Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Continuum 3 - Part 2B
In this post, there will be much eeping and a fair amount of declaring Neil Gaiman to be the sexiest, funniest and most wonderful man in the world. You have been warned.
Neil Gaiman Guest of Honour Speech
Neil began by saying that he had tried to figure out what sort of GoH speech he would give, and the programme finally gave him the direction to take. He had noticed that there was no author reading for him listed on the programme, and so that was what he decided to give us. A reading from Anansi Boys (eep!!) This proclamation was greeted with much applause and yahooing from the standing room only packed out Ballroom 3.
Before he began reading, he explained that he had wanted to write a comic novel. He said that people seem to think that they have figured out how he and Terry Pratchett wrote Good Omens - in that Neil wrote a dark, serious novel, and Terry danced behind him, scattering jokes as he went.
We got to hear Chapter 4 of Anansi Boys, a chapter that Neil had obviously used at readings before. He did note that he generally doesn't like those readings where the author has to explain what has gone before, followed by the statement: "So, before I start this chapter, you need to know a few things..."
He took the audience gently by the hand and led us into the land of Anansi Boys, took us to visit Fat Charlie, and his brother Spider. There were laughs aplenty, and I cannot wait for this book to be released. This reading inspired me to seek out Neil's recordings - Warning: Contains Language; The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection; and Coraline. I have also been listening to a different reading of Anansi Boys that he did at the Melbourne State Library.
Mmmmm voice very much like honey mmmmmm
One of the most endearing things about Neil's reading was his stance. Dressed from head to toe in his customary attire of black jeans, black tshirt and black leather jacket, hair wild and flopping over his eyes, he had his hands clasped together behind his back, and as he relaxed into the reading, he began gently and subtly twisting on the spot - for all the world like a slightly embarrassed 12 year old speaking before a school assembly. So.Damn.Cute.
Lucky us, Neil also read another chapter from later in the book! We were his guinea pigs, to see if he wanted to keep using that chapter in readings. He said "I've never used this as a reading before, and I probably won't ever again." So, maybe not then.
[Nebuloid: He just doesn't want to read it again because he was doing Jamaican accents!
ZuckerBaby: Maybe, but he did them really well!!
Nebuloid: rolls eyes at ZuckerBaby]
Again, a funny and rich world was woven around us, peopled with round, practical Jamaican women, and a wonderfully confused protagonist. And again I say: Want book now!! Neil ended that chapter and commented that "Lenny Henry did the audio book, and he rang me after recording it and said 'You write some really long sentences, guy!' and I said 'Oh, it's all about breath control', but now..."
The treats didn't end with the readings, though. Neil had brought along an electronic press kit for Mirrormask, and ended his time by playing that. We got to see some clips from the movie, a little sfx comparison piece, and interviews with Neil and Dave McKean. There were some amusing introductory explanations from Neil, including him noting that the first clip was taken from when he had been being interviewed for at least an hour, and was sick of it, so just started lying. He had assumed that they would realise this, and with an hour of material, wouldn't use it. But no...
The first clip came up, and the question was "Why does Dave McKean have an obsession with masks?" Neil's answer was something along these lines: "When Dave was a little boy, about 4 years old, he was attacked by a man in a mask. When he was in hospital, in a coma, the nurses all wore masks, those Venetian masks with the long noses..." Roars of laughter from the audience.
The clips from Mirrormask included an amazing scene concerning the main character's transformation into a gothy princess, aided by mannequin jack in the box things jerkily singing The Carpenter's "Close To You".
Which...Wow.
Want movie now!!
Neil noted that he had been told that Sony had no intention of releasing Mirrormask in Australia, and encouraged us to write to them asking them to reconsider this decision. It has, however, been revealed recently that they do intend to release it here, it's just a question of when.
And then on to my second signing queue (my first was about 14 years ago, for Michael Palin. That's...a really long time ago. Gosh). Had a chat to some lovely people about Neil Gaiman, boardgames, what books we had brought along. Was joined by Nic and friends, and got to be generally fangirlish in wonderful company. Which, yay! We didn't get to the front of the queue in the hour allotted (unsurprisingly), but got given placeholders for the next signing.
