Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

Here we go again...

While you're reading this, you might want to periodically check into 
neilgaiman.com to see what Neil is up to...
  

    
        Hah!  Post #1!



        Uh, that's actually all I had to say.  Hm.  Sorry.
  

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

    <scribbled>
  

    
Dear oh dear... check in after 6 months and yet another Neil-enthused
topic has spawned itself. 
Love the conference title though! 

Dan - I have a lovely striped Humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua’a I picked up on
Maui I might part with, but he seems to be made out of acrylic or
some-such and I don't think he would be well suited for actual
underwater life. ;) Besides, now I think about it, what could I use to
replace his spot on my computer desk?

(Kicking himself for not being able to drive down to Aggiecon, even
though it's the closest he's ever been to a Neil signing)
  

    
I just posted this as the last post in the old house... (ah, I like
the new place. Very spacious and slightly surreal in its dimensions).
But seeing as how Neil slipped before me and is not likely to check for
the final post there....
"Neil, I saw a rumor about Good Omens online that I find highly
suspect, and rather than cause any panics or pointless speculations I
thought I'd just ask...
Has anything untoward happened with the Good Omens film?"
  

    
Not that I know of. They've been having trouble putting together the
money (65 million plus) for some time, and the last time I saw Terry
Gilliam he mentioned that if it didn't happen soon, he'd go off and do
TIDELANDS, which will cost infinitely less, because if he didn't make a
film soon (given what happened to QUIXOTE) he'd go crazy. As far as I
know, if that happens, it means that Good Omens simply goes down to
next-on-the-list while the producers spend the intervening time trying
to nail down the financing.

The script is good, the cast seem committed, and the producers have
the foreign financing in place. What they need is a US studio to commit
some money (I think it's about $15 million) to the project, and no US
studio seems ready to take the plunge yet.

My attitude on all Hollywood things is not to expect any of them to
happen until I'm sitting at the premiere eating my popcorn. Worrying
about the ups and downs of getting a film made could drive anyone to
drink.
  

    
Neil - I couldn't find a terribley good schedule for Aggiecon, so I
was wondering; will you be doing any signings or readings on Sunday, or
will you already be preparing to leave by then? I'm from Dallas, and I
would love to attend, but I probably couldn't make the trip until
then. 
  

    
*glug glug glug*

Oh, I'm sorry.  I've been trying to get a film made.  *hic*
  

    

Gosh, and here I was, thinking that she was drinking the goldfish!

Neil's last post in the last topic contains the seeds of the title of the 
next topic:  Son of the Bride of Topic 73.  When we get close to filling 
this one up, would you please remind me, someone?

Also, I think there should be t-shirts:  Almost Got to a Neil Signing, 
Survived a Neil Signing, Got Signed at a Neil Signing, etc.

Linda, who is noticing that the ants have moved from the kitchen into the 
office, where she is sure they are busy lapping up all the dropped bits 
from inkwell postings, and who fully expects to see them on the WELL 
next, and posting in topic 144, going on at length about my housekeeping 
abilities, my tendencies toward mass murder and attempted genocide, and 
threatening to take over altogether.
  

    
Ok, that jibes with what I saw posted in the discussion forum at a
Terry Gilliam fansite. the only difference with what you said and what
they said was whether he had decided to put aside Good Omens now or
later...

I mean, I knew they couldn't have started shooting yet because they
haven't called to offer me any roles in the film. 

Maybe they'll call today.

ok, off to lunch....
  

    
Linda - Might I suggest that Neil is the first one to wear the
"survived a Neil signing" shirt? Having seen him completely exhausted
at the end of many signings (and then using our own Tree as a prop at
one of them), I think it's most appropriate. Naturally, it would have
to be a black shirt. As for the ants, I haven't seen them posting yet,
but if I see one start crawling across *my* computer screen, I think
we'll have to plan for some sort of revolution.

Dan Guy - is it dappled in neon colours? I'm horrible with those kind.
Killed them off instantly. The less impressive the fish, the longer
they last in my place. I'd probably find a way to kill plastic goldfish
if they were living in my platform boots.

Hope AggieCon is full of silly Texas goodness. Wish I was there. Off
to go play with geeks and deal out the Aussie goodies to the local New
Zealanders.

Oops, Dan slipped. Good luck with that casting... ;P

squeaks, who expects her brain to turn to mush by the third Tim Tam.
  

