Jag längtar verkligen tills vi i Sverige får chansen se Ponyo, och jag hoppas det blir verklighet inom en snar framtid. Hoppas dem släpper iväg filmen så det inte blir som så med så många andra, att man får vänta många, många år innan man får chansen att se dessa fantastiska filmer på de svenska biograferna.

Andra åsikter om Anime, Ponyo On the Cliff, Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki, Bio, Japan

So, this review is a little different. After reading the synopsis of the manga by the same title, my interest was piqued, and I decided to take a look at the Missing series. Unfortunately, when I got to the book store, only the novel was available. I’m an avid reader, so I purchased this book against my better judgment.

The most striking thing about this book is it’s cover, which is brilliant. I love the photography. The color scheme is good, it goes well with the image. Also, the same guy who did the cover designed the interior, and it definitely sets the ambiance of the book. I just wish they put as much effort into the actual text as they did the designs.

Unfortunately, the moment the cover is opened and the first page is turned, Missing begins to disappoint. Even the chapter names are uninspired and dull. Often when text is translated from its native language, there is some je ne sais quoi which is lost. Subtleties, metaphors, idioms and the like cannot be translated word for word, and are never as beautiful as they originally were.

Reading just the first page of the prologue confirmed my fears. The translation and editing are lacking. There are technical mistakes which really should have been caught. For instance, there are some tense issues on page six. Also, there were more than a few typos, the worst and most memorable being on a page where Kijou is called Kouji. These are two entirely different names, and it just shows how inattentive the staff was. Maybe I should apply at Tokyopop; they’ll hire just about anyone.

Utsume and Ayame in the manga, perhaps?

Worse, however, is the fact that the text feels hollow and sterile. The writing feels as if it’s been simplified for a younger audience. Where is the issue in that, you wonder? Well, the issue lies in the fact that the reader feels that the writing has been simplified. It seems almost as if Tokyopop is mocking us, questioning our intelligence. Missing reads on an about fifth grade level, but the subject matter is dark and psychological, much too deep for the complexity of the novel. This causes the entire book to feel out of sync; I just couldn’t get into it. Instead, I found myself laughing at the descriptions of problems and the characters’ (over)reactions. Moments that could have been truly frightening were merely somewhat or hardly creepy due to the “lite” style of the prose. Nothing seemed to the reader as it did to the characters, which is problematic in a novel. Normally, a novel should provoke some sort of emotion from the reader, but I felt detached and removed while reading Missing. I just didn’t care; I felt as if I was simply watching the events of the story unfold without any sense of wonder or suspense.

Another fact that didn’t jive with me was the lack of originality in the characters. They were all obvious archetypal anime characters. In Missing, we have the cold, bossy, glasses-wearing nerd girl; the sweet, unintelligent beauty; the slow-witted but well-meaning friend; the natural born leader martial-artist; and the enigmatic, distant, shrewd-minded central protagonist. The characters were so one dimensional, I could never get any of them but Aki and Utsume straight, as they came closest to actually portraying some semblance of a personality. The others seemed as if they were simply going through the motions . I felt as if I was reading the English novelization of a bad Japanese soap-opera.

Missing is slow-paced, and anti-climatic. The drama flat-lines early on, I felt more could have been done to create a sense of tension so that at the resolution of the climax there would be a greater sense of catharsis. Essentially, I want a deeper plot and a better ending. There is not much of a dénouement at the close of this volume, but that could well be due to the fact that there are several volumes following this one.

I don’t have much else to say about Missing. Coda has some interesting concepts, and I would have liked to have seen more done with them. I’m willing to bet the book would be much better in Japanese, but there really is no telling. Overall, this is a mediocre book that could probably be enjoyed for light reading over the summer, assuming one does that type of thing. It’s only $7.99 in the US, so it’s not too pricey, but if choosing between this novel and another, I’d call a Missing lower priority read.

När man lever ensam, där ensam definieras som avsaknaden av vuxna, vilket innebär att man själv måste stå för samtliga praktiska hushållssysslor såsom matlagning, diskning och städning, så inser man snabbt hur mycket tid som spenderas i ett hushåll till att utföra dessa sysslor. Till exempel så kändes det som vi lagade mat och åt hela tiden, vilket är något som man inte brukar uppleva när man endast äter maten.

