Shih Tzu

uminomamori @ 08:00 pm: Koi mermaid



5x7 watercolor

I will probably be ebaying the original with a reserve price later in the week, after the holiday. In the meantime it is available from me for $130.

I really do enjoy doing paintings like this. I had already decided to do a kimono series when vestaka posted her koi mermaid. I thought, oh no now I can't do one, but she said I had to :)



Tags: new art

ravenworks @ 07:54 pm: Sandwich de Chocobo 2: Bathtime Explosion
The mailman must have a crush on me or something!

Hot on the heels of my Okami artbook, it's...


Uki Uki Chocobo!

( Unwarksing pics )

Okay, 'unwarksing' sounded cleverer until I saw it spelled out.

Also of note is the fact that they mailed it to me in an inside-out box?


Apparently you can do that?
(Also, inside it was wrapped in UPS bubble wrap envelopes... I assume they're free or something, and thus cheaper than actual bubble wrap?)

Anyway, I'm heartbroken by the fact that, despite the name -- I don't speak japanese but I know an onomatopoeia when I see one -- my Uki Uki Chocobo makes no sound whatsoever :( I don't know if he's defective or if this is just a case of a word sticking even in cases where it doesn't strictly apply ;) (Hell, the english name is just as guilty; when was the last time 'rubber duckies' were actually made from rubber anyway?) Either way adorable and a welcome addition to my shelf. :D

Work is pretty great again, have I mentionned that?

beatonna @ 04:36 pm: How To Do It



Alternately there is this

nedroidcomics @ 06:20 pm: Say "He's Taking Care of Some Paperwork!"

beatonna @ 03:04 pm: In Service Of The King



I like the fat pony

nedroidcomics @ 10:47 am: I Have My Priorities Straight. 1: Partying Down; 2: Other


I have so many of these left I had a hard time choosing which one to put up today!

rollick @ 08:38 am: Friday fill-in-the-blank
I would really like to get rid of _______________.

ravenworks @ 09:35 am: "man, FUCK lactose"
So apparently I'm lactose intolerant! Dietician recommended giving up dairy for a bit... I started feeling much better; took it back up again to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and sure enough I felt worse... back off it now, and my stomach feels more steady than it has in a while (with the exception of this morning, because I had a McFlurry last night, which just further proves the hypothesis!)

After a whole life of milk with every meal, two yogurts at lunch, and ice cream after dinner, apparently my intestines just changed their minds a couple of years back. :P My parents are picking up some Lactaid or whatever so I can still have pizza and lasagna and whatnot now and then. Sherbet instead of ice cream is something I can live with (and vanilla soy milk is downright yummy, if less refreshing) so overall this is an acceptable lifestyle change to be back on good terms with my innards again! The dietician hasn't been able to help me gain a single pound (I'm well below the 'healthy' range on the BMI scale) but at least this much came out of it. :)

Once upon a time I thought I would never be able to cope without ice cream, but it's amazing how quickly your allegiances change when you can feel the difference. :P

In other news, ever since I disabled the feature that has my cell phone checking my email every fifteen minutes, my battery has gone several days without losing a bar, as opposed to dying after a day and a half :p Go fig..

adamcadre @ 12:00 am: http://adamcadre.ac
Calendar page updated.

ravenworks @ 11:12 pm: Pet Peeve
Flash game sites with multiple CPU-intensive flash banners. ;x;

ravenworks @ 09:06 pm: Okami art book!
It's finally friggin' here! :P It's only been like a year since it was supposed to ship? ;)



And it's bigger than I thought!

Beautiful pages, beautiful ink, and they even translated all the notes scribbled on the sketches! Very easy to pick up and leaf through... but I really love behind-the-scenes stuff, especially reading about stuff that was cut.

Anyway, huzzah! :D P.S. Thank you tamakun for pointing out to me that it was ready to ship (and making me notice that I would have to re-order it as a result X3)!

officialgaiman @ 11:01 pm: The morning found me miles away...

