I Love My Dad My Superhero Ringtone

[Assunta Gergely]

Ive always been slightly bewildered by the zombie genre. Occasionally, it will be a social satire (the original Dawn of the Dead) or a spoof/homage (Shaun of the Dead), but I'm not sure what to do with games like Left 4 Dead or Zombieland. They're certainly entertaining, but they seem based on the desire to kill humans without having to deal with the nasty morality of that decision. Zombies aren't people too, but they were humans once, and it's odd to take such glee in destroying them. It's a license to kill with the knowledge that zombies are out to hurt you first. But what if the zombies weren't malevolent? What happens when we shoot first, and don't bother asking questions later? ParaNorman is a sharp, witty comedy with a ton of heart that puts a thoughtful twist on the zombie genre, and how a righteous cause can be anything but right.

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) can see ghosts, and he's pretty okay with it. What's less tolerable is how everyone else, even his family, thinks he's a freak who's lying about seeing dead people because he wants attention. He manages to befriend another outsider, Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), but for the most part, no one else wants anything to do with him except his weird uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman). Norman's town was built on witch-burning 300 years ago, and they've turned their horrific act into a cutesy part of their local economy (various shops and restaurants all have some kind of play on killing witches). Prenderghast warns Norman that the witch's curse is about to come into effect unless he stops her since he's the only one who can talk her down. Unfortunately, Norman's a little too late, those who were responsible for killing the witch are awoken from their graves, and then they wreak havoc like zombies do.

The movie gets a little preachy with this message in the second act, but by then we've been warmed up by the lovable characters and delightfully dark sense of humor. It's not just that the movie has jokes that will appeal to older audiences like a Friday the 13th ringtone on Norman's cell phone [Correction: It's the theme from Halloween]. The visuals are wonderfully imaginative, like when Norman gets attacked by a toilet paper poltergeist, or the various slings and arrows inflicted on the undead puritans. These memorable images show ParaNorman as yet another victory for stop-motion animation, and the power it has not only to build a world unlike any other, but to make us wonder "How did they do that?" in a way we simply don't contemplate when it comes to 2D or 3D animation.

The team behind ParaNorman has a big love for goofy horror films, and it wears this love like a badge of honor as the opening titles come up in the style of a midnight TV movie. There are cell phones and other pieces of modern technology in ParaNorman, but its heart is firmly in the tradition of 50s-60s cheapy-horror flicks, and then rebelling against the subtext of those movies. Their text has persisted throughout the generations, and their prejudices are thousands of years old (that's why the town's puritan founders were killing witches in the first place), and the modern side of ParaNorman asks, "what have we really learned?"

I'll probably never be a devotee of the zombie genre. I'll take it piece-by-piece, but I'll never be one of those people who have a shotgun in a glass case on the wall that reads: "In case of zombies, break glass." ParaNorman has far more love for zombie movies (especially old ones), but it's the kind of deep respect that allows them to question the genre. Unlike the empty-headed townspeople of the story, it doesn't rest on the assumption that zombies exist to be fought and curses were made to be broken. Butler, Fell, and the incredibly talented crew at Laika have looked closer, and created a wonderfully animated feature that proves you can have a fun zombie movie without reaching for the shotgun.

So my agent actually called me with a handful. There's a signing, and there's another thing that's in the works still. He was just proposing it to me to see if it was something I was interested in, and of course I was interested in it.

I'm kind of vanilla, so currently, I just have the regular iPhone ringtone. I am a dude who does different vibrations for different people. Specifically, my father has a certain ringtone, then my three best friends have a certain ringtone, and then my girlfriend has a ringtone. My mom has a ringtone. I'm sorry. I mean they have different vibrations.

I wouldn't say I am ignoring anyone, but I'm pretty bad (at answering) my phone, though, to be honest. That's something I would like to work on. I'm just always juggling different balls. On top of that, I don't love to be on my phone like that. Just trying to be more in the moment.

Something I hang my hat on, and it kind of relates to school, I always try to do what I want to do least but what is the most taxing first. So like whether that's an assignment that's going to be a drawn-out assignment, or shoot, even like a workout when I might be tired that day, I always try to do that first to get that knocked out. So then for the rest of the day, it's plugging and chugging as opposed to having that big assignment or activity looming.

