The tent was full. We explained to people that we couldn't technically show the whole film there yet (which I think was a good thing, given that it was a very hot tent and lots of people had small children and babies with them who would probably not have enjoyed a 2 hour film followed by a Q&A) and I showed about half-an-hour's worth of clips, and then did an audience Q&A -- excellently moderated by Paul Blezard -- that was enormously fun.
I'm now immortalised in The Guardian blog (not sure about the use of the word "sidled", which I always thought meant involved either walking sideways or at least looking like you ought to be, but Imogen's spot-on about the jet lag) (and I got off more lightly than Anne Fine did).
Then a signing and lots of interviews (the BBC Wales one should show up here), and onto the train back to London carrying a case of champagne, a "thank-you-for-coming" gift from the Hay festival. Given that I can't bring a case of champagne back into the US, nor can I drink a case of champagne between here and Tuesday morning, I'll need to figure out what to do with it.
Back to the London hotel on a train that got in late (you've been spared the saga of the Friday night journey down to Hay, on a train that also got in late which meant that we wound up eating in the staff tent as they closed for the night and then set off down windy narrow lanes hunting for a house that refused to be where our driver had been told it was). Holly went out to the pub with her boyfriend for a bit, while I, spoiled for choice on What to Do in the West End of London on a Saturday Night, communed with my jetlag and opted for a) a long bath, of the kind where you read the paper and it gets bubbles all over it and you don't care immediately followed by b) bed.
Slept for ten blessed hours. Am now more or less up and more or less human, although my hair looks like I had a long bath and then forgot to dry it before I went to sleep and is sticking out around my head like an Einstein fright-wig.
Today I will get to see an (almost) finished Stardust. Unless a couple of extra people show up, in which case I'll nobly give up my seat (it's not a big screening room).
Here's a TV spot -- having seen a lot of the TV spots last time I was in the UK, this isn't one I remember as being among my half-dozen favourites (I liked the ones that had Charlie Cox in them and looked like Stardust was a funny and exciting sort of romance with magic in it) but it's not one of the bad ones...
So the other day I caught this little rumor on Sci Fi Wire, saying you're getting ready to direct your own adaptation of Death: The High Cost of Living. (Said rumor here: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=41698) I assumed at the time you'd be flooded with inquiries about it, and would post either a refutation or a sort of sly non-comment winkwink, but so far you haven't said anything. Can it be that no one's asked? I'd love to know!
- Rachel
Lots of people have asked, and as soon as I can say something a bit more definite I shall. For right now, I can probably say that Guillermo is still executive producing Death (as I mentioned here), I'll be directing, that it certainly appears to be on the way to happening, and that no, the actress who would be playing Didi has not been cast although I've met some of the possibles.
I have a dilemma. I am borrowing the Coraline audiobook from the library. I imported it to my computer to keep the discs safe while I listen. (My father borrows my computer and leaves my discs all over the room so they are hard to find.)
I know that I haven't paid for Coraline, and I should remove it from my computer when I return the discs to the library. But I'm very fond of Coraline, and I am going to buy it when I can- the book and the audiobook. (And the movie, when it's out.)
Would you mind if I kept Coraline on my computer until I buy it, or at least recieve it for some gift-giving occasion?
Thanks for making such a fantastic audiobook, by the way!
-Anna
I'm glad you liked it!
The last time I was asked something like this (similar, but not quite the same) was here --
... you know, Blogger is weird sometimes. The last paragraph of this post just vanished completely, without me doing anything to it. Grr.
Anyway, I pointed to http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2005/10/dublin-again-and-lots-of-other-things.html when I was asked a similar question.
I don't mind at all. The disks have to go back to the library because someone else may need them, but I can't see why you need to have the object in your possession in order to listen to it, whether it's an MP3 CD or an Audio CD version of the audio book -- you aren't stopping someone else from listening to it. Again, I'd rather that you didn't pass on your copy to anyone. And I'd like it if the US signed up for PLR. But listen away...
Labels: Death movie, Hay on Wye Guardian Festival, how to sidle properly