Happy happy joy joy

[i_kender]

I've had a great week all round. Behold:

On Tuesday I went out for a drink with kitty_goth which was wonderful. It's been way too long. At one point he was busy explaining Relativity to me using the bar table and pint glasses. Which goes to prove the link between beer and relative states is still strong.

I have received lovely gifts in the post (admittedly, some of them were from me, but still) including Peter S Beagle's The Last Unicorn, Poppy Z Brite's Liquor, Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys and a superlative little 3D jigsaw Stegosaurus. I have now read The Last Unicorn which is perfect. I remember the '80's animated film, which is incredibly faithful to the book, and the story is beautiful and funny. I will now try tracking down the film as well, as I have decided I must own it. I have also read Liquor. I've been meaning to get round to Brite's non-horror books for a long time, nearly scuppered by their lack of availability in the UK. Bless Amazon, that's all I can say. I must add I'm quite happy to follow Brite whatever she chooses to write about, as her storytelling is as sharp as ever. I'll have to add Big Gay New Orleans Chef Novels to my interests ;)

I visited the gorgeous buddleia on the weekend who is very busy beavering away at her MA dissertation, and dragged her mercilessly away from her laptop to watch Howl's Moving Castle which is superb. It is a little more linear and comprehensible than Spirited Away, but just as silly and fun. Realised while watching it that I must have read Diana Wynne Jones at some point in my adolescence, because many tiny bells were ringing in my head.

On Friday I decided, on a whim, to go to a signing at Forbidden Planet in the afternoon. I'm very glad I did, as I got to meet one of my childhood heroes, the longtime X-Men writer Chris Claremont. He wrote the books from the '70's through to the '90's, and he's back on the main X-Men title again now. Not only did he write what was the most popular comic book title for decades, he is certainly one of the reasons the title and the X-Men became so successful. He brought a warmth and humanity to the title, making the X-Men a close-knit group of family and friends that it was easy to care about. I went all fanboy and red in the face, and I'm glad no-one was around to witness my babbling! But I managed to speak coherently enough, and shake his hand, and tell him how glad I was that's he's back on Uncanny X-Men. It really made my day. He's a lovely man, very talkative and enthusiastic, and going grey and twinkly-eyed now.

(Photo here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_kender/46780694/)

Here is a link to the Times article which interviewed Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon via conference call: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1109313-1,00.html

Last night I also got a chance to watch some of the Sci Fi shows that have just debuted in the States. Invasion and Surface both look good, and both are concerned with alien lifeforms. Invasion, by the creator of American Gothic, is probably the better of the two. It looks like it's going to be a slow-burner and may cover some of the same ground as the classic Invasion of the Body-Snatchers stories. But it is *not* a remake, and is very worth watching. Aliens are already among us, covering their existence with seemingly natural phenomenon (a great hurricane sequence in the first episode) and may be ready to make their next move.

Surface is perhaps not quite as good, but covers more new ground... er, in a subaquatic sense. I've already heard it described as a cross between Jaws and ET. Huh. I kinda hope not. It concerns the discovery of a new species of intelligent sea-dwelling mammals, which may or may not be extra-terrestrial in origin. The pilot episode switches between too many characters and subplots for my liking (oh, and it has cute kids... in fact, both shows do. Sigh, Americans...) but the underwater scenes and the glimpses of the creatures are suitably chilling and awesome. This is a show that will succeed or fail depending on the quality of its creature effects, but if it delivers on the promise of this first episode, it will do well.

I am also keeping my eye out for Threshold, Supernatural and a couple of others, as well as the second seasons of some great shows including Lost and Veronica Mars. Watch this space.

All this, and there's still so much to look forward to! New books by Robin Hobb and George R R Martin either here or coming very soon, the entirety of the deliriously delectable Anansi Boys to read, and films including The Corpse Bride, Serenity and Mirrormask in the very near future. It may be all too much. I feel faint. Perhaps I should sit down...

The future's bright. The future's geeky.

Comments

[mingmerciless.livejournal.com]

I was going to go to the Claremont signing but was busy with work. Ah well, say him in May last year and here's the proof. Still need him to sign my copy of God Loves, Man Kills!

[mingmerciless.livejournal.com]

Let's try that again: Photo here

[apple-crumble.livejournal.com]

The link between beer and Relativists is strong also.

[blankbadge.livejournal.com]

So good when things are going well.

Plus getting to meet one of your heroes must have been so thrilling.

[biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Completely jealous of you meeting Chris Claremont. I loved the X-Men when he was writing.

[i_kender]

He's such a dude. Very talkative, very... nice. (God, I hate that word, but it's appropriate in some cases!)

And I've started reading Uncanny X-Men again, purely because he's back writing it.

[biogeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it in decades but I may be moved to pick it up again.