A Quick One--Birthdays/Horses/Notes

 I have to be quick because the Internet could go out at any second. The thing is, I just needed to post about a couple things.

One of these things being...I WAS RIGHT.

 The thing there is I am not usually right about normal things like well, any school/smart related things. But when it comes to movies/actors/singers/books and songs, well, I am pretty good at that.

 For instance, this evening, I watched War Horse with my sisters. Long story short, THAT MOVIE WAS AMAZING!!! ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! I would have cried if I was not forcing myself not to. Anyway, there was a soldier in this movie and he looked awful familiar. So I sit and watch for a while and wait for a close up. After a few moments of a mental war and mumbling to myself in a psychotic manner, I come to the realization that this army guy looks like Benedict Cumberbatch. I don't know this for sure at the time, so I just rattle the idea off at my sister. She later goes and looks it up and...I WAS RIGGGGGGHT!!!! Of course, he was kind of blonde-ish and had a very strange mustache, so it was a little hard to tell him from the pics you see when his hair is brown.....BLAH.....I was pretty happy. I even stayed until the credits to see if I was right. (Yes, I am that shallow.) The only problem with this whole thing is that early on in the movie, he was taken captive by the Germans and we saw no more of him.

Tom Hiddleston was also in the credits. It was a familiar name to see then because I had looked up "Muppets Most Wanted" and found that he was in it. Turns out, (and this will sound lame to some) he plays Loki in the Avengers and Thor and such. So yeah, that was a great discovery.

 Speaking of Cumberbatch, and Birthdays, (it is in the title for a reason, yes) now that I think of it, it was his Birthday the other day. So, since I wasn't able to blog that day, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to Mr. Cumberbatch. He is 37. I seriously thought he was older than that...Just shows to go ya how I need to be on the Internet more...

 And the other HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! goes to my favorite game show host, Alex Trebek! Host of Jeopardy! Today, he is 73!

It's strange that one is 37, and the other is 73. IT IS FATE! DESTINY!!!

A HORSE---

 Today is also Willem Dafoe's birthday. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLEM!!! I recognize him today because he voiced my favorite character from Tales From Earthsea, the Ghibli film. That was an awesome movie, I don't know why people dis Miyazaki's son's films...My favorite character is Lord Cob. I loved loved loved (and yes, I will say it three times just like Eloise's Nanny. Hehe) Cob's voice was...*brace yourselves* AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I get the time, I will post a video. That is, if I can find a video.

I still need to get those Earthsea books. They sit on the library shelves. Taunting me. Tempting me. Even though I KNOW that they KNOW I have too much to read at home...little devils they are...

 I did spend some time reading Eloise in Paris today. I forced my little sister into getting it at the library because I wanted to read it so bad. It was pretty good...she has her own little language and there is no puncuation in the whole book...I liked it :)

Don't judge me. I read little kid books. SO? THAT IS GOOD FOR THE MIND RIGHT? HEALTHY EVEN!

 Yes. Sure. That post was "quick."

I must go now.

I was notified that I had made 2 Tangled references. I am fabulous.

Hehe.

~~Natsu~~

Well...I'm back.

 Hello,

 I thought I would leave the blogging world for a little bit to see if when I returned, something new might have happened. Results: well, nothing happened. I became bored of the real world and decided to come back. AND HERE I am.

Thank you, thank you.

The remainder of this post will be a piece of my mind. That piece being what I thought about a movie I had seen on Saturday.

That movie is called....THE CAT RETURNS! YAY!

 
The Cat Returns is a Ghibli film (of course ^.^) directed by Hiroyuki Morita of Studio Ghibli.

 The story follows a teenage girl--voiced by Anne Hathaway in the English Dub--who ends up going to the Cat Kingdom. I will keep this short because I don't wanna spoil it for those who haven't--but want to--see this film.

 I have to say, however, it was really, really good! As it would seem, The Baron--who was my favorite character in this movie, of course...Cuz, come on, he's a cat, he has a suit, and well, he had a British voice. I learned that Cary Elwes (during lots of bonus footage) doesn't actually speak normally with an accent. That made it so much cooler. But I have gotten off track, if you can follow where I left of, kudos :)--was also in Whisper of the Heart. ~deep breath~ His full name is Baron Humbert von Gikkingen...

 I find myself preferring Ghibli animation/films over Disney's older ones such as Cinderella. Even the older ones from Ghibli--examples being Princess Mononoke and Castle in the Sky--look amazing! The way that they do animation in Japan is--to me--quite different from how we do it here in America. And maybe, just a tad better. But I am not bashing Avatar..No way.

 Examples being, they use brighter colors when coloring their images/character/backgrounds in. Everything is brighter and cleaner looking. With Studio Ghibli, their scenery is just amazing! This is because they have such talented staff. Talents in painting with oil and such. It's amazing what they can do.

