Join us in fundraising for Japan through Mercy Corps! You can help out in a variety of ways:

1. DONATE! Why? Because it’ll make you feel good, I swear. Plus, Mercy Corps is a reputable charity that’s doing great things in Japan, from delivering supplies and counseling children to issuing store vouchers to help kick-start the local economy.

2. Promote! Facebook! Twitter! Email! PM! Spread the word out about this project in any and all ways you can think of

3. Wall! We’d like to expand the collection of wallpapers that we’re offering to donors. Make a wall for the collection, or make a promotional wallpaper for the project and kill two birds with one stone!

We only just started officially promoting the project yesterday, but the show of generosity from walling community members has been astounding. Help us keep the momentum going – together we can make this fundraiser a success!

The first time I browsed through HearJapan, I searched for “Studio Ghibli” on a whim – and I was really surprised by the number of cover albums that came up, for just about any instrument and genre you could think of! From jazz to rock, “speed” piano to marimba – there’s even an album titled Ghibli Computer which consists of “a collection of Studio Ghibli covers completely rewritten with old school computer sounds accompanied with a bouncing beat.” Amazing!

I’m kind of a traditionalist myself, so my favorite album from the bunch was Azumi Inoue’s Ghibli Meikyoku Selection~Dear Ghibli. I liked how the arrangements featured a full orchestra and piano ensemble, not to mention the fact that Azumi Inoue was the original singer of Ghibli classics like “Kimi o Nosete“, “Sanpo“, and “Tonari no Totoro“; her voice is wonderfully soothing and also quintessentially Ghibli at the same time. So I was happy to shell out a bit to expand my music collection AND contribute to relief efforts in Japan at the same time! Win-win if there ever was one.

The theater itself was really nice, with super comfy plushy seats. It was also incredibly packed – in fact, I almost didn’t get a ticket to Howl’s! When I got to the ticket counter, I was told that tickets to Howl’s had all been sold out. Luckily there was a random guy standing next to the counter who offered to sell me his ticket for the same asking price as the theater, so I gratefully took him up on his offer and forked over an addition $6 to Palace Centro for the Kiki ticket.

Now, Howl’s I had watched a little more recently (in college), and while I had enjoyed it, I didn’t think it was Miyazaki’s best. The friends who I watched it with also remarked that the movie wasn’t particularly true to the intricacies of the book. But I had forgotten how magic and imagination shines through in any/all of Miyazaki’s films. I also realized very quickly that the intricate details of Miyazaki’s animation can really only be fully appreciated on the big screen. The “Stroll through the Sky” scene near the beginning of Howl’s was particularly stunning to watch in the theater – the sense of uplifting flight was just incredible.

It also helped that the packed audience was VERY appreciative of the films – the chuckling and laughter helped punctuate all the comedic scenes, and I had a big silly grin plastered across my face throughout the film. I’d forgotten how much of a drama queen Howl was! How charming Sophie was in her old age. And I hadn’t realized that Takuya Kimura did the voice for Howl!

My original reservations against Howl’s Moving Castle remained – namely, that the war that had raged on throughout the movie was somehow wrapped up lickety-split in the final few minutes of the movie, so the happy ending, while inevitable, felt a bit forced. Nonetheless, it’s safe to say that Howl’s Moving Castle was a lot better than I remembered, and it was quite a visual treat on the big screen.

Kiki’s Delivery Service, on the hand, amazed me in how current it felt, despite the fact that it was released in 1989. Miyazaki is beloved around the world for the universal themes in his work, but watching Kiki’s this time around felt extra personal to me. Because I’ve been moving around so much in this past year, watching Kiki struggle to settle in after moving to a new town, trying to find new friends in a sea of impersonal strangers, re-discovering her confidence and figuring out what’s important to her really struck a chord with me, at this particular point in my life.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed myself last Friday and it was easily the best $12 I’ve ever spent for an anime viewing experience. I only wished I had found out about the Palace Centro screenings sooner; I would’ve liked to see My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and any number of the other Studio Ghibli films that I had last watched as a child. It’s really hard to convey just how wonderful Miyazaki’s works are on the big screen; if you ever get the chance to watch Ghibli films in a cinema, just GO – you definitely won’t regret it, and it will give you a whole new appreciation for Miyazaki as well

Reading Satoshi Kon’s 2008 ANN interview was bittersweet; reading his final message was heartbreaking. My Japanese is very limited, but the basic gist came through – the pain that the cancer wrecked on his body and family; regret about unfinished work; gratitude to his family and friends.

