The Great Geek Manual

So guess what I just got in the mail last night?

A pumpkin from the promotional team of the upcoming film, Coraline!

I was completely surprised. They wrote to tell me that they were sending “promotional materials,” but I never would have guessed that they’d FedEx me a pumpkin. As if they needed to send me a pumpkin to get me excited about a movie based on a Neil Gaiman novel.

Coraline will be released February 6, 2009. If you haven’t already read the book, you should pick it up. It’s one of those kids’ books, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Momo that does a great job capturing the imagination of adults as well as kids. As a matter of fact, there’s enough homage in Coraline to both Alice and Momo to fuel a thesis, but I digress…

Oh, the pumpkin even came with a card from the film’s director, Henry Selick:

Fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas know that I’m a big believer in the “quality scare.” I’ve always been fascinated by our attraction to the spooky, the mysterious, the unknown. Why, exactly, do our spines chill, our throats constrict, our hearts skip a beat? No one knows for sure and I’m just fine with that.

Speaking of scary things, we’re putting the finishing touches on Coraline, based on the bestselling book by Neil Gaiman (who knows a few things about how to scare an audience). It’s a modern fairy tale that teaches one of life’s most important lessons: Things aren’t always better on the other side of the door and sometimes our dreams can become nightmares. So look for Coraline in February and, until then, here’s hoping all your nightmares are as entertaining as mine.

Best Regards,
Henry Selick.

You can check out the trailer for Coraline and a sneak preview over at YouTube