EVE needs to stop bringing dead frogs into the house. Dead lizards too.

When Cinnamon kills a snake she LEAVES IT OUTSIDE.

Get a clue, dippy cat!

Despite the heartburn I am now getting whenever I ingest anything, even a glass of water, I am feeling much better today. :)

Still not 100% from the illness, still very sleepy, but definitely better.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/oprahtip.asp

Did Oprah Winfrey tell her audience that restaurant patrons need not tip their servers more than 10 percent?

If it's not okay, I have no problem taking it down!

I was Snow White for Halloween... zombified! :D This link has all the pictures, open the the public for now! These are just me:
http://users.livejournal.com/lovedumpling__/230355.html

This is me in groups and others:
http://users.livejournal.com/lovedumpling__/231261.html

Enjoy! It's also cross-posted

Is that really Altons daughter in the show? I seem to remember her showing up in other shows.

My new camera died so I didnt get many shots.  ( More are HERE  )

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/musicmachine.asp

Video clip purportedly shows a music-playing "farm machine" built at the University of Iowa.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/veterans.asp

Restaurant chains are offering free meals to U.S. military personnel in conjunction with Veterans Day.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/final-reminder-for-bookshops.html

A quick reminder (as I was just asked) that today is the day that the bookshop Graveyard Book party reports have to be in to Harper Collins. By 9 pm PST.

http://files.harpercollins.com/Mktg/HarperChildrens/PDF/GraveyardContest_rules.pdf are the rules and info for those who lost them.

Hi Mr. Gaiman,

I was disappointed today to read you won't be part of the judging for The Graveyard Book contests. My not-wealthy, middle-of-nowhere bookstore just sent in its entry, and something we're concerned about is the fairness of judging.

For example, independent bookstores like Powell's (I'm sure you know) easily have enough money and are in a convenient enough location to ask you to come at one time or another. Against stores like that, who were able to put more money into their parties, we stand little chance.

I don't think that it's a lost cause for us; we were very creative. I'm just nervous to know you won't be judging. Can you tell me whether you think the judges will take things like size and location of bookstores into account? It would make me sleep a little easier until the results are announced.

Tusen takk,
Allison

Well, per the rules, the judging is based on:

(i) Overall creativity of the Party, as demonstrated by the invitations, signage, decorations, activities, entertainment, and refreshments.
(ii) Customer attendance and response (i.e., enthusiasm, costumes, participation).
(iii) Ability to capture and represent the spirit of The Graveyard Book.
...specifically to reward creativity, and not the ability to outspend other shops. (That was also why the party had to actually be at the bookshop, and not at another location.)

I asked my editor, Elise Howard, and she said,

Gosh, yes. Here's what we think is happening. We are looking at all the entries. On Monday, we'll send you the best 11, from which you will choose the Grand Prize Winner. The rest will get the first-prize package. So the short answer is that you ARE helping to choose.

The longer answer is that we will be very fair and will consider creativity, which includes work done with available resources, along with pure execution. (Don't you think? We haven't done anything yet; still waiting for more entries to come in.)

...which means that

a) I was wrong and will be the ultimate judge, from the shortlist. (Damn.)

and

b) everyone's on a level playing field.

Does that help reassure you?

PS -- Widgett's Graveyard Book Dessert competition winners have been announced over at http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/11/06/graveyard-book-dessert-challenge-winners/.

This one had NOTHING to do with me at all. But lor' the winning desserts look tasty...

I just saw the trailer for the Prince of Persia movie. It looks really promising!



How do you think Disney will incorporate this into the parks? If they will at all?

Another Disneyland in China! How very exciting <3

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8341570.stm

Hello all! :)

Member posting will be opening on Sunday, November 8th, and I wanted to try something a little different.

IF YOU PLAN ON POSTING YOUR PHOTOS FOR MEMBER POSTING WEEK, PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS ENTRY AND I WILL GIVE YOU POSTING ACCESS.  

IF YOU DO NOT COMMENT HERE, YOU WILL NOT HAVE ACCESS TO POST YOUR PHOTOS!!!!