 Ah, well, I must go now. I am in the middle of a book called Defiance. Not to be mistaken for that show on SYFY or the video game. I'll probably post something about it. When I finish it's 70 some chapters... ~wink~

Until then, enjoy.
Natsu

The Secret World of Arrietty and other fancies.

I am not motivated to do anything right now. Can’t draw, can’t read. I am not even motivated enough to take a nap… So I threw a load of laundry into the washer, grabbed my laptop and now I am sitting on the couch watching a show about these guys who make Beer…And also, I am blogging about recent movies I have seen. 

The Secret World of Arrietty, a Studio Ghibli film. 

I saw this movie for the first time last Thursday, and—I know that I give all their things huge credit, but that’s because they deserve it—I loved it! Shaun reminded me of Haku (Spirited Away) and Arrietty reminded me of Sophie (Howl’s Moving Castle) when she was young. I have yet to watch it in its original Japanese, but I have to say, the English voices worked. I was very much surprised at that. Not because I doubt Disney’s ability to find awesome voice actors, I mean, casting Christian Bale as Howl was probably the best thing they ever did...It’s just, I knew Bridgit Mendler and David Henrie from Disney Channel; Bridget being from Good Luck Charlie, and David being from Wizards of Waverly Place. Honestly I liked Wizards, but not so much GLC…

Anyway, I kind of went off a cliff there, I’m going to get back to my original thought.

Henrie did a great job. I loved it. Honestly. Shaun is this sickly young boy and he captured that perfectly. At the end of the movie, I am almost in tears because I feel so bad for Shaun. But that is the point of movies right? Each movie gives you a different emotional experience…He was just so so sad. And we love him. It was a true "awwwwww" moment when he gave her the sugar cube back.

Mendler, now, the first words that came out of her mouth, well I would have done them differently. But throughout the movie, you became comfortable with it, and it worked very well for Arrietty.

Carol Burnett and Moises Arias were in this movie as well. It was obvious, from the first word that Carol’s character said, that it was her. And Moises, well he had maybe, one or two lines. But he still did a good job. Will Arnett,and all the other voice actors did an awesome job as well. I only mentioned the ones that I was familiar with and their work. But, that only means that I know them. It has nothing to do with how well everyone else did. They all did an awesome job!

The animation, I won’t have to rave on about because I already have—a couple times I think. They never seem to let me down. Haha. I believe that some of the artists are trained in Oil Panting…I learned this when reading The Art of Spirited Away. I just loved it all. All of it. ~sigh~

Tonight I am going to watch Ponyo. I had seen this, back in 2009 I think it was…But that is another post…

Oh, I also wanted to wish my brother a HAPPY BIRHTDAY! He got a hamster for his birthday—below.

I call the hammy “Doughy” but I guess the name that he is thinking about Bonzu Pippinpaddle-Oppsokopolis…The name Aang used when he went to Omashu. 

Now I am tired. Maybe I will take a nap now...

Until later,

Natsu

Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo...

Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo, fishy in the sea,

Tiny little fishy, who could you really be?

Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo, magic set you free,

Oh she's a little girl with a round tummy.

  I guess it's pretty obvious which song is stuck in my head at this point...^^ All because I went on a Google search for Ghibli films. I am looking for the next film that my "Ghibli group" will watch next. Requests include, "PONYO! PONYO! Pick Ponyo this time!" I pardoned the request because I decided that we will save the "Lovey-touchy-feel-y" movies for last. We have seen Ponyo before. After it was released on DVD, we got it on Netflix. It was really good, so don’t get me wrong.

(BTW, Fujimoto was total AWESOMESAUCE! Fun fact, the English voice of Fujimoto was Liam Neeson. He was Qui-Gon-Jinn in the new/first Star Wars. AND I JUST READ ON IMDB THAT HE WAS THE VOICE OF ASLAN ON NARNIA! Now I know why Fujimoto and Aslan and Qui-Gon are all amazing. Yes.)

 I had a discussion with one of the members. This is how it went:

Me: Hey, what film do you want to see next?

(Let’s assume her name is Hyuga. I call her that anyway 'cuz she likes Hinata Hyuga from Naruto.) I don't know, what's there?

Me: Well, I want to see Princess Mononoke...What do you think?

Hyuga: Is it nice, or EPIC?

Me: Well, it's rated PG-13...

Hyuga: ~Smiles~ Sure! ~Walks away~

 I am kinda in an Anime mood tonight. I watched bits and pieces of Naruto episodes 30, and 31.  Only because I wanted to know what Orochimaru's voice sounded like. He is a very...interesting?...character. Little did I know that I already knew what he sounded like. The guy who does his voice also does Amon's voice, from The Legend of Korra. (Steve Blum) Amazing how you figure out things in a crazed Anime mood. I think to finish that; I will do a Manga-marathon. I need to start Volume 10 of Naruto. A Splendid Ninja. Rock Lee VS Gaara. I know for a fact the Lee gets basically destroyed. Totally crushed when I figured that out...

