This morning, on the plane home, I was asked about the premiere on Tumblr, and thought I'd repost my reply here...
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 12/3/2009
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Statuesque, writing on library walls, Awards, Coraline movie, Add a tag
The weather just got cold, and dog-walking tonight was less fun than it should have been; I wore gloves, and solitary crystalline flecks of snow spun into the light of my flashlight-beam and vanished again into the dark. I took Maddy and her friend Anna-Rose to violin tonight, and yesterday I carried the beautiful E. H. Shepard ink-drawing I got myself to celebrate the award in to the framers to be framed. I'm concerned that we should have insulated the beehives by now.
Dear Neil,
If you could choose a quote - either by you or another author - to be inscribed on the wall of a public library children's area, what would it be?
Thanks!
Lynn
I'm not sure I'd put a quote up, if it was me, and I had a library wall to deface. I think I'd just remind people of the power of stories, of why they exist in the first place. I'd put up the four words that anyone telling a story wants to hear. The ones that show that it's working, and that pages will be turned.
"...and then what happened?"
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 5/1/2009
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, signings, but will we get a Blue Peter badge?, Add a tag
Neil Gaiman sera à la Fnac Saint-Lazare, à Paris, le lundi 4 mai 2009, à partir de 17 h 30.
(And if you're in the New York area, I'm being interviewed on Saturday May 2 at 1:00pm...http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/3237/prmID/1832 -- tickets should be available at the location. Come for the day.)
Also, next week there will be strange appearances of me all over UK media thingummies. It is rumoured that Henry Selick and will be on breakfast TV for example. And on Blue Peter.
Herewith a lovely article from the Guardian about Coraline and scary kids' fiction, and why it is a good and healthy thing...http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/01/coraline-children-scary-movie
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 2/19/2009
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, who actually did kill Amanda Palmer?, art of Coraline, Add a tag
1. NEW! Friday the 13th (Warner Bros.) - $45.2M; 3105 theaters; $14,560 PTA
2. He's Just Not That Into You (Warner Bros.) - $23.3M; 3175 theaters; $7,359 PTA; -29%; $58.8M cume
3. Taken (Fox) - $22.2M; 3109 theaters; $7,141 PTA; -6%; $80.8 cume
4. NEW! Confessions of a Shopaholic (Disney) - $17.3M; 2507 theaters; $6,902 PTA
5. Coraline (Focus) - $19.1M; 2320 theaters; $8,236 PTA; -9%; $39.3M cume
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 2/9/2009
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, Scrotums, dog's bollocks, Scrota, The Graveyard Book should be where exactly?, Add a tag
For the record, I don't mind where it's shelved, as long as no readers, of whatever age. who want to read the book are prevented from getting to it or finding it, and, like the commenters at SLJ and like Roger at the Horn Book, I really don't think this is another Scrotumgate. In the UK it's on adult shelves and child shelves in different editions in libraries and shops. It just got an adult and a child Audie nomination. It's fine.
Public libraries across the country are reporting that all of their copies are checked out, and, at some, requests for holds are numbering in the hundreds.
Although there’s a consensus among kids, librarians can’t seem to agree on one essential issue: Where does the book belong—in the children’s area or in the teen section?
The New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, and Boston Public Library keep the book in their juvenile areas. But the Seattle Public Library, Phoenix Public Library, Houston Public Library, and Los Angeles Public Library catalog the novel in their YA sections.
[...]Despite the fact that major reviewers—including SLJ—recommend the book for kids in grades five to eight, libraries adhere to their own particular policies when it comes to handling children’s books that address delicate issues, such as death, or are potentially scary, says Cass Mabbott, manager of the Children’s Center at the Seattle Public Library.
Coraline did significantly better than expected. As E! Explains,
• Yes, Coraline opened at No. 3, but to its proud parents at Focus Features, it'll always be the top-debuting, wide-releasing, stop-motion film, if you go by per-screen average and not overall gross, in movie history. So there.
• For the stop-motion faithful, it will be noted Chicken Run made more in its debut weekend than Coraline, but boasted a slightly lower per-screen average, and it will be further noted Tim Burton's Corpse Bride boasted a far bigger per-screen average, but didn't go wide until its second weekend.
The tracking numbers had led people to think it would be in 5th or 6th place with about half of what it made. So it has done marvellously well, and I was filled with an unholy joy when it beat Pink Panther 2, a film that has no need to exist, and I do not mind it being beaten by SJNTITY because I am very fond of the people at Flower Films.
(The Other Mr Toast. Just to make people smile. Except Koumpounophobes.)
A few people have written in to ask about the changes between the book and the film. I'm not going to go too deeply in for risk of spoilers, will just say that Henry changed something that happens at the end, and some people mind, and some don't.
For those of you who've seen it, two different takes on the novel-to-film changes, one from Joshua Starr at Tor.com, the other from Gary Westfahl at Locus.com. Do not click on the links if you haven't seen the film or read the book or if you wish to avoid spoilers. (Interestingly, I was fascinated by the mini-review at the bottom of this review, by a 7 year old, where he got the point, even if the speech Gary missed was not there.)
For those who want to know how much input I had into the end of the film, the answer is, some, but not a lot. The end of the film was sort of fluid -- it changed a great deal between the first version I read, the versions on storyboards, and the final film. They started filming the beginning without having locked down the end. (They weren't even sure of the Other Mother's final form.)
How do I feel about it?
Pretty good. I think what Henry and his team did was brilliant, and they took something that wasn't a film, and they made it into a film that worked, and is already being talked about as an Oscar contender. (Here's Henry talking about it at the Onion AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/articles/henry-selick,23298/2/). I didn't make this film, they did, and I'm proud of them.
For my part, I still like to find people who I trust, whose work interests and excites me, and let them get on with it. Henry turned Coraline into a film by changing some things. Most of the things he changed I love, although I am glad I did them my way in the novel. For those of you who like something that sticks, with utter fidelity, to the plot of the book, I should point you at the upcoming Stephin Merritt musical version of Coraline, with book by David Greenspan.
Then again, in their version, Coraline will be played by Tony-nominated Jayne Houdyshell, who does not look 9, and David Greenspan will play the Other Mother (but not the Mother)and honestly, it sounds strange and marvellous and I cannot wait. (I've heard songs, but they have Stephin doing all the voices and accompanying himself on, I think, a toy piano.)
And I am fine with that. The book is the book. I like watching people play, and make good art.
...
