Book Festival
Sep. 29th, 2007 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holytoastrI went to the book festival today to see Terry Pratchett. I was really worried that he wouldn't be as wonderfully funny and clever as his books are, but those worries completely vanished as he began to talk.
At one point, he had me laughing so hard, I started to cry. Tears were pouring down my cheeks!
I can't tell the story nearly as well as he did, so forgive me when it doesn't have you rolling on the floor laughing.
Terry was talking about an award he received for one of his children's novels. This award was handled a little oddly because they give you the award, and then about a week later you give it back and they give it to you again in front of a different audience.
So he was given his award and in the time between then and the next ceremony, he realized the award medal was exactly the same size as a large chocolate coin. Jump ahead to the night of the second ceremony which is held in front of an audience of librarians. The MC hands terry the box with the medal in it, which he happily accepts. Then he begins his acceptance speech. He says, "I think this award is the greatest award ever. Do you know why? Because you can eat it!" And with that he rips the medal out of the box, shoves it in his mouth and eats it.
Two full seconds of silence passed before anyone started to laugh. Terry said he could imagine the thoughts running through their heads. "Did he really eat the award? Has the award been chocolate all along?"
So now he doesn't think he will ever win that award ever again. Because he ate it.
The way he tells it is much much better. He has a very funny high-pitched british voice. He had me laughing the whole time he was on stage.
After his talking time was up, I rushed over to the signing line. They had a limit on how many people could stand on line, but they made extra lines to accommodate the extra crowds. I was on line 9. Of 12.
I stood in front of a valley girl who spent the first hour on the phone with her parents, telling them about her daring adventure at a celtic rock concert where she accidentally slices open her arm with broken glass from a light she knocked down. While she talked, she constantly bumped into my backpack, making me hate her greatly.
Thankfully, after the first hour, she left. She had a kickball game to play. Once she was gone, everyone in my little area began to rub their ears.
Terry was only scheduled to sign for an hour, but he agreed to stay late. That was super nice of him. However, to keep it all moving fast, the staff at the book festival set up a sort of production line system. You gave your books to staff, they opened it up to the correct page and put it in front of terry, he signed it and pushed it to the side, another staff picks up the book, and returns it to the owner.
It was all very fast and efficient, until I came along with a rubber duck. The staff took my book but left the duck in my hands. I said, "You forgot the duck." She said nothing. So I asked, "It's a 2 item limit, right?" She said yes so then I told her, "Well, here's my duck to sign." She looked at me blankly. I held the duck up again. She continued to look at me blankly.
The whole thing probably lasted 2 seconds but I felt everyone's eyes on me for slowing down the line, so I gave up and collected my freshly signed book. Terry wrote "Burn this Book!" in my copy of Good Omens.
After that, I battled the crowds to get home. Escalators are apparently very complicated for the average person. Metro employees had to limit how many people could go down them at once, because once a person got to the bottom, they stopped. This is fine when you are alone, but when there are at least 10 people behind you, I'm sure you can imagine what happens.
So in small groups, people were allowed down the escalator. They'd pile up at the bottom as they all stood around like dumb cows, and after a minute would spread out. Then the next group could be sent down.
I did eventually make it on a train and then to my car. I decided to stop at the library on the way home because they are having a book sale. I got 2 cook books, an embroidery book, a wedding planning book, and a 2005 guide to disney world. All for $5.
I think I might take a nap now, and then do some sewing. Also, the new dub of one piece starts tonight and I'd like to see that. Supposedly, funimation has fixed a lot of the changes 4kids had made, and restored it to its original older teen target market. (Chopper can curse! Yay!) It'll have all new voice actors and they are restoring the original music.
At one point, he had me laughing so hard, I started to cry. Tears were pouring down my cheeks!
I can't tell the story nearly as well as he did, so forgive me when it doesn't have you rolling on the floor laughing.
Terry was talking about an award he received for one of his children's novels. This award was handled a little oddly because they give you the award, and then about a week later you give it back and they give it to you again in front of a different audience.
So he was given his award and in the time between then and the next ceremony, he realized the award medal was exactly the same size as a large chocolate coin. Jump ahead to the night of the second ceremony which is held in front of an audience of librarians. The MC hands terry the box with the medal in it, which he happily accepts. Then he begins his acceptance speech. He says, "I think this award is the greatest award ever. Do you know why? Because you can eat it!" And with that he rips the medal out of the box, shoves it in his mouth and eats it.
Two full seconds of silence passed before anyone started to laugh. Terry said he could imagine the thoughts running through their heads. "Did he really eat the award? Has the award been chocolate all along?"
So now he doesn't think he will ever win that award ever again. Because he ate it.
The way he tells it is much much better. He has a very funny high-pitched british voice. He had me laughing the whole time he was on stage.
After his talking time was up, I rushed over to the signing line. They had a limit on how many people could stand on line, but they made extra lines to accommodate the extra crowds. I was on line 9. Of 12.
I stood in front of a valley girl who spent the first hour on the phone with her parents, telling them about her daring adventure at a celtic rock concert where she accidentally slices open her arm with broken glass from a light she knocked down. While she talked, she constantly bumped into my backpack, making me hate her greatly.
Thankfully, after the first hour, she left. She had a kickball game to play. Once she was gone, everyone in my little area began to rub their ears.
Terry was only scheduled to sign for an hour, but he agreed to stay late. That was super nice of him. However, to keep it all moving fast, the staff at the book festival set up a sort of production line system. You gave your books to staff, they opened it up to the correct page and put it in front of terry, he signed it and pushed it to the side, another staff picks up the book, and returns it to the owner.
It was all very fast and efficient, until I came along with a rubber duck. The staff took my book but left the duck in my hands. I said, "You forgot the duck." She said nothing. So I asked, "It's a 2 item limit, right?" She said yes so then I told her, "Well, here's my duck to sign." She looked at me blankly. I held the duck up again. She continued to look at me blankly.
The whole thing probably lasted 2 seconds but I felt everyone's eyes on me for slowing down the line, so I gave up and collected my freshly signed book. Terry wrote "Burn this Book!" in my copy of Good Omens.
After that, I battled the crowds to get home. Escalators are apparently very complicated for the average person. Metro employees had to limit how many people could go down them at once, because once a person got to the bottom, they stopped. This is fine when you are alone, but when there are at least 10 people behind you, I'm sure you can imagine what happens.
So in small groups, people were allowed down the escalator. They'd pile up at the bottom as they all stood around like dumb cows, and after a minute would spread out. Then the next group could be sent down.
I did eventually make it on a train and then to my car. I decided to stop at the library on the way home because they are having a book sale. I got 2 cook books, an embroidery book, a wedding planning book, and a 2005 guide to disney world. All for $5.
I think I might take a nap now, and then do some sewing. Also, the new dub of one piece starts tonight and I'd like to see that. Supposedly, funimation has fixed a lot of the changes 4kids had made, and restored it to its original older teen target market. (Chopper can curse! Yay!) It'll have all new voice actors and they are restoring the original music.
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Date: 2007-10-01 01:28 pm (UTC)I didn't think one state could be so, so dumb.