loved by.
  

    
So, HarperCollins might like to know that their "buy American Gods"
advertisement they sent out, mm, 2 weeks ago? actually worked - I had a
'brilliant' flash of insight and thought "aaah, Dad introduced me to
Brust, I shall introduce him to Gaiman" (well, not literally, but you
know,...)

So, being a frequent Barnes and Noble shopper, with a Readers
Advantage to help offset some of the cost of loving books, and knowing
there is one around the corner from here (my parents house, outside
Portland, Oregon), I decided to buy it from Barnes and Noble. After
all, they picked it as one of their best in the last year, they would
certainly have it in stock. 

Silly me, expecting logic.

I wander my way towards Science Fiction/Fantasy, with a quick detour
in General Fiction to confirm Clive Cusslers book Valhalla Rising is
only available in hardback (Dad has, shall we say, "diverse" taste). I
do a cursory glance over at the New Releases, wander around the corner
and stop, shocked. No American Gods.

"Well," I think to myself, "perhaps they have it on an endcap
somewhere, with all the other 'years best'." This seems incredibly
logical, so I head off towards the Information Counter, paying
attention to endcaps and other displays as I go. Nothing.

At the Information Desk, I ask if they have it in stock at all. "Hmm,
never heard of that book,... are you sure you have the author right?"
the clerk asks. I blink, and assure him I've the author right. He
locates it, finally, in his computer, after again asking if I was sure,
because did I know this guy really only wrote comics? (I resisted the
urge to say anything at this point.) They had none in stock, I'm
informed, but their warehouse in Seattle is full. They could certainly
order me one, and have it by... January 15. "No, no" I assure him. "I
need this for Christmas."

"Oh! Well, I'll call another store,..." And three stores later, it's
becoming clear that, despite being on Barnes and Nobles best of ("Are
you sure about that?" "Yes, I get the newsletter, and it's been posted
elsewhere, too,..."), none of the Barnes and Nobles in the Portland
area appear to actually keep this book in stock. Sigh.

There was a B.Dalton around the corner, at the mall. I've never been
fond of its selection, but I figured it was worth a shot. And what do
you know - they had 10.


To St Nick, Jesus and Mithras, to solstice and yule, to family and
friends everywhere, and me and you,... happy holidays and a blessed new
year.
-Kelly
  

    
Well, I may go to the show twice like I did the other time.  It's good when
the show is right in town like that....
  

    
Just got back from Midnight Mass, and the choir did not choke, fall
off our chairs, or screw anything up so badly that we had to start
over, so *that's* all right.

The party at the rectory was a good time, as always when Denny throws
a do.

Since this is the only quiet 5 minutes I'll have, I thought I'd come
say, Merry Christmas.  May we all have all the time & money we want for
books & reading of same in the coming year. 

Mary (who thinks Neil's parents' idea for Christmas morning is
brilliant)
  

    
Oh, and Neil--my friend Les & I are heartbroken that Harlequin
Valentine wasn't here in time for Christmas--we actually had to think
about what to get each other this year!

(We've gotten each other the same Neil book 3 seperate Christmases)
  

    
I am full of food and I have a pile of discworld books with the proper
covers (yay Canada) and a new Buster Keaton dvd to add to the
collection.  Hope everyone's day was just as lovely if not moreso. 
Merry Christmas! ::hugs everyone, grabs all the chocolate crinkle
cookies and dives outside into the bushes::  

Jen, seriously considering blogging, although she's had nothing to say
for a good long time.
  

    
Neil, when the kids get older, it theoretically gets better. The last
few years, our family has been attempting to break the previous years
late start record - this year we succeeded; no one was out of bed
before 10am and no wrapping paper ripped until almost 1pm. (For the
record, my youngest sister is in her second year of college. You've
probably a few more years of 6ams ahead,...  :-)

One Very Nice Present per child, per year. Mine, last year, was a Very
Nice Camera. This year, it was a Very Nice Flash for the Very Nice
Camera.

Pity I left the Very Nice Camera at home, eh?  :-)

Happy day!
-Kelly
  

    
Hey, everybody!  <twirls around, showering all with merry sprinkles>

Dan: Good luck with the shows!

JaNell, re: (1278)--My.  That's kinda scary.

JenB: What great gifts!

Had a lovely weekend.  Played Flash Girls and Lojo Russo while baking
cookies.  Had a *great* solstice ritual on Saturday and much fun with
friends and family on Monday and Tuesday.  Ate, drank and was merry. 
Lotsa fabulous loot.  (Neil gifts given and received.)  Sleepy late
nights staring at the twinkly tree.  Saw LOTR three times.  (Do *not*
bet that I won't see it again this week.)

Allow me to go on record saying I'd be inclined to follow Aragorn
anywhere.