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/07/morning-found-me-miles-away.html

Still in Brazil. Still with Miss Maddy. Still having a lovely time.

Bought lots of books in the Paraty Festival bookshop today -- and saw many beautiful Brazilian editions of my stuff I hadn't seen before.

My favourite article read on the plane, incidentally, was the wonderful The Magic Olympics -- with tricks explained! by Alex Stone, in Harpers, which you can read online at: http://harpers.org/archive/2008/07/0082095 (my second favourite was the Gopnik article on Chesterton in the New Yorker, but it's not online, and I think he missed the boat about Chesterton politically). [My mistake. The Harpers article is only readable for subscribers.]

Hi Neil,You wrote a lovely story, told by Abel (I believe) about crows sitting in judgment on their storytellers. Somewhere along the way, this story became fact in my head. I was wondering if there is any truth to the myth, or if it's just myth. Maybe you could pass the question on to the Birdchick?Thanks!MRM

The description of corvids sitting around one of their number, cawing back and forth, and then sometimes killing it and sometimes flying off is something I've run into in old bird literature (and more recently as well -- since Sandman 40 came out I've read an eyewitness account of it in the Smithsonian Magazine). As to why it happens, I don't think you'll find any bird people who claim to know.

I should mention that the collective noun for rooks is not a parliament (which is actually the collective noun for owls) or it wasn't until I wrote Sandman 40, anyway. Mostly it's a building or a clamour of rooks. Sometimes it's a storytelling of rooks, which sounds like something I might have made up anyway...

Does Neil have an official myspace page? If so what is the adress?

No, I don't. There's an unofficial one, or more than one out there. I keep meaning to set up official myspaces and facebooks, but really tend to feel that keeping this place under control is more than enough for one author, and it never happens.

Hi Neil--Not really a question for you, just comment. You mentioned Tom Stoppard in your blog today. They say you should never meet your heroes, but they never say how cool it is when some of your heroes meet each other and get along so well. You seem to get along well with just about everyone. What just makes me smile is that so many of them are heroes of mine (Dave McKean, Roger Zelazny, Tom Stoppard, Philip Pullman,... ).Good luck growing up to be Mr. Stoppard. You seem well on your way.Have fun!
Geoff

Actually, you should never meet your heroes if you want to keep them as heroes. They may wind up as friends or as disappointments or as pleasant surprises, but once you know them they immediately stop being heroes. (I've turned down several opportunities to meet Stephen Sondheim socially, because he's practically all I've got left. Even David Bowie, who I've never even met, has managed to transmute in my head most of the way from DAVID BOWIE ZOMG!!1!* to my friend Duncan's dad.)

But then, I'm not sure about heroes at the best of times. I wrote about it at http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/10/whatever-happened-to-sancho-panza.asp
and still feel pretty much the same way now.

The most remarkable thing about Tom Stoppard (leaving aside the whole him-being-a-genius thing) is he's twenty years older than me, and he has my hair!

This gives me hope.



.......

*correct !!1! punctuation assistance here by Maddy.

beatonna @ 02:24 pm: woo everyone loves it when I write about my job




What japery we have here! And then when I leave here at the end of the summer I think I shall never return.

rollick @ 10:44 am: So many things I haven't said
No, Nigerian scammers have not assassinated me. (Or responded to my response to them, as penned by thefirethorn.) I've just been busy. Oddly, I have no plans for this weekend — it's particularly weird since next weekend is booked solid. I'm doing my usual wibbling between "throw together big social plans" and "blow off everyone and get caught up on stuff." I spent the morning eyeing projects I could tackle, from the picture frame I bought weeks ago that still has no pictures in it to the front garden, which needs to be weeded and generally set in order. We'll see.

Meanwhile, it's catch-up time.

