the perils of travel, narrowly escaped

Today had the potential for being one of those days, given that it began at seven a.m. in Budapest airport when the check-in lady's face fell and she told us that somehow our flight from Budapest to Amsterdam wasn't in their system and that we'd have to go standby on the plane following the one we were meant to get and miss our connection to the US. Somehow we solved that (I think having a twelve year old girl looking worried helped), and they put us on the plane we were meant to be on, but we ran into more problems in Amsterdam because they'd somehow reissued the tickets to solve the Budapest bit of the problem and now we weren't in the computer on the Amsterdam to America leg, but we solved that one, and then it could have got really bad when we got to America and had to go and sit in passport control following the discovery that Maddy's new US passport is, oddly, in the name of "Madeleine Griman". But everything sorted out just fine, and instead of locking Maddy up they just apologised and said that the US passport people were working flat out and making a lot of mistakes, and stamped us in.

So it wasn't one of those days. Maddy and I got home safe and we watched the "Utopia" episode of Dr Who, and then we didn't watch any more because we were too tired. I'm down one cellphone (a Nokia N-80, let me know if you find it), but had a wonderful time, and will tell you more about it when I wake up.

Labels: maddy griman

My Cheesy Goodbye!

Hi!! Well it's my and dad's last night in Budapest!! This will be my last blog post for a while, but I think I will be doing some more guest blogging while we are at the San Diego Comic Convention, and/or for the Stardust Premiere. Today I had to say goodbye to all the friends that I made on the Hellboy set! I am not going to name them all because I might leave somebody out and then I would feel super de duper bad... but I do want to say "bye" to Gabi the script supervisor because she was so nice and gave me a pretty ring!! (And she reads this, so she better be smiling to herself right now.)

I had such a fun time blogging for the past two weeks, and I'm really, really glad that so many people enjoyed it! Dad did a book signing tonight and Doug and I went down to keep him company and tons of people said they loved the stuff I was doing. My father dearest also got a lot of e-mails from people we know as well as people we don't know, saying things like they really, really liked it, and that I was a great writer, and I should get my own blog! Well I'm glad you liked it, thanks for saying I'm a great writer, and no, I'm not going to get my own blog anytime soon so you should just keep reading this one and maybe I will pop up here and there. Keep a lookout for the Hellboy movie, and be sure to buy the DVD! Ok, I guess I should also thank everyone on the set that was helpful and were really kind! (Especially people whose middle or last names begin with "A", *wink wink,* you'll get it if I've talked to you about that...) Hungary is a great place and I hope I can come here lots in da future!



A picture of me saying goodbye! Sorry about the hand-writing... It's very sloppy because I had to write it backwards!

Thank you soooooo much for reading this everyone.

From,
Maddy Gaiman

Labels: budapest, bye, doug, gabi, hellboy, hungarian signing, Maddy

Maddy is so marvelous, masterly, mind-blowing, miraculous, and magnificent. Also modest.

Hey! It’s Maddy. I’m sure you could have figured that out by now. So today we filmed one of the first sequences in the film, which was very exciting! It had a whole different feel from the rest of the movie and that was kind of nice. Variety is the spice of life! (That’s what my 6th grade English teacher always said.) There was an almost two minute shot without a cut. That is unusual from what I have seen so far… but it was a really cool little bit.

If you’ve seen the first Hellboy you know that he likes cats. There is this scene in Hellboy’s bedroom where they needed about 75 cats to make it perfect. Filming for that part was over last week, but there are still two or three cats that that escaped and are still wandering around the set. The animal handler is trying to round them all up.

Today Javier, (refer to yesterday’s post, he does the DVD bonus features on Disc 2), interviewed me for the DVD! It was pretty awesome, but I totally look weird on camera. You will all just have to buy the DVD to find out what it’s like! I think it comes out in like December 2008 or something. Geez, I am surely getting some good publicity for this movie! No doubt about that… I totally think many people should thank me. ☺

I would just like to point out that Maddy is the most marvelous, masterly, mind-blowing, miraculous, magnificent person I know. She is also modest.

Um, for some strange reason Dad would like me to tell you that his bees are swarming. I do not really understand the way his mind works. Oh well, you should check it out.

Talk to ya'll lata skatas!

--Marvelous, masterly, mind-blowing, miraculous, magnificent Maddy.

Grr... the title is my least favorite part!!

