On Neil Gaiman (with photos!)
Nov. 17th, 2005 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hellisonA New Rule of Life
No man should be allowed to go out in public being intelligent, witty, funny, artistic, creative, charming, self-deprecating, dishevelledly cute and attractive, having beautiful hands AND BE MARRIED.
Seriously. Some combinations of the above would be allowable, but all of them? SO NOT FAIR.
NB picture aren't fab because I was sitting right in front and so turned the flash off so I didn't blind the poor man (those of you subjected to my Flash From Hell before will understand this)
Met Alice for food after work, then we had a bit of time to kill, so went for a quick pint, which of course meant we arrived *just* before it all started meaning
a. there were very few seats left
b. no time to buy books before signing started
We ended up in the front row DIRECTLY OPPOSITE the stand. Right in front of him.
Btw, future organisers of such events should note that putting a man who dresses entirely in black right in front of a very white projector screen is not the best idea in the world. I was getting the most bizzare after-images and had to keep staring at the floor or anywhere else.
Not good :p
However, as you may have guessed, the man himself was great. He read first from Anansi Boys, and made what was amusing on paper hilarious when read out loud, despite his attempts at what I presumed as Jamican accents being woeful :p
Then he read the first chapter of the Mirrormask book, managing again to make it both laugh out loud funny and very touching in just the right places. After that there was a brief Q&A where most people asked obscure comic questions, but also we got the most long-winded (tho v. entertaining) version of 'Thursday' I've ever heard in reply to 'when will good omens 2 be done?'
Seriously, I was so close to just shouting THURSDAY when he was half way thro [1] but I restrained myself ;p I very much wanted to ask a question about his blog and if he finds it odd that thousands of complete strangers know the basic details of his day to day life (like did you find your socks ok? and did you keep that kitten?) but I'd just about got up the nerve to put up the hand when he said 'last question'. So it will have to wait til next time.
He did say lots of witty and amusingly quotable stuff that I was determined to remember and repeat but of course I can't. I do tho have the best answer ever to what he thought of academia and creative writing classes which was (slightly paraphrased)
I never took them when I was young because I was arrogant and I just wanted to write and I figured writing classes were just a load of wank
Yep, he said 'load of wank'. (DAMNWHYISHEMARRIED?).
Also, the 'region 1' dvd version of Neverwhere on Amazon, and elsewhere, is actually Region 0 so you can buy it and it will work here, yay ;)
Then the signing! Queueing for ages only served to increase the OMG WHAT DO I SAY? panic, but in the end, it was great. Well. for a very small value of great. Conversation went like so (yes i'll do this word for word because I don't want to forget it later!) ...
NG Hi! How are you?
Me Great thanks! How are you? Glad its the last night of the tour?
NG Yes, very much, but it's nice to finish somewhere I've never been before
ME Do you get to see much of any of the cities you visit?
NG Well, not this time, it was dark when we arrived, we went straight from the hotel to the BBC to here, so I've seen nothing
NG *signs books all interestingly, gets to Good Omens*
Me I'd hoped to get Terry to sign that too, but he had to cancel the signing
NG Yes, I heard he was taken ill or something?
Me yeah, he had to go have an angioplasty, but it all turned out ok
(me inwardly OMFG I'M DISCUSSING TP WITH NG LIKE WE ALL KNOW EACH OTHER OR SOMETHING)
NG well I'm sure he'll be back!
*signs*
Alice * waves camera* do you want a picture now?
Me is that ok? (yes despite having seen many others do it, I still had to ask ;p)
NG Of course, come round to this side of the table, beside me
Me *OMGOMGOMG DIES OMGOMG*
NG say when you want me to look up *signs*
Alice say when!
Me um, you have the camera, you say when!
NG yep, you say when
Alice When!
Pictures *are taken* (see below)
Me thanks! *collects books*
Alice there, I took pictures, do you love me now?
NG *laughs*
Me (to alice) yes, I love you! (turning to NG) I love you too!
NG *waves gracefully to the crazy lady*
ME *realising what i just said* OK RUN TO THE PUB RUN
So we ran. He is lovely. And charming, and ... yeah FANGIRL.
And now I want to stalk him all around the world...
