Sorry, I don't have any insider information to share — just wanted to talk about my recent movie purchases. In a fit of wishful thinking and "isn't Neil Gaiman swell?" euphoria, I went down to my local video store and bought DVDs of the English TV series Neverwhere and last year's movie Mirrormask.

I really liked Neverwhere (the book.) It was witty and engaging and a bit weird and very, very...well...very Neil Gaiman. A good strong stock Neil Gaiman-esque protagonist (humble, slightly befuddled, generally unaware of cute he is, thoroughly well-intentioned, and just so damn nice) and enough interesting and different characters and places to really fire the imagination.

The TV series though? Oh dear. I kept watching and thinking to myself: "the poor lambs...if only they'd had a real budget this could have been really good." Enough money for sets and props and actors who could act (they weren't all bad, but those who were walked right past "bad" and didn't stop until they'd reached "awful.") It wasn't a terrible show (although I probably gave it considerable lee-way because I was so enchanted with the book) but Lord, it wasn't good either.

After 3 shows, I stopped watching and put in Mirrormask instead.

Just the thing to cleanse the palate, as it turns out.

I think Neil Gaiman is most on top of his game when he throws mythology into the mix. More specifically, I really do think he is the master of the modern fairy tale. "Modern fairy tale." Hmmph. Sounds like something that came out of a marketing brainstorming session on how to sell the latest remake of "Three Little Pigs."

What I mean by "modern fairy tale" is that some of Gaiman's work (Mirrormask and the coming-soon-to-a-theatre-near-you Stardust) has the quality of fairy tales that might have been written down by the Brothers Grimm three centuries ago, but weren't. There is that sense of wonder and excitement and internal rules that are not expected to be exactly the same as our rules, although they are damned familiar. Magical lands, and magical figures, and I am not quite doing these stories justice when I say that in Gaiman's hands "magical" is fresh and new, and not a word that's been used to describe so many things, from Pagan to Hogworts, that it has ceased to have much meaning.

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know: Gaiman has a loyal and devoted presence here on the forum, and a lot of people here had the chance to oooh! and aaah! over Mirrormask when it was still in the theatre. But if you haven't had the chance, I highly recommend you pick up the DVD. It's truly a beautiful movie.