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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/quick-one.html I twittered about my dog needing surgery. Lorraine has written two blogposts that explain all to the curious... http://lorraineamalena.blogspot.com/2009/01/as-many-of-you-have-already-seem-to.html
http://lorraineamalena.blogspot.com/2009/01/cabel-update.html...poor thing. He won't be able to go up stairs for six weeks, or be allowed to run. Meanwhile, there's a photo of him, and me, and snowshoes from the other day, at http://twitpic.com/107mi.
And James Vance sent me a link to his blog that I wanted to pass on. I feel guilty as I don't post all the appeals for help that come in to the blog, mostly because if I did each blog post would contain a link to one or more appeals for people who need medical or other help... But I post some. And they make a difference.
...
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/awful-truth.html I am easily made happy. Today's mail brought a letter from AudioFile Magazine, with copies of the magazine along with Certificates saying that The Graveyard Book audio had won an Earphones award, and another certificate which said nice things about my reading aloud skills ( Here's the full list of their Best Voices of 2008.) I think, more than anything I do, I get concerned about the audiobooks, and made happy when they (and I) get recognised. They're hard work; I'm very aware that I'm not a professional reader-of-books-aloud; and, most of all, they're personal. If you don't like a book I've written I won't take it personally: I'm not the story, after all. But if you don't like a recording of me reading something... well, it was me sitting in that studio for three days reading aloud to a director and engineer in another room, for an imaginary audience, and yes, it's personal. So, right. Big happies all around. ... Several ones like this in today... Kevin Murphy (Mystery Science Theater 3000's Tom Servo, and now of Rifftrax fame) wrote today that you are secretly Leonard Cohen. Are you? Photographic evidence points to yes: http://blog.rifftrax.com/2009/01/06/okay-now-what-the-hell/
Or to quote Kevin Murphy,  Why didn’t anyone else see this coming? Why am I the only one to realize that Neil is actually groaning, tortured, half-mad folk-rock poet Leonard Cohen, who maintains his astonishing youth and beauty by feasting on the pineal glands of innocent women?! I dunno.
(Strangely, as I write this, I'm sitting on the sofa with Holly watching Lou Reed introduce Leonard Cohen at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as we clear out unwatched stuff on the TIVO). Excuse me. I must pause to nibble a pineal gland. I was wondering if you'd seen any of the coverage (boingboing, Ebert, QuestionCopyright) about Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues?
On the one hand, I think an artist using another artist's work as the basis of a movie should get permission/compensate that person. On the other hand, the creator in this case has been dead for twenty years, and forgotten for more. Meanwhile Nina is arguably generating value for the corporations that currently own the rights.
I also thought it was interesting that she's come to the conclusion that physical distribution is more likely *limit* the audience that can view her work.It's a bitch. The film looks amazing from the description and the online bits I've seen. Music rights clearance issues are always a bitch. (Dave McKean ran into something similar with the Django music on The Week Before, which is why Keanoshow is only legitimately available outside the US.) I love Nina Paley's work, love the Ramayana, and would very much like to be able to see this. Still, at least Nina Paley has a plan. Now that you have a Wii, will you be playing the Coraline Wii game? Or would that be incredibly boring for you since you created the world it is set in?The Coraline Wii is a mystery to me. (It might be less of a mystery if I asked anyone at Laika about it, mind you.) Then again, I seem only to be using the Wii as an exercisey fitness thingummy at present. Weight is dropping, waistline shrinking, and scores are going up for the most part, I'm loving the yoga and the balance stuff, and my trainer was impressed yesterday at stuff I seem to be able to do I couldn't do before, like snowshoe up the side of a hill without getting out of breath. (My first time in snowshoes. Interesting things. I thought they'd look more like tennis racquets.)
... I liked http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/weekinreview/04gough.html?_r=1&ref=books so much I followed it back to http://www.juliangough.com/journal and then I clicked on http://www.juliangough.com/journal/american-gods-and-london-literary-novelists.html and was chuffed and impressed.
Urk. Bed.
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How is it that the only resolution I made this year was to not sign up for any fests (until next year's yuletide) and yet (*checks calendar*) by January 7th, I've already signed up for the ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) springtime_gen exchange (evidence - and your opportunity to join me - Here).
This suggests I have no will power. Could it be true?
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I'm getting a dead signal at livejournal from all browsers at the moment - anyone else?
If off-topic or prematurely worrisome, just delete, of course.