Som slutord så måste jag nog säga att det som mest kan symbolisera denna vecka är ändå någon sorts trötthet och utbrändhet, vilket i sin tur ledde till att konsumtionen av kaffe denna vecka uppgick till lite mer än fem koppar, mot vanliga inga eller en. Men jag är nog trots allt tacksam mot denna svarta dryck som gång på gång håller än uppe mot alla odds när man som mest behöver det.
   Men det finns fler saker som jag kan låta symbolisera veckan; många och långa promenader på kvällar och nätter, socialisering på hög nivå samt stundtals mystisk mathållning, såsom turkisk yoghurt med nötter och honung, havregrynsgröt med bär samt improviserade trerätters middagar.

Det har varit en lång och jobbig vecka. Men det har även varit väldigt kul. Men nu är det dags att sova. God natt!

[polldaddy poll="765215"]

• The Triplets of Belleville
• Spirited Away
• Ratatouille
• Pinocchio
• Finding Nemo
• Millennium Actress
• Iron Giant
  
• My Neighbor Totoro
• A Close Shave, The Wrong Trousers & A Grand Day Out a.k.a. the collected shorter works of Wallace & Gromit. (Hey, it's my list and I say they are a movie).
• Princess Mononoke
• Porco Rosso

All of these are among the greatest movies ever made PERIOD.

Add to that list, WALL*E. Even by Pixar's admittedly high standards, WALL*E is exceptional. If it doesn't have the characters as complex as some other movies it is because it is a fable. In that respect it has a lot in common with Edward Scissorhands.

WALL*E is tells a fine, simple (not obvious) story superbly. (I'm going to stay away from plot synopsis. Go see it. We'll talk.) It is essentially a silent movie, a great and bold decision (and something it shares with Triplets). In addition to being a fine filet of consumer culture, W also includes an extended comment on the sterility of life in a controlled environment designed for nothing but amusement. That would be the bread and butter of Pixar's life-partner Disney. Is this:

1. a cynical comment by a company that makes its money from these parks; or
2. a truly subversive effort to sway the people who make The Land of Mouse so profitable?

Not sure. But I do know it's great.

I could go on but I'm tired and heading off for vacation. See you all in a week.

I was in kindergarten. Maybe. I can't remember the exact age. But I remember Heidi, Girl of the Alps (アルプスの少女ハイジ Arupusu no Shōjo Haij), a Japanese anime series based on the children's classic Heidi, by Johanna Spyri.

It was made in 1974 but has been dubbed numerous times through the years (the one I watched was in Mandarin), released on tape and DVD, and is popular with children even today. One can see why. A little girl and her pet kid goat (or was it lamb) running barefoot in lush green fields of Switzerland, stringing daisies or lying on the grass, playing under the vast expanse of blue sky. Free and carefree. It was the stuff of dreams for kids growing up in cities (goatherd boyfriend and heiress best friend notwithstanding). It sure was for me. The best I could manage was sneaking out of my grandparents' flat while my parents were at work to run around the block (and get a scolding later because little kids get kidnapped by drug gangs) or play in my grandmother's rooftop orchid garden (and get scolded for nor wearing shoes because I would get "worms").

I didn't even know Heidi was by the people who would years later start Studio Ghibli — Isao Takahata (director), and Hayao Miyazaki (scene design and layout) — until two years ago when I visited the Ghibli Museum and there was a whole room dedicated to the series. Talk about reliving your childhood.

Much much later, still before I'd heard of Studio Ghibli, a colleague passed me a VHS tape (that's how long ago it was) of Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓 Hotaru no Haka) by Takahata. 

At the other end of the spectrum from the happy Heidi, this story is a poignant one of two orphaned children, Seita and his sister, Setsuko (it's apparently based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka). Even today, it's considered one of the most compelling anti-war movies ever made. I had always thought it was a sad tale of the children's plight during WWII in Japan, a point of view from the Japanese side decades before Letters from Iwo Jima. Until a few years ago when another friend pointed out a deeper moral, blaming the boy's prideful behaviour and how it led to their tragic ends. Interesting. Never saw it from that perspective before.

Anyway, whatever you take from it, it's a profoundly human story, considering it's a "cartoon" made in 1988. I've since lost my tin of fruit drops (a recurring item in the storyline) which I bought on my first trip to Japan, but I've got the movie on DVD. Powerful film.

Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫 Mononoke Hime) is probably the West's first introduction to Miyazaki (outside of anime fans and arthouse moviegoers), with Miramax targetting the masses and releasing it in selected cinemas in 1997 (with translation and adaptation credit to Neil Gaiman).