  5 more things tonight:

The Cosby Show is on TVland now, I hadn't known that and now I am excited. ^^

My favorite song--at this point--by The Script is The End Where I Begin.

The Saga Begins is the greatest song ever. :D Almost as good as Weird Al's play on "My Sharona." MY BOLOGNA! Teehee.

PS: I am a pixie. And yes, they do express emotion. Despite what "some people I know" think. ♥

I am addicted to "Lights" by Ellie Goulding. Adele and Ellie are both British, I believe. Love. :)

  This day whopped my rear. Exhausted. 

~Natsu

Updated Sep/19/12

Cold on a Saturday Morning.

   This past week has been pretty much like every other week. I bought some K9 Advantage II for Ginger. It has only been 3 days, but I have not seen one flea on her. She seems less annoyed and she follows me around again! For a while she totally ignored me, I thought that it might have been the recent company that's been annoying her. (Mostly because she is a little spoiled brat and doesn't like it when my attention is divided between her and other people.) But now that I think of it, she may have been agitated for other reasons. 

  Now she is fine. She seems a whole lot happier and I believe that the Advantage stuff really works. I had heard things about it on commercials, but I spent some time reading reviews online as well. Some of them said that it was better than Frontline, and others said that it didn't work at all. Well, Ginger is an 11 pound Mini Long-haired Dachshund, and it works for her. So happy that it does! :)

 What I have thought about in the past couple days is that some bits and pieces of this blog are really high-strung sounding. I don't know if that's a bad thing, sometimes I just get really excited! I am working on it though. Lol.

 I have also learned that if you get 1 or 2 books from the library, thinking that the week will be busy, odds are that you will be finished with the books in 2 days. That’s how it is for me, anyway.  Whenever I get maybe 7 books, my weeks are so jammed with crud to do, that I never get to read! I have been pretty crammed trying to read the books I have now...Then again, I can always renew them. I wanted to take some time off today, however, because I just wanted to sit here and blog. 

  It's really cold here, which isn't surprising because it is almost fall. I really didn't feel like doing anything else. Yesterday I worked all day. Which was my fault, I guess. I didn't have to work that week, but I chose too...I think it was a better choice in the end. 

 Besides reading, working, school and other things, I have been trying to draw Anime. Mostly characters from Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden. So far I have done one of Naruto and Anko, two of Rock Lee (because for some reason I find him cool and awesome. Lol) I have done one of Orochimaru, and one of Sai. Sai was introduced into the series in the first episode I had ever watched. I guess at that point I was just looking for a character to be my favorite. And that was maybe a year, year and a half ago. I was pretty new to it. Still, today, even though there are a couple new characters added to that list, Sai is still one of my faves. Favorites besides Sai include, Hatake Kakashi, Rock Lee, and Gaara. That is basically it now. I am not that far along in the manga, and I have been trying to keep myself from watching the Anime because I wanted to finish the manga first. 

 Other things that happened...? Hmm... Me and my "Studio Ghibli group" (in other words, a group of my buddies who watch Ghibli films, and are reading/watching Naruto with me) watched Spirited Away this week.  It was AMAZING! Like, completely AMAZING! It was an AWESOME movie! I will try to get a real review out sometime soon. I am most likely to watch it again. So there should be a post about it some time. Hehe ^^

  Later days, 

Natsu

The Continued List.

 Hello, long time no see! I have been waiting for an opportunity to actually get on my laptop. Sure, I could do it anytime, but I was never motivated until today. I decided that I should finish the post that I started, and frankly, I missed blogging!

       So here is the list I was talking about.

•         NARUTO VOLUME 9
•         HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
•         WAITING FOR SUMMER'S RETURN~KIM VOGEL SAWYER
•         THE INHERITANCE~TAMERA ALEXANDER
•         REMEMBERED~TAMERA ALEXANDER
•        MAID TO MATCH~DEEANNE GIST
•         STEVE JOBS~WALTER ISAACSON
•         Revealed by Tamera Alexander
•         Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (The original Novel)
•         Spirited Away, a Studio Ghibli film
•         Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist
•         Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist

These are the books/movies I have recently been working on. Naruto, Howl’s Moving Castle, Remembered, Maid to match, and Spirited Away, are finished. My plan was to write a brief review about each of them.  Here we go!

 Naruto Volume 9: Not much to say about it…Except it was awesome! It covered the third part of the Chûnin Exams. Fights including, Kiba VS Naruto, Hinata VS Neji, and the last part of the battle between Ino and Sakura. Then Rock Lee was chosen to fight Gaara. And then it was...TO BE CONTINUED! Now I have Volume 10 on hold. ^^ (Totally killed me, I wonder who will win. No internet spoilers for me this time!) Over all, it was really good. If you are into that kind of stuff.

