Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
What's with those George Forman grills?! Do they come coated with some
substance that controls your brain? My Dad and my Brother have both taken to
endlessly promting the thing, asking why I don't have one, and offering to
buy me my own. What can you do with that thing that you can't do with a
frying pan, broiler, or grill pan?
  

    
I am wondering this as well.  What is cooked on one?  As a vegetarian,
is there any reason for me to use one of these things?  
  

    
E-mail from Christy Smith:

Honestly, this is probably the last birthday I will remember before
November, but here it is:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEN!!!!!!!!!!   :D

And what exactly *is* a boojum, anyway?

Neil -- Glad to hear that all is well with the laptop!  (KOW)

Tracey -- Ouch!  I hope you feel better soon.  No surgery needed, I hope.

Tracey and Will -- Too funny about your childhood "punishment"; every
mother should have such a problem!

(In response to Will's article)  "Oh, Superman, where are you now?" --
Genesis

I am so tempted to go read the cooking article (What a multi-talented
person our Neil is!), but I'm afraid the site name will make the corporate
firewall guardians nervous....

Abbess -- Mmmm... I'm more likely to be found in a coffee bar than a sushi
bar, but roasted red pepper veggie sushi sounds WONderful.  :^d

Elise -- YESSS, that rat song does stick in one's mind!

>Linda- Lots of healing wishes sent to your mom. And the Bards sounds like
a fun group anyways. Do they have any cds out? I have a soft spot for
celtic style music. Kristina -- That was I, actually; Linda was just
posting for me.  She gets mistaken identities a lot.  :)

Kristina cont'd -- Thank you!  And the Bards are pretty big on MP3.com.  
They have a lot of free audio at
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/113/brobdingnagian_bards.html, if you
scroll down past all the CD ads.  So does Marc Gunn, the cutie with the
autoharp.  Check out the bit of dragon humor called "Do Virgins Taste
Better?"

Chris -- Hi!  Are you any relation to Kristina?

Adriana -- If you like grilled vegetables, that's one possible use for it.  
<drool>

Christy,
who did not dance in the vineyards in a white dress last night
  

    
Maure - i think it'll be Oct 12-19th, since my friend is running a
marathon in Chicago that week and it would be neat to be able to
support him in that.
...
Did I just describe my desire to be an athletic supporter?
  

    
Will,  I *knew* it! Wonder what the penalty for my cooking is in IL.
Hmm. Probably being sentenced to eat it is more than enough punishment.

Linda,  how can you stay inside?? We've got great tentacled monsters
rising from beneath us, and rocks raining down from above -- it's too
exciting to miss!

Dan,  don't feel badly. I've been a basketball and football watcher
all my life. I don't think you want to be an athletic supporter,
though. ::cough:: 
  

    
Dan Guy -- having looked at those Darger books, I'm willing to cut the
man some slack. While they are typed, they are far from easy to read.

Mary -- the best thing about the New SUn books is once you've read
them you can (and must) read them again. They reconfigure. Severian
does have perfect memory, and doesn't lie, but he does leave thigs
out...

Jouni -- thanks

Rocky -- yup. I went over to good plain yogurts from sour creams
because I couldn't taste the difference and figured the calories 
mattered.

Christy -- I did, and was glad.


Kristina --  I am reassured. Or a bit. I want to see the
forget-me-nots...

Abbess --  there is something deeply naff and embarassing about the
Foreman grill. But it works so well...

Wil -- I'll see the Frouds next week and will ask about Instructions. 

Tori and I keep talking about doing Blueberry for RAINN as a booklet,
and about doing a book of the Strange Little Girls stories and photos
for RAINN/CBLDF/Kevin Aucoin's charity/ benefit but we're both so busy
we'll probably have to find someone else ot make it happen.

marvy -- nothing. But they do it fast and reliably.

Ariadne -- I grilled some zucchini and eggplant from the garden the
other day and they worked just fine.

...

Introduced Maddy to all the goofy things you can do with "No!" by TMBG
online today -- each song is also a game and an animation...
  

    
Wow, what's with all this addressing things to individuals? Linda kindly
invited me to do an interview here next October so I thought I should drop
in a check it out. Is this place operating under different conventions than
the rest of the well.

Who's Kristina, and why would I be related to her?
  

    

Chris -I'm so happy that you came by to check us out!  Yes, the Goldfish
Swapmeet is a different kind of place, you see, in the middle of the
inkwell, which is a very different kind of place in the middle of the
WELL.  While most interviews here last two weeks, the discussion with the
delightful and charming Mr. Gaiman is now in its second year.  (And, soon,
very soon, there will be an entire topic devoted to Coraline, Neil's 
latest book...)

