Portland is home to LAIKA and the animators who made the feature length, stop motion animated film "Coraline". Apparently, there was a big movie premiere here in town complete with stars from the film including Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher.
The movie is based around a book by graphic novelist legend Neil Gaiman and is about an inventive girl named Coraline who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life - only much better. When her alternate family tries to keep her, the plot thickens and she must return to her real life to save her family. It's an Alice in Wonderland type story, equally as frightening, but set in the similar dark world that Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride have.
I'm eager to see the movie, but I have to admit the trailers did nothing to pique my interest. Until I heard about the Mystery Boxes. It seems that those LAIKA marketing wizards have sent 50 Coraline Mystery boxes to prominent blogger sites.
ASIFA, Boing Boing, The Kreep, Wendy Knits and others were each sent one handmade, limited edition treasure box all in the style of artist Joseph Cornell. Aged wooden containers, suitcases, hat boxes and tins filled with handmade props appropriate to the blog were mailed out to promote the release - and I'm assuming to convince the bloggers to write about the movie.
Wendy Knits for instance, got a beautiful vintage tin with miniature spats pinned onto velvet, the skeleton key with secret password, and a knitting pattern for the sweater Coraline wears. Kreep's box contained relics from the film including a bat/dog model, a bat body mold, the skeleton key, a wing skeleton prototype, and an old envelope with a wax seal with inlaid black button (as used for the eyes of the witch) containing a hand-typed note explained the curious gift.
A collector of such treasure myself, I'm so impressed with the craftsmanship and creativity of these boxes, I'm counting the minutes until I can see the movie.
LAIKA, if box number 51 happens, I'd be more than happy to send my address!
My husband falls asleep in minutes. For me it can take hours. But sometimes tricks can work.
After years of counting sheep, meditation, sleepy teas, warm baths, tv watching, exercising, reading and nothing really working, I was lucky to try out this new sleep machine. My fellow insomniacs know the fear that takes hold when another night comes and you aren't the slightest bit tired. Being able to switch off can be a nightmare. For a month now, I've been trying out a new sleep toy, Brookstone's "Tranquil Moments" to see if I can fool my self into relaxing.
There are many sleep machines on the market, even Conair took a break from hairdryers to make one. Brookstone's was particlurly intriguing since it's sounds are based on delta, alpha, and theta brainwaves. Which is good since my speedracer brain needs some serious foolin'. The sounds are supposed to coax your brain to match the frequencies and enter a healthier state of repose. There are 12 sounds to choose from including a summer chorus of crickets, authentic NASA recordings, thunderstorms and white noise. Two of the waves are said to relax you. The theta is supposed to refresh.
I've tried all the sounds and I have to say a few are annoying and fake - the "Ocean" for instance, sounds like waves crashing but then is followed by someone splashing in a puddle. What? After an hour of listening and not feeling the slightest bit sleepy, I turned it to one called "Summer Night" which is a combination of crickets and NASA's recording of Jupiter. Bingo! And then the other night I suprisingly fell asleep to their faux thunderstorm. After years of fearing unrest, it's so nice to find a solution.
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With a hankering for Aebleskiver pancakes with lingonberry jam and lemon curd, Tom, Jereme and I headed to the Clinton st neighborhood in Portland to check out Broder Cafe's Swedish fare. Our first time there, we'd heard so many good things about this place - and with my obvious Swedish heritage - our mouths were watering.
The neighborhood cat seemed eager to get in which sounded promising. (Tom said she'd rated it "three meows")
At 10:30am, we waited for about twenty-five minutes before securing a spot near the front window. Apparently you can wait quite a bit longer, but we were lucky. The coffee was great and they do allow you to get a cup while you wait. The portions are slightly on the small side though. If my little round pancakes had a slice of bacon across the top it would have been perfect amount of food and salty. Everyone elses food looked great - served daintily on precious wood tablets and diner crockery. About $8-$10 a plate, it's a nice price. Below is the Ham Waffle, my Aebleskiver pancakes, and the Pytti Panna - a Swedish Hash with meat and vegetables.
Broder Cafe. 2508 SE Clinton St. Portland, OR 97214
rated: meow meow meow and three huzzahs