Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Ooo, Neil, sounds like a lovely day at chez Gaiman.  May they all be
so nice.

1602.  Squeee!  (This is an all-purpose fangirl noise generally
uttered at a loud volume in response to wonderful news, like, "Neil
will be in Chicago in Oct.")  Just the thought of 1602 makes me go
squee!, even though I don't even know what it's about.

I had a neat experience the other day.  I was loaning my friend Alia
the first 2 Sandman graphic novels, and I reread a Doll's House on the
way in to work.  When I got into work, I put a CD in the 'puter.  It's
called "Shakespeare at the Movies", and is a 2-cd set of selections
from Shakespeare movie scores, interspersed with readings from the
plays.  When we hit Sir Derek reading "To be or not to be..." I had the
most delightful frisson.  It just reverberated in a whole different
way after my train reading.  I had to listen to it about 12 times.

Linda --what a great story!  Break a leg with the website!

Watched an appalling movie last night called "Judas Kiss".  If you
ever have the urge to watch Alan Rickman  & Emma Thompson torture a
Southern accent, rent it.  I enjoyed it immensely, but only because
sometimes it's nice to see proof that even brilliant actors can make
big mistakes.  (I loved Stars & Bars for the same reason).

I want to be able to change my haircolor at will, too.  <<pout>>

OK, back to work  :-(

(Just reread this and realized that I wander like a kudzu vine. 
Sorry)
  

    
Read the line "Reasons to be cheerful.." on Neil's blog which
immediately brought to mind Ian Dury & The Blockheads "Reasons to Be
Cheerful - Part III" which led to remembering the line "...Randolph's
skinny buttocks.." and fell into hysterics on the computer at work.
People were staring and I couldn't explain it if I tried, but one lives
for those moments of inexplicable sillyness.  ;>

Mary - It's not over..someone lent me a copy of "The Outlandish
Companion."  Arrgh!
  

    
Tara - I've got more grey than Neil, and I'm only 28. It just tends to
be not so very noticed because it's all in a streak and makes dyeing
my hair really fun (usually associated with comments of 'Wow! How'd you
get your hair *that* color of green!'). Um, not that Neil's very grey
at all... hrm, this isn't coming out right at all <sheepish grin>. 

JaNell - I never had any problems with Neil introducing me to Harlan.
Then again, he didn't exactly introduce me so much as he introduced my
tattoo.  

Meg - It's funny how hair that's all blue tends to not go over well
with a lot of potential employers while black is, of course, perfectly
acceptable, even if it's obviously fake and looks awful. I have noticed
a lot more somewhat conservative employers lately (at least in the bay
area) being more tolerant of black hair with a streak of an odd colour
in it. There are also little clips you can buy and string extension
hair through. Just a thought if you're going completely stir crazy for
colour. In the meantime, you'd make a fortune coming up with a way to
make black watch plaid hair dye. ;)

Erynn (1460) - Not that it means anything, but when I saw 'SLG' in
type, I wondered where there was drawn a Doogie Howser piano thing, and
who Tori at Slave Labour was, that you could refer to her with just
one name... *sigh...

squeaks, currently sporting purple and green hair with brown and grey
roots that desperately need to be redyed before Walker can pick on them
next week.
  

    
Okay, so in an odd bit of synchronicity, I was posting on the
newsgroup earlier in 'pirate speak', ending a sentence with 'aaaarrrgh,
matey!' just to be funny - which, in retrospect, wasn't nearly as
funny as I thought it would be, until someone responded with this
link... keeping in mind that the post went out on September 19, it's a
little strange, even for me.

squeaks, who is sick of slow modems
  

    
So I'm cleaning out the closet, going through boxes and memory lanes.
Guess what I find-- my old Shakespear's Sister CD! Does anyone remember
them? I used to listen to them all the time in Junior High...and I've
been listening to them all morning. I love it!

Squeaks- Ha! 

I had bright red streaks in my hair recently, but it's faded into a
shade of auburn I've never seen before. My hair doesn't like bright
reds for some reason. Neither do some of my more conservative
customers. Some people get really uncomfortable seeing anything
slightly out of the ordinary. I'll never understand this, but I find
that I make better tips when I look, as my boss says, "relatively
normal".

Linda- Hi! Good luck with your website and everything:)

Okay. Back to writing about a statue.
  