Well howdy doody! This would be Maddy Gaiman. Dad did the last blog post… wasn’t it boring compared to me though? I sure thought so. With that said, I bet that there are people out there that think I’m weird and can’t wait for him to get back. How sad! Well yesterday, dad had some interviews with local people here at the hotel, and then we went out and had yummy food for lunch. For dinner we went to an Indian restaurant and were joined by the unit publicist for Hellboy 2, and the guy that does the bonus features and all that jazz on the DVD. (His name is Javier and he’s pretty much the coolest person I have ever heard of plus you will be hearing more of him tomorrow.)

Today we went out and walked around Budapest with Doug Jones and it was the first time I have seen him without all of his Abe make-up on! Like whoa, crazy talk! We walked from our hotel to Margaret Island (which my dad kept calling Madeleine Island on accident), and back, which was about a five mile walk. While on Margaret Island, I was thirsty, and we came upon this little table with a lot of random food and drinks on it. Dad noticed the cereal on it and figured out that it was a Craft service table like they have on movie sets. All of a sudden we saw this guy with his hair all slicked back in a suit and an overcoat, which was quite unusual since it was pretty hot out today. After looking at the man Doug realized it was Viggo Mortensen! Sure enough, right after he had figured that out we saw make-up people, and trailers with a lot of equipment in them so obviously he was there filming a movie! (To make sure I wasn’t telling you false information I checked on IMDB just now and apparently the movie they are filming is called “Good,” and down at the bottom it says Filming Location: Budapest, Hungary!)

So after we got off Margaret Island we came across this little outdoor market thingie on the chain bridge, and Dad got me a pretty ring! Joy!

Madeleine looking thoughtful, so you can see her ring.

Well that’s all (for now) folks! ☺

--Maddy G-Dawg

P.S. My dad forwarded me this message: "Just wanted you to know, Mr. Gaiman:
http://community.livejournal.com/lolgaimans/
hope it amuses you as much as it does others." I like the ones with me in them.

Labels: dinner, javier, maddy's awesome ring, margaret island, viggo mortensen

guest post...

I feel -- this is Neil -- like I'm making a guest post on my own Blog. (I'm loving what Maddy's doing. Makes me feel quite inadequate as a blogger.) Anyway. Just nipping in to say that I'm going to be doing a semi-informal signing on my last night in Budapest.

I'll be at Sárkánytűz, 1092 Ferenc Krt. 40, on Wednesday July 4th at 7.00pm. I know it's not much warning, but it's really something we set up because I keep getting lots of wistful messages from Hungarian readers who have noticed I'm in Budapest and hope that I could be persuaded to do something. If you're around, turn up and I'll cheerfully scribble on things and answer questions and so on.

Store details at http://www.sarkanytuz.hu/index.php?base=shops&id=10 (And I was thrilled to discover that there's a Good Fantasy and Cool Literature website at http://endless.hu/).

And while I'm here I'll quickly put up a link to http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/36/t/006422.html which is Kate Keller's offer to match donations to the CBLDF (who need funds for the Gordon Lee case -- http://www.cbldf.org/pr/archives/000314.shtml for details.)

Lisa Snellings is making little blue poppets and donating a dollar to the CBLDF for every one sold. (You can get them at this eBay address.)

(She also mentions that Hy Bender, whom you probably know best as the author of The Sandman Companion, will give you expert advice through his websites Hy On Your Book and Hy On your Script. He will analyze your project with humor and clarity to rival any Dummies Books (of which he's written five.) He tells me that the word "Poppet" in your email will get you an extremely reduced price for his services. Hy Bender tends to be partial to Poppets, which could work out well for writers who are too. Check it out, forward it to your writer groups. Thanks, Hy! I'm hoping we can also get the Sandman Companion updated in time for Sandman's 20th anniversary...)

Over at Black Phoenix they've launched more scents -- the Good Omens ones and the Stardust ones. Like the Neil Gaiman ones, the profits go to the CBLDF (and to the Orang Utan Foundation charity).

And a small, painful postscript to something I talked about already on the blog. This letter came in from Maureen Johnson.

Hi Neil,

A few weeks ago, you were kind enough to link to a post on my blog. My book had been banned in a school in Oklahoma, and I was fighting it. With your help, dozens (maybe even a hundred or more) letters were sent to the committee that did the deed. (The day you linked to me, the hits went through the roof.)

What happened next was ridiculous. I spent weeks on the inside track of this small town, getting calls from neighbors, newspaper reporters, and all kinds of people involved and around. We also (with the help of a local reporter) caught them violating policy by banning a book without notifying the public. At one point, they even claimed the whole thing never happened. The letters did have an impact, though. They had to reconsider, and do it publicly. They hated the spotlight.

