Zipper Mouth in Progress...

A new monster in the works...

"People who are scared of buttons must lead terrible lives..."

So, when I looked up "fear of buttons" last night to find out how to spell "koumpounophobia" (pronounced "koom-poo-no-fobe-ee-ah") (thank goodness for copy & paste!), the site I went to that explained what the phobia was had all these comments at the bottom from people who ACTUALLY have this fear! One person said they can't even stand to hear the WORD "button" and cries when people make fun of her and say the word over and over again to tease her. I'm fascinated and saddened all at the same time!...because I LOVE buttons!

So would that make me a koumpounophile?...as opposed to a koumpounophobe?
I actually have some button eyes I need to sew onto some monsters today...and I think I'm going to be giggling the entire time now.

Incidentally, after being engrossed in Coraline videos and trailers online last night, I had the urge to put on the movie MirrorMask before I went to bed (I like putting a movie on to fall asleep to). I was watching the opening credits, and just happened to see that Neil Gaiman (that delightfully creepy British man in the video I posted last night, who wrote Coraline), also wrote the screenplay to Mirrormask!

Coincidence?...hmmmm. Maybe I'm just drawn to delightfully creepy things written by delightfully creepy British men. Or stories of girls who don't appreciate their lives or the people in them until they get sucked into a magical dreamland that is just as dangerous as it is magical...examples: Labyrinth, MirrorMask, Coraline...essentially the same story with different circumstances.

Koumpounophobia...

This video will either make you laugh...or creep you out.
Or both...



By the way, Neil Gaiman is the guy who wrote the book "Coraline" (the book upon which the movie that is coming out tomorrow is based). Guess what I'm going to be looking for to check out at the library (unless everyone else has the same idea).

Either way...I'm looking forward to seeing "Coraline". If you liked Nightmare before Christmas or Tim Burton type stuff, you'll probably like it. I've wanted to see it ever since I saw a 3D needle come at me in the teaser trailer last year when CJ and I went to see the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. If you click the link oabove to watch the teaser trailer (that someone obviously recorded on their cell phone in the theater...there's a better quality version here), note that collective "Whoa!" from the audience when that needle comes through the button! That happened when I saw it too! When you have those 3D glasses on, that thing looks like it's going to poke you in the eye!

I think it's cool that stop motion animation hasn't yet become a dying art due to computer animation. What a brilliant job to have! Go check out some of the other videos on Coraline.com.

Back to the Buttons

Okay...so only one monster today. Sorry. But you get lots of pictures of him!

Ah...how I've kind of missed doing button eyes. I especially like doing the layered effect that makes the monster look kinda crazy.

I originally switched to the "safety" eyes because I wanted my monsters to be baby-friendly...since most of the kids I've given them to have baby siblings who could choke on the buttons if they happen to get ahold of a monster and a button came undone. And could you really blame them for putting buttons in their mouths that look this bright and yummy?