Journal

Monday, August 15, 2005

Mr Punch; and the Maul...

Let's see -- for the next week only you can hear the BBC Radio 3 adaptation of Mister Punch at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio3_aod.shtml?radio3/thewire
(the first three minutes is the end of the Proms before it, with lots of applause). And a few people wrote in nervously to see what I thought about them recording it, and I can't see why that would be a problem, any more than it's a problem taping a TV show for personal use. We're hoping that the BBC may one day actually let us put it up on neilgaiman.com, or failing that, keep it up at the BBC.

The cast list and information is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/thewire/pip/zhji7/

And you'll be pleased to hear that Osama Bin Laden has been banished from Punch and Judy: Hi Neil, its John from Brighton who sent you the West Pier pictures last year. Anyway, here's another SE UK coastal story, this time about Punch and Judy being banned in Broadstairs due to being a bit too contemporary. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4134090.stmHope you enjoy! John King www.KingOfMyCastle.com

...

Neil,In the "Where's Neil" section of the site, you have listed a signing appearence at the Mall of America in Minneapolis on October 10th. The "event calender" on their site has no mention of this at all! I'm a bit worried, as there are no details anywhere yet.Do *you* have details yet? Will this be a ticketed event? Will it be a reading? I'm certain I'm not the only one plagued by these questions, so if you might answer this in the journal, it'd be wonderful. Put my weary mind to rest, Mr. Gaiman. Rob Kaas California

It doesn't look to me like the Mall of America calendar -- http://www.mallofamerica.com/events/ -- has anything in it beyond August, so I'm not sure why you're worrying about it not having an October event. Having looked at their outlines for the various signings they've got in August, it looks like having special Mall of America wristbands is going to be enormously important in all this. I have to confess that the prospect of doing a reading at the entrance to Camp Snoopy fails to fill me with anything resembling partial joy or even modified rapture, but I have no doubt that we shall somehow all, as comrades in adversity, make the best of it.

My own weary mind mostly wants to know why this would plague someone in California? As I understand it, the Mall of America is something that historically has mainly troubled people in the Minneapolis area. The discovery that worrying about the Mall of America is a phenomenon that has been slowly spreading and has now reached California leaves me concerned that by the end of the next decade there will be farmers in rural China who will spend much of their time worrying about the Mall of America. Which of course by then will cover the greater part of the North American continent anyway...

(For those Minneapolitans too scared of the Mall to come down to the October 10th signing, there will be a DreamHaven signing, but it won't be until I get back from the UK signing tour, probably at the end of November. Dates to be announced as we figure them out.)