Archive for the ‘EarlyAdopter’ Category

Product image for ASIN: 0312322216 Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader
Author: Bradley K. Martin; Buy New: $19.77

Reading about the personality cult of the North Korean leader had not fully prepared me for what I found when I arrived in Pyongyang in April 1979, as a member of the first large contingent of Americans to visit since the Korean War.

 

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Spirited Away (2001)
 

Product image for ASIN: B00005JLEU Spirited Away
Buy New: $19.99

Plot Outline: In the middle of her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by witches and monsters, where humans are changed into animals.
Plot Synopsis: Chihiro and her family are on their way to their new house in the suburbs when her father decides to take a shortcut along a lonely- looking dirt road. After getting out of the car and walking along a path for a while, they discover an open-air restaurant filled with food but with no workers or customers present. Mom and Dad don’t hesitate to sit down and dig in, but Chihiro senses danger and refuses. As night falls, she is terrified to see the area fill with faceless spirits, but when she runs to find her parents, she discovers that they have been turned into pigs. She is found by a mysterious boy named Haku, who promises to help her. He gets her a job working in a nearby building, which turns out to be a spa hotel for the thousands of Japan’s gods and spirits. Though the work is hard and the people strange, she does as well as she can. Her parents, however, are still waiting in the hotel’s stockyard, and Chihiro must find a way to break the spell on them before they end up as the main course of some guest’s dinner.

 

Released on July 20th, in 2001 in Japan, “Spirited Away” stayed in theaters for almost 10 months, breaking all the previous box-office records in Japan, including that of “Titanic” and “Princess Mononoke” by the same director Hayao Miyazaki. With this astonishing film about a girl’s spiritual journey, Mr. Miyazaki again showed that he is one of the best directors living in the world. This animation film was also awarded prestageous Golden Bear Prize in Berlin Film Festival, and that is not a surprise at all, after you see this movie.The story quickly is established, so don’t ever be late for the show. It traces a girl’s strange and fascinating life in another world, where her parents are accidentally magically transformed, and she has to survice herself and return to her own world. To do so, this pudgy-faced little girl Chihiro, now deprived of her name by a greedy witch Yu-baba, has to work at the baths where gods and sprites all over Japan come to take a rest. Chihiro’s life is full of wonderful (and often hard, even terrifying) things, and through her experiences she learns how to live, gaining the true will and power, changing from a sulky girl languidly lying on the backseat of a car, into a lively and truely courageous girl. 

That’s all you have to know: you don’t need to see its trailer (English version trailer is a bit misleading), and just watch this masterpiece. Though there is a character called “Kao-nashi” (meaning “Faceless”), who out of loneliness does something harmful to the place; and there is an episode about a very stinking monster who turns out something very different, there are no villains, no heroes, and no so-called actions. And another strength of the film comes from its designs of the baths. It is based on a mosaic of Japanese and Western traditions (the witch’s office looks obviously Western while Chihiro and other female workers room is inspired from the texitle factory girls’ residence 100 years ago) Incredibly, some part are even from Chinese style.

The story, some say probably rightly, goes slower in the latter half (of the film that runs more than 2 hours), but “Spirited Away” never lets you down. It’s time for any American audience to know Miyazaki’s name, and that animation films are not meant for only kids, but for adults.

[The following might hopefully help understand some part of the film. No spoilers contained, but you might read them after watching them. Al the names referred to are from Japanese original print.]

[1] The name “Chihiro” is, when written in Chinese letters, divided into two parts: “Chi-hiro.” The first part “Chi” has another way of pronounciation, “Sen,” which becomes her temporary name.
[2] Chihiro’s real name is “Chihiro Ogino” which is briefly seen on the contract paper she signs.
[3] The handsome boy who offers a help to Chihio is called “Haku” which means in Japanese, “white.”
[4] Haku’s real name is “Migihayami Kohakusui.” All the Japanese audience, as Chihiro in fact was, would be surprised to hear this long and old-fashioned name, which clearly suggests his ancient and aristocratic origin.
[5] The witch’s spoiled baby is called “Bou” (and his name is written prominently in a Chinese letter on his clothes). This is shrewd naming because the word “bou-ya” (which is used to call, affectinately, to baby boys) implies too much fondness to the babies on mother’s side.
[6] Chihiro’s father, at the diapidated red gate, talks knowingly about the posibility of a disused theme park. It is true that Japan saw economic depression after the boom of the 80s, and his remarks, though half telling of his too much confidence, have some ring of truth.
[7] For Miyazaki’s fans, there are some extra fun: see, for example, the re-appearance of “Susuwatari”s, tiny black speck-like creatures that carry coal in a boiler room. As fans know, they are also seen in Miyazaki’s delightful film “My Neighbor Totoro.” And check out one of the “guests” at the spa who looks and moves exactly like Totoro.
[8] And those harmless “Susuwatri”s eat Japanese traditional, very sweet confectionary called “Konpeitou” made from sugar. This is the part Japanese viewers smile because of the unexpected combination.
[9] In the same boiler room, the spider-like veteran master gives Chihiro “Kaisuu-ken,” coupon-style tickets for train. This is also the part we would smile because we all somehow share the same experience of giving them to children who go somewhere by train or bus, or of finding very old ones somewhere in the desk.
[10] That same kind master, seeing Chihiro step on the crawling worm, makes a gesture of a knife with his hand, and touches Chihiro’s hands in a unique way. This is a (now out-of-fashion) custom when touching something very dirty, symbolizing the total safety from the object in case, often accompanied with Japanese word “Engacho” (no more connection). This part is also funny to us.
[11] In the opening scene. behind the back of Chihiro, you can see the glimpse of half-hidden, red-colored package of chocolate bar, which looks like one famous brand. Probably, this is a small token of thanks for the company (famous for coffee, too), which joined in the tie-in campagin for the film’s promotion in Japan.
[12] Finally, director Miyazaki says that the film is originally made for unnamed 10-year-old girls he and the movieproducer are both acquainted with, and hope that those girls are delighted to see the film. No doubt they are.
T. Nakajima

