An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road.

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
— Chris McCandless

I swear to you, Into the Wild is a life changing movie - at least for me. My meilleur amie felt the same way, but that might just be us. It's actually a true story. And that's what makes it so great. Of course, the beautiful scenery in the film is a plus. I don't even want to say anything about it because I feel like you should go see it for yourself. I mean, honestly, Chris McCandless aka Supertramp is one of my heroes. These kinds of things inspire me so much. I've been meaning to go buy the book, but I haven't had the chance yet. I love everything about this story. Of course, the ending is not ideal, but the act is inspiring. I think you can agree with that.

It's part of the reason why my best friends and I have decided to go camping (that's a lighter word than I'd like to use, but I don't know a better one, and I also feel like realistically, that's all we're going to end up doing) for a few weeks in the summer (again, realistically, there's very little chance that we'll be able to do more than 2 weeks considering we have to coordinate everyone's schedules which is a pain). I adore adore adore these types of things. They're very romantic.

Inside all of us is a wild thing...

Yesterday I went to see Where the Wild Things Are. It was such a good movie! I loved it - but it was sad! It actually brought me to tears at one point! I highly, highly recommend you go see it in theatres right away. It didn't let me down, and I had built up some pretty high hopes.
My favorite was Douglas, and then Carol. Who were your favorites?
I wore my Max hat. I think it is quite awesome. In fact, I'm wearing it right now as well. And there's my kitty with me in the photo. He's so cute, don't you think?

Alice

Brandon Christopher Warren of Flickr
One of the little girls I babysit used to call me Alice. She watched Alice in Wonderland a lot, and I apparently resemble her quite a bit. (I'm blonde, she's blonde, you know.) I always wanted to be Alice for Halloween, but I never have been.

Also, have you heard of that movie "Alice?" The 1990 version. I saw it on T.V. once. It's about a woman named Alice and all of the crazy things that happen to her when her doctor/herbalist Dr. Yang gives her odd drugs. It's very interesting actually, I do recommend seeing it. I'd say it's worth a Redbox but not a Blockbuster, but I highly doubt it would be in a Redbox anyway. I'm sure it comes on TV occasionally. Otherwise, if you need something to get while you're at the movie rental place, it's a good pick. (It did win a bundle of awards/nominations... quote from good old wikipedia...)

Woody Allen received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, as well as a Writers Guild of America nomination. Mia Farrow received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical and won the National Board of Review Best Actress award.

So maybe it is worth Blockbustering.

She's a Little Girl with a Round Tummy!

Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo
Tiny little fish
Shes a little fish from the deep blue sea,
Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo! She's a little girl
Shes a little girl with a round tummy.

Favorite little fishy sing along let's go.
Sing P-O-N-Y-O.
You clap your hands & clap your fins,
Everybody this is where the magic happens

And when Im skipping with her.
My heart does a dance.

MUNCH AND MUNCH, KISS & HUG
MUNCH AND MUNCH. KISS & HUG!

Oh, He is my favorite little boy.

Rosey, Rosey, Red, Red!
Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo
Tiny little fish.
Shes a little fish from the deep blue sea,
Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo! She's a little girl
Shes a little girl with a round tummy.

Ponyo
Ponyo
Ponyo.
1, 2, 1, 2, 3

I love you bunches and bunches & I give you lots of Xs and Os
Feel it in your fingers, all the way down to your toes.
Everybody 1, 2, 3 come along and dance with me.
1, 2 ,3 make a wish, sing along with your favorite fish !

And when Im skipping with her.
My heart does a dance.

MUNCH AND MUNCH, KISS & HUG
MUNCH AND MUNCH. KISS & HUG!

Oh, He is my favorite little boy.

Rosey, Rosey, Red, Red!
Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo
Tiny little fish.
Shes a little fish from the deep blue sea,
Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo!
She's a little girl
Shes a little girl with a round tummy.

Cutest movie EVER.
Things I now want:
1. One of Ponyo's sisters! :D
2. A boat like the big version of Sosuke's
3. A pump-powered flashlight (in case of a tsunami, which would never happen here but whatever. We get hurricanes.)
4. A downloadable version of the Ponyo song and the Remix

This was the cutest movie I have ever seen! Everyone was just going "awwww" the whole time! I adore all of his movies, as I said before.
I actually really loved that this movie talked about JUNK in the OCEAN. People need to SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT! Otherwise Ponyo's sisters and her crazy dad and her awesomagical mom will DIE along with all the other creatures in the sea. I really liked that this movie had that in it. Plus, Ponyo seriously rocked those giant bloomers. No one else could possibly do that.

"I don't see the point in living if I can't be beautiful."

I must confess: I'm a big fan of his anime movies!
I was talking to my friend the other day about Totoro because she had seen an umbrella with his head on it! (Which I would kill for, by the way.) She said it had eyes and little ears sticking out the top. But Google didn't find any :(
I have seen all but 1 of his movies, I believe. (The one I haven't yet seen is The Castle of Cagliostro, is it good?) But I haven't seen any of his series. And I just recently found out he's made Shorts, all of which I need to see soon.

