The animated collaboration between Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman!

ROTTEN TOMATOES: Exclusive: Sneak Peek at Coraline! (Video #5).

This looks AWESOME! I love The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach and Neil Gaiman is my favorite storyteller. This is one movie that I will definitely see on opening day.

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We went with our friends who already have a dog. The attendance at the event was great. There were dogs and people everywhere. Little dogs, big dogs, young and old. While checking out the vendor booths, we came upon some dogs wearing capes that said “Adopt Me” and “I’m a B.E.D.R. Dog”. I noticed a couple really cute brindle pups. We hung out, petting them and rubbing their bellies. They were really soaking up the attention from everyone. Then we realized the B.E.D.R. stood for Bullseye Dog Rescue, a group that specializes in Pit Bulls and other bully breeds. All of these adorable dogs were Pit Bulls!

Of course we have always heard how bad Pit Bulls are SUPPOSED to be. There had just recently been a dog attack in Tacoma involving a couple of them. We continued playing with the dogs and discussing the breed with the volunteers from Bullseye. They were all so passionate about educating people about Pit Bulls and showing that the breed, as a whole, is not as monstrous as the media and some groups would like everyone to think.

We decided that we really like a girl named Mia, a 40-some pound blue-brindle who was estimated to be eleven months old. We saw how cute she was and how well she was behaving with all of the chaos that was whirling around her. We left the Dog-a-thon with a lot of research to do and some big decisions to make.

The following weekend, we went to the Mia’s foster house to see her in a home environment. We played with her and the foster family’s two other pit bulls for like three hours. They were some great dogs! We were sold. We made the decision to adopt Mia. The following day, Mia and her foster mom came to our house for the mandatory home inspection. We passed that test, filled out the adoption papers and she was ours! She immediately became a part of the household. She has been incredibly affectionate and well-behaved. She has so much potential, we can’t wait to work with her more at home as well as during our upcoming training session (another requirement of the Bullseye adoption process).

We walk her around the neighborhood twice a day. We took her to the Ruston Way Waterfront this weekend. She has come in contact with many people and other dogs, in each case she has behaved extremely well. A couple people have shied away, but most have been full of compliments on how beautiful she is–and soft! So far the only things that get her excited are birds and squirrels.

Even more amazing is the fact that he is a 2-time cancer survivor.

He read us the back of his book, Mastering the Universe: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea. I think I will have to add that to my list of books to read.

He grew up in Akron, OH which is about 45 minutes from where I grew up.

1) Yes, I am writing a two part Batman story.
2) Yes, Andy Kubert will be drawing it.
3) Yes, it will be two oversized issues.
4) No, I don’t plan to say anything else about it until it’s all written and drawn.
Neil Gaiman’s Journal: After Clarion.

It was just a matter of time. These shows pull on viewers’ heart strings, but in reality some of the hard luck cases are in dire straits because of their own poor decisions. Hopefully there are more people prospering after their “second chance” than there are people like the folks in this article.

I have been an AT&T customer since they swallowed Cingular. My bill gets paid automatically, so no late payments. I have been pretty happy with my service. I have no problem with coverage here in Western Washington, or other places I travel.

Then, the other day when the iPhone 3G was released, I figured I’d give it a shot. See if the store I happened to be near around midday had any left. I went in and found that they had four white 16GB iPhones remaining. I kind of wanted the black, 8Gb one, but went with it anyway. This is when the sales person asks me for my current number. She punched it into the system, then tells me they can’t sell it to me because I’m not eligible for an upgrade until November 2009. I guess the fact that I’m willing to commit to a more expensive service plan for two more years doesn’t make them enough money to allow them to sell me the phone for the subsidized price.

I understand that they want to pull in Apple junkies as new customers and take full advantage of their agreement to sell the iPhone, but to me this was insulting. I was instantly cured of my craving for an iPhone. I like my Sony Ericsson w580i Walkman phone and I may buy an iPod Touch at some point. I’m pretty sure I won’t be renewing my AT&T contract once it is up.

Went to see the Flobots at El Corazón last Wednesday. They totally rocked. I think they sounded even better in person than they do on their album. The venue wasn’t that great. There is a pole right at the front of the stage, blocking the performers at times. I imagine it is an added distraction to the performers on stage as well as the audience members. It was also hellishly hot in there. I have been to a lot of cramped concert halls, but never have I felt like leaving a show because I was SO uncomfortable. The exhaust fan on the end of the facility by the bar wasn’t making a noticeable difference. There were fans mounted to the ceiling, but rather than having them direct the rising hot air towards the exhaust fan, the were pointed directly towards the floor. This was a moot point though because the fans were not even operating during the show.

Being an ALL AGES show, there were a ton of 15-year old (or younger) kids in the audience. There were a couple kids right up near the front that were either around eight, or they were extremely height-challenged. I know a couple people left because they couldn’t take it. I am surprised no one had to be carried out. So many first time, or near first time, concert goers. They probably weren’t keeping hydrated.

Even with the inclement conditions of El Corazón, the show was fantastic. Doomtree, the second opening act, was a lot of fun and had the crowd jumpin’. Well, most of them. Some deadbeat newbie concert-goers were kind of killing the buzz, but that wasn’t Doomtree’s fault. They sounded good and brought a lot of energy to the show. Like I said before, Flobots sounded phenomenal. They got a little preachy with their politics, but not so much to detract from the show.

Can’t wait to see them again at Bumbershoot. They play on Monday at 6 PM on the Exhibition Hall Stage, same day as Mike Doughty, who will be playing on the Starbucks Stage at 8:45 PM. I’m sure he’ll emphasize his pre-”Busting Up A Starbux” statement about going to Starbucks every single day of his life. In one post from mikedoughty.com, Mike says:

Now, I’m pretty pro-Starbucks (my allegedly anti-Starbucks song is actually about the impotence of rage against pop culture). On tour, I’m there every day getting my fix–I look up the closest locations on the website the moment I check into the hotel in the town I’m playing…

Somebody was one of the first hundred callers to buy a new shipment of makemylogobiggercream.

This site WAS nicely designed. I’m sure whoever designed the original site is seething at the embossed buttons and starbursts that were added.

We finally taped up and painted the bottom of D’s Ruckus today. Hopefully it will be together tomorrow.