Thursday, February 5, 2009

CORALINE PREMIERE in PORTLAND



(you know, i love them for using letters in the marquee....)


We fly into the airport in Portland and rent a car from absolutely the sweetest most helpful team of car renters. A serious welcoming committee...! Our car, tiny and American, is shaped like a silver bubble and has a surprising amount of head room for our 6’6” Drew.




(side note: Drew came back from the Elton John run before it even started, his company was outbid for the contract, and that is very telling in these troubled times, that they flew their crew out, they were starting to put the rig together and STILL were outbid---booooo. Bright side? He could come to Portland with me)

Had to pick up miss Maddy at the airport in a few hours--she flew alone
as her father was flying in from a Canadian press junket. We sightsee a bit, driving noisily over the moody metal bridges, “Steel Bridge” and “Morrison Bridge”---so named for industrial strength and/or dead poets. We stare dreamily down into the waters below.
The sun was shining, a rare enough thing here at this time of year--so much that the Oregon people were out in the streets everywhere, gathering their vitamin D.

After getting things sorted out a bit, I acquire Mads from the airport and I show her her new LOMOGRAPHY camera, the drop-dead hot pink Diana camera, thanks Lomography.com! Good old-fashioned film---we will see what she comes up with on the photojournalist front. My college major was photography, and i had an old-school time of it putting the 120 medium format film into the camera for her for the first time...









When we got to the hotel there was a roaring fire in a welcoming wintery stone hearth.
can you see/smell it?





Now, I wait in the hotel room while Mr. Neil does a quick round of interviews. On the way to the last one he finally met Dakota Fanning in person, the very lovely young actress who voices CORALINE. The papers and magazines here are filled with stories on the Portland production team and that blue-haired darling looks up at us everywhere
we look.




Maddy & I walked under the sign for the theater at which the premiere is being held.




The lady running the interviews just handed me the invitations to the premiere,
complete with gorgeous weighty metal COraline keys. Sure hope they don’t take them away from us....a true collectible.








while Maddy and I were walking around we saw many interesting things including this post-it stuck on the street corner post down from the hotel:



i think I may be reading it wrong, but i am all for street art and freedom of speech.
Go Portland!


last night we met friends at one of the top-ranked Tiki bars in the country (dare I say, world!) world class decor and the french fries were top bowling-alley quality (and that is a compliment)....






OK, off to get everyone ready for tonight, more to report tomorrow....

tomorrow we may drive to the coast, our first vacation together in a good long while.

17 comments:

FabulousLorraine said...

TIKI BAR??????

No one told me there was a Tiki Bar.

Hmmph. Would have come if I'd known.

Have great fun tonight!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your vacation!

Had to look up Tiki Bar on Wikipedia (hmm, Tiki, Wiki, Tikipedia!)

Yoga Gal said...

Good luck at the premiere! I've read wonderful reviews about the film so you should have a great evening! I love the tickets! You are a lucky girl! I'm surprised that the Boss hasn't lost his voice giving out so many interviews! Oh, great photos as always and your Drew looks hot! love-geri yoga gal!

Chantrelle said...

Awesome...i love portland. I still cant believe how big maddy is! She was just a little girl when Coraline came out!

If you need a coffee break there, it's been YEARS since i've been, but i love Rimsky-Korsakoffeehouse. Some of the tables move (rotate or up and down) slowly so you don't notice right away, great touch.

Dan Guy said...

You are made of awesome.
It is so wonderful for us to have you filing these reports; makes me feel like I'm right there in the thick!

AletaMay said...

Thanks for posting such great photos and updates. You and Lorraine make it all look so easy -- keeping this wild crazy machine running smoothly!

Have fun tonight and don't let them take that key away from you!

Dragonsally said...

Have great fun tonight Cat. Beautiful photos of Maddy - she is one stunning young lady.
I laughed at the description of Drew and the head room - made me picture my brother trying to fit into a bubble care.

vampi said...

oooh that looks like so much fun. great pics. PINK CANERA, i am so drooling. that is awesomesauce.

spacedlaw said...

Maddy looks extra cute but I am green with envy looking at that camera (and that's me having a digital SLR and all...).
Hope you guys had tons of fun. Looking forward to more pictures.

Marjorie said...

Thank youso much for posting - looking forward to more, later. Maddy looks awesome - Surely the time is ripe for a new Maddy Guest Blog.

Coraline in Dublin next weekend !WooT!

Unknown said...

Did ya happen to stay for the secret code at the end of the movie?

If so, please let me know what it is :)

Kitty Cat said...

SECRET CODE IS...
no, i can't. i shouldn't. i won't. i shan't.
i am working on the new blog, you gorgeous readers,
of the ACTUAL night.
it was a star-studded, blissfully blistered event (new shoes and all...)
xoxox

Unknown said...

awe come on!

no fun :( hehe

ariandalen said...

Thanks for the pictures and post, Ms. Kitty!
Hope you and Mr. Drew get to drive to the coast. It is beautiful there!

mistressmousey said...

spacedlaw, you are not alone. I'm big with camera envy - and I have several at home already. Kitty, am I reading that wrong, or that an impossibly small medium-format camera? It doesn't seem possible.

Also, YAY! Premier!

Kitty Cat said...

hello all,
the pink camera is INDEED a medium format, taking 120 film, paper backed as you know.
I had to go in hotel room bathroom to load it.

here is the link and I will amend the blog to show this:
http://www.lomography.com/diana/products/clones

Unknown said...

Hello from a Portlander! I was one of the ones waiting outside the theater, Neil signed a book for me, and I said "hello" to Maddy while her dad signed other people's stuff.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed Portland! Too bad you didn't get to see more of it. I'm quite proud of living here; I think it's one of the best cities in the United States.