Happy Birthday! Conversations on Ghibli turns one year old on March 30! Many thanks to everyone who has visitited, left comments, sent me emails, added me to your blogrolls, sent me presents in the mail, or just paid an occasional visit.
My purpose in this blog has always been to spread a greater understanding of the works of Studio Ghibli and all its creators. Hopefully, you've learned a few things. You won't go around thinking of Miyazaki as, "that guy who's kinda like Walt Disney" any more. "Oh, he's the one who did that cartoon with the big cat. My five-year-old likes that." And, likewise, wou won't think of Takahata as, "that other guy, you know, the one who made that really, really depressing war movie."
So, happy birthday to the Ghibli blog!
Also...stay tuned. I've got a contest coming out. I'll unveil everything later tonight. Prizes will include fansubs, tote bags, DVDs, and maybe that extra copy of the Nausicaa books. Watch this space, kids.
7 comments:
Happy birthday!
I have to say that I have been a regular visitor of your blog for the last year and everytime I visited it brought me some joy.
What got me interested in your blog was how you approach the works of Takahata and Miyazaki. Not as another Disney but as directors of the greatest caliber.
For me Takahata's and Miyazaki's work represents the pinnacle of animation, even of film. I consider their works up there with the works of Tarkovsky, Taviani brothers, Mizoguchi, Norstein...
So I found it very refreshing to see a blog which tries to put them in such a perspective.
Thank you for the wonderful blog and I wish you good luck in the future!
Well, thanks for the kindness. That's exactly the way I've approached these films. Not as Disney or American cartoons, but as world cinema. Most likely it's because I hadn't sat down and watched any Disney cartoons since the early '90s; instead, I schooled myself on The Criterion Collection and anything Pauline Kael endorsed. I'm also coming from the visual artist angle, so there's that.
If it sounds like I have any idea what I'm doing (and you're all perfectly free to debate that), it's only because of years of serious study of the movies and the arts. It's always been a journey - just who are these guys, and what makes them tick? Why does a movie like Grave of the Fireflies or Spirited Away affect me so much? What's the secret?
Glad to see another Tartovsky fan out there. Solaris is a classic in my eyes, and the ending to Andrei Rublev is one of the great payoffs in the movies. Again, anything on Criterion, anything by Orson Welles, anything by Kurosawa and Ozu, and anything by Stanley Kubrick.
I'd also like to congratulate you on your birthday. I think your site is one of the best Ghibli related sites in English. You have some very insightful articles about Miyazaki and Takahata, and you provide some valuable links for (quality) animation fans like myself. Please keep up the high quality.
Also, I'm glad to find two other Tarkovsky fans. Way back when, when I first saw Solaris, I was utterly blown away. Andrei Rublev further blew me away until I was orbiting the Earth (especially the whole bell making sequence). If you allow yourself to submit to his pacing, you are always in store for a fascinating journey.
Congrats on the achievement! It's always good to see a fellow film & Ghibli lover putting time in something they like. You might want to send me a short e-mail (at info@...), got a "birthday present" for you!
Peter,
GhibliWorld.com
Hey, it's Peter Not-My-Brother! Great to hear from ya! I never plug GhibliWorld nearly as much as I should - it's a classic resource that always gets the jump on the news.
Do you have the AC adaptor to my portable turntable? I think I've lost it. Thank God I've got batteries - how else could I listen to The Cream?
Happy Birthday! I want a cake like that :D !
Happy Birthday from me too!
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