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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) docbrite | |
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I am going to make more time and effort to come here. It just makes me too happy not to. I love coming alone and will always treasure the memory of that first independent trip, but having Chris here with me is the best thing of all. I'm too tired and happy to go into specifics. Just walking around, hanging out together, seeing a couple of friends, eating lots of wonderful food (I've developed a taste for waffles on this trip - not American-style hot waffles with syrup but the crunchier Dutch ones you can eat hot or at room temperature, and that come coated in every permutation of chocolate, strawberry, cherry, vanilla, caramel, and nut topping you can imagine) and smoking vast tonnages of across-the-universe-quality weed, hash, and kif. I mean, the stuff that was considered strong nine years ago is on the mild end of the menu now, and the current state-of-the-breeding-art strains are just insanely strong. Too strong, many people claim; it renders them unconscious. Chris has gone semiconscious a couple of times, but in general he has held up admirably. Me, I just suck it up and love it. There is no pain here to speak of. Maybe eventually I'd get used to the massive concentrated doses of THC and the pain would return, but for the past four days it has been only a distant memory. If anyone ever tells you medical marijuana doesn't work, send them here and I will laugh in their face. (And just that should be enough to get them high.) I was going to post pictures on Flickr, but the iPhone app is way too slow. For now, there are some on Twitter that you needn't be a member to see; just go to twitter.com and search for docbrite or @docbrite. Tomorrow: Museumnacht! Tags: amsterdam, travel
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) officialgaiman | |
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/final-reminder-for-bookshops.html posted by Neil
A quick reminder (as I was just asked) that today is the day that the bookshop Graveyard Book party reports have to be in to Harper Collins. By 9 pm PST. http://files.harpercollins.com/Mktg/HarperChildrens/PDF/GraveyardContest_rules.pdf are the rules and info for those who lost them. Hi Mr. Gaiman,
I was disappointed today to read you won't be part of the judging for The Graveyard Book contests. My not-wealthy, middle-of-nowhere bookstore just sent in its entry, and something we're concerned about is the fairness of judging.
For example, independent bookstores like Powell's (I'm sure you know) easily have enough money and are in a convenient enough location to ask you to come at one time or another. Against stores like that, who were able to put more money into their parties, we stand little chance.
I don't think that it's a lost cause for us; we were very creative. I'm just nervous to know you won't be judging. Can you tell me whether you think the judges will take things like size and location of bookstores into account? It would make me sleep a little easier until the results are announced.
Tusen takk,
AllisonWell, per the rules, the judging is based on:
(i) Overall creativity of the Party, as demonstrated by the invitations, signage, decorations, activities, entertainment, and refreshments.
(ii) Customer attendance and response (i.e., enthusiasm, costumes, participation).
(iii) Ability to capture and represent the spirit of The Graveyard Book....specifically to reward creativity, and not the ability to outspend other shops. (That was also why the party had to actually be at the bookshop, and not at another location.) I asked my editor, Elise Howard, and she said,
Gosh, yes. Here's what we think is happening. We are looking at all the entries. On Monday, we'll send you the best 11, from which you will choose the Grand Prize Winner. The rest will get the first-prize package. So the short answer is that you ARE helping to choose.
The longer answer is that we will be very fair and will consider creativity, which includes work done with available resources, along with pure execution. (Don't you think? We haven't done anything yet; still waiting for more entries to come in.)...which means that a) I was wrong and will be the ultimate judge, from the shortlist. (Damn.) and b) everyone's on a level playing field. Does that help reassure you? PS -- Widgett's Graveyard Book Dessert competition winners have been announced over at http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/11/06/graveyard-book-dessert-challenge-winners/. This one had NOTHING to do with me at all. But lor' the winning desserts look tasty...
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officialgaiman | |
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/note-to-self-nights-are-for-sleeping.html posted by Neil
Still trying to get back onto a diurnal schedule. (And, I should add, failing.)
Maddy and I started watching the new season of Sarah Jane Adventures tonight, which seems back on form after a dodgy second season.
