The First Really Marvelous Animated Film I've Seen in Such a Long Time and Truly Amazing Weather and a Wonderful Free Sunday

Will and Jack are watching Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. I am not.

It's not that I don't like movies, because I actually love movies; but I have been totally uninterested in anything animated within the past few years.

Oh, except there was that one movie.

Coraline. You know, the one that doesn't have to be italicized.

I don't think I really remember the last time I left an animated presentation with an enormous grin on my face, but this one did it, and I guess I had forgotten that animation can be truly lovely in a unique and creative way. This movie made me feel so good. As Lorraine said on http://lorraineamalena.blogspot.com, you will leave this movie believing in magic; and although I did not totally believe her, I left the cinema feeling refreshed and recharged and, yes, believing in magic.

On another note, today was fifty-five degrees F. Benjamin and I took Will down to a local playground and I found myself having more fun I've had on a playground in years. Spring is coming.

It was nice to have a day of improvisation - a day where I woke up and didn't really have any plans for the day. I like being busy, but I also want one free day every now and then. Tomorrow is a busy day, but it's all good work - morning storytime, babysitting, Chinese lesson (always a wonderful treat).

Happy happy Monday.

~Emily

William, Coraline, Library Work, and Junie B. Jones

The new issue of VOYA came out today. My review isn't in this one - will probably be in the next - but this is a great issue. I love the article on librarians who became novelists.

I love library work myself. Shelving books is therapeutic.

So William and I are going to see Coraline tomorrow. (I would italicize it but Coraline is something special, and need not be italicized!) Coraline was a turning point for William - he realized, upon finishing it, that sitting through a chapter book could actually be fun. We have been speeding through the Junie B. Jones books lately. How I do love Junie B. Jones. My favorite has long been The Yucky Blucky Fruitcake and I do so look forward to reading it with Will!

William is out for a sleepover tonight. I miss him. Even one night without him makes me feel kind of empty. It sounds silly, but morning feels like years from tonight.

He is the most precious little thing. I can hardly wait to take him to see Coraline tomorrow.

I guess I'll go back to Answering on Yahoo! Answers. I spend lots of time in the Baby Names category, because it's way too much fun.

I have this thing for names.

~Emily

Number Five

Yesterday the air had such a summery flavor that I wanted to cry every time I took a deep breath. It was fifty degrees F, but I could imagine that the grass was slick and green and the barn swallows would come out to play in the darkening sky.

Today we are undergoing our fifth (maybe sixth) snowstorm. It's, like, way fun.

(cough) I'm ready for spring.

~Emily

Lots About Books, a Bit About Sunshine

In the sky the other night AFTER FIVE O' CLOCK were actual rosy traces of sun. Spring is just that much closer than I imagined ...

I have been reading "The Poison Apples" by Lily Archer -- not really marvelous literature but definitely such good fun that I can hardly stop myself reading it. It was a book that did not get to me in time for review last year. Shame, really, that I could not review such a fun book.

On the other hand, I will indeed have a review in VOYA next month -- 'tis definitely a novel to read, especially if you love fantasy.

William and I just finished reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Coraline is one of my favorite books to read aloud, and Will loved it loved it loved it.

(It's wonderful but not for adults who are, shall we say ... faint of heart.)

I think I need to rest now. The total lack of sunshine today has made me ...

Goodness gracious. Some sun just prodded through the window as I was typing that.

Well.

I think I feel more awake now.

~Emily

Poor Polar Bears

While brushing his teeth the other night, William left the water running for an extra two seconds.

"Darn, I killed polar bears," he said.

Okay, if nothing else has convinced me that kids hear what you say, this did the job.

Fourteen-year-old Benjamin will not eat meat, seafood, foods with vitamin D-3, foods with gelatin, or foods with the enzyme rennet. He fishes through the rubbish bin for items that just might possibly be even the slightest bit recyclable. He is prepared to kick global warming in all the right places. And he talks a lot about the environment.

I have made a list of potential colleges to attend next year or the one after that. This is quite exciting to me, I must say. Most of them are in Minnesota, but one is in Wisconsin and another is down in Maryland. I have been to Maryland, and liked it enormously. I have never been to MN or WI but really want to visit.

Also, I want to leave Rhode Island. I've lived here my whole life and there are, frankly, so many things I don't like about it.

As a closing note to this rather erratic post, I have a new book to review for VOYA. It is truly wonderful -- a thrilling change from the last couple of dreadful reads.

Let's see ... anything to say about the weather?

Cold, colorless, and dead. Yay.

~Emily

The Great Joys of Wintertime

It's snowing here (or, as one would declare in Japan, yuki ga futte imasu). I guess that's a good thing, except that we've already had an awful lot of the white stuff. I dreamt last night that the world went mad and started celebrating Christmas again. I checked the calendar and figured that either I was completely nuts or had been in a coma for the past year, the world was completely nuts and was just completely nuts and had not been in a coma, or was trying to stretch Christmastime out a little in order to bring joy into the economic darkness.

William has an awful chest cold. We'll all get it, but oh well. Spring must come soon. I'm glad February is, of all months, the shortest of the year.

~Emily

Well ...

It sent chills through my blood.

I left the cinema feeling exhilerated but totally relaxed, filled up with something special.

Reading the play was one thing and seeing the film was ... something else.

Doubt.

See it.

~Emily