There's rough times in Australia right now, and this will tell you about it, and what you can do.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 1/23/2009
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, Blueberry Girl, Dublin, Yes you could use the internet to figure out who I'm appearing with in Ireland but really now wouldn, Advertising and its drawbacks, Add a tag
The first Coraline trailer I've really liked. (It's up at YouTube in HD and is very cool.)
I don't know if you've heard this directly, but I know two people who, while being Gaiman fans, said independently of each other said, "I'm sick of this Coraline hype. Enough already."
While I'm eager to see the picture, I can understand what they perceive as advertising bombardments, be it billboards, web ads, commercials and so on.
I'm sure you would like as many people as possible to see the movie, do you think it's been "a bit much" with all the Coraline stuff out there?
Not really. It's a film without a big name star, handmade in Portland by a first time studio: it's not a film that the world is holding its breath for -- mostly, the world doesn't really even know it exists. The filmmakers have one crack at getting people in to see it on its first week of release, and only one, because, while it will undoubtedly go on to live forever on DVD format (and whatever comes after that), possibly even go on to Nightmare Before Christmas-like longevity, the perception of whether it was a success or a failure is mostly all about how it does when it goes out there on Feb 6th.
I'm proud of what Henry and his astonishing team did, and want as many people to see it as possible.
It's hard to promote a film that's as much for adults as it is for kids, easy for something like this to bomb -- or to be perceived as having bombed, which is not the same thing. The advertising is out there for another couple of weeks, and it'll probably get more pervasive as we get closer to the 6th of February, and will not please your friends. And the run up to Coraline will take over this blog more or less completely, I expect, because it's all I'll be doing. And then, after Feb 6th, it will all trail off, and the advertising will die away completely, and it will fade from the blog with occasional splashes of mention if the film does something interesting, or if I go somewhere to help  promote it.
(Which reminds me: Jameson Dublin Film Festival. I'll be there on February the 15th, when they will be screening Coraline. And, for anyone in Dublin -- or indeed, in Ireland -- who missed the signing last year, I will be doing a reading and signing in Chapters in Parnell Street on Feb the 17th at 5pm. Perhaps with an as-yet-unnamed Special Musical Guest.)
...
I read This Blog of Cheryl Morgan's. Thought "That's bizarre. I mean no-one would actually DO that." Then read around and realised that, yes, there are people who are interpreting the laws to get lead out of products aimed at children as meaning that they have to be kept away from book, with all that printing in it. It's mad and silly, but here's an American Library Association letter explaining that, yes, it's true, and what you can do about it.Â
http://dintywrites.blogspot.com/2009/01/scary-library-shit.html
...
Lovely early BLUEBERRY GIRL reviews starting to come in:
Publishers Weekly
In a magical blessing for unconventional girls, Gaiman (The Graveyard Book) addresses the "ladies of light and ladies of darkness and ladies of never-you-mind," asking them to shelter and guide an infant girl as she grows. "Help her to help herself,/ help her to stand,/ help her to lose and to find./ Teach her we're only as big as our dreams./ Show her that fortune is blind." Sinuous, rococo lines-the flowing hair, drooping boughs, winding paths that inspired the pre-Raphaelites-spread their tendrils throughout Vess's (The Ladies of Grace Adieu) full-bleed spreads, potent mixtures of the charms of Arthur Rackham, Maxfield Parrish and Cecily Barker's flower fairies. An Art Nouveau-ish font in a blueberry color compounds the sense of fantasy. On each page a different girl-short, tall, white, brown, younger, older-runs or jumps or swims, accompanied by animals meant to guard and protect her. Fans of Gaiman and Vess will pounce on this creation; so too will readers who seek for their daughters affirmation that sidesteps traditional spiritual conventions. All ages. (Mar.)
Kirkus Reviews
A rich and beautiful prayer for a girl. "Ladies of light and ladies of darkness and ladies of never-you-mind, / This is a prayer for a blueberry girl." Three women in flowing robes-the appropriately mythological Maiden, Mother and Crone-float in the sky over a small, dancing child trailed by numerous birds of the air. Free her from "nightmares at three or bad husbands at thirty," let her run and dance and grow, teach her and help her find her own truth. The verse is lovely, sinuous and sweetly rhyming, piling on blessings. Vess's precise line-and-color illustrations fill each spread with velvet colors and the iconography of myths and fairy tales, a good match to fantasist Gaiman's words. Plants, animals, sun and meadow appear in elegantly drawn detail, their realism tempered by floating trees and magical flowers. The girl transforms from stanza to stanza and spread to spread, blond or burnished, child or nearly teen. There is nothing cute or cloying here, just beauty, balance and joy. (Picture book. 4-8)
The only Blueberry Girl event will be on Saturday March 7th, at Books of Wonder in New York. Me and Charles Vess, signing books for anyone who comes by, along with a display of the original paintings, a Q&A, and so on. If you're in New York, we'd love to see you -- more details as I get them.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 12/29/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, exercise, Lud-in-the-mist, Edd Cartier, Michael Dirda, Add a tag
...to mark the passing of Edd Cartier (and the nearly-done-ness of 2008). Of all the pulp magazine artists of the 30s-50s, including such masters as Virgil Finlay and Kelly Freas, Cartier was my favourite, particularly his work in Unknown Worlds. Marvellous stuff. If I had known he was still alive, I suspect I would have written him a fan letter. Instead, I discovered the other day, from Locus, that he (and James Cawthorn, who was, with Mal Dean, the definitive Moorcock illustrator) had just died, and now I know that Mr Cartier was alive, it's too late.
...and it only seems a bit strange, in my head, that there should be Coraline toys.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 12/28/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: daughters, failed Christmas traditions, suspicious hair, dog photograph, Coraline movie, Doctor Who, Add a tag
The sun is out. The sky is blue. It's still a couple of degrees below freezing. Bugger. Let's see. A couple of Christmas Day photos -- here's one of me and my small but significant daughter collection. Yes, I have Christmas morning bed-hair, and yes, I am wearing my Christmas Sweater with the black Christmas trees on it.
I've left the hunting-season collar on Cabal because sometimes he vanishes in the snow, and  a flash of orange is useful.
...
For those of you who worry about the blog getting Coraline-the-movied-out, there's only thirty-six days to go until the film comes out in the US. Then there will probably be a week or two where I blog about how it's doing, and then it will recede into the background, as is the way of all things.
And one of the characters now has a blog.
good afternoon,
i just saw this posted online and thought you would like the link
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-gaiman29-2008dec29,0,7701196.story
loved the graveyard book. i have it lent out right now to a coworker who is loving it.
donielle
Thanks so much! It's also up at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/12/neil-gaiman-and.html with a photo of me sitting on a windowsill looking like I am having my photo taken on a windowsill.
