Miyazaki's latest film came out in the US last weekend: Ponyo. I went to see it last night with Maggie and Jessica S (formerly known as Other Jessica). I was happy to see about 20 other people in the relatively small theater our multiplex had it in. I was afraid, especially since it was Sunday evening, it might be one of those screenings with only ( Read more... )

On last Wednesday I went to see "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind" play at a local arthouse theater. I was thrilled when I found out that it was playing... it seems likely that at some point in my life -- assuming I live several more decades -- I will get a second chance to see this movie projected from film instead of on a TV screen, but I didn't ( Read more... )

Early this morning David and I headed to the airport to fly out to Oakland. I took too long to get moving, though, and we just barely missed the "you must check in at least 30 minutes before your flight" deadline which I didn't know existed but which David says has been in place since 9/11. Oh. So... we rebooked and got here a couple hours later ( Read more... )

First, a couple fun links:

Mystery cat takes regular bus to the shops - An article in the Daily Mail about a (lovely) cat which has started riding the bus by himself. This link was sent out by somebody on the Miyazaki/Ghibli mailing list run by Nausicaa.net; after all, Moon/Muta from "Whisper of the Heart" rides the train all by himself, too.

( Read more... )

It's been a little while since my last post. Nothing extraordinary has occurred, which is perhaps why I haven't bothered writing. Still, I've built up enough minor things that I feel like I should list them ( Read more... )

Pictures on FlickrThis set is from during the convention itself, starting with the Wednesday night "preview night" which only preregistrants were allowed to be there for. There are pictures from the convention floor and from panels, and there is commentary in there with the pictures as in my previous entry. Here is some expansion on the " ( Read more... )

I finally uploaded two new userpics, since they upped the limit to six on free accounts... One of them, I realized, I'd made a long time ago but didn't upload it because at the time I was only allowed three. The other I made from scans out of The Art of My Neighbor Totoro, which my mom got me for Christmas ( Read more... )

Yesterday the new Ghibli DVDs came out: "Howl's Moving Castle", "Whisper of the Heart", and "My Neighbor Totoro". I didn't have a chance to go buy them until earlier today. And then... Target only had Howl's, and not the other two. What the heck? And Graham said he'd been to another Target earlier, and saw Howl's sitting there with the new ( Read more... )

Lots of teaching-related fun lately. I guess it's not been fun for the students, because it's all centered around their second midterm, but tests always mean I get to see more of them, and that's always nice. Review sessions, homework help over IM and in person, working through review problems, etc.. The main portion of the test was Wednesday ( Read more... )

My dad, in an effort to put off some exam grading, took the OK Cupid politics test. My scores, for review, were 88% socially permissive and 36% economically permissive. Dad got 75% social and 31% economic. Interesting to see how similar we are as measured by this instrument. Also amusing to think of my dad taking OK Cupid quizzes ( Read more... )