tinhuviel

Oh dear! But where's Pearl if Jerry's in the trunk? Either it's a big trunk or Pearl has gone bye-bye at some point. Guess we'll find out in December.

Click the link below for the new Task.

Happy Thanksgiving from The Joker Blogs!

I never go through a Thanksgiving without thinking of the return letter Todd and I got in the mail while still working for the Readers Digest division of BMG. It was written phonetically by an obviously non-native English speaker. I remember it perfectly and transcribe it here for you.

I do not laik musick in mai laif. I hef beth laif in trable. -- Teng You

We were working overtime that night and spent a good thirty minutes of BMG's precious time slumped on the desk in literal hysterics. Yes, we had to wipe out eyes. Or..yes, we hed to waip owr ai's. That was in 1991 I think because I recall working a lot of overtime to help Todd with returns letters during the time "Walk on the Ocean" was popular. Oh, and speaking of "Walk on the Ocean," it was also during working overtime that I called the radio station to request that song, not knowing a contest was going on. I ended up being the correct caller and winning two tickets to a male strip show. All I wanted was my freakin' song. I gave the tickets to a coworker and ended up buying the Toad the Wet Sprocket album.

Another odd memory of those days was the BMG open house in 1988. Todd and I were grabbed by this person in an elephant costume and we had a picture taken. We never found out who was in the costume and, years later, still got a little freaked out by it. "Attacked by Furries!" on Fox News at 10!

Why do these memories flood forth now? Perhaps it's because I'm high on coffee. Perhaps it's because I got a good night's sleep for once in forever. Perhaps it's because I miss Todd and miss happier days. Perhaps it's all of the above combined with the fact it's Tengsgiving. I often wonder about the person who wrote that letter. How can you not laik musick in your laif? I cannot imagine.

---

On a wholly different matter, luvthyjoker showed me the trailer to the upcoming film Daybreakers. While I'm excited about seeing this (Sam Neill as a Vampire, hello?), I'm also a little ticked off because they're using a concept that I use in The Vampire Relics: the idea of humans as blood herds for Vampires (or at least for Cadmus). Just last night I touched upon this again as I wrote furiously for NaNo:

Someday, though…someday, he would be strong enough to overcome her and feed her to her own chalice. And then he would take the Great Hive and make it his personal herd, feeding on the Vampires one after the other until the vermin were removed from the planet forever. And then he would start on the humans, feeding them to the chalice, transforming their blood and drinking his fill. The Earth would be his hunting ground and woe would be uttered by every living thing at his behest.

Now, I've got tons of notes that pre-date this movie by a good twenty years, so I'm not changing a damned thing, they can't make me! Besides, it's not like the world is full of Vampires. It's just this one lone black hole of a Vampire who plans to devour the entire planet someday. Same basic concept, different direction. And that's only his aim, anyway. We still aren't sure if he'll ever succeed.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends here on LJ! To those who aren't American, I hope you have a wonderful day nonetheless and you can at least be thankful you're not a turkey in America today. Because...that would suck for you. Seriously. *mwah*

Wow, I've been really freakin' sick. I never posted the new Blog here for your enjoyment and delight! That must be rectified immediately. Have fun and bomb appetite!

I wrote a little over 2000 words today in amongst doing a little promotional work for The Joker Blogs (he has over 11,000 subscribers on You Tube now. That rocks like nobody's business) and running about a 3-hour errand. I hadn't been out in days, I'd been so sick. Today I got back in the groove of things. The words flowed pretty easily. What I was writing was another Tarmian memory embedded in Orphaeus' psyche. This material is almost 25 years old and never written down. It's always been in my head, the basis of the origin of the Vampire curse carried by the Original Ten Tarmi. The memory he relates has to do with the five centers of wisdom established on Earth by the Tarmi. And it also holds a tiny bit of prophecy that will be important in the third book, The Augury of Gideon. I'm really looking forward to writing Augury. Once I finish The Blood Crown, I'll probably just go right into Augury of Gideon. I want to delve into more of the Vampire prophecies and I miss Faust/Kallum. I'm looking forward to resurrecting him and having him interact with Cadmus, carrying the full memory of the atrocities Cadmus visited upon his person. The dynamics I feel when I think about those two gets me all tingly.

If I don't end up with another rare tropical disease, I think I'm going to win NaNoWriMo. I won't have The Blood Crown finished, but I'll have it about three-quarters of the way, so it won't take long to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. I already have that in my mind. The only thing I don't know about is what Cadmus and Orphaeus face when they finally enter the catacombs under the Vatican. I guess they'll tell me when they get there. Cadmus has certainly been wordy of late, so I'm sure he'll disclose what he needs to when he feels like it. Ha ha!