Well, this committee of geniuses has finally come to a decision. They haven’t banned my book—but they’ve put it on a special reserve shelf. It can only be checked out “for classroom purposes” with a signed note from a parent.

This is arguably the most asinine thing I've ever heard.

This is a book that contains no graphic material at all. This is purely because it has homosexual characters. And from what I can tell, they plan on implementing a policy by which they have parents troop through the library once a year, just in case there are other books they want put on the naughty shelf.

On top of that, they demoted the librarian who was on the committee (Kim), the one who told us what really happened in the meeting where the book was banned. They also made life miserable for main school librarian involved (Susan), the one who came to me for help. Rather than suck up to these people, Susan decided to resign after 30 years at her job. She said she was happy to go down doing what she thought was right. So two librarians took a hit in this, simply because they tried to protect the books on their shelves.

It’s disgusting and insane, but that’s the outcome. In any case, it’s been amazing to see how many people are outraged by this, and willing to do something about it. Your post made a huge difference in terms of getting the word out. I’ll probably go on trying to needle these idiots for a while yet. I can at least try to shame them some more.

Thanks again,

-Maureen Johnson

(And here's Maureen's blogpost about the final decision.)

Labels: Black Phoenix Alchemy and Scents, guest posting on my own blog, hungarian signing, hy bender, lisa snellings

I still haven't improved on this whole title thing.

Hi there! It’s Maddy again! I’m very sorry that I didn’t do an entry yesterday but I just didn’t feel like it. Apparently everyone was quite upset though because tons of people on the set came up to me today and they were like, “Hey, there was no blog post last night, what’s up with that?” Well now I am back and ready for action! Speaking of action, yesterday during this little photo shoot type thingie Guillermo wanted me to shout action like he does, but I was too embarrassed. Instead of his big “ACTION!” I was more like “Action”. Then at the end he said, “And that’s a…” but I wasn’t sure what to say so I said "wrap" but I was actually supposed to say "cut"!! Geez Maddy, that’s a no brainer!! So anyway nothing too exciting happened today but I saw some film tests from yesterday a little while ago and its sooooo super cool! I’m not allowed to give details though, so you better just go see Hellboy 2! There was also this one take that was hilarious and everyone was watching it. I saw it like 13 times but it never got old! Hopefully they use that one in the film!! Well, since I shouted out to my friends last week and I did a big thing for my sister three days ago, I would like to say hi to my mother dearest today. “Hi to my mother dearest today”. ☺☺ On Monday they are filming on a different set which is pretty exciting!! It is a change of scenery, which is good because I was pretty bored today. I’m not reading anything at the moment so instead of just sitting there reading my book in one of the chairs in front of the monitor, I actually watched the monitor! Crazy, I know! But then it gets super boring when they are like setting up the set, or when it’s in between takes. That part usually involves me going to the food table and eating a lot, or talking to some of my bestest buddies on the set, or playing a game on one of my bestest buddy’s cellular device, or just sitting there while the crew move around. Oh my good golly gosh I just realized something! I will only be in Budapest for five more days! That means I will only be blogging for five more days!!!!!! Ohhhh… the pain … the sorrow... I know you all are feeling it. I am also kind of glad to go home, because I have missed it! I will also miss it here too; for I have made lots of friends that I might not ever see again! OH NO!!! Well we have some pretty fun stuff planned for this weekend so I will tell you allllll about it in the days to come. Woot woot! I hope you all have a (looks online for an adjective that is a synonym for great) delightful day/morning/afternoon/evening/night.

From the desk of Maddy Gaiman

Labels: Action, budapest, Maddy

Photos!!! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Howdy! It is Madeleine the Great!! Okay, well nothing very exciting happened today so it will just be several pictures with captions.

Today I pretty much ran the entire set.

Here is me supervising everyone.
I was talking to Doug Jones, and giving him advice on playing Abe, ("You're looking a little blue today, maybe you should get some cheering up before going on camera" ), when someone took this picture.

Now I am telling Guillermo del Toro and Guillermo Navarro what to do. GDT might be the director and Navarro may have won an Academy Award, but as you can see they do whatever I say.

Here is Doug Jones and some strange man. We got the strange man kicked off the set because he was scaring little children. :)

Tomorrow we are back in the studio, and I hear some pretty fun stuff is going to be happening! I shall report back in the days to come...

My best regards,
The Official Web Maddy

P.S. Sorry for stealing your saying, Official Web Elf.