It's a tale that touches on some of my favourite themes: mythology/fantasy, magic, forest spirits, animal spirits, and humans and deforestation (a bit like an anime Elfquest, only it came too late to absolutely consume my teenage years). Many see this film as an environmental message told in the form of Japanese mythology. 

The tale is about an Emishi (it was once a real tribe in Honshu) prince Ashitaka who defends his village from a demon-possessed Boar God and in the process, gets cursed himself. To find the origin of that curse, and hopefully a cure so he won't die, he journeys to the Forest of the West, a wood where spirits reside, including the Shishigami, Forest Spirit, a huge beast like a stag with many antlers, the face of a baboon and feet of birds, who at night takes the form of a giant Didarabocchi, a translucent supernatural creature that walks around the forest radiating a faint blue glow.

In the forest, Ashitaka meets San, a human girl brought up by the Wolf Goddess, Moro. (Moro attacked San's parents who were found destroying the forest. As a sacrifice to save their own lives, San's parents threw her to Moro, who raised her as one of her own together with her two young cubs) As though rejecting her humanity, San is in battle with the humans from Irontown who are set on clearing the forest to mine more ore. Ashitaka finds himself trying to mediate between the forest spirits and the humans, yet the humans don't intend to stop. In fact, they want the head of the Shishigami, which promises immortality. Look out for the kodama, the mesmerising, almost hypnotic, kind of cute tree spirits that sit on the branches in the forest.

(This being one of Disney's first release of anime in USA, it's interesting to see how they wanted to do things, and how fans reacted. Don't underestimate the power of geeks.)

However, my favourite by far (a really really far) is Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), an Alice in Wonderland meets Brothers Grimm tale, Japanese mythology style. A rabbit hole that leads into strange bizarre world that's not all peachy keen and safe, but really the opposite, fraught with spirits, wraiths, witches, monsters, dragons, magic spells and hexes.

It actually begins with a rabbit hole of sorts. Chihiro and her parents are en route to their new home in a new town when they chance upon a tunnel which leads them into an old amusement park filled with an abundant, tempting feast. As her parents gorge themselves, uninvited, on the food, they are transformed into pigs. Chihiro's distress at her parents' transformation turns to panic as the sun sets and the "amusement park" becomes a spirit world. Enter Haku, a boy who helps Chihiro. He takes her to his mistress, the witch Yubaba, as being under her employ would be the only way Chihiro can remain in the world long enough to find her parents and rescue them. Yubaba agrees to let Chihiro work for her, but takes possession of Chihiro's name — the kanji of her name literally flies off the paper leaving only a partial character which reads as Sen (in many cultures, a name is probably one's most significant, precious and personal possession; likewise folklore or beliefs across the world, knowing one's name is considered as having a power over that someone).

In the rest of the adventure, Sen's mettle, courage and character are tested as she encounters spirits and demons who visit the bathhouse where she works, as she searches for a way to rescue her parents from the spirit world, and save Haku (we learn he, too, is under Yubaba's spell) who has been cursed by Yubaba's twin sister, Zeniba, because he stole her sigil on Yubaba's orders. Sen is aided on her quest by Yubaba's son Bou, who's been turned into a fat mouse, and his crow, who's been turned into a hummingbird.

Besides the story of Sen's evolution from self-centred child to a young girl who discovers her own inner strength, Miyazaki has also injected messages about the environment into the movie in the form of a Stink Spirit that visits the bathhouse where Sen works. No one wants to attend to him and he is cleansed only after Sen pulls out all the trash, junk and gunk that has been trapped in his disgusting, blobbish form, revealing a grateful River Spirit that rewards Sen with magical all-healing pills.

In Spirited Away, Miyazaki creates a strange, mystical, sometimes dangerous, world which defies reason and logic. He dreams up characters, so many of them, both good and bad. Supernatural yet possessing such fallible human traits like pride and greed we can almost see ourselves in them. And in the courage and will of the heroes, we also hope to see ourselves. They're a colourful bunch: Sen and Haku, Yubaba and Zeniba. No Face, Bou (and his hummingbird) and Lin. Even Kamijii, a six-armed old man that works in the bathhouse's boiler room, and the endearing susuwatari, the army of soot-balls that work for him.

Susuwatari (ススワタリ) translate literally to "travelling soot", and first appear in Miyazaki's earlier anime film My Neighbor Totoro. In Spirited Away, they work by carrying coal from the coal pile to the furnace. If they aren't given a job to do, they turn back into soot. They get excited if you feed them Japanese candy kompeito.