Clutching books and placeholder, trundled off to the Fantasy and Fairytale panel, with Neil Gaiman, Robin Hobb, Richard Harland, Tony Shillitoe and Kim Wilkins. The discussion mostly ranged around the definition of "fairytale", and even wandered into discussing urban myth. From some of the other blogs I've been reading to job my memory of the weekend, I gather that this may very well be the panel during which Neil made a rather naughty comment about Daleks, and how they would be really fun if they were smaller. I remember the comment, but not when it was made. Ah well. Funny nonetheless.
A lovely part of this panel was Neil telling some traditional (ie bloody and gory and nasty and chilling - like they should be!) fairytales. Did I mention that I could simply listen to him speak for the rest of my life? Sigh.
Made my way out for the lineup again, and got to cut in, due to my placeholding number card thingy. Felt increasingly nervous and ill and shrill and like my brain had been removed and replaced with warm porridge and oh my god I'm standing in front of Neil Gaiman and mumbling something incoherent and thanking him for being here and he's happily signing away and my time's almost up and I say "It was great to see those snippets of Mirrormask, they were amazing" and suddenly he's looking up and smiling and saying "It is rather wonderful, isn't it?" with his eyes twinkling in that fabulous Neil way and now I've got my books back and have shuffled to the wrong side of the line and am just hanging about waiting for my heart to remove itself from my throat.
Neil Gaiman. Totally and utterly lovely.
Had room service dinner, as we didn't really have the time to go out and get dinner and then get back in time for the Maskobalo (at least that was the excuse at the time...) Got very girly with the getting ready - painted my nails and then promptly screwed them up, which was annoying. I was wearing a dark red cheong sam made for me by two of my friends, and Nebuloid had a most magnificent all black ensemble going on - we looked damn fine.
Nic, Jane and Jen turned up at our room and in no way breached Hilton policy by drinking alcohol purchased elsewhere. Nic was wearing a fantabulous tuxedo tshirt, which is the coolest.thing.ever. We chatted for a bit about Colin Firth, Neil Gaiman (at one point I believe we did start a slow hand clap in the hope that he'd suddenly appear in the doorway), the Lord of the Rings exhibition and birds. Lots of fun.
Wandered in all of our finery down to the ball at about 10. Drank some obscenely expensive champagne and goggled at Neil wandering around in glasses and a three quarter length coat (yes, there was drooling). He and Richard Harland were judging costumes - there were some great ones. A wolf, a Captain Jack, a whole bunch of eyeballs, Furries (which...um...yeah, best left alone, that one), and of course corsetry galore.
Crossing the room to find Nebuloid, I found myself bumping into Richard Harland, who stopped me and said (in his enthusiastic and fabulous way): "Every time you do a presentation, you always want to know that people are enjoying it. I could see that you were enjoying my speech immensely this afternoon and I wanted to say thank you, it makes it that much more fun to know people are having fun - and you were!!" I was most flustered and pleased by this, and thanked him for being fabulous, and wandered off in a bemused manner, whilst Richard bounded onto the dancefloor and started shaking his groove thang. It was very sweet.
We shall segue from that experience, past the goth synth band, directly onto Nebuloid and I spending most of the latter part of the ball dancing.
Yes, dancing.
Shaking (as the young people say) our booties.
Doin' the Disco Heave.
Throwing shapes in the Church of Dance.
And all that on two glasses of champagne! Who'd have thunk it?
It was bloody great fun. And I didn't fall over or spill my drink on myself or anything.
As the music slowed down from campy 80s synthpop to depressing 80s synthmope, we betook ourselves off the dancefloor and collapsed in a corner to watch people straggle out from the celebrations. There were clusters of people dotted around the foyer, abandoned paper masks on the floor, and Hilton staff pointedly putting tables away.
Everyone! To the bar! Off we tottered, to have a nightcap (or two). Continuum folks wandered through the bar, clutching drinks, and Nebuloid and I wound down from the whole dancing thing.
