During the visit of college chum Stuart C.G. and his son Sammy just over a week ago, Janice and I met them and Thomas K.Y. to screen Coraline at the AMC Framingham multiplex near where I work in Framingham, Massachusetts.

I enjoyed the stop-motion fantasy movie, which reminded me of Pan's Labyrinth as much as its siblings The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Unlike Alan Moore, who has been unhappy with cinematic adaptations of his graphic novels — From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, and the upcoming Watchmen — Neil Gaiman has been more involved and arguably gotten better results.

MirrorMask, Stardust, and Coraline have all been faithful in spirit, if not in plot particulars, to Gaiman's quirky work. In addition, among many other things (most notably Sandman for DC Comics' Vertigo line), Gaiman adapted Princess Mononoke for U.S. audiences and wrote the screenplay for the computer-animated Beowulf.

Coraline is about a girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning) who is bored with her parents and finds a parallel world in which everyone initially appears to be nicer and more interested in her. Fans of The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and similar fairy tales will recognize the archetypes, but the strange-looking denizens of Coraline still felt fresh.

The voice casting, as with the best animated films, uses actors for the appropriateness of their voices rather than publicity stunts. For example, Lois and Clark's Teri Hatcher provides the voice of the girl's mothers, and Gargoyles' Keith David is the cat who warns of hidden dangers in the "button-eyed" universe. Overall, I'd give Coraline an 8 out of 10, or a B+/A-. It's rated PG for some scary images.

Speaking of Princess Mononoke, later that weekend, I met Beruk A., Stuart, and Sammy at Thomas' place for Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, the latest anime feature from Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. Ponyo is about a boy in a seaside village who finds a small mermaid. As with most Studio Ghibli movies, it balances a charming depiction of childhood with larger mythic themes.

Unlike other recent Miyazaki films, such as Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo is more child-friendly, avoiding grotesque monsters or carnage in favor of a timeless reminder of the value of friendship. Thus, the award-winning Ponyo is closer in style to The Cat Returns or Kiki's Delivery Service. It was a little long for Sammy and the youngest watchers. The video we watched was subtitled, but I look forward to an English-language dubbed version. I'd also give Ponyo an 8 out of 10.

Backing up a bit, with all the gaming I've been doing lately, friends have asked how I've found time for so much genre television. The truth is that I've finally dropped a few shows, such as Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, in favor of reading episode summaries online.

After Psych's entertaining half-season finale, and with Dollhouse still being lackluster so far, I'd have to say that my favorite "SciFriday" show lately has been the computer-animated Star Wars: the Clone Wars, with the fun Batman and the Brave and the Bold a close second.

Last week, I played assorted games four days in a row: David I.S., Dexter V.H., and I downloaded the free trial of the Lord of the Rings Online multiplayer game, skipping our usual City of Heroes supergroup; I ran a Pathfinder: "Holy Steel" teleconferencing session; and I hosted the regular D&D4e "Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based Initiative" fantasy group.

The "LotRO" MMO is enjoyable so far, using J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy setting and offering a few differences from "CoH." Despite erratic scheduling, the "Holy Steel" team has reached Canaan on its way to ancient Egypt, and the "F.B.I." is at the Korobokuru (eastern Dwarven) stronghold of Bazran Hai.

This past weekend, because of college chum Stuart C.G.'s visit from New York City, I ran a D20 Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed. superhero scenario rather than the usual games. Paul J.'s girlfriend Brie helped entertain Stu's eight-year-old son Sammy, while Stuart and Thomas K.Y. rejoined the "Drake's Port 7" as the metahuman vigilantes investigated crimes committed in their (fictional) New England city by look-alikes!

Janice and I have also picked up a few more video games for our Nintendo Wii, such as Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but I haven't had much time yet to try them out. She has also been more diligent than me in working out with the Wii Fit. Of course, as a result of all this gaming, I've again fallen behind in blogging, reading, and genre television. I'm looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend in which to do so.

Coming soon: Animation roundup!

"SciFriday" used to be a marketing campaign by the SciFi Channel for so-called appointment television around shows such as Stargate SG1 and Farscape. Before that, Fox briefly ruled the genre TV roost in the 1990s with The X-Files and shorter-lived companions such as Space: Above and Beyond.

More recently, there has been an embarrassment of riches for fans, despite worries of a dearth of quality programming. Those who like comic book superheroes have the charmingly campy Batman and the Brave and the Bold and the mutant melodrama of Wolverine and the X-Men, which draws on its cartoon predecessors.

