Happy Birthday Ella Fitzgerald! :) Fitzgerald was a jazz vocalist who was known as the "Queen of Jazz", and the "First Lady of Song". She was born on April 25, 1917, and died on June 15, 1996. I really like it when Google changes the face of Google.com to reflect an important person's birth date, or an important event in history, or an important time of year, like New Year's or the Fourth of July. For what it's worth, this makes me happy. I also feel that in certain instances, I learn something, like when they choose to celebrate the birth date of a lesser known scientist or author.
In any event, Ella Fitzgerald would have been 96 years old today, if she had lived.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Film Review: From Up on Poppy Hill
This animated film was produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Goro Miyazaki, the son of Hayao Miyazaki. From Up on Poppy Hill premiered in Japan in 2011, and the English language version premiered in North America this year (2013).
From Up on Poppy Hill centers around Umi Matsuzaki, a 16 year old high school student who helps her grandmother run a boarding house and look after her younger sister and brother while her mother is studying abroad in America. Umi develops feelings for a fellow student after she agrees to help him and his friends renovate and save the old building that houses all of the high school's clubs. By the end of the film, Umi has learned a lot about herself and about her family history, and events come full circle.
I liked From Up on Poppy Hill better than Studio Ghibli's 2008's (Japan) / 2009's (U.S.) release Ponyo. I feel that the animation was better and more consistent with Miyazaki's earlier works, and I cared about the main character in Poppy Hill - Umi Matsuzaki - more than I did about Ponyo, the title character of Ponyo. Plus, I thought that Ponyo was a bit annoying.
Poppy Hill was a sweet film, and definitely one I will be renting from Netflix or Redbox when it is eventually released. I am curious to see what Goro Miyazaki's next project will be. :)
From Up on Poppy Hill centers around Umi Matsuzaki, a 16 year old high school student who helps her grandmother run a boarding house and look after her younger sister and brother while her mother is studying abroad in America. Umi develops feelings for a fellow student after she agrees to help him and his friends renovate and save the old building that houses all of the high school's clubs. By the end of the film, Umi has learned a lot about herself and about her family history, and events come full circle.
I liked From Up on Poppy Hill better than Studio Ghibli's 2008's (Japan) / 2009's (U.S.) release Ponyo. I feel that the animation was better and more consistent with Miyazaki's earlier works, and I cared about the main character in Poppy Hill - Umi Matsuzaki - more than I did about Ponyo, the title character of Ponyo. Plus, I thought that Ponyo was a bit annoying.
Poppy Hill was a sweet film, and definitely one I will be renting from Netflix or Redbox when it is eventually released. I am curious to see what Goro Miyazaki's next project will be. :)
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