One Summer's Day

My first proper entry, woo!

I originally wanted a blog to dump all my ideas down, but I like the idea of having a journal of sorts for when I have good days too :3 So without further ado...

Today I went to see Spirited Away in the cinema! 

I have waited 12 years to see it on the big screen, and I'm so glad I eventually got to experience it :) I have a lot of history with Ghibli, which I'll end up ranting about some other time, but Spirited Away was the first ever DVD I bought myself, and Howl's Moving Castle was the first ever special edition DVD I bought myself (with slip cover and postcards!). Howl's was £17, and as a student at the time that may as well have been £80...

Anyway, I've well and truly worn my original DVD out. I paid £9.97 for it from a music shop that no longer exists way back in 2004, and have lent it to many friends over the years in hopes of getting them into it too. It was my gateway Ghibli movie, and by proxy partially responsible for getting me into anime. I probably know the English dub word for word, and I watch it whenever I need to have emotion dump – happy tears/sad tears/aw this is so cute tears/i like the music tears. ':/

It was the subtitled version, which is always interesting. I've always watched the dub, because I really love the voice work, but watching subbed is interesting too – you see more of the story or different faces to it. They're only small differences but it's interesting to see a film I've watched so many times from a different angle. Plus maybe it's just me, but Haku sounds a lot friendlier in Japanese than in English!

                                          

                                                                           There's so much water, it looks like a sea.

Some of my favourite scenes in film are in this movie, and it was a delight to see them on the big screen. The whole train journey sticks with me, as well as the visit to Zeniba's house. Lovely stuff, gorgeous scenery... To be honest, that's the main reason I wanted to go see it. The weird thing with me and movies is that I tear up when no one else does (I'm looking at you Jurassic Park...), so while people are misty-eyed with Haku turning up alive and well at Zeniba's, I'm wiping my eyes to The Sixth Station. 

Well, let's not lie, I'm pretty much weepy the whole way through. :I

The only problem seeing it on the big screen is, well, people. I don't like to moan but inevitably there's always a gaggle of girls who have to talk through the whole thing, and the woman sat next to me kept checking her phone every five minutes (which in itself isn't a problem, but the backlight was really distracting! :c )

I did however get to sit next to an awesome old lady (must have been about 80) who told me she had it on DVD herself but she was looking forward to seeing it on screen! People pleasantly surprise you sometimes.

Also I somehow threw myself onto the beverage holder while trying to sit down, and now have a beautiful bruise on the back of my thigh, so that was good.

I just can't wait 'til next week now for Howl's Moving Castle, and My Neighbour Totoro the week after :D My only regret is that I have boneitis I didn't find out about these screenings sooner, I missed From Up on Poppy Hill, Princess Mononoke and Ponyo, but judging by the popularity of today's screening, I can hope that they'll repeat the season sometime :)

There was a Morrissey event in the evening too, which I couldn't stay for, but I did get some free badges. There was also a fracking simulator where I got to wear a hard hat, and I got a Froakie hat from the Nintendo Festival of Fun.

                                                                               Neat.

There'll probably be a similar post next week when I'm reeling from post-Howl's feels, so look forward to that.

(Writing blogs isn't as scary as I thought it'd be c: )