    

Over the past few months I've been hanging out with some new people I met
recently. Now it turns out that we were all at the signing at Cody's- the
one where I met squeaks, Dan, Linda, and, well, Neil, I suppose.
Last night, they were visiting and I showed them the shirt I had been
wearing. Y'all who were there may remember this shirt- purple velvet dragon
scales.
I brought out the shirt and she said "Oh, gods, yes, I remember that!"

So that was fun.

Also, I've learned that Neil may well remember her- she did a thesis on
Worlds' End. If she knew I was making this post, Shweta would probably say
hi, or something.
  

    
Yesterdays blog brought a fun new fact back to me; Michael Chabon has
officially signed up to write the script (or, possibly, re-write a
previous draft) to Spiderman 2. I don't know if he has any previous
screenplay experience but, damn, I can't wait to see it!
  

    
Well, since no one else has volunteered, here's a little blurb about
the signing at Book Soup 9/15...

The signing was lovely... only about 100 people, maybe, so I think
Neil was happy about that.  He was gracious and charming as ever.  Oh. 
And wore black.  (*gasps of shock and amazement*)  He read Chapter 4
from CORALINE, with Scottish accent for the little Scottie dogs, which
was funny.  I particularly enjoyed hearing him say "They make me drool"
with accent.  :-)  (He said that he refused to read that chapter while
at the Edinborough festival, for "sheer terror" of having to do a
Scottish accent in front of a bunch of Scots.)  

I wore my "Scary Trousers" tee shirt, which got a number of comments
and questions, from both people at the signing and just people in the
mall.  But it made me identifiable, so Hobbyns from the newsgroup said
hello.  Kari (Thingie) came down with her friend Natalie from Vegas. 
Saunter (Thingie) was there with a whole *bunch* of GORGEOUS original
SANDMAN art, which he was nice enough to show us, but wouldn't let
Walker buy any of. ;-)  And MIMI! (Hi, Mimi!) was there, and it was
great to meet her and her jazzy new car *with* its electronic outlet! 
And Delirium (Thingie) and her man, who's name I've forgotten (oops). 
We missed Adriana horribly.  But all in all, it was a great Thong of
Thingies and Welter of Wellies.  So, of course we partied!

After the signing, Neil had to run with Holly to go to dinner with a
friend, so a group of 8 Thingies and Wellies went out to dinner for
MASSIVE plates full of Italian food, assorted drinks and tales of
strange and vicious pets ("It tried to eat the Olson twins!"),
Americans who can speak Chinese (Natalie can), and a 6-1/2 foot Albino
named "Ducky" whom every single person in Los Angeles can apparently
trace a connection to within 3 degrees of separation.  (By virtue of
knowing both Walker and Delirium, I apparently am now only one degree
away.)

We had a great time, basked in the afterglow of a Neil fix, and then
went home and slept like babies.
  

    


Christy Smith writes:




Wow, quite a productive couple of days!  And me with a week's worth of posts
and blog entries with which to catch up.

Michelle --
> Christy - The ratties fear everything... except banana chips.

While I fear banana _clips_.  But hey, if they help LeVar Burton see
better....  <ig>

Any luck with the skirts so far?

Meg -- I had the same reaction to Mousey's "I may have some of my skirts up"
comment... "What kind of shop IS this?"  ;)

Wow, congrats on the cooking class!  Break an egg!

JaNell!  Good to see you back!  I saw the headline about the chemical spill
in Knoxville when I was checking the news the other day.  Was anyone you know
evacuated?
And yikes on the spider!  I'd wondered what your "Nine-Toes" comment was
about.  :-P

Madman -- Congrats on the job, AND on finally getting Martha's book!

Tara -- I don't know when the exact day is, but Happy 29th Birthday!!!!!  One
of my favorite people on my other fave message board just turned 29
yesterday.  What a cool week.  :)

I think I found my first gray hair at age 10 or 11; I don't even know if it
stuck around.  These days, I've got this one group of 3 to 5 white hairs, all
in the same place on my head.  I still insist that my parents put 'em there.
;-p

Davey -- Thanks for the Nielsen Hayden link!  It's bookmarked.  Who knew I
could get such valuable information from Dee Snyder?  <eg>

Well, that about brings me up to the point where I said, "WHOA!  Mimi's
back!!"  But that's still about 35 posts back, and I want to go home now.  So
I'll leave you guys with this delicious-looking link:

http://www.post-gazette.com/food/20020919middleearth0919fnp3.asp

Dreaming of Black Angus ribs and envying Neil his garden-fresh garlic,
Christy
  

    
I missed y'all too!  Sorry I missed the reading, but I was chasing my
niece and nephew around what felt like miles of beach and wheezing like
old cat.  It was wonderful.  

