And now a word from Neil Gaiman.

I first came into contact with this poem about a year ago. I was lucky enough to be at a Neil Gaiman event at New York Comic Con, and he read it to the audience- directly after Bill Hader introduced him, and before he read the best chapter from the Graveyard Book.

The end of it really caught me the first time I heard it. It is strange to think a 40some British man who has mostly known success in his life also knows exactly how it feels to wait for a phone call you don't have much business hoping will come. Strange, and comforting.

The poem is called The Day the Saucers Came, and it's just great.

* * * * *
That Day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,
Silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,
And the people of Earth stood and
stared as they descended,
Waiting, dry-mouthed, to find out what waited inside for us
And none of us knowing if we would be here tomorrow
But you didn’t notice because

That day, the day the saucers came, by some some coincidence,
Was the day that the graves gave up their dead
And the zombies pushed up through soft earth
or erupted, shambling and dull-eyed, unstoppable,
Came towards us, the living, and we screamed and ran,
But you did not notice this because

On the saucer day, which was zombie day, it was
Ragnarok also, and the television screens showed us
A ship built of dead-men’s nails, a serpent, a wolf,
All bigger than the mind could hold,
and the cameraman could
Not get far enough away, and then the Gods came out
But you did not see them coming because

On the saucer-zombie-battling-gods
day the floodgates broke
And each of us was engulfed by genies and sprites
Offering us wishes and wonders and eternities
And charm and cleverness and true
brave hearts and pots of gold
While giants feefofummed across
the land and killer bees,
But you had no idea of any of this because

That day, the saucer day, the zombie day
The Ragnarok and fairies day,
the day the great winds came
And snows and the cities turned to crystal, the day
All plants died, plastics dissolved, the day the
Computers turned, the screens telling
us we would obey, the day
Angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars,
And all the bells of London were sounded, the day
Animals spoke to us in Assyrian, the Yeti day,
The fluttering capes and arrival of
the Time Machine day,
You didn’t notice any of this because
you were sitting in your room, not doing anything
not even reading, not really, just
looking at your telephone,
wondering if I was going to call.

It's Blow-Your-Mind Friday

To start, Neil Gaiman as a teenager.

To finish, Ian McShane is Al Swearengen on Deadwood.

...And Mr. Bobinsky in Coraline.

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous

Some of the concept art behind Henry Selick & Neil Gaiman's CORALINE:




You can view more here.

slam (Coraline) dunks

I'm not really a hi-top chunky sneaker type of girl, but I would rock these. Minus the animal heads, I think. Pretty serious.



Almost as serious as the artboner I have for the FAKE COTTON CANDY THAT COMES IN THE BOX.



This box. The one that is awesome.



But who is the target demographic for the Coraline Dunks? They're not sold next to yer Ice Creams and your Whosewhats, you can only win them. But the people I know or know of that would get a kick out of winning Neil Gaiman-themed footwear probably aren't the people who would actually wear it. Or, like me, they would consider radically altering their usual style to incorporate them into their wardrobe. I would totally buy jeans to wear these.

Too bad there are only 15 pairs in the world.

One of them is on display at St. Alfred's. The photo-essay in the middle of their webpage is hilarious and worth checking out.

but that's irrational, isn't it? to be scared of buttons...

The Gaim Plan

I'm going to see Neil Gaiman read from The Graveyard Book tomorrow night at the Tivoli Theatre. If you're going too, let's share a cosmic high-five then lope around in a soulcandyfed daze.


AN EXCERPT:

Name the different kinds of people," said Miss Lupescu. "Now."

Bod thought for a moment. "The living, " he said. "Er. The dead." he stopped. Then, "...Cats? he offered, uncertainly.

Gaim ON!

Neil Gaiman is coming to Chicago for his Graveyard Book tour!

These are the only details available as of yet:

Thursday, October 2nd–
Chapter 3 Chicago, IL
6pm Tivoli Theatre, hosted by Andersons Bookshop
5021 Highland Ave
Downers Grove, IL 60515
Contact: Becky Anderson Phone: (630) 355-2665 Note: The venue is a beautifully restored 1920s movie palace with seating for 1000. This will be a ticketed event, 1 ticket = 1 book. After the reading and Q&A, 'Stardust' will be shown.

AMAZING!!!!



Plus



Equals



(unicorn sex.)

A DECENT Proposal

I read this and cried. Only a little, corner-of-your-eye, blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of tear, but it was real, and in it contained one one jillionth of my love for Neil Gaiman, geeks, and humankind.

And it also is heartening to know that some people are that in love that they can be so sure they'll say YES. Dark side, all this was a surefire way to get her to say yes. But no. Only light sides this evening.