Movie review: Coraline

So as a HUGE Neil Gaiman fan, I'm always anxiously awaiting any new movies that he's involved in. And though Beowulf was somewhat disappointing and Stardust left me stomping my feet a bit, I can't complain too much. I feel pretty much the same about Coraline.

The movie is undeniably cute, between the stop motion and the overall cuteness of the story (despite it being a little scary in places, at least for little kids). I tried really hard not to squee too loud during the They Might Be Giants song, when Coraline's father's voice suddenly and unmistakably became that of John Linnell. :)

The big issue I had with it, unfortunately, was something that Thaddeus told me about on Sunday--they added a character to the story. Normally, no big deal. Until it has the effect of lessening the main character. :( I could go into a big huge rant here, too, about girl power and such, but I don't want to ruin the story too much for those who haven't read the book or seen the movie.

Oh yeah, which reminds me. Read the book. :) The movie is wonderful, but the book is equally so, if not better. I've only read it once, and it's been a little while since I read it, but I think that you'll find the book and movie are pretty wonderfully similar. Except for that extra character. *sigh*

Books and such

I've actually been reading quite a bit lately, which is a nice change. Most of this was inspired by the fact that I had two 5 hour flights last week, and needed something to do while waiting in the airport and while en route. So as it turned out, I finished four books and started a fifth. :)

Now, granted, two of these were children's books: The Girl with the Silver Eyes and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I'd also read both of them before, when I was a kid. Another was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, which, again, I had already read (and was miserably disappointed when I realized that I ONLY had the first book of it. Not even Restaurant at the End of the Universe!).

The fourth one I read was one that I had started reading before I left: The Good Fairies of New York. That one was a random find when we went on a crazy book buying binge at Barnes & Noble one night. The cover was interesting, and then I saw that Neil Gaiman had written the introduction. So of course I had to read it. :) The author, Martin Millar, also has a book called The Girl Werewolf, or something like that, which I also want to get and read. :)

And for the fifth book, which I'm only about halfway through, I finally decided to read Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, after having it for several months. I do that WAY too often. I buy a book, I leave it sitting around for a while, and then I put it up on the book shelf, where it is effectively forgotten. Well, presently, I have a STACK of books that need to be read, and that one trip whittled it down pretty well. Of course, my stack is incomplete, since we have an entire shelf of graphic novels, and I've read about half of those. And Jerome has many, many more graphic novels on our external hard drive.

The best part, though, is that I've started reading these books in the evening, instead of having the TV on. Jerome has been happily plugging away at reading graphic novels on his laptop. It's brilliant! :)

Waiting for it...

So according to my handy dandy little calendar here at work, between yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I should have 6 projects landing on my desk for editing. Notice that I say between yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Meaning that none of them has crossed my desk yet, even though the first should have come to me yesterday. I suspect I'm going to see one of them at lunch time, 2 more late this afternoon, and the rest of them on Friday. Joy.

Haven't been up to much lately, but I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow night, when we are going to a sneak preview of "Beowulf." This is the newest version, in 3-D, rotoscoped over with the actors motion captured and then CG animated, "starring" Angelina Jolie and some other people. :) Now, because I've actually taken a class in translating Beowulf from Old English to modern English, I'm always a little leery of Beowulf adaptations. If you have any sense at all about the story, and have seen Christopher Lambert's "Beowulf,", you will understand my concerns. :) "Beowulf and Grendel" was a bit better, if you could overlook Sarah Polley's atrocious accent.

Anyway, I'm hopeful for this one not because Angelina Jolie is just about naked in it. No, I'm hopeful because Neil Gaiman was involved in the writing of the screenplay. I think that when you're working with a classical piece of literature, it's a good idea to have an amazing writer involved with the script. Super good idea.

