Find our eyes and our souls will be free...

You know you're in a recession when the wifey gets you a gas card for Valentine's Day.  Either that or she's just on another whole level of creativity and practicality.  


So for Valentine's Day, Nook and I decided to celebrate as a family and take my 5 year old daughter with us to lunch and a movie. The movie of choice? Hmmm, how about that brand new, stop action, 3D animation flick? Now what can be wrong that? Well, nothing... nothing at all. Unless of course the movie is Coraline.

Now don't get me wrong. The 3D effects and overall feel/look of the movie were AMAZING. And they didn't give out those cheap, paper 3D glasses either. These glasses were made of strong plastic frames that looked a lot like a pair of Wayfarers. So help me God if I see any hipster or emo kids wearing these at the mall, someone's gonna have their feelings hurt.

But back to the movie. Without giving too much away, I personally thought the movie very good, but may have been a bit better if they had: elaborated more or revealed who (or what) originally made the doll of Coraline; elaborated more on the grandmother's background and how she actually came to own the doll; and although i understand the reason behind this, I still think they went a bit overboard when showing her parents' lack of nurturing for their daughter. 

Overall, the movie might not be appropriate for very young children. Many kids may be able to grasp the message of being careful what you wish for however, I think the multiple levels of symbolism may fly over the heads of the average child and to some extent, many adults (Although the symbolism may have been more obvious than the Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland). Personally, I think they would have hit the nail on the head if they marketed this to emo teens.

Leaving the theatre, I was seriously contemplating what my daughter had made of the movie. It reminded me of when I was a little kid and I had seen 'Yellow Submarine' or 'Fantastic Planet.' Shit had me feeling all funny inside... almost confused. I can only imagine what it must be like to watch Coraline on acid, X, salvia or after a visit to the dentist. 

Alright stop... Collaborate and listen...

• So the West demolished the East at the All Star game. But the real stories are what happened at the pre game festivities:
  

1. Shaq is the newest (and biggest) member of the Wacka Jobbeez. 
   
2. Speaking of Shaq, him & Kobe are now the best of friends. But did anyone have flashbacks of Diesel asking Kobe how his nuts taste?
   
3. Maybe NateRobinson should be asking Dwight Howard how his nuts taste?
   
4. What??? Shug got knocked the fuck out AGAIN???
   
5. And Kid Cudi gets tazed??? Don't taze me bro!  (Now he's gotta write a rap about it)

• First Denny's.  Now IHOP.  Man, when times get tough, the tough get hungry.
  
• Taste the rainbow you drunk motherfuckers.
• How can you turn something that can potentially be scary into something absolutely terrifying?  Make it into a piece of art.
• I was just flipping through the channels and caught the beginning of American Idol (by chance, swear to God) and one of the contestants who was being introduced pulled a Sexual Chocolate.  ("Gotdamn that boy can sing!")  Shit made me laugh out loud.