Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
- Watched most of the 1984 animated Miyazaki feature film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind on DVD. Like others of his I've seen before, it's visually stunning and has a pretty pointless story.
- Sat outdoors and read, probably for the last time this year barring trips south.
- Went to a friend's birthday party, helped cook.
- Watched Inception on the big screen. Good movie!
- Played my twelfth game of Agricola and managed to win for the first time.
And you, Dear Reader?
Comments
The Nausicaä movie is very good, but the manga is better still! And that's from someone who usually has a hard time standing most mannga.
Posted by: Akhôrahil | September 27, 2010 9:04 AM
Fascinating combination of mutated WW2 aircraft and huge trilobites.
Posted by: Martin R | September 27, 2010 9:08 AM
Was chased down my driveway by a bull moose in rut. Saw part of Adam Sandlers "Mr. Deeds" on TV. The moose was more fun.
I liked Nausicaä, but less so than some of Myasaki's other films. Very similar plot to Princess Mononoke, don't you think? Or maybe I'm just not getting it.
Posted by: dogteam | September 27, 2010 10:39 AM
With the ruins of Chicago burning in our rear view mirror, we've decided to change game systems, yet again. Different DM, too. I have hopes that the words "terrorists", "collateral damage", and "smoking rubble" will fail to make the jump with us.
Posted by: cicely | September 27, 2010 11:14 AM
I haven't seen Princess Mononoke. But it copies Nausicaä, not the other way around. PM is 13 years later than N.
Posted by: Martin R | September 27, 2010 3:54 PM
Dogteam, you had a randy moose in your yard!? Awesome! An old lady was battered to death by a moose in Sweden a few years ago. They tried her husband for murder.
Posted by: Martin R | September 27, 2010 3:58 PM
Yes, I wasn't really thinking of the chronology of the films...just surprised about the similarity.
I've seen videos of moose attacks in Canada (not pretty), and chased into my house several times. One of our dogs was almost killed when it cornered one on our front deck. At this time of year, I have to sweep the yard for moose, coyotes, porcupines and skunks before I can let the dogs out...
Posted by: dogteam | September 27, 2010 5:20 PM
Oh, see Princess Mononoke if you have a chance. It's truly a thing of beauty (to me, anyway).
But watch it in Japanese with subtitles. The English dub is...offputting. Billy Bob Thornton as a japanese monk? Really??
Do you get such things dubbed in Swedish?
Posted by: dogteam | September 27, 2010 5:29 PM
I agree that you should see Princess Mononoke - in my opinion, it's a couple of notches better. And the English-language version is... interesting, to be sure. Quite different. One fun trick to try is to play the English dubbed version along with the English subtitles for the original Japanese, to see just how free Gaiman's translation is.
Posted by: Akhôrahil | September 28, 2010 3:39 AM
I took a trip up to the Bjäre peninsula again with my dad to get some fresh Swedish apples, picked directly from the trees.
On Sunday I played golf with some friends on a course between Skanör and Falsterbo, called Flommen. It is an area with a lot of early medieval and viking findings but not on the golf course.
Posted by: Thomas Ivarsson | September 28, 2010 3:25 PM
True. They're under the golf course. (-;
Posted by: Martin R | September 28, 2010 3:28 PM
According to Flommens Golf Club it was previously a garbage dump area so maybe there are intesting things below that.
Posted by: Thomas Ivarsson | September 28, 2010 3:51 PM
I had my house-cooling party prior to leaving Cambridge. There were people I hadn't seen for years (and now won't again, of course!) and generally good company, beer, women (and men) and song (well, CDs). Then on Sunday I had to brave the public transport system to go and fix my mum's computer, which became a travel saga I didn't really want, but still good to see her (and fix the bloody thing so that she stops complaining about it for a bit).
Posted by: Jonathan Jarrett | September 29, 2010 5:53 AM
A number of Miyazaki's movies are pretty pointless, as if he isn't sure of where the story should go. Some of his older movies, though, are excellent. Try out My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, or Island in the Sky. They have much tighter plots and more focused story telling.
Posted by: Kaleberg | September 30, 2010 8:18 PM