New Discovery

So I've never been much for anime.  Well, I didn't know what it was really about and still didn't even like it very much when I help out with the library's anime night (they showed Bleach.)  Hubby is really into anime and when he realized that I will be hosting these anime movie nights once a month, he decided to ease me into it with some Hayao Miyazaki movies.

Wow.  I have only watched three of them, but I am completely blown away.  If you don't think you're into anime, but want to give it a shot, start with these, and not the TV shows or the manga converted into anime.

Jon first showed me his favorite, Castle in the Sky.  

This is a beautiful movie is basically about a boy and girl's quest to find a mysterious floating castle called Laputa.  Of course this quest is met with much hardship including multiple factions pursuing a crystal that the girl carries with her (one of these factions ends up being good and helping the boy and girl.)  My favorite scenes are when the children actually reach the castle and visit its beautiful gardens.

Next up was Howl's Moving Castle which quickly became my favorite.

  

This movie is loosely based off of a Diana Wynne Jones novel with the same name.  It's about a woman named Sophie who has a chance encounter with Howl after being pestered by some men in an alley.  When the Wicked Witch of the Waste discovers that Howl has taken a liking to Sophie, she curses her so she is a ninety year old woman.  She also is unable to tell anybody about the curse.  Fearing her family won't believe her, she heads out to the waste and ends up living with Howl, a cute boy named Markl and a fire demon named Calcifer (he moves the castle Howl lives in.)  First, this movie is incredibly visually beautiful.  The scenery is amazing and the town is reminiscent of old German villages.  Second, I love the humor dispersed throughout the movie.  Third, I love watching Sophie and Howl come into their own by the end of the movie.  I think it ranks as one of my favorites of all time.

I finally watched perhaps his most famous movie, Spirited Away.  

This movie is about a girl and her parents who are moving to a new house when they get lost and end up at what they think is the ruins of an amusement park.  In fact, they have entered the spirit world.  Her parents eat the food and turn into pigs and it is up to the girl, named Chihiro (she becomes Sen after a witch named Yubaba takes her name in exchange for work) is forced to work to get her parents back.  She gets help from a new friend Haku and Chihiro's loyalty to him is key in the story.  This is another beautiful film and I can see why it won an Oscar.

I plan on watching all of his films in the future and I look forward to exploring the more artistic forms of anime in the future.

Something Smells Fishy!

So I've been trying to write an entry for about 5 days now. I'd start and realize that I was revealing too much by going off on a tangent or talking about stupid boring things (some of you might say, "so what's new Traci"). Gosh darnit I'm going to write a post and you're going to like it, even if it's boring.

-So what's been going on in the life of Traci?

I've been adjusting to Lent life. I'm catholic, so I'm doing my best to not eat meat on Fridays (this is the tie-in to my title). I have been successful thus far (one week) and have managed to consume both a tuna fish sandwich and a McDonald's Filet o'Fish (God Bless). Yay Jesus!

I think my family (well, my parents and I) will be switching churches as well. We've been with good ol' Saint John Neuman since I was born, but never attend anymore, as my parents grew weary of the church when I was younger. I think they've found a place (St. Oliver's) they like now and are giving it a trial run, in hopes of making the switch. Jon's parents happen to go there as well, and I might have to start making appearances at the 8am mass to chaperon the parents.

-So what's going to happen in the life of Traci?

This weekend I will be making an appearance at the WGI Atlanta regional. My best friend and co-UGA-captain from college, Krista, will come with. I'm excited to see the few friends I have left in the activity perform and/or teach and am hoping to avoid drama, which shouldn't be difficult, but I wouldn't put it past color guard (I will be armed with a book--the ultimate escape). I'm mainly excited to hang out with Krista though, because that doesn't happen too often anymore because of schedules.

Next week is Brenau's spring break! Luckily, the president is giving faculty 2 days off, so I'll be getting on a plane once again to Colorado. Ashley K. from high school will also be visiting, and I'll get to meet his new roommate (his best friend who also went to high school with all of us) Mike. I'm happy to meet/reacquaint with his friends and I look forward to some more time in Rocky Mountain National Park. We're also planning on venturing into WYOMING (my favorite state) and will try to visit Vedauwoo, one of my favorite places in America. My mom had her 9th birthday party there at a picnic table under this gigantic rock. Every time we've visited the park since, we had take a picture there. I hope hope hope it isn't too snowy to get to that point in the park to take yet another picture.

-Moving on.

I've watched three movies over the course of the day. Beauty Academy of Kabul is an amazing documentary about women in Afghanistan. I highly recommend it, as I knew nothing of the situation. I watched it because Brenau is hosting an event with a panel to discuss the documentary next month. I also watched An Inconvenient Truth (the Al Gore documentary that just won an Oscar). While I'm not sure how much I buy global warming, I was very impressed by his research and dedication to what he calls the "climate crisis." It would have been much better without flashbacks of the 2000 election though. I hope that we get candidates for 2008 who have more genuine concern for the environment (like Gore), as it has been overwhelmingly neglected over the past 7 years. Moving on from the political ambiguity (PLEASE don't comment with a lecture on global warming), I watched Persuasion, an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. Once I understood a. what they were saying and b. what was going on in the story (I have never read the novel), I really enjoyed it. I like the fact that the protagonist wasn't a ravishing beauty and it was a cute love story, although not as worthy as Pride and Prejudice.

Well that about wraps up current events, and for that matter February. I won't place any conclusions on the month as it is not officially over, but I have enjoyed it thus far for the first time in years. Hope all is well!