Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Dan - Indeed, many hugs. It was similar in my family. About a month
after my grandfather died, my great grandmother finally passed - again,
a blessing for her, as she didn't even recognize any of the family any
more, was obviously frightened every time someone entered the room
(she never recognized any one any more) and it was just time for her to
go.

LOTR Extended Version is a necessity for any fan of the books. There
was SO MUCH missing from the theatre version. Mostly very little
things, but all made for much more story in general. In the theatre
edit there were a few things that bugged me just a little ("I wish they
had shown this little bit" or "where did that body come from?" or
"Well... it must be foreshadowing or something") and those extra
minutes here and there fix all of that. And the beginning is drawn out
a bit more (not so rushed, as I always thought it was). 

Oh, and Dan, if you do have a movie night, I'm sure Kurt will want to
come, but you may have to watch one of the scenes a couple of times
(the strange boy LIKES to speak the language of Mordor... yes, I'm
worried for him).

Lastly, on the LOTR subject any way, if your DVD player is a PS2, it
may not play well. Tipping the PS2 on its side will help, but not
eliminate the problem. Better yet, buy a real DVD player.

Christy - I'm sure there will be a decent photo when the quilt goes up
for auction. The only good photo I have isn't going online because it
also shows the messy state of my living room in it. ;P

Rocky - Oh, you'll get a photo. See, by itself the dress isn't scary,
it's just very very blue. But three of us, side by side, in the
brightest of royal blues... get out your sunglasses. And I would never
dare to get revenge that way - after all, these people would have to be
in the wedding photo.

squeaks, who was just commissioned for 5 more bridesmaids dresses for
her boss's wedding in spring. I swear, I DO make other things!
  

    
Neil--(in case you look in here)--remember that you have had the good
sense not to cast Mr. Connery.  I love him, but he does this to every
director he works with, and sues every production company.  He must be
worth it but he doesn't make the process easy.

And I am insanely jealous of all you folk in L.A., San Francisco & New
York.  Eddie Izzard is doing in-store appearances, apparently in only
those 3 cities in a couple weeks.  He's at Border's Union Square in S.
F., and I think the Virgin Megastore in NYC.

And I'll bet Neil has already seen Circle, too.  <<sigh>>

Mary (reading Fiery Cross)
  

    

squeaks - I've only been a bridesmaid, once.  And luckily the bride
knew it was black or nothing. *grin*   Your description makes me think
of that Timbuk3 song, "Future So Bright..I Gotta Wear Shades."

Mary -  I knew it!  And thanks for the head's-up on Eddie, he will be
appearing on Dec. 3rd at  Borders at 461 Park Avenue in NYC. 
Happy..happy..joy..joy!  ;)

LOTR...the expanded version RCOKS! 
  

    
Are you talking about Sean Connery? He's a sue freak? Hm. I just
recently saw a Profile on him on Bravo. I was thinking when it was over
that I wonder how long after he dies before they do another one that
tells ALL the truth. It all just sounded too perfect. 
  

    
Oh, Dan.  I'm so very sorry.  Knowing that it was probably best for
your grandmother doesn't necessarily make it easier to lose her.  Hugs
to you and warm thoughts to your family.

Squeaks, Rocky: Thanks muchly for the review of the LOTR DVD.  I want
it so bad!  (But first, I still have to get a DVD player.)

And... yay!  Eddie Izzard in L.A.!  Thanks, Mary, for the heads up. 
For inquiring L.A. minds, here's the info from his site.

11/26/02 (Tuesday), 7:00 PM:
Virgin Megastore
8000 W. Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood
CA 90046
323-650-8666

Oddly enough, I find myself wondering if he celebrates Thanksgiving or
not, given the fact that he's not American, and the spoof he makes of
it.

-Pam
who feels alternately celebratory and not, lately
  

    
Dodge--yeah, Neil just put up a link over the weekend on his journal
to an article on all the trouble on the set of The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen.  And Connery is Mr. Litigation.  The last long
interview I read with him, *he* said that he has sued every production
company he's ever worked for.

And I wonder if the posthumous bios will address his misogynism.....?

Oh, and Neil's journal is at www.neilgaiman.com .

All coasties--*please* let us know *everything* about the Eddie
appearances!  
  

    
They did actually deal with the misogynism in the Profile on Bravo -
briefly. Seems it was a statement made in a long answer to a question
in, I think, Playboy that was taken out of context and the press (and
public) ran with it. Ah - before anyone jumps in to GET me for this,
please note that this is the way that subject was presented in the
Profile. As I said, they were pretty much making him out to be Better
than Human. Something I don't care for much. I LIKE Sean Connery.
Nothing said against him will make me change my mind about that. But I
like my idols to be Human. I like to like someone in spite of all the
faults. Perfect People make me uneasy. 
  