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I posted this huge bullet guide of programs to help Windows, Mac & Linux users backup their LJ's via the current drama going on. There's even some programs to transfer your entire LJ to IJ! :D
Find the post here, if you're interested.
*loves and dashes*
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I hope this is all right to post here.
Back during Strikethrough, I used Snapetoy's post on how to set up Semagic to simultaneously post to multiple journals and have been happily doing so. However, I got a new computer this week and realized I don't remember how to set that up, and of course the post was on GJ and is now history! Does anyone remember how?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.
ETA: Thanks to eemilyvr1 for the link!
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Does anyone remember GreatestJournal? Well it's finally down. I was on it yesterday and it was working fine so it must of happened within the last 24 hours.
What I keep on getting is:
403 Denied
GJ is currently down - Please go to LiveJournal
Old users: you can backup all entries and comment with ljarchive
As of January 6, 2009, after a year of issues, GreatestJournal is finally dead. Oh well.
Check this out http://greatestjournal.com/
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Remember ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif) hp_beholder? The fic / art exchange that focuses on relationships between characters who are often considered "too old, too fat, too ugly" to be popular? The one that was really fun and brought us lots of unexpected and wonderful stories and art?
Well...it's back! Or...almost. Signups will be starting on Thursday, January 29 and will run for a week. For the 2009 edition, the following timeline will be used:
Sign-ups begin - Thursday, January 29
Sign-ups end - Friday, February 6
Assignments get sent out - Sunday, February 8
Submission Deadline - Sunday, April 5
Posting Starts - Thursday, April 16
This was last year's information post. Please take a look at it and familiarize yourself with the rules. Oh, and if you think that there's anybody you'd really like to add to the character list, leave a comment below. And remember, it has to be a character who's not only not classically appealing, but also isn't a popular character; Severus Snape - much though I adore him - is far too popular to be on the list (although he can certainly be paired with one of the characters in the table *hint, hint*)
[note: this year there's a mirror community on LJ...assuming LJ's still around in a month's time *g*]
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http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010921.html Rumours of my death
The Beeb, perhaps in search of alarming headlines, tells me that "Morris dancing could be 'extinct' within 20 years because young people are too embarrassed to take part."
This warning is quoted unexamined from The Morris Ring, which describes itself as the National1 Association of Men's Morris and Sword Dance Clubs. I note in passing that all of the dancers on the website landing page are male, beardless and wearing white2.
I was curious about the Morris Ring's emphasis on men's Morris and Sword dance. The site doesn't mention women dancers at all, but I know there are some. So I went a-googling. Turns out there are two other prominent Morris dancing societies in England, the The Morris Federation and Open Morris, both of whom welcome male, female and mixed teams.
Neither organization appears to have been contacted by the BBC about the article.
Hey Nonny No No No
Then the things got strange, as they so often do on the internet.
I ran across an article in the Independent on Goth Morris. That led me to a couple more neat articles on Goths and Pagans and what they're up to with sticks and hankies.
There are groups all over England doing really interesting things with Morris dancing. Look for groups that do "Border" or "Goth" Morris, black their faces, and wear top hats or bowlers and tattercoats.
Some, like Boggart's Breakfast in Sheffield or Stone the Crows, are non-religious, mixed-sex groups that are just in it for the fun. Others, such as Hunter's Moon Morris use Pagan imagery in their outfits. And some, like the Witchmen and Medusa Gothic, appear to have traveled all the way full circle back to single-sex groups performing Morris as a ritual.
I recognize the types I see on those webpages. These are the real-ale drinkers, the beardies and the crafters, the reconstructionists and the reenactors. I bet most of them are in fandom to one extent or another.
And, of course, this stuff is all over the shop on YouTube.
Pull the other one, it's got bells on
It's the perpetual tension between orthodoxy and relevance, of course. How far can a custom change before it is a new practice? How much can you preserve a tradition in a world whose tastes move on? How can you get the next generation interested in pastimes that are immutably associated with their elders?
I've never done Morris dancing, but like practically everyone in Scotland, I've done a bit of country dancing4, which confronts many of the same issues. Is it a living tradition when everyone only knows four dances6? Is it more important to have many people having fun with it, or should fewer people do it and do it right? Breadth, or depth?
My view? I think that a tradition that is not perpetually reinventing itself is dead.
Goth Morris, Pagan Morris, and whatever grows out of them (Emo Morris? Steampunk Morris?) are part of that process of reinvention. I've nothing against the white-clad traditional Morris dancers, mind, but I don't think they have the monopoly on the custom that they think they do. Their branch may die (though it may not), but the body of tradition goes on.