I strongly suggest you go watch this and rate it. It's a fantastic song and a visual delight!

Lighterthief is a treasure! And it doesn't hurt that Barry Andrews is involved. Hey...I gotta support my friends.

So you have to follow suit! Go! Go!

I open The Blood Crown for the first time in three days, start writing whilst listening to Big Night Music by Shriekback. Not five minutes into my writing, I get a letter from B wondering if either James or I could provide a good scan or camera shot of the cover of BNM for a project Martyn is working on.

HOW DOES HE DO THAT? Oh, never mind. I know how...

Now the question remains to be answered: will that one of many weirdo moments in my life in relation to B fuel my fire to write more or shut me down for the day? 'Cos right now, I'm all owl-eyed and freaked out. After 10 years, you'd think I'd get used to it.

The week before it was Dengue. Following right on the heels of that was Marbug. My body is a playground for nefarious and ill-intentioned microscopic organisms. Today is the first day I've felt even marginally able to sit up for very long. It's thrown me behind on NaNoWriMo and it made me miss the launch of the latest TJB. I ate today for the first time in three days. I feel like I've been repeatedly kicked in the head by Mr. Horse (Nossir, I don't like it). It would help if I could have actually slept some, but I've just been lying in bed in a stupour having bits of songs, mathematical equations (Einstein was wrong!), and weird visions that were like dreams, but couldn't have been because I wasn't asleep. Honestly, even today, I feel like I would have to die to get to feeling better. At least then, I'd get some sleep.

Is it a good sign when you can turn your emotions off more easily and quickly with each wound, or is it a bad one? Or is it just an unfortunate circumstance that you're having to do it again because you've yet to learn your bloody lesson?

Can you tell it's been an Orphaeus day? Jeez... Is NaNo over yet? Just keep these videos coming, though. Don't look, luvthyjoker! You might get eskeert!

He has everything that sings to me as a weirdo and an appreciator of the Strange and Unusual ("I myself am strange and unusual...."). Already luvthyjoker has fallen under his jaundiced sway. I'm pretty certain all Depp fans, most Joker fans, whatever surviving Maul fans there are left, and lovers of Danny Elfman will fall hard for the Mad Hatter. I'm going to fight this. I'm going to fight it hard.

This wouldn't be a Joker situation for me. No. It would be more of a full-on Maulific lust thing. Sure, there's psychology there. He's mad, of course. Actually, he looks more demented than mad. That's neither here nor there. Anyone in his or her right mind (ha!) knows that combining Johnny Depp and the Mad Hatter was a 100% win situation. Tim Burton knew this. Why do you think Depp is now the poster child for the new Burton movie? Already there's a buzz going on about the movie, mainly due to the images of Johnny Depp as the Hatter.

I reiterate... I'm going to fight this.

I don't need any more fandom in my world. I've gotten in enough trouble as is. I need some peace. I need to write my own stuff. And I grew up at a time when Tom Petty was the Mad Hatter. You don't get over that in 24 years (when the video for "Don't Come Around Here No More" came out). And I've never been fond of the Lewis Carroll stories. The only characters I ever liked were Mad Hatter and that Hookah-sucking caterpillar (trippy, man!). Even the Cheshire Cat never really did much for me. And Tom Petty almost scared me off the Mad Hatter. I don't want to be a poorly-clad cake, thank you, and your tea looks weak.

So I have devised some anti-Hatter tactics and reasoning behind my refusal to get on this particular Crazy Train. My first tactic is my first reaction to Depp's Hatter upon being shown his picture by luvthyjoker:

"THAT looks like Tim Burton picked up Danny Elfman and knocked Johnny Depp upside the head with him." No seriously. Look...at...him...



Back in the day, Danny Elfman had a very similar 'do. Not that out there, but the same colour and texture. Burton's getting his fave dudes discombobulated and he's trying to make me to do the same, but I'm not gonna.

Okay, how about this? Just recently, Johnny Depp was proclaimed the sexiest man in America. This.



The man's liver is busted and one eye is larger than the other. If this is sexy, what is scary in America? See, except for the funky eye colour, I already have one of these in my head. His name is Orphaeus Cygnus. He's a bit off in a fun sort of way. He has red hair. I don't recall him ever wearing a hat, though... ...again, that's neither here nor there. What I see here is a serious conflict of interest in my head. The first time Johnny Depp and Danny Elfman ever took the silver screen together, it nearly destroyed me. I'm not over Edward Scissorhands yet and, to this day, refuse to listen to any of Elfman's score from that movie. It took me two years before I could set eyes on Johnny Depp without tearing up.