Oh, BTW, folks, Chris is the man who took the best photo of Tori ever in 
the world.  I posted a pointer to it last September, I think, but it sort 
of got lost in the events of that month.

Well worth a look now, if you didn't see it then.  Chris, would you kindly
point the way?
  

    
Who, Tori Amos? Hmm, lessee, try:
http://chriscarrollphoto.com/Photo/Oldies/Images/tori.jpg
(although that's not even my fave from the session. If I think of it I'll
scan one I like better (her on a little child's trike wearing killer manolo
blahniks) and post it for youse. Oh, and thanks!

(I'd offer to send you aprint Linda, but that shot was one of my first
photoshop jobs, and the retouch is good enough for the web but not for
print. She's actually wearing a tan shirt which didn't look that great, and
I put little orange dots all over the background, don't know what I was
thinking...)
  

    
Hello Chris! I'm Kristina- and I doubt that we're related except
perhaps distantly. (strange coincidence of names though) Hooray for us
Irish folks! BTW- beautiful picture of Tori. But what can I say- she's
beautiful no matter what she looks like. I'm really looking forward to
her upcoming tour...as I have never been able to see her live before.
(guess Montana just isn't the type of place that makes it onto those
tour lists) And there's no way I'm missing this one. 

Christy- pardon about the mix up. Thanks for the link- I'll probably
do some downloading tomorrow. ^_^

Rocky- don't you dare go near that squid link...or I'm afraid you
might go into a coma. (still a little giggly about the sushi story)

Neil- glad we could be of any reassurance- even a bit. But I suppose
that's(the AG essay) old, old news by now. And I'll tell Cat (Who
apparantly DOES spell it with a "C") about the forget-me-nots. If she
does get them, that is- on that note I hope the December event works
out. Rocky and me volunteer to be puppets should the occasion come for
volunteers. We'll bring our own socks even! ^_~
Also- I've been hearing a lot of lovely, lovely  things about
Blueberry Girl- is there a place (on the net or somewhere) where I
could read it? The RAINN etc. projects sounds wonderful. I truly hope
that all works out for you.

visiting with the Frouds...I am positively green with envy.

John- I've been devouring The Dragon Waiting and am pleased to say
that I am completely captivated. So much in fact that I missed a couple
subway stops today because I was so engrossed in it. No hard feelings
though. ^_~ 

Orange Faerie's Quote O' the Day(This one's for you Rocky):
"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the
life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by
being shared."
- Buddha 
  

    
Kristina -- thank you.  Sorry about the subway, though.
  

    
Hello to you, Kristina. Assume we're probably not related, cause there's so
damn many Carroll's around. Even four or five Chris Carrolls just in NY. But
I may have to claim my birthright and come visit my long lost cousing in
Montana, especially if she lives near good fly fishing (and in MT you're
never far, from what I can gather).
  

    
Kristina - Thank you. And yes, I avoided the [eek!] squid link.  

Chris - Excellent photos, and I love that picture of Parker Posey!
  

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

    
Chris- Unfortunately I don't live in Montana anymore. As soon as I
graduated high school I packed up and high-tailed to NYC to try the
country-girl-becomes-an-actress thing. (Montana's a beautiful place to
grow up and a beautiful place to retire and die- and visit
occasionally. But for all those in-between years- it's definately not
the greatest hub for opportunity in anything art-involved. Unless
you're David Lynch... but I think he left too.)Besides- If I hadn't
come here I would have never met all these wonderful people at Neil's
signing and wouldn't be talking to you right now. ^_~
 However if you're ever in the area, my mother's one of those
beautiful hospitipal women and probably would love to point out all the
best fishing holes. (while piling your plate with her famous fried
chicken-heehee)The Stillwater lake area is one of the best for
fly-fishing I'm told. And, of course, the mighty Yellowstone. (I'm a
river-fisher myself. And occasionally boat if I'm feeling lazy.) Though
I always go back for the holidays. ^_^

Also- If you're ever in the need of your coat-of -arms, there's a
lovely store (The Irish Shoppe) on....51st...? between 2nd and 3rd
avenues, I think. OY. This is why I'll never be a tour guide. 

John- like I said- don't sweat it. ^_~I think of it this way: "Oh,
dear. I missed my stop. Well, good! I can get a few more pagers in!"
One of the many advantages of a job w/ flexible hours. Hee- the dogs
don't mind if I'm a couple minutes late.

