In which a girl with an aged body saves a mage with a heart of a child

This post comes as answer to this one Howl’s Moving Castle Anime by Kitsune from Kitsune's Thoughts. My answer would be too long for a comment, so I thought it'd be much better to link an entry of my opinion.

For me, this movie is one of my all-time favourites. From the very start, I loved the soundtrack, it made me smile and it brought me moments of peace (Joe Hisaishi couldn't produce anything less than a masterpiece after all), the colours of the city and the vast lush landscapes (don't forget the movie was made in the traditional way, not through computer!) and the characters. Howl might be a little annoying in the beginning but, you know, real people aren't flawless.

Mankind is no island

Something to remember we are not alone in this world. Turn around and see; there are people in need. But what do we do about it really?

With the same hand we cause pain, we can offer love and heal.

Memory- a short film by Osamu Tezuka

We mainly know the great film-makers from their long-length features and we ignore other shorter creations of them. This is one good example. Tezuka parodies here human memory, while giving a quick lesson of cognitive psychology, one might dare say. His style in this short film mingles real people faces with 2D animation, perhaps with the intention of adding a caricature feeling to it. It makes me wonder, if Yuasa Masaaki is influenced directly from Tezuka.

Let's take a look at the qualities of memory Tezuka mentions in the short:

• Memory is based on oblivion. If we couldn't forget ,then we couldn't remember either. The useless details are erased.
• Memories are organized inside the brain. We remember what leaves strong impressions.
• Memory is selective and distorting and idolizing.
• Memories are influenced by emotions and influence emotions. Bad memories either get pushed away or get magnified.
• Time soothes and minimizes the effect of memories and memories wear off.

I love you California

Wish that becomes the anthem of the state. I hope I'll die and be buried to the land where I was born, even though most of my life 'till now has been spend away from it.

I love you California, I love the Union


Well the seasons pass, & the seasons go
Nothing ever stays the same
There's one thing I know, that will never change
That's the love for the land from which I came

California, California
With the waves upon your shoreline
Will you call me home, when my life is done
To rest in your hills so high

From your rocky shore, to your forests green
To your valleys deep & wide
There's a light I see, on the faces there
And a spirit you just can't hide

Many years have passed, since I roamed the hills
In the golden glow of sunlight
Now that the darkness falls, all around me now
I love you with all my might

Animation in Music Videos

It's in the Rain
Ανέβηκε από RavenTV.







I really like these tidbits of animation in music videos. This contrast of (moving) 2d and 3d world creates a unique atmosphere with beautiful results. If you have in mind more such examples, please, link me :)

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

"Desiderata" (Latin for "desired things", plural of desideratum) is an inspirational prose poem about attaining happiness in life. See video and listen to audio after the jump.

Spring anime season 2010

SG trailer
Ανέβηκε από manuloz. - Δείτε γνήσια web videos.

These two anime plus RAINBOW Nisha Rokubo no Shichinin, that hasn't a trailer yet and has no announcement of air date, will be on the must watch list. Stylistically they seem very well-worked and quite refreshing from the usual anime style. But the plots are very promising as well: a student's (bizarre?) life, a samurai gang's life and deliquents' after WWII lives. And all of them are adaptions from novel and manga, meaning good quality of characters and story- dialogues. The two first hosted in Noitama slot that gave us masterpieces like Mononoke. Slice of life at its best- that's my hope.

Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei involves Masaaki Yuasa (Kaiba, Kemonozume, Mind Game- from which I and Neko-kun have watched only Kaiba and it WAS a masterpiece) and Yusuke Nakamura's character design. Plus the main character resembles Ikuhara-sensei! (see Revolutionary Girl Utena)

House of Five Leaves comes from the author of Ristorante Paradiso. I must admit that her character design with the many edges and the big pupils isn't something I like very much, but back in Ristorante's anime adaption these features were slightly decreased thus I watched it with delight. The House seems to preserve her manga style, so I'll see how much I can enjoy it. Plus the opening theme surprised me with the selection of a pop song. I was expecting something more traditional japanese. I believe that the plot structure will be similar to Ristorante's, so at least I'll enjoy the serenity of life stories.

The RAINBOW's title made me think at first that it was an anime with overdose of moe and silly fanservice or an art series with lolis, but when I saw the poster and read the summary, I totally changed my mind. I don't know a lot of facts about this one, but the manga won an award, so I have high hopes for a historical slice of life. The setting is the years after WWII and I am going to read The bread of those early years by Heinrich Boell with my Neko that's also set in this time period, so I'll get two different views on the same historical events and in different places. Let's see how it'll turn out.

Conversations - Beauty, morals and racism

From the previous post about Chinese beauty arose a very interesting conversation. We are both happy that we can discuss about everything and challenge each other to think. Intellectual ‘battles’ are always interesting. So, there certainly will come out more in the future.

First impressions - 'Kimi ni Todoke'

School- life shoujo at its best: lots of laughters, lots of tears, lots of sparkles floating, many chibis and a huge dose of innocence. What makes it so good though is its sweetness. It warms your heart like no other anime. Sawako and Kazehaya are one of a kind, so very kawai and so very shy and gentle. The word 'yasashii' appears already from the opening and it's one of the reappearing words along with the 'thank you' , 'hajimete' (=first/ beginning) and 'I am happy' that come from the lips of Sawako :)

The crazy water

There once was a king and he ruled a kind kingdom,
with happy and willing people.
One night, the king descented into a prophet's dream
and thus he saw the dreadful future:
in just a few days, it'd rain hard
but the water would make the people crazy
doin' things they would never expect.

The king woke up drowned in his sweat and heavy breath
and told his best friend an advisor of what he knew
"What you've witnessed is true my lord" he told the anxious king
"and here is what we must do. We will save all the sane water for a few days
and when all sanity is lost, we'll keep driking only from the good water
to keep this kingdom in justice and happiness".
And so they did.

When the people went insane, justice kept on the kingdom thanks to the king and his advisor
But soon the people were mad and angry against them
for for them madness was reason and reason was madness.
Soon both the king and his friend took the toughest decision
To drink the crazy water, to loose their minds, be one with the nutheads.
And so they did".

Don't you have the feeling that people, each and everyone of them, have actually tried the mad water ever since they were born? And that they keep updating on their dose of it?

Isn't it a pure sign of madness teaching kids at schools to be proud of their grandfather's horrible acts and prejustice, and then wonder why violence is a theme very popular to younglings, especially the male ones?

Isn't it an absolute sign of idiocity and hypocrisy to give one or two (or even 50 or 100) euro for children in Haiti, then buy products of the brands we all know they use children to produce their commodities, so we actually finance the hunger and pain those people feel? Even worse, the same people who make comments like "I may be a racist, but when I see a hungry child my heart is full of love for it" seem to become the very symbols of the majority of people. Am I the only one feeling embarassment to be a human when I listen to such things?

Isn't an act of nutheads to feel insulted of people protesting for their rights and needs?

Isn't it a sign of a madman to use dangerous words, the meaning of which he or she does not know, to show off?

The meaning of this post is not that I am the definition of a smart, rightful person and the rest of you are a pile of wasted crap. It's not a demand to change the world or to wake up people. There's nothing sophisticated behind it. It's only a way to say something I never listen anyone saying : you can be a bastard in every aspect in your life and it'll be ok, but, for goodness sake, just be a little honest to your self on how things are (and most probably have always been). It's the very least that can be done.