I'm certainly not holding my breath that it will be good, but hey... the sneak preview is free. Can't beat that. :) I'll also probably get an article out of it, and hopefully in time to get a lot of page views, from other skeptical people like me. :)

So we went and saw "Stardust" last night. For those who don't know, this movie is based off of a book by Neil Gaiman. I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan, but this book is definitely one of my favorites, because it's a fairy tale. In fact, when Neil Gaiman was describing this movie at Comic Con, he compared it to "The Princess Bride." If anyone is still surprised that I like it, they should probably reexamine what it is they think they know about me. :)

Unsurprisingly, I loved the movie. True, there were a few parts that bothered me a little bit, but that's because they weren't completely true to the book. If, however, I had not read the book before, I know I would have completely and utterly loved this movie. Sadly, most of my disappointment stemmed from the fact that they left out my favorite line in the entire book, and that it really seemed like they rushed through a lot of bits to get to the "good parts." And one of those "good parts" was something that totally was NOT in the book.

But I can't complain, because I loved the steampunk pirates with their airship SOOOO much! (I looked it up last night, and the pirates are in the actual book for all of 5 pages, and they're nothing like they are in the movie.) I really can't wait for this movie to come out on DVD, because I will then watch the pirate part frame by frame to find all of the beautiful details that I missed the first time.

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In other news, I get to go see Abney Park tonight, which will be awesome. Sadly, Jerome does not get to come with me (both because he works late and can't get into the place where they're playing), but I think I'll have a pretty good time anyhow. I will probably end up working the merch booth with their new merch boy/cabin boy, Qais (that's pronounced "case," if you were wondering).
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This week has taken a bit longer than usual to get going, though that may be because my car was being a pain in the ass on Monday, and thus I stayed home that day.

At any rate, Cindy has three new articles today:

Foley, Reid Should be Investigated, Prosecuted If Laws Were Broken

Fall Wedding Beset with Problems Still a Happy Affair (Once It's Over)

Misadventures in Energy-Saving and Winterizing My Apartment

And I have four new ones, from the course of the weekend:

The Life and Times of Michael Alig as Told in Popular Culture: Party Monster and Disco Bloodbath Tell Part of the Story

For those who don't know who Michael Alig was, don't feel bad. I didn't either until I saw the movie version of Party Monster. I guess perhaps if you were in NYC in that time frame, he might be better known, but to Midwestern teenagers, he wasn't a big name. :) Of course, now I've watched the movie, the shockumentary, and read the book, so I know a good deal more about him. :)

Where's Neil When We Need Him?: A Tribute to Neil Gaiman

I started talking about this CD MONTHS before it came out, because it was a whole ton of bands that I love, all on one comp. This CD rocks. You should totally get a copy. Whoever you are.

Treatment of Gypsies in Early Industrial England and Nazi Germany

A school paper, one that I presented at an undergrad conference, and of which I'm still very proud.

A Comparative View of the Maternalist Welfare State

Another school paper, this one for grad school.

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In other news, Drunken Pumpkin Carving last night was a grand success, and no one lost any digits, to my knowledge (I left a bit early). I did manage to destroy two of my brand new pumpkin carving tools. They should really make the pokey things out of metal. :) I didn't break the saw/knives, just the pokey things. :)

Any rate, my pumpkin, Spooky, is happily ensconced outside of our apartment. I may start taking bets on how long she lasts. I don't give her very long, though...
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Slow over the weekend, as always, but here are a couple from Cindy:

Time Maybe the Perfect Gift for Your "Tweener" Daughter

Just How Old is Too Old for a Computer?

And let's see what I've got...

An Examinination of the Reasons for Emigration and the Process of Assimilation in the Nineteenth Century

Toys for Children Under 2 Years Old

Misadventures in Cooking: How NOT to Make an Omelet

Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys: Masterful Storytelling from Comic Book Author and Novelist

Aspects of German Immigration and German-American Life

The Contributions of Immigrants to the United States

So yeah, several more papers, a gift guide, a quasi-recipe, and a book review on a GOOD book (as opposed to an academic book). Fun stuff.

I probably won't have much in the coming days, because I managed to royally slack off this weekend, and not write anything. Bad Dawn, no biscuit.

