A Promise to Twitter Fulfilled, or, How I Ended Up Covered in Frosting by Roller Derby Girls on Neil Gaiman’s Lawn

First, the video, which explains why roller derby girls are covering me in frosting on Neil Gaiman’s lawn, and the subsequent photodocumentation. Stick around for the time-lapse photography!

Second, the image, which illustrates everything.

Three: The poster offer!

Yes, indeed, you can get this awesome picture as a poster, via NeverWear.net. When you buy it, 100% of the profits go to two worthy causes: The SFWA Emergency Medical Fund, which helps out science fiction and fantasy writers in times of medical crisis, and City Kitties, a non-profit going to help out the stray cat population of West Philadelphia. Kittehs and Writers! You can’t go wrong!

For those of you wondering if Neil himself was involved with the production, if you click through to the poster order page, you’ll see a picture of Neil preparing to plaster the last bit of frosting onto my face, right over my mouth. There’s symbolism there, I’m sure.

For more on this madness, check out photographer Kyle Cassidy’s post about it, and Kitty’s Neverwear post as well.

And what what is it actually like, being covered in frosting?

Sticky.

And that’s all I am going to say about that.

Seriously, though, this was ridiculous fun, and the idea of making a pilgrimage to Neil’s place to be covered in frosting by roller derby girls was just too awesome to pass up. My life is strange, but it’s the best kind of strange, i.e., the kind that’s really quite a lot of fun.

Now I have think up what I will do when I reach 40,000 Twitter followers. Hmmmmm.

(And yes, please feel free to blog, tweet and otherwise blab about this to everyone you know. We’re trying to save kittens and writers here. Through the mystical power of frosting.)

Update, 10:36pm: Our first delightful fan art, from Cameragrrl, taking off on a popular internet meme:

I can’t wait to use these in my arguments on the Internet!

 

71 Comments on “A Promise to Twitter Fulfilled, or, How I Ended Up Covered in Frosting by Roller Derby Girls on Neil Gaiman’s Lawn”

  1. I just realized that I watched a guy get covered in frosting by roller derby girls, on the internet, and it wasn’t porn.

  2. Huh – and the only thing that came to mind was the cover of the Herb Alpert album “Whipped Cream and Other Delights” but with John instead of the woman.

  3. I agree with N.K. Jemisin. Double plus good to both John for following through and Laura for the comment.

    Now for 40,000 followers allow me to put forward a thought: Barbeque.

  4. Seeing this the first thing I thought about was the Bond Girl death scene in “Goldfinger” where Jill Masterson was killed after Goldfinger covered her in gold. Does this make Neil the dastardly “Butterfinger”? And did he say “No, Mr. Scalzi, I expect you to die”?

  5. Neil Gaiman is the guy that adopted the two white German Shepherds, right? I remembered when I saw one of them in the sped up video. Her name’s Lola, right?

    I heard about him. Seems like a pretty cool guy.

  6. You say it isn’t porn, but given this and his reference to frosting eating with his hands at the Hugos, I’m starting to wonder exactly what sort of a frosting fixation this IS…

  7. Loved the video! Can’t wait to get a poster! But I was curious who chose the music by Damon Buxton. It was amazing and I am buying an album of his music right now based on the video and the stuff on his website. Did you pIck the music? I ask because it seems a bit different than what you normally post on your site.

  8. Should’ve jumped on his trampoline too! Start a whole set of author’s on Neil Gaiman’s trampoline meme.

  9. And no cats were involved. I’m sure Ghlaghghee is laughing in the corner.
    Will have to see about poster. That is awesome, as are the causes.

  10. I am really glad that the jacket worked out. When Kyle asked me to help him find an outfit that looks like Claude Rains’, on a budget of like ten bucks, in West Philly, and also I had to guesstimate your size, I feared the worst.