  One of the susuwatari (although he's not fuzzy any more) currently serves as my keychain (taking over from Ryoga Hibiki 響 良牙, the piglet from Ranma 1/2, who was also a keychain of a bad guy ninja in Speed Racer), and another larger one (purchased from Ghibli Museum) used to sit on my desk at work and occasionally got hurled at account executives. (It's okay, it wasn't hurt.) (The susuwatari, not the executive.)

Spirited Away was released in Japan in July 2001 where it became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history, surpassing Princess Mononoke for highest grossing animated film. It was the first movie to have earned $200 million at the worldwide box office before opening in the USA. By 2002, a sixth of the Japanese population had seen this movie. The film was dubbed into English by Walt Disney Pictures, under the supervision of Pixar's John Lasseter. (By the way, Miyazaki has a no edit rule on his anime films; Disney has distribution rights to Studio Ghibli films outside Japan, declining only Grave of the Fireflies and Only Yesterday.)

Spirited Away is the first anime to win an Academy Award (in 2002).

to continue...

i'm now in ep. 7 of kamichu, and i think the series is shaping up well. first off, i like the way the writers developed the story and its characters (yurie, a klutzy but well-meaning teenage goddess to boot, and her high school friends). the sheer imagery and scope of its flowing rural scenes are a great plus. i almost feel like i've stepped into an extension of Miyazaki's Spirited Away -- they exude the same aura. i have a feeling that in time this series is going to enter my list of favorites.

incidentally, Kamichu was awarded the Excellence prize in the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival, which should give you an idea what to expect.

i also managed to peek at the first episode of hatenkou yugi (Dazzle), and i like what i've seen so far. for one thing, the major characters just seem to leap off the screen: rahzel, a spunky and adventurous magic user; alzeid, a grouchy loner bent on revenge, and baroqueheat, a skirt-chasing adventurer. hatenkou yugi is a series that combines elements of adventure, comedy, drama, supernatural, etc.

coming up next: the film Paprika.

I was recently told about the Ghibli Studio movie, Tales from Earthsea. 

Director Goro Miyazaki is every bit as brilliant as his father Hayao Miyazaki. I'm just taken away by all that I've seen from them and Ghibli Studio. While the it's not as visual as Hayao's movies like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, but it still has a captivating storyline.

The best thing I find about these films is really how simply thier animated. Well, the characters anyway. The shape of the nose, eyes, mouths, are all reminiscent of the old animated tv series like RoboTech or the like. The animation is of course far beyond what it was, but the simple line art of the human characters with incredibly detailed backgrounds and scenery, amazing story telling all bring it together so wonderfully.

I really hope that someday my daugther will enjoy these films as much as I do and just love the fact that these films can span the age gap. I don't know one adult who's seen a Miyazaki film that hasn't absolutely adored it, and my daugther has already watched parts of Howl's Moving Castle and was mesmerized. Not that I let her watch a lot of television at this point...but I digress.

I sound like I'm ranting a bit but my main point here is I will never cease to be amazed by what Ghibli Studio and the Miyazaki's are creating. There are a few other I still need to see and can't wait to enjoy watching them.

Below is a list of films and links to Ghibli Studio movies I HIGHLY reccomend:

Princess Mononoke
Howl's Moving Castle
Spirited Away
Nausicaa of the Wind
Porco Rosso
Tales from Earthsea
Grave if Fireflies
My Neighbor Totoro

Joe Hisaishi is a brilliant composer, singer, author, arranger, pianoist, typesetter and head of orchestra in Japan. Mostly, he spent his time on composing. He is regarded as one of the most influential composers in the Japanese film industry. He composed over 40 film soundtracks, including Prinicess Mononoke (1997), My Neighbor Totoro  (198 8) by Hayao Miyazahui, Spirited Away (2001), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind  (1983), Howls' Moving Castle (2004), and other films by Kitano Takeshi. Besides, the song of the tale of mari and three puppies in my previous post is also made by him.

You can close your eyes to enjoy the songs that he was playing.... LET'S ENJOY!

Asian Dream Song:

Spring:

Summer:

In these years, he toured actively to perform in a variety of styles: Piano solo, ensemble and orchestra. The following are the Japanese animation videos that he performed and composed. Besides, all of these Japanese animation were made by Hayao Miyazaki. Those animations sometimes reflects the reality. Therefore, it is worth to watch it. I will introduce about him in the next post.

