I ran and took the metro for about 45 minutes way across state lines. Living in Northern Virginia, this show was playing in only 2 theatres in the DC metro area (composed of DC, VA and MD). I had to head to the Mezza Galeria in Friendship Heights way out on the edge of NorthWest DC on the border with Maryland. Basically it is a trip that I will never forget and I will now always associate that area with the greatness of witnessing this masterpiece.. This film has already grossed over 200 million dollars and won major awards at film festivals, all without even being released in North America. Until now....
Basically put here it is [not giving any info away that would be VERY wrong]. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi [Spirited Away], is a trip about a 10 year old girl who enters a magical spirit land with her parents who end up imprisoned. It is up to 10 year old Chihiro to find the strength inside to survive and perhaps rescue her parents.
But this film isn't about that plot, it is about the imagination of youth, the magic and characters who exist in this world, and about growing up and gaining courage.
I'll say this. I am having a really REALLY hard time putting the emotions I felt after witnessing this masterpiece on the screen. The scenes are masterfull, the animation is incredible, the backgrounds are pieces of art, there are things that happen in great stillness, and in great motion that take your breath away. It is very funny, and charming. However what separates this film from say Miyazaki's last recent work Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) is that this film is more universal for all ages and more imaginative, incredibly so on the later. Where Mononoke was more political and intriguing and ingenious this film is something every person can relate to including 7 year olds. As one earlier minor review I read said, "Kids will like it, parents will love it even more". I can't begin to describe my jaw gapping mouth that stood there hanging almost every 5 minutes at what I was witnessing.. I could spend hours describing the myriad of characters in detail, but I would be writing to the end of time....
There is a scene in this film that just highlights everything that is grand about this movie. Chihiro takes a train ride with 3 spirit characters all very different and unique in their looks and personality. The purpose of the ride is simply just to go from A to B. Its not important for the story, it does not advance the plot on the grand scale of things. It is just something that is simply there to look at.
This scene had me in tears. Not because it looks sad, or the characters are tragic, or because the story at this point is so gutwrenching (think of the opera music scene in Graveyard of The fireflies). It just pulls the emotion out of you because it is just so mesmerizing and beautiful to watch.
This film which has just been released in North America, looks to be in limited release so far. I'll put it to you this way. I am not a major fan of Japanese anime, but I have seen a small handful of good ones. I was speaking with people after the show, and I ran into one guy who as he puts it, has seen SEVERAL anime movies. He said this is the best one he has EVER SEEN. Period.
This film is going to be HUGE.. It just may get the North American public addicted to Japanese Anime, an art form that has been nothing more in the eyes of America as an overly grotesque cartoonish imature artform, that seems to be overtly sexualised, and overrun with violence and nonsensical stories. This film will not just break that barrier, it will be a tidal wave of movie history crashing through it with sunami punch! If it DOES NOT... then anime does not even deserved to be shown in this country to be appreciated. I can't see this film not being a huge buzz within the next few days. The audience I was with which was very varied kids and adults of all ages, were entranced and applauded MASSIVELY when this film was over in celebration.
I can only think of one film I have seen that is of this level and would rank now as a tie after seeing this film for best film of the year (that would be Monsoon Wedding). A very different film obviously which can't be compared to this.
This isn't just a great animated film. This isn't just a great Japanese film. This isn't just a great award winning film. This is one of the greatest movies ever made. Period.
Once in a rare while, a film comes out in a year that everyone will be talking about non stop. This is THAT film!!
DO NOT MISS THIS MOVIE ON THE BIG SCREEN EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. This is an open standard. It's just patented. Patents expire. Nobody is trying to prevent you from writing decoders - they just want to get paid for (I hope) work that they did in developing the technology, which is pretty cool, and which I don't think I could have invented on my own. I am not fond of software patents, but a patent on MP3 is not the same as a patent on one-click or xor cursors.
Compare this to, for example, Real Media player, where the file format isn't *patented* - it's a trade secret. So if Real doesn't support your platform, you can't play real media. This is really awful - much worse than the patent situation with mp3.
2. The royalty is quite reasonable. If you had to pay $0.75 for your copy of WinAMP, would that really seem unfair to you? That's the price of a can of coke, for Pete's sake! It it really that unfair?
