Gaiman in the news - moreTwin Cities thrills, (Hey you pencil necks)

[dzminn]

Well not exactly Twin Cities, but a suburb close by.

 

No budget worries here.

 

http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/121364084.html

[Not*Sure*]

Wow Okay so let me just start by saying a lot of political speakers get paid a LOT more money for way less time and expect a lot more than Gaiman did.

 

To say he STOLE the money and called him a pencil neck geek

 

Then to show how absolutely ignorant he is Dean to say by calling Gaiman a theif and a pencil necked weasel he will off Star Trek fans??

 

Why would star trek fans in particular care?? Why not Superman fans or Sandman fans or fans of Neil in general...

 

Next he will be bashing Amanda Palmer

 

Hope she is not scheduled to play anywhere in Twin Cities soon

 

 

[Not*Sure*]

I plan to give a speech on my outrage at Dean's comments..

 

If I could just find someone to pay my fees and travel

 

I don't charge much a paltry $10,000 and expenses should more than cover it

[143ksk]

Well not exactly Twin Cities, but a suburb close by.

 

No budget worries here.

 

http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/121364084.html

 

It's good to know there's still civility in Minnesota

[ashrael]

Wow, Gaiman's booking company makes way too much. I will book him places for half the price

[david20009]

I do not begrudge Gaiman at all for receiving his fee. I would however question the Civil Servants who thought hiring Gaiman was a good use of tax payer money unless they made more revenue from the event than the expenses cost them.

 

I'd like to hire Gaiman to speak at my Company so I could hear him but I doubt my shareholders would agree.

[Annihilus]

So Gaiman charges a fee (in advance). He shows up and gets paid. I'm not sure I see the problem here....they didn't have to accept his fee and could have gotten someone else to speak for cheaper. It's not his fault that whoever decided to hire him didn't know how much he/she should've spent.

 

What '#1 Movie in the World' did he write anyway?

 

 

[binarysunrise]

I just don't understand why the library would pay anyone $45k for speaking. Why did they think they *needed* Gaiman to speak? Sure, it'd be nice to have President Clinton address your Friends of the Library luncheon, but I really doubt a library could afford the speaking fees....

[binarysunrise]

What '#1 Movie in the World' did he write anyway?

 

I'd say not MirrorMask, and not Stardust. So either Coraline or Beowulf.

 

*Edit* Coraline opened at #3, but Beowulf opened at #1 in the US and Canada.

[Annihilus]

I just don't understand why the library would pay anyone $45k for speaking. Why did they think they *needed* Gaiman to speak? Sure, it'd be nice to have President Clinton address your Friends of the Library luncheon, but I really doubt a library could afford the speaking fees....

 

Yeah...that's the question. They can't blame Neil for that tho.

 

I didn't know he wrote Beowulf, thx for the info. I'm assuming that's the one with Angelena Jolie a few years back? I could Google, but I'm lazy.

 

I actually liked Mirrormask better than all the other ones he was involved with.

[Not*Sure*]

Well here is another thing..these budgets are often done in such a way that if the money is not spent by the end of the year the funding is cut by the amount unspent..

 

So take my mom's school say the gov sets aside $100,000 for arts enrichment in the school..the teachers spend all year buying modelling clay paints brushes smocks..books and come a month before the end of the year they still have $27,000 left. If they do not spend the $27,000 it doesn't "roll over" they lose it and not only that come budget time they get cut down to $72,000 for the next year..so they may say "We only have a short time to spend it or lose it..let's hire some famous artist to come in and speak to the kids or teach a class"

 

It sounds like a screwed us system but seriously that is how it works..

 

 

[ashrael]

Well here is another thing..these budgets are often done in such a way that if the money is not spent by the end of the year the funding is cut by the amount unspent..

 

So take my mom's school say the gov sets aside $100,000 for arts enrichment in the school..the teachers spend all year buying modelling clay paints brushes smocks..books and come a month before the end of the year they still have $27,000 left. If they do not spend the $27,000 it doesn't "roll over" they lose it and not only that come budget time they get cut down to $72,000 for the next year..so they may say "We only have a short time to spend it or lose it..let's hire some famous artist to come in and speak to the kids or teach a class"

 

It sounds like a screwed us system but seriously that is how it works..

