Inkwell: Authors and Artists

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

    
My major news for the week is that I spent two looong days this week
in class and on the practice range, and have passed the motorcycle
riders' course so I am now licensed to operate a motorcycle. Yipes. Be
afraid. Be very afraid. More afraid than that, even. I'm going to the
dealership Monday or Tuesday next week (as soon as the paperwork is
sorted out) to pick up the Vespa scooter that I actually bought some
time ago but had to wait until I had my license before I could insure
it and register it (yes, in that order, in MA). Heck, I'm afraid!

Last weekend was Readercon <www.readercon.org>, which was quiet fun in
lots of good conversations and several interesting program items, same
as usual; and also the right coincidence of timing, people, and place
for me to throw a 50th-birthday party for Chip, which I did. We still
have champagne left over, though. How odd.

Pam-darlin', from the outside, you are one of those perfect people,
too. You just don't see all the things _they've_ left undone and people
they haven't called... Mazel Tov! to the job-change decision, and all
the best luck hunting (as if you need it, I know you'll make your own).
A delayed <hug>, and if I ever find out where the house-elves are
hiding I promise I'll share.
  [Sidebar to grumpy Walker: From his perspective, lots of us look
like little hobbits; remind him that, if he gets too grumpy about it, I
can still reach his kneecaps, heh.]

Hello, Will! I don't think we've met, have we? Congratulations on all
the good stuff happening! I've also seen previews for UNDERWORLD, and
it looks rockin'.
  Also definitely considering Borders on 8/8, since partner Chip and I
are due in Philadelphia that Saturday anyway, for my dad's 70th
birthday celebration.

Erynn, I'm sorry about your rabbit but delighted that everything else
seems to be going so well for you, especially the creative parts. And a
piano AND a lawnmower--domesticity defined, isn't it?

Christy and Maure: I'm coming down for New York is Book Country
weekend, too. Maybe we could make some plans?

Madman, thank you for posting those story links, and I see what you
mean about the inspiration. I like the feel of both pieces.

Dan, that sounds like one-stop shopping for all the good stuff. Wow.
Excellently dangerous.
  

    
Live report from San Diego after the dinner with Godot...

And we have a surprise visitor... Michelle!  Slightly wounded, but
gorgeous as ever, she showed up for dinner and proved that Walker is
devious as well as grumpy and simply not to be trusted.

I think a Chicken theme may be developing, but we'll have to wait
until tomorrow to be sure.  This is, in part but only in part, due to
the chicken that will apparently be showing up in MirrorMask, as a nod
to the Henson legacy.

MirrorMask is stunning, and it's only a third or so done.

And--aside from natural disasters and other human tragedies--watching
Neil get mobbed at a fan con is possibly the scariest thing I have ever
seen.

"It's the rubber piggy project." - Michelle

"It's pornographically cuddling his tail." - Michelle

"I'm saving you from chocolate on your ass." - Pam

"There's so much chicken on my head right now." - unknown child on
train with Adriana and Dave

"Monkeys, monkeys, monkeys."  - Walker

"Weasels, weasels, weasels." - Michelle

And for Maure... status update on the hula hoop movie should happen
tomorrow.

Nighty night.

*thud*
  

    
Hehehe!  Nighty-night to you too, if a few hours late.

And if you meet a dude named Ben Smith, be nice to him.  ;)

Guess what!  I got a wireless card!  And a pay-as-you-go Hotspot
account (with the first 24 hrs. free), so I am now posting to you from
my favorite Starbucks!  Be almost as afraid as you are of Davey.
  

    
<cowering in utter terror> Oh no--she's got a wireless card AND
coffee! (There's a MATRIX 3 subplot in that somewhere, I just know it.)

Walker is devious beyond all imagining. Sometimes this is A Good
Thing.
  

    
Super congrats to our favorite squeaker for the phenomenal sale of her
quilt at the CBLDF auction.