3. Like it or not, this is not going to kill MP3, because most MP3 players are commercial, licensed products, and there are a ton of them out there, and they don't support Vorbis. So you don't have to do anything to keep using your MP3s, but if you want to use Vorbis in protest, it's going to be very difficult.
4. I have a large library of audio files that need to get published on the net. They're free, noncommercial, non-revenue-generating. I'll publish them at least in MP3 format, and maybe Ogg if I can get a good encoder. I have a feeling that if I publish Ogg, it's not going to get downloaded very much, but it'll be interesting to see.
I'm not saying this story is unimportant. I just wonder about the relevance of this to slashdot. And please don't give the slippery slope argument, that it will lead to hackers being persecuted, thats a weak line.
Stories like these invariably turn into one big circle jerk of "government is evil" replies, "1984" references, in a mess of lame discussion. And don't forget the mods here, where most dissenting opinion get modded down as troll or flamebait (as witnessed by my parent post), as if any disagreeing opinion is unworthy of reading.
What does this have to do with anything that slashdot normally post? Certainly nothing to do with my rights online, or anything else. This is just another flamebaiting article to troll for hits and flames.
It seems, michael, a notorious government hating leftist is using slashdot once again to advance his own political agenda.
As any NYC resident can tell you, most of the desirable buildings to live in are pre-war (built before WWII). The newer ones built post-war are widely derided for lack of amenities (low ceilings, small rooms), cookie cutter layout and bland architecture.
I'll take the 1910s buildings in an instant before the so-called modern stuff, and as real estate prices show, most agree with my opinion.
Tell me, why is exercising free choice a shallow response? My school had a monopoly deal with Pepsi throughout the campus, whats your point?
And please put your tin foil hat back on, if you think Coke is influencing your school to take away the water fountains.
Well, Apple came after the academic markets longer and more aggressively than Microsoft. It paid off for them as those students turned to PC shopping consumers. But yet nobody lets out a peep when they did it. Why is that? Why all this vicious hating from the slashdot crowd? Are you guys insecure about something?
You have a problem with this? Don't attend. Go to another school that doesn't require this. There are plenty that will do that.
The idea that Microsoft is killing academia is just ludicrous. Schools and Universities make deals like this for books, supplies, food, etc. all the time. It's a good deal for both sides.
So you Microsoft bashers don't get your tighty whites all in a bunch.
Every time slashdot editors posts another MS story implicating that Microsoft is so evil, I wonder if they realize what two-faced they are.
I believe the editors run Windows, if only to play games. And what are those big ads i see here, Microsoft.Net Ads! So these guys love to whine on and on how Microsoft is killing competition, defrauding the public, causing global warming, but love to patronize them and take in their ad money!
If you believe Microsoft is so bad, why don't you stop contributing to their bottom line? It may not be easy to stop playing windows games, but you have other options. Or stop accepting money to run ads on your own site from that Evil Empire, the Borg. It may not be easy, but life is not easy. Grow a backbone and take a goddamn stand.
If you can't do that, then you guys are nothing but weak hypocrites.
I feel the feeling exact opposite is happening. Slashdot, as well as the other Linux sites are constantly bombarding us with news of Microsoft's dastardly deeds.
I think it's been getting worse lately, witness any of Michael's screeds against MS, and then the me-too comments, and you get the feeling there's less Linux advocacy and more and more Microsoft bashing, whether it's deserved or not.
The idea that Microsoft is paranoid and fearing Linux might be true, but is totally overblown. Microsoft fears any competition, the most likely competitor is Apple more than Linux.
So maybe it's time the Linux advocates look in the mirror first and see what kind of advocate they'd like to be.
What utter garbage. If you have any evidence that nonviolent groups of people that are not attempting to kill civilian non-combatants deliberately are considered terrorists by the US government or population, please show me. Otherwise you are seeing a bogeyman that just doesn't exist.
And please tell me what every basic human rights do terrorists have. They are not representatives of any state and do not act under directions from any, and do not observe general rules of war. What rights should they have if they do not obey any rules?
Just check out any Asian-American community in almost any big city in the US, cyber-gaming places are pretty big, though not has huge as over there in Korea. It's usually just the standard type games, RTS and FPS stuff.
It sorta reminds me how arcades used to be in the old days...just a big hangout place for kids. Check it out sometime.