...
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 11/24/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, Why I Support the CBLDF, G1, many meanwhiles, make Gahan Wilson King of America, Add a tag
I talk about it over at: http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/11/24/neil-gaiman-on-the-obscenity-of-manga-collector-christopher-handleys-trial/
That's where the money the CBLDF raised from the eBay auction went (and thanks to everyone who contributed!). Katherine Keller writes an editorial about it at http://www.sequentialtart.com/article.php?id=1183. Then she puts her money where her mouth is at http://kadymae.livejournal.com/719901.html.
A basic CBLDF membership is $25. http://www.cbldf.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=44 and there are people who really would like them as gifts. Honest. You get a membership card and everything.
And seeing I'm now recommending gifts -- Todd Klein documents the end of the story of his Alex Ross print at http://kleinletters.com/Blog/?p=2295 (and it's fascinating watching how something goes from not quite right to really very right), and then tells you how to order it -- or the third printing of Alan Moore's print or the second printing of my print (all signed in dark green ink) at http://kleinletters.com/Blog/?p=2385.
You can find out about the talk I gave the Open Rights group at http://entangled.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/neil-gaiman-talked-about-publishing-in-digital-age/, with links to a recording of the talk and some transcribed bits of it.
And more Coraline boxes are showing up on the web... http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/11/23/a-magic-box-from-the-makers-of-coraline/ has one, with a video of its opening, while another, very different, is up at http://fashion-piranha.livejournal.com/40454.html. I'm almost envious...
...
Meanwhile, an animated short film based on a short comic by Gahan Wilson and me (one of the two "five finger exercises", along with "October in the Chair", that I did before starting The Graveyard Book). You can read about it at the Playboy blog. It was made as part of the Born Dead: Still Weird documentary on Gahan Wilson (here's an article about it, by director Steven-Charles Jaffe, also at Playboy.com), and you can find a selection of Gahan's cartoons up at http://www.playboy.com/arts-entertainment/features/gahan-wilson/index.html (and a note saying that in 2009 Fantagraphics and Playboy are going to be publishing "a deluxe hardcover edition with three slipcased volumes that contain every one of Gahan’s Playboy cartoons" This is a really good thing).
Well, it is if you love the macabrely funny, or the funnily macabre......
Meanwhile in another part of the forest, I'm simultaneously more impressed, and sometimes more frustrated with the G1.
No blogger app, yet? Not a problem. According to blogger you just send a text -- no content specified -- to [email protected] and it'll send you a code to allow you to claim your blog... so that should be simple. Except that if you send a text message from the G1 to blogger you get a message back telling you that you haven't registered and to send a text message containing the text REGISTER to [email protected]. And if you send a text message containing the word REGISTER you get another message back telling you to send a message containing the word REGISTER... You do this a few more time, with no change.
So you give up and log in to Blogger using the G1's browser, and discover that the ability to upload photographs to Blogger has been disabled, and then you give up.
The voice recognition software doesn't always recognise that I've even said anything, and its choices, when it does think I've spoken, aren't just mishearings, they're positively perverse:
Me: Call Mike Gaiman.
Phone: (offers me a choice between)
Dial 508 0972
Dial 508 9721
Dial 508 9720
Me: Call Dad Cell
Phone: (offers a choice between)
Call Hilary Bevan Jones at Work
Call Hilary Bevan Jones at Home
...it's not even like there's a match up between the vowels, the consonants, or the number of syllables. Mysterious.
But the things that work work so well. I'm now using it as my bedside clock-alarm and GPS. It's a great phone. I cannot wait for a Slingbox app, or a RealPlayer app so I can use it to stream BBC Radio...
...
And finally, LEEDS UNITED: A musical video by Miss Amanda Palmer.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 11/21/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Dave McKean, Coraline movie, micro-knitting, crows, liam mckean, Jack Vance, why I was disappointed they cut Bacchus out of the Prince Caspian Movie, G1, Add a tag
There's an official CORALINE trailer out....
It's out in English, but this version of it is it in Italian. Because everything sounds better in Italian.
A few of you have written in asking if I'd done an Alan Moore and taken my name off the film, or if I'd had a falling out with the studio, as my name isn't mentioned in this trailer, just Henry Selick's -- and no, not at all. Nobody's name except Henry's is mentioned in the trailer, and that has more to do with Focus wanting to make sure that if they invoked The Nightmare Before Xmas, people wouldn't then assume this was a Tim Burton film, and go and see it -- or stay away -- based on that. (On the international poster -- above -- you won't find my name or Henry's.) I suppose it's a marketing decision.
I chatted to Henry today, and am really looking forward to seeing a finished film -- the last twenty minutes of the thing weren't done the last time I was sent anything. And it has music...
Incidentally, the Coraline Movie edition is now out, with an essay by me in the back, and another by Henry Selick...
I've now assembled the same list of passwords for the CORALINE website -- www.coraline.com -- that everyone else with access to a search engine has:
stopmotion : the Biggest Smallest movie ever made.
buttoneyes : Meet the cast...
moustachio : Bo Henry, art director of Coraline, shows off his remarkable moustache tricks.
armpithair : Every hair in the film was placed there by hand...
puppetlove : Director Henry Selick explains what it must be like for the puppets in the film.
sweaterxxs : Micro-knitting. That's right: micro-knitting.
...
A small collection of MAD fold-ins are up at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/03/28/arts/20080330_FOLD_IN_FEATURE.html. I cannot imagine a better time-waster than if someone were to put every Mad Fold-in up on line. I could click my way through them forever...
...
I've started playing with the T-mobile G1. First reactions -- I like it, mostly. It feels good in your hand. It's reasonably intuitive. (Bizarrely, when it isn't intuitive and I've had to head into manual land, the phone's software and the PDF of the manual do not always agree with each other.) I've had fun making ring tones, creating galleries. The way that your contacts list is also your Gmail contacts is mostly terrific (although it won't let me create entries that have the same email address as someone already on the list).
The things I don't like about it so far seem huge and obvious: no Blogger app (when there's a LiveJournal app and several others) seems a huge omission, seeing it's from Google; it can't read or open PDF files yet; you can send it pictures and watch them as a slideshow, but you can't save them; the built in Gmail app can't do anywhere near the things that the gmail program on my N73 can do; the camera is about the same standard as the iPhone's, which is to say, a bit meh. I like having a real keyboard but wish it was a tiny bit bigger -- I find myself typing with fingernails. Battery life is fine unless you've got Wifi on.
