Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Just jumping right in with no lame apologies for how slack I've been
these past weeks...

Pam - What you didn't know about the line of Klingons is that the one
I spoke to sounded vaguely like he'd spent a bit too much time hangin'
10 on the local waves... er, something like that. And if anyone was
curious - about 2 hours for the makeup.

And yes, Pam, you are truly evil. I blame you entirely for making me
go up and deal with the quilt auction. If anything, I'm slightly more
peeved with Neil - after all, I gave him the quilt partly to I wouldn't
have to deal with it any more. Big meanie. Though it did produce my
favourite quote of the con:

Me: Is my face still completely red?
Neil: <glances through dark glasses> No. Not at all.
<pause>
Me: You're lying, aren't you?
Neil: Yes.

Ooh, and assuming daddio fixed my scripting errors:
http://www.snafu.org/michelle/squilt.htm
... which was supposed to go up BEFORE the auction, but didn't, so I
updated it - blurry pictures and all. Hrm. Seems to not be up yet. Give
it an hour or 10.

Adriana (et al) - Anybody wanting a quilt from me may have one, if
they pay for it, and don't mind waiting the up-to-5-years it takes to
make them. Then again, if I wasn't working, but just quilting... okay,
then it would only be about a year wait. Oh, and I work faster on
commission (as long as I'm not sewing up a frenzy for Burning Man
stuff).

Dan - Huzzah to web sitey ness

Davey - Woo hoo! Vespa! The green is truly cute.

Speaking of cute vehicles, the boy and I are down to mine, as his (not
as cute any way) vehicle was hit in such a manner as to render it
'art' a couple of weeks ago. Ever thankful for the quick thinking of
boy, as he did put on the brakes, preventing me from wearing a van just
then, but poor little Periwinkle (don't ask) took the brunt of the
blow and is no more. 

I'm fine, aside from a bit of lower back pain (ah, Ibuprofen, I never
remember how good a friend you are!). But the boy's ego is beyond
bruised. Really, utterly lacerated. Let's face it; VW Beetles are just
damned cute, and I do cute cars well. Little 'Murphy' suits me. But
when you take someone who created this: http://www.insoc.org/Car.HTML
and who was basically thriving on the idea of the good old American
muscle car for the past twenty-something years he's been on the road,
and you stick him in one of these:
http://www.vw.com/art/newbeetle/gallery/gal_zm_ext_2.jpg he's just not
going to be happy.

bleargh, speaking of not getting anything done today... bad idea to do
laundry, hand washing, dishes, posting, and catching up on posting all
at the same time. Now I have to wash the sink of the fabric dye stains
from leaving my dress in there too long. Oops.

-squeaks
  

    
Oooooo, Michelle, it's beeeyoootiful!  You rock, as I believe I've
mentioned.
  

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

    
He's introducing scary movies on TV.....I cannot *wait*!
  

    
Man, I hope I get that channel.  Or can find a copy.
  

    


From Holley Nowell:



Random stuff.

I've been thinking of getting a new car. I wanna wanna Volkswagen Beetle.
I've always thought they were so cute. I also wanna wanna Vespa. I may trade
my car in on a Beetle then save up for a Vespa and have both. What I started
out wanting when I started thinking of new cars was a Camaro since last year
was the last year for them. Muscle car. Vroom. Then I rode in one and drove
one. They drive like a block of wood and remind me of sitting in a coffin.
The interior is very reminiscent of the Corvette. If you sit upright when you
drive as I do (as opposed to my son who appears to be lying prone) the
windshield is almost touching the eyebrows. So I gave up on the Camaro. Sigh.
What I'd REALLY like is a Z BMW or a Boxter Porsche but will have to forego
that. The used ones are affordable but the repair costs are outrageous.

Saw on Neil's journal the request about hosting the Halloween special. His
line about having to be responsible because he's a serious author. It was
funny. His, I'm a responsible author so of course I said Yes. Heck, I could
be writing textbooks and be SO THERE if they asked me to do that. I, too,
would like to rise out of a coffin and they'd better have a red velvet ornate
couch somewhere on the set for me to be seen lounging on. Sigh. If I just
still  had my Elvira figure! Hope he lets us know if he actually does that. I
wanna see him.

