I have been a fan of Studio Ghibli’s animation since I watched Spirited away several years ago. Since then, I have made a good collection of their art books and comics and have made an attempt to watch all their new releases and catching up on the older ones on Video.

Of late, Disney has been re-releasing English dubs of the original shows and I cannot stand to watch them. I think the Japanese voice talent in these shows are so unique and I cannot imagine watching them any other way. the movies are so nicely paced that you actually do not need any subtitles to enjoy the show, however if you want to understand the complex plot lines, then multiple watchings with subtitles will be needed and I would prefer that more than a dubbed version.

So I have been hunting for these animations whenever I get to a DVD shop and most often I end up disappointed. I finally discovered a Box set for about a dozen of their classics including Totoro, POm poko, Pocco Roso, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Naussica and the really awesome Princess Mononoke. It also included takahata’s movies like Only Yesterday, Ocean Waves etc… I was Extremely happy with the collection but the video / audio quality left much to be desired. Well something was better than nothing and I enjoyed the shows whenever I had time.

recently, I found a couple of their other shows including Grave of fireflies, also in pretty low quality video. When I had the opportunity in japan, I decided against buying the DVD’s there due to the exorbitant cost (each cost > 50 SGD). So I had to wait. Until Now.

A Singaporean firm is releasing a bunch of the Ghibli movies in nice collectible Tin boxes for a decent 20 SGD. I am guessing it is in part due to the release of the DVD for Ponyo. I bought a few, a friend funded some too and tried to keep my expectation level low. But I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. Both Audio and Video were good when playing out of the PS3. It could be due to the up sampling but it is nice none the less. Great Success.

Now, I will have to restrain myself from duplicating my collection, I am tempted but I will resist. If anyone is in the market, head to the local Blue Max / Laser Flair, I am sure Gramophone would also stock it. Not so sure about HMV / That CD Shop. Have fun hunting.

I was helping my brother on deciding on his folding bike (that is the 4th Foldie in 2 months, someone stop me) and we went through the iterations of Dahon vs Brompton vs Bike Friday. Finally we decided on a custom Tikit for the specific set of needs. In the process of brain storming, we realized that these companies have strong similarities to computer operating systems. If you are aware of OS’s and folding bikes, you will appreciate the similarity.

• Brompton <-> Apple OSX. Fully proprietary and focussed heavily on industrial Design. Works extremely well out of the box but hardware upgrades are a pain in the ass if not extremely expensive  Accessories cost a bomb too.
• Dahon <-> Microsoft Windows. A product that works. Lots of proprietary components but is well supported due to large distributor base. They try to be pretty but stop short of exemplary. They probably have the best bang for buck setups. You can find extremely high end hardware too but at the heart the design is a compromise. he hee.
• Bike Friday <-> Linux. Customize everything. Very robust core design and allows for customizing to do literally anything one wants. You can get a pre-specified flavor of the bike or geek out totally on setting it up in your own unique way.

The lesson is that all three options are viable, it is a question of what you really want

When I was in the US of A, I picked up a copy of the “Confederacy of Dunces” from Powells. Powells is a great book shop and if you in Portland, be sure to visit one of their branches. I am sure you will end up with books that you always wanted to buy but could not find easily anywhere. The nice bit is that the pricing is pretty comparable to Amazon and you also benefit from the large collection of used books that they sell.

Anyhow, it has been a long while since I read a paperback and was looking forward to reading the book since I got good recommendations and the blurb was all praises. The book indeed was good and I was thoroughly enjoying the first few chapters when I reached Japan. I read a few more pages and got to about 150 pages when I decided I will save the rest of the book for the flight, I planned to keep awake to get rid of the jet lag.

Unfortunately, when I checked out of the room and reached the airport, I realized that the book stayed back in my room. Doh.

The story thus far was very light, very Woodhouse’sque, but set in more recent America, specifically 70′s New Orleans. There is actually no story, the fun comes more from the witty descriptions of the places and characters rather than the plot. A bit different from the typical Wodehouse fare but I am not sure if there is a more subtle plot that builds up and climaxes at the end.

Guess I will have to buy one more copy to figure that out. If anyone is in the lookout of a good read, take the “confederacy of Dunces” as recommended.