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The holiday crossover classic The Nightmare Before Christmas has been re-released in theaters… in 3-D, no less. And guess who was there on opening day? That’s right: me. What can I say? First of all, the movie itself is great. Sure, it’s a little before my time — I didn’t see it right when it came out in 1993 because I was only four — but I could watch it over and over again. I got the soundtrack for Christmas last year (thanks, Kevin), and I couldn’t stop listening to it. The songs themselves are very memorable and easy to get hooked on. And of course, the stop-motion animation is really captivating, and it suits the story well.

I was really interested in seeing a 3-D movie. I’ve only seen one other movie in 3-D, and that was some kind of nature documentary in IMAX when I was little. I was also interested in seeing how they could take an existing movie and make it 3-D. Though Nightmare was originally released by Disney under its Touchstone banner (too scary for kids, they said), the 3-D version is a full-fledged Disney release, and Pixar gets a credit as well. All I can say from this is that there were some computers involved. The process of 3-D-izing the movie must have been at least as painstaking as doing the original animation itself.

The results were worth it, though. People equate 3-D movies with “things popping out at you,” but there’s nothing in the movie that really pops out of you, and it wasn’t originally made to exploit 3-D technology, so there’s none of that stereotypical stuff. What the movie has is depth. The 3-D effect comes from moving things back. So you can basically think of the movie screen as a glass box with the characters inside. Not that the whole thing didn’t impress me, of course. The 3-D effect was still impressive, and I loved it.

The picture was even more impressive than that, though. I noticed fairly quickly that the movie didn’t suffer the scratches and the occasional blotch in the upper right-hand corner that tells the projectionist that the reel is almost over. It had to have been projected digitally, which is really cool. And I’d also bet that the film was restored (or maybe it’s just been kept in good condition). Combine all those factors on the big screen, and you can bet that no movie has ever looked so good. Watching the film was almost like being on the miniature sets of the movie yourself.

In conclusion: Would I see it again? Yes. It’s worth the extra-expensive admission (because you keep the 3-D glasses, y’know). It really is worth it. Go to one of those “select theaters” and see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D. Now.

Right now my dad’s at his high school reunion. He went to Pompano Beach High School just like I did, and now he and my mom (who met when they were in high school) are at some fancy hotel meeting all their old friends that they made when they were my age. It makes me wonder: who will I see at my high school reunions ten, twenty, and thirty years from now? Who will become a college professor? Who will start a commune on the Left Coast? Who will work at a convenience store? Who will become the leading poet of our time? Who will wind up in jail? Who will cure the common cold? Who will be a movie star? Who will be dead (and hence not at the reunion)? And what will I be doing? Will my old friends remember me? Will we reminisce? Will we laugh, cry? Who knows? It all lies in the future. We’ll just have to make our way there and wait.

The 7 Worst Fonts. Guess which one is at the top of the list.

For those who aren’t up to snuff on etiquette (i.e., everybody), here are some basic tips on tipping.

One year ago: “Nothing has really closed yet, but since the hurricane is so slow, everything is going to close at some point.”
Two years ago: “But these nitpickings shouldn’t get in the way of what I was originally trying to point out: my school flew a country’s flag upside-down.”
Three years ago: “Suprisingly, I haven’t yet been confronted by perky seniors trying to make me participate in whatever activities they need people for.”