MetaFilter posts tagged with Gaiman

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (In Patagonia)

Len — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:08:46 -0800

A few years ago, Gruff Rhys, lead singer of fabulous Welsh pop oddballs Super Furry Animals (Cymraeg/English) set out to make a film about the search for his uncle, a 1970s Argentinian pop star called René Griffiths. The result is Separado!: part travelogue, part music film, and part history of how a small band of idealists set out to establish a Welsh colony in the Argentinian part of Patagonia. The settlement was the idea of Welsh Congregationalist minister Michael D Jones (pic of his fabulous beard here), and the first settlers left Liverpool, bound for Patagonia, on a rickety tea clipper called the Mimosa in May of 1865. 153 passengers were aboard – including the Rev. Abraham Matthews, whose family travelled on this ticket. The Mimosa landed at Puerto Madryn and over the subsequent decades, its passengers and their descendants established a thriving Welsh community in the Chubut River valley. The settlers had been promised that Patagonia was much like lowland Wales, but they soon found it a harsh and unforgiving environment. Despite this, the colonists built both churches and what may have been Argentina's first system of artificial irrigation, as well as towns like Trelew and Gaiman, many of whose Welsh shops and tea houses survive to this day. (Small gallery of contemporary Gaiman and surroundings here.) Glaniad – a joint Welsh/Patagonian project – has original documents relating to Welsh emigration to Patagonia, including printed material extolling the virtues of the settlements, the culture of the settlements, and the everyday working lives of the colonists.

A story of a thousand tweets begins with a single twit

filthy light thief — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:35:44 -0800

One day ago, Neil Gaiman wrote the beginning of a story, which was retweeted by BBC Audiobooks America as the first of a thousand or so tweets that would compiled and edited to become an audiobook. People are still contributing, and BBCAA's blog has four scenes compiled (1, 2, 3, summary of scenes 1-3, and 4), for a total of 175 tweets. When 1,000 or so tweets are logged, they'll be edited into a script, and produced in a studio to make the final audiobook, which will be released for free on BBCAA's website. This isn't the first game of exquisite corpse played via twitter that made a piece to be refined and presented in some way. The first Twitter opera was one of a few recent "gimmicks" to garner attention for the Royal Opera House (twitter opera feed, ROH twitter feed, ROH blog). The result, Twitterdammerung, was given a decent review by opera critic Igor Toronyi-Lalic.

Storytime with Neil Gaiman

Artw — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:03:07 -0800

Neil Gaiman's latest work, The Graveyard Book, is a kind of undead Jungle Book, with a man-child being raised by various ghosts and ghouls rather than animals. He's been the whole thing a chapter at a time on each stop of his American promotional tour, and posting the videos online (and blogging about it of course), which means that with tonights reading the entire thing will be available online.

The Bedlam Cometh

chuckdarwin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:24:05 -0800

A film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Hugo Award winning novella, Coraline will be out (in 3D) in early 2009. [Previously] Adapted and directed by Henry Selick Dakota Fanning ... Coraline (voice) Ian McShane ... Mr. Bobinski (voice) Teri Hatcher ... Coraline's Mother / Other Mother (voice) Keith David ... The Cat (voice) Jennifer Saunders ... Miss Forcible (voice) Dawn French ... Miss Spink (voice) John Hodgman ... Coraline's Father / Other Father (voice) Music will be by They Might Be Giants

Neil Gaiman's American Gods

Kattullus — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:25:06 -0800

The novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman is being offered for free in its entirety at the Harper Collins website (only viewable using HarperCollins' BrowseInside system). It was put up in celebration of the seventh birthday of Neil Gaiman's blog. Which is appropriate since Neil Gaiman started his blog to chronicle the process of turning the text of American Gods into a physical book. [via the man himself, natch]

Marry Me

growabrain — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:53:21 -0800

"What if I could get Neil Gaiman, our most fave author and fantasy writer, to help propose to my girlfriend?" A sweet tale of how Jason got Neil Gaiman to stage the proposal. (Video here. From Gravity Lens)

Illustrated classics by scratchboard artist Scott McKowen

jstruan — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:07:52 -0800

Scratchboard artist Scott McKowen was a successful designer of theater posters when Marvel Comics hired him to create the covers for Neil Gaiman's 1602. He recently completed new covers and illustrations for old classics like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Surprisingly, he has no entry at Wikipedia.