Thanks for all the ad hominem attacks. Is every opinion that diverges from slashbot dogma a troll? Calling people a troll is a very lazy argument for the weak minded.
I guess most of us in this world are idiots, according to you, because away from your slashdot pseudo-intellectual ivory tower, most laypeople consider dl'ing stuff to be stealing. The artists are most definitely being deprived. Deprived of the opportunity to make money from their works.
'stealing' someone's song for your own listening purposes, which does not diminish its value unless you would have otherwise paid for it.
You, jackass, are making a common mistake. Just because the original is intact is largely irrelevant. The value is lost, because if something is available for free elsewhere, why would people want to buy a legitimate copy?
Thanks for trying to justify your piracy by claiming it helps artists. If the artist wanted to offer free downloads to the world, they would've, instead of selling real CDs and promoting them.
The Uniform Dispute Resolution Procedure, an expedited process for allowing corporations to steal domain names,..
Michael, you guys are so two-faced, it's unbelievable. You people will go on and on about you guys aren't stealing music and other IP, but go apeshit when the evil, nasty corporations are stealing domain names (another form of IP).
a service that some people might actually find useful and helpful? something that would make it more convenient to shop on the net? the nerve of microsoft!
Jamie, for a slashdot editor to complain about inaccuracies, of all things, is quite laughable. Ever read your own site lately?
Anyways, if you don't want people spreading inaccurate information, how about putting the word out first? Jesus, it's been over a day now. Does someone have a light a fire under your ass to get moving? You've railed on Microsoft for far lesser things.
And you can't be expect people to notify you guys for everything. You guys go apeshit when MS complains things aren't notified to them first.
Interesting how there's a fairly serious bug in slashcode that was exploited yesterday but they don't publicize that. At least they fixed it quickly, but if you guys like to point out other peoples bugs, how about shining the light on yourself once in awhile? I'm sure other slashcode sites would have liked to have known about it.
where's the censorship here? what part of my rights are being violated by this? the employer owns the computer and the network.
The headline and story is pure sensationalism. SmartFilter isn't blocking sourceforge, the individual company is. They use smart filter as a tool to filter out stuff, albeit sloppily and sometimes inaccurately. Just like guns don't kill people, people do. Bottom line, this story is much ado about nothing. Just because it affected sourceforge, slashdot goes apeshit.
Slashdot Mirror
should they suddenly switch to Linux or some other system that doesn't fulfill their requirements just to satisfy some zealots?
I love how some armchair quarterbacks think they know whats best for other people.
I ran and took the metro for about 45 minutes way across state lines. Living in Northern Virginia, this show was playing in only 2 theatres in the DC metro area (composed of DC, VA and MD). I had to head to the Mezza Galeria in Friendship Heights way out on the edge of NorthWest DC on the border with Maryland. Basically it is a trip that I will never forget and I will now always associate that area with the greatness of witnessing this masterpiece.. This film has already grossed over 200 million dollars and won major awards at film festivals, all without even being released in North America. Until now....
Basically put here it is [not giving any info away that would be VERY wrong]. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi [Spirited Away], is a trip about a 10 year old girl who enters a magical spirit land with her parents who end up imprisoned. It is up to 10 year old Chihiro to find the strength inside to survive and perhaps rescue her parents.
But this film isn't about that plot, it is about the imagination of youth, the magic and characters who exist in this world, and about growing up and gaining courage.
I'll say this. I am having a really REALLY hard time putting the emotions I felt after witnessing this masterpiece on the screen. The scenes are masterfull, the animation is incredible, the backgrounds are pieces of art, there are things that happen in great stillness, and in great motion that take your breath away. It is very funny, and charming. However what separates this film from say Miyazaki's last recent work Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) is that this film is more universal for all ages and more imaginative, incredibly so on the later. Where Mononoke was more political and intriguing and ingenious this film is something every person can relate to including 7 year olds. As one earlier minor review I read said, "Kids will like it, parents will love it even more". I can't begin to describe my jaw gapping mouth that stood there hanging almost every 5 minutes at what I was witnessing.. I could spend hours describing the myriad of characters in detail, but I would be writing to the end of time....
There is a scene in this film that just highlights everything that is grand about this movie. Chihiro takes a train ride with 3 spirit characters all very different and unique in their looks and personality. The purpose of the ride is simply just to go from A to B. Its not important for the story, it does not advance the plot on the grand scale of things. It is just something that is simply there to look at.
