JUNKFILM

Ok, I know. I know. It’s not a movie. But, I figured since HBO is going to shoot a pilot for it and adapt the book into a possible tv show, then it makes it valid for me to talk about it here.

Neil Gaimen’s (best known author of Sandman, Neverwhere, and Death, comics and novels) “The Graveyard Book” is freaking outstanding. I had seen the book cover every so often in book stores and online, never giving it a second thought when glancing at it. I picked it up once, read the back jacket, thought it sounded too kiddy. But Neil’s name kept probing my mind, like “Junk, pick me up. You love Sandman, why not give something else a try?”

I put it out of my mind as fast as it came in. Until one day, when I was posting a blog on my old blog site and my good friend Bob wrote to me and suggested I read this. He even said he would buy it for me and ship it out before Xmas. Bob’s opinion has always been one of high esteem to me. I value his thoughts, beliefs, and ideas. If he thought it was that good, then, shit, it had to be.

I told my girlfriend, Andy about what Bob had told me, and she, without missing a beat said, “Maybe he shouldn’t get it for you,” smiled, and walked away. I wrote back to Bob telling him that Andy had already bought it for me for Xmas.

After I opened the book, I poured over it for days… I’m a slow reader, it’s big font and only 300 some pages. Just finished the book last night and I could not promote it more. I loved it.

The story revolves around a young baby who escapes certain doom at the hands of a serial murderer who has slain the baby’s family. The baby strolls off, crawling away and finds itself in a cemetery. The ghosts come out and take care of the child, raising him as one of their own. It’s a beautiful look into how we all grow up and how our environment creates who we are inside. And best of all, and I will have to quote Bob on this one because I think he nailed it right on the head, “I like Gaimen because his stories and elegant, well written, and he never talks down to kids.” I have to agree. I like kids’ stories. The have an innocence and wonder about them. However, with the grand majority of kids’ books, they talk down to kids, thinking the kids who are reading them are not keen on the world around them.

I highly recommend the book, “The Graveyard Book” and look forward, anxiously, for the pilot to be produced.

Congratulations Maggie D.!  You successfully answered all 15 questions correctly and were the first person to email us with all 15 answers.

1. It was Earth all along and not another planet when a famous American statue is found. - Planet of the Apes
2. Anakin is Luke’s father. - Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back)

3. Verbal is Keyser Soze - Usual Suspects
4. The therapist is a ghost. - Sixth Sense
5. Tyler Durden isn’t real. - Fight Club
6. Rosebud was a sled. - Citizen Kane

7. Neo really is the ONE. - Matrix (specifically part 3)

8. The Killer’s mother is a part of his split personality. - Psycho
9. 299 Die, except… - 300
10. She was really dead all along and the ghosts are alive. - The Others
11. It’s made out of people. - Soylent Green

12. They really just lived on a modern day nature reserve. - The Village
13. The policeman is sacrificed by the villagers. - Wickerman
14. Dil is actually a man. - Crying Game

BONUS - Kristin Shot J.R.  - Dallas

So Congrats!  And here is your prize, randomly picked from the award bucket!

A Criterion Collection edition of Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket! To be honest this was one of the cooler prizes in the Junk Film prize bucket, so big congrats to you, Maggie! Keep reading!