The thing that I like to do the least is probably vacuum. I enjoy cleaning. I enjoy having my space neat and tidy, but vacuuming is tough because I have a husky, so I have to vacuum pretty frequently, and if I don't, it gets kind of crazy. But I did just get a robot vacuum thing, and I let that run at night.

He's black and white. He's the typical husky like you'd see in a movie. He has the piercing blue eyes. His name is Jose, which there's an interesting backstory to that. And he's 2 years old. Our birthdays are actually two days apart.

Yes. It was Zach Harrison's friends from high school. He early enrolled, so they were still in high school, and he was here. So they used to visit because they were right down the street, and I actually told one of his friends that my name was Jose.

Not necessarily messy. There might be a couple of dishes in the sink, but all in all, we do a good job of keeping our house clean. ... But there's like certain things. Like, I make my bed a very specific way. I have my desk set up a certain way. I try to put everything away before I leave. My book bag goes in the exact same spot every night. So kind of like that.

One is my cousin. He's six months younger than me. So he's kind of built-in. And we did everything together growing up. Went to the same school starting in third grade through 10th grade, and then he transferred. We lived next to each other.

The second one, he was in my mother's preschool class. My mother's a teacher, and I went to the same school as her, and he volunteered to walk me to my preschool class. ... That's how we met, and we have been best friends since.

And Kam (Babb), he's the third, and we came in hurt together and forged that relationship while we were both at pretty low points in our life. There's something about going through struggles and pain and seeing each other, and helping each other come out of the back end of it. That forged a very special bond.

I would say homelessness is something that grieves me, and fatherlessness. Those are issues that plague the community. Obviously, for different reasons, they have extreme effects on our nation. With homelessness, there is too much money and too much opportunity, especially in America, for there to be so many homeless people. And I'm not saying that homeless people are the issue, but there should be an infrastructure of some sort put into place to help them. That's one of the ventures that I'd like to do when I get older. And as far as fatherless, I think that plagues especially the African American community. I would say there are different issues and different societal norms that shouldn't necessarily be norms that stem from not having a parent in the household, whether that's a father or mother. It forces people to cope with things that aren't normal, like I said, and making them normal. I think it rears its ugly head in different aspects, and I think that's why you see so much tumult in our world today. I was blessed enough to grow up with a father, and I know there are single mothers who take care of their business and the kids come great, but that's something that grieves my spirit knowing that somebody can grow up without that direction. ... So if any opportunity comes up during the season for me to give back in any capacity that I can, I'm definitely open to it and I will jump at. And that's something that I would say is not natural for me, as I'm naturally introverted, but just knowing that the need is there, I feel like I need to put feet on my prayers and words.