ANYWAY then we went to the pub and I texted lots of people and drank pints and... OMG I WANT TO STALK HIM FOREVER
And now, pictures! Didn't take too many cos I was sitting directly in front of him and didn't want to spend the entire evening waving a camera in his face ;p
reading from mirrormask
Q&A
Ultimate Fangirl Moment 'shouldn't *she* say when?
'Where am I again?'
Alice, avoiding publicity
[1]For the non-mudders (hi!) This is a running joke in answer to the constant question of 'when will X be in game?' to which the answer is almost always 'THURSDAY' *pause for cries of OMG REALLY?* followed by 'but I didn't say WHICH THURSDAY' at which point hilarity ensues and we all either Laugh Out Loud or Roll About (on the) Floor Laughing. Good times...
No man should be allowed to go out in public being intelligent, witty, funny, artistic, creative, charming, self-deprecating, dishevelledly cute and attractive, having beautiful hands AND BE MARRIED.
Seriously. Some combinations of the above would be allowable, but all of them? SO NOT FAIR.
NB picture aren't fab because I was sitting right in front and so turned the flash off so I didn't blind the poor man (those of you subjected to my Flash From Hell before will understand this)
Met Alice for food after work, then we had a bit of time to kill, so went for a quick pint, which of course meant we arrived *just* before it all started meaning
a. there were very few seats left
b. no time to buy books before signing started
We ended up in the front row DIRECTLY OPPOSITE the stand. Right in front of him.
Btw, future organisers of such events should note that putting a man who dresses entirely in black right in front of a very white projector screen is not the best idea in the world. I was getting the most bizzare after-images and had to keep staring at the floor or anywhere else.
Not good :p
However, as you may have guessed, the man himself was great. He read first from Anansi Boys, and made what was amusing on paper hilarious when read out loud, despite his attempts at what I presumed as Jamican accents being woeful :p
Then he read the first chapter of the Mirrormask book, managing again to make it both laugh out loud funny and very touching in just the right places. After that there was a brief Q&A where most people asked obscure comic questions, but also we got the most long-winded (tho v. entertaining) version of 'Thursday' I've ever heard in reply to 'when will good omens 2 be done?'
Seriously, I was so close to just shouting THURSDAY when he was half way thro [1] but I restrained myself ;p I very much wanted to ask a question about his blog and if he finds it odd that thousands of complete strangers know the basic details of his day to day life (like did you find your socks ok? and did you keep that kitten?) but I'd just about got up the nerve to put up the hand when he said 'last question'. So it will have to wait til next time.
He did say lots of witty and amusingly quotable stuff that I was determined to remember and repeat but of course I can't. I do tho have the best answer ever to what he thought of academia and creative writing classes which was (slightly paraphrased)
I never took them when I was young because I was arrogant and I just wanted to write and I figured writing classes were just a load of wank
Yep, he said 'load of wank'. (DAMNWHYISHEMARRIED?).
Also, the 'region 1' dvd version of Neverwhere on Amazon, and elsewhere, is actually Region 0 so you can buy it and it will work here, yay ;)
Then the signing! Queueing for ages only served to increase the OMG WHAT DO I SAY? panic, but in the end, it was great. Well. for a very small value of great. Conversation went like so (yes i'll do this word for word because I don't want to forget it later!) ...
NG Hi! How are you?
Me Great thanks! How are you? Glad its the last night of the tour?
NG Yes, very much, but it's nice to finish somewhere I've never been before
ME Do you get to see much of any of the cities you visit?
NG Well, not this time, it was dark when we arrived, we went straight from the hotel to the BBC to here, so I've seen nothing
NG *signs books all interestingly, gets to Good Omens*
Me I'd hoped to get Terry to sign that too, but he had to cancel the signing
NG Yes, I heard he was taken ill or something?
Me yeah, he had to go have an angioplasty, but it all turned out ok
(me inwardly OMFG I'M DISCUSSING TP WITH NG LIKE WE ALL KNOW EACH OTHER OR SOMETHING)
NG well I'm sure he'll be back!
*signs*
Alice * waves camera* do you want a picture now?
Me is that ok? (yes despite having seen many others do it, I still had to ask ;p)
NG Of course, come round to this side of the table, beside me
Me *OMGOMGOMG DIES OMGOMG*
NG say when you want me to look up *signs*
Alice say when!