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But in other news, the Ren Faire was fun, if not particularly profitable for me. Now we get a weekend off from the craft fair circuit, and then the next weekend, we'll be in Makanda for Vulture Fest. This should be fun, I think, and hopefully our sales will be good.

In the meantime, though, I'm going to enjoy this weekend off of craft fairs, especially since this is the heavy gaming weekend for this month. Ashes Friday, and Riddles Saturday.

Oh, and there's this game (TT) I might be trying to start up... but I need to talk to people about that... :)
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I have returned from the land of no internet.

See, at about 3 p.m. on Friday, my boss asked me if I wanted to take Monday off work. Because it was kinda silly to work Monday, and then not Tuesday. I said of course. I get tons of vacation time every year, and tend to not use much of it. Luckily, it carries over to the next year, so I end up with even more.

But yeah, doing so meant that except for the brief stop at my apartment on Saturday to look stuff up on the internet, and the occasional playing around with Bobert's computer, I was pretty much away from computers for four days straight. This, however, was just fine by me.

Instead, I slept lots, read lots, and watched a handful of movies. And gamed some also. And burned my thumb fairly badly on a sparkler, but it's getting much better already.

I've been actually getting to read quite a bit lately, and that's very nice. I finally finished House of Leaves (after trying to read it for something like 3 1/2 years), and then I managed to read Anansi Boys in less than a week. The former was a tough read. The latter was a pretty easy read, and fun as well. I'm not sure what's next on the agenda, but it will either entail borrowing a book from Jason, or rereading something I already own. Just a matter of when I get a chance to talk to Jason next. Suppose I could call him or something. :)

Anyways, I'm back at work for what amounts to a full week, though there is a weekend in the middle of that. Then I get a 5 day weekend, for Jerome's b-day and Ozzfest! :) Whee! :)

Now, off to pretend like I'm working. :)
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1. How long have you had a weblog? February, 2002, right before I was leaving for my trip to N'arlins.

2. What was your first post about? Something along the lines of being such a follower, now that I had a weblog... :)

3. How many changes (name, location, etc.) of your weblog have there been, if more than one? Really I only changed the name of my site from Anneke's Haven to ScaryWhiteGirl.net, which seemed more appropriate, seeing as that's the domain name... :)

4. What CMS (content management system) do you use? Do you like it or do you want to try something else? I just use the default thingie that Blogger comes with, but after all the problems that Assie and I had with that over the past couple of weeks, I'm half tempted to find another one.

5. Do you read people who have both a journal and a weblog? Or do you prefer to read people who have all of their writing in one central place? A couple of people that I read have both, but most are going to one or the other. That's kewl with me, cuz it's less that I have to read! :)

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"End of the Work Week Wisdom"...

"Oh... oh... if she even starts making out with him... oh..."
--Ian or Robert (both, really), expressing their unhappiness with a part of The Royal Tenenbaums.

Good movie, BTW! :)

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And I started reading American Gods this morning, as I finished Neverwhere yesterday. I've got my reading schedule for probably the rest of the year all planned out... :)

Friday Five!

When was the last time you...

1. ...sent a handwritten letter? Ummm... wow... I don't usually write letters by hand, as anyone who has ever seen my handwriting (read: chicken scratch) will appreciate! Even when I write my grandma, I usually type it! :)

2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand? So making those pillows for Adriane with my sewing machine wouldn't count, I suppose... which means, in other words, I have no idea... :)

3. ...camped in a tent? May 4th, which was the last time we stayed at Benji's farm after Garou... hopefully we'll get to do so again next weekend!

4. ...volunteered your time to church, school, or community? Ummm... I guess that would be the Jaycee's blood drive... in January or February... can't remember...

5. ...helped a stranger? Well, I guess I kinda help strangers when they call my office, thinking that it's some other office. I'm usually nice enough to look up the right phone number and give it to them. I'd transfer them to the right department, if our phones were capable of that! :)

And the "End of the Work Week Wisdom"...