 となりのトトロ and 風のとおり道  ( Film: My Neighbor Totoro). It is one of my

favourite music I like most. :-)

                                      Howl's Moving Castle - 人生のメリーゴーランド  

Another soundtrack of Howl's Moving Castle from You tube

                                      Princess Mononoke - もののけ姫     

  Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - 風の谷のナウシカ (風の伝説)

I can't find the one which played by Joe Hisaishi, but this is the original soundtrack of this animation which was composed by him.

 Laputa (Castle in the sky) -「天空の城ラピュタ」 君をのせて      

天空の城ラピュタ

  Spirited Away 千と千尋の神隠し

Music can refresh our mind and heal our soul. It's one of the good medicine for human.

The below links are the sites about Joe Hisaishi:

http://www.joehisaishi.com/ (Official site: Japanese / English)

http://www.joehisaishi.net/ (French)

http://www.joehisaishi.tw/News/index.html (Chinese)

Resultatet vart såhär:

1. Laputa: Castle in the Sky
2. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
3. Detective Conan
4. My Neighbour Totoro
5. Spirited Away
6. Doraemon Movie
7. Kiki Delivery Service
8. Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo
9. The Castle of Cagliostro
10. Evangelion: 1.0

Källa: Alafista

Andra åsikter om Anime, Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, Film, Toplista, Spirited Away, Evangelion

by tudus

much love,

darialois

Nice story, very creative. I felt like I'm dreaming while watching this.
There are some funny scenes that still makes me laugh up to now.
But I liked Howl's Moving Castle more than this one.
Both are created by Studio Ghibli so some drawings are way similar to other Ghibli films.

Recommended by again by Phippo. =)

by Sulit.com.ph (duel)

Studio Ghibli!!! My most favourite anime film production company on the whole world!!!

Studio Ghibli, Inc. (株式会社スタジオジブリ, Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Jiburi^?) is a Japanese animation film studio, and previously was a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten. Founded in 1985, it is headed by the acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki along with his colleague and mentor Isao Takahata, as well as the studio's executive managing director and long-time producer Toshio Suzuki.

From Wiki by Wiki -

Website: Studio Ghibli

Trailers:

- My Neighbour Totoro

- Howl's Moving Castle

- Spirited Away

- Princess Mononoke

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, Miyazaki Hayao^?, born January 5, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan) is the prominent director of many popular animated feature films. He is also the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company.

From Wiki

Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館, Mitaka no Mori Jiburi Bijutsukan^?) is a commercial museum featuring the Japanese anime work of Studio Ghibli. Located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western suburb of Tokyo, Japan, it opened in 2001

From Wiki

[gallery]

I decided I would have to remember back to the first time I went to Tokyo with my family, over 20 years ago as an 8-year-old, when I was overwhelmed with every new sight and sensation. I gazed up at the painting on the ceiling of a giant, tangled vine-like beanstalk featuring characters from Ghibli films with a smiling sun in the center and immediately felt the years start to melt away. A group of professional animators called Studio Ghibli created the pastel colored, magical museum in Inokashira Park, Mitaka, a suburb of Tokyo. Hayao Miyazaki, the most well known animator of Ghibli, has produced many of the popular films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and the recent Academy Award winner Spirited Away. Studio Ghibli’s animated features, some of which have American versions, offer adult themes in a form fit for children (and childlike adults). Princess Mononoke voices the importance of nature and protecting the environment and My Neighbor Totoro introduces two young sisters whose mother is sick and are being brought up by their father.

It’s a good thing the museum didn’t exist when I was a child (it opened on October 1, 2001) or I would have begged my parents to take me every day. Children ran amok through the maze-like museum and after I got over the initial shock of being encouraged to act with no inhibitions in a museum, I joined them. My mom and I tried hard to get lost, and eventually did, leaving my father and brother behind to explore on our own, as we peeked behind every door and around every corner. Unfortunately, we couldn’t join in playing on the giant, fuzzy cat bus, one of my favorite characters from My Neighbor Totoro (little tykes only).The Ghibli Museum reveals secrets behind the films by displaying replicas of the animators’ rooms and studios complete with authentic sketches, photo albums, and books, which show works-in-progress and the animators’ inspirations.

Museum goers can see unique, original short animated features from Studio Ghibli in The Saturn Theater. Outside on the roof, accessed only by a winding metal staircase, stands a life-sized statue of a robot from Miyazaki’s futuristic film Laputa: Castle in the Sky (sorry, kids, no climbing allowed).