Well- off to commute!

PS- just read the blog. Those bunnies are so neat!! I must have one!
And Neil- I hope that all your little NY gifts arrived safely- My
Travel Faerie's made to protect luggage, I trust it did it's job well.
(just put it in your suitcase with a bit of comfrey and you should
never have to worry about lost luggage again.) ^_^
  

    
"Squid link" -- key component of HTML-based Pasta Nero.
  

    
OK, then: I'm NOT related to Kristina but I am related to her Mom.
  

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

    
Neil - all right. You got me. what is "naff"? I looked it up, or
rather tried to, and came up with nothing.

Also... I want your bunny.

Chris - Hi there. Yes, we're all freaks here. ... Oh, wait. That
wasn't your question. We've just been hanging out for a loooong time,
and so it's more like a big cozy living room than anything else. Some
things are addressed to particular people, but anyone in earshot is
invited to comment on it.

Kristina - If there's a place to read Blueberry Girl, it's a
mysterious place indeed. It's one of those things most of us know only
by reputation (and thus the fervent requests for a poster or
*something*).
Also, I must have missed (or forgotten) that you're an actor as well.
How fabulous! When one of us is on the other coast, we must swap
stories over drinks or some such thing.

Dan Guy - Have you forgotten? Neil has one of his clones read
everything in existence, for research purposes. That Neil then
"hot-synchs" with the Writing Neil. Meanwhile Domestic Neil gets on
with the important business of George Foreman Grills.
  

    
DanGuy- Going through my grandparents things shortly after my
grandmother passed, I found an old paperback called *The Book of Lists*
(I think it was from the seventies, but I've seen other editions
since).  One of the lists was for the ten greatest frauds ever
committed.  Nine were straightforward, and had back stories and were
actual crimes.  The tenth on the list, and the number one fraud of all
time, was attributed to Mr. X because, "by definition, the greatest
fraud of all was the one for which the perpetrator was never caught." 
Always liked that.

Chris- Welcome.  And man, I've been a fan of yours since Linda posted
the link back in September.  *Love* the Kevin Bacon one; he reminds me
of a gleeful mix of Lucifer and Puck (if I were casting a movie and
needed either, I'd choose him after seeing that picture).  And the
Daisy Fuentes one with the Christmas lights; I dunno why, but I think
that's really cool.

On squid- man, the one bit of squid sushi I had was the worst sushi
experience of my life.  I like it fried, though.  And how big does a
squid have to be to be considered 'giant'?  I mean, whenever I hear
about stuff like this, it's disappointing; a 'giant' squid the size of,
say, a cow.  Or a whale.  Well, that's not giant.  That's the size of
a cow.  Or a whale.

Neil- thanks for the info.  I suppose I'll just have to keep waiting
patiently, then.
  

    
Whee!

Just got my registration and hotel reservations for World Fantasy Con.
I'm so geeked.

Thinking about it, that's because I honestly can't remember when my
last non-working, non-stressed, real vacation was. Oh, wait, Easter of
2000. I need to get out more.

If I didn't have a gas grill out in the garage (and no available
cupboard space in the kitchen) I'd probably get a GFGrill. Alas...
  

    
Well dang you guys, you're making me blush. I'll have to hang out here more
often (plenty of time these days since art directors and photo editors don't
seem to share your admiration...).
  

    
Hey DanGuy-  about those MSCL DVDs you were working on...are they out
yet?  I see a listing for one on Amazon but I don't know if it is the
one you were working on.  What do you recommend?  My friend's bday is
coming up and she's a huge fan.

...grilled cheese sandwiches and veggies, eh?  hmm...

I got to hear Blueberry Girl in NYC and was really moved by it.  I
hope to see it in print some day soon.  *HINT HINT*  

Oh, and Chris, I know those photos well. GREAT work. Do you still work
with musicians?
  

    
Durrr, I just looked at your website, Chris.  Stunning.  
  

    
Dan asked: what is "naff"? I looked it up, or rather tried to, and
came up with nothing.

Well Dan, you should try http://onelook.com which is a meta-dictionary
search engine.  It will lead you to the Cambridge dictionary which
will yield "not stylish or fashionable".  It will also point you at the
Webster's 1828 dictionary which will tell you it is "A kind of tufted
sea-fowl".

Hello everyone!  I finally broke down and payed for an account so
Linda doesn't have to repost everything for me.

- Glen