Let’s Complete Studio Ghibli V

Good Morning Everyone!

This week, everything done will be done for Pat and Frank.

Coming to you live from the flying island with an adamantine base and I am accompanying Gulliver on his travels. Here, there are new languages to learn. But the meaning of every word is lost somewhere in speech. That is why silence is preferred. No…not silence but colorful dialogue: witty banter between two friends, or the cordial laughter between a circle of friends. The colorful dialogue that floats off the lips of one and lingers gently in the synapse between two before caressing the white between a reddened crescent moon.

Take my hand
Come with me, baby, to Love Land
Let me show you how sweet it could be
Sharing love with me, I want you to
Float, float on
Float, float, float on

Unsure if untitledincandide will do its weekly rituals with life being as busy as it is, tonight a little of Let’s Experiment mixed with Let’s Complete (without the food…well I’ll try to incorporate it). Tonight we continue to float on. Tonight we continue our journey through the Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki Collection 32.

Disc 5: Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta, 天空の城ラピュタ
Writer and Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Release Date: August 2, 1986 (JPN), April 1, 1989 (USA)

What would you do if you saw someone gracefully floating down from the heavens? Of course your initial thought would be filled with amazement or terror, depending on how fast one is plummeting. But, we’re talking about a gentle float much like the clichéd angel falling from heaven only to fall in love with the person seen. Following the cliché, it would only seem natural that we catch the gentle floater. Thus, possibly one of the greatest lines in a Miyazaki film in the English translation from Japanese and the English script from the Disney remake and the subsequent line:

“…So you are a regular person. I was afraid you were an angel.”

“…Thank goodness. You laugh like a regular person. The way you fell from the sky, I thought you were an angel or something.”

“…I had to catch you…you were just floating.”

Having fallen from an airship trying to avoid a kidnapping by sky pirates, Sheeta with a magical blue-light irradiating pendant gently floats to the ground. In a amazement, Pazu runs to catch Sheeta, who floats above his hands.

…Like Evian and the deep blue sea
U and me got different taste
U like it in the dark but I like a

Blue light
Can u turn on a Blue light
Then cuddle up 2 me so tight
Just u and me all night
Alright, Blue light

The next morning, Sheeta awakens to the sound of Pazu’s bugle in the air. They eat, feed the birds, Pazu says the lines and the chase begins again as Dola and her crew of pirates try to hunt down Sheeta. The pirates chase the two into the village: after a fight, a train ride and a floating-plummet, both Sheeta and Pazu land safely into an abandoned mine shaft. Inside the mine, they met Uncle Pom (after a meal of course), who tells the two about “volucite,” the crystal that keeps Laputa floating and the crystal that Sheeta’s pendant is made up of. All this under a starry sky and ground:

I know what people think
They think I’m a star struck little fool
Baby, U could be flat broke
I’d still be crazy 4 U
And I know that I’m in love
Cuz I’d change my whole life just 2 make U smile
And I still can’t have U when I want
But when I do it’s only 4 a little while

Baby, U’re an ocean that’s 2 wide 2 cross
Baby, U’re the cross that’s 2 deep  2 bear
Baby, U’re the star that’s 2 far away
Baby, U’re a trip and a half, but I don’t care

The next day, Sheeta and Pazu return to the surface. Sheeta tells Pazu that she has a secret name Lusheeta Toel Ul Laputa (“Sheeta, True Ruler of Laputa”).  Immediately, both are chased by a plane, captured, and separated. Pazu is sent to a cell (his attempts to escape hilarious) and Sheeta is accompanied by Muska (on a government-led expedition to kidnap Sheeta and find Laputa), who reveals to Sheeta his knowledge of Sheeta, Laputa and the robot that feel from the sky. Driven by his desire to find Laputa, Muska forces Sheeta to assist him as her refusal would mean Pazu would be harmed. Sheeta tells Pazu to forget about Laputa and to forget about her.