I too read the news today about Chabon, and I jumped up and down.  
  

    
Email from JaNell:

Miss Mousie - I don't think Mr. Ellison likes Southerners, especially
southern women who are taller than him... <dimples mischievously, again
thinking of Fan Lore>

I have a pet feral possum now; I'm thinking of calling her (assuming it's
a her; even I'm not crazy enough to pick it up and peer and poke between
its legs) either Petunia or Polymorph Possum. She's hanging out with the
kitties on the kitchen window sill (one of whom was a stray, and stayed,
and then trained the feral kitties that SilverChair had in the bird's
nest in a tree how to be people; actually, I failed in sexing that stray
miserably and now have a tom called Tallulad instead of a girl called
Tallulah).

Erynn - well... Today it looks better; I'm hoping the neurotoxins will
give up and go away, and I'll not have any more surprise blistering. So
I'm putting tea tree oil on it now that there's no open places.

Neil - Aren't you in enough trouble, what with educating thieves and all,
without placing prank phone calls? <grin> And it's not even halloween
yet. "Um, hello, yes, just tell him it's Death calling... No, I *won't*
hold."

Linda - You've more discipline than me!

Rocky - Hey. Sure I can't make you some sort of amulet, or something? I
have a really nice octy tile mold now. <evil grin>

Re: hair coloring, Cameron and I are oddities amongst our friends in that
neither of us have dyed hair, tattoos, or body pierces. I am thinking
about shaving the underside of my hair again, though; it's awfully heavy
now that it's grown back out and is almost to my waist in places.

JaNell
  

    
Just noticed that my last post didn't include the link it should
have... which I can no longer find. Any way, it was about how Thursday
was 'talk like a pirate' day... which was odd, but totally unimportant.


Erynn - Tips are useful. They add up to more money that you can use
for more funky hair products. ;)

Skirts are being made (only a couple that I won't mind keeping if the
shop doesn't want them), but a little slowly. Too busy trying to get
the damned Burning Man photos up on the web... I took too many photos.

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, if any of the bay area posters would
like to join, a small group of thingies may be getting together in a
couple of weekends (the 28th/29th) to do something. It's part of the
annual 'ThingieCon' we have. Mostly it's just online madness for a
weekend, but several concentrations of fans usually try to get together
for a drink or a movie or 'something' if we can. I'm thinking the
'something' should include a trip to the San Francisco Zoo... but
that's mostly because I want to go look at big kitties. Any way, if
you're interested in maybe making it a Thingies/Well thing, lemme know.

JaNell - I had no idea possums could make for a decent pet.

Pam - Looks like I'll be seeing you next month! Yay!

squeaks, who will be seeing 'Spirited Away' tomorrow. Yay!
  

    
Hey squeaks, IIRC didn't Harlan want to have your baby after being
introduced to your tattoo?  [You really should post that quote.] ;>
  

    
What?!
  

    
Email from Davey:

Chip and I saw SPIRITED AWAY Friday night. No spoilers, but it caught me
up in that peculiar clarity of truly strange dreams, where one knows that
what's happening doesn't really all make sense but it -does- somehow...
and I think I need to read about Japanese spirit beliefs before seeing it
again; I'm convinced there was a great amount of cultural context I
simply didn't have that would've deepened my appreciation. (Discussion
after more folks have seen it?)

Tara -- It's my thought that a person's measure is not in how many white
hairs one gets...

Maure -- I'd be thrilled to be able to drink coffee and read and buy
books in a comics cafe like the one in your head. Would you consider
moving it to Boston? (No, don't really think about it, the rents would
break your business plan. Just start it somewhere, I'll find a way to
stop in.)

Pamela -- Thank you for the Book Soup signing blurb, I was hoping
somebody would say something. Sounds like fun all around.

