Coraline

For my birthday, Tina and Tara came to visit me at school, and we went out shopping and then to a terrible dinner and a movie! We watched Coraline. I liked the movie, but Tina didn't. She thought it was too scary.

For those who didn't know, Coraline is freaky! It's about a little girl who moves to a new house called The Pink Palace. There, we see how her parents neglect her and are too involved in their own work to pay any attention to their little girl. (I heard Tina whispering cries of outrage.) That's when she finds a small door in the house that, at night, opens into a portal to a different reality that promises false happiness. There, she plays the most challenging game of her life, one that can determine life or death.

I thought Tim Burton did this movie for the longest time. But nope! Henry Selick directed this film, the same man who did Monkey Bone. This movie is 100 minutes long, which is the longest running stop-motion picture ever. It took 5 years to create this film, because for every movement, they move the doll slightly and take a picture. So basically this is a 100 minute long flip book! Dakota Fanning, who plays Coraline, has been working on this movie since she was 10. She's now 15! (I learned most of this information when she went on Jay Leno.)

What I really want to talk about is the visual appeal of Coraline. The dolls are made with such detail and care. Before the clay dolls were even created, there were a bunch of processes that came first. Tons of artists had to make sketches and graphic designs of the character before the artist Damon Bard was able to create this final product. Every detail of these clay creations is made seamlessly.

This film may not have been completely worth watching in theaters, but its worth watching on video. I'm not sure how children will like it, but I don't think it's too scary for them to watch. If your not much into children's movies, maybe you'll appreciate it as an artistic creation.

Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor.

Taurana or Launara or Tilara?

I don't get why the media must do this with celebrity couple's names? And by "this," I mean combining their names to create a monstrosity. Argh! I hate it. It's so stupid. Who the heck started this? And why have the lemmings followed? Thank goodness not every Hollywood couple has a nickname. But it's enough to be annoying. And how do they decide who are "special" enough to get a nickname. Maybe they have to be a so-called power couple like "Tomkat" and "Brangelina." Terrible names btw! I think it all started with Bennifer. Do you remember that? Curse you, "Bennifer." Technically, now that Ben Affleck is married to Jennifer Garner, they can still be called Bennifer, right?

This practice has spread like wildfire. I have even heard nicknames for TV couples. My personal favorite...Logan and Veronica from Veronica Mars are called "LoVe." Kinda cute, right? And Lost has Skate--the coupling of Sawyer and Kate. Not so much. And then recently, NPH was quoted talking about "Robarney." No no no no no no!

Anyway, for funzies, I combined the three sisters' names and came up with my own "offsprings." Which one do you like the most? Comment, peeps! I personally like Tilara. Haha! I'm going to name my first child that. Awesome!

FreeCreditReport.com or Is It?

I am sure everyone has seen those FreeCreditReport.com commercials. Laura loves them and can be found singing the songs from time to time. Sad but true. The jingles are pretty catchy, and the commercials themselves are pretty funny. But there is more to it than that. The FTC has been after the company for deceitful advertisements, namely, that there is nothing "free" about their services. FreeCreditReport.com appears to allow customers to take a peek at their credit reports when, in fact, customers are expected to do and pay for much more than just that. The FTC has gotten a lot of complaints from people who say they are getting charged by the company and cannot cancel the service. In 2005 FTC settled with the company, but the company went right on with the commercials. So in order to fight back, the FTC did a spoof ad. Way to fight back...although they say imitation is the highest form of flattery. So they may be doing the reverse of what they intend.

Tidbit: The singer in the commercials is lip-syncing. He is actually French Canadian too! Laura was so disappointed when she heard that.

The Rock Obama

I happened to catch SNL last night, and I don't usually watch SNL. But I saw that The Rock was hosting. I love him. I've seen him host SNL before, and he is actually really funny. And last night's episode was no exception. He had a few great skits. The Rock Obama was hilarious. The skit started off with President Obama in the oval office right before he was to meet with Geithner, Clinton and McCain. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, played by Andy Samberg (check out Laura's blog about him) wants Obama to get angry, which Obama refuses to do. During the meeting, after one to many quips from his advisors, President Obama gets really angry and tranforms into The Rock Obama. The Rock does a great Obama impression. And he does look like a hulk-like version of Obama. See the picture. So friggin' funny.

The Girls Next Door Season 5 Finale

One of my guilty pleasures is The Girls Next Door. I heard that all three girls broke up with Hugh Hefner, and I was really curious to know what the heck happened. Although their relationship is strange on many levels, I guess I just accepted as it was--something that worked for them. Now I've been completely thrown for a loop. "The Girls Next Door" have moved out of the Playboy Mansion and broke up with Hef. On top of that, Kendra is currently engaged, and Holly, Hef's former first girlfriend, had been going out with Chriss Angel (btw, ewwww). And Hef already has new girlfriends--twins. Double ewwww.

I was interested to see the season finale. So I actually DVRed it and watched it last night. It was such an odd episode. It started off with Kendra breaking the news to her family that she was thinking of moving out of the Mansion and that she met someone. Her family seemed genuinely concerned and stunned. My reaction was...is she really doing this on TV?? Then Kendra told Holly and Bridget, supposedly for the first time. There was some uncomfortable group crying. The most awkward movement of all was when Kendra broke up with Hef with a camera person in the same room! These moments seemed so private but were completely awkward on TV.

I actually felt bad for Hef for a second. The poor old man was getting dumped by his 23-year-old girlfriend on national television. The sad thing was when he kept saying how he was all alone. Then at the very end of the episode, Hef was hosting movie night at the Mansion, and the twins walked in and asked him if the seats next to him were taken. There was some major fake giggling. The last scene was of the outside of the mansion and included a voiceover of Hef saying "I'm back in the game." I didn't like the episode at all...it was just weird.