    
E-mail from Christy:

Hey, gang, remember that spoof article in The Onion that had Todd McFarlane
claiming legal rights to Neil's name?  Well, I guess such a thing is no
spoof if you 're a Rolling Stone:
http://my.aol.com/news/news_story.psp?type=4&cat=0806&id=0
21117075545369050

Gad.

Dan -- Oh man.  So sorry to hear about your grandmother.  Was she your
dad's mom or your mom's?

BTW, did that _Pinch_ website ever come into existence?  Just wondering.

Saw Harry Potter over the weekend; loved it.

Neil (re:  journal) -- Boring?  You kidding me?  I'm sure that filmmaking
stuff is interesting to most people.  Besides, it's cool to see how things
are progres sing.  Thanks for the updates.

Oh my gosh, _Wolves in the Walls_ sounds wonderful!  And we have to wait
almost a year?  :(   Well, it'll be worth it, I'm sure.

Michelle and her messy living room -- One word:  Photoshop.  ;)

Christy, who loves the idea of neon-royal clothes
  

    
Oh, yeah. Know about Neil's website. Just barely can make it to the
well and here though. Time. Need. More. Time.
  

    
Christy, it was my mom's mom. My dad's parents have been gone for some
time now.

The pinch site is no where near done. With everything else going on,
I've had no time to do much more with it. Maybe tonight.... (yeah,
right)

seriously... soon.
  

    
Pamela/1829 -- Still here though not as frequently, and you're very
welcome.  I'm glad Amazon delivered in time (though I had a far better
time with them than with the US version).

Rosemary Wolfe was definitely at WFC, unless I was having a series of
scenes from a Gene Wolfe story.  Elise spent most of her time working
in the dealer's room.
  

    
Um, hi!  I just came by to say hello, hello, sorry I missed most everybody
at WFC, but I was working pretty much the whole time, so unless you saw me
at my table, you probably didn't even know I was there.  (Draws veil over
grumbling Lioness who did not get to any signings, any panels, the art show,
or more than ten minutes of any parties due to the fact that it was too hot
and packed to breathe in the one she went to ever so briefly... sigh)

Memo to self: next time, schedule time for panels and art show, at the very
least.

Happy belated birthday, Neil. I have a prezzie that I keep forgetting to
mail to you, but will get to someday, I hope!

Dan, many hugs and much condolences. And good thoughts sent your way, in
case they help.

(Anything else I missed in the topic, sorry - I mostly scrambled through,
skimming. ) OK. Back I go to the salt mines -- er, bead table.
  

    
meg -- 1816 - the main trouble with the Ipod was that the software
that came with it for Windows was unhelpful and didn't work very well.
I googled "Ipod windows problems" and rapidly discovered that there was
good public domain software out there that emulated itunes for
Windows, and used that. Except I didn't have time to actually put stuff
onto the Ipod so I left it at home.

Mary -- I'll assemble the poetry one day, really I will. I just feel
there ought to be more.

pam -- now I really want to reread Dragon Waiting

Adriana -- I put the stuff on the Nicholas Was up on the blog at
neilgaiman.com -- they should be out and available...

Christy -- some of the Flash Girls songs are all by me, some are just
lyrics. Offhand, the Tea Song (Tea and Corpses), Riding the Flame,
Yeti, Banshee, the LALALA Song (Meaningful Dialogue) are songs I wrote
all of, and Girl Needs a Knife and Personal Thing I cowrote the music.

mary -- from what I keep hearing from the set on the grapevine I think
Connery is only a third of the problem. Floods being another third and
the Director making up the whole.

Dan -- sorry to hear about your Grandmother...


...

I suspect the journal would be more interesting if I could explain the
film more, but I do want it to be a suprise for people. At least to
some extent.



 
  

    
Mike -- I think Maure meant Rosemary wasn't at Windycon.
  

    
Not appropriate to anything recent but we were talking about Sean
Connery up there...
I saw a still image in the Bravo piece on Sean Connery meeting Queen
Elizabeth along with the Bond Girl of his last movie. She was young,
dark haired & slim (Queen Elizabeth). Today in the newspaper, I saw a
picture of Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry meeting Queen Elizabeth. The
pose. The placement. Everything was almost exactly the same EXCEPT of
course, the man, the woman, and Queen Elizabeth is now not slim, not
young, and has white hair. Wierd feeling. 

OK. That's all. Carry on. Don't mind me. Just a comment there.
  

    
Wow. 

Dan- I'm so sorry about your losses. I don't know what to say. My
condolences. 

Neil- re Scarlet's Walk- You didn't write those stories? Weird. Who
did, then? I'm going to have to wonder about this forever, aren't I? :P
Hope you're staying warm and healthy over there.

