Saturday, February 7, 2009

Thoughts on Coraline & Other Thoughts, too

Well, one of the great things about homeschooling is that you can get a bunch of work done in the morning and then go see Coraline in the afternoon. Son2 loves movies, and he's a particular fan of stories that reflect the reality that life isn't perfect. I respect that. Artistic and interesting little dude that he is, he's been anxiously awaiting Coraline. I told him to watch it with a critical eye -- that he's going to have to write a movie review.

He'll write his on Monday, but here's my simplistic review: I liked it. This is definitely not a movie for little ones. It's pretty complex and dark. Exploring a child's loneliness and dissatisfaction in an animated film is interesting to me. It seems to me that because it's animated, these ideas can almost be expressed with more honesty yet don't feel quite as heavy. I guess. What do I know? I'm no film critic. Anyway, we enjoyed it. It was thought provoking and interesting to watch. Guess you can't ask for much more.

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Do you ever wish your eyes were a camera? It would be nice for those moments of striking beauty you happen upon as you're out and about, but I usually find myself making this wish when I see something funny. Yesterday I was in the parking lot at Dunkin' Donuts (I'd just bought a few muffins so Sons 2 and 3 could survive their brother's basketball game) and I looked up just as this man was driving by. He was looking at me, so we made eye contact just as he was taking a huge bite of something (a donut, I presume). A kind of embarrassing moment for him, I'd say.

Anyway, I wish I could have snapped a photo at just that moment. It would have cracked up my husband, which is pretty much my goal in life -- to make him laugh. I know it's his goal to make me laugh, which I appreciate. And he's definitely more skilled in the humor department than I am, so I'm getting the good end of the deal. Here's a for instance. I was having a bit of a pregnancy scare toward the end of this week. And at this stage in life, it is a scare. I have no desire to go backwards. The husband was being a great sport about it, saying all the right things and making me feel better...but I was so stressed about it that I got a killer tension headache in the middle of the night. It was intense and crushing, so when I got up yesterday, I took three advil and went straight to the store and bought a pregnancy test. Negative. Phew! While I was out running around with the kids yesterday, he called me and said, "Do you want to know what I was going to say if the test had been positive?" Of course I did. And he said, "I was going to ask, 'Is it mine?'" And that, in short, is why I love him. Because only he could make me laugh under those circumstances.

4 comments:

Jessica said...

hahahaha Nina, that IS funny. Both Brian's would-be response and meeting that guy's eyes right when he took a huge bite.

peaj said...

I read the last paragraph to Donna, and she laughed and laughed. Very funny, that guy of yours!

I like your marriage goals, by the way.

Emily said...

that sounds exactly like something Dan would say... and just about how he handled how freaked out I was when I got pregnant with Jude. We wanted him, just not quite so quickly on the heels of twins... He makes my life better with his humor, and that's a fact.

Becky said...

i've always admired how the two of you make each other laugh. without humor, really, what would life be like. especially in the midst of difficult times and life's challenges, being able to laugh at yourself and with each other makes everything so much better.