geekent’s stuff’n things

I’m zilched.
The hamster in my head is about as spry as the hamster in the living room (read: bordering on death).
I arrived at Chapters on John and Richmond about 12:30. The scene was dead (it is a bookstore afterall, like, who reads anyway). I had no idea where the “festival hall” was but thankfully people were huddled around a customer service rep getting the skinny on what’s going down (why do I sound like a hackneyed Elmore Leonard all of a sudden).
Turns out that in Chapters, “Festival Hall” is a fancy phrase for “third floor of a bookstore”.
Recommended that Neil Gaiman’s books “Coraline” and/or “the Wolves in the Walls” be purchased before hand, I bought two as gifts and proceeded up the escalators to the “Festival Hall.”
Let me say that the first floor appearance of desertion was a ruse, the third floor had people spiralling between bookshelves, up platform and on stairs waiting in line. Rough count was about three hundred by the time I took my place… by the time Neil actually arrived there were probably about 500 people before the line was cut off.
Various procedures were installed. Outide books were to be tagged with Post-it’s ™ and signed off (I brought my beloved copy of Angels and Visitations and as a thank-you-for-lending-me, William’s copy of book four Miracleman.) An announcement was made before 1:00 (when Neil was to begin signing) that signing was “limited to two books, specifically ‘Coraline’ and ‘the Wolves in the Walls’.” Another announcement had been made previously that books to be signed had to be purchased at Chapters. This was obviously some sales ploy, just as the Starbucks girl was walking around offering water, and then as someone accepted she’d say “three bucks.”
Yeah.
The lineup, everyone realized very early on, was going to move slowly. We could not see Neil, nor could we see the progression of the line. I took the opportunity to begin reading “Carioca Fletch” then had the brilliant idea of getting Neil to sign the Gregory McDonald book as so: “I did not write this book - Neil Gaiman”
Five hours later (yes, five hours. I stood in line for five hours. I’ve never stood in any line ever for five hours, not even at the airport. I tried to think of who else I would stand in line five hours for, and I couldn’t think of anyone. Tori Amos, maybe. Or Stephin Merritt… but not many others… perhaps Alan Moore I might as well.. or maybe not. I’m not even sure if I knew I’d be in line for five hours that I would have stood in line … I dunno. Hard to say.).. anyway, five hours later, and after a visit from Emma who bought me cake and lemonade, I made it through 3/5 of “Fletch” (I’m a slow reader, not like the girl in fron of me who read about 7 books the whole time we were in line. She could almost look at a page and have it read. Unbelievable… Velvet her name was. A tiny, nerdy, shy lass as to be expected in a lineup for Gaiman. I was actually quite surprised by the diversity of the Gaiman lineup. Not just geeks and fanboys [ie. 20 year olds with nothing better to do] but professionals and honest to gosh adults [like, people older than me... I keep forgetting I am supposed to be an adult at my 27 years, feh]).
I was allowed behind the mystical black velvet rope, where I met with, I’m assuming, Neil’s assistant who took the names and placed them on the inside cover of the book. She was pretty and perky, even after five hours.
Neil was looking like I felt, completely worn down and quite ready for an nap. He obviously wasn’t expecting this grand of a turnout…
Despite it all he was an exceptionally pleasant bloke who signed my four books with good humour and best wishes, and accepted my mini-disc of the Hidden Cameras playing the CBC (or as I like to call it 21 minutes of bliss).
I completely pussied out of asking him about perhaps suggesting the Stephin Merritt+Tori=The 6ths mini album (Neil could subtly plant the idea into both their heads. Glorious music for all). I really didn’t say anything meaningful, but as it goes when I meet people I infinitely respect, I get nervous and shakier than a chilled chihuahua and really my brain stops functioning (the term is: “I left my brain in the basement”… but that’s another story).
ANYWAY.
5 hours. I’m tired. I can only imagine how Neil feels with probably two and a half hours left to go.
Big thanks though. I love Gaiman. He’s a writer and a personality I admire above all others and I ony hope to some day have half his charm and a fraction of his talent (but I do have talent, so maybe someday I’ll be drawing little pictures into the covers of my throves of readers… throves? Did I just make up a word?)
Shit. I forgot to ask Neil about black clothes and kitties. How does he keep the hair off?
Sigh.

from Neil Gaiman’s Journal:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3177479.stm

Greg Dyke, director general of the BBC, has announced plans to give the public full access to all the corporation’s programme archives.
Mr Dyke said on Sunday that everyone would in future be able to download BBC radio and TV programmes from the internet.
The service, the BBC Creative Archive, would be free and available to everyone, as long as they were not intending to use the material for commercial purposes, Mr Dyke added.
“The BBC probably has the best television library in the world,” said Mr Dyke, who was speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival.
“Up until now this huge resource has remained locked up, inaccessible to the public because there hasn’t been an effective mechanism for distribution.
“But the digital revolution and broadband are changing all that.
“For the first time there is an easy and affordable way of making this treasure trove of BBC content available to all.”
He predicted that everyone would benefit from the online archive, from people accessing the internet at home, children and adults using public libraries, to students at school and university.
Future focus
Mr Dyke appeared at the TV festival to give the Richard Dunn interview, one of the main events of the three-day industry event.
He said the new online service was part of the corporation’s future, or “second phase”, strategy for the development of digital technology.
Mr Dyke said he believed this second phase would see a shift of emphasis by broadcasters.
Their focus would move away from commercial considerations to providing “public value”, he said.
“I believe that we are about to move into a second phase of the digital revolution, a phase which will be more about public than private value; about free, not pay services; about inclusivity, not exclusion.
“In particular, it will be about how public money can be combined with new digital technologies to transform everyone’s lives.”

That’s where I be, yo.