Anyways, I wanted to share his magic with you because - honest to God - I can trace back where I am now and where I want to go in my life to one moment. And that is when I saw the movie Kiki's Delivery Service.

I swear, this movie changed my life. Not really because of a super-inspiring plot or anything like that, but - I don't know exaclty how to explain, but it was a big chain of events following from that moment which have made me who I am today.

His other movies are just amazing as well. He is just so fantastic. I'll admit, I saw Howl's Moving Castle before I read the book - but I read the sequel too!


I shall rank my favorites, and you shall watch them all:
1. My Neighbor Totoro
2. Kiki's Delivery Service
3. Howl's Moving Castle
4. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
5. Spirited Away
6. Laputa: Castle in the Sky
7. Princess Mononoke
8. Porco Rosso
(Ponyo is unranked as I have not been to see it yet! I've been too busy, but hopefully I'll go this weekend.)

The only one I saw in the theater was Howl's Moving Castle, the others are too old. I could watch them all over and over again ~ also, it's very hard for me to decide whether Proco Rosso or Princess Mononoke should be last, they're very close for me, and they are the ones which I remember least of :(

I really just want a Totoro. I think it would just be the best thing ever to find a Totoro and be able to sit on its belly and play with it and be best friends.


P.S. If you know which of the movies the title of this post if from, and I'll love you forever.

Kiwi!

It's so sad... :( But the message is good - I think.
QUOTE:

Kiwi! is an animation about a Kiwi - a type of bird that cannot fly, who spends its whole life working towards achieving his dream. The kiwi strived to create the illusion that it was flying over a forest as it soared down through the sky from the top of a cliff. Thus, the kiwi spent what must have been its whole life nailing trees to the side of a cliff. All this, to fulfil its one dream of flying, even though it was technically unable to. There are several powerful messages behind Kiwi, but mainly, it makes you think: no matter how absurd and seemingly out of reach your dreams are, what's stopping you from achieving them?

...I think you can take the wrong message away from Kiwi. Some might see it as me telling you that your dreams are worth dying for (if he did die). I don't necessarily believe that, but I think I am showing a character who is like that. Some people can be obsessive over something that only they can understand. I suppose that's why I ended it the way I did. I think part of the sadness, comes from people asking 'Why would he do such a thing? What is driving him to do all of this?'

Mischief Managed

Yes, that's right, I already saw the new Harry Potter! I went to the midnight premiere with a couple of my friends. :) We got there at ten for the midnight show...that's what the ticket person told us to do, apparently. Well, anyways, it was worth it!! These movies are soooo good! I heard the next two will be 2010 and 2011, there's two because the last book was so long that they had to split it into two parts. According to an interview with Emma Watson I saw, they're already done filming the first half and working on the second half.
Let me tell you, these movies are spectacular. The effects! Brilliant. The whole setting of Hogwarts and pretty much everywhere else they go, breathtakingly gorgeous. But, oh my gosh, I swear, everyone came out of there with tears in their eyes. I won't give too many details, so I don't spoil it for anyone, but ooooh, the last scene, it's so pretty!

I haven't read the books in two or three years, but I did reread the Half Blood Prince in November, when the movie was still scheduled to come out in December. However, for me, all the books sort of blend together, so I can never pick out specific incidents that didn't make it into the movie. I always feel like "oh, maybe that was in a different book," or "maybe that already happened in another movie." This is probably due to the fact that I saw the first four or five movies before I read the books. ( :O ! I know! How could I?! - I thought I was being very rebellious or something; everyone else was reading them, so I wouldn't!) Although, that has made the movies equal to or at parts better than the books for me, because all the characters in my head when I read, have always been the actors in the movies. I like that.

Anyways, the point of talking about Harry Potter at all was to say, I saw this girl with a very cute shirt which I must make for myself. It was just a plain white v-neck, and on the front it said "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good" in this really neat, Harry Potter-esqe writing (it makes sense to me...) and on the back it said "Mischief managed" OOH it was sooo cute! My friends and I were so jealous. I want to make myself one now. I need to find a white vneck :P Or maybe an offwhite one. I have some sort of aversion to wearing white shirts. I don't really know why.

Apropos of Myself

"It is my belief... that the truth is generally preferable to lies." - Albus Dumbledore, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I love this quote because it totally explains my view on life. I hate lying and I hate liars. Even about dumb little things - especially about dumb little things actually! If I ask you if you think my hair looks okay, and you think it looks awful, then I want you to tell me that! I don't want to walk around all day looking frumpy. I want to find the nearest bathroom and fix it or put it in a ponytail. If you think I'm being rude, then tell me! Geez.

Liars really get on my nerves. But anywho, Harry Potter is really great. I mean, really. It's just fantastic. I never would have thought it - in fact, when I was little, I refused to read Harry Potter just to be a rebel. I never actually got around to it until the movies came out and I liked them. But I can honestly say I love Harry Potter. I'd trade places with Hermione any day, even if it meant I had to be a study freak. Haha!

You bet I'm psyched for the newest movie coming out. You bet I was mad when it got moved to this summer when it was scheduled to come out in the winter! And you bet I'm considering going to a midnight show on opening night. Haha, I really am considering it.