Lots going on here. Too much, in fact. A lot of things happened at
work involving sexual harassment and all kinds of stupidity from
management. Okay. Long story short, we all quit our jobs and are moving
to southern Indiana. We have no idea where we're going to live, no
idea where we're going to work. But we have a savings and we'd hit a
dead end so we're like, "let's do this"
I have lots of bats in my stomach, but I know that everything is for
the better. Cleveland has been pushing us away for some time now. This
was just the last straw. It all started with The Free Times going
under-- but I digress. We'll be among friends and family, so we'll be
okay. And best of all, nature. I miss trees. I can't wait. I always
thought I was a city person, but I don't think so now. 
I had to get rid of my Tori tickets though and that really depressed
me. I hope she comes to Indy on the second leg... 
Bats. Anyway, I really need your good thoughts and vibes and all that.


Back to packing. Again!

Erynn, who will settle somewhere someday....
  

    
Mike: Glad to know you're still checking in.

Elise: I'm so sorry I missed seeing you.  And I can't *believe* I
missed you in the Dealer's room!  Were you selling your jewelry?  I'm
kicking myself for missing that.  But I was afraid to spend too much
time in the Dealer's room, because it was making my credit card scream
in terror in a high-pitched annoying sort of way.

Dodge: Maybe everyone who meets the Queen has to pose in certain ways?
 

Erynn: Wow.  That's exciting!  I admire your chutzpah.  Go forth and
find a better life.  I hope it all works out fabulously.  Whatever
happened with sexual harrassment, I'm sorry.  Nasty, icky stuff.  I
hope you're okay.  And... where in So. Indiana?  Just curious, 'cause I
went to the Univ. of Evansville, and my husband's from Princeton.

Jinxie: Any news on the house?
  

    
That's a thought. Maybe it was the same photographer and they thought,
hm, here's a pose that worked last time we were in this room and she
was meeting Bond. 
  

    
Erynn - wow. I mean... damn. Well, damn AND wow, I guess.
good luck with all the change and keep us informed! Kudos to you guys
for taking the bold route.
  

    
Mike, Neil,  yes, that's what I meant. No big deal, though. Fot all I
really know, she could have been at Windycon too, and I just didn't see
her.

Erynn,  hurrah! I can imagine the bats! But that's just fantastic --
scary, but fantastic. Best of luck and everything to you. Sucks about
your Tori tickets though ...

Speaking of Tori, I got an email today saying that she's signing her
CD at Borders here in Chicago, if you buy a Scarlet's Walk CD at
Borders, and are one of the first 150 people there at 8 am in the
morning . . . I wonder if they realize what they've done. It's going to
be chaotic. I'd like very much to meet her, but I think I'm going to
have to avoid this one. Plus, I already have the CD, and not from
Borders. But I'm very excited about the show. I hope her hand isn't
cramped and she's unable to play that night because of the signing
thing. I'd be really angry with Borders.
  

    
*takes a long running start, leaps from a high branch to a hanging
vine, and swi i i i i i i ngs by, doing her best Me Jane version of the
Tarzan yell*

Aaaaaah-ooooh ooooh-aaaah aaaaaaaaah!


*stunned stares*
  

    
Sometimes...  You know?
  

    
Pam,  I know.

Oh. Dear. Lord. : 
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/11/22/offbeat.laptop.burn.reut/index.html
  

    
     Re the Incendiary Laptop Incident . . . this was discussed at
some innuendo-laden length on Tech TV tonight, and their view
(remember, these are people who have used/tested a very large number of
laptops) is that it's a hoax.  Some computer components do indeed run
very warm, but if a laptop actually became hot enough to cause burns,
it would have long before stopped functioning (and presumably the user
would have stopped using it).  Not to mention that unless the user was
manaically focused on his work, he would have felt unpleasant warmth --
if not through his trousers, then rising past his hands.  A laptop
shouldn't, and doesn't normally, feel like a radiator.
     It's probably unnecessary to point out that, the way the majority
of men are designed, he'd have burned the tops of his thighs, not his
fiddly bits.  Even if he were typing a very exciting report.  (Guys,
put a large flat object on your lap.  My keyboard is there right now. 
Notice where it rests and does not rest.)
     This yarn has all the elements of urban folklore -- new tech
turning on its user -- "a scientist," no less (that'll show those smart
people!), injury to intimate anatomy, lots of missing details, and an
essential misfit with reality.     Note that while the story was sent
to, and appeared in, THE LANCET, it was a letter, not a formal paper. 
And none of their staffers (or anybody else) seems to have confirmed
it, or even the existence of the person who signed it.     Maybe it
happened.  (And, just to cover the bases, maybe Dr. X burned himself in
some other fashion, and blaming his laptop was less embarrassing than
the truth.  There is a long history of this sort of thing in medicine.)
 I'll wait for a more critical inquiry.
  

    
Whether or not it was a hoax (I would love to watch Tech TV!), it's
not as disturbing to me as this one:
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/12/chun.htm

It's very sad, and really odd.

Erynn,  maybe could you try getting tickets for one of the Chicago
shows? They're listed as sold out, but venues usually hold back a
number of tickets to sell themselves at the box office. I know how
major moving is, and you'll be really busy, but I feel really badly
that you had to give up your tickets.