While the photos are being sorted out, here are some miscellaneous musings from my trip…

I had always assumed one of the drawbacks to city living in somewhere like London was the background noise — an incessant din which prevails throughout the night. Imagine my surprise to find that the comparably insignificant town of Natchez (and even Baton Rouge on some nights) was far louder outside, with a near deafening roar from cicadas in particular, as well as creatures of that ilk. Cicadas are particularly loud insects since their "singing" is not produced by rubbing parts of their body, but rather through clicking "timbals" in their exoskeleton, the sound being amplified by using their body as a resonance chamber.

The Coca Cola issue has become more severe now that I drink it more regularly in the UK, to the point where I actually have to avoid it in the States. Most Americans are sadly (blissfully?) unaware that they are given worse Coke than anywhere else in the world. In fairness, regular travellers aside, the rest of the world is largely unaware that US Coke is so bad either. The reason is that proper Coca Cola is sugar based, but the US variety is made with cheaper corn syrup instead. This actually spans to most soft drinks there, but the flavour is particularly noticeable in cola. You have been warned. And Americans, come try the good stuff!

Jenna and I share similar views when it comes to children's books, both disliking the majority of modern drivel which is thrown at kids on the basis that so long as they are reading it's a good thing. In fact bad books can even stifle their imaginations. For example Karleigh produces all sorts of stories when playing with her toy ponies but in the bookstore, were one to cave to her whims and buy the branded tie-in pony books, she tends towards reproducing the basic stories within rather than inventing her own adventures for them.

Personally there are two things I expect from a good children's book: inventive originality to develop imagination and avoiding talking down to children. The latter means a decent vocabulary in order to expand the child's, as well as content with some sort of depth, which sort of ties into the first part. There is a strange idea that children's stories need to be obvious when in fact children are often more open to parallel imagery than adults. Neil Gaiman's books for children have always appealed to me since, as an author of adult fiction too, he does not sit down with the goal of just producing a children's book. Rather he has various ideas some of which suit novels or comics while others work best as children's books. I was glad to be able to buy a copy of The Wolves in the Walls, a personal favourite, for Karleigh.

On a related note, all parents should carry around notebooks to jot down those wonderful things their child comes out with (and an adult never could). I heard several Karleighisms during my trip that I've already forgotten and wish I had written here or elsewhere. The alternative is to attach a dictaphone to your child but that might be considered expensive, time consuming and also slightly creepy.

I mentioned the idea a while back but never mentioned that the chosen Neil Gaiman book, American Gods, is now available for free though publisher Harper Collins. For those unfamiliar with Neil's work it's a fantastic piece of fiction that follows Shadow's journey across America meeting the old gods brought over to the this melting pot country and then forgotten. It's slightly heavy but the fact it reached the top of the New York Times' best seller list is testament to its popularity. If you haven't read it I thoroughly recommend it.

Nearly as free at the negligable price of £1 is Neil's new children's book Odd and the Frost Giants. The story was written for World Book Day where children can trade £1 book vouchers for various titles written by authors who wish to promote reading without making a profit. Of course there is nothing to prevent the rest of us from enjoying this generosity and his children's fiction tends to be a light, fun read. I'm sure there are several children you can "buy it for"…

On the theme of free media is Trent Reznor's release model for the music he's produced collaborating with a wide range of artists in the latest Nine Inch Nails album. Titled Ghosts I-IV, it is available in no fewer than 5 different packages through his website. Following in the steps of Radiohead there is a completely free offering allowing anyone to download 9 tracks. For the ridiculously low price of $5 one can purchase the full 36-track collection to download. Equally cheap is the $10 2CD release (providing the digipack is as stylish as one expects from NIN) and it also offers immediate access to digital downloads. More expensive is the $75 package with a fabric slipcase and a DVD and blu-ray disc as well as the standard CD album and an art book. Finally the insane signed $300 ultimate package has already sold out (a testament to the fanaticism of the hardcore Nine Inch Nails crowd). Trent has already shown his willingness to embrace new forms of media in releasing and promoting his music but this presents an ideal model for music releases, fully empowering the consumer to choose how they wish to enjoy the product. Naturally it is bigger artists with an established fanbase who can afford to take risks like this, but if he can show it turns a real profit, hopefully we can expect to see more offerings in this style as the music industry struggles to find a new working model.

The whole social networking lark throws up quirky moments from time to time, such as Last.fm now informing me that apparently I have a high musical compatibility with Neil Gaiman. Quite how this has any bearing on the real world I am unsure, but it's still nice to know. Since I now stream a lot of media to my living room via the Xbox 360, Last.fm no longer really provides an accurate picture of what I'm listening to. Mind you, music played on portable devices while travelling was never recorded either, so it was hardly angling for a high degree of accuracy to begin with. The inherent advantage of an open platform for console development is that it would allow for such small applications to be ported over, but this is totally contrary to the current business model so for now that's a pipe dream.