Quilting. When I was little, we'd go to my great-aunt's house and I was
allowed to sew on the quilt in the middle of the living room with the other
adult women. My grandmother and my mom and aunts. I was so proud. It was on a
frame that was hung from eye hooks on the ceiling so when she wasn't working
on it, it could be pulled up with the ropes and out of the way. I always
wanted to do that but never got around to it. Maybe when I retire. haha

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2942275048&category=152
3
This is on EBay. I was looking at pillboxes and here is a gothic coffin
silver pendant pillbox. And if you're ever looking on EBay for a pillbox
ring, there's a Mexican company that makes Taxco Silver pillbox rings. The
guys EBay id is ajmorris. Really neat. The rings are adjustable. I got 2.

Not much news for me these days. Just work and home and work etc. Except
maybe my condo problems. Some biddy waited for me to park my car Friday and
stood there and informed me that my music in my car was too loud coming onto
THIS property. Geez. I get so tired of these people who have nothing better
to do than prowl around the property looking for people doing things they
don't like so they can report them. If she hadn't been walking in the
driveway but had been on the sidewalk where she belonged, she wouldn't have
heard my music 'cause a factory radio isn't loud enough to reach that far.
Ha. If my unit wasn't owned by a pal that I like and I hadn't gotten it
pretty much decorated the way I want it, I'd move at the end of the lease.
Would hate to have to though. Sigh.

I wish Neil'd come down to Texas. Austin. College Station. Houston. I'll
never get to see him though. Sigh. I never have the money to travel that far.
  

    

That quilt is absolutely amazing.

The other night I dreamed that I worked in an office with squeaks. I found
this to be very, very bizarre when I woke up, and it makes me think it's
time for Barking Mad Poker.
  

    
Yes, absolutely beautiful quilt.
And I think we should have an East Coast edition of Barking Mad poker.
 I know at least a few of you are somewhere around me (I'm in South
Jersey, but within distance of both New York and Philadelphia).  Any
takers?
Any time someone mentions a Vespa, I just want to turn and say "Ciao!"
  

    
Will,

I have a huge basement with a big table just north of Philadelphia, if
you think we can get enough bodies to make it worth it.
  

    
Can relative newbies be dealt in? I don't know for certain about
timing, but Chip and I are still planning to drive down for Neil's
WOLVES reading on August 8, and then on to Philadelphia since we have
to be there Saturday for my dad's dinner. Maybe a Friday night game?

I've discovered an unexpected, well, not exactly "drawback," to
zipping around on a Vespa--every errand takes about 10 minutes longer
than I expect, because I haven't parked in or pulled out of a store lot
yet without someone asking about the scooter. Secondhand celebrity, to
my wheels. It's still cool, but odd.

Will, I started imposing on the WELL hosts' good natures sometime last
fall, and finally splurged for my own account early this year. I had a
fair number of friends in the 'Noise already, though, so it felt
mostly like resuming a conversation started elsewhere. Glad you're back
around, too.

Squeaks, I just want to note how very glad I am that you're _not_
wearing a van, and my sincere regrets on the boy's bruised ego but my
compliments on his reflexes. (And that car! My word, that's really a
steel-and-rebar Goth exoskeleton, isn't it?)

This past Saturday, my co-manager and I started packing NESFA Press
books for eventual trucking up to Torcon. Managing the Press' tables at
a Worldcon is quite satisfying but an awful lot of work; I'm glad that
this year there are two of us sharing the job. (Last year for ConJose
the packing crew boxed ~2 TONS of books for shipping cross-country, and
we had most of another ton drop-shipped straight from the printers
because they were so close to deadline on the jobs that the books
weren't ready when our commercial carrier truck left the dock. This
year's load will be smaller but we have to be more precise on the
inventory control because it all has to be tallied through Customs and
GST prepaid.)
  I'm looking forward to this trip, much more than last year's because
we're going to drive to Toronto and stop at interesting places on the
way. Time at the Corning glassworks is a certainty, and we both want to
ride "The Maid of the Mist" under Niagara Falls again (I was ~12 the
last time I did that), and I don't know what-all else yet but we're
looking at maps and talking about options. Whee.
  

