The curious timing of precipitation.

Inspired by Sebastian's initiative to write more through the use of a blog, and growing tired of the old format of livejournal (a format I've stuck with for nigh on five years), I've decided to see if giving blogspot a chance wouldn't inspire me to keep a better record of my daily affairs and discuss intelligent topics in an insightful manner.

Ha ha, you say. Touche. And yet I feel that in the dark depths of February I need something to rekindle the joy of writing, and I think after five years I'm ready to move beyond the "current mood: bouncy" world of livejournal.

Here we are at the end of the world.

It's snowing outside, if you could really call this "snow." It's only the second instance of real frozen precipitation I've observed in Exeter (though while spending Christmas in Eastbourne with Freya we were privy to a veritable Narnian torrent of white). I missed snow this winter only to the tiniest degree, and even then I suppose that I wasn't being forced to drive through the accursed stuff. There are many things I missed more. This snow today comes just to spite me, I am quite sure, because in the past week I have explicitly stated how ready I am to move past this cold and into the warm embrace of spring.

I went to see the showing of "Sky Blue" last night, which is the European version of Moon-Saeng Kim's "Wonderful Days," a movie that I'd been longing to see ever since Gabe of Penny Arcade posted the link to the trailer. Jordan acquired an imported copy several months ago (probably more like a year at this point), but I never got around to seeing it (a similar circumstance occurred with Steamboy).

For my part, I really enjoyed it. Admittedly, an item of media will automatically get my approval simply by being post-apocalyptic (and here I am looking pointedly at Philip Reeve's "Hungry City Chronicles"), and also admittedly, I am a person who has a high tolerance for cliche-- but for the most part, Wonderful Days manages to paint an interesting (and often beautiful) world and carry off its story with flair and style. Nevermind the fact that the cast is made up of a gallery of the most common character types in Asian animation, or the fact that the English dub is at times lacking in subtlety and delivery, or that the translated script in some places fails the original. The movie is beautiful to watch, has a beautiful score, and its flaws are much more forgivable than I make them sound.

I am anxious for tonight's viewing of "Howl's Moving Castle," in particular because my initial viewing of it caused me to slip it in at the bottom of my list of Miyazaki's films (which, of course, still puts it at the top of nearly everything else). There is, as well, the additional motivation of Tuesday night's viewing of Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride," a movie which initially underwhelmed me but proved much more palatable upon a second viewing. There's so much about "Howl" that I desperately love (Christian Bale) and I'd really like to come to a much fuller appreciation of it.

Well, I suppose that's a lengthy enough post to kick off a new blog. Knowing me, I'll be back here before the day is through.