James Andrews

I’ve been a fan of Ghibli films for a long time. I have most of the ones released on DVD in my collection, and have enjoyed watching them over and over. The artwork is always incredible, the stories are always interesting, and this usually keeps me coming back for more.

“Karigurashi no Arrietti” is the story of a family of tiny people who live under a house somewhere in Japan, and a young boy who is staying in the house to recuperate from an illness he has just recovered from. The family survives by foraging around the house. Using secret passageways in the house, and taking what they can. A cube of sugar here, a tissue or two there. Arrietti the daughter of the family goes out with her father, their primary forager for the first time. He shows her around the house, and where to get stuff.

Their “borrowing” though hasn’t gone un-noticed. The boy see’s Arrietti in the garden when he first arrives at the house. The old woman who serves as the Maid at the house has thought to have seen them as well.

Visually the movie is stunning. The watercolor like backgrounds are beautiful to look at. The attention to the little details like the droplet of water that rolls down the leaf when Arrietti pushes the leaf aside is what sets Ghibli apart.
The sounds are made custom for the movie as I saw on a Japanese television show, which showed them being made, are awesome, and that is where it leaves off.

The thing that I have liked about Ghibli movies in the past is the sense of adventure. I felt in Ponyo that sense of adventure was missing, and the movie just kind of went nowhere. I get the same feeling with “Karigurashi no Arrietti”. There’s a lot of character build up, but the story just kind of dullens out. Where’s the epic chase? It’s non-existant.

If you watch Ghibli movies for the art, it’s great for the theater, but I think you’re better off renting the DVD if you want to see this movie.

Recently I went to Japan to visit my wife. While we and a few of my relatives were at “Tokyo Disney” we stopped at a convenience store called “News Day”. We were looking for chocolate, but what we found was Banana flavored Kit Kats. I decided to pick one up and give it a try. I waited until my return to the US where I opened the bar up at work and proceeded to cut it into 5 pieces to share with my co-workers. I grabbed the bar, and it started to melt where my fingers touched it. Leading me to believe the base was a white chocolate. The flavor is that of fake banana flavoring. Reminding me a lot of the flavor of banana Runts. The texture was that of a normal chocolate kit kat.

While the concept is interesting, I can’t find myself buying a whole lot of these. I prefer the original.

Tonight I did something I wish I had done a lot sooner. I went to see a band that has been a part of my album collection for 30 years. I first started listening to W.A.S.P. when my uncle introduced me to their debut album. Being an impressionable 10 year old I instantly fell for “School Daze”, a song that compares a child’s need to go to school to that of a person imprisoned for no reason for just being what they are and what they have no control over. With introduction W.A.S.P. seeds were sown. Seeds of free thinking, of rebellion, and of personal desire to make something of myself.

I arrived at Showcase Live at 5:15pm, early enough to grab my spot in line with my friend Laurie who had been waiting for me there. The doors opened and we were offered a place to sit. Stage right. The venue is INCREDIBLE. Being able to sit at a table, order a gourmet burger and fries, or a New York Sirloin steak to eat while watching the opening act. Having a spectacular view of the stage. It blew my mind.

The opening band was War Machine. The singer/guitarist reminded me of Dio for some reason. They had a solid sound, and were enjoyable to listen too. If I were more familiar with their music I probably would have gotten more involved in watching them. I plan on give them a fair listening too, and maybe if they are around again I’ll go and check them out.

The lights were down low. One by one the members of W.A.S.P came out onto the stage starting with their drummer, and soon the stage was set. Blackie started off the show with “On your Knees”. A classic from their first album. Starting the show off right. They ran through a series of songs from that album. The ones I influenced me as a child and drove my mother mad. Blackie though looking his age, sounded exactly as if it were straight off the CD.

Now I have to admit over the years I have lost touch with many bands I had once listened too. W.A.S.P was one of those bands. The songs I was unfamiliar with, like those from “The Crimson Idol” showed me that Blackie’s writing style had grown in a way I wouldn’t have expected. One example is the song they opened their finale with “Heaven’s Hung in Black”, which is a modified quote from Abraham Lincoln. Behind the band on a screen shown images of dead soldiers from the civil war, slowly the images moved to a more recent time period. The lyrics talking about the loneliness on the battlefield waiting to die. It was very touching, and it has been a while since a metal song has moved me so. It was highly unexpected. At the end, Blackie actually looked up to the sky and said a prayer. I don’t know what was said as he wasn’t mic-ed at the time, but he ended it with the symbol of the cross, which was equally unexpected.

The final song of the night, was also my favorite W.A.S.P song. A song about alcohol and debauchery. Blind in Texas. It was so wonderful to hear it live.

If you are a metal head and have never heard W.A.S.P. you should give them a try, they are a fun band to listen too. If you get the chance to see them live, I recommend you take it.

Tonight I ventured over to Movie Stop and grabbed a disc I have been waiting to be released for months. It is the latest Hayao Miyazaki’s Chibli studios film “Ponyo”. A story inspired by “The little mermaid” (or so Disney has put on the outside box) of a little sea creature who is found by Sasuke a 5 year old boy who mistakes her for a gold fish, and takes her home. Ponyo however is the daughter of the sea goddess, and once she gets the taste of human food she uses her magic to transform herself into a human. With her transformation brings on strange events and their adventure begins.

Much like many of Miyazaki’s other films it is hard not to fall in love with the characters. Ponyo’s innocent playful manner. Sasuke’s serious undertaking of the job that he’s set out to do, along with the incredible character design and story makes for great family fun. Highly recommended.

Today I was browsing through my tweeps when I saw that @liza had an announcement. A project she’s been working on for some time has come to life, and is viewable for all too see. This project is Ibis Reader, and HTML5 based ePub reader, which allows you to read ePub applications on any mobile devices who’s browser supports HTML5.

I decided to take it for a test drive. I grabbed my iPhone was went to Ibis Reader where I was redirected to the mobile version, and to where I was given instructions on how to setup Ibis Reader on the iPhone. One of the things it asked me was if it could use 50MB of storage on my phone. I agreed, and next I found myself in an area where I could browse books. I scrolled through a couple pages until I got to one called “Japanese Fairy Tales”. I’m a big Nipponophile (Japanese nut), so I decided to grab that, and start to read.

The interface is very simple. touch the right side of the screen and you advance a page, touch the left side of the page and you go back a page. Very easy from the get go. The text displays at a nice readable font size, with a font that’s easy on the eyes. Flipping the iPhone on it’s side, Ibis Reader knows to change the size of my page. The only thing that doesn’t seem to work here is the cover, which is a graphic, and not a huge concern in my opinion.

Since Ibis Reader takes advantage of local storage space the book reads fast. Page loads take only rendering time, and since it’s text, that’s no time at all.

I am very happy with how simple and easy this application runs. If I didn’t know better I would think it was a native app that ran locally on my iPhone. Bravo @liza, this is work to be very proud of.