When it comes to technology, and in particular mobile phones, it is no secret that I like big swanky screens. However I also really like the tactile feedback of buttons which has made me reluctant to buy into any of the first generation touchscreen devices which shun any form of old-fashioned clicking. Now Sony Ericsson's fusion in the new XPERIA X1 (which in fairness is rumoured to have been designed by the folks at HTC) looks like it might just steal my heart.

There has been a flood of mobile announcements with the Mobile World Congress kicking off in Barcelona. If full keyboards aren't your cup of tea SE's new G series "touchscreen organisers" are worth a look, while Nokia's high-end flagship model gets an upgrade in the N96.

No, he's not been incarcerated, but he is giving away some of his writing for free. To celebrate the 7th birthday of his blog the big plan is to release one of his books online gratis, for one month to start with. Interestingly which book is being left up to his readers who are encouraged to pick what they believe is the best book for new readers to be introduced to his work. Clear frontrunners are currently American Gods and Neverwhere. American Gods is undoubtedly an incredible piece of work, though arguably too heavy for an initial introduction. My personal vote goes to Smoke & Mirrors, a less well read collection of short stories, in part because they are just magical and in part because shorter chunks seems better suited than a full length novel for electronic distribution, unless one is lucky enough to own a Kindle.

This brings to mind that the fifth birthday of this very blog occurs later this year, 4th September for those paying particularly close attention. I aim to transfer over more of the old posts, having stopped a few months after the site redesign in 2005. However I'm also looking for something big to celebrate five years, but since my writing is basically made available for free I cannot really follow suit. Ideas on a postcard. Or possibly the comments if you don't want to pay for postage.

Market sellers in Camden are in trouble after a serious fire raged through over the weekend. It is now known where it started but not exactly how. Most of Camden is still open for business but this will undoubtedly affect business and the high street will remain closed for several days. I have recently been visiting Camden a lot more regularly and on my last visit was dismayed to see that the Black Rose, from where most of my youthful "accessories" came, has closed down. This is what happens when I stop paying attention…

Sort of a follow-up to yesterday's post, this features the various bits and pieces I've come across in the last couple of weeks that are worth sharing. First up is an ingeniously innovative new use of the Nintendo Wii hardware for head tracking, with a great demonstration that ought to impress even those who are not gaming-inclined. Tycho over at Penny Arcade postponed his regular blog post to show off this video, and those who know the site also know he is never one to shut up!

The American cover for The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman's next book, has been revealed. Of course following the standard trend this means we can expect something completely different here in the UK. His entire back catalogue was re-released in a single style with Anansi Boys a few years ago, with the Fragile Things collection continuing that design. It will be interesting to see if they follow suit with the new book or produce something divergent.

With a lot of buzz hovering around the imminent release of Cloverfield produced by Lost creator JJ Abrams, supposedly reinvigorating the monster film genre, people have apparently forgotten the film he is actually directing. The film in question is Star Trek, a prequel that looks at the roots of Kirk and Spock, and one that will make or break the future of the franchise. The cast list is impressive, including Heroes villain Zachary Quinto (Sylar) as Spock in an inspired piece of casting. Somewhat stranger are comedy actors Simon Pegg and John Cho as Scotty and Sulu respectively. A teaser trailer has now been released which, as is now expected, reveals virtually nothing beyond the exterior of the Enterprise. Hopefully some real footage will emerge before long.

Here at the flat we've upgraded our entire wireless network, replacing the old Netgear router with a Belkin wireless N setup. Far more robust and with massively increased bandwidth, this actually allows for smooth wireless streaming of video via the Xbox even in high definition. So yes, that means HD trailers displayed on the Bravia in the living room which looks stunning. Wall-E has actually been the most oft-played for its sheer level of detail in the junkyard sequences. Its left me very keen to get more HD content to play with and with the Blu-ray camp delivering a decisive blow at the beginning of this month at CES, seemingly ending the format war earlier than expected, it's becoming very difficult to hold back. That is, until one looks at the prices. My wallet whimpers and I go back to looking at DVDs.

Second Life is a virtual world that falls well outside the "game" descriptor. It is better viewed as a platform for communication and expression, very much symbolising the virtues of the web itself. With a working economy, some have taken things further and the virtual real estate market has proved highly lucrative. I created a Second Life for myself a few years ago but was not particularly impressed by my first foray. Control felt clunky and unresponsive and the whole experience was plagued by lag rendering it almost unusable. When Neil Gaiman mentioned that an interview promoting Beowulf would be his first time in Second Life, it seemed like an ideal opportunity to give it another go. The whole idea is rather fitting, after all, for a film that seeks to take the concept of digital actors to a whole a new level.

So last Thursday I hopped back in, quickly spruced up my avatar and found my way to the Hollywood Bowl where on Saturday the interview would be broadcast live (from the private Beowulf Island before a few VIP guests). Today I was able to experience one of the truest attempts at fusion of the real and virtual: a virtual interview of a real writer and director (Roger Avery) discussing their real film, broadcast to a virtual auditorium of virtual avatars being controlled real people. Confused yet? While fun, this was very much a novelty. Far from seamless, this was very much inferior to the alternative of a direct webcast interview which would have offered much better video quality without continuous drops. On the other hand, had that been the case, I probably wouldn't have bothered to watch it.