Then, creakily, off to our room, to collapse in preparation for the last day of the convention. Nebuloid's day. The day on which I could sleep in. Which I did. But more on that anon...
Neil Gaiman Guest of Honour Speech
Neil began by saying that he had tried to figure out what sort of GoH speech he would give, and the programme finally gave him the direction to take. He had noticed that there was no author reading for him listed on the programme, and so that was what he decided to give us. A reading from Anansi Boys (eep!!) This proclamation was greeted with much applause and yahooing from the standing room only packed out Ballroom 3.
Before he began reading, he explained that he had wanted to write a comic novel. He said that people seem to think that they have figured out how he and Terry Pratchett wrote Good Omens - in that Neil wrote a dark, serious novel, and Terry danced behind him, scattering jokes as he went.
We got to hear Chapter 4 of Anansi Boys, a chapter that Neil had obviously used at readings before. He did note that he generally doesn't like those readings where the author has to explain what has gone before, followed by the statement: "So, before I start this chapter, you need to know a few things..."
He took the audience gently by the hand and led us into the land of Anansi Boys, took us to visit Fat Charlie, and his brother Spider. There were laughs aplenty, and I cannot wait for this book to be released. This reading inspired me to seek out Neil's recordings - Warning: Contains Language; The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection; and Coraline. I have also been listening to a different reading of Anansi Boys that he did at the Melbourne State Library.
Mmmmm voice very much like honey mmmmmm
One of the most endearing things about Neil's reading was his stance. Dressed from head to toe in his customary attire of black jeans, black tshirt and black leather jacket, hair wild and flopping over his eyes, he had his hands clasped together behind his back, and as he relaxed into the reading, he began gently and subtly twisting on the spot - for all the world like a slightly embarrassed 12 year old speaking before a school assembly. So.Damn.Cute.
Lucky us, Neil also read another chapter from later in the book! We were his guinea pigs, to see if he wanted to keep using that chapter in readings. He said "I've never used this as a reading before, and I probably won't ever again." So, maybe not then.
[Nebuloid: He just doesn't want to read it again because he was doing Jamaican accents!
ZuckerBaby: Maybe, but he did them really well!!
Nebuloid: rolls eyes at ZuckerBaby]
Again, a funny and rich world was woven around us, peopled with round, practical Jamaican women, and a wonderfully confused protagonist. And again I say: Want book now!! Neil ended that chapter and commented that "Lenny Henry did the audio book, and he rang me after recording it and said 'You write some really long sentences, guy!' and I said 'Oh, it's all about breath control', but now..."
The treats didn't end with the readings, though. Neil had brought along an electronic press kit for Mirrormask, and ended his time by playing that. We got to see some clips from the movie, a little sfx comparison piece, and interviews with Neil and Dave McKean. There were some amusing introductory explanations from Neil, including him noting that the first clip was taken from when he had been being interviewed for at least an hour, and was sick of it, so just started lying. He had assumed that they would realise this, and with an hour of material, wouldn't use it. But no...
The first clip came up, and the question was "Why does Dave McKean have an obsession with masks?" Neil's answer was something along these lines: "When Dave was a little boy, about 4 years old, he was attacked by a man in a mask. When he was in hospital, in a coma, the nurses all wore masks, those Venetian masks with the long noses..." Roars of laughter from the audience.
The clips from Mirrormask included an amazing scene concerning the main character's transformation into a gothy princess, aided by mannequin jack in the box things jerkily singing The Carpenter's "Close To You".
Which...Wow.
Want movie now!!
Neil noted that he had been told that Sony had no intention of releasing Mirrormask in Australia, and encouraged us to write to them asking them to reconsider this decision. It has, however, been revealed recently that they do intend to release it here, it's just a question of when.
And then on to my second signing queue (my first was about 14 years ago, for Michael Palin. That's...a really long time ago. Gosh). Had a chat to some lovely people about Neil Gaiman, boardgames, what books we had brought along. Was joined by Nic and friends, and got to be generally fangirlish in wonderful company. Which, yay! We didn't get to the front of the queue in the hour allotted (unsurprisingly), but got given placeholders for the next signing.
