Brave Story!

I'm officially on summer vacation now and what better way to start it off than with a trip to the Clinic for an inflamed throat and heat rash? I have my ton o' drugs and am now on the road to hale & heartiness. Since I was downtown, I dropped into a few old haunts and a few new ones.

Lunch was at Sasebo Burger, 880￥ for an Avocado Burger, fries, salad, dessert & a drink. Yummy!

I popped into Daiei Depato and picked up a Hawaiian shirt on sale yet I considered picking up one of these Kitty/Kiss knockoffs but they were a little pricey.

I had some time to kill so I wondered through the UFO Catcher Centres looking for some Bat-goods and was finally rewarded with a Batman High Stage Figure. It retails for 25$ and I dropped about 20 bucks trying to win it, so I guess I came out ahead. I also popped over to Frozen Garden for a cold frosty one. It took a bit of getting used to licking one's way through head to get to a beer and honestly, it wasn't that tasty. But I bumped into a Bridge partner and got to ogle passers-by so it all worked out.

My ultimate destination was the Cineforum in Bivi in order to see a flick.

First up was a Toy Story short:, Small Fry. I don't know about you, but I'd be all over some of these Kid's meal toys!


We had another short, La Luna. Very cutsie but not really my cup of tea until the final shot. That made it for me.

The main feature was "Brave" or as it's known in Japan, メリダとおそろしの森, Merida and the Haunted Forest. I'd picked up some advance preview tickets a while ago with a few goodies (shown at that link.) I simply adored this movie, best Powerful-Pixar-Princess Production ever!  I went with the Yvonnderful Wonderful-Yvonne and gave her one of the Merida straps that I'd acquired when I bought the tix. I also picked up some sticky-notes & clear files for my collection.

Wednesday is the First and thus cheap movie day. Go for it!

Let's Be Brave!

We won't see it in Japan for 2 months after its DVD release but the new Pixar flick, Brave, looks pretty sweet



Considering the last few Ghibli movies in America have barely scraped by in the Box Office, this poster for Arrietty looks like it was CGIed by American animators and not hand-painted like other Miyazaki efforts. To North American eyes, this may fare well though I personally find it distasteful.

Btw, huge SPOILER alert if you know nothing about this movie and want a few surprises, DON'T watch the following for everything is given away including the ending!



Getting back to Pixar, here is a walk-of-fame moment for John Lassiter as roasted by Mr. Potatohead himself, Don Rickles!



While we're on this Animated discussion, why are there NO Anime-ted nominees for the 2012 Oscars? What about "From Up on Poppy Hill"? Redline? Was there nuthin' of interest?

Anyway, now that Billy Crystal is hosting again, it may be worth watching (the best bits on YouTube that is.)