Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
The subject is King Cakes. In my office our clients send to us these
king cakes which are largely giant ring cinnamon rolls with colored
granular sugar on top of the white icing. Think 2 day old cinnamon
rolls. Yuk. But for some reason, I always get a piece and choke on the
dryness and the crunch of granulated sugar. Sigh. Why do I do that? I
KNOW it's not going to be good. Dear me. I do notice that a lot of the
companies who make and ship these things are putting the little plastic
baby in a separated little plastic bag instead of in the cake. 
  

    
Same pet.  In the two years I've been volunteering at the SPCA though I keep
being given more and more responsibilities and spending more and more time
there--
  

    
I'm new to the whole Neil Gaiman fandom and, as anybody who was at FG
will know, found out about him through the children's books I kept
reading to my daughters. Which is odd, since I've been reading comics
for much longer.

Vignette - I pass by my girls and they are all reading... The teen has
Mr. Punch, the middle child is reading Coraline (again) and the baby
is trying to copy Mr. McKean's drawings in Wolves. I sneak out and come
back with the camera and click the photo I call: Gaiman for all ages.
I just *had* to.

I'm lonely here in Brazil since there are a lot of fans, but it's
mostly Sandman people and much younger than myself.
  

    
Georgia -- I'm sure you're partly right about the Brazilian fans, but
a lot of the Brazilian Sandman fans have been reading it since the
first Globo editions in 1989, and are now much longer in the tooth than
you are.

I do know I need to go back to Brazil though.  Have you tried looking
for Brazilian readers on Orkut? 

Anyway, I want to see the photo.

Christy, yes, Mike graduates this year. (And just because I've not
logged on doesn't mean I don't try and keep an eye on what goes on
here.)

The fate of Sandman.tv is really upsetting -- especially because the
drawings were obviously forgeries. I wish eBay policed itself better.

Mary -- I am not convinced that having my name on the cover of Gothic
Beauty magazine is really my ticket to notoriety...

...

And I have no idea why I have such nice fans; I'm just happy that I
do.
  

    
I think you acquired your permanent bronzed ticket to notoriety a long
long time ago. I say that in a very nice way.

A gothic beauty mag though. Hm. 

I tell my pals when I retire from this conservative company, I'm not
going to bother with gray hair. I'm just going to turn it that gorgeous
color of blue and wear nothing but costumes the rest of my life. Adapt
them all for everyday living. Such yawns in normal clothes.  

Came across this great website for LotR costume-making.
www.alleycatscratch.com. Hm. Some of the names of the contributors
sound very familiar.

The LotR display is coming to Houston soon! Must go to see it.
  

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

    
Neil -- Oh, that's right!  I sometimes forget that you can read this
topic without being logged in.  Glad you're still checking in.  I don't
know how you find the time; I'm just happy that you do.


(I hope to catch up here myself soon; I've had a lot to say, but no
time to say it in.)

(Nope, don't have a car yet.)
  

    
Well, if not notoriety, then perhaps just gothic beauty.  ;-)

It isn't that I thought it made you more famouser, Mr. Neily-Neil,
just that there it was in Border's in large and friendly letters, all
official-like, and I ain't used to it, yet.

Good Lord, Mike's graduating.  You people are getting old!

My classes are reading I Am My Own Wife, so I've managed to sneak in
some Eddie Izzard--snips of him talking about transvestitism from Dress
to Kill.  Whoo-hoo!  I take the little darlings to see the play
tomorrow.  Think kind thoughts for me....

Mary (reading Hanging Out With the Dream King) 
  

    
I caught Izzard on his Sexie tour the other year.  Very enjoyable.

Neil - almost every occasion can be made better by adding cake, so I'm
all for it.  However, if you really are checking on us here, why
didn't you ever tell us about Melinda?

http://www.hillhousepublishers.com/Melinda.htm ???
  

    
Photo link sent through the FAQ link thingy. I told the girls I was
sending it and they freaked - good freak. 

