The zombies are here!!

How crazy would it be to be driving to work, stuck in traffic, and be greeted by this?

Awesome, if you ask me. I have been absolutely addicted to Left 4 Dead for xbox 360 as of late. I still can’t watch any zombies movies, except for the original George Romero Night of the Living Dead, but I can spend all night capping them vicariously through the video game system (as long as I’m not by myself).

Here’s a link to the full story on my friend’s blog, zombies and toys.

3 Days Down…

It’s day three and, although to look at my blog you may not believe it, I have actually kept up with my promise.

Where are we today? I have no idea. A shit day at work, a good night at home and a hot taddy (I never know how to spell that) to make me comfortably numb. It’s Thursday and I can say it’s been a really good week. Aside from that do I really have much to say today? I don’t think so.

Found out the boys in my house, all of them, wound up watching the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie this afternoon. I wish I could have been here but I really don’t think it would have happened if I was. And I know deep down that if any of them sat down to watch the TV show they would wind up saying, “That really wasn’t that bad. It was okay.” which I’ve learned translates to, “I really like it but I can’t admit that you were right.” Someday….

So, maybe a random playlist? Here’s my favorite today.

Redemption Song – Bob Marley
Walk Like a Zombie – The Horrorpops
Someday I Suppose – Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Have You Passed Through This Night – Explosions in the Sky

Now, go check out a really good blog. See the links below.

Snow Day

There’s still something to be said about waking up and unexpectedly being able to stay home, snowed in and toasty. It never gets old.

Today was one of those days. Sure, I had work to do but taking a couple of calls and putting out a few fires from home is SO much easier than having to fight traffic and idiots* and mother nature for 2-3 hours to do it instead. I sat around and played games, watched games being played, hung out and just had a good time in general. Even hockey practice tonight had an air of that snow day magic. Nobody was tense, it was laid back and it was finally fun again. Even being there for two hours was easy.

Now a couple glasses of wine and some trashy TV provide the perfect nightcap to a great day.

*My all-time favorite quote about driving, by the way, comes from Wil Wheaton. He says, “everyone is an idiot and is actively trying to kill you.”

Random Thoughts That Are Today

1. I absolutely loved the second to last episode of Friday Night Lights this season. That should have been the end. If the whole series had ended and that was the last episode I would have been completely happy. It was the “Primevil” of FNL – and then was followed by the “Restless” of FNL as well.

2. Tim Riggins is still a god.

3. I am completely hooked on Maudite, a beer brewed by Unibroue. I had it in a restaurant in Chicago over the summer and am so excited to find it in a local store here in Cleveland.

3. I love “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley.

4. It’s the time of year for me to listen to American Gods again. And I love it just as much.

5. I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about the Twilight Movie yet. In short, I didn’t like it the first time – I was let down. Expectations aside the second time, though, I loved it!!! Although I will never NOT laugh at the scene at the baseball game when they are all crouching and growling and stuff. So, so, bad….

6. In a house with 4 boys, you get really, really good at playing “that’s what she said”.

7. I am a Facebook addict. I think half of my potential blogging time goes to that now instead.

8. I just recently discovered that I could probably lose days, possibly weeks, on Twitter. I twittered the FNL season finale, myself. There’s something about reading Neil Gaiman, commenting on Warren Ellis, who’s commenting back and forth with Joe Quesada that really does it for a fangirl.

9. I watched the Inauguration with my staff in the bar of our building while we ate lunch. One of the women who works there was taking pictures of everyone who came in to be able to se it, she was so proud. I woke up all my teenage boys so they would try to watch it – and they did. The whole thing was amazing.

10. I LOVE playing Left 4 Dead. I can’t watch a single horror movie any more because I won’t be able to sleep for a week. But I can cap zombies with the best of them.

I have a problem. I am a bad blogger.

I am no longer in denial. I’ve decided to face my problem head on.

I am a bad blogger.

I don’t know what happens. I see something that I get excited about or think of something that I want to say and then by the time I get around to being able to actually do it I’ve lost the spark, or the time, or just plan forgot the whole thing.

This year I didn’t make any new year’s resolutions. LAST year I did a pretty good job of staying in the moment which resulted in most things not needing to be resolved by year’s end. I am, however, going to attempt something new. I am well prepared for it to last only a short time but I’m really hoping that doesn’t wind up being the case.

I’m going to try to blog something every day. Yep, me and 3/4 of the bad blogging community, right? Well, it takes 21 (or 28?) days to make something a habit. So I am going to try my best to blog SOMETHING everyday for 21 days. Starting now…

What a tease!

I don’t have too much to say today besides the fact that I admit to being a TERRIBLE blogger as of late. There is so much going on, many of these things that I would love to blab on and on about, and by the time I’m able to sit down at the computer the only thing I want to do is be on the couch with my DVR and a glass of wine instead. Soon, very soon, though, that will change.

In the meantime, I just saw the AP story confirming that Taylor Lautner will indeed be back for New Moon. I REALLY hope they can make this work…really.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_en_ot/film_taylor_lautner

I really DID find Jacob Black…maybe.

I just got a comment on the blog and a link to this:

http://www.newmoonmovie.org/2008/12/michael-copon-as-the-new-jacob-black/

Is it too good to be true?  Maybe…but what if it isn’t.  This is the best news about the franchise EVER.  He will be perfect.  I did see Twilight, twice, and more to come on that, but the biggest thing I walked away with was, “How are they going to make Jacob bigger for the second movie?  He’s too small!”  This would be perfect.

 

New Feature: Totally Random Playlist #1

So, I’ve been listening to some REALLY random stuff on not only my iPOD but from the iTunes libraries of friends.  And it’s been really fun.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my punk and my favorite bands really haven’t changed but I’m starting to embrace a little diversity again.  So, I’m hoping to post quick little playlists at the beginning of each week.  Maybe it’ll make you want to dig into your musical archives again, too.

