Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Martha - I don't know... I've heard that building up a resistance to
iocane poweder can be useful. Of course, it's both odorless and
tasteless....
  

    
Ok.  Good.  There is an FAO Schwarz in Boston, and it's not in Harvard
Square (besides, Harvard Square isn't in Boston, but that's nitpicking.)
No more sudden weird changes creeping up on me, at least not from here, yay.
  

    
Dan, i was three seconds away from writing that exact quote when i
looked up and realized you had already written it.  fughgufghfhf.
  

    
>>a resistance to iocane poweder can be useful. Of course, it's both
odorless and tasteless....>>

LOL. Hail, my fellow Princess Brideans!

Jade
  

    
Mike -- well, they renamed MARATHON bar to SNICKERS bar, but I don't
believe they've swapped the mars/milky ways over. It would confuse
people, and negate 50 years of branding. The big question is why did
they swap them in the beginning...?

Kelly (and all) when I was a boy, one Xmas holiday my family stayed at
a hotel in Braemar, Scotland, filled with strange and beautiful
semi-abstract paintings, done by an elderly white-bearded painter who
lived in a room in the hotel and sold his paintings, and painted. His
paintings were all of music.

"There was a man here last week," he said, "who said I was mad. he
said, 'they're just colours. How can you say this painting is a Mozart
concerto? Why, you could say anything. I could say that this painting
here is meant to be Peer Gynt!'So I told him to look at the label
underneath, and he did, and it said it was Peer Gynt. He didn't say
anything after that."

Martha -- (grin)

Dan Guy -- Maddy is 7, and a budding (possibly even a sprouting)
violinist. I'm amazed at the way she learns stuff. (Her grandparents
didn't realise she read music for a while, as she'd just play.)

Bill -- yup. High on the list of things I don't have time to do this
year. But astonished by the outpouring of affection and support from
strangers coming in.
  

    
Actually, swift google research indicates that an english Milky Way is
a US 3 Musketeers, while a US Milky Way is a UK mars. (A US Mars isn't
anything in the UK.)
  

    
Well, after my own show tonight, I drove over to the City for the
opening night party for the latest C.A.F.E. show and chatted with
friends and with the cast. 
I found it very interesting that both of the ladies in A Defense of
the Social Contracts talked about working through a lot of issues while
working on the piece, and that they'd been doing a lot of evaluating
of relationships.. both old and current ones. This is interesting
because the lead in Arbitrary Placement of Walls said the very same
thing.
It seems to be impossible to act in a Martha Soukup story without
doing some hard-core processing about romantic relationships and issues
of self-esteem.
Brava, Martha... I can't think of a higher compliment. Your writing
truly does cause people to struggle with themselves. 

I was also delighted to learn that the director made the actors read
the entire collection of your work, Martha, as homework.

I'm looking forward to actually seeing the show on the 15th, which is
the only night I can make it.

Martha - when are you going again???
  

    
Um, I don't know, stagewalker, we haven't worked it out.  Probably I owe
them e-mail?

My lord, the poor actors.  You rarely have to read an entire book just to
perform in one short one-act play.  (Did they have to buy it?)  (I'd have
awfully mixed feelings about that--sales, oh good--actors are poor--)

Is a UK Mars a US Milky Way Dark?
  

    
     I think the Marathon/Snickers transformational grammar must have
been what I was thinking of.
     More Freely Disassociative Anecdotes Dept.:  Just after the
interval of "Singer" (a play that fictionalizes the life of
camp=survivor-turned-London-slumlord Peter Rachman), Singer sits on the
edge of the stage, which is about to hold a performance of an
experimental play, and buys a bag of Maltesers, which he shares with
the audience.  (There's a line about "I hope this isn't going to be one
of those audience-participation things.")  When I saw it, with Antony
Sher in the role, a number of people up front seemed to be afraid of
what they were being offered -- chocolate-covered falcons or
Webley-Fosbery bullets (though they don't make 'em any more) something?
 (For anyone out of the loop, malted milk balls.)

     Oh, and thank you, Tara.  Hugs always appreciated, as is
laughter, with or without nasopharyngeal hydraulic effects.
  

    
Dan -- I'd only be impressed if he made them learn the martha soukup
poem off by heart as well. 
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
Martha - I think they had to buy it, as before this I was the only one
who owned a copy. I do recall telling the director and one of the
actors (who had expressed interested in the book earlier) that they
could get it from Dreamhaven.
And I'm sure that Matt and Berta would be delighted to hear from you.
They mentioned that they hadn't heard from you, and I told them to
email you. Then to email you again. And then again. *grin* They were
pretty toasted, though, so I don't know if they'll remember the
conversation this morning. I hope you can make it on the 15th, though.
I'd love to talk with you about the adaptation afterwards. (hrm...
maybe that's a disincentive for you.... if so, forget I said that and
I'll spring it on you later...)

