Penny Hero (dot) Net

I met Randall Munroe today.

Still sorta swoony. :) I’ve now got a signed copy of this comic:

I’m totally regretting being so damn shy and not talking to him more. *sigh*

In Other News: After nearly 5 months of no music in my car (due to that stupid theft thing), I have a new stereo in my car! I even got to learn how to install it! (Funny though that my friend seemed so surprised that I already knew how to strip wires.)

A couple of my friends plus two of their friends (who are no-doubt equally cool) are trying to get to linux.conf.au and need the internet’s help to get there.

You can do one (or more) of the following things to help:

1. Digg this: How to raise 10,000 grassroots style
2. spread the word by blogging and linking to their website
3. DONATE!!

I donated $50. Beat that, suckers!

I’m insanely stoked. Mark Danielewski is coming to Portland, and I get to leave work a little early to drive up there and see him. My plan is to get House of Leaves and The Whalestone Letters signed if possible, and buy Only Revolutions while I’m there. God I hope I’m brave enough to actually talk to him and ask him to sign my books. It was hard enough to be brave when I was part of CWS and meeting authors every month (omg, Dinner with Sherman Alexie!)… you’d think I’d be over my shyness by now.

Credit Where Credit is Due: Cepcion introduced me to House of Leaves a long time ago, and while I haven’t ACTUALLY finished it yet, it’s disturbing and powerful all the same. Amazon.com has a good editorial review that talks about the meta-novel structure and the crazy “sometimes you have to hold the pages backwards and in the mirror to read it” typography, or you can google Mark Danielewski and read about his crazy blue hair and social-networking++ way of getting fan participation for his new book, Only Revolutions.

I was a member of the Only Revolutions forums, but not an active participant because I joined way too late, and kept telling myself that I wanted to finish HOL before getting more involved… little did I know that time was running out.

So… according to the Only Revolutions Website (careful, lots of sound and animation!), he’ll be at Powell’s Books in Portland at 7:30pm TONIGHT to read from his new book!

I’ll be there.

Will you?