Go Michelle!

"Nora" closed last night. One more in the history books.
My domain name is STILL down, but if you'd like to see pics you can
find them at http://66.93.188.184/
just go to the Actor section then to Show Photos.
  

    
Davey: You go, Vespa girl!  And Walker kept trying to incite the
Stormtroopers to attack the hobbits.

stagewalker: congratulations on another successful show!

     * * *
MORE CON REPORTS

I have the hugest Con hangover.  I called in to work, and slept until
10:00 this morning, and I still feel like I've taken the long way back
from Neverland.

My editor wishes to make a correction to my earlier post.  The quote
from the little girl on Adriana and Dave's train should read "too much
chicken on my *brain*," not head.  Two words: drunk, exhausted.

It was fabulous to get to see so much of Neil--even in a room full of
5000 people--and especially to get to see and hear so much of what he's
doing.  

 - MirrorMask is stunning.
 - The John Bolton film is witty and wierd and wonderful.
 - Wolves in the Walls is rich and hysterically funny (I can't speak
about the art, because I didn't get to see it).  
 - And I finally, FINALLY got to hear Blueberry Girl!  It made me
deliriously delighted.  It's gorgeous.

Many, many, many, many thousands of people there.  Large numbers of
whom came to see all the Neil events.  We didn't even try to get into
the signing lines--total insanity.

By Saturday afternoon, I had to take a complete brain break and hide
out in the sun at the hotel pool.  It was good.

One really funny thing... after the "Spotlight on Neil" panel, Neil's
Con assistant, (the other) Pam, formed a protective line of people from
the podium to the door (to prevent him from being mobbed on the way
out), including 6 very large, very convincing, very Klingon men. 
Utterly bizarre.

The CBLDF auction was amazing.  And Michelle's quilt was the "piece de
resistance" at the very end.  The quilt was absolutely gorgeous-- rich
and mysterious--and people oohed and aahed when they finally held it
up.  I have to confess to being guilty of informing the auctioneers
that the Creator of the quilt was in the audience, at which point they
dragged her up on the podium, and she spoke beautifully about its
creation and history, which enhanced the whole thing alot, I think. 
The tension built and built as the prices rose and rose, and then shot
through the roof as they held the closing of the bidding until Neil
came running up at the last moment to up the bid once and then
graciously concede to Heather (I'm pretty sure that was her name), who
was utterly thrilled to win.  $2600--I think it was the highest bid of
the night.  

I had a fabulous time getting to go out and play with Michelle, Mimi,
Adriana and Dave, and Walker.  Also seen: Denise and Shield, from the
boards, Thingie Dax and a few others whose names I'm afraid I can't
remember.  (Unfortunately, no Ben Smiths.)  And Holly was her own
lovely self.

And now it's my turn to be jealous of all the East coasters, who will
get to see him in August.

-P
who is only at work for the appearances of it, today
  

    
P.S.  The theme for the latter days of the Con definitely evolved into
FISH, not chicken.
  

    
Thanks for the reports, Pam!  Even though I'm planning to see Neil
twice in the next two months, I'm insanely jealous that you got to see
ASFaJB -- and meet Holly.

Glad to hear that Holly and The Other Pam did such a good job of
looking out for Neil.

And Michelle -- I'm impressed.  Really impressed.  And wishing I could
have seen the thing and heard your talk on it.  Congratulations and
good job and, once again, you are Insanely Talented.
  

    
I'm STILL on Con hangover.  Wuuuughhgughguh.  
  

    
I would be interested to hear that pronounced.
  

    
Davey: a Vespa!! Those things are so cute. *^o^* I have a toy model
one (pastel yellow) for my Blythe dolls. :P A friend of mine here also
has motorcylcle license aspirations...  except she wasts to drive a
Suzuki. ^_^;

Adriana, I'm so there with you... Look, it's Tuesday, and I'm still
walking in a haze.  *staggerstagger* *assignment pile stares at me and
I stare back*

Michelle, you did good. Yay for you! ^_- (And that thing on your
jacket sez "Kimi wa kareinaru hana," in case it's still illegible.)

