Coco

The movie, not my furry princess, that is.

Last night Jen’s beloved 4-year old nephew, Patrick, was here for a sleepover. We got pizza (MMMMMMMM. I’ve missed you Pizza. It’s been too damn long). I bought Fratelli’s cake pops and roasted up some baby carrots too. A feast!

And then, Oni popped in the Disney/Pixar movie Coco. I was shocked (I tell you…SHOCKED) that this wasn’t all about my sweet kitten. I mean, she totes deserves a big, no-expense-spared Hollywood biopic! N'est-ce pas?

What’s this Coco about? Miguel’s family has banned music. Why? How could anyone be so cruel? Music speaks to Miguel. It’s what drives his soul. He:

...dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Héctor, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history. (source)

The character Imelda has a spirit guide who’s hilariously (this is Disney fer fuck’s sake!) named Pepita.

Pepita is a chimera animal that’s part big cat (think tiger or jaguar), part eagle (look at those wings and talons), and borrows features from several other animals, including ram horns and an iguana-like tail. (source)

photo by Thelma Datter

WOW! Pepita was TOTALLY my favorite character. Hell’s bells, I wanna BE Pepita! Also too, she’s a specific brand of chimera – an Alebrijes. ¿Qué es eso?

photo by Alejandro Garcia 

In 1936, a young Mexico City street artist named Pedro Linares fell into a deep fever. While he slept, he dreamt, and his dreams were anything but normal. He found himself in a fantastically colored forest full of unbelievable animals: lions with wings, stag-headed bears, dogs with lizard tails, all resplendent with colors rarely found in nature, let alone on a single animal. To add to the strangeness, every animal was screaming a nonsense word over and over again: “ALEBRIJES! ALEBRIJES!” (source)

When he woke from his nightmares he began creating what he’d seen, naming them what he’d heard them scream, Alebrijes.

These are incredible! Absolutely breathtakingly GORGEOUS! I want one. Of course I do.

I want to go to Mexico. I wanna see more big, beautiful mythical beasties. Has the Big Orange Bigot, with his constant, roiling river of lies and smears, made visiting Mexico less than safe for pale skinned U.S.A. passport holders? Mebbe not but 45's daily, runaway train of racist bullshit can't exactly be endearing us to the people of any country, on this planet or any other. Christ, the residents of Alpha Centauri Bb probably hate us now.

I haz a sad.