If U see me walkin’ down the street one day
Don’t say nothin’ 2 me – no no, nothin’
Cuz U did me wrong when I was doing bad
So bad, I didn’t think I was gonna make it
Now I’m alone, feelin’ free
Freer than the butterfly flyin’ high now – yeah yeah, baby
I don’t claim no riches or any miracles
But I’m doin’ better on my own

So if U see me, walk on by, baby
Don’t say nothin’, walk on by now
Do yourself a favor, walk on by, yeah
Don’t say nothin’, walk on by

Distraught, Pazu returns home only to find Dola and company in his home (eating his food). Dola convinces Pazu to assist her against Muska. Driven purely for his love of Sheeta, Pazu begs Dola to take him with her.  Meanwhile, at the fortress Sheeta reminisces about a time as a child, she was upset and being comforted by her grandmother. Her grandmother tells her a spell which you make her feel better. Aloud Sheeta says the phrase, her pendant glows, the robot awakens, and to protect Sheeta, the robot destroys the fortress. Embedded by embers, Pazu with Dola save Sheeta. The robot is then destroyed by the Goliath airship. The pendant is torn from Sheeta’s neck and recovered by Muska. Using the pendant, Mushka searches for Laputa on the Goliath. On the Tiger Moth, Sheeta, Pazu, Dola and pirates go after Muska.

When my little scarlet feline roars
The locals come around
When they see the scarlet light
They know it’s time to come chase her down

While on watch Pazu is accompanied by Sheeta. Their conversation is overheard by Dola via intercom. Sheeta having doubt about her future/power/destiny, Pazu reassures her (true love). While talking Pazu sees Goliath, which attacks the Tiger Moth. The Tiger Moth enters a storm; Dola tells Pazu to turn the crow’s nest into a glider. Sheeta and Pazu fly away on the glider. The two see a cloud and enter fly through a storm: they see two winds blowing in opposite directions. The two are then attacked by Goliath. Separated from the Tiger Moth, Sheeta and Lazu land in Laputa; completely green, desolate yet majestic with only a single robot tending the plants and animal life (all robots listen to Sheeta).

Ain’t it funny that the way you feel
Shows on your Face?
And the smile you used to wear
Seems a little bit out of place
People, oh hold on, in time
It gets a little better

My sunshine has come
And I’m all cried out
And there’s no more rain in this cloud

In Laputa, Sheeta and Pazu awaken overjoyed. Completely dense with vegetation and life; Laputa is picturesque (the absolutely definition and romanticism of the word). (The return of Nauicaä’s fox-squirrel.) The Goliath eventually arrives at Laputa, where the soldiers plunder the beautiful city. The Tiger Moth and crew are found. The crew is held prisoner by the Goliath crew. Pazu attempts to rescue Dola, while Sheeta follows Muska, only to be captured. Muska takes Sheets to Laputa’s core where a gigantic volucite crystal sits, serving as the city’s power source. Here, Muska tells Sheeta that they share the same ancestors. Muska then activates an army of robots to wipe out everybody in the city. Sheeta frees herself and recovers the crystal and gives it to Pazu.

As bombs explode around us and hate advances on the right
The only thing that matters, baby, is the love that we make 2night
As little babies in make-up terrorize the western world
The only thing that matters, baby, is love between a boy and girl

Oh, expert lover, my baby
U ever had a Crystal Ball?
Undercover, no maybe
All 4 fun and fun 4 all

Muska corners Sheeta in Laputa’s throne room. He shoots her pigtails off. Given a hand cannon earlier by Dola, Pazu enters the room, asks to talk to Sheeta. Together the two decide to use the Spell of Destruction: the power. Sheeta’s pendant releases a beautiful blue power surge, blinding Muska. Laputa crumbles. Sheeta and Pazu are hurled into roots from the giant tree. Later, awaken to find the glider. Dola and the pirates survive, flying around on their moth fighters with some treasure. They find Sheeta and Pazu. Reaching the coast, Sheeta and Pazu bid the pirates a farewell and part ways. The movie ends with Laputa orbiting Earth.

I never been 1 2 hide my feelings
Baby, u blow my mind
I painted your face upon my ceiling
I stare at it all the time
I imagine myself inside your bedroom
Oh I imagine myself in your sky
U are the reason there’s bass in my boom
U are the reason I’m highIf u and I were just ten feet closer
Then i’d make u understand
That everything i wanna do 2 your body, baby
I would do 2 your head
Then u’d be hip 2 the deep rush
Deeper than the boom of the bass
With every other flick of the pink plush
The closer we get 2 the space

The space
Don’t u want 2 go?
Where the souls go
Where the tears flow
Where the love grows
Do u want 2 go?

