1117 More from Sunday

Monday, February 12, 2007

Yeah, even day, bad girl, but I spent so much time futzing around looking for a watch last night I didn't finish my thoughts. So now you know why I'm having such a hard time quitting smoking. I am weak.

Today is the first day in weeks that it got above freezing. I hadn't cleared that two inches of snow we got back when, hoping it would disappear on its own. It did eventually go away from the lower part of the drive, the part that gets full sun much of the day, but it stayed on the upper half, and especially in the wedge between the house and garage, where there's no sun at all.

Yesterday I noticed that the upper drive was clear, and even in the wedge the snow was mostly gone. I wondered how that happened. I think I know - it evaporated! We've had some very strong wind. The snow was too packed to blow away (esp. where I'd driven over it), and that's the only explanation - a dry wind slurped it up. The surface of the remaining snow is dimpled, just like sand on a windy beach.

Our first real snowstorm is predicted for Wednesday night. I haven't attempted to start the snowthrower yet this winter. I guess I should do that tomorrow. I'll park the Aerio at the bottom of the drive Wednesday so I won't be trapped, whatever happens.

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A few posts back I mentioned that FirstWoman was hosting a screening at her home on Sunday, and I said that it is "not a genre I am not familiar with". Too many nots. That was supposed to say I'm not familiar with it.

When I think Japanese anime, I think of Saturday morning children's cartoons, waifs with huge round eyes with wedges for pupils, all of which I find very annoying, and I can't get past the representation to appreciate the story. A certain "look" I don't like.

FW showed Grave of the Fireflies. ("Named Best Animated Feature at the 1994 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, this film explores the plight of two orphans in post-WWII Japan. Most know of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, few of the allied firebombing of Japanese cities. A poignant and powerful antiwar statement." - from FW's invitation.)

I was late and missed the first half or so, but that's ok. Given the treatment of the children's plight that I did see, the firebombing may have been too much for me.

It was very beautiful, very artistic. Very effective use of light and dark. I noticed that the sky often reflected the emotions of the action. There's a lot of symbolism, not the kind of thing you can watch just once, and "get". For example, at a key point, the fireflies the children had caught the night before have died (they don't live long). The little girl buries them, which reminds her brother of the mass graves after the fires. The scene pulls back into the interior of their cave shelter, where we see two remaining fireflies. They flit in the light, one above the other, the higher one leading, the other following playfully. They move deeper into the cave, into deeper and deeper darkness, until in the deepest darkness, their lights die out. They didn't die, they were still flying, but their lights went out.

An omen.

I probably will not develop the intensity of FW's interest in anime, I think I'll still prefer live action, or even the book of the story, but I do want to see more.

The others there commented that it's quite different from American animation, in both the style and the course of the story, particularly the ending.

Yeah. My opinion is that American animation started downhill with Roger Rabbit, when people thought that it was so important to impart visual depth to the characters. In typical American fashion, we get visual depth but no emotional depth. (I prefer claymation, anyway. Love Gizmo.) American filmmakers seem to think that a story has to have a happy ending. They want to send people out of the theater in an "up" mood. We get a kiss on the cheek with no truth or honesty, no attention to the integrity of the story.

Oh, well, that's my movie review for this year, I guess.
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