• So did any of you actually go see The Happening? It's tanked at the box office at this point, but its first weekend was strong enough that it's made back production costs, and DVD sales will no doubt help, so Shyamalan will live to make another movie. I'm still boggling, though, at the idea of him making a live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender. ALL of his movies, even the ones I like, have the same slow, portentious, airless, hushed tone. How is he going to handle lively, funny, character-rich action?
  
  That aside, I thought The Happening was an almost impossibly terrible movie. Bad performances, clumsy writing, and eye-rolling ridiculous situations all completely got in the way of a pulpy but potentially interesting story. It felt more like the outline of a movie than like a movie. Virtually the entire Chicago branch of the A.V. Club went to the critics' screening together — seven people total — and we all came out tharn, blinking and half-smiling in a puzzled sort of way. Which I think is about the only proper reaction to the film. That or throwing things at the screen.
  
  
• If you need a cheap and easy laugh, you could do worse than to check out the slideshow of John Galliano's 2009 men's fashion show. I'm used to fashion shows featuring sullen stick-women wearing things that looked like a loom dropped acid and threw up on them, but haute couture menswear at this level of ridiculousness is new for me. Check out the guys with the painted-on angry-eyebrows. Or the ones with scimitars braided into their hair. Or the guy with the giant elephant sewn onto his yellow pants. Or… oh, the whole thing is just one big entertaining laugh-fest. Have fun.
  
  
• If I get an email from someone I don't know, pointing out for no reason I'm aware of that she's excited over an Obama "siting" over the weekend and that she "cited" him at Six Flags and she's really excited, is it mean to send her back an email saying "I'm not sure why you're telling me this, but you misspelled "sighting" three times in two ways?" I feel like I was mean about it. Then again, I also feel annoyed about it.
  
  
• Speaking of dumb-ass email, of all the many self-promoting press releases I get, the ones that most make me roll my eyes are the ones proclaiming that so-and-so is "available to discuss" current affairs or possible issues or whatever. My favorite was last year, when a self-proclaimed children's expert sent out a press release offering her services to the media to discuss — on TV, in the newspaper, over the radio, whatever, she wasn't picky — the potential trauma that children might potentially go through if Harry Potter died in the at-the-time-unpublished final Harry Potter book. But second place goes to the one I just recieved, from someone who would like the media to know that he's available to discuss his website's picks for the most patriotic movies of all time. In fact, he's available all weekend. Good to know! I also am available to the media to talk about things I like! But not all weekend, ’cause I got stuff to do.
  
  
• We're doing short podcast movie reviews now over at The A.V. Club. In this one, Keith and I talk about Wanted, both the movie and the comic it's based on. And today, Nathan Rabin and I hash out Hancock, which Cass and I both really enjoyed, though critical opinion is heavily against us. More to come.

jhontheunmortal, posting in doukutsu @ 08:41 am: Inspired by...
mighty183's wallpapers and with the PSP port in mind, I decided to toy around and create a similar number in tasty travel size



Already quality controlled on my own PSP and it does not seem to clash too horribly with the icon coloration.
I'll probably end up making more PSP wallpapers with the Cave Story art, but this is just what I have right now.

Oh, and: I'm new, hi.

Edit: Another one I threw together to give people some choice.
(They'd be fancier if I wasn't using MS-Paint)

(Sue's expression = "Holy crap, I'm being cut off!"?)

Page URLs now:
http://jhontheunmortal.deviantart.com/art/Quote-and-Curly-90444840

nedroidcomics @ 09:15 am: All the Lights and Fans are On

oddigy @ 12:25 am: hey.


Went to the apartment office and bled some money today. I'm going to be getting a unit Mid-August, tentatively the 14th.

Also, Season 3 arena titles were handed out today. Guess that 1650 I maintained for a while with a resto druid and MS warrior paid off. Now, rogues and enhancement shamans are completely obliterating most clothies in arena, and the shadow priests I ran with in 2v2 got hosed EVERY TIME by the Discipline Priest/Rogue combo. Ah, a warlock's day in the sun is finally over. I still enjoy taking the top damage spot in battlegrounds, though.