Me um, you have the camera, you say when!
NG yep, you say when
Alice When!
Pictures *are taken* (see below)
Me thanks! *collects books*
Alice there, I took pictures, do you love me now?
NG *laughs*
Me (to alice) yes, I love you! (turning to NG) I love you too!
NG *waves gracefully to the crazy lady*
ME *realising what i just said* OK RUN TO THE PUB RUN
So we ran. He is lovely. And charming, and ... yeah FANGIRL.
And now I want to stalk him all around the world...
ANYWAY then we went to the pub and I texted lots of people and drank pints and... OMG I WANT TO STALK HIM FOREVER
And now, pictures! Didn't take too many cos I was sitting directly in front of him and didn't want to spend the entire evening waving a camera in his face ;p
reading from mirrormask
Q&A
Ultimate Fangirl Moment 'shouldn't *she* say when?
'Where am I again?'
Alice, avoiding publicity
[1]For the non-mudders (hi!) This is a running joke in answer to the constant question of 'when will X be in game?' to which the answer is almost always 'THURSDAY' *pause for cries of OMG REALLY?* followed by 'but I didn't say WHICH THURSDAY' at which point hilarity ensues and we all either Laugh Out Loud or Roll About (on the) Floor Laughing. Good times...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 05:34 pm (UTC)Really.
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Date: 2005-11-16 05:34 pm (UTC)Can't believe you told him that you love him!
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Date: 2005-11-16 05:35 pm (UTC)It seemed like the right thing to do at the time!
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Date: 2005-11-17 12:50 am (UTC)Also, I am gutted that we had to miss the signing in MK :( :( :(
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Date: 2005-11-17 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 01:35 am (UTC)Is that wrong? (It then went from there to Severus Snape, and then to Jelena writing slash, which very probably is wrong.)
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Date: 2005-11-17 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-18 02:18 pm (UTC)That's horrible. Everyone knows Lupin+Sirius slash is teh bestest.
So, should I read more of neil gaiman than good omens (which I don't remember in any case)?
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Date: 2005-11-18 02:30 pm (UTC)This led to a rather, uh, loud conversation at Febmeet where she was goaded into saying "I do not write child pornography" in the local pub.
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Date: 2005-11-17 01:42 am (UTC)Didn't realise Pterry was so ill though - thought I'd read it had been flu.
Will Pshop pics when I get home, or maybe at the weekend.
Do you want these ones or would you like to email high res, printable ones to me?
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Date: 2005-11-17 01:52 am (UTC)Pterry posted somewhere after the missed signings that he'd had to stay in hospital for a few days while they checked everything out, so it was quite serious, but he was fine in the end (yay!).
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Date: 2005-11-17 03:36 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2005-11-17 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 05:05 am (UTC)*squees*
*runs*
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Date: 2005-11-17 06:22 am (UTC)And i really did FLEE afterwards. Then sat in the pub going OMG SQUEEEE for ages ;p
OMG
Date: 2005-11-18 03:49 am (UTC)State of you staring up at Neil Woverly Gaiman. And what a woverly man he is too - you kind of want to take him home and cuddle him before RAVISHING HIM COMPLETELY. But wow, you look absolutely star struck! He did a reading on RTE Radio 1 and his voice did this chocolate melty thing mmmmmm....
To be honest, I prefer the ravishing to stalking. Stalking requires financial investment (balaclavas, black stalking outfit, video cameras, heat-seeking devices, night vision goggles, petrol, food, air fares, etc) and energy (hmm, it's 6.30pm, I'd like to watch Strictly Come Dancing - It Takes Two, but no, have to run to the airport and fly to Stornoway to stalk NG). Nah.
PS Will you help me make a www.shutthatdoormiaow.com site please? Just one page with photographs of cats and doors would do?
Re: OMG
Date: 2005-11-18 04:03 am (UTC)Yes the stalking requires investment but would lead to Ravishing, so it all works out in the end. Or maybe I will just kidnap him and hold him captive in the secret bedroom and BOLLOCKS i *am* cathy bates in misery. Woe is me
I wouldn't break him tho! I'd be very good to him. Very Good Indeed.
