lunge.org - daily randomness

Neil Gaiman is my hero

I used to tease Shawn for reading the Sandman comics (of course he tried to tell me they're graphic novels but I wouldn't buy it). Not that I'd ever tried to read them of course, and I was just being judgmental about an adult reading comics. In fact my teasing wasn't so much out of cruelty but more affection, in that kind of "you know what they say about girls who tease boys" (and vice versa) kind of way.

I'd never really bothered trying to get into them because I pretty much had no interest. I was always the type that preferred books over movies, you know the one who likes to use their imagination as opposed to being shown the way things are. Well, getting older means less time for frivolous things like imagining, which means being unable to spend hours and hours and hours reading. Stupid life getting in the way!

Recently I decided to give the Sandman comics a try. I'll admit that I was wrong in teasing Shawn for liking them. The whole idea of the Endless is very interesting and the artistry is amazing as well. I've read a few of the collections already and will eventually work my way through them all.

That all being said, I've always been a fan of Neil Gaiman's fiction novels. I've read most of them, and enjoyed every single one. Shawn bought me a copy of Fragile Things for xmas that I've recently started reading and so far it's pretty good. Who doesn't like a nice collection of short stories (especially those lacking time), I feel like I accomplish something when I finish a story.

I've known that Neil Gaiman has had a blog for quite some time. I remember reading it back in the day when American Gods first came out, but for some reason or another it fell off my radar. Well, I've made sure to add his blog to my RSS Reader, and can now enjoy all his humorous and witty entries.

Also, we recently received MirrorMask from Netflix. I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie as I'd read many things about it being a cross between Labyrinth and Alice In Wonderland. It was amazing. Sure the story was what a bit obvious in a lot of ways, but the imagery and how the CGI was incorporated with real life actors flowed really well. It was like a Sandman comic come to life, but not in a cheesy way. I was very impressed.

There was a point in time where I wanted to be a writer, unfortunately I didn't keep it up and my writing skills have waned. There are many writers I admire, and Neil Gaiman is most definitely one of them. When I read his writing I feel inspired to give writing another try.

posted by Erin - Wednesday, January 24, 2007