Un Monstre a Paris

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A while ago an intriguing movie came up on my radar, an animated French film, Un Monstre a Paris.

I found out about the film through the art of one of my favorite artists, Abigail Larson. I’m always ridiculously excited when she posts new art on her Deviant Art page & I want everything in her etsy shop! xD

On her blog, she posted this beautiful piece inspired by the film

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I just knew I had to learn more about this film!

On IMDB, the film is described as

"A 3D-animated movie set in Paris in the year 1910 and centered on a monster who lives in a garden and his love for a beautiful, young singer."

Wikipedia expands on this summary saying,

"The film is set in Paris, France, during the Seine flood of 1910. An experiment gone bad turns a flea into an anthropomorphic monster (Matthieu Chedid), who eventually meets and is hidden by Lucille (Vanessa Paradis), a singer at the cabaret L'Oiseau Rare, where he develops musical abilities."

Here is the trailer for the film

The film is directed by Bibo Bergeron, whose name you may or may not recognize, but perhaps you are familiar with his previous works, which include The Road to El Dorado & Shark Tale.

Interesting thing about Vanessa Paradis who voices Lucille in the film, the name didn’t ring a bell at first, but since 1998 she’s been in a relationship with Johnny Depp! Lucky gal ^^

Also, is anyone else seeing the Phantom of the Opera story elements here? The setting is Paris, there’s a beautiful singer, a frightening monster with musical abilities who has feelings for mentioned singer, & you even have a character named Raoul who has feelings for Lucille!

Yes, the Phantom elements alone make this a film that I need to see!

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I do, however, worry for this film. It was released back in October of this year but didn’t fair so well at the box office. According to Wikipedia the budget for the film was € 28.22 million but after four weeks at the box office had only earned € 14.4 million, making back barely half its budget. But those are only two numbers that are not telling the whole story. It did say that was only in four weeks & didn’t say how many theatres it was open in. Also, not sure how much advertising was done for the film. As well, I’m not sure what kind of expectations there were for this film.

It has been hard to find out information on the film. There isn’t even a page for it on Rotten Tomatoes yet. & honestly, I’m scared to do too much poking around for reviews. There are all of four reviews listed for the film on IMDB, which I’m nervous to read. Unless I’m reading for a trusted review site, I’m always concerned about spoilers. That’s how Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland was ruined for me, bloody reviewers... If you must spoil the ending at least warn us you will do so! *cough* rant over...

Despite all this, I’m going to be keeping my eye out for this film & get my paws on it when I can. & I’ll be crossing my fingers & hoping that there will be subtitles rather than having the film dubbed in English.

Another thing that drew me to the movie was the music, which I will be discussing in a future blog post, stay tuned!

Stay Spooky,

Pending Imaginarium STORYTIME by Nightwish

Hello dear guests!

This is a very quick post, it’s been very busy day, had an hour long interview that has to be redone because nothing was actually recorded! & there’s also a video project that needs to be finished tonight, EKK!!! But I really wanted to share this with you all!

One of my all time favorite bands, Nightwish, a symphonic metal from Finland, has released a new music video for their song Storytime. But this is just the start; a teasing video preceding the movie that is being made called Imaginarium.

There’s so much to be said about this song, the upcoming album, & the film, but there’s no time tonight!
Long story short: this song is bloody brilliant, I cannot wait for the film to be released, this is the new era of Nightwish, & for heaven’s sake get over Anette replacing Tarja as the lead singer.

So here’s the music video & the song lyrics!
Enjoy!

It was the night before,
When all through the world,
No words, no dreams
Then one day,
A writer by a fire
Imagined all of Gaia
Took a journey into a child-man's heart...

A painter on the shore
Imagined all the world
Within a snowflake on his palm
Unframed by poetry
A canvas of awe
Planet Earth falling back into the stars

I am the voice of Never, Never Land
The innocence, the dreams of every man
I am the empty crib of Peter Pan,
A soaring kite against the blue, blue sky,
Every chimney, every moonlit sight
I am the story that will read you real,
Every memory that you hold dear

I am the journey,
I am the destination,
I am the home
The tale that reads you
A way to taste the night,
The elusive high
Follow the madness,
Alice you know once did

Imaginarium, a dream emporium!
Caress the tales
And they will dream you real
A storyteller's game,
Lips that intoxicate
The core of all life
Is a limitless chest of tales...

I am the voice of Never, Never Land
The innocence, the dreams of every man
I am the empty crib of Peter Pan,
A soaring kite against the blue, blue sky,
Every chimney, every moonlit sight
I am the story that will read you real,
Every memory that you hold dear

I am the voice of Never, Never Land
The innocence, the dreams of every man
Searching heavens for another earth...

I am the voice of Never, Never Land
The innocence, the dreams of every man
I am the empty crib of Peter Pan,
A soaring kite against the blue, blue sky,
Every chimney, every moonlit sight
I am the story that will read you real,
Every memory that you hold dear

Stay Spooky,

Remember, Remember…

Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot

Good evening dear guests! & Happy Bonfire Night!

This is a very late post, & it’s been a very lazy night. I went to see Anonymous this afternoon; there shall be a post about that later. But tonight has been a lazy night for everyone in the house. There was no fire in the fireplace for Bonfire Night sadly, but I don’t think anyone in the house was in the mood for it. I had not gotten my hopes up for it, the weather had not been forecasted to cooperate, had heard it was supposed to be very windy. Another night then, since those marshmallows will have to be eaten at some time or another!

Did anyone else attend a bonfire tonight? I hope you had a wonderful time & stayed safe! Or does anyone have any memories of the night they’d like to share?

Aside from having a fire of some sort, there are a few other things I enjoy doing on Bonfire Night.

My music for the evening is the Souling Song. Does anyone have any songs that they associate with the day? Kristen Lawrence’s “Souling Song (Samhain Version)” comes to mind for me, though the song is about Samhain, not bonfire night, but the two are tied together, in their own messy history. Bonfires were being lit this time of year long before Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up parliament.

There’s also an episode of The Wind in the Willows which in recent years, thanks to YouTube, I always watch, which is episode eleven of season four, “Remember, Remember” (1987).

Here’s part one

And part two

I simply adore this version of The Wind in the Willows! I can’t help myself; the stop-motion is enchanting, as are the characters. I adore Toad, silly as he is, Mole as well; he’s just too adorable with his beady little eyes!

& s’mores are a must for the night! Does anyone have anything different that they like to roast? & if you’re not a fan of s’mores, then perhaps you’d be interested in making this tasty treat that I discovered on flickr

For more information on Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night, why not check out the Wikipedia page?

Stay Spooky,