Entry tags:

books/authors, omg mock people mock, person: neil gaiman, political wank, twitter, wanking inside the house

Tax deductables! Pencil necks! Thieves! HIGH SPEED CAR CHASES!
Well, all right, maybe not high speed car chases. So, the background: last year, Neil Gaiman, author of such lovely things as Neverwhere and the Sandman series etc., was contacted to speak at a library in Minnesota for a hefty speaking fee, which was paid for by a fund which (a) stated any leftover money would be lost if not used, and (b) was also not available for books, salaries, or other useful things. Neil Gaiman did so, and subsequently donated the speaking fee to charities.

All's well that ends well, right? Well, except that Matt Dean, the House Majority Leader, decided it was time to let his long-simmering grudge be aired to the world: 'Dean said that Gaiman, "who I hate," was a "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota."'

Neil is... well, he's not well pleased. Nor is his Twitter.

"Sad & funny. Minnesota Republicans have a "hate" list. Like Nixon did. I'm on it. They also don't like capitalism. http://t.co/FObmLGo"

"It's strange watching a grownup high school bully in power. But the bully vocabulary remains the same. http://t.co/FObmLGo"

"And for those curious how and why I made it onto the hate list, what I wrote at the time on my blog. http://bit.ly/lMxsWQ"

"Any nice, sane Minnesota Republicans reading this, please vote for someone who isn't a bully with a hate list next time."

"You can listen to the Stillwater speech that all the Pencil-neck fuss is about at http://bit.ly/k3lA1B (You need to go down to point 2.)"

He also happened to link to Dean's blog, which proceeded to crash. Whoops.

So you'd think that Dean would realize his mistake and apologize, right? Well... sort of. Why?

His mommy made him do it.

The universe collectively facepalms.

(Bonus funny from the comments, courtesy from someone called Lucas: "Do weasel thieves steal just weasels? Or do they also steal ferrets, otters, and wolverines? In the case of the latter, how do they arrange for transportation?")

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	ridureyu 2011-05-06 01:10 am UTC (link)
	He probably read and got offended by some of Gaiman's writing, and felt desperate to take it out on him somehow. So "he received money for goods and services, which he then donated to charity" seemed like the best idea at the time. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	platedlizard 2011-05-06 01:32 am UTC (link)
	American Gods Needs Moar Jesus, maybe. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ridureyu 2011-05-06 01:42 am UTC (link)
	Or maybe he picked up the weirder short stories. I dunno, I kind of liked how American Gods skipped the opportunity to go Jesus-bashing when so, so many other people would have. It gave a quick sentence or two on why he's not included, and then went on with its story. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	anthologia 2011-05-06 01:51 am UTC (link)
	I'll admit, my childhood is still smarting from "The Problem of Susan". (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

ridureyu
2011-05-06 01:57 am UTC (link)

Neil Gaiman is a really interesting author. he has immense writing talent, but often he tends to overstep himself with weirdness, but AT THE SAME TIME, he's a good enough writer to cover for it when he makes a bad decision, and it still turns out good.

Also, he has a knack for working with filmmakers whenever his stuff is adapted, usually resulting in some pretty good changes. I was really pleasantly surprised at Stardust and Coraline, and even Neverwhere!

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	platedlizard 2011-05-06 04:17 am UTC (link)
	Why wasn't he included? I think I've read American Gods three or four times and I can't remember Jesus even being mentioned. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ridureyu 2011-05-06 04:42 am UTC (link)
	Someone mentions having seen Jesus in a throwaway comment, but mostly it's implied that gods like Jesus, Buddha(he technically counts, depending on the sect) or Allah wouldn't be included becuase they had more than enough worshippers, and weren't abandoned/fading like all the other ones in the novel. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	platedlizard 2011-05-06 04:47 am UTC (link)
	That's what I thought was the case. Thanks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ridureyu 2011-05-06 04:49 am UTC (link)
	Hey, anytime. Personally, I like to think that five minutes after the book ends, the Peter Venkman & co. xome up and bust 'em all. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	taterbird 2011-05-06 05:37 am UTC (link)
	ZUUL! (Reply to this)(Parent)

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