Neil: Couldn't agree with you more about Gandalf.  He was wonderful. 
It thrilled me to bits because it was so absolutely crucial.  They all
got so much *right*.  The score is dreamy, too.  

Been a fan of Ian McKellan's since I saw him do RICHARD III with the
Royal National Theatre at UCLA, a year or two before they made the
movie.

Little story about that...  The night we went to see the show, they
held the curtain for more than 20 minutes, which caused some wondering.
 Until I saw the ushers huddled around two people, which they rushed
down the aisle to seats two rows in front of us, after which the show
promptly began.  At intermission, I realized that the two people they'd
obviously held the show for were Warren Beaty and Annette Benning. 
Which was clear enough.  But a couple of years later it became even
clearer.

Apparently, Mr. McKellan was not entirely happy about the situation,
though.  I think he got the last word.  The next day he did a workshop
with students in the UCLA School of Theater (which was generally
fabulous of him).  He's describing the plotline of R3 and discussing
character arcs or something.  When he reaches mid-second act, he stops
and says something like: "And at this point, most of the audience in
L.A. is just arriving...."
  

    
P.S. Mary: So glad the concert/service went so well, after all your
hard work!  Feel better!
  

    
Pamela - *chuckle*
Sir McKellan has such a delightfully dry wit... 
  

    
Sudden thought.

Neil said:
>just saw Lord of the Rings. I loved it, and wanted more:
>would have enjoyed the 12 hour version of the first book as well. 

Wow.  Do you think they'll ever issue a Director's Un-cut version?!?

-Pam
who would watch *that* three times in the first week, too
  

    
JenB - Hugs back....I'm sorry we won't be seeing you around -
hopefully a condition that will only happen for a month or so!

I hope everyone had a nice time these past few days....and that it
continues.  I'm such a little kid, I was terribly sad when the day
ended yesterday!

Neil:  I loved your journal entry!!  I have to ask, because I'm
interested in customs, about the presents being placed on your bed in a
pillow case.  Is it a British custom?  Are the presents wrapped inside
the case, did your parents sneak in in the middle of the night and
place them on your bed, leaving you honor bound not to peek?  And
lastly....Hey! my parents always made me wait at least until
*eight*....
  

    
Pamela--thanks!  And thank you for that lovely Sir Ian story.  I've
been a fan of his for a long time.  That whole generation of
actors--McKellen, Holm, Jacobi, Stewart, KIngsley, Richardson, Blessed
(OK, I know there's kind of an age range in there)--I can watch them
eat cornflakes.  Am *dying* to see LOTR--Saturday!

Ninave-- I was sorry for it to be over yesterday, too.  We opened
presents for 3 hours after dinner last night, and it seemed like 2
minutes.  The food was faboo, too.

Mary (still reading Lackey)
  

    
And I hope everyone had fun...

1278 -- Ja'Nell. Ah, there is a reason why you'll see a photo of me if
you search for Golden Apple pictures. It's because, several years ago,
these three strange women asked me to judge some beauty contest or
other.

Kelly -- I think I ought to send your post to HarperCollins...  The
trouble is that it's a six month old hardback. It's now up to the staff
and the computers to keep it in stock. (OTOH it's selling on a level
that has Harper still smiling 6 months on, which is nice.)

Mary -- tell Les he'll soon have a really good after-christmas present
for you.

Jen -- I've been getting into silent films more and more recently. 

pamela -- what a grea anecdote. I saw him play Mr Darling and Captain
Hook in Peter Pan at the National a few years ago, and it made me very
happy.

And I would be astonished if they weren't planning on the extra scenes
as part of the marketing campaign for the LOTR DVD.

Has anyone else seen the, er, Howard Hawks LOTR mini-movie starring
Bogart as Frodo? Not sure if it's the sort of thing that's in
everyone's mailbox right now. If not I'll post the URL. 

It reminds me of my favourite John M Ford article, about how an
Italian film director made the Return of the King by rotoscoping
PSYCHO...

Ninave -- I don't know. I think it may have been a solution to
things-too-big-to-go-in-stockings. And we never knew how they got
there: they were just there when we woke up. 

My favourite things right now are the Alan Bennett CDs you can get
from Amazon.co.uk -- his Poetry in MOtion talks and Telling Tales.
  

    
Neil~Um, I'm not sure I'd like to be indentified with someone like
Paris-not too bright and starts wars.
Or as Cam said, "someone who thinks with his second head."
  

    
Mary: Absolutely.  I'd watch them eat oatmeal, which is even more
boring than cornflakes; it doesn't even crunch.  Someday I'd really
like to see Brian Blessed do something cast against his size/presence,
like they did with Brian Dennehy in DEATH OF A SALESMAN.  (God, I
*really* wanted to see that when they brought it back in Chicago.  Did
anybody see it?)  I saw Jacobi's HAMLET (on film, not stage, more's the
pity) when I was young and impressionable enough that it stuck--will I
nill I--as the definitive HAMLET for me.  But I'm not entirely happy
about that, to be honest.