After running ourselves ragged, my family met at the gift shop where we picked up some souvenirs and then relaxed at the Straw Hat Café. We sat in the shade on the edge of the park and sipped our cold "Lamune," a very sweet and fizzy drink, before we headed home, ready for a nap, with years stripped from our hearts and weight from our shoulders.

I actually wrote that title without having any deep thoughts in mind, so let's hope they emerge as I type.

Well today I went skating for the first time since I left America and damn did it feel good. Something about feeling the wind in your face and the scrape of the ice under you makes your blood flow a little easier. While it was nice to skate, it did make me miss hockey even more. Just seeing the goal crease made me want to play sooo bad. But, since apparently they do play hockey here in town, I got some information and will get my Japanese teacher to call and find information for me. Besides my friends and normal portioned food, playing hockey is definitly at the top of my list of things I miss. Playing that will be good for my soul, meeting people, and speaking Japanese. Hopefully it happens.

Last night I went to a yakitori restaurant with a lady friend. Expensive but it was good. I always tell her to choose anything she likes (mostly because I can't read the kanji menus, but let's continue) For those that don't know yakitori is basically shish kabob. But anyways she ordered some and one was just a straight up whole fish on a stick. She then informed me (Tamago wa sakana no naka iru!) Eggs are inside! Sure enough, one bite out of the fishes stomach reveiled hundreds of eggs. They did taste good, but I couldn't help be feel a little for this porr pregnant fish. I love my meat and beleive it is natural for humans to eat meat, but letting a fish get pregnant and THEN killing it for food is a little strange for me. But I did eat 2 or 3 of them so apparently I don't care THAT much.

(picture from my phone, a first ever for this site!)

I guess it's deep thought time... I guess the main thought that pops in my head is... I'm very thankful that I have a much more lively life now than I did for the first two months I was here. I've been here for months now(wow seems like so much more) and these last two months I have never had a weekend where I didn't go out with some people. It's amazing how my mind can never be satisfied. For example, this weekend I will be going out with three different girls in three nights. Two months ago I would of PAID for that. But now I go out, see all these insanely hot girls, and think why not me? My mind takes solice in the fact that hot girls usually don't want to speak English, and at my current Japanese level I need the girls to have SOME English. But that's just an excuse for me to make me feel better. It's time for me to try to attempt to get what I want. No one can change your life except for you! Now it's my turn. Thanks for the words of wisdom Winston Phillips.

Right is hot.

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Japanese of the Day...Looks like or seems like... you hear this often enough to need to know it.

Most common usage is for rain but it can be used for any adjective or verb. examples;

It looks like rain.
Ame ga furisou desu.　←-Use "masu form" without masu. ex. furimasusou desu.
雨が降りそうです。

That girl looks expensive.
Kono onna no ko ga takasou desu ne!
この　女の子　が　高そう　です　ね！

Guest Source: Jero

A black dude that sings traditional Japanese ballads. He is good. And he has a hungry market. Young people like him because he's cute and wears hip hop clothes. Older people love him because he is giving young people a reason to listento traditional Japanese songs.. Win win.

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Music of the Day... with clips from Miyazaki's best movie, Spirited Away - Snow Patrol with " CHasing Cars. Sort of a gay song, but it goes so well with this amazing movie. Keep it real people.

I am at the edge of a forest. We are on the top of a very high rocky cliff. I am there, as always, and there are other people. There is a rich and arrogant Englishman, a Mayan chief, a little french guy, "Brad" from Discovery's "Last One Standing" and myself. In fact, it is just like "Last One Standing". This show was all about some guys with different physical jobs and attributes. They would compete in local sport tournaments all over the world. This time, it seemed to be in the Canadian wilderness. There was a cameraman, a producer, etc. We are all going to compete in something. They explained us that we were going to race. The first part of the race would be on feet through the forest. The second and final part would be on canoes down a river. I thought that I had the most chances of winning since I've actually been doing this since I am a kid.

