dragostea

I was in NYC over the weekend for a JET social, and a movie afterwards.

There may well be no better place in the world for people watching than the City (it's the City to me again, since it's the one I'm closest to). I saw such an astounding diversity of people . . . all colors, shapes, and sizes, no two the same. If you would study people, come to the City and you'll never lack for research material. Weekdays are naturally less interesting than weekends; there aren't that many variations to the business suit nowadays, more's the pity.

I gave the man playing the didjeridoo in the subway a dollar-- one doesn't see didjeridoo-players every day, after all, and I like to suport musicians. He had three of them, and speakers, and CDs that he was selling. Sadly I didn't hear the South American musicians I run into most often in the city. Their breathy, soaring flutes are the music of the city to me, wildness and beauty echoing from the walls of deep concrete canyons.

Possibly the most interesting person I saw in terms of appearance was an albino woman on the late night subway. It took me another look to figure out that she was in fact black-- her features and hair were distinctive. Otherwise it was hard to tell; her skin was white and peach-tinged, her eyes blue-red, and her hair yellow-white and wiry.

( I'll ramble on a bit about Emrys behind the cut, okay? )

I saw Howl's Moving Castle, too, at a ridiculously late hour of night. But I drank a huge cup of milky hazlenut coffee and was fine all the way home. The movie was wonderful, truly gorgeous, and I enjoyed it a great deal. In fact I'm going to see it again this coming weekend, and I'm going to take my little sister. And my brother, too, if I can persuade him to go. Fortunately as of this weekend it's opening in more theatres. So a lot more people will have the opportunity to see it . . . GO, if you get the chance.

It's not exactly like the book, I'll tell you that right now. The basics are the same, but the plot is different, and the characters likewise aren't going to match your internal picture (or the one in the books, really-- Sophie's red-blond in the books and brown-haired in the movie. Deal). Please appreciate it in its own right, though. Diana Wynn Jones did-- she loved the movie.

Without giving any spoilers, the highlights for me . . . the castle. Howl's room (the color!). Howl (who is . . . stunning, quite frankly). Calcifer (I might even prefer his adorable incarnation, because . . . it's so . . . adorable, I can't help it! I even ended up liking his dubbed voice in the end, because Calcifer's very being exudes charm the way a fire exudes heat. Which he also exudes, since he's a fire demon. heh).

Now I'm debating getting the art book when it comes out in July. Not that I'll be able to enjoy it for long, but still . . .