Space opera enthusiasts have the computer-animated Star Wars: the Clone Wars, which has expanded George Lucas' universe with a nice balance of action and character development (and even a cameo by the original Star Trek's George Takei). I've criticized the revisionist Battlestar Galactica, but the postapocalyptic military show will have a spin-off in Caprica.

Speaking of darker dramas, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles is moving to Fridays, paired with Dollhouse, from Buffy: the Vampire Slayer and Angel creator Joss Whedon. I hope that Dollhouse will be more successful in terms of ratings than Whedon's space western Firefly/Serenity.

On a lighter note, I enjoy the bumbling sleuths on Psych, which manages to allude to 1980s popular culture even more than similar slacker comedies Chuck, Reaper, or the late, lamented Middleman. Psych is paired with the similar but even more quirky Monk.

The SciFi Channel and the Cartoon Network, like many of their cable siblings, have drifted from their core missions/audiences, with SciFi airing wrestling and schlocky "reality" shows and Cartoon veering into live-action. Fortunately, competition from USA, BBC America, and Nickelodeon has kept enough good programming alive.

Even with casting changes, I look forward to the eventual return of the British speculative fiction trifecta of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Canadian cryptozoology show Sanctuary was also decent in its first season, with cameos by alumni of swashbuckling fantasy Highlander: the Series.

Fridays also conflict with my multiplayer online gaming with David I.S., Dexter V.H., and other friends. But that's not all! With the return of spy spoof Chuck and metahuman ensemble Heroes, Mondays are busy (but conflict with my D&D4e "Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based Initiative" fantasy game).

It has been difficult to catch up on recorded programming on Tuesdays because of the conspiratorial Fringe, do-gooder capers of Leverage, and the soon-to-return Reaper. I've enjoyed Nero Wolfe's Timothy Hutton leading a crew of grifters on Leverage, which is reminiscent of the original Mission Impossible or the BBC's Hustle (or The Sting, one of my favorite movies of all time).

This season, the remainder of the week is relatively quiet for me, with only angsty (but increasingly faithful to the comics) Smallville on Thursdays and retro cool Spectacular Spider-Man and middling fantasy Legend of the Seeker on Saturdays. This coming weekend, Janice and I will be getting our taxes done, going to a classical music concert in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and watching the Westminster dog show, among other things.

Coming soon: Food and other fun!

In role-playing news, the Monday night D&D4e "Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based Initiative" fantasy gamers were joined by alumni Thomas K.Y. and John C.M. a few weeks ago. That adventuring party has fought at the edge of a battle between humans and evil humanoids, continuing its quest for three barbarian relics.

The "Holy Steel" teleconferencing team is still trying to get back to a regular schedule after moving from Thursdays to Sundays. We're also in the midst of converting characters from D&D3.5 to Pathfinder/"D&D3.75." When we left that group of heroes, it was traveling across the Arabian Desert on its way to the empire of Khemet (New Kingdom Egypt).

I visited Pandemonium Books & Games in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Compleat Strategist's new location in Boston a few weeks ago. I was impressed by the amount of support for competitors to Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition such as Pathfinder and Savage Worlds (which Brian W. is using for his "Fierce Frontier" game). Janice and I also went to our favorite book shops in Harvard Square.

The City of Heroes supergroup all logged in during "double-XP" weekend, as our metahumans tried to complete numerous missions. While the Sunday morning sessions have been moved to Friday nights (conflicting with several genre television shows), David I.S., Dexter V.H., and I are going to try the Lord of the Rings Online multiplayer online game.

Stuart C.G. plans to visit the Boston area in a few weeks, and he may make a cameo appearance with the current face-to-face group (the "F.B.I."). Speaking of college chums, I've also met Cliff Y. a few times around work in Framingham, Massachusetts.

I hope that Dex will also be able to visit later this year to run his D20 Star Wars: Saga Edition space opera RPG, and there is still a fair amount of interest in returning to D20 Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed. superhero scenarios. It's too bad I no longer live in Virginia, because Tim M.B.'s GURPS 4e: "Knights of the Astral Sea" steampunk/dimensional travel game sounds interesting.

In addition, Janice and I have continued using our new Nintendo Wii, especially the video games for the Wii Fit balance board. I like Wii Sports more than Wii Play, and Championship Foosball and Boom Blox may take some time to master.

Coming soon: "SciFriday" and upstarts…