It was great hanging out with everybody... Some day I will get to meet
more of you wonderful people here. *party!* ^_^
  

    
> I would be interested to hear that pronounced.

Oooh, lookit her teasing the left-coasties! Christy-girlfriend, you
are SO asking to be taught about single malts and kept up way past your
bedtime at New York Is Book Country...

More YAYs to Michelle! Hey, based on what I heard elsewhere, that
gorgeous quilt accounted for almost 15% of the auction take!

Couldn't collect the Vespa today after all--the paperwork is finally
done, but Boston is all over thunderstorms this afternoon and riding a
not-had-anything-like-a-shakedown-drive new bike that I don't know
through city commuter traffic on wet streets illuminated by electrical
storm discharge is just a leetle bit more risk than I'm willing to take
for a first ride. OK, so I'm cautious. TOMORROW, when it clears,
however... (Mine's light green, btw.)
  

    
Michelle, I believe you should quit your life and make quilts for a
living...for me.  

...please?
  

    
Davey: Thunderstorms!  You taunt with what I can't have!  And Christy
is *definitely* asking for it.  We'll see her tease after *that*.

By the way... have a little phone message waiting for you.  Call me
back!

And Michelle's quilt *was* 15% of the overall take!  BRAVA!!!

Also... I do have the somber responsiblity to inform you all that
Adriana and Walker were spotted *several* times in the same place at
the same time.

So the universe as we know it has, in fact, ended.  In case you may
have missed it.  And we are all now living in one of those Other
universes.
  

    
And riding in it, too--I picked up the Vespa this morning, with a few
preliminary loops through a nearby parking lot first and then Chip
driving chase just to be safe. The controls really are as
straightforward as the dealer-guys said, and I figured out where the
gas tank is when I pulled in to a station to fill it.
  Discovered that we're going to have to re-think the parking
space--racking the bike on to its stand takes just more room than there
is in the place we meant to keep it. Also discovered that it's almost
certainly better to back it in than have to back it out, but our back
gate is a serious nuisance and I want it OFF. (Chip says he'll look at
the options and we'll talk about it.) I scratched up one of the mirror
casings getting it backed in, grmph. (Mimi: I agree they're cute, but
my cutie weighs almost 240 lbs--about twice what I do--and manuevering
it through our back gate and up the kitchen path has to be done afoot,
engine off and deadweight; neither of us looks cute while I'm doing
that. <g>)
  I really like having an automatic. Really really. And it balances
well, down to almost standing still. That's a _good_ thing.
  I'll practice more this afternoon on our neighborhood streets if the
rain holds off.
  One more burble-- http://www.vespausa.com/HTML_Brochure/Colors.cfm
(roll over the colors on the right menu until you get to light green,
and that's my bike)--and I'll be quiet now.

(Have listened to Pam's phone message, and talked with Pam. Still
shaking my head in disbelief. Walker=devious. Nevermind, it's OK, all's
well, tell y'all later.)
  

    
To be accurate--rolling deadweight, which makes it possible, just not
cute or fun.
  

    
Yay! After almost a month of battles, my domain name is back in my
control and the website is running again.
Anybody who wants to see pictures from Nora can now go to
http://www.danwilsonshow.com

Now I just gotta get my email server up and running and it's all good.

Davey - Nice Vespa... ciao!
  

    

Congrats on getting the domain back!
  

    
I run off to Orlando for a week, and look what happens!

WILL----AAaaaaaagh!  It is *so cool* to have you back!  I've missed
you terribly!  Yay!  Congrats on the job, and the novella!  I will stop
punctuating with exclamation points now!  Really!