Labels: Four Photos, Maddy

Holly the Happening!

Hello! This is Maddy once again, in case you happened to somehow forget I was guest-blogging. Well, if you thought the highlight of the day was the nice breeze that cooled everything down, or that I got to see some stuff that I saw filmed being edited together, or the fact that I got to go up on the hill today so it wasn’t as dull, you would be wrong. The highlight is that it is my sister, Holly Miranda Gaiman’s birthday today!!!!! She turned 22 which is 10 years older then me, but don’t worry I will be 13 in August and then she will only be 9 years older than me. Joy! She is actually on the plane to Africa. Great way to spend a birthday, I know! Holly is very wonderful and a fabulous sister. She is always optimistic and is always there for me! All in all she is just a great person. Okay enough of the mushy stuff. Whenever Holly comes home she leaves everything a total and complete mess. I swear, I don’t think she could keep a place clean for a day, at the most. Also she is kind of weird sometimes but I guess it runs in the family. Except for me. I’m not weird at all…

Well I looked through my laptop and found all the beautiful pictures of Holly that I could see! Don’t mind the people in the pictures with her. They are of no importance. Don’t mind the strange expressions they are making either.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLY!

Labels: Highlights, holly pictures, Holly's birthday

Addy-May's fun tales.

Greetings! Maddy here!

Today we went on location to film Hellboy 2 and it definitely was not as fun for me. The temperature was about 100° F and 38° C, meaning it was quite hot! I got a little tan on my arms though! Anyway, they were filming up on a hill and I wasn't allowed to go up there so I just had to sit down by myself and read my book, and occasionally people would tell me to move because I was in the camera shot. They are building a whole troll town in a quarry for the movie, and we got to go visit it today. The air felt really good down there because it was quite cold!! We had to wear hard-hats. Tee hee hee! Apparently where we were filming on location there were many ticks, and I was just wearing white flip-flops. Guillermo wanted me to wear socks so my feetsies wouldn't be exposed to the ticks. We went to costumes to see if they had any socks, and they did. Unfortunately it was a pair of men's long black socks. I think I might have looked a little funny walking around in pink shorts, black socks, and white flip-flops. Talk about embarrassing.

Dad would also like me to put this link up. It's a Stardust review. I am very excited about Stardust by the way! I am going to the premiere in Hollywood! Woot woot!!! A lot of people at my school have made up secret gestures for me to do if I happen to be on TV that will send secret messages to them. You're not allowed to know those secret gestures because they are secret. Did I mention that the secret gestures are secret?

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday so you should expect a post all about her her her! Go Holly.. go Holly ..it's your birthday...

Okay, well I want to get an early night tonight because I only got 4 hours of sleep last night! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!?!? Well, you should. It's true.

--Addy-May (That's Pig Latin.)

Labels: Embarrassing socks, hellboy, Stardust

Maddy is so cool!

Hello everyone! You haven't heard from me for a day or so and I'm sure you were all very sad. But never fear, I am back and ready to report about the good time we have been having. Yesterday we ate dinner at a restaurant here in Budapest called Fatal (it's pronounced fah-tahl). The food was good, but the portions were literally twice the size of my head if not bigger. That is no exaggeration!! Dad and I were reading about it online afterwards and it said that if someone manages to finish a whole appetizer and a whole main course they will get dessert free. Yeah, right. If anyone could finish those two things I think the English pronunciation of the name of the restaurant would be involved.

Today we mostly hung out at the venue that Tori was playing at. There were some pretty cool people there! And some very delicious banana bread... :) I watched Tori play for a while but then I got bored of just sitting there so I pulled out the book I was reading. It's called Stardust. I doubt you have heard of it. It's written by some person who goes under the name of Neil Gaiman. Strange name.

We took a lot of good pictures on the real camera and not just dad's cell phone, but we discovered later that dad actually had not brought any cords to transfer the pictures to the computer. A little while ago I asked him to see if he had any good ones on his phone, but I doubt he has checked. Okay, nevermind, actually he has. All we have found is one from the day we first got here, but I guess it will do for now.



I recorded a little thing of me reading my blog entry "Ice cream is not a food group" out loud. We might put it on Youtube possibly if you guys want to know what I sound like, and what the blog was supposed to sound like. I'm not sure though because it would be very embarrassing.

Okey dokey! I will be back tomorrow because I hear we are going off set and onto a location for the filming! How excitinggggg!!

From,
The one and only Madeleine R. E. Gaiman