This scene had me in tears. Not because it looks sad, or the characters are tragic, or because the story at this point is so gutwrenching (think of the opera music scene in Graveyard of The fireflies). It just pulls the emotion out of you because it is just so mesmerizing and beautiful to watch.
This film which has just been released in North America, looks to be in limited release so far. I'll put it to you this way. I am not a major fan of Japanese anime, but I have seen a small handful of good ones. I was speaking with people after the show, and I ran into one guy who as he puts it, has seen SEVERAL anime movies. He said this is the best one he has EVER SEEN. Period.
This film is going to be HUGE.. It just may get the North American public addicted to Japanese Anime, an art form that has been nothing more in the eyes of America as an overly grotesque cartoonish imature artform, that seems to be overtly sexualised, and overrun with violence and nonsensical stories. This film will not just break that barrier, it will be a tidal wave of movie history crashing through it with sunami punch! If it DOES NOT... then anime does not even deserved to be shown in this country to be appreciated. I can't see this film not being a huge buzz within the next few days. The audience I was with which was very varied kids and adults of all ages, were entranced and applauded MASSIVELY when this film was over in celebration.
I can only think of one film I have seen that is of this level and would rank now as a tie after seeing this film for best film of the year (that would be Monsoon Wedding). A very different film obviously which can't be compared to this.
This isn't just a great animated film. This isn't just a great Japanese film. This isn't just a great award winning film. This is one of the greatest movies ever made. Period.
Once in a rare while, a film comes out in a year that everyone will be talking about non stop. This is THAT film!!
DO NOT MISS THIS MOVIE ON THE BIG SCREEN EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a left leaning newspaper (which has more and more blurred the line between news and commentary with their liberal bias) endorses a communist's OS.
Who's next, the People's Daily?
A couple of points:
1. This is an open standard. It's just patented. Patents expire. Nobody is trying to prevent you from writing decoders - they just want to get paid for (I hope) work that they did in developing the technology, which is pretty cool, and which I don't think I could have invented on my own. I am not fond of software patents, but a patent on MP3 is not the same as a patent on one-click or xor cursors.
Compare this to, for example, Real Media player, where the file format isn't *patented* - it's a trade secret. So if Real doesn't support your platform, you can't play real media. This is really awful - much worse than the patent situation with mp3.
2. The royalty is quite reasonable. If you had to pay $0.75 for your copy of WinAMP, would that really seem unfair to you? That's the price of a can of coke, for Pete's sake! It it really that unfair?
3. Like it or not, this is not going to kill MP3, because most MP3 players are commercial, licensed products, and there are a ton of them out there, and they don't support Vorbis. So you don't have to do anything to keep using your MP3s, but if you want to use Vorbis in protest, it's going to be very difficult.
4. I have a large library of audio files that need to get published on the net. They're free, noncommercial, non-revenue-generating. I'll publish them at least in MP3 format, and maybe Ogg if I can get a good encoder. I have a feeling that if I publish Ogg, it's not going to get downloaded very much, but it'll be interesting to see.
How funny it is to click on this story mocking Microsoft and then see the big fuckin ad for Microsoft Visual Studio.Net
A little too ironic, dontcha think?
I'm not saying this story is unimportant. I just wonder about the relevance of this to slashdot. And please don't give the slippery slope argument, that it will lead to hackers being persecuted, thats a weak line.
Stories like these invariably turn into one big circle jerk of "government is evil" replies, "1984" references, in a mess of lame discussion. And don't forget the mods here, where most dissenting opinion get modded down as troll or flamebait (as witnessed by my parent post), as if any disagreeing opinion is unworthy of reading.
What does this have to do with anything that slashdot normally post? Certainly nothing to do with my rights online, or anything else. This is just another flamebaiting article to troll for hits and flames.
It seems, michael, a notorious government hating leftist is using slashdot once again to advance his own political agenda.
I'll take the 1910s buildings in an instant before the so-called modern stuff, and as real estate prices show, most agree with my opinion.
Tell me, why is exercising free choice a shallow response? My school had a monopoly deal with Pepsi throughout the campus, whats your point? And please put your tin foil hat back on, if you think Coke is influencing your school to take away the water fountains.