Howl’s moving castle review, you can find that here: http://camobaginside.blogspot.com/2012/08/howls-moving-castle-my-new-obsession_2129.html

 Remembered.  If you have read Rekindled, and basically any other books by Tamera Alexander, this one will please you. When I picked up Revealed, I realized that the characters all showed up in each other’s lives’ in the books. Larson and Kat Jennings made a small appearance in Remembered. It took me a couple minutes—after I finished the book of course—to realize that they were in Rekindled. It was kind of epic. Remembered was a wonderful book. Period. Alexander hasn't failed me yet!

 Maid to Match, written by Deeanne Gist, was also wonderful. I honestly started around 3 on one afternoon. I finished the book around 10:30 that same evening. It was one of those books that I didn’t want to stop. Not even for things like eating or ya know, moving so your legs don’t fall asleep to the point where you can’t use them for an hour.  

If it isn’t quite obvious, I am into Historical Fiction…Hehe.

 Anyway, that about settles it. I have finished my list.

  So, how did your Labor Day weekend go? Mine included an all-day read-a-thon 

of Remembered, BBQ ribs with the family, and to finish it off, a new episode of Adventure Time! Which really wasn't a huge highlight of the evening…I was reading so I really didn't even pay attention. Lol.

 The summer is coming to a close, and now I have the school bus down the street to tell me what time it is in the morning. Not the greatest thing, but I won’t complain. I need to learn how to get up early anyway. ^^

  I should move on now, I still have one more thing to do before I leave the blogosphere for today.

~Natsu

Howl's Moving Castle. My new Obsession ^^

I know, I know, I haven't been here in a while. And I have neglected this post since Wednesday. It was just late that night when I finished the movie, and Paranormal Witness was on. That's my honest excuse.

 So, to get this started, here is my review for Howl's Moving Castle.

Okay, first things first. Howl's Moving Castle is a Studio Ghibli film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The release date for the USA was in June, 2005. I believe that Disney had Pete Doctor, from Pixar, in charge of dubbing it into English. It was based on a novel by, Diana Wynne Jones.

All I have to say about Doctor's work, is this.HE COULD NOT HAVE CHOSEN A BETTER VOICE FOR HOWL IF HE TRIED. I am serious. That was the PERFECT voice for that character. And I am not just fangirl-ing out! It was that good! The voice of Howl is a man by the name of, Christian Bale.

   Some Cast members include, (in English)
Jean Simmons -Grandma Sophie,
Christian Bale-Howl,
Lauren Bacall-Witch of the Waste,
Blythe Danner -Madame Suliman,
Emily Mortimer -Young Sophie, 

and Billy Crystal, as Calcifer... That was basically epic. 'Cept now, whenever I hear Billy's voice, I only think Mike Wazowski. I don't know if that's a bad thing, or a good thing. Lol. 

 All in all, the story was good. I liked the smaller elements, *Spoiler Alert* like when Howl had his melt down, (which was kinda pathetic, but I liked it just the same. It was funny. ^^) And other things, like the funny things Calcifer said, and so on. I don't wanna spoil it, so I won't say anymore.

 But the basic plot of the story was great. I read that it was a little different from the novel...So the original book will be on my list of books to read. 

 Now, don't get my started with the animation. Because I love 2-D animation. I love how the Ghibli films are just that. I grew up with the older anime and such. Little did I know at the time, that they were Anime. I was a child, so things like that were just, cool shows. ^^

 Anyway, I kinda went off on some memory lane there...Back to my point. I liked it all. The character design, music, animation, colors, script, everything. I know it may sound like everything pleases me, but there are some movies where I will just sit there and complain. But this was awesome. The minute it started, I instantly liked it. So- I was glad that is was almost 2 hours long. 

 I know only a little bit of Ghibli's work, sadly. Ponyo, and Kiki's s Delivery Service, and this one, are honestly the only films I have seen. My anime/movie watching had a rough time actually happening, but now I plan to see every one of the movies. 

 That's it. If it makes any sense. Haha.

In the end,  it was awesome, and I totally recommend it if you haven't seen it. 

 I shall be back. My foot has fallen asleep and I must go walk it off. That and Surviorman is on...hehe. 

 Later Days! ^^

  ~Natsu 

Happy Birthday!

Just thought I would point it out...Today is Hayao Miyazaki's 71st birthday! If you are familiar with Studio Ghibli  (Thank you Wikipedia ^_^) You will know who he is.

Thanks to IMDB.com as well. Without me checking that everyday, I wouldn't have known it was his b-day.

Later,

~Natsu