hacking, climbing and a moving castle

I spent around half my day trying to get through these sites:

http://academy.dyndns.org/
http://www.try2hack.nl/

Just try to hack through your way. I already got to level 15 of the first site and level 2 of the second site. It's fun. Use Internet Explorer to make your task easier.

Andrei has a blog! It's filled with climbing photos and other stuff. The shots give a spectacular view of Taal Lake and the side of Mt Maculot. Visit his blog and say hello :) I'm linking it to my blog as well.
I've asked if I can join their March 5 climb to Mt Sembrano :) If I'm lucky that'll be my first mountain climbing experience. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Due to unbelievable luck and the goodness of piracy (yes, that is correct) i was able to get a copy of Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, Howl's Moving Castle.
I first heard about this in (yes, you are probably correct) Neil Gaiman's site. As luck had it, a friend of mine got a copy of the book in word format (another version of piracy) and I was able to read it before I saw the movie.

I love the book. I suddenly adored Diana Wynne Jones and her books. Howl's Moving Castle is about a girl named Sophie. The eldest of three girls, she believed that she was destined for a normal life and continued her father's hat making business while her sisters are sent to different places to fulfill their destiny. What Sophie doesn't know is that she is a powerful witch and she was bound for adventure. The Witch of the Waste becomes jealous of her power and places a curse on her. Sophie, as an old woman, travels and by chance, encounters Howl's Moving Castle and Howl.

The book is romantic and had me spellbound by the different happenings and magical things. I especially love the door. The castle door is very special. You twist the knob and for every color, you can go to a different place when the door is opened.


Japanese poster of Howl's Moving Castle

The movie is clearly a Hayao Miyazaki film. It is loosely based on the book. In fact after 30 minutes it barely refers to the events in the book. Miyazaki creates a different plot line and inserts his own style of storytelling. The drawings are superb and the characters are still wonderful. I love Markl, the film version of Michael. Markl is years younger than the Michael in the book but Miyazaki makes him so adorable you'd forgive him for it.

It is now officially my favorite Miyazaki Movie. Even better that Spirited Away.


Howl's castle

The movie has been released in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and shown in a French film festival. They are so lucky. I don't even know if they'll show it here. It took Princess Mononoke around 2 years before making it to the US. I watched it in an anime film festival in Ora Cafe when I was in college, 6 months after it showed in Japan.

Howl and Sophie

Spirited Away is just available in pirated DVDs and this movie will probably be available the same way. Which is a loss because everyone here should be able to see these films too.

I found some really good pictures here and I also suggest looking at the korean web site for Howl's Moving Castle because I liked it better than the other official sites.

Oh and I just wanted to add, I finally found the Mint and Creme Oreo cookies and my sister and I bought a half gallon of Mint and Chips. Happy happy me. Mint Galore.