So, we went off. However, the last remaining detail was this: We had to take our canoes to the river. So we all had our canoes over our heads. The chief was the strongest. It was like that whole thing was a joke. He taunted all of us. He was extremely strong even if he was not muscled. He twisted Brad's nipples ( which is the funniest thing I've seen in a dream for a long, long time ). He went ahead of us in a flash. However, he kept on changing directions because he did not pay attention to the actual race track we all had to run on. He kept on trying to go through the woods like a madman. At some point we lost him. I decided that since we had a lot of running and walking to do, I should find a teammate. I asked the french guy ( since I am french Canadian ), but he refused. I asked the Englishman and he said yes immediately. However, when I was telling him that we should do this or do that ( since I knew a lot on how to move through the forest ), he kept on ignoring me. At some point he got tired and decided to set up camp. We were still at the edge of the cliff, but now we could see the river. Since we were ahead of everyone, I chose to set up camp as well. The sun was setting. The whole forest was orange. Orange Crush. As I looked at the forest I saw a small canoe riding down the waves like crazy. It was the goddamn chief. That guy was way ahead of us. The Englishman said:

" He's going to get killed! "

I decided to leave the Englishman. The chief was pushing my limits. I was admiring him and I wanted to beat him to gain his own admiration. There was some sort of little wooden bridge leading to the bottom of the cliff. We had previously put our canoes down the cliff, so I went down to some little wharf. At that point, I tried to hop on my canoe, but it sank. I then saw the Frenchman and Brad through the trees, cursing. I realized that they had tried to trick me. I took the Englishman's canoe and went off. At that point, it was all about me and the chief.

The river was a nasty one. Lots of waves, lots of rocks. All of the TV guys were gone. I was all alone. I battled through the waves for some time. At some point, night came very quickly and I found myself in complete darkness. As I was going with the flow, I had the strong impression that the chief had died - or had lost himself - without evidence. At some point I started seeing better through the darkness. The moon was particularly impressive for some reason. It just seemed like it was so bright and bigger. There were some dark clouds hovering all around. The rocks became bigger. Lots of huge rocks would be as tall as 6 to 10 feet over the water's edge. They were all pitch black rocks. The water had a very subtle dark blue color. The whole river was extremely wild at that time and was highly dangerous. I couldn't see much.

Then, something happened. I realized that the rocks were in fact Whippets. Yep. And the water was all made out of chocolate. I had a taste of the water and I laughed. I then started trying to grab some of those huge whippets as I was going down the river. That part was a lot of childish fun. It was like in " Honey I Shrunk The Kids " when they find that huge cookie. Suddenly, I could see the finish line at the distance. I was asking myself " Is the chief alive? Was he the first to cross the line? ". When I arrived, I saw about 200 people waiting for me. They were all cheering and the TV crew was there and everything. The chief was not there. People didn't seem to care. I soon figured out that they thought I was the Englishman because the canoe had his flag printed on it. In fact, 95% of the people were English and had English flags. They were all cheering the wrong guy. I laughed hysterically and told them that I was, in fact, the french Canadian guy. The whole place stopped cheering and I was like " HOW IS IT TO BE BEATEN BY A FROG HEH!? ", " FEELS GOOOOOD! ". I kept on acting like a total jackass.

This is the second part of last night's dreams.

I was at home. Well, it wasn't "home" but it had most of the rooms. The things included in the rooms were different, however, and I finally acknowledge the place as some "apartment of mine". Two girls were hanging out with me. There was my 16 years old cousin and her friend. Both of them were using a computer. At some point, the whole "apartment" turned into some sort of moving vehicle. Something like a train. There were no walls on both sides. Suddenly, a creature came out from under the apartment's floor and started assaulting the girls. I fought it and it ran back under the apartment. That creature was of humanoid form but had elongated fingers. Its head was pretty much like the shape of someone wearing a hood. The creature, on the other hand, seemed to be made out of some transparent ectoplasmic material. I could push it and fight it like any physical being but it did not seem to get hurt in any way. I could see layers of white here and there, some sort of spider web I acknowledged as being its "veins". It came back from under the apartment many times. Perhaps 3 or 4 times. Every single attack would diminish the girl's size. The creature would also become smaller in size. In the end, the girls and the creature were less than a feet tall. It became more difficult. Catching the thing was difficult. One of the girls got " lost " in my dirty laundry and I had to remove all of the laundry to find her.

At that point, I became more cunning and less frightened of the creature. I decided to get the girls to be the bait. I put the girls near a small hole on the floor ( the creature came out of it earlier ). I waited and waited. The creature's hands then came out of the hole. To my surprise, its hands were as big as they were at the beginning. It didn't bother me that much, however, and I grabbed them. Unfortunately, its hands "decomposed". I looked into the hole to see where the creature was hiding. Surprisingly, I saw many people walking in distress. I soon realized that they were in fact in my own apartment. I got my head out of the hole and I walked down a small corridor and I found a secret entry. It was a sliding door within the walls. As soon as I opened it, I saw about 5 guys. They were all young teenage boys. They all seemed like total nerds. They had a computer too. I somehow figured out that they were orchestrating the whole scheme. The creature was some sort of virus they sent to the girls' computer. I started punching and hitting them in every way I could. They all remained in that little secret room, crying and cursing themselves for being naughty little nerds.