Neil - *slow whistle* You're a hard man to impress. *sudden thought*
Maybe I should suggest it to the cast and they can sing it to her when
she comes to the show! (Martha, you didn't hear me just suggest that...
you are blissfully unaware of my evil....)
  

    
This has nothing to do with anything, but I thought it was very
amusing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1320933653
  

    
E-mail from Michaela:

Hi all :)

I just read that funny marmite article in the NY times. Thanks for
pointing it out! I actually love marmite, so I am a counterexample to the
theory that a) only British people like it or b) you have to exposed to
it by the age of 3 to like it. I spent a few months in York a few years
ago and a Scottish girl living next to me in the students’ house
used to eat it on toast.. At first I was taken aback at the smell and the
looks of the stuff. But I kept trying and it really grew on me. I make
sure always to have a glass of marmite here, though I have to find shops
selling British stuff to buy it.

Neil: Twiglets are awesome. I simply adore them. They taste subtler than
marmite (no surprise) and they are always gone too fast. Is there any way
of ordering them on the internet? So far no twiglets are being exported
to Germany. sigh. Introducing people to twiglets is way easier than
trying to make them understand why you like marmite btw – so maybe
bring Martha some twiglets instead of marmite ;)

re chocolate bar names: a few years ago, the chocolate bar known as
_Raider_ has been renamed _Twix_ in Germany. I guess that nowadays they
like to have the same name in different countries because they can show
the same commercials with different voice overs on television. Or
whatever.

Btw: the warranty is paying for a new engine for our car. Phew. We still
have to pay for some of it, but not that much. I am SO glad.

Michaela
  

    
(remembered from memory as I am a huge dork and managed to delete and
entire message)
Hi all,...it's been awhile but my net time has dropped off slightly as
of late, lots of running and good things and lots less time on my
hands. 

Tara, well, welcome to the club. I'm glad you involved the police,
they did "get it" right, e-mail and all?

As for seeing words as color, I don't music yes,...words, I'm almost
embarrassed to say I see in fonts. Always have, I used to get into
trouble for my handwritting in school, cause I'd alter it to what I saw
it as.

Maure~ The e-bay link was lovely and exactly the reason I no longer
deal with the thing :shudders: I had to for a job for quite some time,
and was amazed at people, even working in comics was never the lesson
dealing with e-bay was. But then there was the casino,.........:sigh:

So far I've been lucky with my local grocery, it has a huge foreign
foods department, and since my bratchilde of a sister works there I've
been able to put a bug in the ordering managers ear. I've found
everything but Tim Tams, including good tea, outstanding candy and
really odd jams and jellies that I don't eat but the mother unit is
fond of. 

Let's see, it was an odd week of the strange luck that fallows me
around. My mothers surgery that was supposed to be extreamly intrusive
and have a hospitial recovery time of 3 to 7 days, went wonderfully,
and she was home in 24 hours, my car doesn't work and is in the shop,
the new b/f's mother likes me, and said that it was about time he'd
picked a good one when I warmed the pot for tea the other afternoon.
She's from Scotland and it's the most wonderful thing to hear her yell
at the b/f to take out the garbage. LOL

Jinx without car, but with Muppets,....there always is a silver
lining.
  

    
I see everything the way most people do, I think. No special colors or
tunes or anything, unless they are supposed to be there. I have
connotations and associations for everything, of course, which colors
any word (or color, or music, or taste, or texture, or anything) with
which I am presented, but that's all. I love knowing that some people
hear colors or see words, though. It reminds me that if I *could* smell
what I know of the world, it'd probably smell mulchy and heavy and
dense and delicious, like Fall.

The only real jealousy I have is of skilled musicians, be they trained
traditionally or naturally talented. I'm only jealous of them while
they are not playing, though, because as soon as they play, I forget
that I'm jealous and just listen. I played violin for a year, was
horrible enough to my own ears that I broke the bridge on purpose, and
refused to pick it up ever again. I was better with saxophone, but
stopped playing when the school made me choose between singing or
playing. It is cruel, I think, to make people choose between choir and
band. Especially because at the time, there was no way for me to take
private lessons - school was my only option then. C'est la vie. I think
I love listening to music more than I loved to make it, anyway.

Michaela,  good news about your car! 

Jinx,  great news about your Mom!!

Uncle Ned emailed me this morning to let me know that the episode he
is on is actually on Law & Order SVU. The title is "Popular," and the
episode number is E2329. He didn't tell me when he expects it to run,
though.
  

    
Dan Guy -- she's been playing for about 6 months now. She's into
Suzuki Book 2, and is -- to my ears, for a 7 year old -- really good.
And more than that, she enjoyes playing it and practising. It helps
that Lorraine, my assistant, is a fiddle player and that they duet
every chance they get.