 

 

Michael: Why don't you explain this to me like I'm five.

 

Oscar: Your mommy and daddy give you 10 dollars to open up a lemonade stand. So you go out and you buy cups and you buy lemons and you buy sugar. And now you find out that it only costs you nine dollars.

 

Michael: Ho-oh!

 

Oscar: So you have an extra dollar.

 

Michael: Yeah.

 

Oscar: So you can give that dollar back to mommy and daddy, but guess what? Next summer...

 

Michael: I'll be six.

[Guest Grails]

I'm going to go against the grain here. Sure, Matt Dean is out of line with childish name calling but he is correct that the library/tax payers should not be paying anyone 45K to speak unless its Charles Dickens.

 

While Gaiman is not at fault for anything, (he can charge whatever he wants) you would think he would have the decency to speak for free at a public library.

 

And then this from him:

 

Gaiman quickly defended his speaking fees, saying they are comparable to those charged by Snooki, the reality TV star.

"I won the Newbery Medal. I won the Carnegie Medal," said Gaiman, who said he has 1.5 million Twitter followers. "I've written movies that were the Number 1 movie in the entire world."

 

Really? He should have topped it off with, "Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal around here..."

[mschmidt]

I'm going to go against the grain here. Sure, Matt Dean is out of line with childish name calling but he is correct that the library/tax payers should not be paying anyone 45K to speak unless its Charles Dickens.

 

While Gaiman is not at fault for anything, (he can charge whatever he wants) you would think he would have the decency to speak for free at a public library.

 

And then this from him:

 

Gaiman quickly defended his speaking fees, saying they are comparable to those charged by Snooki, the reality TV star.

"I won the Newbery Medal. I won the Carnegie Medal," said Gaiman, who said he has 1.5 million Twitter followers. "I've written movies that were the Number 1 movie in the entire world.''

 

Really? He should have topped it off with, "Yeah, I'm kinda a big deal around here..."

 

That's actually not what he said, though - here's the correct quote:

 

I got a message from my speaking agency saying they want you to come and speak in Stillwater, and I said "I'm pretty pooped," and they said "Well, they're paying forty grand."

 

I said "Isn't that an awful lot to pay for a library in Stillwater?" and they said "Absolutely not, they have this money and it can only be spent on speakers in libraries. It can't even be spent on books or paper clips or staff And they will lose it, and if they haven't spent it their budget will be cut by that amount."

 

​I said, "Oh, OK, well then sure."

 

When I have windfalls like that I don't hang on to them. A third of my fee went to a sexual abuse charity, and the rest to a library- and book-based charity. And then I was done. I didn't actually think anything more about it until suddenly it became a thing in the Star Tribune, which seemed to be saying this was money that could have been used to pay for a football stadium or something.

 

And there was a brief tiny thing about it, so I posted something on it to my blog. People had been saying, "Well how can you take money from a library? It should have been spent on books and staff!" And so I wrote on my blog and said, "Well, actually it couldn't, and here's the deal."

 

Also, this is why I set my speaking fees ridiculously high: because I'm a writer, and what I should actually be doing is writing. This is why i have a speaking agency, because they filter this kind of stuff. I don't think I'm even in the top third of what their clients charge. But I've won the Newbery Medal, and the Carnegie Medal, the Hugo, and some Nebulas, I've written some hit movies.

 

Source:

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/05/neil_gaiman_matt_dean_pencil_neck_weasel.php

 

Another thing that should probably be highlighted here is the fact that Gaiman, as pr. his custom, donated his entire speaking fee to charity.

[Annihilus]

I'm going to go against the grain here. Sure, Matt Dean is out of line with childish name calling but he is correct that the library/tax payers should not be paying anyone 45K to speak unless its Charles Dickens.

 

While Gaiman is not at fault for anything, (he can charge whatever he wants) you would think he would have the decency to speak for free at a public library.

 

And then this from him:

 

Gaiman quickly defended his speaking fees, saying they are comparable to those charged by Snooki, the reality TV star.

"I won the Newbery Medal. I won the Carnegie Medal," said Gaiman, who said he has 1.5 million Twitter followers. "I've written movies that were the Number 1 movie in the entire world.''

 

Really? He should have topped it off with, "Yeah, I'm kinda a big deal around here..."