Neil -- I hope the (Movie Person)'s assistant recorded your name
correctly, so s/he returned your call rather than riding to Samarra...
(I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that you really do direct it, and
that the casting is good. I think it'd be much too easy to take a Death
movie over the top.)

Squeaks -- What do pirates say? R! Where do they sail? C! What do they
have for elevenses? T! What do they stand in for theatre tickets? Q! (A
friend's grandchildren made up an entire alphabet of those, for growling
out in proper pirate accents; it's now a running joke in her home.)

Um, so what exactly -did- Harlan Ellison say about/in response to your
tattoo?

JaNell --
And ... a minstrel of the Goldfish Swapmeet stood forth, and knelt, and
begged leave to sing. And behold! he said: Lo! storytellers and artisans
and folk of stagecraft unashamed, The Neil and his readers, and fair
people of the Swapmeet, and wearers and wanters of kitty shoes, and ye
sons and daughters of Barking Mad, and Thingies of the newsgroup, and
sushi-eaters and white-haired ones, and greathearts of the Hosts, and all
free folk of the Well, now listen to my lay. For I will sing to you of
JaNell of the Nine Toes and the Shelob-Spawn of the South.

(I had to get your foot out of my head -somehow-. I'll go crawl back
under my hill now.)

Davey
now in Minneapolis (for a World Fantasy Con planning weekend) and
realizing that I still haven't placed my Fall-planting orders (more
tulips! more!) so I -must- make a diary note to do that as soon as I'm
home again...
  

    
Email from JaNell:

Christy - No, I didn't personally know anyone that was evacuated - but I
was getting coffee when a guy at the counter (11th St. Expresso is a good
30 minutes away from the evacuation area, by the way) got a phone call
about it, and canceled his order and ran out the door to try and save his
dogs - and later that day, we were at Celebration Station celebrating my
youngest's fifth birthday when I found one of the staff, maybe all of 17,
crying into a cell phone in the ladies room because she'd just found out
that they were evacuated and she and her mom had no where to go - no
clothes - no meds - so I saw some of the people side of it anyway.

One of my friends near there opened his house to the KnoxGothic.com
posters who needed a place to stay. :) The police let pet/animal owners
in for about thirty minutes the next day for rescue. As far as I know,
every one is back in their homes now, although there is one poor guy who
parked his truck directly *at* the site to go fishing that morning, and
is being given the insurance run-around on damages...

Missy Mouse - I am less inclined to try to forcibly convince a possum to
*not* hang around, than I am to attempt a one-time sexing... and anyway
she's a cutie, all spikey fluff-fur, and scaly pink tail, and cute little
wicked claws and teeth. So, we look but don't touch.

Neil, Davey - Now, I *still* haven't read *any* Sandman (sorry, Secret
Santa Thingie Jinx, and Neil too, I guess), but I can surmise that a
"Death" movie set in NY could easily go over the top, especially re: the
9/11 tragedy... Death couldn't have missed *that*. So, how does she
handle it? No reference at all, or something like a simple statement of,
"There are some places even Death doesn't want to go" in passing?

Davey - "Shelob-Spawn"!?
I'm gonna get you for that one, lady. ;)
I had to look it up, being rusty on my TolkLore, but I found a great 
site worth mentioning in the process: "The Encyclopedia of Arda", which 
is at http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm

JaNell
running to throw away *all* of the looms in her house, and vowing not to 
write *any* more fairy tale series intros involving a spider.
  

    

JaNell - ..or anything else with eight legs for that matter! ;>
  

    
Squeaks - The 29th would be a possibility for me at this point. I've
got a tech rehearsal on Sat afternoon....

JaNell - Actually, Death would probably be pretty mellow about NYC. I
mean, she's Death. She's been there for the Black Plague, the Killing
Fields, The Trail of Tears, she's been there for every single person
who has ever entered her realm no matter how peaceful or horrific the
circumstances. Innocent people dying in large masses because of
religious and political power games is hardly something new. It's just
new to Americans on their own soil.
  

    

Dan - Well said. 
  

    



Christy Smith writes:




Let's see, now, where was I?

MIKO-CHAN!!!!!  Last time you were here was before my time, but I have been
catching up on all the incarnations of the Goldfish thread.  Would you
believe, I'd just been wondering where you went, and then you show up on the
forum again!  I think it's very cool that you got to go to the Book Soup
signing.  It sounded so nice and intimate.  Did you travel all the way from
Hong Kong just for a signing again?