And silently in Glasgow quick hands began
Angrily making cushions.
- English, of course
- Unless that Hobby Horse in the slideshow is female or bearded3
- obPratchett or both
- Country dancing, aka ceilidh5, tends to be part of most formal social dancing in Scotland. We had a ceilidh every year at the Price Waterhouse Christmas dinner, and the Royal Bank of Scotland's post Y2K celebration was an extremely well-run country dance. They are ubiquitous at weddings.
- Pronounced Kaylee
- Strip the Willow, the Gay Gordons, the Dashing White Sergeant, and the Eightsome Reel, but I need a caller for that last one, please.
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![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) fandom_wank |
| 2009-01-06 19:31 |
| So Transfan, I Herd U Liek Pedo Bear? |
| Public |
http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1192240.html Transformers comic book fandom wank.. Early this morning, it was about pedophilia. (Read more ...)
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SUP sacked a number of employees in their San Francisco office. no_lj_ads has a tiny summary and a few links to a few sources (they call it the Grim Purge which I find inappropriate...)
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Oh, you guys...look at the fantastic Snape/Harry watercolor I commissioned from littleblackbow...
...I adore her Snape and Harry!
( Yay! )
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/mysteries-and-evil-buttons.html  I should be writing and not blogging, so I will put up one panel of pencilled Andy Kubert art from the first part of the Batman two parter I'm doing, and hope nobody tells me to put it down again...
Dear Mr Gaiman
The black Coraline keys around, is it true that if you have one you can participate in a scavenger hunt? or are they just something cool you can collect?I don't know. I'll ask. I suspect the "scavenger hunt" thing may have been made up by someone selling them on eBay, though, as no-one has mentioned it to me. The impression I get is that they are simply mysterious keys that sometimes appear on walls. Yup, I checked. The keys are just keys. No competition there. There will, however, be a limited edition of 1000 pairs of Coraline Nike Dunks, winnable from watching the film and through the website, though, and they will look like this, with black buttons and stitching and such...  The fake Coraline box Other Mother doll was taken down from eBay, and the person selling it seems to have vanished too -- seeing that he had a few "he took my money and never sent me anything" complaints on eBay, I do not think he's a great loss to the world of online retailing, and will probably be back there soon enough under another name. I don't mind people making their own dolls. I just mind when they do it to try and screw other people. I liked this one... Hi Mr. Gaiman-
Huge fan of Coraline here. I didn't get a mystery box, unfortunately. But, I didn't want to miss out on the excitement, so I created my own handmade fully-articulated Coraline doll.
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t163/waistworks/doll2.jpg
Lovingly hand-made with kitchen gloves for the raincoat and boots, do-rag for the skirt, beenie baby for the pink top, knit sock for the stockings, twist-ties for the boot bows, blue paper for the hair, lots of super glue and of course, buttons for the eyes and raincoat.
Thought I'd share. Happy New Year!
Philip...although mysteriously, according to the Evil Buttons blog, which seems to be keeping track of all things Coraline (so I don't have to) this doll seems to have also been offered for sale by the person selling the Other Mother doll, not as something recently made but claiming it "...comes as a trip swag from someone who went to Siggraph this past Dec."Oh, such mysteries. Where is the teacher's guide to Coraline that I keep reading about? I can't find it anywhere...I plan on having my students (9-10 year olds) read the book in Lit Circles and then see the movie. Will it be rated PG or PG-13? We have restrictions in our district. Also, if I order copies of the books for the kids do I want the regular version or the movie tie-in version? Thank you for the reply...just trying to prepared for the February release.
Vickie WeissI went and asked, and the Coraline teachers' guide is at http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/HarperChildrens/Teachers/BookDetail.aspx?isbn13=9780380977789&BDMode=7I also discovered this widget:
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| neotoma |
| 2009-01-05 19:42 |
| I can has plot? |
| Public |
| surprised |
|
well, that was weird.
At work today, I was daydreaming about plot -- because my actual work is 95% mindless, really -- and came up with a fairly detailed outline for a plot.
And then I had a break, and was able to write down all 300+ words of my outline onto my flash drive.
It actually looks like a coherent story, with a beginning, middle, and end. This is weird. I never plot this way.
But on the other hand, now I'll have to do is write.