Davey--go, Vespa girl!  (I keep hearing Eddie Izzard saying Ciao! in
my head).  In a perfect world, I would have a Vespa and a Mini, but I
just have the Pinkmobile.  <<sigh>>  Oh, well, she runs beautifully, so
I am *not* complaining.

Erynn--you *have* to come up to Chicago & let us buy you lunch.  If
Neil comes in for Humanities Festival the first week of November,
please say you'll come.  It'll be fun, honest.  Congratulations on the
playwrights group.  That is so cool!  And I'm sorry about Augie.  

Jouni--Hi!  It's lovely to hear from you.  Any new pictures of that
sweet boy?

Speaking of adorable children, DanGuy, how are yours?

Stagewalker--glad the website drama is over with.

Pam--thank you so much for the updates from Comicon.  They were great!
 Some day I'm gonna blow off responsibility and come out there &
hang......oh, and my advice for not being so busy is to get a teaching
job.  This "summer off" thing is the greatest idea since cake mix. 
I've actually *had enough sleep* for the last couple of weeks.  The
dark circles under my eyes are almost gone--I don't look like me!  ;-)

Unfortunately, I'm getting little sleep tonight, as I have to go to a
job fair tomorrow and see if I can find a job closer to home, so it's
crash time.

OK, this is insanely long, so I'll just say that I was at Rock City
Monday morning, and it was most amusing.  The trip to House on the Rock
is planned for sometime in August.

Mary (reading Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James)
  

    
Aw, shucks.  Thanks again, everyone, for making me feel so welcome
again.  That's what I've loved about this place; it feels like friends.

Davey: No, I don't think we've met before.  So nice to meet you.  When
did you join the ranks?

I might not have made it to SDCC, but I had a wonderful weekend: a lot
of revision done (one of these days I'll clean my bedroom.  I swear. 
But), and my local county library had a huge used book sale.  Four
paperbacks for a dollar, hardcovers a dollar and a quarter each.
I left with a box of books.  Among them, *The Four Gated City*, by
Doris Lessing (which I've wanted to read for the longest time), the
complete poems of T.S. Eliot, Goethe's *Faust* (I came *this close* to
buying it in the original German.  For the coolness factor alone.  But
I can't read German, and I didn't want it to be one of those projects
[you know: I'm going to buy *Faust* in the original, and then learn it
to read it] that keeps getting put off), the philosophical writings of
Nietzsche, a book of essays on Zen-Buddhism, books of plays by Pinter
and Albee, lots of light reading, basically.  I also picked up a book
called *The Dragon Waiting*, by a fellow by the name of John M. Ford;
any relation, Mike (<chuckle>)?  My box of twenty-some books cost just
over ten dollars.

I'm slowly working through my back list, too.  Just got to finish *If
Chins Could Kill*, by Bruce Campbell (a very witty, very informal, very
informative book, about Campbell's experiences as an actor.  So far
I've gotten past his and Raimi's filming of *Evil Dead* [which had the
original title *Book of the Dead*, apparently, but their manager
thought people would avoid it, thinking they'd have to read throughout
the movie] and *Crimewave*.  Really good stuff, and a good read for
anyone who wants to learn about the process, inside and out), and then
read the new *Harry Potter* (which I'm *immensely looking forward to
[so nobody say anything spoilerish, please!]).

And then the box.

In the meantime, I'm still jealous of everyone who got to have such
immense fun in San Diego.  And of Davey, too.  I want a phone call from
Pam!
  

    
Over a month's worth of catching up to do....

Rocky -- Neil was in NYC at the end of May!?  I thought he was
somewhere else that weekend (don't remember where).  So, will we be
seeing you at his 8/8 or Book Country readings?  (I just got the day
off for the August one.)  I'm so grateful that he'll be coming around
-- twice, no less.  <g>

Glad you had a great trip to Amsterdam!

Tara -- Hurrah for WW dorks!  And I wonder if it was the George Perez
revamp that my brother told me about in the early 90's, and then got me
the first five issues for my 23rd birthday?  It was a recent new line
of WW comics, I know.  (Unfortunately, the first story arc was SIX
issues, so I got ready to read the conclusion and came to a premature
stop!)  I LOOOOVED all the Greek Mythology in the first issue
especially; in fact, that was the springboard to the discussion among
Ben, my friend Tom, and me one day wherein I first heard of _Sandman_. 
(Tom told me yesterday that he just finished _Preludes & Nocturnes_;
he's intrigued!)

Gotta go to lunch now; more later.
  

    
Will <930> -- Congrats on the job (in the writing world, no less)! 
I'm rather flattered that, with your new source of income, you chose us
over a Playstation 2.  <g>

<<[I loved when Neil looked at my name on the little sticky note,
looked at me, then back at the note and said, "Oh, I know you, how are
you, Will?" even though I'd only met him once, over a year before]).>>

Hey, no fair; the second time *I* met him, he didn't remember meeting
me *three months* before!  (But then, I hadn't been a regular on the
Well by the first time, which also happened to be toward the very
beginning of that long and ill-fated B&N signing.)

(Neil -- don't pay any attention to that last paragraph.  I'm just
giving Will a hard time.  It isn't your turn to be picked on today.)

WOOHOO on "Sage of Angels"!!  You must let us know when it's
available.  I knew you'd get something published if you kept plugging
away!

Despite its not being the typical fare for that particular small
press, it sounds like something I'd personally prefer reading.  My
sampling of different LeGuin works has suggested to me that I tend to
like stories that take place on Earth (even an altered Earth) or among
humans, rather than something that's totally other-world-based.  (For
instance, _The Lathe of Heaven_ was my favorite of the books I read
last year, while the online short story _Season of the Ansarac_, an
elaborate description of an alien culture, did very little for me.)

Jouni -- Good to hear from you again, too!  Anything new on your
cartoon site?

Pam -- Getting rid of the 3-hr round trip commute sounds like a very
good idea.  (My current one is 4.  It's by train/bus, which allows me
to read or sleep, but it is beginning to feel as though I am never home
-- especially with so many weekends tied up lately.)  Please let us
know how everything progresses.  And I'm so glad you got to have a
little vacation this past weekend!

Erynn -- Welcome back to YOU, too!  Lots of changes in your life;
except for the sad one about Augie, they sound like good ones, too! 
(Don't tell your mother "the rabbit died" -- she might get excited!) 
(Let me know if you need that explained.)

How's your first week on the job going?  Very awesome about the
Bloomington Playwrights Project!  That sounds like a blast, and right
up your (Dark?) alley.

Hey, Dan <950> -- Ah, but am I stalking Will... or Neil?  (There I go
remembering dates again -- but it makes sense when it's a date I had to
plan and get time off for!  ...  Right?)

I'm caught up to a week ago, now.  I think that's a good time to press
"Post."
  

    
Ooh, Michael Gaiman turned twenty on Monday!  I am so sorry I missed
it!

Happy 20th Birthday, Michael!



(How many people here think Neil does not look old enough to have a
grown child?  And this is speaking as someone who, at age 20, had
parents who were a couple of years _younger_ than he is now.)
  

    
DanGuy -- There's a comic shop near the Alexandria train station? 
Where can I find it?  I'm in that area almost every day now.

Davey -- 'Grats on the license and the Vespa!  Happy 50th Birthday to
Chip, too!  And Happy 70th to your dad!  :D

On Walkers, Stormtroopers, and Hobbits -- A lady at a Trek convention
once told me about going to another Trek con with her little nephew and
getting one of those toy Tribbles that squeak.  There were Klingons
wandering around, and one was walking toward the two of them, so she
held up the Tribble and squeaked it at him.  He played along and
recoiled, utterly delighting the nephew!  She said he still talked
about scaring the Klingon away with the Tribble.

OK, should be working.  Have a good weekend!