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Neil Gaiman Fucking ROOLZ!
So, I got up this morning, checked the weather in DC, showered, drove to the gas station, went to Borders (to get a comic book for my brother), and went to the Greenbelt station to catch a Metro into DC. The station and the train were utterly overrun with protesters (a lot of the buses parked at that station). They were very friendly in that common-cause-kinda-granola-way, and more than overwhelmingly white. But the protesters are more like day players in the story, rather than a centerpiece.
I too the Green Line all the way to the Mall (Very glad not to have had to transfer and that there was money on my card.), and wandered around until John Irving was done talking. I got a blue "libraries rock" bracelet from the Illinois booth, which is the first of the "live strong"-style bracelets I've had. I think it will live on my gearshift with my magic beads from New Orleans. I also ended up with a poster and a Bright! Green! CSPAN2 Bag!
Anyway, Mr. Gaiman did not have a book with him, so he had to borrow someone's Anansi Boys (she was very excited), and read from that, then answered questions. There weren't any embarrassingly stupid questions asked, which, given my "there is only one fandom" theorem, is slightly surprising, and good (one of my line-mates had been to a Bruce Campbell signing recently, where that had not been the case). (My favorite bit: He said that he had considered reading the hangover bit he read last year, just for the entertainment value of watching the ASL interpreter interpret it.)
So, then, there was The Line. Having dealt with the Gaiman fans last year, they knew that there would be a lot of us (Twice as many as the next-longest line). I was standing between Myriam and Scott. Scott was a 15-year-old who had never read any Gaiman (he was signature collecting for his father) who, in that way that only a 15 year old boy can, decided it would be a good idea to bring up the War (given the protestors). He wants to go to West Point. He also thinks that some of the Federal relief money to NO should be sent to the troops in Iraq. He brought us almonds for holding his place in line, but, well, I was glad when he decided that the line was too long. So, in order to change the subject, I brought up television (I don't think he got the changing the subject bit, bbut Myriam liked it). So, we got to talking about movies and tv and I explained (I swear it was topical) my "There is Only One Fandom" theorem.
TIOOF postulates that you are one degree of separation from any part of fandom. That is, that someone interested in your thing is also interested in any other thing you can name (there is a part of me that wants to prove this with a questionnaire, but I don't have time just at the moment). So, while you may not like show X, someone who likes your show likes that show. Probably, you know someone who does, at least at an Internet-acquantence level.
She suggested that we need to have t-shirts. I said we need a logo. If you have ideas for such a logo, let me know
The people in front of us had "Republicans for Voldemort" and "Snape is Innocent" shirts. We ended up talking to them, though that wasn't until we got into the home stretch (about hour 2 1/2). We also considered 1) starting a group sing, but we couldn't come up with an appropriate song. The best idea presented was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", but the Firefly theme was also suggested. 2) calling out one of the other lines. 3) Challenging one of the other lines to a game of Red Rover.
So, we got into the home stretch (i.e.--around the final turn. Of 3, I think), and start talking about how die-hard the fans are (we were at the end of the line at the 2:00 start time), and, as we get closer and closer to end-time, the power the Junior Leaguer have over us (IMO, the most power of a usable sort they have all year), in that they can decide where the end of the line will be. We were scared of the Junior Leaguers. By the time we got to the table, they'd cut it down to 1 book, and just a name dedication. Earlier, they had been handing out post-its for what we wanted written, and Myriam had been working through different ideas (She'd been given a whole stack of post-its, which would have given her significant leverage in the Post-It black market had she just shown some initiative). And, as it got closer to 5, and we hit different landmarks in the line (the yellow ropes, across the path, etc), we would suddenly get more confident that we'd actually get stuff signed, but I didn't really think it would happen till we were almost there.
I'd written "Adam, Don't forget to call your sister" on my postit, and having nowhere else to put it, left it on the page, and actually wrote "Adam, call your sister", which made. my. day. I was downright giddy all the way home, and, I know, when I pull the book out of my bag, I'll get giddy again.