    
Mary <970> -- Yes, but the Pinkmobile has the honor of having been
named by Neil!  (Speaking of which, my car just celebrated its 10th
anniversary this past week!)

How'd the job fair go?

Will --
<the philosophical writings of Nietzsche, a book of essays on
Zen-Buddhism>

I'd recommend you read them in that order, too.  Then after Nietzsche
depresses you to death, the Zen stuff can make you feel balanced again.
 ;)  Great book prices!
  

    
Mousechelle -- Wow!  You can make $2600 pieces of art!  And it really
is beautiful.  HOW do you have the patience to put together something
like that!?

I agree about the exchange in <976>; that's a great quote.  And it
makes me look forward that much more to seeing Neil in a couple of
weeks (KOW)!

VERY glad you and the Boy are safe.  I'm sure he will get a less cute
vehicle soon.  :)  (How's your back doing?)

DG (on Harlan stuff and Neil stuff) -- Sounds as though you've got
your priorities straight.  <g>  Thanks for the info!  I hope they
restock some Rare Neil Stuff soon, and that I get to it before you do. 
;)

Will -- An Eastern Barking Mad get-together would be cool, though I
don't know anything about poker.  (I could also be prevailed upon to
bring other games....)  And the night of Friday the 8th would be kinda
cool, as I'm hoping to stay in the city that night.  My friend Tom
wants to come up to meet Neil, and naturally, Ben sounds interested as
well.

Davey -- Sounds like a fun trip!  I've got friends up in the Niagara
Falls area....

Well, they're gonna close the Starbucks on me soon, and I'm getting
verrry sleeeeeeepy....

'Nite all!
  

    
Davey--I cannot recommend Stratford, ON highly enough--a beautiful
town, and the plays I saw there 2 years ago were terrific.  The
Shakespeare Festival has a website, but I don't know the addy offhand. 
Google will, though.

Christy--yes, Neil did name her, and one of these days when he's in
town, he may have to ride in her, since his favorite sushi restaurant
is quite a hike from the hotels in downtown where he usually stays. 
(Yes, Neil, that's an invite--any time you want to go back to Katsu,
the Unusuals would be happy to take you.)

Mousy--I am also glad that you guys came through the accident in one
piece.  Good driving by the boi.

I wanna have a poker night!  Wah!  Maure, did you ever get that copy
of They Might Be Giants?  Let's have a movie night!

Squee!  I got psueded!  Squee!

Mary (who just finished At Death's Door & thought it was utterly
charming)
  

    
Mary, yes indeed, I did get it. My house is very very quiet these days
-- my roommate moved back to Philly, and Megan works in the suburbs
3-4 days out of the week, so stays with our parents there. Tara would
have to load herself up with Benadryl or something for the Cats, but
you're right, we should definitely have a movie night.

Speaking of They Might Be Giants, Megs and I are very very excited to
see them live! in concert! at the end of August -- they're playing in
Naperville, of all places. Naperville is such an odd place. It's where
we went to high school. The best way to describe it is to reference the
X-Files episode that took place in the subdivision where everything
had to be perfectly manicured (the lawns, the people, the everything),
with no sign of oddness or personality, or the garbage monster thing
would come up and eat you... but for some reason, lately it's been
collecting some neat people -- Neil was there, PTerry was there, and
now TMBG.. to us, it's just odd. Maybe there's been a power shift or
something of which we haven't been aware, not having been there for
awhile now.

Michelle, the quilt is absolutely lovely. I would love to have seen it
in person. 
  

    
Dave, I'm half planning on going to the Aug 8 signing.  However, given
how long these things last, I'm not sure if that night is the best for
poker.   Last time I went to a NYC signing I got back at 1, after
eating dinner with a lovely bunch of people.
  