Erynn -- I remember JaNell's "meeting Harlan" story, and it actually made me
like him a little!  Heehee.

Meg -- Aww, man, I LOVE that color blue!  Especially with black.  If you do
dye the blue back little by little as the black grows out again, it'll look a
little like a bi-colored thing I do with my nails from time to time.  I think
it'd be cool.  But I know what you mean about toning things down for the job-
interview circuit.  I have always loved having looooong hair, but I had it
cut short my senior year of college so I'd be taken seriously by potential
employers.  Fortunately, I netted the job (computers) and have been growing
it back out ever since.  :)

Dodge -- I just heard of Locks of Love last month, after a local friend of
mine donated her own tresses!  It's just the sort of thing I was looking for
when I saved my ponytail from my "time to get a job" cut.  I should see if I
still have it.  Thanks for the reminder.

Maure -- How'd your job interview go?  And that caf sounds like so much fun!

_Three Fingers_ sounds like a _Behind the Music_ for Disney characters!  It
must be sick, twisted and funny.  (Did anyone here see the "Behind the
Laughter" episode of _The Simpsons_?)

Adriana -- A year and a half to give you a cubicle?  Did you have one of
those shared cubes before, or what?  Anyway, congrats on some walls -- next
stop, ceiling!  ;D

What's-his-face wrote:
> Erynn -- re BBC -- that's how WE CAN GET THEM FOR YOU WHOLESALE happened.

Ahh, so I was right!  :D

Hiiii, Lindaaaa!  How are things going with your jewelry site?  Is the Well-
denial paying off, do you think?  Thanks for dropping in!

Mary -- "Squeee!" cracked me up.  :D

Still working my way through posts, but I've gotta go home sometime.

Talk to You Later,
Christy
  

    
Does anyone know if Terri Windling is planning to be at WFC?
  

    
Christy--I'm fortunate enough to work for the sort of company who
doesn't mind oddly coloured hair. I walked into a project kick off
meeting a couple of years ago in a suit with bright purple stripes in
my hair and mehendi tattoes all over my hands. The client paused,
blinked, looked at the project manager and murmured, "She's the
designer, isn't she?"

Tree
Who is thinking of becoming a not-redhead.
  

    
Email from JaNell:

Um, The Trail of Tears, and related genocide via small pox infested
blankets, was *in* America, *on* American soil.

My point/question re: Death was not that she *would* react, but that
ignoring it could be seen as callous, and a big ol' tearjerk moment would
be disrespectful *and* tacky, so how is that going to be handled?

If Death is a callous person, through seeing all the carnage over the
centuries, then there's really no story, because she has no conflict.  
Her still feeling *something* about the carnage provides depth of
character, and an internal (eternal?) conflict. So, since she'll be *in*
NY, and she *is* Death, and 9/11 is still raw, it seemed a valid
question. Plus, I gathered that Neil was hesitant, or unsure, of how to
handle the story now, and so I was interested in hearing his thoughts on
the subject.


Rocky - I planned on giving them all to you. What's that snail mail addy 
again? :D

JaNell
  

    
Hello Christy -- nice to meet you. :) 

I've actually just moved over here for school (photography), so I'll
be around for a little while. (The workload is very heavy... I don't
expect to have time to breathe till break. x_x Taking 4 studio art
classes + 1 art history at a very demanding art school is very
different from taking 5 academic/humanities classes at a very demanding
liberal arts college, I've found. )

Pam -- You've got to let me know if people are planning to get
together again in the future! ;) *crosses fingers that she'll be
not-dead enough to come along*

-- Mimi
  

    
It's not actually relevant to the story of "Death: The High Cost of
Living". 

But it's in the DC Comics 911 benefit book, in a short story I wrote
called "The Wheel".

...

Let's see --

Maure -- I love the idea of the graphic novel coffee house. I have no
idea if it would work or not. But if you can get a decent cup of tea,
I'll have somewhere to go when I'm in Chicago.


Linda - you're probably not reading this, but thanks, and good to see
you...

Rocky -- Ian Dury did great list songs. Did you ever hear "England's
Glory"?

pamela -- great description of the Book Soup day.  And Terri's not on
the current WFC membership list.