 

That's actually not what he said, though - here's the correct quote:

 

I got a message from my speaking agency saying they want you to come and speak in Stillwater, and I said "I'm pretty pooped," and they said "Well, they're paying forty grand."

 

I said "Isn't that an awful lot to pay for a library in Stillwater?" and they said "Absolutely not, they have this money and it can only be spent on speakers in libraries. It can't even be spent on books or paper clips or staff And they will lose it, and if they haven't spent it their budget will be cut by that amount."

 

​I said, "Oh, OK, well then sure."

 

When I have windfalls like that I don't hang on to them. A third of my fee went to a sexual abuse charity, and the rest to a library- and book-based charity. And then I was done. I didn't actually think anything more about it until suddenly it became a thing in the Star Tribune, which seemed to be saying this was money that could have been used to pay for a football stadium or something.

 

And there was a brief tiny thing about it, so I posted something on it to my blog. People had been saying, "Well how can you take money from a library? It should have been spent on books and staff!" And so I wrote on my blog and said, "Well, actually it couldn't, and here's the deal."

 

Also, this is why I set my speaking fees ridiculously high: because I'm a writer, and what I should actually be doing is writing. This is why i have a speaking agency, because they filter this kind of stuff. I don't think I'm even in the top third of what their clients charge. But I've won the Newbery Medal, and the Carnegie Medal, the Hugo, and some Nebulas, I've written some hit movies.

 

Source:

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/05/neil_gaiman_matt_dean_pencil_neck_weasel.php

 

Another thing that should probably be highlighted here is the fact that Gaiman, as pr. his custom, donated his entire speaking fee to charity.

 

Well, that certainly colors this a little differently.

[Guest Grails]

I'm going to go against the grain here. Sure, Matt Dean is out of line with childish name calling but he is correct that the library/tax payers should not be paying anyone 45K to speak unless its Charles Dickens.

 

While Gaiman is not at fault for anything, (he can charge whatever he wants) you would think he would have the decency to speak for free at a public library.

 

And then this from him:

 

Gaiman quickly defended his speaking fees, saying they are comparable to those charged by Snooki, the reality TV star.

"I won the Newbery Medal. I won the Carnegie Medal," said Gaiman, who said he has 1.5 million Twitter followers. "I've written movies that were the Number 1 movie in the entire world.''

 

Really? He should have topped it off with, "Yeah, I'm kinda a big deal around here..."

 

That's actually not what he said, though - here's the correct quote:

 

I got a message from my speaking agency saying they want you to come and speak in Stillwater, and I said "I'm pretty pooped," and they said "Well, they're paying forty grand."

 

I said "Isn't that an awful lot to pay for a library in Stillwater?" and they said "Absolutely not, they have this money and it can only be spent on speakers in libraries. It can't even be spent on books or paper clips or staff And they will lose it, and if they haven't spent it their budget will be cut by that amount."

 

​I said, "Oh, OK, well then sure."

 

When I have windfalls like that I don't hang on to them. A third of my fee went to a sexual abuse charity, and the rest to a library- and book-based charity. And then I was done. I didn't actually think anything more about it until suddenly it became a thing in the Star Tribune, which seemed to be saying this was money that could have been used to pay for a football stadium or something.

 

And there was a brief tiny thing about it, so I posted something on it to my blog. People had been saying, "Well how can you take money from a library? It should have been spent on books and staff!" And so I wrote on my blog and said, "Well, actually it couldn't, and here's the deal."

 

Also, this is why I set my speaking fees ridiculously high: because I'm a writer, and what I should actually be doing is writing. This is why i have a speaking agency, because they filter this kind of stuff. I don't think I'm even in the top third of what their clients charge. But I've won the Newbery Medal, and the Carnegie Medal, the Hugo, and some Nebulas, I've written some hit movies.

 

Source:

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/05/neil_gaiman_matt_dean_pencil_neck_weasel.php

 

Another thing that should probably be highlighted here is the fact that Gaiman, as pr. his custom, donated his entire speaking fee to charity.

 

Well then, the original article linked is omitting crucial information. I sincerely hope so since I've always been a fan and was severely disappointed when I read it. Thanks for the other side, Michael.

 

Also, my apologies for the knee jerk post.