Everyone is going down with flu (even Mike phoned from University to
ask if I'd make Chicken Soup, freeze it and send it to him. I said no,
and that he should find a good jewish Deli and get some there) so I had
Maddy for the day. I am hoping that it passes over me: I don't have
the time to be sick right now.

My commiserations to anyone out there who's fluing presently.

Lots of helpful e-mails and suggestions from people nominating
libraries & universities.

Michaela -- that's probably why they made Marathon into Snickers.

Maure -- I know what you mean about musicians. I watch maddy reading
music with more comfort and ease than I did in 5 years as a pathetic
double bass player (age 9-14) and sigh...
  

    
I heard from Lorraine that Pete Rawlik (the bookseller with the
hardback Duran Duran for sale) (Jinx and Tree & most of the other
thingies about will remember Pete, who ran the florida con)is in the
process of selling it, for the $1500 asking price, to a Duran Duran fan
who treasured it in paperback and whose copy long ago fell apart...  

Somehow I felt much better knowing it was going to a Duran Duran fan.
  

    
That's nice.

Maddie is fabulously lucky to have such a mentor right at hand.

And me, I'm glad I went out and got a flu shot last fall.
  

    

I did, too, but it didn't stop this whatever it is from knocking me on my 
butt a couple of weeks ago.  A virus, evidently, not a flu, which allowed 
a secondary bacterial lung infection to invade.  And it's going around.
  

    
E-mail from Michaela:

A propos outrageous prices for collectors’ items: Today I was
lucky! Big happy smile.
I just bought a first edition HC of _A Game of You_ for 13,50 Euro on
ebay Germany :))  Plus the nice Swiss guy also had some of the original
single comics for sale, (I asked him whether he had some more Neil stuff
he didn’t want..), including the two Death mini series and several
Sandmans, (including the Number One I did’t buy when I saw it
somewhere for 12 Euro) .. YaY !! And the price was totally reasonable,
not more than I would have paid when they were first published. I guess
this comes of selling them in Europe and not in the US where the stuff on
ebay regularly fetches more than I am willing to pay. Normally I
don’t even look for Neil stuff on ebay Germany because there is not
much to be got.

Sorry about my posts turning out slightly garbled. I have this theory: if
you do not have the money to afford a well account (or if you have not
figured out how to persuade your husband that it is something essential
to your well-being), then you have some email postings free, which turn
out fine, and after a while some characters are translated as nonsense
character combinations. This probably goes on until all I can say here is
something like aldsfhwaeoeigaPPUEpfa#..  but then it might just be
coincidence .. until I have figured it out I will just try to avoid
apostrophes and hyphens ...

Michaela
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
E-mail from Jouni:

Hi Neil and others.

Been far too busy for the past 4-5 months (meaning that I haven't had much
time to read the topic either), but decited to drop by.

Had FINALLY time to go and see Lord Of The Rings with my wife (it's not so
simple when the nearest relative/friend who could babysit a six month old
boy is about 200 kilometers away). Loved it!... and naturally I had to start
reading the book all over AGAIN.

Also found a cool website called 'The Tolkien Archives'
( www.tolkien-archives.com ) that has all kind of cool stuff about... well,
you know... about Tolkien. So I was browsin' around The Essays -section and
happened to read one called Tolkien's Not-So-Secret Vice
by Helge K. Fauskanger.

Here's a short quote:

'...But there were more pleasures in store for young Tolkien. One day he
found...a Finnish grammar!!! He soon found himself in phonaesthetic ecstasy.
"It was like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an
amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated
me" (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien p. 214). High on Finnish he scrapped his
latest project ("make your own Germanic language"), for now he had found
more powerful inspirations.'

In a way it's understandable. I mean you have to admit (especially after the
following 'taste from the cellar') that finnish IS a damn peculiar language:

- Kokootko koko kokon? (Translation: - Would you build the whole bonfire?)

- Koko kokonko? (Translation: - The whole bonfire?)

- Joo, koko kokon. (Translation: - Yes, the whole bonfire.)

....Yup! That's pretty elfish dialoque, don't you think.

Neil -- (or anybody who knows better than me) What's up with Coraline? When
is it goin' to be out...

Jouni (gotta go now)
  

    
JOuni -- Coraline comes out from Harper Childrens books in September,
from Bloomsbury Books (without illustrations) in August, and we will
probably release a recording of me reading it in late spring or early
summer...

Someone e-mailed me the other day to ask if I was the same Neil Gaiman
that Christopher Tolkein thanks in the notes to one of the books of
compiled stuff, which is my one claim to LOTR fame. An astonishingly
small one, and one I'd completely forgotten about.
  

    
Michaela -- congratulations!

Linda -- get well.