Daniel Handler's Birthday: 2011

[Dante]

Okay, sounds good. But we should also be thinking about setting up some kind of signature submission, and putting in a formal request to the artists of 667 to see if there's something they could arrange for us. It'd be good if we could have everything we need in place by the 25th so we can spend the next two days simply putting it all together.

[Hermedy]

Is everyone really set on submitting signatures? It looks like the file is going to be large enough without trying to patch loads of different styles of signatures together at the bottom.

[Dante]

Good point. We could probably do without individual signatures, when you put it like that (particularly given that nobody's provided one yet). That is, we can type in the names of everyone who's contributed something, but not requesting anything more would certainly save time on arrangements. I guess the idea was sort of a hold-over from the basic birthday card template, and everyone's being creative enough without them.

[Christmas Chief]

Leaving out the signatures would definitely make things easier. I also agree that a request to 667's artistic extrodinaires is necessary, but before I do that I'd like to have a better idea of what it is, precisely, we need. (Not just the layout, but the means by which the project will be executed.)

[Dante]

I was thinking of the following:
1a) A really awesome banner made up of combined pieces of Helquist art, like the forum banner, with a deadline of Y;
1b) Lots of pieces of banner-suitable art from various artists with a deadline of X, someone who's good at making banners to combine them all into one banner by deadline Y.
2) Some sort of fancy copy-pasteable border that can be edged around the whole note, although in a pinch we can just repurpose art from the book covers for that purpose (I've done it myself before now).
Sometime when I'm free I'll put together a prototype and write an introductory letter to give a better example of what I think the finished product would look like.

[Dante]

I know it's less than twenty-four hours since I last posted, but there's genuine new content here, so it's okay. Here's the prototype I put together in MS Paint.



Might increase the font size on the real thing, since it's just a bit too small here.

[Christmas Chief]

Looks great. I don't have time right now, but I'll send out a request to the artists sometime later today.

[Dante]

I've also written out a draft of the accompanying birthday letter. What does everyone think? Too menacing? Too few words beginning with F?

---
Dear Mr. Handler,

Felicitations are in order! A forty-first birthday is a milestone reached by most people only once, or occasionally more by people who like to fib about their age. As you blow out the forty-one candles on your birthday cake we hope you will be able to reflect on a year as fortunate, fruitful, frisky and otherwise fsomething as any highly successful author and literary representative can hope for.

This is a day on which, forbearing the prospect of receiving forty-one birthday bumps from caring and somewhat over-exuberant friends, you should be without any of the concerns you have no doubt accumulated over each of the years leading up to this birthday. Thinking of reasons to be concerned should, for now, be left to less fortunate, birthdayless folk.

Folk such as your adoring fans. We thought of forty-one.

~41 Reasons To Be Concerned~

Reasons to be concerned such as the forty-one above should absolutely not cross your mind at all today. But if any of them should, somehow, come to your attention, think of this silver lining to that dark cloud:

There are only forty-one. Next year there might be forty-two.

With all due respect,

667 Dark Avenue

Happy Birthday!
---

[Emma “Emmz” Squalor]

I agree, the graphic prototype is looking splendid. As for the birthday letter, I think it's a very well-written, beautiful sentiment, and is something Mr. Handler is sure to treasure. It has just the right amount of words beginning with f (we don't want to get repetitive, after all), so I wouldn't worry about that.

[Tiago James Squalor]

I like the graphic prototype, but I personally would like it to be much darker. Also, the birthday letter is flawlessly written.

[Dante]

Darker in what respect, Tiago?

Edit: I could borrow 667's layout and have white text on a black background, for instance.

[Christmas Chief]

Brilliant letter. Let's see... the only word I can think of right now that would fit fsomething is "fashionable."

[Cafe SalMONAlla]

Great letter.

[Dante]

I was thinking of leaving "fsomething" as it is, as a joke, and also to draw attention to the use of F alliteration.

[Cafe SalMONAlla]

That's not a bad idea. It'll be funny.