Even if you think you might post but you aren't sure, comment here so you will have posting access to the community.

*In order to post, you must join the community. 'Watching' it will not give you posting access.*

Thanks everyone!!

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/note-to-self-nights-are-for-sleeping.html

Still trying to get back onto a diurnal schedule. (And, I should add, failing.)
And, of course, although I posted it before, it bears repeating that you can watch the film that Steven-Charles Jaffe made of the "Dark and Silly Night" comic Gahan and I did for art spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's Little Lit at the New Yorker site, or here:



And if I'd been here for Hallowe'en I would have posted it here then. Which reminds me, The Graveyard Book party season is over. Over thirty independent bookshops had Graveyard Book parties (The ABA's Bookselling This Week reports on thirteen of the parties -- and the shops -- at http://news.bookweb.org/7149.html.) The very best one of all will get me in their shop doing a signing in December and, looking at these thirteen, I am very glad I am not any kind of a judge for the awards.

My only hope is that the shop that wins will be somewhere warm. But most of the places on the party map will be just as cold by December as my house. (Vague and only climate-based relief that HarperCollins said No to Alaska in the rules mingles with vague and selfish disappointment that they also said No to Hawaii.)

It looks like the CBS Sunday Morning profile on me is going out this Sunday, the 8th, 9:00-10:30 AM, ET. According to this website:

Correspondent Serena Altschul visits author Neil Gaiman -- the tender-hearted master of the macabre -- whose books, including Coraline and The Graveyard Book have topped best-seller lists for 25 years.

.. which left me wanting to go "I am NOT a tender-hearted master of the macabre, I am in fact VERY SCARY INDEED," but I suspect I would convince nobody.

Thrilled to see that Odd and the Frost Giants was listed as one of Amazon.com's Best Books of 2009. While I was in China The Graveyard Book was listed as one of the ALA's teens top ten for 2009 as well, an award voted on by over 11,000 teens. (And I made it onto the list with lots of other good people.)

Also, Fragile Things was awarded the French 2010 Les Grands Prix de l’Imaginaire Award for translated short fiction. My thanks to the judges, but mostly to the translator, who in this case is the incredibly talented Michel Pagel. If I ever look good, do well, sell books or am popular in a foreign country, it's because of the translators, and they never get enough thanks or acclaim. And I think I'll post the cover here, because I never have.

You're welcome. I think this link has everything for sale in the auction: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/scrawldog/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/stossel.asp

Was ABC News' 20/20 co-anchor John Stossel fired for trying to air a piece critical of health care reform?

• 00:54 Thoroughly impressed with #DragonAge and remembering why single player RPGs could be so good. #
• 17:45 All my thoughts and hopes for healing for everyone effected at #FortHood my former duty station 87-90. #
• 20:02 Probably the last person to discover #Xfire. Great app. Need Friends now. www.xfire.com/ #
• 20:04 #FallenEarth patched yet again, wow they work fast and well. Wish I they would post about their software development methods. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

WWOS will now be rebranded ESPN Wide World Of Sports

The site will also get a new broadcast facility, upgrades the restaurant, a new station on the TVs in the resorts, etc.

More details at:
http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2009/11/disney-transforms-wide-world-of-sports-to-pair-it-with-espn/


If all this sounds familiar:
"The new name for the facility, the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, was announced on September 24, 2008, but no date has been set for the transition to the new name"

So the name idea is old, but the details seem to be new.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/author-comes-home-and-displays-many.html

I went to XinjiangProvince in Western China to continue researching my Monkey/China book. This is the photo I took of a scenic building that, I discovered when the men came out to arrest us, turned out to be a police station. If you're in Kashgar do not take pictures of this building. Trust me on this.



... or discussion of the pomegranate crop, counted as politics. It made my journey even stranger than it might have been already.
More photos of China and Singapore in my next post, I hope. In summary: Singapore was wonderful, but the visit was much much too short: we were there for about 50 hours altogether. Once again, the food was amazing and the people delightful.


(Middle photo of the amazing bubble by Miss Holly Gaiman. Who is fundraising.)