General Comments: We have now entered the meat of Miyazaki’s work. From here on out we get visual and storied masterpiece and masterpiece. Laputa has probably my favorite line in all of Miyazaki’s work: with “to see with eyes unclouded” being a close second. Again, the scenery becomes more grandiose and vibrant. We see the familiar themes, faces and other similar occurrences that make a Miyazaki movie (big noses, panoramic shots, zoom outs, nature). Strictly more of a love story (or one of a deep and profound friendship) balanced between a struggle for power and a desire for peace. Family is incorporated with the pirates. But you don’t have to take my word for it. In the end, I just want to fly away from it all. Go on an adventure. Find my own Laputa and enjoy the beauty that surrounds me. One day my sky-flying adventure will happen…you watch and see! I belong up there. If not there…in space.

Until next time.

New Dimensions?

Good Morning Everyone!

Coming to you live from an elegant universe where it would take 26 dimensions for our theories to work. Just imagine what would happen if one of those strings were misplaced. Would the balance of the universe be run off kilter? Would hot snow fall up? A definite answer would be that our favorite sweater would no longer be fashionable as the string, now misplaced, will eventually create a holel: a hole so infinitesimally small yet so overwhelming in our mind that we would store the sweater into the deepest realms of our closets; stuffed into the blackest corner, never to be seen by our eyes again. Now imagine what would happen if that misplace string were placed into another dimension, then what would become of our sweater? Would two different sweaters exist: one with a hole and one slightly thicker in overall feel? Or perhaps, there would only be one sweater; though the string can move from dimension to dimension, we can’t. So, we’ll never know what’s on the other side.

And on the other side, my Nintendo 3DS is black. For me, probably the most anticipated piece of technology besides earbuds that can last more than one year. Now, I’ve been asked before “why are you so enthralled by the 3DS, after all, real-life is already 3D?” Speechless then as I am now, I have no answers to that once posed question. All that I do know is that on a first run, I thoroughly enjoy my new piece of technology. 

Hot thing, barely 21
Hot thing, looking 4 big fun
Hot thing, what’s your fantasy?
Do U wanna play with me?

Hot thing, baby U dance so good
Hot thing, baby I knew U would
Hot thing, tell me what U see
Hot thing, When U smile, when U smile, when U smile
Are your smiles, are your smiles 4 me?

The Box:

For something so small, the box is rather big.  Did you see that? On the backside of the box? We’ve been taken to a new dimension! 3D. Hahaha! I’ve never been there before. But it’s not the box that counts, it’s the gold inside.

The Un-Boxing:

Yes! Just like opening a treasure chest recovered from the bluest to blackest to strangely clearest depths of the mid-Atlantic we find bubbles and a small sense of despair and unsatisfaction. Not to say that manuals are a bad thing. When things get hectic it’s nice to have something other than Google to turn to. Plus we find a pamphlet on Mii Plaza, our 6 AR cards for the pre-installed gaming software, a “Join Club Nintendo” snipet with registration key code (yeah…platinum plus membership like a boss). If you scratch underneath the surface (where’s does your purpose lie?), you’ll find exactly 3 segmented areas: charging station, the goods, the AC power adapter all nicely wrapped in their individual sleeves like comic books wrapped in mylar never to be opened to fresh air ever again because it’s about the preservation and collectibility, not the reading and enjoyment.

The Goods:

Simple enough, we have the power source and we have the console itself. It’s so shiny, as shiny as a mother’s love when her first child comes home from their first day of school and she asks “what did you learn today?” and the child with glee answers “recess!” I’ve noticed that Cosmos black is not the same as black or Wii black or black as day: there is a little color blending going on from light to dark, similar to sky to earth, but grey with a little black. It’s still sexy.

The Charging:

Yup! It’s true it takes 3 hours of charging before use. Out of the box not as long. But patience is the key to everything, just like Walt from Gran Torino. So while you wait; you can make a grilled cheese sandwich and 2 tacos, Wii it out for a bit, or maybe for once pretend that the Nintendo is not the called the No-Friendo and chat it up with friends and family.