  11. I just tried to explain this to my wife. I’m not very good at “explaining things”, especially something like this. She was… mostly confused. Then I told her Neil Gaiman, rollergirls, and good causes were involved, and she said “oh, ok”. Then she said “I’m going to bed to read my book.”

    Her current book is… wait for it… Redshirts.

    She’s really enjoying it, btw.

  12. I want to run screaming for the hills AND lick your face like a dog at the same time. That is not only physically impossible but horrible wrong on a multitude of levels. Well played, Sir.

  13. I’m officially out of poster space on my dorm room walls but I will get a ladder to put this on the ceiling if I have to.

  14. Those roller derby girls should open a frosting salon. They definitely improved your appearance. ;-)

    And wow. Neil’s house and yard look to be almost as big as yours.

  15. Also, at 2:00 on the film – “What, no frosting for the dog’s face? I protects you from squirrels!”

  16. You’re setting an unreasonable standard of confectionary goodness for future SFWA presidents now, you know.

  17. For 40,000 followers I think you should demonstrate a use for a spare goat… with roller derby girls… on Neil Gaiman’s front lawn.

  18. Yeah, Jean A beat me to it. The only proper resolution would have been bringing Ghlaghghee to the shoot so she could lick the frosting off your face. But it’s a lovely concept and execution nonetheless.

  19. Writers and kitties?
    Writers AND kitties? Okay, I’m sorry, I can’t ever seem to remember this one; would someone remind me what the difference is again?

  20. you, mister Scalzi, are a positive cake model, a perfect conveyance of frosting, a human cupcake! Thank you for your good-sportsman-ship, you are a personal hero. Kitties & authors, no soul could resist that peanut butter & jelly combo. Already dreaming of the 40K ceremony.
    and yes, gentle reader, Mariam W, Neil’s house IS indeed haunted, by very sweet ghosts of indeterminable origin.
    This project has been amazing so far, let’s see what happens when Gaiman unleashes his followers…
    When the posters get here, I am sending you a big batch to do with what you will. My love to your radiant wife.
    -Kitty Cat (@neverwear on the twitter)
    PS my husband, Drew the Tall, has now devoured all your books and is probably going to harangue you, George-R.R.-Martin-fanstyle. I told him you are Not his bitch, but he feels a bee-sting bond with you. Feel free to ignore his mewling pleas, write at your own pace, don’t hurry on account of us poor roadies, the deprived wanderers of the world, slavishly bringing the entertainment to the masses.

  21. This is a beautiful thing! and, City Kitties is a great organization…I think I will need to find some wall space. It will be perfect to bring to your next Philly signing!

  22. Maybe somebody has already pointed this out but I scanned the comments and I don’t think they have. So let me say that “Frosting Scalzi” would make an awesome band name.

  23. “Frost the Scalzi” is the 21st Century “Candy-coat.” As in, “I’m not going to frost the Scalzi for you Ms. Thompson. Your son may never play the violin again.”

  24. Well done, Scalzi.

    Long, long ago I passed out on a sofa backstage with my head hanging over the arm of the sofa. When I came to, I discovered my head (other than my nostrils and mouth but including my glasses) had been covered with paper mache. (The rest of the story … nah, not as good as your Claude Rains impersonation.) I can assure you, though, that frosting is a much more pleasant experience.

  25. @Miriamspia: Well, if he’d lain down on the lawn the dogs would’ve probably taken care of that very quickly. So, is that porn?

  26. I think this should join the Bloggess’s collection of photos of internet (demi?)-gods doing things. Though collating papers and holding twine are perhaps more pedestrian than being covered in buttercream….

  27. I don’t have any interest in a poster (more accurate: nowhere wife-approved to hang it) so I went and gave $5 each to the kitties and the SFWA fund. And I have to say, it is way too hard to give a few bucks to the SFWA fund, John. You should wave your clout around and make that easier. I know paypal is unpopular in a lot of circles but clicking one button to give is sooooooo much easier than entering information in two separate forms (with some duplicated info across the two).

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