To the letter

Sparx — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:22:16 -0800

Comixfilter: Todd Klein discusses lettering choices for Sandman Comics writers and artist get a fair amount of press. But the letterer can make a huge amount of difference to a piece of comic art. Here's a recollection from the (almost) continous letterer of one of comics' major works.

Remember Slow Bob?

kimota — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:40:33 -0800

Anybody remember Slow Bob In The Lower Dimensions? Turns out the short video, once a mainstay of early 90s late-night MTV, was created by one Henry Selick, director of, oh, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Monkeybone, and the forthcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline. A lot more on Selick; also, higher quality, alternate format (but slower loading) versions are available here.

Smell Like Alan Moore's Swamp Thing

jonson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:10:01 -0800

Are you tired of NOT smelling like characters in Neil Gaiman books?? Well thank Morpheus, just like Alex Burgess in The Wake, your long nightmare is at an end thanks to this collection of Gaiman-inspired perfumes & colognes.

How To Talk To Girls At Parties

hoverboards don't work on water — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 03:48:47 -0800

How To Talk To Girls At Parties by Neil Gaiman. Full text and reading by the author: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Neverwhere Comic Adaptation

Saellys — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 09:25:46 -0800

The first issue of the comic book adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere was released yesterday. Mr. Gaiman is credited as a "consultant." So far, the story is fairly intact, but it's the visual element that deviates from the novel--characters look nothing like they were described, and don't even resemble the old BBC miniseries. And for someone accustomed to the phenomenal artwork seen in most of Gaiman's previous graphic novels (which included several adaptations of his short stories), Neverwhere seems downright bland. If a feature film follows in the same vein as this adaptation, will Gaiman pull an Alan Moore and refuse all royalties? (Go easy on me; it's my first post.)

Interesting Thing of the Day

quasistoic — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 01:40:57 -0800

San Francisco’s Terra Infirma and other Interesting Things of the Day. Putting the muse back in museum was another that struck me with its focus on unconventionally-themed museums, reminiscent of the roadside attractions in Gaiman's American Gods. Audio feeds of recent articles are available, and well read, but it seems that most of the clips are intended to become available by subscription-only. Regardless, many of the past year's articles make for fascinating reads. (via bsag)

1602

grabbingsand — Mon, 30 Jun 2003 06:41:08 -0800

"[T]he whole Marvel Universe is starting to occur 500 years early ...

Sir Nicholas Fury is head of the Queen's Intelligence, Dr Stephen Strange is her court physician (and magician), the Inquisition is torturing "witchbreed" ... and now a mysterious treasure -- which may be a weapon of some kind -- is being sent from Jerusalem to England by the last of the Templars. Something that may save the world, or destroy it, which has already attracted the attention of such people as Count Otto Von Doom (known as "The Handsome")... [so] Nicholas Fury sends his top agent, a blind Irish ballad singer named Matthew Murdock, off to bring it back safely."

What does it all mean? Just that Neil Gaiman is taking Marvel back to 1602.

kokogiak — Fri, 09 Mar 2001 15:04:03 -0800

Neil Gaiman's Journal - powered by Blogger no less. Most well known for his Sandman series, and as screenwriter for the english release of Princess Mononoke, Gaiman is now finishing a novel titled American Gods. It's an interesting, candid look into his daily life. Now I feel the urge to re-read some of those old Sandman books I have tucked away in my closet. via [cold][wet][durham]