So, at the moment, Neil Gaiman's my favorite person ever, because, not just for me, but other people at the end of the line, despite what must be a wicked-tired hand, he actually wrote a note. That and just being so damn cool.
I too the Green Line all the way to the Mall (Very glad not to have had to transfer and that there was money on my card.), and wandered around until John Irving was done talking. I got a blue "libraries rock" bracelet from the Illinois booth, which is the first of the "live strong"-style bracelets I've had. I think it will live on my gearshift with my magic beads from New Orleans. I also ended up with a poster and a Bright! Green! CSPAN2 Bag!
Anyway, Mr. Gaiman did not have a book with him, so he had to borrow someone's Anansi Boys (she was very excited), and read from that, then answered questions. There weren't any embarrassingly stupid questions asked, which, given my "there is only one fandom" theorem, is slightly surprising, and good (one of my line-mates had been to a Bruce Campbell signing recently, where that had not been the case). (My favorite bit: He said that he had considered reading the hangover bit he read last year, just for the entertainment value of watching the ASL interpreter interpret it.)
So, then, there was The Line. Having dealt with the Gaiman fans last year, they knew that there would be a lot of us (Twice as many as the next-longest line). I was standing between Myriam and Scott. Scott was a 15-year-old who had never read any Gaiman (he was signature collecting for his father) who, in that way that only a 15 year old boy can, decided it would be a good idea to bring up the War (given the protestors). He wants to go to West Point. He also thinks that some of the Federal relief money to NO should be sent to the troops in Iraq. He brought us almonds for holding his place in line, but, well, I was glad when he decided that the line was too long. So, in order to change the subject, I brought up television (I don't think he got the changing the subject bit, bbut Myriam liked it). So, we got to talking about movies and tv and I explained (I swear it was topical) my "There is Only One Fandom" theorem.
TIOOF postulates that you are one degree of separation from any part of fandom. That is, that someone interested in your thing is also interested in any other thing you can name (there is a part of me that wants to prove this with a questionnaire, but I don't have time just at the moment). So, while you may not like show X, someone who likes your show likes that show. Probably, you know someone who does, at least at an Internet-acquantence level.
She suggested that we need to have t-shirts. I said we need a logo. If you have ideas for such a logo, let me know
The people in front of us had "Republicans for Voldemort" and "Snape is Innocent" shirts. We ended up talking to them, though that wasn't until we got into the home stretch (about hour 2 1/2). We also considered 1) starting a group sing, but we couldn't come up with an appropriate song. The best idea presented was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", but the Firefly theme was also suggested. 2) calling out one of the other lines. 3) Challenging one of the other lines to a game of Red Rover.
So, we got into the home stretch (i.e.--around the final turn. Of 3, I think), and start talking about how die-hard the fans are (we were at the end of the line at the 2:00 start time), and, as we get closer and closer to end-time, the power the Junior Leaguer have over us (IMO, the most power of a usable sort they have all year), in that they can decide where the end of the line will be. We were scared of the Junior Leaguers. By the time we got to the table, they'd cut it down to 1 book, and just a name dedication. Earlier, they had been handing out post-its for what we wanted written, and Myriam had been working through different ideas (She'd been given a whole stack of post-its, which would have given her significant leverage in the Post-It black market had she just shown some initiative). And, as it got closer to 5, and we hit different landmarks in the line (the yellow ropes, across the path, etc), we would suddenly get more confident that we'd actually get stuff signed, but I didn't really think it would happen till we were almost there.
I'd written "Adam, Don't forget to call your sister" on my postit, and having nowhere else to put it, left it on the page, and actually wrote "Adam, call your sister", which made. my. day. I was downright giddy all the way home, and, I know, when I pull the book out of my bag, I'll get giddy again.
So, at the moment, Neil Gaiman's my favorite person ever, because, not just for me, but other people at the end of the line, despite what must be a wicked-tired hand, he actually wrote a note. That and just being so damn cool.
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Also, I loved that the question asked after the two-minute warning was one that books have been written to asnwer.
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I was so busy being grateful that there weren't any "I am so embarassed to be in the room with this person please, someone, make it stop" questions, I barely noticed.