    
I've got genocidal tendencies against ants too.  They were early this year
because Boston got a little teaser of spring.  I hope the snow and slush
killed them all off, but I'm not keeping my hopes up too much...

I've still been unable to figure out for certain if the little critters are
actually slowly but surely chewing up the wood in our house or not.  Some
references say that there are ants about that size that are carpenter ants
and *other* ants about that size that are just Plain Old Black Ants, others
imply that anything that size is a carpenter ant.  Of course, an
exterminator will say "yes, you have a terrible problem, give me all your
money before your house falls down".    We can't even tell for sure if they
live in our house or just come in through some crack - there are a ton of
them, but if they've left a trail somewhere that says "this way guys!" then
it's not so suprising that they find their way in year after year in
droves...

*sigh*
  

    
Shawn,  I'm not Neil, but I can answer your question: Neil has a
reading at 10:00 am on Sunday. 

Texas was magnificent today. It was cool, high 50's or low 60's, and
sunny and gorgeous. A friend emailed me from home to tell me it was the
coldest day of the year so far. I love Illinois, I really do, but
today I was very happy to be away from it.
  

    
Linda,  dear god, what have you done? There are *ants* in our hotel
room! I haven't seen ants indoors since I moved from my place at
college. Behold the power of the Well: they speak, and it is.
  

    
VIVA LA REVOLUCION! (or however you're supposed to spell it)

Um, nothing to say really, just killing time at Kinko's, waiting for
phone calls. The trunk of my car is full of Tim Tams just now. Part of
me is saying that I should be sitting in the car and reading, while
nibbling on the luscious biscuits, and the other part of me is saying
that for 20 cents/minute, I'm saving myself several hours of aerobics
by posting to y'all.

Tree is evil, beware the Tim Tam queen! She'll have you hooked and you
won't even realize it's an addiction until it's too late and you have
to have more! (no, I haven't had any, it's just a caffeine/sugar high
from the cola I had earlier).

Okay, I'll stop wasting my money and hit the road. It should be late
enough to avoid traffic - though it is all ick and rain, so people are
probably crashing on the highway just to be annoying.

squeaks, still no ants ... YET!
  

    
I saw maure and someone who looked supiciously like sister-of-Maure in
the panel I did today, but they vanished by the time I reached the
door. I shall practice saying, "My what an interesting and unusual
name" and being surprised when I am told it is short for Maureen.
  

    
Neil,  you were right to be suspicious - Megan is a completely
suspicious character. 
  

    
Hi everyone.

Neil and Maure- Hope you are having fun. Wish I was there, also. 

Madman- Congrats! 

Linda- Yes. I think it's time for a revolution. We just found our
first ant by the refrigerator this moring. This is insane. It has to
stop. 

We recently kidnapped one of our friend's garden gnomes and it is now
happily traveling the country with another friend, who works for the
Cartoon Network. Everywhere he goes the gnome gets his picture taken in
front of various landmarks. Then Chris makes the pictures into 
postcards. Yesterday, my worried friends got one with Mr.Gnome standing
by the Grand Canyon. It read: Having a blast, wish you were here!
I highly recommend this prank. 
  

    
Gee, I wish I had garden gnomes.  It's practically a fixation with me,
but my husband has put his foot down on the whole idea.  I may have to
sneak some home and hide them in the bushes.  

Speaking of fish, (well, y'all were) anyone know how to keep cichlids
little? Ours ate all the others, then turned on the pleicostomous
(however you spell it, the bottom sucker) and got so big that when we
moved we set it free in the pond at our apartment, figuring it had more
than a fighting chance with the other fish. It's name was George, but
secretly, I think it was a Godzilla.

BTW, I know I haven't been much of a presence, but in a few more days,
I will be reverting to lurker mode.  Grad school turned out to take
more of my time and money than I had thought.  Best wishes to everyone,
and Neil, I am very eagerly awaiting Coraline, and all future
endeavors.

J  
  

    

The ants have suddenly gone quiet.  Makes me nervous.

I think I've already been castigated once in this series of topics for 
saying that I truly want an x-rated yard gnome, and now I am reminded that 
I still don't have one.
  

    
Linda -- they used to advertise X-rated gnomes (I think) and mooning
gnomes (I am certain) in the back of VIZ comic in England, and also in
the back of Private Eye. Don't gnow if they still sell them...