Notshakespeare and Mary
Eddie I. is a favourite of mine. I have a serious soft spot for the
action/executive transvestite. My chances of him showing up here for a
gig? Not bloody likely. :(

Books! Batlerby Y Compania (Batlerby & Co.) by Enrique Vila Matas. The
book is about writers who have, for a number of reasons, stopped
writing. His blend of research and fiction makes for a good read. I
already read it and now I’m going over it again. Does anybody else make
notes on stuff you found in books that you want to research/look up?
  

    
dodge - the SECOND I got out of corporate Hell, I dyed my greys a
bright and shiny purple. Took me a while to get up to blue. ;) But
then, I was surrounded by people who were nervous because I always wore
so much black - though never anything that wasn't completely
acceptable in corporate Hell. ... Okay, the Converse All-Stars weren't
exactly 'regulation', but since I was sitting behind a desk for 90% of
my workday, and was on my feet filing the back for the other 10%, they
let me get away with it - also, they thought it was 'a riot'.

The scary part is, now that I'm back in school, I'm dressing the way I
wanted to back then and it's downright conservative on campus. I lose.
  

    
Well, I dress as I please a lot. On Ebay there's this one place in
India that makes clothes called Holy Clothing and they make dresses and
shirts and pants and skirts that are heavily embroidered with velvet
pieces. They have them in large sizes also and they are so comfy while
looking differently good. Great colors. Burgandy, Black, Grey, Deep
blue etc. But now I want to start sewing my own stuff. 

I intend to garden in a Galadriel dress. Go to movies in Arwen riding
outfit. Lounge around the house in Eowyn gowns in winter and Arwen and
Galadriel gowns in summer. I might actually get around to making many
of the costumes I planned out for people back in my Star Trek days.
Sewing. Must get some done. I may even do an some Ardala Caftans -boy
did she know how to lounge around a spaceship. 

Heck, If I work it right, I can make these things so I can wear them
to work. Hm.
  

    
And I just got finished catching up with Neil's Journal. Usually I go
in every day but my computer at work has been dying. Every morning a
hard drive warning. Hoping it will last until the new one gets here.
Hoping they didn't get chinchy and get one without a burner so one of
the other secretaries can get the one I've got. Hoping to have a nice
flat screen instead of this hulking monitor. NOthing, of course,
compared to the very old Diamonelle I've got at home that's still
spiffy. At least I think so. I haven't yet set up my computer at home.
Dear me. 

Am so excited about Mirrormask. Hope it makes lots and lots of money
so Neil can clone some more hims and get all his work done so we can
have more books to read. 

Waiting impatiently for payday so I can buy the new stuff. Trying to
ignore the comments about it all. WANT the audio disc. WANT the Dream
King book. WANT the other stuff at NG.net. WANT.  But will have to wait
a bit. So many bills.
  

    
Good luck with your computer, Dodge. And if you ever go gardening as
Galadriel, you must post a photo! :)

I know what you mean about the wanting, but the bills being in the
way. I'd say "at least I have a tax refund coming", which thankfully I
do, but I already spent more than I'm getting refunded on photography
equipment. feh!
  

    
Ah, yes, must do my taxes. I do well if I don't have to pay. I've set
mine up to get the money all during the year and then find out how much
I have to pay if any. This year I put in a hefty retirement thingy
though so maybe I won't have to pay anything. I'd be pleasantly
surprised to get some back.

The new computer came today. It has a burner. BUT they didn't buy the
auxiliary pieces with it, just the computer. So, I still have this
clunky 17" screen and this faded dirty looking mouse and the same old
keyboard. Sigh. I guess I'll have to wait until the monitor just burns
out before they get me a new one. Corporate America for you. I think
the reason my boss gets all new stuff so often is cause he's found a
way to break things on a semi-regular basis. He complained about the
clunky laptop he has to take to meetings elsewhere and how neaty cool
the little slim things everybody else has and a few days later, his
dies. Hm. And he gets a nice little slim thing with wireless
connection. Again. Hm. When I figure out how to break my electronics
without them appearing to be physically abused...
  

    
I must have clicked something because this topic went poof! and I
ended up finding it on the forgotten folder. It was odd - for a minute
there I questioned if it ever existed.

I'd like to impose on you guys for some information - my oldest wants
to go to Comic Con in San Diego. Has anybody been there? Is there any
information you can share? Thanking you in advance.
  

    
Betcha Mousey can share some info.  If needed, I'll ask my brother for
any advice, but there seem to be a lot of Comicon-goers here.