Second Life definitely feels more impressive now than on my last visit, but there are clearly still a lot of issues to be resolved. It is perhaps unfair to judge it since the client does not yet officially support Vista, and some bugs (including crashing to the desktop on occasion) may be due to this incompatibility. Moving to a virtual art gallery, for example, the sluggishness and low visual quality seems markedly inferior to a web gallery, yet the ability to have a "live" musician playing at the event does add a certain charm. I certainly won't become a regular user at the moment, but I have a feeling I will be frequently popping in for short trips to check things out.

It suddenly dawned on me that, after plugging Stardust repeatedly over the last year, I haven't actually raved about it here since seeing it. If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading this and go and book tickets. It's one of those magical films that ought to serve all genders, ages and tastes equally.

The reason I have been following it closely is, of course, that the story was penned by Neil Gaiman. Like the book it remains anapologetically (modern) fairy tale, though Matthew Vaughn's direction grounds the visuals in realism, with superb subtle flourishes such as the way Claire Danes' Yvaine seems to glow and wane according to her mood. Indeed Vaughn's involvement is what originally filled me with hope for the project, since selecting the director of Layer Cake, such a drastically different film, meant he must love the source material and the studio felt he was perfect for it so would presumably leave him alone.

The cast is sublime. Claire Danes is wonderful in her portrayal of the star, while casting a newcomer, Charlie Cox, as Tristran was vital in many ways to allow his character to naturally emerge and bloom during the story. The names alone in the supporting cast are phenomenal, but chief among them are a deliciously evil Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert de Niro's Captain Shakespeare. Although loosely based on the pirate captain from the book, Neil Gaiman said it best, "I know I didn't write a pirate captain performing a can-can in drag". So departures from the original story are very evident, but in every case they work well in translating the story to the big screen so even purists would be hard pressed to complain.

So this isn't supposed to be a review as such, just me urging everyone to go and see the film because you really will enjoy it. Like Pixar fare, there really is something for everyone, though this wasn't written primarily for children (Gaiman wrote the original as a fairy tale for adults, though the film is very much a PG). I fear that much of the advertising is designed to appeal more to girls (to the tune of a new Take That song, no less &mdash though worryingly I actually quite like it) or else will fall into the weird grey area where no one thinks it is really their sort of movie. I promise it is, just give it a go.

For some time now Neil Gaiman has been my favourite (living) writer. With this in mind it came as quite a shock to discover a few days ago that he was doing an interview/reading as part of a Stardust promotional tour, and then to discover that I now live in London so could actually go along to attend. Since Jane has just returned from the States and is as much of a fan as I (to the point that she has actually defaced her body with Sandman-themed ink), we headed along together yesterday evening to the Criterion Theatre, a much more comfortable venue than the usual in-store reading.

Neil is as remarkably friendly and convivial as he seems in all the interviews I have previously stumbled upon. His casual demeanour makes for a wonderful evening where you feel as if he is chatting directly with you, and not the whole avid audience of a darkened theatre. He read from the Stardust novel (though sadly not from his forthcoming The Graveyard Book) and discussed all manner of things from his writing roots to how our lives seem to be scripted by multiple authors from one moment to the next. I recently heard an anecdote attributed to him which, unprompted, he confirmed: Neil was chatting to a publisher who became very awkward upon discovering he wrote comics. When he realised who Neil actually was he relaxed saying, "Ah, but you don't write comics. You write graphic novels." And Neil suddenly felt like a prostitute who had just been referred to a "lady of the night".

The floor was opened up for questions and without missing a beat a girl stood up and asked, "would you think it forward of me to kiss you?", quoting directly from the Stardust passage he had just read, and leaving slightly shocked Neil unusually lost for words for a few moments. Another question revealed, after feeling stung by their adaptation of Neverwhere, Neil is now quite keen on working with the BBC again. Possibly, he suggested, on Anansi Boys (a very succinct 1-hour radio play has just been recorded for BBC World Service). He also discussed what actually happened when he and Jonathan Ross finally met Steve Ditko, the reclusive co-creator of some of Marvel's big names like Spider-man. He had been involved with Ross' documentary In Search of Steve Ditko but after tracking down and meeting the man alone, the pair refused to tell the cameras what actually transpired, feeling it was somehow better that way. Finally when asked who would play him in a film of his life, Neil answered unequivocally that it would have to be Dylan Moran or at least someone with his hair.

The event was far too short, followed by a signing queue that was far too long, but it was well worth the wait to get my hardback copies of Anansi Boys and and Endless Nights signed. Unfortunately towards the end of the queue they had to speed people along, so we didn't really get to speak to Neil much at all (though Jane did partially undress to show off her tattoo, admittedly at his request and only to see her shoulder). Nevertheless it was a magical evening and one that I hope to repeat soon. After all, he'll have to promote Beowulf before long…