Neil Gaiman: Classic Or Dud

Also as far as his books go I think I benefited from reading Anansi Boys first of his books, I do still like it but it's not nearly as enveloping as American Gods or The Cemetery Book.

He has a short story about, um, some kids and a weird house in a garden with a warning on it or something I read one night and found actually frightening...I have a terrible memory though and don't remember it's name or what compilation it's from.

Did anyone else see Coraline, then? Just got back from a 3D showing, since those are about to stop, I hear -- great film, echoing Morbz and Nickalicious in praise for it, another Selick slam-dunk and I was pleased to see how relatively packed the theater was for it a couple of weeks after release. Thinking of it, MirrorMask and Stardust as a sort-of group in three different ways to adapt similar variants makes for good contemplation.

mirrormask wasn't an adaptation of anything, i don't think? unless that's not what you mean.

In the promo/commentary/whatever on the MirrorMask DVD Gaiman talks about how MirrorMask and Coraline (the book) were simultaneous riffs on the same general idea -- I forget the exact details.

So, it turns out Lucien the Librarian in Sandman might've been a self-portrait.

http://blog.shelfari.com/.a/6a00d8341e478253ef0120a4e31b10970b-pi

http://blog.shelfari.com/.a/6a00d8341e478253ef0120a4e31b06970b-pi

http://blog.shelfari.com/.a/6a00d8341e478253ef0120a4e31ae8970b-pi

http://blog.shelfari.com/.a/6a00d8341e478253ef0120a4e31ae0970b-pi

That's quite a lot of books! I wonder what percentage of them he has actually read? Anyway, gotta love the jackalope head on the wall.

Gaiman reads Hiaasen? GET OUT.

Also interesting that he keeps a paperback of Carrie among his multiple editions of Coraline...

Good thing the dude doesn't move very often.

back when i used to read his blog (sigh) i was quite in envy of the fact he had a basement library. it just seemed like the coolest thing you could have. but er that looks like daylight, so i guess he's moved?

loving this comment on the link:

LOL,

My library's about 50% larger, not to mention far more varied. Significant lack of Asian lit in NG's library, lots of pulpish stuff like King. I'm sure that his is more valuable by virtue of some of the first editions I saw in the photos, but he's thin on a lot of literature and important writers (Ellison, Lessing, Grass, Murasaki, Tasso, Calvino, etc) and essayists. FYI, I read 2-3 books a day, which over 30 years brings my personal reading total up to about 25,000 books, most of which I've retained in my personal library

thanks for that dude

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope

This joke was employed by Ronald Reagan to reporters in 1980 during a tour of his California ranch. Reagan had a rabbit head with antlers, which he referred to as a "jackalope", mounted on his wall. Reagan liked to claim that he had caught the animal himself.

but er that looks like daylight, so i guess he's moved?

No, the windows are clearly at ground level, on the top of fairly high walls = the shelves are all underground. On his blog today he laments that the upstairs library where all the cool reference books live isn’t shown.

I know he’s looking at moving back to Britain in the next few years, will probably have to book an entire ship if and when.

i did wonder about that. it's sort of insufficiently basementy for my liking. although i guess it's a much more ecological way of having a basement library.

Longish article on Gaiman in the New Yorker. I had no idea that he was mixed up in Scientology.

Wow, that's for sure. Very interesting.

Maybe one day Suri Cruise will become a famous author.

Great article - thanks for the link.

He's marrying Amanda Palmer, though I suppose thats old news now?

!! News to me! I just found out a couple of weeks ago that he and mary were divorced. I need to keep up.

I think they only publically admitted they were even dating about a month back.

Yeah that was the other thing I was all ORLY about. Engagement via Sharpie, hm.

So do you think amanda palmer was a gaiman fangirl as a youth and now she has grown up to fulfill her teenage fantasies (as well as those of thousands of similar girls)?

gaiman is surrogate for robert smith obv

lol

One thing's for sure: She enjoys nekkid antics on the red carpet

I tried having a crush on Neil Gaiman in high school and it never really worked.

I just wasn't goth enough to get worked up over him.

i enjoyed sandman up until i realized neil gaiman ends all of his complex multi-issue storylines with the same damn whimpering deus ex machina non-ending every time out. i'd still probably rate a couple of the short story issues. (i haven't dared approach his novels for this very reason vis a vis time-investment.)

I'm not very goth and don't care about Gaiman's writing but I would fuckin' wreck that.

I only know anything about either Gaiman or Palmer because of my friends going on and on about either/both all the time. I've only ever read one Gaiman book (the one he did with Pratchett) and I'm no Dresden Dolls fan at all.

i'm a sentimental fool and all but the neil gaiman & amanda palmer thing delights me so much-- they are such a power couple!

At Worldcon, the international science-fiction convention, where he was the guest of honor in August, people walked around wearing pins that read “Neil Gaiman! Squeeeeeee!”—an expression of hysterical enthusiasm.

Ian R-M has so much to answer for.

"Squeee" has been around a lot longer than our young mr cuddlestein. God, I hate that word.

Fair to blame Jhonen Vasquez for that one. Wonder what he's been up to, post-Invader Zim?

Have we mentioned his non-fiction biography of Douglas Adams, written in an annoying faux-Adams styleeee?

The NYer link notes the faux-Adamsness. (Americans should beware, their editions are often heavily revised by other hands.)

Wonder what he's been up to, post-Invader Zim?

Apparently he's working on a (presumably animated - fuck, I hope so) movie version of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac! I was no fan at all of Zim, but THAT as a dark, scribbly animated movie could potentially be freaking awesome.

It could also be hideous. Please don't anyone let Tim Burton touch it.

okay this is weird, i found out today that one of my close associates is his son, which was very strange as most of our other associates operate on a vastly different arts/culture platform and have no idea who NG is. son and dad are quite, quite different afaict.

you work at g00gl3?

yeah he's said that he doesn't understand half of what his son tells him about his job, and usually just smiles and says "That's brilliant."

no, not a work association. but i will say his son is really, really talented in quite a few different ways.

Don't know if I ever posted this, a 2006 interview:

http://www.citypages.com/2006-11-29/news/enter-sandman/all

http://io9.com/5628181/neil-gaimans-sandman-coming-to-tv-at-last?skyline=true&s=i

Would watch. A way better idea than a movie.

Wow. Sandman could actually make a really great series, esp if it's on HBO or something.

that nyer profile of him last year was pretty great - kinda let him hang himself with his own rope

I think this would work only if it was traditonal animation. No way do I want to see a CGI Sandman.

Who said anything about animation?

I did. I said that this would work only if it was traditional animation. If they're gonna make it in live action, it will look awful.

Well, you know best.

He pioneered the author-as-internet-celebrity trend, right? So, dud.

Doesn't have to be CG Tuomas, just a decent actor with white make-up, a wig and a big black cloak.

will watch. I saw some Supernatural and it was alright. just glad someone got in before Tim Burton.