Aug 12 2008 'Coraline' Featurette Further Appeases My Nerdiness

Any movie directed by stop-motion animation master Henry Selick, based on a story by Neil Gaiman story, and with music by They Might Be Giants is going to really appeal to a certain type of geek. Namely, the type who used to read Sandman, listen to Flood on a regular basis, and watch The Nightmare Before Christmas at least every Halloween. I already knew Coraline had all of these things going for it, but man, no one told me John Hodgman was doing a voice in this thing, too. It's like angsty 9th-grade me's tastes shaking hands with current, listening-to-The Areas of My Expertise-audiobook-on-the-train me. They probably shouldn't literally shake hands, because I know what 9th grade me was doing with his hand nearly to the point of it becoming a problem, but you get the idea.

Coraline featurette under the cut.

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Mar 20 2008 Quartet of Comedy Titans Join 'This Side of the Truth'

Unabashed love for Ricky Gervais is well-documented in the archives of this blog. However, even after the sublime The Office, hilarious Extras and repeat listen-friendly The Ricky Gervais Show, I was getting worried that Gervais' in production film This Side of the Truth would amount to little more than Liar Liar turned on its head. My fears have been assuaged considerably today with the casting of four mighty, and varied, comedic voices: John Hodgman, Tina Fey, Jeffrey Tambor and Christopher Guest. Surely these consistently funny individuals wouldn't simultaneously involve themselves with a project that wasn't anything but hilarious. I mean, it's not like these people would pimp themselves out to an unworthy cause. Right?

This Side of the Truth: Ricky's Blog' [rickygervais.com]