I called the cops. They came almost immediately. The cops were very impressed with me and how I caught the boys. I was pretty proud of myself! However, the cops were not paying attention to the nerds and one of them escaped. I even told the nerd " Don't move! " but since I wasn't a cop, I assumed he didn't care. I told the cops about it and they didn't seem interested or preoccupied in any way. I was getting really pissed off at those stupid cops. I asked " You are going to find out who he was by interrogating his friends... right? " and the cops were like " Erm... Yes... Yeah, yeah... ". I asked the question again. They just seemed like a bunch of idiots.

This is the third and final part of last night's dream(s).

It all started in some sort of school. I came in the school and everything seemed right. I called grandpa through my cellphone ( I don't even have a cellphone ). He wasn't answering so I got connected to his answering machine. I asked him to "bring me the report whenever he can". I do not even know what I was talking about. I walked down the hall. I heard noises in a room, so I checked it out. There was a woman and her little boy near the entrance. All of the other people ( about 10 in all ) were trying to hold someone. That someone was screaming in a very mad way. Through the people I could see a woman. She was the one being held by force. She was undergoing some sort of mutation. She seemed to grow in size and in strenght. She kept on screaming. Her screams became louder. Her voice was also changing. She started screaming like a man, and then she just screamed like a wild demon. The people started losing grip. Everyone was freaking out. Suddenly a huge, bald mutant crashed through the wall and came into the room. It was like Hulk and Popeye's child. He was at least 10 feet tall and his arms were gigantic. He smashed everyone in the room. I escaped with the mother and her boy. There was some small Jeep in the hall. They came in it with me. I drove it. I started driving the Jeep through different corridors. Lots of lockers were on both sides. The nightmare was totally controlling me at that moment and I was trying to run away from it.

After a while, the mad, gigantic woman came right in front of us and started running towards us, smashing the lockers in her way. I made a 180 degrees turn with the small Jeep only to find out that the gigantic man was on the other side. To hell with it! Pedal to the metal, I went straight for the gigantic man. And the gigantic man was coming for me. At the last moment, I turned on the right and the gigantic couple smashed themselves and collapsed. I believe both of them died at that point. However, I felt a strong feeling of urgency. There were some things near the entrance - " food for the poor ", I told myself. I took all of it and put it in the Jeep. Lots of cans and peanut butter ( for some odd reason ). I told the woman to go to the forest ( same forest as in the beginning ) with the Jeep, food, and her boy. I went back inside the school to check out for more food. I felt like the whole human race was nearly extinct and it was my duty to preserve it.

As she rode away, the Jeep started malfunctioning and eventually stopped by itself. Something had happened. I went outside and I found the woman screaming at a very dark and tall being holding the boy through some sort of mind manipulation. The boy was standing in front of it, paralysed. I confronted the being. The whole being was the embodiment of evil to me. However, it looked a lot like the usual depiction of death, with the whole black hood and everything. It did not have a scythe. It appeared to me, for an instance, that it was a human being disguised. On the other hand, its neck, even if I could not see it through the clothes, seemed to be at least 3 feet in lenght. This also reminds me of a creature found in Japanese mythology. A very similar creature can be seen in the movie "Spirited Away". I could very barely see any body parts. I saw its face in a short moment and it appeared to me like it was performing continuous transfigurations. Its hands were very similar to the other creature I was talking about earlier. It had grey hands, elongated fingers with an advanced articulation. It seemed like it had a least 3 more joints. At some point, it let go of the boy and concentrated on me. I was concentrating on its head. I could not see the face no more. There was a lot of black smoke coming out of the being. We started having some sort of mind battle. It was trying to diminish me in some way or another. I was also trying to diminish it, in size. I had the thought that this was "The" Devil, Satan, or Lucifer or however you might call him. Lucid dreaming came through that fight. I started overpowering him. Its head was now fully visible and it was an ugly, bald man. It had white, blind eyes. The head grew smaller in size as I was fighting him. Then, the head became very small, it screamed and vanished. The whole being collapsed and died. Only the clothes remained.