I saw Patrick Stewart do his one-man show of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at
UCLA, too, before he took it to New York.  Because Kevin was in grad
school, we got to attend the Q & A session with him afterward.  And I
have to tell you that he is impressive just sitting in a chair.  Maybe
he was still buzzing with post-show high, but there was a tangible
energy radiating from him.

Neil: I was really excited, by the way, to find out that MURDER
MYSTERIES is read by Brian Dennehy.  It did just what it should--make
me want to get it even more.

Also: Bogey as Frodo?!?!  Please, PLEASE post the URL.

And is it possible to bribe Mike or Elise for a copy of that article? 
Or is it available somewhere?

-Pam
lifetime Bogey freak
  

    
Neil - you're putting us on... you don't mean Humphrey Bogart as
Frodo.. do you?? It doesn't show up on imdb.... I looked under Howard
Hawks, too. 
Let us have it, Mr. Man... this is something we all need to see.
  

    
Dan- Thought you were going to post as Lemon Scented Sticky Phlegm? :)

Everyone else - Hope y'all got everything you desired this, um,
whatever you feel like celebrating or not this season. And may I say
right now: Damn to all the down-under-types for having
non-illness-inducing weather for the holidays. I'm sick of sniffling,
dag nabbit!

Considering it's not something I really celebrate at all, I think I
made out rather well this year (she types, whilst viewing the words
appear on the new flat-screen monitor). I also got one of the half
dozen Cocteau Twins cds I'm missing to complete the collection (though
I still think it was rather mean and unfair of them to release Garlands
in the UK with an additional SEVEN tracks). I think that leaves me
with only 4 or 5 EPs and singles left to get. All out of print, of
course.

And later today I'm off to Union Square with the evil-ex's current
girlfriend (also a half-asian chick named Michelle) to go spend gift
certs and chat about everything but her boy. :)

Neil - Bogey as Frodo sounds utterly wrong on so many levels. Link
please.

Linda - That is a good picture! How long ago was it taken?

squeaks, who is giving one of the mice a restricted diet for x-mas
  

    
Squeaks - what would I do without you?

and I can't BELIEVE you scored a flat screen for Xmas...
that's so unfair...
  

    
http://ringil.cis.ksu.edu/Tolkien/Movie/lotr.mov is the site, if they
haven't had to take it down...

And Pamela, Dennehey doesn't read Murder Mysteries -- he acts in it.
  

    
Pamela, just lemme state that, for the record, I envy you for this:
>>I saw Patrick Stewart do his one-man show of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at
UCLA, <<

No, on second thought, I Envy you. *nods*

Neil - feel free to pass it on, should you so desire (tho I understand
it might be pointless).

I spent a wonderful 5 hours in Powells Books today, and of course
spent too much money there. I wandered thru scifi/fantasy, discovered
that (as usual) they don't have any of the Liavek books, or a British
copy of Neverwhere, and that they've unblocked the Writers Post. This
is mostly significant because, for the first time in my life, I've seen
a legible signature by Neil, that does indeed appear to say "Neil
Gaiman" instead of "Nerfme". I'd have photographed it for the rest of
you (for proof, if nothing else)- it had a lovely little drawing of
Dream next to the signature, but I had left the digital camera out in
the car. (It was signed 1999, for those curious.)  ;-)

And now, a mini-request. If any of the other lurking authors here have
actually written individual books set in the Liavek world, could you
please meekly raise your hand, so that I don't wander over to your name
looking for your latest novel, grab something at random to see what
it's about, and end up squeaking, jumping around and dropping coat and
basket out of a mixture of shock and excitement? Thanks!  :-)

Off to read my new stash,...!
-Kelly
  

    
Pam--I saw that film of Hamlet, too.  And it's also my favorite
Hamlet.  Why are you unhappy about that?  It has Stewart, and even a
Romana as Ophelia!  It doesn't get a lot better, though I love
Branagh's as well, with Jacobi graduating to Claudius.

Saw Stewart in Every Good Boy Deserves Favor a couple years back, and
in Ride Down Mt. Morgan last year.  He's pretty faboo, but I've now
seen Jacobi 3 times--in Breaking the Code in '87, in Uncle Vanya in '96
& '00.  He's bloody brilliant.  Have you seen his Cyrano?

I thought Brian Blessed should have been Hagrid, though I adore Robbie
Coltrane, too.  

So jealous of Christmas Carol.  All my friends who saw it loved it. 
Would have given somebody's eye teeth to have seen Tempest....

Am rambling.  Ha a relapse of the Christmas Death Inducer, and have
been begging people to put me out of my misery all day.  Time to crash,
after a little more <leroy>  
(Happy, Linda?  Her stuff is like crack!)