"It is said that the Devil has all the best tunes.
This is broadly true. But Heaven has the best choreographers."
--Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens

Special thanks to Jess and Chris, who sent me Good Omens, Neverwhere, and Stardust... as the Old Man can attest, I act like a small child when I get presents! :)

More later... :)

That's right, time for the Friday Five!

1. If you could eat dinner with and "get to know" one famous person (living or dead), who would you choose? Wow... this one is hard... there are a lot of people I would love to get to know... but I think I would go with Neil Gaiman.

2. Has the death of a famous person ever had an effect on you? Who was it and how did you feel? Ah, time for the Kurt Cobain story. But this story has to run kinda backwards to make any sense. Buttmagic, the SonofaBritsch, and I were driving around one night, and I was talking about having heard a Nirvana song on the radio on my way to meet up with them. Somehow the conversation turned to when Kurt Cobain had killed himself, and I mentioned that I was a sophomore in college, and that I had found out about it the morning after it happened, while waiting to be let into the building for my college's gaming convention (which I was in charge of). The boys looked at each other, did the math, and discovered that they were in 6th grade when this occurred. This has since become a game of "let's make the ScaryWhiteGirl feel old," which all my friends love participating in... I suppose the interesting (and relevant) thing about this story is that it didn't really affect me all that much at the time, but 7 or 8 years later, it has a big impact on my life...

3. If you could BE a famous person for 24 hours, who would you choose? Hmmm... another tough one. I know it would have to be someone in a band, but I can't really pick any one person. It would be neat to see what it's like to perform in front of thousands of screaming people... :)

4. Do people ever tell you that you look like someone famous? Who? When I was in high school, everyone told me that I looked like Blossom (you know, from the TV show?)... I hated hearing that! I've also had a couple of people tell me that I remind them of Winona Ryder, but I think that was more of a similarity between me and her character in Beetlejuice... :)

5. Have you ever met anyone famous? Thanks to my friend Jamie (who I miss a TON!), I've met a handful of people in bands... like the guys from Catherine Wheel and Midnight Oil. Not like they'd remember me, but oh well! :)

And for the "End of the Work Week Wisdom":

It is a fool's prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak.
--Dream, from Sandman

Okay, okay, okay... I'll work on the Morgan story... since I finally figured out how to make it work right! :) It should be interesting... at the moment, there are two possible endings to it... and I haven't decided which one I should use just yet... :)

But, of course, that will be after I finish getting stuff ready for my Changeling chronicle. Well, I suppose it could be called a Changeling-related chronicle. I'm using most of the game mechanics from the Changeling system, with a good chunk of the background story left intact. However, I'm setting my game in "London Below," which is a part of London that Neil Gaiman invented in his book, Neverwhere, which was also a BBC miniseries. There are parts of the mechanics that simply won't work in this alternate setting, and the background story has been altered and supplemented with the ideas from the book and miniseries. It's certainly going to be interesting!

Tomorrow is Friday... Tomorrow is Friday... Tomorrow is Friday... sorry for the repetition, but, at the moment, that is my major motivating factor... work has been relatively boring the last couple of days, and when I have little to do, my mind starts wandering, and that usually leads it into places where there is no good reason for it to go. In other words, I'm worrying about things that aren't entirely in my control, and that I don't want to (or can't) talk or write about. Wow, how's that for cryptic? :)

Well, on to the nicer things. Benedira sent me a nice E-mail after I signed her guestbook... which reminded me that I should look into getting a guestbook! And then tonight is the Mummy game, which we haven't gotten to play in about a month because of school, vacation, and the fact that it alternates with the D&D game. I'm definitely looking forward to it, cuz it's nice to do non-Vampire stuff every once in a while... :)

I picked up a copy of The Quotable Sandman (which was on sale) last night, adding to my ever growing collection of miscellaneous Sandman stuff. And I don't even have all of the comics yet! :) Wow... Neil Gaiman has his own blog... add another site for me to start checking daily... :)