Saturday, February 24, 2007

   My Adventures in Bangkok, Thailand
So, I've been rather absent from the internet community for quite some time now, partly because of exams, but also because I spent 10 days visiting my Mom in Thailand, who's teaching English there for a year.

Needless to say, my Asian experience was completely different, and absolutely amazing. My family certainly got a lot of attention from the very friendly Thai people (attention being something I'm not particularly accustomed to getting at home ^_^), since we were often the only white people around. It was a great experience, and if I could go back tomorrow, I'd do it in a second.

The flight there was certainly a long one, but it was awesome to stop by in Chicago and TOKYO (woot!), two places where I'd never been before. Oh my gosh! The people in the Tokyo airport were ADORABLE! They all had their great little uniforms on and everything... and they were all really courteous.

Anyway, when we arrived in the Bangkok airport, the heat was almost unbearable. It was certainly a shock, having come from -30 degrees Celsius weather in Canada. ^_^ Anyway, it was great to see my Mom again, (since I hadn't seen her for, like, 6 months) and I suppose it was rather emotional for me *sniff*.

So we spent the night at an apartment called "Poonchock Mansion", which was nice enough, but certainly not a mansion. ^_^ I guess I'm young enough not to be effected by jet lag, because I was fine in the morning to hop on a bus and take a 3 hour bus ride to the resort town of Hua Hin.

Hua Hin was an absolutely beautiful place, full of plenty of old European tourists, wearing bikinis/speedos (that didn't exactly always compliment their body type *coughs*), and Thai people who wanted to sell you something, or bring you somewhere in a taxi. ^_^ It was great to swim in the Gulf of Thailand, and it was fun to go shopping at the Night Market, which was full of sights, smells and LOTS of people. It could get very crowded. There were also always a bunch of guys on the beach, trying to get you to take a horseback ride... for a price, of course. Me and my sister were often targeted, since we were probably the only two young white girls on the beach. ^_^ We didn't end up actually getting on a horse during our time in Thailand, though. We also enjoyed the Thai meals we had there, and an assortment of AMAZING fruit juices and shakes, since the fruit there tastes SOOO much better than the fruit we get at home. It so fresh, and... mmmmm... *drools at the thought of tropical fruit*

Anyway, we spent the weekend in Hua Hin, and then returned to the crowded city of Bangkok, where we spent the rest of our vacation. We went to lots of malls and outdoor markets (they have them EVERYWHERE there), and did a lot of shopping. It was really great, because everything there is so cheap! I got a really nice top for $5! Canadian, of course... The sizes there are so small though! My size was XL there, and I'm usually a medium. It was also cool when people gave you a discount, just because, I guess, you were white. "For you, 350 baht." That sorta thing. That happened to me twice while I was there. Their currency is BAHT, by the way. So we were at quite a few malls, one being "Fashion Island", and another was "Central Mall". We also went to some absolutely BEAUTIFUL temples, and saw the famous "Reclining Buddha". That's another thing. It was quite common to see an orange clad Buddhist monk walking down the street.

We also went to Safari World, where we got to feed a giraffe! ^_^ We also saw a really awesome aquarium. It was around Chinese New Year when we went, so we some of those kind of celebrations going on, too. We went to this incredible Thai puppet show on Valentine's Day (probably my favorite thing I did on this trip), where I ended up having a brief romance with a Thai puppet... Hee hee, the puppet stole my purse, and wanted me to kiss him to get it back (that's the short version of the story, anyway).

While I was there I also got to see my mother's students. Ha ha, they were absolutely lovely. They have nicknames like "Golf" and "Boom Boy", because their Thai names are too difficult for the Western staff. They were all wearing uniforms, of course. I saw a LOT of students in the malls, and on the streets, wearing their school uniforms. It was a completely different world. Anyway, the children were absolutely amazed at how tall I am, and lots of them said I was taller than their fathers. ^_^

So, the easiest way to get around was by taxi (tee hee, they had hot pink taxis!), but a lot of the taxi drivers tried to rip us off, since we were foreign. Some of them were really nice, though. That's another thing. The traffic there is HORRENDOUS (too many cars!) and the rules of the road are rather lax... But they know what they're doing. I don't think the crash rate is too bad there. Anyway, besides taxi, we also travelled by subway and skytrain. Tee hee, pretty cool.

So I learnt how to say hello (Sawatdee Ka) and thank-you (Kap Kun Ka) in Thai. Hee hee, and that's it.

So on the flight back, I was in Japan for the SECOND time (oh, I'm so cool, hee hee), and I even said Arigato Gozaimasu to the person my sister and I bought some souvenirs from. Hee hee. I felt kind of dorky.

Despite the smoldering hot temperatures and scorching sun, I never actually got a tan in Thailand. Since I'm as pale as death, I will burn before I tan, so I had to be careful... It doesn't matter though, since I'm not all that bothered about tanning, anyway.