Millennium Actress is and always will be one of my favorite anime films of all time – the story was profound, and exquisitely told. It moved me in a way that few other films have. Watching Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers cemented my status as a Satoshi Kon fan; watching Paprika renewed my love for this director’s incredible creativity and ability to tell stories that grab the imagination and take on lives of their own.

Satoshi Kon’s works will stand as lasting testimony to his unique vision. The world has lost a masterful storyteller – he will be sorely missed. My thoughts go out to his family and friends in the days to come.

Quote Seiho Takizawa:

ご冥福をナントカなんて書きたくない。

なぜ死んだバカヤロウ

I’ve tried hooking my long-time boyfriend onto anime by starting him with a couple of my favorites – the Cowboy Bebop movie, Millennium Actress, and I may have also tried a Ghibli movie with him too. None of these worked, so I’m resigned to being the open-closet otaku in this relationship. We’ll camp out on the couch to watch Bones or Australia’s Greatest Athlete, but any anime will have to be watched on my spare time (and usually when he’s not around). Certainly I won’t be getting any cool Ponyo cupcakes from HIM anytime soon, sigh…

I didn’t follow the recipe to the letter for the ingredients, but I figured you should be able to put whatever you want in fried rice. For mine I pan-fried ground pork, bits of cabbage, onions, frozen peas/corn/carrots, and added in the mixture of ketchup, cooking wine, and a bit of salt and pepper for flavoring. Then I added leftover rice to the mix, set the finished fried rice aside, and started on the “omu” part of the omurice, by frying two beaten eggs (on medium heat) for each serving.

The trick to making pretty omurice that “looks like the ones in restaurants,” per my awesome cookbook, is to put the fried rice on the eggs when they’re half-cooked through and still a little runny – turn the heat to low if needed – then slide half of the omurice on the plate before flipping the pan over. This was a bit tricky, but since I’m not an experienced cook by any means and I did get the hang of it by the third try, I’d say it’s very doable.

Omurice is one of those ultimate Japanese comfort foods that I’ve always wanted to learn to cook, so this was a fun cooking venture for me. That it got the thumbs-up from my boyfriend and his cousin was an additional plus, even though we were having omurice for dinner instead of breakfast ;D

Damn you, yummy-looking takoyaki!!

And don’t get me wrong. I like Kris Allen – although I like Adam Lambert more xD – but I just find the original dude’s voice more soulful. Sorry Kris. Thanks for bringing such a great song to my attention though I’ll have to check out the movie where this song came from too – “Once.”

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – Falling Slowly

I don’t know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can’t react
And games that never amount
To more than they’re meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You’ve made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can’t go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I’m painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It’s time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You’ve made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You’ve made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I’ll sing along

Anyways… On the awesome character that is Urahara…

…was anyone else utterly disappointed to discover that his eyeshadow/eyeliner thing wasn’t “real”, and that it was just his hat’s shadow?!?!

(Original image courtesy of onemanga.com)

Instant drop in coolness and respect points from me. Although I still love his character, I loved him MORE when I thought he had some sort of funky Johnny Depp thing going on. Urahara looks awful without his hat anyways so it’s a good thing he will eternally be The Hat Guy. I guess Yūkyūzan Anji from Rurouni Kenshin will just have to continue as the cool eyeshadow/eyeliner guy for me… *sniff*

(Courtesy of http://users.skynet.be/aoshihomepage/)