in which we attend the CORALINE premiere...

the waving streams of light from outside the window signaled that premiere night approached:



that morning, first up were several more interviews for our man Neil. That he could still string sensible sentences together and Twitter at the same time is a testament to his stamina. He was able to round up several thousand followers in the Twitter community to spread the CORALINE word.



CORALINE creator Henry Selick, Neil and Maddy under the marquee...



the theatre was next door to the hotel, so it was an easy commute (see how close by spotting Maddy in the hotel window over the sign)



here's my view of the klieg lights:



we looked in at the big press line for the red carpet through the windows and could smell the popcorn from outside:



if you look on the red side, you can see Maddy in her gorgeous green Grecian goddess dress chatting with Henry. Robert Bailey Jr (voice of Wybie) and our Neil being interviewed on the right:



the very beautiful Teri Hatcher (photo by Drew, only he was tall enough to get over the press line):



cameras. everywhere.:



on to the after party...we had been hearing rumblings about for some time, how the Laika animators were re-building some of the sets on-site, along with many of the props and puppets from the film. We followed the button lumieres around the block to the Portland Museum of Art:



see Henry & Neil up ahead of me? I was so busy taking photos, i lagged behind:



when entering, the first thing you see is the intricate blooming CORALINE garden:






here is another snippet of a movie from my camera: (I will new-years-reso to get better at these, but I wanted to show the button "go-bos"--the swirling light cut outs on the party floor)



Cynthia, one of the lead painters, gave us a fascinating demo of how the faces popped on and off to form the many expressions:



I was taken with the use of cookie sheets and speed racks, they were like tiny plasticine cookies baked in the imagination of these dedicated artists.





she had two glass cases of my favorites, Spink & Forcible, and looking at how tiny and delicate the paint strokes would have to be, close-up, I got a better sense of the real amount of work:





flash-back bonus: an old shot from when we were in Portland in January of Neil signing an unpainted model of the teeny naked dancer:



the Dad/piano set:



bits and bobs from a creative desktop:



some of the incarnations of Other Mother:



we spent a good deal of time trying to find Shelley, our favorite lady from Laika (see her peeking up in the background)
and I must say, young Harry Selick (in the argyle sweater) who does one of the voices in the film, has grown up into quite a charmer:



the food and drink laid out everywhere was a beautiful temptation. I drank the WIllamette Valley pinot noir and yes, I got a little wine lip (the red crust on the lips, this is not to say I got lippy) Here is a view of the wine glass stacks and in the background is my favorite set, the dreamy firefly house:



oh how i love you, pumpkins!



here is a closer view:



even closer:




here is Maddy with Teri:



and with Dakota:



here is Georgina, head of the puppet department and Neil and Drew and Travis Knight, lead animator:




As we made the rounds, people approached Neil and he tirelessly chatted and posed for photos all night(if any of you reading this got your photo taken by me, email me at "neverwear@gaiman.net" and I will send you a copy) One sweet girl gave him a handmade teapot which i packed carefully in his suitcase this morning. Mister Gaiman went home almost without a voice, by the way.


The crew of LAIKA toiled away to set this up for the party, foregoing the premiere to work all night, and then, they stayed OVERnight and took down the sets, total dedication. That speaks volumes for Henry too, that he is the leader of such a fierce pack.

an honor and a pleasure to be a part of this magical night in Portland.

Now William and Nancye are taking us to see SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE at a theater that you can eat pizza in.
Am i in heaven?