Blah blah WoW.

I'm going to be playing a lot less while I work on getting my crap packed up.

I'm moving. \o/

oddigy @ 11:19 pm: Chrono Trigger DS.
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/ctds/

uminomamori @ 09:09 pm: *copies ACEN report from DA*


A month late but...I need to post more.

( Read more... )

Tags: conventions

officialgaiman @ 10:10 pm: Now, when twilight dims the sky above...

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/07/now-when-twilight-dims-sky-above.html

Maddy and I are now in Brazil. We got to the airport in Sao Paulo where the driver and Tom Stoppard were waiting, and then we drove down to Paraty. (At no point did I say to Tom Stoppard, "Funny old world innit? You wrote a film called Brazil, and now we're here." Tom Stoppard is, I discovered, who I want to be when I grow up. I did, however, tell him how much I liked his Waterstones story card.)

Anyway. All is good. We went off on a boat to an island and had a very late lunch, or a very early dinner, and after dinner I lay down on the roof of the boat as it chuntered back to Paraty and watched the sun set and slept under the stars, waking just before we docked.

I have a plan for Saturday -- I spoke to the Festival organisers and they seem happy with it. After the programme item (starts at 11:45, finishes around 1.00pm) I'll sign for whoever's there for as long as it takes. I figure this may take a while, but basically anyone there who wants a signature, whether they made it to the official event or had to content themselves with the big screen overflow or are just wandering around Paraty clutching an ancient Portuguese translation of Sandman. So if you were wondering whether or not it was worth your while making the trip to Paraty, yes, if you're here then, I'll sign your book.

Not a question, just a post on a glorious clockwork tower I thought you might enjoy.
http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/2008/06/san-marco-clock-tower-venice.html

I was thinking the other day that it had been a while since I'd posted a link to cabinet of wonders - http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/ - as I've been enjoying the recent grand tour, so I took this as a reminder. (My favourite recent article was http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/2008/06/languages-of-tone-and-rhythm.html)

dear neil,
did you know that people are selling the graveyard book on abesbooks.co.uk?? is that allowed??

i've entered the epitaph competion because well i just had too what with the desperation and the sweaty paws and whatnot! Even so it feels a little like cheating, and in the unlikely event of winning a copy, i do think i might miss out on the all hallows atmosphere!

just thought i'd do a little 'grassing' seeing as i was in the neighbourhood, the stink of spoilsports to me! they wouldnt allow that with that Potter boy so why Bod?!

davey

Well, the publishers didn't send out advance reading copies with the Harry Potter books -- they were extremely strict about shops violating the on-sale date, though, which is a slightly different thing. Here you have books that people have been sent or given that they are putting up for sale on eBay or Abebooks.

The covers of the ARCs all say "Not for sale" on them, but most of the copies for sale are being sold by booksellers who got them at Book Expo America, and many of those booksellers use the sale of the various advanced copies of books they got there as a way to fund their trip to Book Expo. Which is my way of saying I can't get mad about it.

I'm most disappointed when copies proudly proclaim themselves to never have been read. The reason for the advanced reading copies is so that people can read them. So I hope the people who buy them on eBay or elsewhere read them and tell people about them, and don't just put them away in the dark as collectibles.

Is "bugger me sideways with a coracle" a real expression, or did you make it up?

You mean the two things are mutually exclusive? Everything has to be made up first... I mean, take the following as an example:

Hey Neil,

I found the most interesting thing today. I received a book order today including Creating Circles & Ceremonies by Oberon and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart. It's a Pagan ritual book. Anyway, I was looking through the appendices and they had a section listing Pantheons of different cultures and religions. Guess what was included in the list? THE ENDLESS. I was shocked! Apparently, people have created very successful rituals using the archetypes of The Endless. I guess your characters have taken on a life of their own! Just thought you might be interested in knowing that little tidbit.

Sincerely,
Christina