Random Thursday Thoughts

I was walking down Mass. Ave. today, right outside of Porter Square, and saw a sign on the side of one of the buildings indicating there was a fallout shelter inside. Awesome! If the bombs are a comin', I'll come a runnin'.
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There's a woman at my work that looks like she's about 15 months pregnant. That can't be comfortable.
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OK, gas prices being what they are (currently $1,726.10 a gallon), there have been a glut of news stories covering how to conserve on gas. A couple realyl just aren't feasible for me. I can't really go out and buy a hybrid car. That's a little out of my price range and would cause more financial problems than it would solve. Carpooling to work also doesn't seem likely, as I don't know anyone in or near Medford that works at the same place as me. (Although if I find someone, it could be an option.) Public transportation? It could work. There is a commuter rail station a 10 minute walk up the street from my work, and Davis Square is a 15 minute walk from my apartment. However, the monthly T pass for that is $120. So, also a little financially hefty. I'm not sure the economics would necessarily work out in my favor.

There is, however, one thing that was mentioned that I've tried the past few days. Driving 55-60 MPH. Typically, I drive faster. But one of the tips was that is you drive a steady 55-60 MPH (on the highway), you could conceivably lower you consumption by 25-30%. So I'm giving it a shot, and let me tell you, it's not easy. Cars whipping by you in every lane. That right foot starting to feel heavier and heavier as the drive goes along. That god-awful feeling that you're not really getting anywhere. (Well, on the way to work that's not bad, but on the way home it's torture.) The one extra benefit I've noticed so far is that I feel a little calmer. Less road rage, less yelling "You.....fucking.......FUCKTARD!!!" at other drivers. So I guess that's good. We'll see how this little experiment pans out.
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So I saw Howl's Moving Castle last night. Very highly reccomended movie on all fronts. "Professional" reviews, casual fans (which is probably a bit of a misnomer, considering the type of movie it is). All seem to love it.

Unfortunately, I didn't.

First off, the tone. It was way too cutesy. OK, that's a choice made by either the director (Hayao Miyazaki, who also wrote the screenplay) or the author of the original novel (Diana Wynne Jones). I can accept that. It's not exactly my flavor, but it's an artistic choice I can respect.

The other problems I find with the film are a little less palatable to me. First off, let me explain something. I do like (some) Asian cinema. But I don't always understand it. It's obviously a differnet style of story-telling than what this gaijin is used to. Different histories, values, and most importantly different cultures. So, while the stories, underlying themes, and cultures obviously makes more sense to those who grew up in them, they often leave me a little befuddled. I'm aware of this. But for all that, there are certain aspects of different types of these films that I enjoy, primarily action/kung-fu films and anime (which I'm using a little all-encompassingly here to denote any Asian animated film.)

However, while this film's director is Japanese, the original author, Jones (Wynne Jones?), is British. I've never read the novel, but I'm going to hazard a guess that the underlying storytelling methods and culture in that case is one that I should be able to grasp a little better. And while there are definitely aspects of this film that feel decidedly "Japanese" to me, that does tend to bear out to some extent.

Where to begin. How about a brief (or as brief as I can make it) plot outliine.

Sophie works in a hat shop, run by her mother after her father died. While running an errand, she encounters Howl, a wizard. Howl is being chased by some blobs that are the henchmen of the Witch of the Waste. Apparently she's chasing Howl because she's in love with him. Anywho...the witch shows up at Sophie's hat-shop and casts a spell on Sophie turning her from a young girl to an elderly woman. Sophie leaves town, and takes up residence in Howl's castle. Which walks around from place to place, hence the name of the film. On the way she meets Turnip Head, an endearing scarecrow, Howl's young apprentice (who's name is escaping me), and Calcifer, a fire demon who powers Howl's castle. To stay in Howl's castle, she proclaims herself the housekeeper, and proceeds to start doing just that. Oh, and by the way, she's in love with Howl. At the same time, there is a war going on. The prince of a neighboring kingdom has gone missing, and that kingdom and the one Sophie belongs to are busy kicking the crap out of each other. As a wizard, Howl is supposed to report to the king and join the battle, but he doesn't want to.

That's my brief synopsis.

I had written a handful of long paragraphs already describing things I found problems with in this film, and had only scratched the surface. I could see where this was going. Novel-length movie review. So I went to my friend: Mr. Delete. Let's go the shorter route.

I thought the characterization was weak, two dimensional. There were too many overly unrealistic reactions to situations. I say "overly" because I realize this is a fantasy and some leeway needs to be given, but even recognizing that, too many things rang false. The dialouge was downright painful at times (but that could be translation, I'm sure.) The story attempted far too much, and didn't seem to do any one aspect too well. Sort of like the saying: "a jack of all trades, master of none." The ending was beyond hokey.

There was one point where it seemed they (either the author or the director---once again I don't know because I didn't read the original novel) seemed to be trying something interesting in that they seemed to be attempting to do what Stephen Donaldson in his Gap Cycle novels called (if I remember) swtiching the archtypes. In essence turning the villain into the victim, the victim into the hero, and the hero into the villain (or in the case of this film, into more of a rascal), but if that was the intention, it also didn't seem to work out too well, because in one case it wasn't a complete enough transformation, and in a second it was too ridiculous.

One thing I did like, however, was the look of the film. It looked great. I'm not surprised by this. From all accounts, Miyazaki is very renowned in the field for this. I've only seen one of his other films (Princess Mononoke---which I enjoyed immensely), so I'm not really the best judge of how this stands up to the rest of his body of work. But it looked damn good in its own right.

Anyway, enough of this. I should get back to work.