By the way -- I did get to hear/see Neil read some _Anansi Boys_ after
all, in DC at that!  http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/04/cybercasts/ ...
hooray for Webcasts.

And in case you're wondering, Neil, I enjoyed it very much, and I'm
looking forward to the rest!  You looked very pleased with the way it
went.  (And I see that even _with_ a microphone, you won't sing the rat
song.  <eg>)

NP:  "The Wake" -- Abney Park
  

    
Don't look at me. I only went to ComiCon once - and it wasn't the most
pleasant experience. There were definitely highlights (very good
ones!), like the auctioning of a quilt I made for the CBLDF, and the
reading I went to (Neil was GoH), oh, and standing next to Klingons and
chatting with one of them while playing 'security'. But I LOATHE
gigantic crowds like that, and I'm really unhappy with sprawled out
layouts for people to traverse (like LA, or the trade floor at SDCC),
and taking a 'holiday' from my retail job, in which I had to deal with
exactly these people, by surrounding myself with several thousand of
them... not a holiday. Plus I had just been through a car crash and was
broke and having to drive for 21 hours in 3 days with nasty back pain
didn't help.

On the other hand, if crowds don't bother you, SDCC has SO MUCH STUFF
to offer. You'll meet lots of cool people (and way more nerdy types
than you can shake a stick at), see tons of weird and cool costumes,
and if you don't mind a brisk hike to find deals you can walk away with
some really amazing artwork and comics and movie and videogame stuff
for not too much dosh.

Hope that helps
  

    
Now I'm confused. I really don't know which. I'm such a newbie! She
wants to see the whole comic book/sci-fi world I've been into and that,
big surprise, isn't all boring and weird like all else that is related
to her mother. 
My biggest motivation to go with her is that I'd like to meet Dave
McKean - really would. His art does things to me - as weird as that
sounds. I can't tell you how I make the jump from I really like his art
to wanting to shake hands and say that to the artist in person... but
there it is. 
  

    
Don't know how many of you remember Pam Basham (she posted as
pamela-bird, I believe), but she gave birth yesterday to a baby girl.
Caitlin (I hope I'm spelling that right) Noelle weighed 7 lbs, 15 oz,
is 19.75" long, and is a very healthy little girl. Parents are both
giddy and proud, not to mention very exhausted. Anyone wanting to send
wishes and emails to Pam, she'll be in hospital recovering until
Wednesday.
  

    
Yay!  I remember Neil saying something about her "impending
motherhood"....
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes>
  

    



Kathy Li writes:




Georgia, the website for the con is http://www.comic-con.org/.  Another weird
source for what-it's-like might be finding the DVD of Mark Hamill's COMIC
BOOK: THE MOVIE, large sections of which were shot at the Con.

As a 20+ times veteran, I enjoy the hell out of it.  But I'm a local and I
can go home to my own bed every night.  It's getting to be a massive zoo
(2004 attendance was 87,000), and resembles nothing so much as a day in
Disneyland: lines for everything, crowded everything (dealer's room, parking,
hotels, etc.)  But great attractions.  A small intimate gathering with a
family-of-fandom feel, this is not.  The two things you get at Comic-Con that
are relatively unique are 1) most of the US comics industry gathered in one
place. 2) Hollywood involvement.  If neither of those things are a reason to
make the pilgrimage, a different con might suit your needs better.

However, on those two points, the Con will deliver massive amounts.  The
movie presentations from last year included practically every "tentpole" or
comics/sf-related movie due to come out in 2004/2005 (SKY CAPTAIN, SIN CITY,
SERENITY, FANTASTIC FOUR, MIRRORMASK, THE INCREDIBLES, etc. etc.)  And
comics-wise you can walk up and talk to just about everybody (I've got a very
old autograph book with "Jack Kirby" and "Alan Moore" scrawled in it, she
said, still not quite managing to sound casual about it even after two
decades).

Mark Evanier is one of the elect few who've attended every single Comic-Con
that's ever been.  His Convention Guide
(http://www.povonline.com/ConGuide.htm) is one of the best for this
particular con.

--Kathy.
  

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

    
Well, she ain't called FABULOUS for nothin'. And, not that you need
it, but I'll third that remark. I <3 Quiche. :)