(no subject)

[erastes]

Whee! I just spent a very enjoyable half an hour on www.vistaprint.com and saved myself £40.

I bought:

• 100 x free (Standish) postcards
• 25 x free calendar magnets
• 1 x free calendar with different gay snogs on each month...
• 25 x free small magnets (standish)

When I get them, they'll be available on the website as giveaways for fun competitions. Notwithstanding this, they are brilliant for merchandising and the sales only last a day, so best to get to Vistaprint today.

Also - Meh. Read American Gods yesterday and really not impressed. I'm not going to read any more non-graphic novel Gaiman. I loved Neverwhere, hated Stardust and AG's just didn't do anything for me at all. Good concept, but it was so slow going it could have been half the length and punchier, and the last 40 or so pages were so self indulgent I just skimmed them. Yes, I got all the God references, yes, I got it. But for my money, Pratchett does it better (and OMG so much funnier) and a whole lot more succinctly in Hogfather - Small Gods - and others. I saw the ending way back when Shadow (Baldur? Osiris? Both?) was discussing con-tricks with Wednesday. Not a popular opinion, I'm sure, but it just wasn't very ... what... gripping? Interesting?

Comments

[aunty_marion]

Ah, you too have been sucked in by Vistaprint! I'm waiting for my second set of free business cards (where free - about a fiver) - I got one set done for 'Custom Knitted Dolls', this set is for 'An Eye for Detail - freelance proofreading and copy-editing'.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes! The Postcards are lovely, I'm chucking a couple in with people's bookplates!

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

I never warmed to AG - generally, I admire Neil's mythology erudition, but here, I felt he was showing off immense knowledge of obscure religions and I never warmed to the characters in the slightest. I loved his folkloric knowledge in the Sandman, and liked the premise of Neverwhere, and adored his short stories in Smoke and Mirrors. But AG was a huge let down. Not his best.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's EXACTLY what I felt. I felt that if I wanted to know about stuff (don't - already have a good grounding in Norse and Egyptian beliefs - I'd go and read something like ... bugger. It's on my shelf and I can't be arsed to get up and go and see what it's called.

It's the story of Balder, anyway.

[dubaiyan.livejournal.com]

never got into Gaiman's prose novels [and preferred the Pterry parts of Good Omens] but the Sandman arc is so amazing that i tried again. still no joy. Diana Wynne Jones does it better.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

yeah - don't think I'll be bothering with any more. As June says, above, I got the feeling he was showing off, and when Terry introduces folkloric belief systems and the effect it has on gods, he does it without really explaining it, and I learn more that way.