What happens when you take Neil Gaiman‘s 2012 commencement speech and the Zen Pencils comic of a tiny bit of that speech? A video mashup happens, my friends. This is the internet after all. Drop below the cut to watch the video and read the tale of how I came to make it. It’s alright if you skim the tale and watch the video. I won’t judge.

Neil Gaiman is a prolific writer of fantasy, science fiction, poetry, and life. He became a beloved writer of mine *mumble mumble* years ago. Amazingly, it wasn’t love at first sight. I tried The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes and barely got past the first issue. What can I say. I was younger and still hung up on superhero comics. That’s not a bad place to start but it’s not a place one should stay forever, I think. After a year I gave Mr Gaiman a second try and jumped to The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists. The key to Hell segment of Morpheus’ five year journey in Vertigo comics. That was my key to Gaiman’s pantheon of works. I was hooked on fairy tales, ancient myths and, oddly enough, religion in a brand new way.