It was so different there, and I loved it. I was actually a bit depressed when I got home, because I REALLY wanted to be back in Asia, but I got over it. ^_^ Vacations can't last forever. I needed to return to reality... and school. :(
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Thursday, November 9, 2006

Hayao Miyazaki Art Project
This is the write up for my Hayao Miyazaki poster that I just put up in my Portfolio. You can't really read it on the picture (since I had to shrink it) so I decided to put it here for anyone who's interested.

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Hayao Miyazaki is not only an amazing artist, but one of Japan’s greatest animation directors. He has obtained recognition world-wide for his beautifully animated movies.

Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo, Japan on January 5, 1941. With animation being such a huge industry in Japan, Miyazaki had plenty of inspiration growing up, and plenty of opportunity to develop and excel in his craft.

Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the Toei Douga studio, and he had his first taste of directing in 1978 when he worked on a Japanese TV series called “Conan, The Boy of the Future”. Miyazaki directed his first movie, “Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro”, one year later, in 1979. In 1984, Miyazaki wrote and directed the movie “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”, which was so successful that he was able to open his own company, Studio Ghibli.

Studio Ghibli has produced many hit movies since it opened, 8 of which were directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Two movies that are worthy of mention are “Princess Mononoke” (1997), which won the Japanese equivalent of an Academy Award for Best Film, and “Spirited Away” (2001), which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Picture in 2003.

Miyazaki is very involved in the making of his movies. He writes the stories and designs the characters, and, for every movie he makes, he draws painstakingly detailed storyboards for the entire film. He also overlooks his animators’ work very carefully to make sure that all the frames are exactly as he wants them. If he comes across something he thinks should be changed, such as a cell that he thinks should be painted a different colour, he’ll do it himself!

Not only does Miyazaki write and direct movies, he also writes and illustrates Manga (Japanese comic books). “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” was done by Miyazaki as a Manga series before he made it into a movie.

Hayao Miyazaki has proved through his movies and Manga that he is an amazing artist, and a hugely imaginative writer. Although Miyazaki has announced that he wants to retire, one hopes that he will, once again, grace us with more of his beautiful artwork.
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Sunday, November 5, 2006

More info. on Thumbelina
So, I did some research on Thumbelina, and I found out that it was actually originally a 26 episode anime called "Oyayubi Hime Monogatari" (literally translated to "The Story of the Thumb Princess") done by Enoki Films, that aired in Japan from March 31, 1992 until September 30, 1992.

From what I've been able to find out, it seems that there wasn't actually a movie of this series in Japan. They must have compressed certain parts of the episodes into a movie when they dubbed it, instead of translating each episode of the anime.

Thumbelina is a fairytale written by the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). Originally known as "Tommelise" or "Tommeliden" (Tomme means inch in Danish), this story is about a tiny girl named Thumbelina who eventually marries a fairy prince, who renames her Maia (as the name is spelled in the story), since the name Thumbelina was not beautiful enough for a girl like her. (You can go to the following URL for the full story:)

http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_tiny.html

If you read my previous post, you'd be able to tell that the "Oyayubi Hime" story is quite different from the original fairytale, where a girl named Maya is shrunk down to the size of a thumb (she isn't born that way)--among many other differences. The adventures that Maya has in the Land of her Mother's Dreams, however, are similar to the adventures of Thumbelina. I wouldn't be able to make a full comparison between the original story and the anime, though, since I've never seen the Japanese episodes, only the dubbed movie, which surely left a considerable amount of the content of the anime out.

There was also a Japanese feature-length anime movie done by Toei Animation in 1978 on the story of Thumbelina, called "Sekai Meisaku Douwa Oyayubi Hime" (or "World's Famous Stories for Children: Thumb Princess"). This movie followed the original plot of the fairytale, while the TV series was more of a spin-off. An English dubbed version of this movie was released in the U.S. in the 1980's.

So, there you go. That's what I found when I researched Thumbelina on the internet. I hope you've found this very enlightening.
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Wednesday, November 1, 2006

   Happy Anime Memories---Being Brought up on Anime
So, when I was little there was this movie that my sister and I LOVED SO MUCH. We watched it, like, every day, and drove our mom crazy with the annoying songs... Well, annoying to her, anyway. I love those songs. They're loaded with sentimental value for me! :D

Anyway, the movie was "Thumbelina", but not the popular version that everyone knows about. I don't know how my parents got their hands on this movie, but I'm so glad they did. It's probably the reason that my sister and I are anime fans today (although I'm a WAY bigger fan than my sister is).