Well, Apple came after the academic markets longer and more aggressively than Microsoft. It paid off for them as those students turned to PC shopping consumers. But yet nobody lets out a peep when they did it. Why is that? Why all this vicious hating from the slashdot crowd? Are you guys insecure about something?
The idea that Microsoft is killing academia is just ludicrous. Schools and Universities make deals like this for books, supplies, food, etc. all the time. It's a good deal for both sides.
So you Microsoft bashers don't get your tighty whites all in a bunch.
Every time slashdot editors posts another MS story implicating that Microsoft is so evil, I wonder if they realize what two-faced they are.
.Net Ads! So these guys love to whine on and on how Microsoft is killing competition, defrauding the public, causing global warming, but love to patronize them and take in their ad money!
I believe the editors run Windows, if only to play games. And what are those big ads i see here, Microsoft
If you believe Microsoft is so bad, why don't you stop contributing to their bottom line? It may not be easy to stop playing windows games, but you have other options. Or stop accepting money to run ads on your own site from that Evil Empire, the Borg. It may not be easy, but life is not easy. Grow a backbone and take a goddamn stand.
If you can't do that, then you guys are nothing but weak hypocrites.
I think it's been getting worse lately, witness any of Michael's screeds against MS, and then the me-too comments, and you get the feeling there's less Linux advocacy and more and more Microsoft bashing, whether it's deserved or not.
The idea that Microsoft is paranoid and fearing Linux might be true, but is totally overblown. Microsoft fears any competition, the most likely competitor is Apple more than Linux.
So maybe it's time the Linux advocates look in the mirror first and see what kind of advocate they'd like to be.
What utter garbage. If you have any evidence that nonviolent groups of people that are not attempting to kill civilian non-combatants deliberately are considered terrorists by the US government or population, please show me. Otherwise you are seeing a bogeyman that just doesn't exist.
And please tell me what every basic human rights do terrorists have. They are not representatives of any state and do not act under directions from any, and do not observe general rules of war. What rights should they have if they do not obey any rules?
At least you got the third definition right.
It sorta reminds me how arcades used to be in the old days...just a big hangout place for kids. Check it out sometime.
I guess most of us in this world are idiots, according to you, because away from your slashdot pseudo-intellectual ivory tower, most laypeople consider dl'ing stuff to be stealing. The artists are most definitely being deprived. Deprived of the opportunity to make money from their works.
You, jackass, are making a common mistake. Just because the original is intact is largely irrelevant. The value is lost, because if something is available for free elsewhere, why would people want to buy a legitimate copy?
Thanks for trying to justify your piracy by claiming it helps artists. If the artist wanted to offer free downloads to the world, they would've, instead of selling real CDs and promoting them.
.
Michael, you guys are so two-faced, it's unbelievable. You people will go on and on about you guys aren't stealing music and other IP, but go apeshit when the evil, nasty corporations are stealing domain names (another form of IP).
Slashdot hypocrisy 101.
Last time you wrote about him, he was watching Divx movies on it. I'm sure he's excited about Warcraft 3.
something that would make it more convenient to shop on the net?
the nerve of microsoft!
somebody get the DOJ on them now!
Well, Taco you can start making slashdot look less childish by using a decent Microsoft icon, instead of the Bill Gates borg.
the amount of doubletalk in your post is pretty scary. only on slashdot would this be considered "insightful".
Anyways, if you don't want people spreading inaccurate information, how about putting the word out first? Jesus, it's been over a day now. Does someone have a light a fire under your ass to get moving? You've railed on Microsoft for far lesser things.
And you can't be expect people to notify you guys for everything. You guys go apeshit when MS complains things aren't notified to them first.
Interesting how there's a fairly serious bug in slashcode that was exploited yesterday but they don't publicize that. At least they fixed it quickly, but if you guys like to point out other peoples bugs, how about shining the light on yourself once in awhile? I'm sure other slashcode sites would have liked to have known about it.
The headline and story is pure sensationalism. SmartFilter isn't blocking sourceforge, the individual company is. They use smart filter as a tool to filter out stuff, albeit sloppily and sometimes inaccurately. Just like guns don't kill people, people do. Bottom line, this story is much ado about nothing. Just because it affected sourceforge, slashdot goes apeshit.