More reactions after it's been on the road with me and been used for a bit.
...
Hi Neil,
I just had a quick question on the Who Killed Amanda Palmer book. I have the album already (and have listened to it countless times. It's beautiful).
I was going to go and order the book, but when I went to the site, I found that the book seems to only be in packages. I was wondering if there are any plans to sell the book alone, or whether I should buy one of the packages. The extra CD could make a nice gift.
Thanks,
Nate
Let's see... the book is being desgned right now, then it goes off to the printers. The people who bought the package version will get theirs first. Depending on where in the world it's printed, this could be a couple of months before anyone else. Then, when copies come in from the printer, they'll go on sale -- probably in the early Spring. I think.
Neil!
I'm re-reading American Gods, and I'm at the point where Shadow first meets Sam. At the diner, Shadow reads a newspaper story saying "local farmers wanted to hang dead crows around the town to frighten the others away; ornithologists said it wouldn't work, that the living crows would simply eat the dead ones. The locals were implacable. 'When they see the corpses of their friends,' said a spokesman, 'they'll know we don't want them here.'"
Neil, I don't have Time Enough for Love here at school, but wasn't there something very similar to that in that story? Was your dead crow story a little Heinlein homage?
And OMG - just realized that Sam's last name is Black Crow, and that story was about crows. Wow. Sneaky of you.
Chris
When I'm driving through small-town America I make a point of buying local papers in towns where I stop, and reading them, preferably in local coffee shops. I read that in a small town as I went, and thought "It belongs in my book". So I put it there.
Dear Mr Gaiman,
I recently finished reading M is For Magic, and I have a question about the story Chivalry. Sir Galahad was considered the holiest of Arthur's knights; so, how coul he have obtained an apple from the garden of the Hespiredes? The Hespiredes were a part of greek mythology which was actually a religeon based on monotheism. So, how could he get something that his religeon said didn't exist? I am sorry to bother you with this question, but it has sparked my interest.
- a young and curious reader
He had to travel a long way.
I don't think it would have been a problem for early Christians, of whom Galaad would have been one: in The Golden Legend, which was the most popular book of stories about saints, collected in the thriteenth century, Saint Nicholas (the one who became Santa Claus) went up against the Goddess Diana. Then again, Narnia, a most monotheistic world, had more than its share of nymphs (just like the Hesperides) not to mention such gods as Bacchus and Silenus (and Santa Claus again) wandering around. So I would not worry about it, were I you.
I loved the link to the Sandman Death 20th Anniversary Bookends you put up.
When should they be coming out and how much of a dent will they put on my wallet, please?
According to a quick Google, http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/9960.shtml says they came out in September, and they will cost a wallet-twinging $295. (Ouch.) There are only a thousand of them.
This one has almost nothing to do with you Neil, but since his website is still in the makings I thought you could perhaps forward this to him.
I was very sad (like a child whose told there won't be a Christmas this year) to learn that Dave McKean's appearance this weekend in Buenos Aires was canceled.
In the event's blog they posted Dave's email in which he mentioned he couldn't make it because a date was changed (which sounds reasonable). But it remained unclear if it was the date of ANIMATE (the Buenos Aires event) which was changed, or if it was one of Dave's previous engagements.
Dave McKean said...
Hi Neil,
Please post this, as I certainly do feel very bad letting people down:
I agreed to go to Animate in the summer and had to organize a military
operation of friends and family to take care of our son Liam during
the proposed week, as he is appearing as Gavroche in Les Miserables in
London and has to be accompanied to and from the theatre each day he's
on, and also be available on 12 hours notice every day in case another
actor drops out.
We managed this, so both Clare and I could make the trip to Buenos
Aires, a city we've always wanted to visit.
Unfortunately, the date was changed by the organizers, and so we had
to re-arrange.
More importantly, it became obvious that the festival was now
colliding with a variety of previous commitments falling in the latter
half of November, so I decided with great sadness to withdraw this
year.
I hate letting people down, and I was really looking forward to the
trip (though not the 24 hours travelling each way, I admit!).
Hopefully there will be another event, an animation or film festival,
that will allow me to visit the city in the future. Or maybe we'll
just go for a holiday, and do a signing in a bookstore.
Thanks,
Dave
(I think it's worth pointing out that ten-year old Liam McKean -- owner of the original Pig Puppet -- is in Les Miserables in London. If you happen to go and see it, check if he's in your performance. Get his autograph. Mention pigs. Make his day.) And that reminds me...
Hi Neil,
I thought you might like to let people know that Dave McKean is on the BBC4 programme "Picture Book" talking about his illustations for David Almond's 'The Savage' and how he was inspired by Comic Book's art. The programme is airing (again) at 19.10 on Saturday and 3.30 on Sunday, and is also currently available on the BBC i-player. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fhnb6/comingup
Thank you again for all the stories,
Marjorie
You're welcome.
Hi,
Just read that you completed "the Dying Earth story." Huh? Is there a new collection of Dying Earth stories coming out? Is it an homage to Jack Vance's work, or what?
Did a search for "dying earth" on your website and saw no other mention of it.
Thanks,
Chris
It's for this.
...
And finally, Larry Marder talks about why the drawing we did together is so special at http://larrymarder.blogspot.com/2008/11/neil-gaimanlarry-marder-drawing-up-for.html.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 11/13/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, Chinese edition, the power of comics, how to spell fuchsia, Add a tag
Much lemon-and-honey and chicken soup is being drunk. And The Graveyard Book (and the P. Craig Russell Coraline Graphic Novel) are on Kirkus's 2008 Year's Best list.
Hi Neil,
My 4th grade class has created a quite splendid (if I do say so myself) mural of The Graveyard Book. I've a post with some images from it and their responses to the book here:
http://medinger.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/in-the-classroom-the-graveyard-book/
I loved the mural -- and even more than that, I loved the description of reading The Graveyard Book to a fourth grade audience. Thanks so much!
Hitmouse wrote in to say:
Ursula Vernon, writing on The Power of Comics: http://ursulav.livejournal.com/831148.html
She was at a reception for Ahmed Fadaam.
And it was an astonishingly powerful entry that I think everyone should read.
http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2008/nov/13/presence-author/ is a nice account of my day in Las Vegas last week. (That's meant to be a sketch of Death, by the way, not of the young lady in front of me.)
Hey Neil,
I wanted to let you know that a review and photos I took at the 92Y discussion with Chip Kidd are up at QuietColor.com
A Conversation With The Dream king:
http://quietcolor.com/qc/?p=1790
I am a longtime fan and have had the pleasure of meeting you on several occasions at various NYC reading and signings over the years. I had to skip the post discussion signing this time to cover another event (Conor Oberst at Terminal 5). Therefore, since I didn't get to say it in person... Thankyou, to you and Chip for an enlightening, entertaining, and inspirational evening!
If you have a chance I would love for you to take a look at my website www.maniacpumpkincarvers.com I carve really intricate, custom pumpkins each fall.
Thanks again,
Marc Evan
Those are some remarkably carved pumpkins. (Even a pig!)
Thanks Marc. We get to see what Chip was wearing in those photos, which I think is important. Posterity needs to know. (There's a wonderful description of the event up at Tor.com -- http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=8526#more -- which reminds me that you can always remember how to spell fuchsia if you bear in mind that the flower was named after a German botanist named Fuchs.)
Have any of your books been translated into Chinese and if so, where can I get one for my son-in-law for for Christmas? I've searched the web with no luck and also checked in 2 bookstores in Hong Kong last week with no results. Thanks. He and my daughter are huge fans and have been at a couple of your book signings in the Twin Cities.
Yup. They're now pretty much all out in complex Chinese characters, and are in the process of coming out in simplified Chinese. Let me look...
Here's a DangDang.com link to Stardust. And here's an Amazon.cn link to some books by me. (Simplified Chinese). And here's a link to Coraline and American Gods in Complex Chinese characters (and another to books by me).
Does that help?
...
Nearly forgot: An interview with me about Coraline and the upcoming in February Coraline film from Wired online:
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 10/31/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, I want to see pictures of Halloween costumes in the LJ comments, not really having anything else prepared, I want to see pictures of Halloween* costumes in the LJ comments, not having anything else prepared, Add a tag
Once again, Mr. G is hopping around the globe and it falls to me to post the latest Coraline treats from Focus Features.
Today, the Coraline 1-sheet arrives in theaters! But you do not need to dash out to see it, my dears, because I have the exclusive debut sneek peek right here!
See also the very spooky official Coraline website and Focus Features' content-rich Coraline site.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 9/19/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: completely abandons the idea of writing lots of labels and goes to bed instead, Douglas Adams, Cats, Coraline movie, CBLDF, mushrooms, national book festival, Add a tag
Today I slept until early afternoon. Then got up and walked the dog. I got very used to using the camera as a diary while I was in China (as a back up for a notebook, and sometimes a substitute), so took the camera along on the walk.
G. K Chesterton observed that one of the best things about being away is that you get to see what you come back to with different eyes.
Found myself amazed by the size of my house, for example. There are a lot of people in China, and they live, on the whole, in much smaller places than mine. (Actually, that's probably true of most of the world: it takes a certain idiocy to want to live in an Addams Family House in the first place). But having, over the last month, met a number of families in which several generations lived in one room, it seems really strange to have so much space.
Was pleased to observe, on my walk, that the falling-down barn has not yet fallen down.
She returned much later carrying a cardboard box containing a calico kitten with whom she had fallen in love, and was last seen taking the kitten home to introduce to her Bengals. This is Princess glaring at the calico kitten...
And this is Lorraine's kitten, puffed up and halloweeny in order to persuade everyone that she is in fact a very big cat indeed.
...
There's an interview with me over at Goodreads -- http://www.goodreads.com/interviews/show/12.Neil_Gaiman?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Sep_newsletter
and lots and lots of Coraline movie information out there, probably too much to link to without it being overwhelming, but
http://photos.latimes.com/backlot/gallery/coraline is a terrific photo gallery at the LA Times, and there's a really good article about Laika studios and Henry and the Coraline team from the Oregonian at http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/huge_artistic_stakes_are_ridin.html.
Several people wrote to ask what I thought about Eoin Colfer writing a new Hitchhiker's book -- for example,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article4773155.ece
In regard to the above, did they ask you to do it, and would you have accepted if they had?
Nobody asked me to do it, but then, when Douglas asked me if I'd like to adapt Life, The Universe and Everything for radio I said no, and that was with Douglas alive and asking. (Dirk Maggs did it, and did an excellent job.) It seemed a thankless task.
I like Eoin very much, and wish him well with the book. He'll probably write a sixth Hitchhiker's book with more enthusiasm, and certainly faster, than Douglas would have done. But it won't be a Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's book.
For the record, if I don't get around to writing a sequel to something while I'm alive, I'd very much rather that nobody else does it once I'm dead. It should exist in your head or in Lucien's library, or in fanfic. But that's me, and not every author feels the same way.
Hello Neil,
This is almost a dangerous question to ask you, because it is about something John Byrne has said. But as a large proponent of libraries, I was curious as to your thoughts on something he recently stated regarding trade paperbacks in libraries:
"Ever since I started writing for a living, I have found myself viewing libraries somewhat differently than once I did. I think we are all in agreement that libraries are A Good Thing -- but are they A Good Thing right across the board? When we have niche products like comics, is it really a good idea for them to be available in libraries?"
I don't think it's a dangerous question, and it has a remarkably easy and straighforward answer, which is, Yes, it's a very good idea for them to be in libraries.
Hello Neil,
First off, I hope this email finds you well.
I've planned to attend the Library of Congress book festival and just wanted to know if there are any general rules of etiquette for your signings.
Is there a book limit for signing?
Can a say a few words about how much I enjoy your work in person? I promise it won't last longer than 15 nervous seconds.
Most importantly, how early should I arrive before the likely rush of other frothing fans?
These questions constantly roll in my mind. I'd hate to add extra weariness to a likely hot, humid, noisy,(yet still awesome) festival.
Thanks for coming to the southeast!
Sincerely,
Dan
The book limit will depend on how many people there are, and how many people I can get through in the time I've got. It'll be announced at the signing, but it won't be more than three books, and it may well be only one.
And of course you can talk to me. Most people seem to use the signing line as an opportunity to say thank you, and most authors are pleased to hear that they've made a difference, or just to be thanked. We like it if you say hello, honest.
How early you should get there? I don't know. Each time I've signed at the LoC Book Festival it's been different. According to the website this time it's:
Teens & Children Pavilion
11:45-12:15 pm (This is a short reading from The Graveyard Book, and a Q&A).
Book Signing
1-3 pm (and it'll probably go longer if they don't need the space, but may be cut off if they don't have anywhere to move it to, or have something else planned for me at 3.00pm).
We may wind up with people who would like to be at the reading/Q&A who skip it in order to be early in the signing line. But that's if they've actually told people where to line up for the signing, which they may or may not do.
Last time people were in the signing line before dawn. I don't think that would work this time, as I'm not doing a morning signing.
Hey Neil,
I would love to know what time the Columbia University reading is taking place on September 30th. I am very excited t go but don't know what time to arrive. Thanks.
-Dan
The details are now up at http://www.neilgaiman.com/where/ -- according to which it starts at 7.00pm.
I see in "Where's Neil" that you'll be doing a signing in New York City and Philadelphia. With New Jersey right in between, why not a stop here?
Because the people who aren't on the East Coast, some of whom are travelling hundreds of miles to get to the readings, would rise up as one person in their anger at the unfairness of it all, and destroy New Jersey in their rage. Which would be sad, because there are lots of bits of New Jersey that are actually quite nice.
When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she (allegedly) attempted to get books she didn't approve of out of the public library. This is scary. Are free speech organizations like the CBLDF and the First Amendment Project going to take this issue on?
No. They are too busy fighting actual cases of censorship from all the way across the political spectrum, to bother with partisan silliness. (Here's the Snopes report on Palin's non-existent Bookbanning.)
What you fight is specifics: bad laws, bad arrests and the like. People trying to ban books and comics and people trying to stop other people selling or publishing or creating comics and books and suchlike.
You don't fight "alleged attempts to get books out of a public library" ten years ago. To "take this issue on" I suspect would consist, Father Ted-like, of people walking around Sarah Palin with placards saying "Down with This sort of Thing" and "Careful Now", which would probably not result in increased freedom of speech.
Hi Neil! This Andrew Drilon (I was the creator "Lines and Spaces", the Alex Niño tribute comic which won the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Award last year). I've been making lots of short comics since then, under the banner title Kare-Kare Komiks, and they've gotten nice comments from people like Emma Bull and Warren Ellis, so I thought you might be interested:
http://www.chemsetcomics.com/category/kare-kare-komiks/
Anyway, I'll be posting "Lines and Spaces" there tomorrow, for those who are planning to enter the contest this year (the deadline's at the end of the month), and I'm hoping you can help spread the word.
Consider it posted.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 8/15/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: features I should have implimented ages ago, people with the same name, abject horror turning into opportunistic evil laughter, shenanigans, Coraline movie, Add a tag
FOUR WEEKS?!? Mr. G is going to be gone for four weeks?? I am as dismayed by this news as you. This is terrible. This is calamitous. This is... unexpectedly exciting?
He has no idea how much trouble I can get into in four weeks.
I have already begun formulating Secret Plans. This is the month. Tell your friends.
The fourth Coraline featurette has been posted. This one is my favorite of the five, because of a certain cosmic alignment of talents hinted at by the title up there.
I decided that none of you should be spared my attempts at humour in the labels, so I have gone back to work under the hood and the feed now includes them at the bottom! (Secret Plat #1: CHECK) Only the official feed includes the labels; all of the depricated feeds, and the one straight from blogger, still lack them. (This means that if you are not seeing the labels at the bottom of each entry in your feed reader then you should resubscribe to the feed via the previous link. If you experience any issues, please contact me.
Because I was feeling silly, I created a page on Fundable.com to raise money to buy Mr. G a RoboPanda. Fundable is cool because it only takes the money if the goal is reached. I thought maybe people could throw in $0.50 or a dollar, and I would post pictures of the look on his face when he got it -- but when I got to the end of the sign-up I learned that the minimum pledge was $10. And, I mean, $10 is a little much for a gag gift that's going to collect dust in the attic, likely scaring the fur off of Zoe the blind cat. I link to it now only because I spent so long photoshopping that image and hate to waste it.
New information for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK US Tour:
Info for the NYC event:
Teachers College at Columbia University - hosted by Barnes & Noble College
525 W. 120th Street
New York, NY 10027
7pm
Phone: 908-991-2153
Info for the Minneapolis event:
Saint Paul's United Church of Christ Red Balloon
900 Summit Avenue
St Paul, MN 55105
7pm
Phone: 651-224-8320
For more, check Where's Neil?.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 8/14/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, I feel like Harley Quinn every time I write that, it's Neil's world -- we're just dead in it, I will name him George and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him..., Add a tag
Mr. G is still "not blogging", I see.
The third of the Coraline featurettes is now available for your viewing pleasure.
I created a new GRAVEYARD BOOK countdown Google gadget months ago but I forgot to remind the Boss to post about it. Please send any bug reports to me.
(A question for my peeps commenting on the LJ feed: Am I the only one who saw the title "Elfless in Gaza" last week and worried that the web elf had stumbled into a warzone during her travels abroad?)
Inspired by the spirit of the late, great Othello Dodge, I have added my ancestral namesake to the graveyard. As a fan of the community that once sprouted up around the House of Clocks guestbook (en memoriam), I hope that you follow suit.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 8/13/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, posts that assure that the author is safe and has not been kidnapped by goblins at all, a Dickens reference that was funnier in my head I suspect, Add a tag
As Mr. G is busy "not blogging" this week, it falls to me to remind you that the second Coraline featurette has been posted.
Additionally, Focus Features is running a Coraline sweepstakes, by which you may enter to win a trip to the Coraline set in Portland, OR. (I encourage all of you not to enter, as I would like to win it myself.)
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 3/17/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, Maddy, Add a tag
Hey everyone!! Well this is Maddy Gaiman and I would just like to say that I am very tired! Today was a long day and now I totally know how dad feels after he gets done with a day of interviewing, or at things like Comicon.
Well we arrived at Laika studios this morning at like 10:00, ate a nummy breakfast, and went on a tour around the sets of Coraline. It was amazingly super cool!! There are sooo many sets for all the different scenes in the movie. Then I interviewed Henry Selick and my dad, then did a bunch of little TV spots for things like CNN Kids and Nickelodeon and Access Hollywood, where I would be all like "Hi! This is Maddy Gaiman. Stay tuned for an exclusive sneak-peek of the cool new 3-D animated movie CORALINE!".
After that I interviewed Georgina Hayns and Deb Cook who are the heads of the departments for puppets and costumes for the puppets. It was pretty wonderful. I love all of the puppets, too. I would never have the patience to do what the people working there do. With all the fine detailed things, and moving the puppets a tiny little bit every shot and taking a picture and then moving them a little more, my head would about explode!! That takes talent I tell you. Oh, and we also saw about 20 minutes of footage in 3-D and that was also pretty darn fantastic. The film is coming along great so far and I simply cannot wait to see the finished version!
Okay, well I better get to bed because I am pretty tired. But hopefully I will be back tomorrow with some more wonderful blogging!
Talk to ya lata skatas!! :)
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 3/17/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, P Craig Russell, Add a tag
From The Beat, here's P Craig Russell drawing the Sandman Dream Hunters comic.
The thing I was going to write about this morning isn't getting written now though as they need me for make-up and an interview...
Read the rest of this post
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 3/17/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Henry Selick, Coraline movie, bees, Maddy, an amusing article from The Onion, Add a tag
Good morning! Miss Maddy and I are in Portland. Last night we went to Henry Selick's house and met his family and lots of nice people from Laika and ate lots of amazing food (and I also drank my first cup of the kind of coffee that's made from beans that have travelled through the digestive system of the civet cat [Paradoxurus hermaphroditus]). Millions of swarming honey bees are on the loose after a truck carrying crates of the buzzing insects flipped over on a highway in Sacramento. The California Highway Patrol says 8-to-12 million bees escaped from the crates in which they were stored, swarming over an area of Highway 99 and stinging officers, firefighters and tow truck drivers who were trying to clear the accident from the roadway. CHP Officer Michael Bradley says at about 10 a.m. a tractor trailer owned by Inter City Inc. flipped over while entering the highway on its way to Yakima, Wash. The flatbed was carrying bee crates each filled with up to 30 thousand bees. Bradley says several beekeepers driving by the accident stopped to assist in the bee wrangling. The beekeepers called their colleagues, who responded and came to help repair damaged bee crates and get them loaded onto two new trucks. The bees were on their way back to Washington after being used in the San Joaquin Valley to pollinate crops.
Today it's off to Laika to visit the Coraline sets (all 40 of them) and to be interviewed for the DVD extras. Maddy will be doing the interviewing.
I have to get dressed... Here's Maddy:
Well helloooooo everyone I missed you so! Um well today we are going to visit the Coraline sets as I see Dad already mentioned, but I am very excited because everything is going to be super cool! Plus I'm going to interview people so you better watch out because the new Larry King is right here. :) Just kidding! Or am I? Anyways we have some pictures of last night's get together but I do not exactly have the camera with me right now so I guess you will just have to wait until later to see them. It will be the time of your life! Ok, well have a really great day. :)
Me again. People have sent me lots of important emails this morning, many of them letting me know that a bee truck overturned near Sacramento.
(I don't think they were swarming at all. But hurrah for the drive-by beekepers.)
And meanwhile,
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 3/16/2008
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Terry Pratchett, Coraline movie, alzheimer's research, Add a tag
Sometimes I lose track of time -- Maddy and I are going to go to Laika in Portland for a couple of days, to visit the Coraline set. Truthfully, it's Maddy who will be doing most of the work -- they want her to interview me and Henry Selick and several of the crew. I thought I had many hours before I left. Days maybe. And suddenly I'm gazing bleary-eyed at the day as Lorraine tells me there's a car in the drive and Maddy and I leave in fifteen minutes and probably I ought to put on some socks.
Dear Neil,
Thanks for blogging the initiative to match Terry Pratchett's $1 million donation to the Alzheimer's Research Fund. In way of an update to that, there is now a website - http://www.matchitforpratchett.org/ and a Facebook group (naturally) - Matching Funds with Terry Pratchett. It might be helpful to mention these as well on your blog, if you were so inclined.
Looking forward to seeing you at Orbital.
Best wishes,
Nina
Absolutely. Consider them mentioned.
Also, I think I have slipped into a parallel universe in which everything is reversed. The Sun accurately reports everything that Terry said, while the Daily Telegraph sexes it up and tries to make it controversial.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 12/26/2007
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, bees, hellboy, Is Scotland Really England Or Not?, butterfly of love, Corinthian Eyes, Winter, two photos, steve bissette, Add a tag
Outside it's a winter wonderland. Look:
I got some wonderful presents from my family. My favourite was a scrapbook that Maddy made of the year filled with photos of the family and brief Maddy-style essays and commentary on the photos. ("Well father, even though we look like a two-headed person in this picture, I would like to say that it's one good-looking two-headed person. Ha :) . Mike's graduation was a wondrous family outing!!") It melted me.
I've already forgotten who sent me the link to a beehive-extension-in-a-bell-jar at http://www.hemmy.net/2007/09/16/bees-makes-hive-in-a-jar/ but I am already planning on buying a jar, or similar strange glassy thing and finding out what the bees make of it.
Hi Neil,
Merry Christmas! I was wondering, in the spirit of the season and in honor of your swarms of yellow and black buzzing friends, if you would post a link to Something Awful's evil charity drive to flood the third world with bees VIA heifer.org. http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/bee-charity-drive.phpFor only $30 this holiday season you too can send 12,500 bees to terrorize unsuspecting civilians in places like Uganda and El Salvador, where the brave might try to make an alliance with the bees for their sweet, sweet nectar. By noon we've already given away a million bees to the needy and I figured you might be able to help get us to ten million.Thanks,
Laura
I can do my best. After all, you cannot have a land flowing with milk and honey without bees. And, um, lactating mammals.
...
There is a trailer for Hellboy: The Golden Army up at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hellboy_2_the_golden_army/trailers.php
Hurrah.
(And this may mean that I can post a couple of photos from my time on the set that I've kept under wraps until now.)
...
I just discovered this site, forgive me if it's old news, but I was wondering if the idea for this originated with The Corinthian, or if you drew on a previously existing "nightmare image" when you created him.
http://www.freakingnews.com/Mouth-Eyes-Pictures--1741.asp
Good question. I think that the Corinthian was pretty definitely the first actual comics character to have mouths for eyes, although Steve Bissette (I think) drew a Swamp Thing Cover showing Swamp Thing with mouths for eyes. And I'm sure that you could go and find other occasions that people did the image over the years. It's definitely become a lot more common since the Corinthian turned up, but that probably has a lot more to do with ease of photomanipulation.
Honestly, I'm just glad to see how disturbing it is.
(Which reminds me. A chapter of Steve Bissette's from the Golden/Wagner/Bissette Companion, all about the NEIL GAIMAN'S MIDNIGHT DAYS collection, is up at http://srbissette.blogspot.com/2007/12/save-me-from-myself-i-am-going.html)
What are your thoughts about the US Library of Congress classifying all Scottish authors under the English literature heading? I can see smaller libraries trying to save space, but shouldn't such a large and respected library concern itself more with accuracy? I've included the link to the artice at the BBC below.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7157708.stm
Sincerely,
Christina
On the one hand, it's silly: Scotland is its own country, with its own traditions and its own literature, a literary tradition in English and Gaelic. On the other hand, it's less work for the Library of Congress. But then, they'd have even less work if they just filed them all under Books.