Clutching books and placeholder, trundled off to the Fantasy and Fairytale panel, with Neil Gaiman, Robin Hobb, Richard Harland, Tony Shillitoe and Kim Wilkins. The discussion mostly ranged around the definition of "fairytale", and even wandered into discussing urban myth. From some of the other blogs I've been reading to job my memory of the weekend, I gather that this may very well be the panel during which Neil made a rather naughty comment about Daleks, and how they would be really fun if they were smaller. I remember the comment, but not when it was made. Ah well. Funny nonetheless.
A lovely part of this panel was Neil telling some traditional (ie bloody and gory and nasty and chilling - like they should be!) fairytales. Did I mention that I could simply listen to him speak for the rest of my life? Sigh.
Made my way out for the lineup again, and got to cut in, due to my placeholding number card thingy. Felt increasingly nervous and ill and shrill and like my brain had been removed and replaced with warm porridge and oh my god I'm standing in front of Neil Gaiman and mumbling something incoherent and thanking him for being here and he's happily signing away and my time's almost up and I say "It was great to see those snippets of Mirrormask, they were amazing" and suddenly he's looking up and smiling and saying "It is rather wonderful, isn't it?" with his eyes twinkling in that fabulous Neil way and now I've got my books back and have shuffled to the wrong side of the line and am just hanging about waiting for my heart to remove itself from my throat.
Neil Gaiman. Totally and utterly lovely.
Had room service dinner, as we didn't really have the time to go out and get dinner and then get back in time for the Maskobalo (at least that was the excuse at the time...) Got very girly with the getting ready - painted my nails and then promptly screwed them up, which was annoying. I was wearing a dark red cheong sam made for me by two of my friends, and Nebuloid had a most magnificent all black ensemble going on - we looked damn fine.
Nic, Jane and Jen turned up at our room and in no way breached Hilton policy by drinking alcohol purchased elsewhere. Nic was wearing a fantabulous tuxedo tshirt, which is the coolest.thing.ever. We chatted for a bit about Colin Firth, Neil Gaiman (at one point I believe we did start a slow hand clap in the hope that he'd suddenly appear in the doorway), the Lord of the Rings exhibition and birds. Lots of fun.
Wandered in all of our finery down to the ball at about 10. Drank some obscenely expensive champagne and goggled at Neil wandering around in glasses and a three quarter length coat (yes, there was drooling). He and Richard Harland were judging costumes - there were some great ones. A wolf, a Captain Jack, a whole bunch of eyeballs, Furries (which...um...yeah, best left alone, that one), and of course corsetry galore.
Crossing the room to find Nebuloid, I found myself bumping into Richard Harland, who stopped me and said (in his enthusiastic and fabulous way): "Every time you do a presentation, you always want to know that people are enjoying it. I could see that you were enjoying my speech immensely this afternoon and I wanted to say thank you, it makes it that much more fun to know people are having fun - and you were!!" I was most flustered and pleased by this, and thanked him for being fabulous, and wandered off in a bemused manner, whilst Richard bounded onto the dancefloor and started shaking his groove thang. It was very sweet.
We shall segue from that experience, past the goth synth band, directly onto Nebuloid and I spending most of the latter part of the ball dancing.
Yes, dancing.
Shaking (as the young people say) our booties.
Doin' the Disco Heave.
Throwing shapes in the Church of Dance.
And all that on two glasses of champagne! Who'd have thunk it?
It was bloody great fun. And I didn't fall over or spill my drink on myself or anything.
As the music slowed down from campy 80s synthpop to depressing 80s synthmope, we betook ourselves off the dancefloor and collapsed in a corner to watch people straggle out from the celebrations. There were clusters of people dotted around the foyer, abandoned paper masks on the floor, and Hilton staff pointedly putting tables away.
Everyone! To the bar! Off we tottered, to have a nightcap (or two). Continuum folks wandered through the bar, clutching drinks, and Nebuloid and I wound down from the whole dancing thing.
Then, creakily, off to our room, to collapse in preparation for the last day of the convention. Nebuloid's day. The day on which I could sleep in. Which I did. But more on that anon...