I blame Tim Burton and my own outcast nature for all that, but the fact remains that I have issues when it comes to Depp and Elfman. The two should never ever share even a hint of physical resemblance. They're both beautiful in their own right. Mash 'em together and what have you got? A seriously jaundiced red-head who hasn't seen sunlight in 4 years probably because he's been in a small room in a straight-jacket. He also needs a liver transplant and a tooth filling. And some corrective eye surgery to fix that unsettling Picasso look he has going on there.

So yeah. Mad Hatter.

I may end up eating my own hat when I say that I refuse to succumb to my natural fascination with him. Too many pitfalls and pratfalls await my dance down that path to perdition. I'm keeping Elfman to my left, Depp to my right, and Burton in front of me where I can keep an eye on his sneaky arse.

"Running with the Mothmen" from the compilation album that's soon to be released on Andy Partridge's APE label. It features Stuart Rowe on guitar and Barry Andrews on vocals and keyboards. Except for the wee stuffed puppy, all the entities in this video are none other than Barry Andrews.

I only have two requirements for your watching this:

1. 1. Enjoy it like cuh-RAZY!


2. 2. Pass it on in your own journal with these same requirements

It would be very much appreciated by both myself and by Barry Andrews. Trust me on this! And it may even spare you a visit from Indrid Cold someday, who knows? That'd be fantabulous.



As soon as I can snag the proper lyrics to this song, they will be posted along with a review here for all you nice and happy people to viral out to all your nice and happy people. **winkwinknudgenudge**

Depending on what happens with B and Dude in the next 15 days, I may actually win NaNoWriMo. Miracles...they apparently never cease.

The Blood Crown ~ NaNoWriMo Participant

I woke up to three response emails from B, Cadmus with a sense of humour (written during fever and sleep), overcome with the spirit of the Mothman, a friend being stared at by Judge Mental, the promise of a conversation to come, and over halfway through NaNaWriMo somehow miraculously ahead.

Does this mean I'm getting better?

Does this mean things in general will get better?

If Cadmus can have a sense of humour about literature, involving Stephen King, John Fowles, and Clive Barker...then I can be optimistic.

Here's to Dengue!

The oddest thing is driving me to finish The Blood Crown: The Augury of Gideon, specifically the character of Kallum McCreary, the mortal incarnation of the Vampire Faust. I'm about to get to "The Sainted Confessor" section of The Blood Crown. Despite falling victim to Dengue and not hardly writing at all for the past three days, I'm still current on my word count with The Blood Crown. I even have added some of the cushion that allowed me to fall deathly ill and not suffer stress from being behind on NaNo. In the past two hours, I wrote over 1700 words. It's like I was possessed. Then again, I was writing Cadmus. I was actually writing as Cadmus, so I was kind of possessed.

But then iTunes decided to play "True Colours" by Cyndi Lauper. This is the song that helped create the Angel that began to visit Faust during his tribulation. She always came to him in a kind of a rainbow and would disappear by descending into his body. This song also said a lot about the character of Faust. Despite his Vampiric nature, he never lost his human spirit, which was inherently good. He was a genuinely good soul. I want to show this in The Augury of Gideon, even though his mortal self returns as a little wounded. He returns with memories of what Cadmus did to him as Faust and he finds himself being forced to align with the entity who visited such agony upon his person.

Then again, had it not been for Cadmus, Faust would never have been sainted. He would never have returned to his mortal state as Kallum McCreary. I'm wondering if Kallum will purchase a Triquetra to wear in The Augury of Gideon. Not only would it be a nod of appreciation and honour to Bear McCreary, but it would also fit in the story, representing the three Vampire Relics and the fact that Kallum will be the key to unlocking the Augury of Gideon. I'm thinking it will be Cadmus who actually finds it, who lays his hands upon the relic first. He's the one who is in possession of the first relic, the chalice of Kelat, and he's the one who claims the Blood Crown, even though it eventually goes into Kelat's possession, since she is the only who can touch the thing without falling into a kind of coma.

But that's a story for later on in The Blood Crown. I have the feeling that I may actually win NaNoWriMo because I'm so eager to finish The Blood Crown so I can get back to Kallum. Watching the movie Wanted has not been a great help to me. James McAvoy's secondary anchorage to the character is stronger for the mortal Kallum than it was to the Vampire Faust. One thing that won't change is Kallum's cerulean eyes. James McAvoy gifted those to the Vampire and he'll continue to gift them to the sainted mortal.

So strange that a plot device has become so important to the overall story. Then again, Cadmus was a plot device at one time. Now he's the main character. Funny how the characters demand their place in the world of my making. Do we do the same with God?