AUNT BETTY: Hey, y'all. This is Sam's Aunt Betty. This week on the show, the hosts of NPR's Invisibilia, Alix Spiegel and Hanna Rosin. All right, let's start the show.(SOUNDBITE OF DIANA ROSS SONG, "UPSIDE DOWN")SAM SANDERS, HOST: Hey y'all. From NPR, I'm Sam Sanders. IT'S BEEN A MINUTE. To my guests and to the listeners too, happy weekend.ALIX SPIEGEL, BYLINE: Happy weekend.HANNA ROSIN, BYLINE: Yeah.SANDERS: I am so happy to announce that this episode is an Invisibilia takeover. We have Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel, the hosts of this show. They're here. It is your show today. My show is your show.SPIEGEL: Let's start crying now.ROSIN: Yes.SPIEGEL: Like let's just - let's just cut to crying.SANDERS: Yes, yes. So your show Invisibilia, the NPR podcast all about the unseeable forces that control human behavior. It's out with a new season right now. How does it feel?SPIEGEL: It feels good. It feels really good. Actually I feel like this season we had a weird growth situation going on...SANDERS: OK.SPIEGEL: ...Where we suddenly kind of grew in this way that was not expected but I think is really exciting for everybody on the show.SANDERS: I'm excited about it. We are joined in studio today by the voice of Diana Ross. Do you hear her?SPIEGEL: Oh, yes.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UPSIDE DOWN")DIANA ROSS: (Singing) Inside out and round and round. Upside down, boy you turn me...SANDERS: I'm playing Diana Ross and this song, "Upside Down," because Diana Ross turned 75 years old a few days ago.SPIEGEL: Really?SANDERS: You hear about this? Yeah.ROSIN: Yeah, her daughter posted some such good pictures of her.SANDERS: So - yeah, Diana turned 75 and had this big party where she had five costume changes. She had a duet with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Puff Daddy. Leo DiCaprio was there. Beyonce sang happy birthday to her.SPIEGEL: Ooh.ROSIN: Ooh.SANDERS: And, like, that alone is enough to honor Miss Ross in the show today. But what I love even more is that she has been having herself a happy birthday basically all year. So her birthday was, like, March 24. But if you recall, at the Grammys last month, on February 10, after a tribute to herself onstage, she told herself happy birthday. We have the tape.(SOUNDBITE OF 61ST ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS)ROSS: Thank you. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me.SANDERS: (Laughter). Happy birthday to me.SPIEGEL: I think that's how I'm going to greet people from now on. Instead of saying, hi, I'm going to swap that out with, happy birthday to me.ROSIN: She looked so amazing at the Grammys.SANDERS: Oh, yeah.ROSIN: She really looked amazing.SANDERS: She did. But everyone was like, why are you wishing yourself a happy birthday a month and a half early? I guess to which she said, I'm Diana Ross.ROSIN: Exactly. That's always the answer. Any question you ask Diana Ross, that's the answer.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UPSIDE DOWN")ROSS: (Singing) Upside down, you're turning me. You're giving love instinctively. Round and round you're turning me, I say to thee, respectfully...SANDERS: Anyway, we're going to start our week as we always do, asking each of our guests to describe the week of news in only three words. But Hanna and Alix, because you two are, like, a package duo, for the first time ever, the both of you will do your two words - three words - together.SPIEGEL: All right, are you ready, Hanna?ROSIN: You say the words.SPIEGEL: Living...ROSIN: ...With...SPIEGEL: ...Uncertainty.SANDERS: I like that, nice delivery. What is the uncertainty you're referencing?SPIEGEL: Well, I think this comes out of the Mueller report and just, like, general - wait, Hanna, you help me out here. Say words.ROSIN: OK, the reason that this was on our minds is because our episode that aired last week was about uncertainty and this idea that, OK, we all know that we don't like uncertainty, that uncertainty makes us uncomfortable. But then, what the episode teaches you is there's this extra thing that you do - is the hunger to get out of that situation is so strong, like, your desire to just get out of it...SANDERS: And to find certainty.ROSIN: That your mind plays tricks on you. You make up a story. You jump to conclusions. You see things that aren't there. So that's why we were thinking, oh, wait. Like, with the Mueller report...SANDERS: Oh, yeah.ROSIN: ...Is that what we've been doing for the last year? Like...SANDERS: Do you think so?ROSIN: Were we, like, connecting, you know...SANDERS: Dots that weren't there.ROSIN: Yeah. And it's like, were people just putting things together and sort of creating a picture? And literally, some of the studies are about dots, like, giving people random sets of dots, subjecting them to a certain kind of uncertainty, like jumping out of an airplane. And then the people who are in the more uncertain situations start to see patterns - it's - patterns that aren't there. As the researcher says, it's like Jesus and the burnt toast. It's like you start to see Jesus in the burnt toast.SANDERS: I saw the Jesus.ROSIN: You did?SANDERS: I did - I've seen the Jesus toast, and I'm like, oh, yeah, it's him.ROSIN: OK, well, then you're suffering as well from this - with this problem.SANDERS: Yeah. But, like, it was such a weird week for uncertainty because special counsel Robert Mueller ends the Russia investigation. There is this letter sent from the attorney general, William Barr, that seems pretty definitive. He says the investigation is over. Mueller found no conspiracy between Trump and Russia.ROSIN: Wait.SANDERS: But then you realize, it's not over. There's still uncertainty because no one has seen this 300-page report.ROSIN: Exactly.SANDERS: It was like faux certainty for, like, a day.ROSIN: OK, but can I just push back on that a minute?SANDERS: Yeah.ROSIN: That's another case of - he also said, this is not an exoneration. So there's mixed messages coming from that. And this is a...SANDERS: Which confuses me.ROSIN: Which confuses everybody because we haven't actually seen the Mueller report. We've seen the Barr summary of the Mueller report, around which there are a lot of question marks. But that's yet another situation where people are jumping to conclusions. It's like we're looking for something to be certain, absolutely, it's like this. We actually don't know. We're missing lots and lots of information.SPIEGEL: Yeah, no, it's true because part of what the story is about is about this deep discomfort that we have with uncertainty, yes, but - and how this need to kind of choose an answer. Like, some of the research in the story talks about how, after natural disasters, you know, both marriages and divorces spike because people are so unsettled; they feel a need to just...SANDERS: Wow.SPIEGEL: ...Arrive at an answer. And it - and then the piece goes on to talk about how this need can bring us to really counter-productive conclusions that don't allow you to see what is actually going on there.SANDERS: In your episode, Hanna, are there particular insights into how people deal with political uncertainty or uncertainty in their politics? Like, I find myself thinking that the entire uncertainty that surrounds President Trump, in so many ways, probably - in my mind - pushes both tribes further into their tribes.SPIEGEL: Yeah.ROSIN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, we didn't include a lot of the political implications in this story. But what the research shows is that people double down when they're just generally feeling uncertainty. And in our country, it's like economic uncertainty - there's just, like, a lot of fighting. It's just feels like it's one of these moments in the country - and in the world actually - where everything feels up in the air and unsettled. They double down on positions they already held, even if those positions are totally unrelated to the original source of uncertainty.So it's like, you're shaken up on one side; you tend to become more of what you were before. So yeah, the political implications are all over this research. Like, they'll give people questionnaires about their feelings of nationalism. And then they'll subject them to an uncertainty, and then they'll give them that same survey again and see if they've gotten more strident in the positions that they already held.SANDERS: Yeah. So then, OK, give news consumers - or all of us - some tips on how to better deal with all this stuff. Because it seems as if we're going to continue to be in news cycles in which there are a bunch of unanswered questions about a bunch of things. How can we deal with that better?SPIEGEL: I think one is just, like, when you see yourself leaping to an answer, you want to question that answer that you feel such a need for. And you can kind of force yourself to, like - what do I know? Open my mind. Can I hear other ways of looking at this?SANDERS: Yeah, yeah.SPIEGEL: Or can I identify other ways of looking at this?SANDERS: And it's not going to end - just thinking about uncertainty and the Russia investigation...SPIEGEL: Yeah.SANDERS: There are still multiple open investigations into Donald Trump and his businesses. So I guess get ready for even more uncertainty for the foreseeable future, at least around that story.ROSIN: Yeah.SPIEGEL: Yeah.SANDERS: You're listening to IT'S BEEN A MINUTE from NPR, the show where we catch up on the week that was. I'm Sam Sanders, here with two guests this week, Alix Spiegel and Hanna Rosin. They are the co-hosts of NPR's Invisibilia, the show about the invisible forces that guide human behavior. Listeners, just a heads up, we're going to talk right now about suicide in the news.That brings me to my three words. They are, talk about it. There have been some suicides in the news over the last week tied to the Parkland mass shooting and massacre. And it's just - all of it is so tragic. And it has me questioning the way that our society talks about these issues and whether or not we're doing it the right way. So, you know, recently two survivors of the Parkland mass shooting died by suicide, 19-year-old Sydney Aiello - she was a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, at the time of the shooting - and then also Calvin Desir. He died last weekend in