Related: Anime

Princess Mononoke – The fight in man against nature, makes this Myazaki’s first true action epic.

Product image for ASIN: B00003CXBK Princess Mononoke
Buy New: $18.96

 

Plot Outline: On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami’s curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest and Tataraba, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
Plot Synopsis: A prince is infected with an incurable disease by a possessed boar/god. He is to die unless he can find a cure to rid the curse from his body. It seems that his only hope is to travel to the far east. When he arrives to get help from the deer god, he finds himself in the middle of a battle between the animal inhabitants of the forest and an iron mining town that is exploiting and killing the forest. Leading the forest animals in the battle is a human raised by wolves, Princess Mononoko.

 

This epic, animated 1997 fantasy has already made history as the top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and ravishing visuals tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological anxieties. For international animation and anime fans, Princess Mononoke represents an auspicious next step for its revered creator, Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service), an acknowledged anime pioneer, whose painterly style, vivid character design, and stylized approach to storytelling take ambitious, evolutionary steps here.Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki’s original story envisions a struggle between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed, spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious “demon god,” transformed by human anger. Ashitaka’s quest to solve the beast’s fatal curse brings him into the midst of human political intrigues as well as the more crucial battle between man and nature. 

Miyazaki’s convoluted fable is clearly not the stuff of kiddie matinees, nor is the often graphic violence depicted during the battles that ensue. If some younger viewers (or less attentive older ones) will wish for a diagram to sort out the players, Miyazaki’s atmospheric world and its lush visual design are reasons enough to watch. For the English-language version, Miramax assembled an impressive vocal cast including Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup (as Ashitaka), Claire Danes (as San), Minnie Driver (as Lady Eboshi), Billy Bob Thornton, and Jada Pinkett Smith. They bring added nuance to a very different kind of magic kingdom. Recommended for ages 12 and older. –Sam Sutherland
 

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Barbie Collector Silver Label – Legends of Ireland – S…
 

Iseult, legendary lady of the emerald isle, ill-starred innocent in an ancient story of heroic deeds and love lost is the third doll in the Legends of Ireland Collection. In the medieval tale of Tristan and Iseult, a magic draught is shared from a golden cup that binds their souls to one another. Spellbound Lover Barbie doll wears a green gown with golden foil print, adorned by a golden belt with a golden circlet upon head. A red velvety cape is clasped at the shoulders with golden brooches.

 

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Product image for ASIN: B000BMNM84 Lacie 600GB Big DISKUSB2 7200RPM 8MB

The most powerful Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hard drive in a portable 5.25″ 1U form factor, the LaCie Big Disk is designed for low-cost storage expansion and is ideal for backing up several workstations with enormous capacities up to 600 GB. With USB universal connectivity and no software to configure, this plug & play drive delivers high performance with maximum convenience. Easily share and exchange among multiple workstations for archiving without clogging the network. Its durable d2 body has been uniquely designed to naturally dissipate heat (500GB and 600GB drives are fanless) and its smart fan technology (in the 1TB drive) allows for the quietest possible operation.

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Fashion show of “wearable computer” is held in Daegu, 300-km southeast of Seoul. The new high-tech computer combines textile and glasses with information technology products such as wearable PC, PMP
and MP3. (Yonhap)

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Oakley 98677H
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Product image for ASIN: B0009R3KSI Vessel

Vessel Wearable Time Tag Watch – Perfect for Apple Ipod Shuffle Gadget Fans!

VONDOO V2100 USB Skype Phone
VONDOO V2100 USB Skype Phone

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I love this phone. It works great with skype and took me less than two minutes to set everything up, 5 minutes if you have a slow PC.

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