Wrenching? Renching? My vocabulary is getting pretty lame.

昨夜、まだ「秒速５センチメートル」を見た。あの映画。。。美しいしひつうだし。。。一番の方よ。　アニメーションはさいこうだし、音楽はきれいだ。多分、ぼくの一番好きな映画。

Ok, my mind is straning from lack of vocabulary there. But yes...last night, I wached "Byosoku 5 Senchimeetoru" (or for those less inclined, "5 Centimeters per Second"). That movie...is absolutely gorgeous, yet heartbreaking. The animemation is superb, and the score is perfect for the piece. It's probably the top of my favourites list. (And that, though less formal and with a bit of embellishment, is what I scribed above)

The movie itself is painful to watch. Every moment you watch helplessly as the lives of the main characters unfold in this 60 minute masterpiece. The storytelling is magnificient, mostly owing, I think, to the fact that the story is much more realistic than your average love-story. Not that there isn't a lot of what would these days be termed "emoness", but it's the fact that things keep coming between them without the deus ex machina feeling. The events are believable, and the happen at the right times, in an order that just feels like life. I can't say enough about how much this story hit me.

And just look at some screenshots to see the animation. In my own opinion, this even topples the behemoth of Ghibli Studios in terms of quality. I can't fathom how long it took to create. Though Miyazaki's works tend to have a little more of that "smooth" quality you get in quality animated movies, Skinkai Makoto doesn't lag. The colours, movements, cinemetography, scenery, environments, weather- it's all perfect. I read a site somewhere where they showed the concept photography beside the corresponding film screenshot, and the similarity is staggering, except, of course, for Shinkai's own flair: what I'd call a more "Polarized" look (the colours are saturated to a point where real life looks dull in comparison), and interesting sky shading.

If you actually know me, let me know if you want to borrow it.

Speaking of which, I was trying to find it online to buy it a while back, but my search ended up fruitless. At the recent anime convention, one of the vendor's said he had it, though, but sold it earlier, and that was his only copy. I'm thinking that perhaps it was subbed/dubbed and released sometime in the last couple of months. I'm going to go look for it again.

Really, it was good enough to go out and buy right away.

Also speaking of which, I want to buy the official copy of the soundtrack, which I also couldn't find. I managed to torrent it too, but again, I enjoy it immensely, so I want to buy it. I'll check on that too. Perhaps the Zettai Kareshi drama OST while I'm at it too.

Buying things is fun. I've heard it called "Retail Therapy" by certain family relations. I want to get a solid wireless keyboard and mouse, because cords are the bane of my existance.

I still have that feeling from after the movie, sitting here while listening to the soundtrack- that bottom of the gut feeling that I've watched sometime that has already, and will forever change the way I think of things. Even if it doesn't sound like your bag of tricks, I say: It's 60 minutes. Are you really so busy as to not be able to try something new out, just for that short amount of time?

Oh, I also watched Shinkai's other works recently, but that might come in a post later.

EDIT: In looking on the net for some lively discussion on the movie, I found this paragraph ending review on Amazon from a certain Suzanne from Oaklahoma (I don't know her, I just like what she said):

"With 5cm I humbly think that Shinkai has crafted his most complete film to date. A stunningly gorgeous film filled with a rich melancholic tone. The kind of film to watch on a rainy day in a relaxed mood. It's a quiet and graceful film, a humble chamber piece set to a minor key; the anime equivalent of a Schubert Lieder. The 4 star rating is only because as much as I like 5cm, I still think Shinkai is capable of even better."

Honestly, this was the praising prose I was searching for inside of me. I will argue the last line about the rating, because I think each piece from an artist should not be hinged on his other works. Ie It should be considered and foiled against the artist's other works, but only in note, discussion, and academic analysis. I wouldn't say this is his most complete film to date, but a most complete film. What he does in the future is as of yet, I think, no concern to us. Shinkai has many years yet to show us what his mettle is.

Aaron Chu is my hero. He wrote me a song haha

Went to the Japanese pavilion at folklorama...lots of fun. I hope to continue studying Japanese somehow... and reduce my use of ellipses.

Irish pavilion...I tried Guinness. Ugh. Tasted liked expired cough syrup.

Lack of eloquence today...played too much FFTA2. It's far more addictive than the previous edition, I think.

The school year nears; a
beginning and ending of
beginnings and ends

I'm out of a job, and am back on LJ....again.

All hail unemployment: I feel like a duplicitous taint has been bleched from the very fabric of my being. The vice of Retail shall no longer plague me.

And now I'm out of a paycheque.

Thinking of perhaps upgrading to a paid account, and maybe getting a new account where my username isn't so....junior high.

That really is when I got this account.

I shall rejoin the masses in their verbal diahrea of bits and bytes, polluting the internet wasteland, in hopes of perhaps regaining literary skills long since hung in the closet of high school graduation. A good layer of dust has to be brushed off...

I realize now that people blog like they're talking to someone other than their self when really, I know in my own account, I can say probably 4 people at most will read this: My girlfriend, a friend who is currently confined to a hospital, a friend who has probably given up on me ever writing again, and perhaps an old roomate who, for thirty days of foggy memories, kept me company and gave me a good laugh when my colleagues were taking life far too seriously.

Here's to you guys.

Call to me call to me, October sky:
the pale glow of the sun through the clouds.
A soujourning flake of snow in my eye:
Call to me call to me, October sky.

The chill starts to creep, you ask yourself, "Why?"
and no one answers, of course, that's absurd-
they're counting orange peels inside,
thinking, "Call to me call to me, October sky".

The sound of ice clinking in whiskey and rye,
the end of another long day.
the bartender polishes with a cloth, not a sigh,
humming, "Call to me call to me, October sky".

It's not quite November, and on the bus ride,
You see an optimistic man putting Christmas lights up.
It seems strangely funny; you laugh til you cry,
thinking, "Call to me, call to me, October sky".

A drip falls from a candle onto the piano's side,
It's romancing a violin.
It's a long way to Boston, just for one guy,
so Call to me, call to me, October sky.

I stare at a flower, somehow still alive;
It's a testament to the rain.
The blue up above, clouds soaring up high-
Call to me, call to me, October Sky.





Not sure how much I like this one. It turned out alright. The rhythm's kinda off.

Jepordy

     Late night hours: discrete
math. Prove that there exists an 
        answer: why bother?

New poetry! Yay! (yes, there's a link there) And this also means I remembered my blog. Whoah. Well, back to school, back to a bit of posting now and then.

Hope you enjoy it!

Overcast

A hundred story building stained
with the sin of solitaire,
I nod
off
the card table
tumbling-
down the rabbit hole
down
down
floor 73
51
.
.
.
Intermission, please stand by
but don't use the fire exits:
if you fall, it's a long way down
to 19.
Ace of hearts, skewered by a spade,
a deuce
de-use
deus
You can't play that,
You're on the wrong floor!
5
On the way,
I glance at
3
sincerity
and
1
innocence,
gravity rules, your pull
is red on black, turn over
king over,
queen; wait...
this isn't a rabbit hole,
it's an elevator,
ironically lowering me
to sleep