what police describe as an apparent suicide. Also...ROSIN: And then there was the Sandy Hook father, Jeremy Richman.SANDERS: The Sandy Hook father, Jeremy Richman.ROSIN: Yeah.SANDERS: Yeah. So he lost his 6-year-old daughter in the Sandy Hook shooting. He was found dead of an apparent suicide earlier this week. All of these things make me say to myself, I don't think we talk about suicide enough because it is so prevalent.You know, there's a new CDC report that found that the suicide rate in 2017 was up about 33 percent from the numbers in 1999. The suicide rate is climbing for young people. And we know that suicide is a No. 1 type of gun death here in America. And I don't know. Should we spend more time thinking about how to prevent this?ROSIN: That was the main message that the Parkland community took from it. I mean, that was the sort of overwhelming response to these couple of suicides, is, did we do this right? Did we talk about this enough? Did we talk about enough, like, what could happen around the anniversary? Like, were the kids watched enough? Like, can you ever have enough?SPIEGEL: But also, I mean, it's a very - like, you just have to be very, very careful, I think, about how you do talk about it so that you don't norm it. I mean, it's the same kind of reasoning around, now, people are really hesitant to use the names of mass shooters, right?SANDERS: Yeah, yeah.SPIEGEL: Because...SANDERS: You don't want to glorify.ROSIN: It's not just about norming. Yeah, it's about - I mean, with suicide it's about not creating a story that a child then wants to step into. So there - some of the interesting research around suicide is, like, let's say there's a particular bridge that is a danger for people dying by suicide or jumping off a bridge. So the authorities close down that bridge. And then the question is, does that affect anything? Do people just move to the bridge next door? It turns out people do not move to the bridge next door. Like, it's just - the stories that people and the narratives that people create and walked into are extremely specific - like, visually specific, geographically specific.SPIEGEL: Which is different than saying, when you are struggling with something, you should not talk about it. You should absolutely talk about it and process it.SANDERS: Totally - because there's two conversations, you know. Like, how should the media cover this stuff? How do we have these macro conversations about it? But also the real key, I think, to prevention are the micro conversations on the personal level, between family and friends that see folks suffering.SPIEGEL: Yeah.SANDERS: But I will say to our listeners, if any of you are in crisis or know someone who is, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK. That's 8255. Or contact that crisis line via text, by texting talk to 7410-741. We've - oh, go ahead.ROSIN: I was going to say one more thing about the Parkland thing. The reason that situation breaks my heart is I think that there was a sense about the Parkland kids that we wanted them to be the heroes of this era of school shooting.SANDERS: Yeah.ROSIN: You somehow wanted the Parkland kids to be the one set of kids who were triumphant and resilient and were going to write a new story around this...SANDERS: Yeah.ROSIN: ...And turn it into a hopeful narrative. And I think that's maybe...SANDERS: But that was too much work to put on those kids' shoulders maybe.ROSIN: Oh yeah. yeah.SANDERS: Maybe they just needed space and time to grieve.ROSIN: Exactly.SANDERS: And maybe - yeah, I don't know. But it just felt like, on top of having to mourn the loss of your friends, you're elevated to this national platform and expected to be articulate and diligent.SPIEGEL: And have some people attack you.SANDERS: Yeah, yeah. I can - I can't even imagine how hard it's been for that entire community. So I am just hoping that there is peace in those kids' future.ROSIN: Yeah.SANDERS: All right, it's time for a break. You're listening to IT'S BEEN A MINUTE from NPR. We'll be right back.(SOUNDBITE OF FLEVANS' "FLICKER")SANDERS: We are back. You're listening to IT'S BEEN A MINUTE from NPR, the show where we catch up on the week that was. I'm Sam Sanders, here this week for an Invisibilia takeover. The two hosts of that show are on my show this week. Hello, Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel.SPIEGEL: Hi.ROSIN: Hello.SANDERS: I love how y'all - it's such a wonderful tandem duo.SPIEGEL: Well, we should sing it together.SANDERS: Do it, go.ROSIN: (Singing) Hello.SPIEGEL: No, it's like barbershop.ROSIN: Oh. (Singing) Hello.SPIEGEL: (Singing) Hello.ROSIN: (Singing) Hello.SPIEGEL: (Singing) Hello.ROSIN: (Singing) Hello.SANDERS: (Laughter). Lovely.SPIEGEL: Was that good for you too, Sam?SANDERS: It was so good, so good. I have a question for you both.SPIEGEL: Yes.SANDERS: Did you watch the Apple event this week?SPIEGEL: Let me think. No. Not even...ROSIN: But I read about it.SPIEGEL: Cause we're, like, in our season. So I'm - no...SANDERS: Yes, you're working. You're working.SPIEGEL: ...Not the Apple event.ROSIN: But I read it.SANDERS: Yeah. So this Apple event was kind of interesting because, you know, usually they announce a new iPhone or AirPods or whatever. But this time they announced something kind of new for them, an Apple streaming TV service.There was this big, flashy presentation with Steven Spielberg and Oprah and a bunch of other celebrities. And there was this moment where Oprah's on stage talking about whatever show she's going to make for Apple streaming TV in the most dramatic of terms. We have the tape.