Just my luck

So while I'm grabbing up addesses for blogs I read to add to the nav bar (hey I gotta fill it with something, right?), I went to Neil Gaiman's Journal, only to find that he's currently touring Australia. Bugger. (The clever ones of you will be thinking "If you read the Journal, why didn't know that he was going to be in Australia?", to which I can only reply, "I've been busy".)

If you don't know Neil Gaiman and you read books, you need to go and grab something of his from you nearest bookstore or Amazon, or by whatever method you usually employ for getting a softcover to the space between you nose and your palm. He's great. That's all there is to say about it. If pressed to recommend a book for neophytes, I'd recommend Good Omens or Neverwhere, if only because that's where I started and it will give you a good indication of what to expect his other stuff. Mostly.

If you prefer movies, go and rent Mirrormask. Slightly more off the wall that his other stuff perhaps, but then he was mostly involved with the writing, the visuals are primarily the work of the director and visionary visual artist, Dave McKean.

And if that wasn't enough, it appears from reading the letters to Neil that one of my favourite bands, They Might Be Giants, will be writing music for an upcoming movie adaptation of Niel's book Coraline.

Goodness with a side order of full-strength geek rock. Nice.