just now got back from fforde's appearance at my local bookstore...

i must say he is as fabulous in person as an author...

he also "approved" my upgrades.

there was also waaaayyyy more people than i expected– i ended up sitting on the checkout counter.

so my question...

has everyone heard the balloon joke? i think it is awesome ;)

No :( Sadly, although the UK and the US get a visitation, Ireland was not on the dance card :(

I was at his signing in NYC (and you're absolutely right--he is ffabulous in person!) but I don't remember a balloon joke. Care to repeat it?

If I remember correctly....

Baby balloon was frightened by the thunderstorm one night so he decided to get into bed with mum and dad.
He couldn't fit in so he let a little bit of air out of his dad, he still couldn't get in so he let a bit out of his mum, he still didn't fit so he let a bit out of himself. He could then get in the bed.
In the morning his dad realised what he had done so dad said
"Son, not only have you let me down, but you've let your mother down but worst of all you've let yourself down"!

<snort>

Unfortunately the DoubleF is not coming to southern California. Sniff!

What? I thought for sure he was going to! (In fact, that was my backup plan in case I didn't make it to NYC.)

Jasper definitely didn't tell that joke to our crowd, but he did start off his talk with a safety lecture on how to read the book (with Mari providing visual aids).

well that was the jist of the joke... though he kinda flushed it out a little more... it was great though.

why would he not go to southern california? i mean... there are so many people there; so maybe he just hates it like me...

and come to think about it, i guess the only reason he came to portland is that the people who did the illustrations live here... in fact i got my book signed by Bill too...

"if you do not know how to open a book, you should not be out alone, unsupervised"

the closest he got was Capitola. i am pretty sure that is the town where clint eastwood is or used to be mayor. we used to go to the beach there when i was growing up and lived in the more civilized section of the state. maybe once you are in clint's town you just don't want to penetrate farther south!

Usually he goes to Southern California--San Diego at least once, and I'm sure he's gone to Los Angeles too. (Of course, that didn't help me, since the last two years he's been in the west coast while I've been in New York, and in New York while I've been in California. Finally this year he got it right!)

And you got yours signed by the illustrator, too? No fair!

(The website suggests that he'll be in Toronto at some point, so I'm considering going up there for seconds!)

Blimmin Eck, I bet people obey the law in Capitola...

I remember that Joke!! do you Kitten?
I could swear he told us that joke the second time we saw Jasper- you know at Readings? He's awesome to sit and listen too- I sat almost on his toes.
Good angle if I was drawing nostrils!
Damn, I bet we have to wait until next year to see him again, every second year he comes to Australia.
As happy as I am to see his popularity rise, I now have to get to the books shop at least an hour beforehand. The first time Kitten and I saw Jasper, there were only thirty or so people. The second time the bookshop ended up being packed- feel sorry for those up the back, unlike us!
Yay,
I like book signings, you get to sweet talk a poster out of the bookshop if you play your cards right!

I think one of the recent talks in Boston (Brookline), some people I met who went there said it was being held in a larger venue than the store, just because they were becoming so popular. From what I've heard he's a great speaker. Must look out for another one in London.

lol, I never my turn with the poster... :P
How funny was it when everyone was suddenly watching us and listening to every word we said when we were discussing the International T-shirt of Mystery?

Speaking of which...

Who wants it first? I can bung stamps inside the parcel for anywhere in australia...

Oh, I almost forgot about that! It turns out I'm at the same address I gave you before for another year, so you can send it to me unless you want to make the rounds of Australia first.

What's the International T-Shirt of Mystery?

Cheers Muse, :) I'll bung it in the post, post- er- haste.

The international t-shirt of mystery is a t-shirt belonging to the international kitten of mystery.
I plan to get fforumite signatures all over it, from all over the world. :)

The Double Consonantly One did indeed tell that joke at Readings, Melbourne last year. I was there too =D. It makes me giggle every time.

Almost as much as this (and yes, I know we do have a jokes thread, but this isn't worth its own post): Where do you find a turtle with no legs? Where you left it.

Hmmm. I think I need to get me a new sense of humour.

-------

Beware of the flying giraffes.

Hey BK of Mystery that is a great idea! Shall I send you my address?

BK, that's fun!

Megs, I like that joke.

it'll hopefully be done as a sign-it-and-pass-it-on thing, IE, I'll post it to someone, who signs it, then posts it to someone, who signs it, then posts it to someone...