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)OPRAH WINFREY: There has never been a moment quite like this one. We have this unique opportunity to rise to our best selves in how we use and choose to use both our technology and our humanity.SANDERS: Really?ROSIN: Watching TV is now, like, a virtue. Happy birthday to me. I'm watching television.(LAUGHTER)SANDERS: Isn't that - it's just - it's so dramatic. I usually get excited whenever I see Oprah onscreen. But this just made me more nervous because I feel like there's too much stuff to watch. So, like, all right, there's going to be this Apple streaming TV service. There's going to be a Disney streaming service called Disney Plus out later this year. I already can't keep up with Hulu and Netflix and the Amazon Prime. It all feels overwhelming. And it's too much. And I can't keep up.So with all these questions and all this nervousness, I called up someone to give me answers. His name is David Lazarus. He's a consumer columnist at the LA Times. And I said, David, help me make sense of this. And he said, for starters, you have to understand Apple moving into streaming TV, it's actually a really, really big deal.DAVID LAZARUS: Because right now you've got a handful of companies that dominate the pay TV horizon - Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, soon to be Disney. And now you've got Apple stepping up with Apple TV Plus, which still has some question marks surrounding it. But generally speaking, we know what it's going to be. And it's basically going to be Amazon in much nicer clothes.SANDERS: (Laughter). And an Oprah TV show.LAZARUS: With Oprah and Steven Spielberg, as if that's not enough.SANDERS: Yeah, it's this era of, like, peak content. I was reading some things that you were writing. Altogether, there's about 300 streaming services out there right now.LAZARUS: This according to a new report from Deloitte, which looked at the pay TV horizon and came up with some really interesting conclusions, not least of which is that there are now more streaming video subscribers out there than there are traditional cable and satellite subscribers. So we've now seen the switch. And I would say it's an irreversible switch...SANDERS: Yeah.LAZARUS: ...That pay TV audience is heading increasingly towards streaming. But Deloitte also found that there's a sense of subscription fatigue setting in.SANDERS: Oh, yeah. So my question for you is, what do we know about how people actually consume all this content? I myself am subscribed to a bunch of streaming services. But I watch the same three shows.LAZARUS: And you're in no way different from anyone else. In fact, Nielsen had a really interesting data point that came out where they said that - and they're looking at, you know, all the cable channels that are out there, hundreds of channels. And they said, the typical pay TV viewer watches only 17 channels on a regular basis - 17. Whereas with a cable bundle, you might have 200 channels, which means that's a lot of channels you're never watching, but you're still paying for. The fact of the matter is there's too much. And there's not enough hours in the day to watch it all.SANDERS: Yeah. What I find so interesting, though - you know, you write about this - there is too much content, too many streaming services. But there is actually a decrease in the number of actual broadband Internet providers, which means that the way that we get to all this content is bottlenecking, which could mean higher prices.LAZARUS: Oh, it absolutely will mean higher prices. And you look at the economics of what's happened. As the pay TV industry moves from the traditional fat cable bundles to these new, narrower pay TV streaming services, where do they get their money? It's going to be Internet. It's going to be high-speed, broadband Internet. And if they want to show revenue growth to shareholders - and they do - the key place that they're going to get that is by once or twice a year raising the broadband rates, which is what you're going to need to access all that wonderful content out there. And what are you going to do about it?SANDERS: Well, what's so crazy is I cut the cord years ago to get away from companies like - I don't know - Time Warner Cable. Turns out now the company that I get my Internet through to do all the Hulus and Amazons and Netflixes (ph), it is Time Warner. They're still getting my money, even if I'm not paying for cable from them.LAZARUS: Yeah. I'm the same way. I cut the cord a few years ago. And at that time, my broadband subscription fee was about 30 bucks a month. It's now $66 a month. That's a big jump. I would expect it to be at $100 a month within the next few years. And I'm not being...