He does have a v. lovely voice too. Not at all what I expected, but v. lovely and melty and I'm just going to go look at the pictures again for a while...
Hmm, pics of cats and doors? Shouldn't be too hard at all!
DangerSARAHMouuuuse dadadada
Date: 2005-11-18 04:08 am (UTC)1. Cat
2. Door
3. Cat by open door with big red X
4. Cat by open door with big finger pointing at cat
5. Cat by closed door with big green tick
That would make me very happy.....
We could do a bit of promotional gumph - welcome to shutthatdoormiaow.com, THE place for cat door shutting training
In just 5 simple steps, we will show you how to get rid of that
annoying door-opening habit!!
!!!!!!!!
? what ya think ?
Re: DangerSARAHMouuuuse dadadada
Date: 2005-11-18 04:11 am (UTC)Or even
Actually have many cat owners on f-list. Perhaps I shall make a call for pics of Cats and Doors! Welcome to thee Joye of Livejournal ;)
Re: DangerSARAHMouuuuse dadadada
Date: 2005-11-18 04:19 am (UTC)aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-18 12:09 pm (UTC)i can confirm that love was indeed professed. i cannot however comment on how stalkerly it may or may not have been, but i did note that the perpetrator texted the entire WORLD from the pub. twice.
p.s. you put a picture of me on the interweb. noooooooo!
p.p.s. you didn't mention his best line ever - the bit about him needing an origin story for why he likes writing about gods, and thinking it should go something like, "when i was a child, i was bitten by a radioactive god..."
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-18 01:21 pm (UTC)oops I forgot the god bit ;p There were many other great quotes I wanted to remember too, but didn't ;p
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-18 02:06 pm (UTC)If so HI
AND
Go to Helen's next post re: cats and doors and send us a photo of a cat beside a door (open or closed) or a cat flap (proper or improper usage)
Sarah Delaney
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-18 02:47 pm (UTC)what is this? i have fear! i think i might be a different alice, but i can check...
also, no cats as i am allergic to their spit. it is the spit isn't it, because they lick themselves so much? i know nice cat-owning lawyers in edinburgh who have happily informed me that the cats-are-clean notion is a lie since they are at all times coated in a thin layer of their own dried saliva. yum! actually, i may be able to get cat/flap/door images from said lawyers.
and: stalker? aHEM, ms 'neil is my new internet boyfriend even though he doesn't know it yet'. if the poor man suddenly disappears i'll be directing the fbi/mulder & scully/starsky & hutch* [delete as applicable] to your Secret Bedroom. or maybe i could rescue him myself, and then he'd be sooooooooooo grateful he would love ME instead. >:D
*actually, that part is a lie. they can come to my bedroom instead.
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-18 03:01 pm (UTC)RE: Worrrrummm - that'll be a dodgy impression of irish people taking the piss out of the scottish accent. If you have no memory of sitting in the duke of york with loads of drunk people going 'worrrruummmm' then indeed you are a different alice and how lucky you are.
RE: photos of cats and doors - go to thesme_01 journal entry and all will become clear
aye
Also am worried about helen's 'misery' preoccupations...?
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-18 03:08 pm (UTC)i am intrigued by the cat training notion.
i am worried about all of her preoccupations! she is a freak, but she is willing to talk to me about firefly (i am recent convert), so i forgive her, except for the attempts to brainwash me into pervy jayne fancying.
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-18 03:19 pm (UTC)#If you read my journal entry you will agree that the need to train cats is AN URGENT NECESSITY in the face of DOOOM
DOOOM I TELL YOU!
Not an excuse for many people to spend the weekend taking photos of cats in front of doors for no good reason ahahaha
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-19 10:10 am (UTC)And am NOT Cathy bates. Would not be doing nasty sledgehammery things to lovely lovely Neil! Tho tying to the bed...
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-19 03:28 pm (UTC)p.s. how would you stop him escaping after he gnawed through the ropes if you didn't have a sledgehammer handy?
Re: aha! so this is where you are
Date: 2005-11-19 06:26 pm (UTC)(PS Vashti, I just noticed all of this is following on from your comment, apologies for teh spam!)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-19 02:16 am (UTC)("He plunged his lusty wand into her hot cauldron of desire!")