Haibane Renmei - Vol. 1: New Feather (2003)

I've been busy for the whole week and going on about 110% speed. Part of it is the pile of stuff that I want to get done at work before I leave for China in about two weeks (*fingers crossed*) and part of it is the huge number of doctor's appointments that I had this week: Eye surgery check up, chiropractor twice a week, physical therapy twice a week, a check-up by my orthopedic surgeon... It's been pretty hectic.

In any case, today was the first day in a while that I had all to my own and I just didn't feel super-enthusiastic about getting started on the five or six presentations/proposals that I have to write before my China vacation. As a consequence, I stuck in some DVDs and away we go...

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The Cat Returns
[/b]People kept on labelling this as one of Studio Ghibli's rare missteps, but I found it to be absolutely delightful storytelling and further example of just how far most animation in the U.S. (excluding Pixar) has fallen from their artistic roots. If I have a complaint, it's that the character animation is atypically non-spectacular versus the recent Miyazaki work or even Takahata's movies. In fact, it's quite noticeable that the original movie that contains The Cat Baron character, [i]Whisper of the Heart, [/i]is superior art-wise.

Other than this criticism, I was thoroughly enthralled and delighted by the Alice-in-Wonderland-esque world that's created for this movie. The world, the humor, and the wonderfully multidimensional main character, Haru, make this for one of the best children's movies that I've seen recently (and I don't include [i]The Incredibles[/i] as a children's movie). To tell the truth, I'd rate this higher than [i]Princess Mononoke[/i] and [i]Spirited Away[/i], both Miyazaki movies which I feared were evidence of a decline in Miyazaki's storytelling abilities (although both are still artistically superior to most of the dreck coming out stateside).

My favorite things about this movie:


[list][*]The voice actor for the Cat King absolutely steals the movie ... and the character is kinda pervy in a likeable way.[*]Despite this being a "through-the-looking-glass" type imaginary world, there is a true character arc for the main character, Haru, rather than just having her be a static vehicle for the audience.[*]The movie has some delightful off-kilter humor that should adults should enjoy, too.[/list]I highly encourage people to find this movie on DVD...



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[b]Donnie Darko[/b]
Yes, yes, yes... I know... How is it possible that I haven't watched this movie before being the movie freak that I am...? Well, it's just one of those movies that I never got around to catching until now. In any case, it's got some great acting and visuals, but I came to the end of the movie wondering "Is that it?". I was very involved in the movie until the last five minutes where I just feel like the resolution was a limp, wet, noodle.

I watched the original edition, not the Director's Cut, so someone tell me if the Director's Cut makes the movie considerably better. Otherwise, it's not really worth re-watching.

Nonetheless, I'm seriously considering freaking everyone out at the next Rotten Tomatoes Halloween Party by coming in the freaky bunny suit as my Halloween costume.

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[/b]Okay, so I've only completed the first disc out of the first box set of this anime series, but I'm already pretty interested. Again, another richly imagined world ... in this case, this series starts with a very intriguing premise. The main character, Rakka, wakes up in a coccoon from which she initially hatches and is cared for by a group of similarly hatched kids all "reborn" without any memories and with angel wings and halos. These Haibane (angelic beings) live as a special subcommunity in a mysterious, walled city next to normal humans, but their existence and their origins are all a mystery.

The first disc's episodes are basically alot of exposition, so I haven't really gotten to a point in the series where there's any kind of dramatic tension. Nonetheless, the artwork is very good, the world is richly imagined, and I look forward to watching the next couple of episodes.

As many people on Netflix said, this is a rewarding series with no samurai battles, large-breasted/scantily-clad bikini babes, etc... so I'm curious where it's all going to lead...

On a separate topic, I know this will seem like blasphemy to Paul, Annie, and other Ipod fanatics, but I signed up for MSN Music today rather than making my first digital music purchase on ITunes. Specifically, I decided to give in and purchase my first Jay Chou album online so I can begin studying lyrics. Amazingly, you can buy his latest studio album, Orange Jasmine, on both ITunes and MSN Music. I decided on MSN Music even though the album is longer because I can order music and listen to it through my Media Center (i.e. order music automatically while watching TV in my living room) and I want to eventually be able to more easily port this music to my Treo to listen while I'm in China.

In any case, the Jay Chou purchase was kind of an impulse buy because, at Annie's recommendation, it's much easier to find lyrics (in Chinese, English and Pinyin) for Jay Chou than it is for Wilbur Pan or David Tao (whose CDs were given to me for Xmas).

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Yes, yes, yes... I give into the Jay Chou epidemic...

Okay, I'm seriously considering getting back to doing work. Maybe I'll get out of the house tomorow and enjoy some sun.
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