I introduced Holly to Maure and Megan. Holly got up at 3.30 am and was
driven to Houston to fly home... I think she had a fun time.

Jenifer -- I do not trust placostomuses (or just possibly placostomi).
After a nuclear war there will be nothing left but cockroaches and
placostomuses.

Erynn -- did you see Amelie?
  

    
Neil,  Megan and I meant to find you to say goodbye but we couldn't.
Megan wanted to pass this on to Holly, not knowing she had left
already, so I told her I'd pass it to you here. She says that if Holly
comes to Chicago in a few weeks and finds herself playing the snake
game more often than not, she can email Megs. She'd be thrilled to take
her out to see the sights or something. Megan is:
daredhead4@aol.com
They are pretty close in age, Megan is 18, so maybe Holly would like
to hang out. She doesn't know us other than having met the one time,
but Megan is fun and somewhat reliable. Ignore previous statement about
suspiciousness of character. 

Everyone,  AggieCon was very nice. Texas is nice too. Megan and I are
popping over to Austin maybe tonight to see one of Megan's friends. Our
bathroom light has burned out, and we can't see in there. It's ok, the
ants don't mind the lack of light. Note to self: next time, stay in
the first hotel listed. The people here are super sweet, but I don't
really like sharing a dark bathroom with ants.

Re: travels of the garden gnome:  my ex-roommate's mother has a
stuffed dog she called Little Dog who travels with her everywhere. He
even appeared on the Jay Leno show once. I think travelling inanimate
objects are really really funny.
  

    
Welcome back from AggieCon! Sounds like you all had a wonderful time.

Still no ants, but it rained so the spiders came out of hiding again.
My particular arrangement with them is that if I see them and they
don't startle me, I'll shoo them back out the door/window from whence
they came. If they startle me, especially if they sneak up on me a few
inches from my face, they learn a very quick lesson of matter
distribution and basic physics under pressure of the nearest shoe.

gnomes - I've seen two gnomes randomly traveling the country now. Both
before Amelie. But to the best of my knowledge, neither sends out
postcards. :) Linda - I'm sure you'll get your x-rated gnome someday!

Maure - I prefer travelling animated objects myself (the squeaks are
amazing little conversation pieces on road trips). And on a personal
note, I haven't forgotten my little project for you... I just need
another week or so, and an address - could you email it to me?

squeaks, off to rinse her multicoloured hair (purple and green, I'm
holding off on green and gold for a while yet - it won't go with the
dress I want to wear to the opera next month)
  

    
He does.

Neil- No, I haven't. Do they do that in the movie? Wow. I wonder if
it's on DVD yet...

The prank wasn't my idea, unfortunately. I just helped in the
kidnapping. Chris has been pulling similar pranks for a few years now,
probably before Amelie. This is a more popular prank than I thought, it
seems.  

Linda- Silence amongst pests is never a good thing. It means they're
behind the walls in the dark conspiring a new plan, trying to out smart
you. Quick, call an exterminator before your life becomes a caricature
of a Certain Martha Story.  
I was wondering if you'd ever acquired a x-rated gnome. I want one
too, but I don't know where I'd put it.

Squeaks- If I ever see you in person, you'll have to do something fun
to my hair:) 
  

    
Squeaks,  I forgot! You could have never reminded me and I would have
never known. But take as long as you like. I love mail surprises. As
for travelling animate creatures, the only experience I had was driving
from NYC to Chicago with my cat Kira. It was the worst experience
ever. She mewed and howled so piteously that I made Vito (ex-roommate)
pull over every ten minutes so I could check her. She only quieted down
when I took her out of the travelling cage and held her on my lap
under a blanket - which is exactly what her vet told me not to do. But
what does he know, anyway? She purred and napped from the
Pennsylvania/Ohio border on.
I've always loved purple and green together. I bet they're lovely in
your hair.

Austin was really a pretty city, except for this half-finished
monstrosity right downtown. Josh (Megan's friend) told us that IBM had
started building it, and then abandoned it completely, with no plans of
doing anything else with it. Then he made us study the iron girders or
something, because he's in grad school for engineering and gets lost
in the beauty and structure of a building's bones, I suppose. We had
dinner on the river, which was very nice, and drove back after spending
half an hour debating over whether or not to visit the Alamo. I won,
because I wasn't very interested in seeing the outside of the Alamo in
the dark. Home tomorrow, to sleet and snow and terrible winds, if our
plane isn't delayed.