The movie is about a little girl named Maaya, who is very disobedient and a bit of a brat. So her single mother goes to this witch and asks her what to do. The witch tells her to read this book called Thumbelina to her, and when she's done Maaya will be a well behaved little girl. But while the mother is reading Thumbelina to her daughter, the mother falls asleep, and Maaya, curious about what's going to happen next, picks up the book to read it. Before she knows it, she's been shrunk down to the size of a thumb herself, and (after being kidnapped by some frogs) she finds herself in the land of her mother's dreams. The rest of the movie follows her adventures there and her attempt to get back home to her mother.

This movie is *~enchanting~*. :D It may be fairly primitive quality-wise (in terms of animation and music), but, as a toddler, I REALLY didn't care about that. All I know is that it's the cutest movie I've ever seen. SO great for kids. It has a good moral and everything's so colourful and happy and bright. Tee hee, good times.

As a child I absolutely LOVED this movie, but it wasn't until much later that I realized that Thumbelina is actually Anime. When I watch it now, the anime-themes are quite obvious to me. First of all, the main character has a Japanese name--Maaya. Then there's also the "village witch" and also a "frog witch", which is actually very characteristic of anime. And last but not least the animation is so OBVIOUSLY anime-style. When I started considering that my favourite childhood movie might be Anime, I couldn't really find proof, but I just couldn't beleive that it WASN'T anime. It was just so animeish. And when I actually watched the credits for the first time, I got my proof. It's dubbed from the Japanese version. It seems as if I've discovered the origin of my anime obession. After being essentially "brought up" on that movie, I soon found myself drawn towards other Anime, such as Sailor Moon, Pokemon and Digimon.

So, that's my long-winded explanation of my Anime history. So many good memories... Man I just had a moment...
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Saturday, September 30, 2006

   J-pop top ten
Hello again! If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that I really love J-pop. So here are my top ten favorite J-pop songs of ALL TIME! WOO!

10. "Kaze no Machi e" by FictionJunction KEIKO (Tsubasa Chronicle insert song)

9. "Meteor" by T.M. Revolution (Gundam Seed insert song)

8. "Yasashii Yoake" by See-Saw (.hack//SIGN ending theme)

7. "A Song of Storm and Fire" by Itou Eri (Tsubasa Chronicle insert song)

6. "My Will" by Dream (Inu Yasha ending theme)

5. "Anna ni Issho Datta no ni" by See-Saw (Gundam Seed ending theme)

4. "Ignited" by T.M. Revolution (Gundam Seed Destiny opening theme)

3. "Yakusoku wa Iranai" by Maaya Sakamoto (Vision of Escaflowne opening theme)

2. "Reason" by Nami Tamaki (Gundam Seed Destiny ending theme)

and finally, my favourite J-pop song:
1. "Life is Like a Boat" by Rie Fu (Bleach ending theme)

Yay! All these songs are AWESOME, and there are so many others that I just can't fit in the top 10! So what about everyone else? What's YOUR fave J-pop song???
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Saturday, September 23, 2006

   A bit MORE about me!
Hi again! I kinda figured it was about time to post another thingy, so here I go...
So here's a bit more about me:
-I'm a Christian
-I'm a cat lover
-I'm a nerd with a 95%+ average
-I love Science (told you I was nerdy)
-I love Sci Fi, especially Star Wars! (hee hee, I guess that makes me nerdy too.)
-I'm a goody good
-I'm 5'10" and I play volleyball
-I'd love to travel to all parts of the world (especially Japan!)
-I can speak German fluently (Guten Tag, ich spreche Deutsch) tee hee
-I'm half German and half Irish, but I was born in Canada
-I'm very artsy, and I'd love to become an animator someday. I'd be so awesome to bring artwork to life!
-I love J-pop and techno music, but I also love The Beatles
-I've loved anime since before I even knew what it was!
So now you know a bit more about me!
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Saturday, September 9, 2006

A bit about me!
Hello! This is my first ever post! Woot! Well, I'm not sure that I'll be posting very often, since my main aim with this site is to show off my artwork, but I guess I'll say something every once in a while. So don't hesitate to check out my pictures! Anyway, I've been really into anime all my life. I live in Canada, so my only source for English-dubbed anime is YTV (you might not know what I'm talking about, but that's okay), but it is quite sufficient for my anime needs. Anyway, the shows that I really like so far are FullMetal Alchemist, Vision of Escaflowne, Inu Yasha, .hack//SIGN, Tsubasa Chronicle, Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. Shows that I have watched in the past are Sailormoon, Pokemon, Digimon and more recently Witch Hunter Robin. I just saw the first episodes of both Eureka Seven and Bleach on YTV, and they seem pretty good, but I'm going to watch some more episodes and see what I think then! I'm also a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki. I think he's a genius and I LOVE his movies! my favourite movie by him is "Laputa: Castle in the Sky". It's awesome! Anyway, I'm also really into J-Pop; I hardly listen to anything else! So, that's a bit about me, and what anime I like! Sayonara!
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