Oh baby don’t it feel like heaven right now
Don’t it feel like something from a dream
Yeah I’ve never known nothing quite like this
Don’t it feel like tonight might never be again
Baby we know better than to try and pretend
No one coulda ever told me ’bout this
I said yeah yeah

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

 It’s On:

Before the excitment begins, you need to set up the 3D experience just like the countdown for flicks shown on an IMAX screen or the THX sound check. Smiling like a school boy when he figures out what good is, I was already hooked on the device from the set up. It’s so real. I can touch it (fingers pinching at nothing).

Once the date, language, parental controls (which is a nice feature actually) and the like are set you finally reach the home page. The first item on the menu is the “Health and Safety Information.” I didn’t read this, but I probably should have. After my first 1 hour of playing with the 3D settings, I just had to fall alseep. So, the visuals will take time to get used to. The first ride is always a little rough. Ha!

The second menu item would be the game card slot. Seeing as to how Nintendo didn’t have much usual Nintendo-released games on the release date, I settled for a close second: I love Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ninja Gaiden, Dynasty Warriors, Tecmo Bowl, so why wouldn’t I like Koei/Tecmo-released Samurai Warriors? Talk about a beautiful opening with the cherry blossoms and wind and fire and such. And did I mention flying bullets? I’ll admit, this was the reason why I had to sleep-off my first hour of play…it was just too much to handle at once…I’m new, I’m new I don’t know what to do. Nonetheless, the game told me that I “have the spirit of a clown, bringing joy and laughter to the world.” Sexy! Let’s smile and laught together shall we?

The 3rd option is probably my favorite thus far (until more games come out): the 3DS camera. Back in the day Marvel Comics released trading cards, and in Marvel Universe Series 4 set one of the chase cards was a 3D-esque hologram of Spider-Man versus Venom. The pictures taken with the 3DS have the same look of that Marvel hologram without the crappy gold color. It was having some fun with the Magic Kingdom! I can almost touch Mickey!

The 4th menu item is the 3DS sound. Not sure how I will be using this feature, but I changed the menu bar colors to purple, because I make it funky. All that I have to do now if figure out how to nicely record Fever, Chill, some P-Funk, Prince and James Brown on the thing, then I’ll be in business.

Next up are my Mii and my Mii Peeps (aka Mii Plaza)! I made my Mii…tall, dark and sexy. Haha! But my head is a little big. You also have the option of creating a Mii based on the 3D image taken from the 3DS. For some unexplanable reason, the Mii’s generated when I did this made me look like Sleepy the dwarf.

Then we have 2 factory-installed games AR Games and Face Raiders. For AR Games you need the AR cards. By having the 3DS recognize the cards, teh software makes a game out of the affair. It’s actually pretty exciting. Face Raiders has a similar effect, but instead of cards, you take a picture of people or items and the software makes flying faces of the item captured. And you get to show how much love you have for the item by shooting at several variants of it. They kiss you if they get too close. Ha! So it’s all about the love!

When the fun is all but had, said and done, we finish off with the Activity Log, Download Play and Settings buttons. Where you can monitor your actions, monitor other people’s actions and establish rules for monitoring your and other people’s actions.

In the end, I enjoyed and am still enjoying the initial stages of romance with my 3DS. Much like the rest of you, I’m waiting for the core Nintendo games to be released. Hopefully, it will not end in bitter divorce. Of course it won’t! That is until the Nintendo 4DS comes out. Hahahaha!  But until then I’m having my fun. To conclude, if you like beautiful graphics or have an affinity for the visual arts, I suggest that you check out a 3DS for yourself.

I imagine myself inside your bedroom
Oh I imagine myself in your sky
(U) U are the reason there’s bass in my boom
(Oh u) U are the reason I’m high

If u and I were just ten feet closer
Then i’d make u understand
That everything i wanna do 2 your body, baby
I would do 2 your head
Then u’d be hip 2 the deep rush
Deeper than the boom of the bass
With every other flick of the pink plush
The closer we get 2 the space (The closer we get 2 the space)

Don’t u want 2 go? (The space)
Where the souls go (The space)
Where the tears flow (The space)
Where the love grows
Do u want 2 go?

Thank you for reading! Until the next, this is your host signing off.