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| official_gaiman |
| 2009-01-04 06:36 |
| Actually I didn't shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die, but he could tell I was extremely cross |
| Public |
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/actually-i-didnt-shoot-man-in-reno-just.html Someone sent me a link this morning to an eBay auction that claimed to be of the contents of a Coraline Box. And as far as I can tell right now, it's a fake thing (still waiting to hear back from the studio), in that it's not a costume from the film and it's very obviously a home-made doll. How odd. Too many FAQ line questions stacking up: I'm getting close to the point where I'll do a massive answering of stuff, I think. You're more likely to get a question answered if it's actually a question, and if it's short, and if it's answerable, and if I feel like answering it. Several people misread the last post, and assumed that I was saying that Paterson Joseph was the Doctor and I was somehow disappointed. No, I was saying that Matt Smith is the next Doctor and that Rich Johnston had somehow got it wrong. The new, revamped WEIRD TALES is doing a bunch of stuff about me and Sandman on their website (and they have an interview in the next issue of the magazine). There's a nice description of what it was like backstage at The Graveyard Book reading in Seattle at http://weirdtales.net/wordpress/2009/01/02/neil-gaiman-an-appreciation/ by Lisa Mantchev. And finally, if you go to Amanda Palmer's latest Blog entry http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/68226761/very-many-lots-of-things and go about half way down, you will see a photo of me.* I am convinced that it was taken at my comeback gig after I got out of prison. Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash were hanging around backstage, playing Gin Rummy. "Aren't you going to come and watch me sing?" I asked them. "We've heard you sing," they said. "If you don't mind, we're playing a really exciting game of Gin Rummy here." Only the fact that I do not sing in public and have not been in prison (other than as a visitor and novelist) makes me suspect that I'm making this up. I mean, the camera doesn't lie. *The photo was taken by Pixie.
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/for-those-of-you-who-missed-it.html As many of you learned from Rich Johnston's Lying In The Gutters, Paterson Joseph is definitely going to be the new Doctor Who. It even got a green light. But alas, for once, in an affront to decency and sense, Rich is less reliable than the Daily Mail.
Admittedly the Mail printed their story after the BBC had announced the new Doctor.
I'm a teeny bit disappointed about Paterson Joseph. But still, now it means if I ever wrote a story where the Marquis de Carabas met the Doctor... no. That way lies madness.
Matt looks very at home in front of the TARDIS, though. And I trust Steven Moffat's judgment completely. So that's one less thing in the world to worry about.
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/rumour-control.html My opinion of IO9 just lurched down. This morning brought lots of mail from people asking about the truth of, http://io9.com/5122012/a-new-side-of-sawyer-doctor-whos-returning-monsters-and-gi-joes-troopersRumor patrol: Word has it a designer has done "extensive work" on seeing how CG versions of the Martian Ice Warriors would look — but it's not for any particular episode, necessarily, just so the show's producers can see what the Warriors would look like, for future reference. Or possibly, they're showing up soon. In related news, Neil Gaiman has denied his season five episode ("Faces In The Dust") will feature the Ice Warriors. Also, Mark Gatiss has an Ice Warrior story called "Cold" in the Doctor Who Storybook 2009 (and past storybooks have yielded stories that later became episodes, including "Blink.") So no, it's just lies. I haven't denied that my Doctor Who episode "Faces in the Dust" will have Ice Warriors in it, because I'm not writing a Doctor Who episode called "Faces in the Dust" (which is a pretty rubbish title, who makes this stuff up?) and I've been having much too much fun not denying anything about Doctor Who, other than admitting to having enjoyed some nice dinners with Mr Moffat, as chronicled on this blog. (If I'd denied it, I would have denied it here, and as you might have noticed, I didn't.) But I'm denying this because it's said in that authoritative way that makes it look as if people know what they're talking about, when it's just people-making-stuff-up-bollocks. Hi Neil,
Happy New Year. Long time blog reader, first time blog asker.
It seems that you are publishing a lot these days, and I buy everything you put out (oftentimes extra copies for my niece). Based upon your prodigious output, have you ever released any of your work pseudonymously? I think you have and I think I know the name you've used? Just wondering if I am way off base or not?
Thanks for all you do.
Sincerely,
Eric
Not for about eighteen years, when I was writing for magazines, some of them competing, and wrote too many articles, so I was Gerry Musgrave and Richard Grey along with a couple of house names as well as being me. But I always wanted books by me to be by me, so even my Duran Duran biography had my name on it.
If there's anyone you suspect of being me as well these days, I'm happy to say that they are themselves.
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