Many amazing things waiting for me when I got home -- I still haven't gone through them all yet -- but today's mail brought me a copy of the Fantagraphics Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons book. Three glorious volumes. I wrote the introduction to Volume 2, and thus got it for free. (If you're curious, there are many Gahan Wilson Playboy cartoons up at this website. There's a Gahan Wilson virtual museum over at http://www.gahanwilson.comAnd, of course, although I posted it before, it bears repeating that you can watch the film that Steven-Charles Jaffe made of the "Dark and Silly Night" comic Gahan and I did for art spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's Little Lit at the New Yorker site, or here: And if I'd been here for Hallowe'en I would have posted it here then. Which reminds me, The Graveyard Book party season is over. Over thirty independent bookshops had Graveyard Book parties (The ABA's Bookselling This Week reports on thirteen of the parties -- and the shops -- at http://news.bookweb.org/7149.html.) The very best one of all will get me in their shop doing a signing in December and, looking at these thirteen, I am very glad I am not any kind of a judge for the awards. My only hope is that the shop that wins will be somewhere warm. But most of the places on the party map will be just as cold by December as my house. (Vague and only climate-based relief that HarperCollins said No to Alaska in the rules mingles with vague and selfish disappointment that they also said No to Hawaii.) It looks like the CBS Sunday Morning profile on me is going out this Sunday, the 8th, 9:00-10:30 AM, ET. According to this website:
Correspondent Serena Altschul visits author Neil Gaiman -- the tender-hearted master of the macabre -- whose books, including Coraline and The Graveyard Book have topped best-seller lists for 25 years.
.. which left me wanting to go "I am NOT a tender-hearted master of the macabre, I am in fact VERY SCARY INDEED," but I suspect I would convince nobody. Thrilled to see that Odd and the Frost Giants was listed as one of Amazon.com's Best Books of 2009. While I was in China The Graveyard Book was listed as one of the ALA's teens top ten for 2009 as well, an award voted on by over 11,000 teens. (And I made it onto the list with lots of other good people.) Also, Fragile Things was awarded the French 2010 Les Grands Prix de l’Imaginaire Award for translated short fiction. My thanks to the judges, but mostly to the translator, who in this case is the incredibly talented Michel Pagel. If I ever look good, do well, sell books or am popular in a foreign country, it's because of the translators, and they never get enough thanks or acclaim. And I think I'll post the cover here, because I never have.  I am becoming hooked on http://curiousexpeditions.org. I was extremely disappointed by the news on the current status of Argleton in Lancashier, especially so since I was hoping to buy a house there. I was going to move to Chako Paul City in Sweden instead, but appear to be the wrong gender and orientation. So probably I'll stay home.
(Hmm. You know, posting that French book-cover reminds me that there are some really beautiful new covers out there right now, especially from Poland and Russia. I know for I have signed them for people. I'll try and get some nice clean examples to put up here.)
And finally, a link to Joanne Leow's blog. It was lovely to see her again, four years on, when I went to Singapore - it was a great interview, and you can watch us chatting about writing, what I'm currently up to, signings, and why I don't write the same sorts of things twice in a row, at the Primetime Morning site: here's part 1 and part 2.
...
Dear Mr. Gaiman,
I was wondering if you would be so kind as to mention an upcoming art auction on your blog. The art auction is “art for hearts”. It is an auction of artwork donated by children’s illustrators such as Korky Paul, Lynne Chapman and An Vrombaut. Most of the artwork is original although there are also some signed digital prints and screen prints too.
All proceeds from the auction will be donated to help fund research by the transplant team at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Transplanted organs do not have the same life expectancy as non-transplanted organs and the transplant team is looking at finding ways to combat this.
Full details of the auction are available to view at http://art-for-hearts.blogspot.com
It will run on Ebay for a week starting on the 2nd of November. To locate the items people will need to type "art for heart" into the search area and choose "Art" or "books" for items.
Many thanks,
Kristine Stacey You're welcome. I think this link has everything for sale in the auction: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/scrawldog/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686
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officialgaiman | |
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/author-comes-home-and-displays-many.html posted by Neil
I went to XinjiangProvince in Western China to continue researching my Monkey/China book. This is the photo I took of a scenic building that, I discovered when the men came out to arrest us, turned out to be a police station. If you're in Kashgar do not take pictures of this building. Trust me on this.
This is what I was researching and working on. (As seen in a little town square, on the way to Yarkand):
... or discussion of the pomegranate crop, counted as politics. It made my journey even stranger than it might have been already. While I was there my camera started misbehaving: I hadn't even realised it had a motor in it, but the motor started vibrating gently, producing some very beautiful shots that weren't really what I wanted... Like this shot of a lady in Yarkand market selling peppers and tomatoes that seem to have turned into jewels.
After a great deal of reflection I decided not to buy a camel in the market in Kashgar. Here are two camels I didn't buy. In the Russian market in Urumqi I bought a new camera I don't like anywhere nearly as much as my old, sporadically-vibrating one.
I went from there to Jinan, Wuqiao and Beijing.
This photo, taken in Beijing was one of the highlights of my trip -- and was one the main reasons I went back to China. I wanted to talk to Liu Xiao Ling Tong (the stage name for Mr Zhang Jinlai), who played Monkey in the Chinese television version of Journey to the West. ( Here's his blog.) Then I went to Chengdu. I don't have photos on my camera of the Galaxy Award ceremony, or the speech I gave at Sechuan University, or the visit to the Earthquake Zone and the talk I gave to the kids there. (Science Fiction World and I are starting a library for them.) (If I can get some photos I'll put them up.)
