Monday, October 21, 2002

Another fun swim class...moved on to the backstroke now. The pool was actually fairly warm today, which is nice since the air was a bit nippy. I had a little trouble with the backstroke, my left sholder doesn't want to go back far enough, but by the end of class I was getting the hang of it.

Watched My Neighbor Totoro today (rather than attending my Latin class), rather enjoyed it, though its probably my least favorite of the Miyazaki films I've seen. The Totoro closing theme is catchy, though. Its also nice to see children in one of his films that grows up with real childhood trauma (an ailing mother), rather than working in a bathhouse for ghosts or exploring their budding witching skills (though since I liked both Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service, maybe he's better off sticking to these allegorical examples of growing up). Totoro's cute (he's become Studio Ghibli's mascot), though I found the cat/bus a little disturbing. I think my final verdict on this film isn't that its inferior to Miyazaki's other work, just that its more thoroughly aimed at children, and while an adult audience can appreciate the craftsmanship, its harder to relate to then some of his other films.

Finally, here's an artice from the UCSD Guardian about the Chancellor's Challenge. Weird that Jenn Brown is so evasive with her time...I should run against her next year, make this a major issue. You can now see the results on-line as well, I came in 334th. They also are reporting my time as 25:40, and who am I to argue?

No comments: