Thursday 16 April 2009

Buttons for Eyes



I have preview tickets for Coraline (it doesn't open in the UK until May 8th, and I'm seeing it on May 6th, at the NFT on the Southbank). Even better is that it is in 3D format. Oh yeah and even better than that? The director, Henry Selick (who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas) and NEIL GAIMAN will be there conducting a Q&A session!

This will be my second time attending a Neil Gaiman event and I am incredibly excited. It was through Neil's blog that I found out about the event (I already knew about the preview and was hoping to obtain tickets but had no idea about his attendance). As you may detect from the blog, his appearance -or his confirmed appearance, at any rate- came to a surprise to him too.

I read Coraline around about Hallowe'en of last year and it is a wonderfully creepy, chilling and compelling children's novel, Neil Gaiman's first, in fact. I admire that Neil doesn't bullsh*t children; that he tells it like it is. Coraline and The Graveyard Book and The Wolves in the Walls all make the world bleak, dark and sinister, whether it is the real world or the nightmarish alternative reality that Coraline walks into, where cats talk and her parents have buttons for eyes. Neil Gaiman doesn't condescend to children and that's why his novels for younger audiences have such appeal to adults: they are slightly diluted versions of his immensely readable adult fiction. I am looking forward to seeing the dark and bizarre imaginings brought to the big screen.

2 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

I am so excited for you on both counts. Coraline, in 3D, is WONDERFUL, and to be able to listen to Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman??! How magical! That certainly makes the movie coming out so much later for you than for me well worth the wait. Can't wait to read about your adventures on that night. If you remember, shoot me an email or leave a comment on my site when you post about it!!!

Paperback Reader said...

I certainly will, Carl! I'm very excited.