And I was not able to take photos of the encounter with the fourth holiest Buddhist in China, because he is not to be photographed.
So instead here's a photo of Amanda Palmer, who joined me for my last few days in China, on the side of a mountain having been recognised by some happy Chinese tourists... More photos of China and Singapore in my next post, I hope. In summary: Singapore was wonderful, but the visit was much much too short: we were there for about 50 hours altogether. Once again, the food was amazing and the people delightful.
...
Let's see. A quick handful of links...
....
Through most of this summer I was playing with a Lomography Camera. The kind with film in, where you have no idea what you took until it's developed. (The one I used was an LC-A+.) I'm starting to love the results, especially when everything comes in slightly oversaturated. They look like pictures of dreams.    (Middle photo of the amazing bubble by Miss Holly Gaiman. Who is fundraising.)
(And you can, of course, click to embiggen the pictures.) ... And finally, people sometimes write in and point out that, when I return home, I post pictures of my dog, rapturously dashing somewhere or dancing or stick-wielding to welcome me home. "Why do you not ever post pictures of cats?" they ask.
Good point. Here is Coconut welcoming me rapturously home:  Here is Princess, doing her version of a rapturous welcome, glad that I have not forgotten the trick that she taught me to do, during my time away. The trick involves turning on the tap in the guest bathroom and letting her alternately drink and attack the water with her sharp teeth, until she gets bored: I'm sad to say that while I was away, Hermione died. She was the surviving member of the two mad cat sisters who live in the basement library and Do Not Mingle, and she was almost eighteen. You can see her in this Photosynth of my library downstairs (needs Silverlight). It feels strangely unbalanced to be in a house without Pod and Hermione in it.
There. Goodnight.
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wickedvalo666 | |
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Title: Surviving Together Author: wickedvalo666, KrissyLove Pairing: hints of Jonne/Lauri Rating: PG-13ish Summary: Jonne’s POV – “We were in Germany when it happened. I still don’t know what caused it, or what ended it, I just know I’m grateful that it’s over. I lost so much. But I guess I gained a little bit, too, in the end.”Disclaimer: don’t know / don’t own / never happened / not for profit / no harm intended A/N: a combination of my two favorite things right now: NGT and zombies. When I came up with the idea, I thought I was going to hate it, but I’m actually very pleased with the way it turned out. It’s more about Jonne and Lauri than it is about zombies, which is exactly what I wanted. And it’s Halloween, so… ;) Words: 1,942 ( Surviving Together )Tags: fanfic, jonne/lauri, ngt fic
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) negative_band
nerak_rose | |
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I know it`s been a long time since i`ve been dropping down something here. And as a matter of a fact, because of that I was thinking to myself: Should I feel guilty about that? The answer is: No, my friends! ‘Cause in silence right after “Karma Killer” Tour we started to come up with the vision for the music, lyric and the whole frames for the new NEGATIVE-album which will be within your reach 2010. All that has kept me really busy. As i`m writing this, we`re still in a middle of a recordings but already at this point i can tell you that the new songs are gonna be something fresh, intense, deeper, wilder and more beautiful than anything we`ve done in the past. I could talk about our new stuff endlessly, but instead I’ll let the music speak for itself. Recordings take place at Broken Wave Studios, Los Angeles CA. lead by Jimmy Westerlund & Warren Riker. This session has definitely been the best time in a studio ever, and not only because of New exciting songs or circumstances, but also because of the new people that are working with the band for the album. After 4 studio albums at the age of 26 I can say that I`ve learned so much from these people.I have a good feeling. With a little delay as a band we wanna thank you all who showed up on Karma Killer-tour. Afterwards like this when you get some distance for what We`ve done it is just a pleasure to think how wide and successful our tour itself was. There we`re a lot of new people and new countries for us, like Mexico, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and France. The tour with a new album will come for sure and if it`s up to us we’re gonna play in every country we`ve played before and beside of that there will be a lot of new exciting places to go. Can`t say yet when your are able to hear some new tracks, but when the time is right we let you know. We`re doing our best to drop some news lines here more often By the way just love to see how active our myspace and web site are nowadays and I personally wanna tell all our Fan page admins and visitors all over the world that keep doing what you`re doing, you`re the roots of NGT. As long as you keep on spreading a word of NEGATIVE, Rock`n Roll is alive and well! XXX -Jonne-
source: negative.fiTags: jonne's diary posts, news
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duck back down the alley 
discontent
calm