So – Totally Random Playlist #1

1.  Beautiful Girl – Dave Stewart (Beautiful Girls Soundtrack)
2.  A Praise Chorus – Jimmy Eat World 
3.  Copenhagen Refugee – The Horrorpops
4.  One Shot Down – The Briggs 
5.  Faithfully – Journey
6.  Everybody Wants Some – Van Halen
7.  First Breath After Coma – Explosions in the Sky
8.  Wondering – Good Charlotte

A little nail polish, a bit of Coraline and an email from Neil Gaiman

[Updated 11/25/2008:  I'm starting to find more boxes appearing online.  I'll post links as I can at the bottom of this post.  I can't wait to see all 50 together!]

The most amazing thing happened to me. 

I got a comment on the blog by someone with a question asking me to email them.  I was to send an email to “TheTeam@coraline.com”.  This comment was on my post about the Buffy quote on Neil Gaiman’s blog.  “Coraline.com?” I asked.  Hmmm…what on earth?

So I sent the email and here was the response:

Dear Sara,

We are a group of artists, puppet-makers and animators who, for the past three years, have been working on our new film, Coraline. We are great admirers of your work online and therefore want to send you something special. Something handcrafted. We only made 50 of these something specials, and we think yours will be right up your alley. We’d love to send it to you soon, so please email us back with your mailing address at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

The Coraline Team
Portland, Oregon

 Intriging…but I have to admit I was skeptical. I wanted to instantly believe that it was true – it sounded amazing and they had singled meout for 1 in 50 of something. Something that was never for sale, something that was hand-selected. Of course I wanted to shout my address from the rooftops (figuratively speaking)! But I can be naive and it felt a little strange. So what did I do – I emailed Neil Gaiman.

Yep. I’ve read his blog long enough to know that from time to time things such as these come to him through his FAQ line and since he is the most awesome of them all he actually responds.

And that’s how I got an email from Neil Gaiman. In my mailbox. He pointed me to another site who seemed to have received the same invitation. The next day the link showed up on his blog. And I had it in my mailbox before anyone else saw it.

I raced to my email to respond to the original.  It had been about a week and I was afraid I missed my opportunity.  But I got a response and today I found this on my doorstep:

My Own Mystery Box

On top of the box was a letter, sealed with black wax and a black button.

Here’s what it reads:
Dear Sara,
Since ancient times, strangers who work on feature films have sent strangers with great websites mysterious gifts in the hope that they can connect over a mutual interest and come to love each other.  Some people think that receiving random gifts from strangers in the mail is illicit.  Not when the gifts are awesome, right?
Inside this old box is a one-of-a-kind collection we’ve amassed and cataloged with you and you alone in mind.

Why?  We at Laika are nearing completion of Coraline, our first full-length animated film.  For the last three years, 351 or the world’s oddest and most talented animators, artisans, and puppet fabricators have been hand-making one movie.  Led by Henry Selick, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.  This team has created the first stop-motion feature shot in 3D.  Based on the beloved best-selling children’s classic by Neil Gaiman, Coraline is a fairy-tale nightmare steeped in classic storytelling, craftsmanship, and the old-fashioned art of moviemaking magic.  That means everything is handmade.  Every leaf, drawer pull, and roast turkey.  Even the rusty shower water.

The plain truth of the matter is, we are pretty obsessed with Neil Gaiman.  Like you.  No shame there.  That’s why we admire kissthelibrarian.  It’s weird.  It’s funny.  It’s got a wicked point of view and that’s why we’re writing you.  When your byline is “How Neil Gaiman Changed My Life” you know you’re dealing with an honest fellow devotee.  Neil’s been to the set of our movie and each visit has been inspiring.  We’ve tried very hard to keep true to his magical vision.  Please keep up the super work.  We’ll be reading.

Coraline is coming out this February.  If we have guessed correctly that you are a curious person with access to the internet, perhaps you’ll look for more cool things about this film.  This is not a secret we hope you won’t want to share.  And so, we say thank you for your time, enjoy and hello.

Sincerely,
The Coraline Team

There have only been three times when I have been close to being as geeked out as I was when I opened this box:  1) When Mark presented me with a Buffy prop for Christmas (I can’t believe I’ve never posted that here before!  It must have been pre-blog days), 2) When Mark got me the Strangers in Paradise panel for Christmas last year and 3) When I met James Marsters.  I can’t quite describe what I was feeling.  I was actually speechless when I lifted the lid and looked inside.

Whoa...are you serious?!

All I could do was blink and point until Mark came over to look.  Here’s what was inside (click to enlarge):

Black Button Seal

Twitchy Witchy Blue Nail Polish made for Coraline

The Black Key

C s Necklace

Still of the props in the actual footage

Signed by Henry Selick!!!

Need I say anything else?  How about one last picture, then? And go to Coraline.com, enter BUTTONEYES for a special meet the cast feature (more passwords are floating online, such as STOPMOTION, MOUSTACHIO, ARMPITHAIR).  Then be sure to watch for the film coming in February – it’s going to be amazing.

What?!

All I can say at this point, and keep in mind I’m on geek overload, is that I have learned to be grateful for my little idiosyncrasies and quirks – I am passionate for a lot of things and each one makes me who I am.  It’s ok to embrace that – good things come to those who are authentic.  You never know when you might find your own mystery box of sorts on your doorstep.

Thank you to the team at Coraline for putting a little more magic out into the universe.

 

This blog is doing a much better job of tracking the Coraline boxes than me.  Check it out:  http://jspake.blogspot.com/2008/11/mysteries.html

This is so true…

Found this on Wil Wheaton’s site this morning.

How simple is that?