Untested ideas

Signs of the season

Just like home.

November proceedeth

Last week, my coat first felt the air
Today I want long underwear.

At a bus stop in November

Nico Suave

Shadow of the Colossus feels like a research prototype of an absolutely world-beating RPG.

On a stopped bus in July

Also, big walking things

In most ways Howl's Moving Castle and War of the Worlds are very different films, but they share a couple of distinctive features; first, a presumably timely obsession with war and mass destruction; second, an unabashed determination to have things Come Right in the end, without excessive respect to consistency or narrative logic. (Yes, the fate of the Cthulhu-Martians was there in the novel, but the scenes before and after it belong to a much more upbeat movie.)

I assume Spielberg and Miyazaki are trying to keep our spirits up. I still can't help being reminded of the end of Brazil.

Revenge of the Sith

It was a groovy silent film. Pity they had to put dialogue into it.

Thesis II

The Expanded Universe relates to the original Star Wars trilogy in much the same way Dungeons & Dragons relates to Lord of the Rings. (I'm told Star Wars actually makes a better setting for role-playing.)

Timeliness

So in between the time I wrote that last installment and the time I got around to putting it up, the local arthouse theatre has actually put up the posters for Howl. I need to switch to a blog setup where writing an entry and posting it is one step.

Ghiblimania

Apparently Howl's Moving Castle is playing in France right now. Of all the times not to have my passport up to date...

Metal and whiskey

It occurs to me that, from a point of view, Metallica in the pre-Black Album era was basically a folk band; they produced straightforward recordings of easily transcribable songs, and owed much of their popularity to fans who liked to play those songs. It also occurs to me that by the same standard, Iron and Wine is not a folk band, but a pop band working in a folk style; "Radio War", to pick an example, is a beautiful recording, but I have trouble imagining my parents sitting down in the living room and harmonizing on it.

On the other hand, my parents aren't big indie-rock listeners anyway, so that might not prove anything.

Ambition

Hey, I'm listed by Google again.

Also, the archive links up top have always been there. I wouldn't forget something obvious like that.