Re: winter butterflies This is actually not a question.Your entry with the picture of the butterfly last December 20 is actually not a butterfly but a moth. Moths when they rest have open wings, while butterflies sort of fold them vertically.
No, I'm afraid it was a butterfly... as to which one, the first person to identfy it was Heather, who said,
Dear Neil,
Intrigued by the butterflies, I did a bit of research. It looks to me like a male small tortoiseshell, which is evidently very common in Britain. It seems it likes to hibernate in houses and may wander out if the walls are warm enough. Lots of information here and some wonderful pictures of the chrysalis: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?vernacular_name=Small%20Tortoiseshell
Happy writing!
- Heather
...
Hi Neil,
I am the Animation Supervisor on Coraline. We met briefly when you visited the Coraline studio awhile back.
Anyway, the clip you posted is causing quite a (positive) stir on my website. Check out what they are saying here:http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=25&topic_id=4688&mesg_id=4688&listing_type=read_new
We are now employing about 25 animators with over 37 stages in operation. When/if you have time, you may want to pop in and see the sets. There are many more cool things to see at this stage of Production.Happy Holidays & thanks for hosting the clip on your website.
- Anthony
It's lovely seeing people begin to talk about it. It's over a year since I went out to Laika and saw them beginning to work on Coraline, and I've been really impressed with everything I've seen since then.
...
And waiting for me here when I got home, only a year or so late, were my own two copies of the Hill House limited edition of Anansi Boys. It is absolutely gorgeous. Possibly even worth the wait...
Read the rest of this post
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 12/5/2007
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, 3D, Add a tag
By some odd coincidence, these two came in back to back...
Hey Neil,
I've heard that with some prints of Beowulf there was a trailer for Henry Selick's Coraline adaption. Is this true? And if so, do you have it? Can you maybe link or post it? I'm sure many of us would love to see it. Thank you.
~Dylan
and
Hello Mr. Gaiman.
I was absolutely chuffed to finally see a trailer for Coraline when I went to see Beowulf. I'm really looking forward to the movie.
I cannot, however seem to find the trailer on the internet. Is it available anywhere? Do I simply have horrible Googling skills?
If you would direct me to a site with the trailer I will be most appreciative as I'd like to share it with friends who haven't yet seen it.
Many thanks!
Ashley
You can't find the pre-Beowulf trailer for Coraline on the internet, because as far as I can tell, it isn't there yet -- probably because it's only a 3D trailer (and it looks so much better in 3D than flat, especially the poking needle going through the buttonhole).
I've got a copy, though, and I've asked The Folk At Laika how they'd feel about me putting it up. Let me see what we can do...
...
Here's today's dog-bounding-through-the-snow photo, because he looks a bit wolfier or doggier and a bit less ice-weaselly.
Right. Back to proofreading.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 7/9/2007
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, scheduling panels at Comic-Con, American Scary, Dog eat Doug, Add a tag
Hi Neil You've probably already seen this but just in case - you're mentioned in the latest Dog eat Doug.
http://www.comics.com/creators/dogeat/archive/dogeat-20070709.html
Enjoy!
Maria
Good lord. So I am. What a nice way to start a morning.
John Hudgens writes to tell me about about his film American Scary, the documentary on horror hosts (of which I am one), letting me know about a screening of the film at Comic-Con: The screening is at 7:30pm, Thursday July 26 in Room 26AB (south side of the Convention Center, above Hall H.
Because the con is so big and so much is happening, it's usually true that anything you want to see or do clashes with something else you also want to see or do, and in this case I think I'll be introducing a Stardust screening mostly for journalists that Paramount are doing that night. (The Will Eisner's Legacy panel, which was the only one I really wanted to be at, is opposite the Spotlight on Neil Gaiman panel. So it goes.)
In a recent Journal entry, Logan asked about novel word counts. Amazon.com has a feature for some books that gives text statistics in the "Inside this book" section. The American Gods trade paper has, according to this, 182,721 words, an average of 11.4 words per sentence and at their price you get 16,300 words per dollar, a bargain!
I like to think so. (Although priced per word, upcoming picture books like The Dangerous Alphabet, which Gris Grimly has illustrated, will work out at something nightmarish, like 10 words to a dollar or something... Then again, a picture is worth a thousand words, which adds about 30,000 words.)
The Comic Con schedule has been announced, although I know there are a few extra things that aren't up yet or decided, including a couple of Coraline-related happenings on the Saturday which Focus haven't yet announced so people won't know that I'm doing anything on the Saturday yet. (Or, if they don't get the information up quickly, ever. )
I wish I was on more comics or book-related events -- Thursday and Saturday it's basically just the giant movie presentations, which I tend to think of as something separate to real Comic-con, and movie-related events that may not be open to all or even to lots. (And a couple of events that were hoped for, one with me and Joss Whedon, and one with me and Dave McKean, had to go by the wayside, one because of scheduling problems and one because of Dave not actually coming to Comic-Con this year.)
I'm just glad that Mark Evanier invited me onto his Jack Kirby panel on the Sunday morning.
And talking about Coraline, I meant to post this earlier. It's a long article that gives background on Laika (the studio) and on Phil Knight, and on Travis Knight, who is the lead animator on Coraline and is really good http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-the-knights-tale.html
(Also I fixed the word counts in the last post.)
Right. Back to work.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 1/10/2007
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: using polar bears to commit crimes, Henry Selick, Coraline movie, Add a tag
I just got sent a photo of me actually looking at some of the characters and their possessions. These are painted models, not the puppets that will be appearing in the film. Henry is explaining, under the gaze of Georgina Hayns, the Puppet Fabrication Supervisor, how Coraline's father has a different kind of jaw movement to some of the other characters. He thinks I'm listening. Actually I'm just trying to figure out whether I should go "Oh look! A dangerous polar bear!" and then while everyone is looking around trying to see what I am talking about or running away or trying to find a nice plump seal to throw to the polar bear and distract it, I could put one of the models under my leather jacket. And then I am remembering that I forgot to wear my leather jacket.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 1/10/2007
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Coraline movie, what I was probably looking at in the last post now I come to think of it, mysterious stencils of buttons, Add a tag
And, because they knew it delighted me, the Coraline crew sent me a photo of one of the buttons that overwrote the "Mission Statements" belonging to the previous occupants of the studios.
Also, I just got an email saying
You're having too much fun with the labels on new blogger, aren't you?
And I'm afraid that I am.