well i'm not in the mood to work right now, so i figured i'd post.

just came off the 4-day holiday weekend, which was pretty damn lazy. friday night was prolly the most active, a dinner+movie date. alayna and i checked out the angelika in plano for the first time. it's in the shops at legacy, which was a surprisingly little quaint area. we saw howl's moving castle, the latest anime from famed jap hayao miyazaki, who also did princess mononoke and spirited away.

howl's was... okay. i've seen several of miyazaki's movies now, and i always walk away feeling the same. i always think "goddamn that was pretty" but then i think "but what the fuck was that all about?" it's a perfect example of anime being too much fantasy and not enough engaging plot. during mononoke, spirited away, howl's... i remember getting bored for like a half hour with all of them. i love the artistic elements in all of them, but i get so lost on what the hell's going on that i really lose interest. typical IMDb fanboys have it rated over 8, but personally i'd give it more like a 7 flat cuz it was pretty, but lacked any sensible plot.

saturday night we decided to stay in instead and had chinese delivered and finally got around to watching closer. we both enjoyed it, which is a nice rarity when we both enjoy a movie together. it wasn't particularly all that complex, only centered around 4 characters, but it was an entertaining two hours, which is enough for me. we'd highly suggest it for a night in.

--j