    
<grin>
  

    
Davey--
Concur with Mary on the Stratford Festival. It can be found at
http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/ . I took Sarah there for our second
date, to see "Midsummer Night's Dream." It was utterly fantasmic. Note
that tickets ordered online are available for pickup at Ticketmaster
Canada box offices, NOT the Theatre box office, strangely. They were
quite helpful in hand-printing tickets for us, though. From what the
theatre staff said, you're almost always better off calling the box
office directly.

Jealous of all you going to the NYC sign/read, although I'm sending an
emissary to have a copy of Wolves purchased and signed there. :-)
  

    
Just got an e-mail (from Debbie!) that instructed me to do to Google,
type in "weapons of mass destruction" and hit "I feel lucky!"  The
error message is hilarious. Google employees apparently have a sense of
humor.

Mary (reading "Devices and Desires" by P.D. James.  Honest to God, the
woman's books are like crack!)
  

    
Oh, almost forgot.....

Oooooo, Maure, we must invade & make much noise.  We're good at that.

<< sticks out tongue at Neil, who is nodding vigorously>>
  

    
Actually, Mary, the WMD page isn't run by google, it just quickly rose
to first place because of the number of people who link to it.  I've
seen it posted in at least 2 well topics.
  

    
I almost forgot.  How many piccolos do we have for the signing?
  

    
damn, this piccolo is in los angeles.
  

    
I have bought more fishies.  Stop me before my apartment fills up with
the little buggers!  These are (theoretically) the last--I just wanted
another Black Moor.  But since the yearlings were *$4.58* at
WallyWorld, 3 of them leaped into my cart and came home with me. 
Headed to PetSmart tomorrow for another 10-gallon tank, since I don't
really have room for 3 fairly large new fish. I don't know if I
mentioned my last piscine purchase here--he's a gold telescope eye
about an inch and a half long, whose tail had been chewed off at the
store.  The first rule of buying fish in a pet store is "Thou shalt not
buy any fish that appears to be in anything other than perfect health,
as you will get attached to the little pooper, and it will then
croak".  Rules being made to be broken, I bought the little guy as a
pity project, and a tiny black moor (trying to get the aforementioned
"one more Moor"), fully expecting the Moor to be alone in the
quarantine tank shortly, and me to be $6 poorer.  The Moor cacked it
within 24 hours, and Wandsworth is the terror of the big tank, showing
no fear even of Cleo the Vasty, Queen of the Ocean.  (She's a 3 year
old red and gold Oranda and about 5 inches long, not counting 3-4
inches of tail.)  

Both Slim & Wandsworth were most pleased with their appearance in "At
Death's Door".

My actual point in posting (I know the fish stuff is fascinating, but
I really did have a *point*) was just to say that I'm proud of Neil for
"spawning the Goth movement"--really I had no idea!  (Who's a
smartass?)  The PW article was for the most part pretty good, but there
were a few "interesting" bits.  However, comics being such an "arcane"
world, no one will probably notice.    

OK, I am now too snotty to live, and must go to bed.  

Glen--thanks for the info.  I looked at it on webtv (I know! I know!)
and it's not as apparent that you've left Google.  Anyway, it made me
laugh, and I hope it gave you guys a giggle, if you hadn't seen it
before.

Mary

P.S.  The above mini-rant was inspired by a Publisher's Weekly story
on Neil that he links to on his blog.  I think the mistakes annoyed me
because so much of it was good, and then you'll hit a statement as
stupid as that, and you feel betrayed by the writer--"I thought you
knew what you were on about" sort of thing.  Perhaps I should get over
it and go to bed.
  

    
"Spawning the Goth movement" . . .

So what does this make Alaric, chopped liver?
  

    
Neil, I freakin' love Assassins.  You're a Sondheim man, have you seen
or heard any of the new show (it was called Wise Guys but I think they
might have changed the title)?

I know you told us, but where/when can we find the Problem of Susan in
print?